A tractor-trailer that blocked traffic on the Deception Pass Bridge between Oak Harbor and Anacortes for six hours has been cleared. The bridge was closed when the tractor-trailer truck ended up dangling off the bridge. The truck went up onto the guardrail shortly before 7 a.m. and had been balancing there, in danger of falling over the side of the bridge and into the water. Authorities didn't immediately try to right the truck because of high winds. Transportation officials declared the bridge structurally sound and were working to repair the damaged guard rail.
When the tractor-trailer went over the guardrail, it collided with a small pickup, which came to rest under the cab of the tractor-trailer. The tractor-trailer was going south on Highway 20, crossing the bridge about 7 a.m. when it began swaying. Its cab fell on its driver side and slid atop a guardrail in the northbound lane. The small truck then hit and slid underneath it. "When the driver looked out the window, all he could see was water, 180 feet down," Ramsay said. Neither driver was seriously injured in the collision.
But one's not constipated anymore...
The driver got out the passenger side door to safety. The driver of the pickup was brought to Whidbey General Hospital to be treated for minor injuries.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 10:39 ||
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It's full of baby ducks! Save them!
Posted by: Dar ||
01/31/2004 10:43 Comments ||
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#2
The Jews are trying to destroy the worlds supply of toilet paper! If they succeed, we'll be forced to use paper towels!
Sharon is Hitler!
Posted by: Charles ||
01/31/2004 13:32 Comments ||
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There's always somebody to bitch, isn't there? I notice they seldom write a better book...
Rev. Lynn Ungar, the Consulting Minister for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of North Bay, said she saw all three movies. Ungar commented, "The movies are very violent. They are epic, grand, and large." Big, too.
And the people bitching are often Unitarians, for some reason...
However, she objected to Tolkien's world view, observing, "My largest objection is that good and evil get neatly divided. The evil ones are entirely evil. There is no blurring of the lines like in reality. Hitler loved his dog.
"There is no Good. There is no Evil. There is no Dana only Zool."
I'm disturbed about clear lines between good and evil. This judgemental contrast between genocide and feeding the hungry just bugs the shit out of me.
I have a view of human nature is both realistic and hopeful. as opposed to these crazy cynics and other evil types who draw clear distinctions.
Rarely there are the good people and the bad people." Except for the monsters Bush and Blair.
After seeing the movie, she said her partner Kelsey and herself commented there wasn't much character development and that the characters tended to be one-sided. Not ambiguous enough.
Ungar believes Tolkien's Catholicism isn't reflected in the epic. She said, "There are writers whose writing is about their personal religion. I don't see 'Lord of the Rings' as particularly Christian. So?
It's not Christian. The oracle hath spoken.
Tolkien based it on Scandinavian mythology." This person's fundamental error is the assumption that it is impossible to draw a clear distinction without assigning absolutes. This is not the case. Up and down are not absolutes if we consider the findings of geodesy and astrophysics, yet the distinction is very definite if one is trying not to walk off a cliff. By the same token, neither good nor evil must be absolute for a clear distinction to be drawn. I didn't think the characters were represented as absolute examples of good and evil in any case.
If you recognize the existence of Good and Evil you're expected to take sides.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy ||
01/31/2004 2:19:44 AM ||
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#1
Ah,lady it is just a great story and excellent movie.If you want to discuss High Philosophy talk to your"partner".
#2
NO surprise that a Unitarian minister, who worships at the alter of "no particular diety" has trouble with this whole good vs. evil thing...........
#4
deity...diety lets call the whole thing off. :)
What a monumental prig. Can the Rev. just enjoy a friggin movie without all the blah, blah, blah? I'll bet she considers the political implications of her bowel movements as well.
Am I alone in reading this as saying that Tolkien's Catholicism and his commitment to his faith are what make him "a center of debate"? So isn't this really some people expressing their anti-Catholic bigotry?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/31/2004 9:06 Comments ||
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#7
It is another example of the disdain some people have towards anyone who believes in something greater than the "Temple of Man".
#9
Ungar believes Tolkienâs Catholicism isnât reflected in the epic. She said, "There are writers whose writing is about their personal religion. I donât see âLord of the Ringsâ as particularly Christian.
Christianity *is* about the struggle between good and evil in its starkest form. Ungar's religion isn't Christianity - it's Druidism stripped of human sacrifice.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/31/2004 10:42 Comments ||
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#11
Ungar's moral prism goes like this: The holocaught wasn't evil since they didnt kill everyone, therefore the nazis were not evil. They just hated Jews.
Or: Sure my son gun took a gun and shot up a restaurant, killing ten people. At least he didn't kill everyone, therefore he isn't all bad.
This is just my view, but in the realm of morality there is absolute good and evil. If bin Laden gives out lollypops to children the day after he murders 3000 plus Americans, does the second act mitigate the first? Of course not! Unless you are Ungar.
Some things are always evil, and they are so not just because we are told they're evil, but because he KNOW they are evil.
But not to Ungar. Nothing is evil, just as there is nothing good. I think that concept is in itself unredemptively evil.
#12
Is Ungar demented? What about when a certain hobbit tried to take the ring for himself? Several people in the books who were good tried to take the ring because of it's power. They were corrupted into this gray linethat Ungar speaks of.
And she watched the MOVIES. You can only fit so much into a movie theatre. The books have more stroy and detail. It's obvious that Ungar is just another "didn't represent me enough" person.
I think the overall representation is more like this: The One Ring represents greed, lust, jealousy, immorality, fear, ect. The alliance of Elf and Man represent the different branches of Christianity. Mordor is basicaly hell on earth. If you look at all the factions and see the struggles they go through, you'll see parellels between the certain groups in Tolkiens time.
For example: The prejudices between Rohan and Gandor translate into the squabbling between Presbytarians and Catholics. Others are the first war with Mordor being the defeat of Islam in Europe, the Elves leaving the squabbling of Humans being people going to America to escape Religious Pursecution, and the betrayal of Sarumon being dictators forsaking their people for power.
Ungar is more like the people of Hobbitsville, hoping for the best and thinking nobody will harm them if they just stay put.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/31/2004 14:16 Comments ||
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#13
deity...diety lets call the whole thing off. :)
#14
I read Tolkhein back in the 1970's, and was entertained by the four major books. I enjoyed them. Most of the chatter these days are from people who have no moral compass, and who have never lived in any kind of environment but one of plenty. They've never had a really dangerous moment in their entire lives, and they think THEIR life is "typical". If "Miss Unitarian" spent a year in Rwanda, I'm sure she'd never ever blubber about "no such thing as pure evil". Of course, she's too perfect to ever do anything "crazy" like that.
Life isn't a game, where one side represents "good and the Angels", while the other side represents "evil and the devil", where the majority of the folks can sit in the stands and root for their favorites. It's more "you're either with us, or you're with the enemy", with no room for "neutrality". The neutrals will soon find themselves shoved in with the bad guys, and treated with equal contempt.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 18:27 Comments ||
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I think those guys are way off. Sure there were absolutes but there are constant movements between good and evil. Take for example Boromir who betrayed The fellowship to regret later. Saruman who fell in with Sauron because he wanted to have some degree of control (like the french) over his place in the world. Even Aragorn and gandalf and the other principals feared the taint of evil. Each of them knew how easy that road is entered.
Posted by: Capt Joe ||
01/31/2004 18:48 Comments ||
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#16
Ungar must have missed the Christian undertones in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as well. The Silmarilion is more obvious.
What did she thing of Lethal Weapon II?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/31/2004 18:59 Comments ||
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If you recognize the existence of Good and Evil you're expected to take sides.
Some people don't (recognize good and evil). Apparently it's possible to call Hitler a good artist, and forget about that other obsession of his.
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/31/2004 19:29 Comments ||
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Ungar is an idiot -- she seems to think that the movies, created by Peter Jackson, represents the book's or Tolkien's worldview.
Denethor was one of the most interesting, ambiguous characters in the book even if he's turned into nothing but a cruel madman in the movies. Gollum was one of the most tormented and complicated characters -- calling this figure "completely evil" is plain stupidity.
And Silmarillion has even more ambiguous characters - people like Feanor, greatest of the elves in talent, in courage, in understanding, in *everything*... who nonetheless *fell* and led his people to destruction because of the cruel arrogance in him and the madness of his grief at his father's murder.
People like Thingol, wise ruler of his people, but who could at the same time be arrogant and even occasionally cruel and unjust, e.g. when dealing with this Mortal Man who presumed to fancy and be fancied by his daughter....
And if people want to judge Tolkien's worldview, people should really take a look at his letters.
But I mainly blame Peter Jackson on this -- with one or two exception, he pretty much ignored all of Tolkien's themes of redemption and possible repent. Or this Ungar would have known that even Sauron wasn't evil in the beginning -- and she would have known how deeply Christian morality is mirrored in the books. From Mercy, to Providence, to Redemption, to even the Returning King for chrissakes who breaks down the gates of hell!
#20
"Hitler loved his dog." Now see thats what has me all conflicted. A dog is mans best friend. god spelled backwards. And Hitler could work a crowed better than even Cinton.
What really got me tho was the birthing of an army by the bad teeth bunch. Who does that remind you of as it relates to todays demographics. If you answered christian Euro's take three steps back and lose a turn.
#21
Thanks Shipman, I'm flattered.
Excellent post Aris. I see we agree on the transcendant if not the mundane. Tolkein saw the human condition as it is and not as he wished it were. He captured the conflicts within all of us.
#22
I have been thinking about this posting all day. It is easy to pick at good and evil and turn them into morally relativistic concepts when protected from the real evil that is stalking the world right now. How 'bout you or one of your friends and family blown to bits on a bus in Israel? There are alot of dedicated people who see good and evil at their duty every day and have to live with it while they are defending us both at home and in sick little sh-tholes around the world. Unger can sit around and pontificate while others die or are injured or maimed to protect them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/31/2004 23:13 Comments ||
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#23
Your analogy with "up and down' is very good.
Posted by: David Foster ||
02/01/2004 17:00 Comments ||
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#24
I can give Rev. Prissy that the evil characters are purely evil. But of course they are. It's kind of hard to write about an Orc with a tender side that only his 'partner' orc can see. But if she contends that the good characters are wholey good I would have to question if she actually saw the movies or if she was munching box in the back row. Several less than good attributes were exhibited in the heros. The whole reason a Hobit had to carry the ring was because of man's greed.
Do I truly believe the Carolina Panthers will win this battle? I'm not sure what to believe. Do I absolutely believe that they will cover? You betcha. So, in classic Panthers fashion the Carolinas will be rewarded with a heart-wrenching two-point victory ... I think -- 22-20, Panthers. There was a time (when I was cool) that I could wax on about all this stuff. Now I just stand back and let the game play on. But what I want to know is what Rantburg thinks the line should be.
Posted by: Lucky ||
01/31/2004 12:14:55 AM ||
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I'm in the Panthers corner as well (if only because NE is favored -- "ornery cuss, he is..."), but since Super Bowls are typically masterpieces of conservative football, I'm going to go with 17-14, Panthers.
Don't count Carolina out. How many teams have won when they're the underdog in the last ten years? The pressure isn't on Carolina, it's on the Pats. It's alot easier to beat expectations than to meet them when it comes to football.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/31/2004 14:22 Comments ||
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#10
Ummm... so there is some sort of big game going on this weekend? D'you think many people are going to watch? (ducks and quickly exits room)
#13
Pitchers & Catchers Report? OK, I 'm marking my calendar...Thanks, Shipman. So I guess a lot of people are watching this Suburb Bowl thingie. Myself, I'll be mulching the front garden.
#14
Way to go, Sgt. Mom! I know tens of millions of people will be glued to their televisions during the game. What a great time to shop - the stores are empty!
I gave up on football when my tinnitus reached 45dB, about 10 years ago. Never knew how much enjoyment giving UP something could have associated with it. There IS life outside football, even outside the Super Bowl. I'll read the results in the paper on Monday, and then use the paper to empty the kitty litter.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 17:51 Comments ||
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#15
The line at SportsBetting.com:
Patriots -7
Over/Under 37.5
I'm pulling for the Panthers, though!
Posted by: Dar ||
01/31/2004 17:55 Comments ||
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#16
Thought maybe that line would be at 6 by now.
Fitzhugh, At your service, SA! I've got my teams and give them what worthless support I can. Super Bowls are all about making the bet. Even if it's just a two dollar backslapper. You've got to make a bet to enjoy the game. And those damn "buy a square" deals don't cut it.
"Pitchers and catcher," can you believe Detroit gave all that cash to Pudge Rod. Oh boy.
At the start of the month, Pakistan massed several thousand troops in and around the town of Wana, near the country's mountainous border with Afghanistan. Using a harsh century-old British method, officials handed local tribal elders a list and issued an ultimatum. If 72 men wanted for sheltering Al Qaeda were not produced, they said, the Pakistani Army would punish the tribe as a group, demolishing houses, withdrawing funds and even detaining tribe members. Several days later, several thousand tribal elders held a jirga, or council, and agreed to raise a force of their own to find the wanted men. In the last two weeks, the tribes have handed over 42 of them. Tribal members, meanwhile, have bulldozed and dynamited the homes of eight men who refused to surrender.
The most wanted fugitives, including foreign Qaeda members, remain at large, although as an added incentive, Pakistani officials have promised not to hand over any fugitive Pakistanis to the United States. American officials declined to comment on the policy, but Pakistani officials hope the British method, combined with the American-financed building of roads and schools, will show results. "There is this age-old system of collective responsibility," said Lt. Gen. Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, the governor of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province and a key supporter of the new approach. "Tribes are supposed to help the government."
Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the tribal areas that span both sides of the border have proved to be a redoubt for Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere in the area's inaccessible crags. Insurgents have used the border area, home to smugglers and guerrillas for centuries, as a base to carry out cross-border attacks that have killed or wounded dozens of American soldiers. Responding to American pressure, Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, deployed soldiers in the tribal areas for the first time in the country's history in the spring of 2002. That provoked bitter protests from hard-line Islamic political parties that won sweeping support in and around the tribal areas in elections that October.
All told, Pakistani soldiers and police officers have captured more than 500 suspected Qaeda members, most of them low-level fighters caught fleeing Afghanistan in 2002. More than 70,000 Pakistani soldiers are now deployed in the tribal areas, but over the last year capturing fighters has proved more difficult. Suspected Taliban fighters have killed six Pakistani soldiers carrying out raids in the tribal areas since August. Two Pakistanis were killed by American fire on the border. A senior Pakistani intelligence official said Pakistan has had no reports since 2002 that Mr. bin Laden has been in South Waziristan, the tribal agency whose main town is Wana.
Pakistani officials said they would never allow American forces into Pakistan, but conceded that they had been under intense American pressure to act in the tribal areas. They said they hoped the new approach would prove fruitful. There is little expectation that the tribes would abruptly hand over Mr. bin Laden. Instead,the hope is to gradually make the area less hospitable for the Qaeda leader and his backers. Mr. bin Laden is believed to have strong popular support in the tribal areas, the most ignorant and backward religiously conservative and isolated part of Pakistan. The virulent fundamentalism in the tribal areas, which are governed directly by Pakistan's federal government, is the product of decades of government neglect and the anti-Soviet jihad of the 1980's, according to Pakistani analysis. The United States indirectly helped pay for hundreds of hard-line religious schools that produced anti-Soviet fighters. Today, the same schools appear to produce anti-American fighters. Malik Ajmal Wazir, 35, a leader of the Zalikhel tribe, said in a telephone interview from the tribal areas on Friday that the tribes were addressing the problem and that American forces would face resistance. "Our tribes will rise against them," he said. "We don't like the Americans, and there will be a fight."
Posted by: tipper ||
01/31/2004 3:23:12 AM ||
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looks like this year is gonna be crunch time for pakmanistan,what with the 'spring offensive' coming up and Musharraf realising his time up if he can't sort his shit hole country out. Guess he must be gutted now his 'country' may fall apart but frankly i don't care as long as they catch Bin-Laden.Be kinda helpfull if India just nuked em.
#3
The United States indirectly helped pay for hundreds of hard-line religious schools that produced anti-Soviet fighters.
Kinda tenuous, but that was then and this is now. You work down your list of enemies knocking them off one at a time. Strategy 101.
"We donât like the Americans, and there will be a fight."
This is like saying you don't like martians. How many Americans have you actually met Mr. Jihadi.
And this is a classic piece of leftist it-must-be-someone-elses-fault-think.
is the product of decades of government neglect and the anti-Soviet jihad of the 1980âs, according to Pakistani analysis.
I didn't check the source - BTW there should be Rantburg convention that you state the source of any article. It wouldn't be suprised that this was mainstream media like NYT. God, journalists are morons!
#5
Phil_b, try putting your cursor over the title and look down at the bar at the bottom of the page. In this case it shows that it's from the nytimes.com. Works for me. If you 'click' on the title you'll get the original unedited article. That is, of course, if it wasn't posted by a troll.
#6
In this case it shows that it's from the nytimes.com.
Too funny!
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
01/31/2004 9:59 Comments ||
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Pakistan Adopting a Tough Old Tactic to Flush Out Qaeda
New York Times reporters appear to take considerable pleasure in flaunting their ignorance. This tactic is tough by British, but not by Pakistani standards. Massacre and exile were some of the tactics used by kingdoms on the Indian subcontinent before the British came on the scene. The Arab conquest of what is now Pakistan was certainly accompanied by both tactics on a large scale. When Syria's Hafez Assad bombed Hama and Iraq's Saddam Hussein gassed the Kurds, they were merely continuing an ancient Muslim tradition. British tactics were mild. When Musharraf starts using Muslim tactics, we'll know he's serious about rooting out al Qaeda.
#9
How about a missile defense system for our new friends the Indians?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/31/2004 11:08 Comments ||
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#10
Those "inaccessible crags" need a few hundred thousand tons of napalm delivered into them. Give the arab mutts something to think about as they chat on their sat phones.
And the 'Spring Offensive' is gonna be entertaining, oh yeah. Maybe the 4th should come home via iran and afghanistan.
#11
4thInfVet - I agree, only using napalm is now a "war crime". I still think we need to deliver a few hundred loads - most on the Pak/Afghan border, the rest on a certain building in Brussels. We know the GPS coordinates.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 18:21 Comments ||
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#12
I like the part about the tribal members bulldozing and dynamiting the houses of the eight men that refused to surrender. A nice touch, obviously inspired from the Israeli Playbook. Heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/31/2004 23:20 Comments ||
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The U.S. military was investigating yesterday whether it was an accident or a booby-trap that killed seven of its soldiers and left an eighth missing at a weapons cache Thursday -- the deadliest day for the Americans in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban. Three other soldiers were wounded along with their Afghan translator in the blast Thursday some 90 miles southwest of Kabul, near the city of Ghazni. Afghan state TV broadcast a message of condolence from President Hamid Karzai to President Bush, calling it "another sacrifice of your soldiers for peace and stability in Afghanistan."
Afghan officials called it an accident, but Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a spokesman at U.S. military headquarters in Kabul, the capital, said its investigators were still looking into the explosion. The blast occurred as the soldiers worked around the cache of rifle ammunition and mortar rounds in the village of Dehe Hendu in Ghazni province. Ghazni provincial Gov. Haji Asadullah Khan said an American patrol had happened across an arms cache dating from the struggle against Soviet occupation in the 1980s. He said the American soldiers were collecting the ammunition when one "went off by accident." "Iâm sure it is not a Taliban conspiracy," Khan said.
Antique ammunition can become unstable, I guess...
Hilferty said nothing indicated "active enemy activity" at the site but said investigators were exploring the possibility that "it could have been a booby-trap." He said it was unclear whether the soldiers were handling the weapons. He gave no details of where the weapons were concealed. Khan declined to lead reporters to the scene, and U.S. soldiers at the gate of a newly established base in Ghazni, a city of some 30,000 residents -- where American troops in Humvees were on patrol yesterday -- also refused to comment.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:43:27 AM ||
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"Booby Trap!" was my first reaction when reading this story the other day. Hope the investigation saves lives when future caches are found.
#2
Ghazni provincial Gov. Haji Asadullah Khan said an American patrol had happened across an arms cache dating from the struggle against Soviet occupation in the 1980s. He said the American soldiers were collecting the ammunition when one "went off by accident." "Iâm sure it is not a Taliban conspiracy," Khan said.
This guy's a little too vehement - what would he know that the GI's on the spot don't? He's either hiding something, or blowing smoke - with Afghans it's hard to tell which.
Saudi Arabia's top cleric called on Muslims around the world Saturday to forsake terrorism, saying those who claim to be holy warriors were an affront to the faith.
... he said, piously.
In a sermon that was remarkable not only for its strong language but also its timing - at the peak of the annual hajj - Sheik Abdul Aziz al-Sheik told 2 million pilgrims that terrorists were giving their enemies an excuse to criticize Muslim nations. ``Is it holy war to shed Muslim blood? Is it holy war to shed the blood of non-Muslims given sanctuary in Muslim lands? Is it holy war to destroy the possessions of Muslims?'' he asked.
"No, by golly! Holy war is bumping off infidels!"
Al-Sheik, who is widely respected in the Arab world as the foremost cleric in the country considered the birthplace of Islam, spoke at Namira Mosque in a televised sermon watched by millions of Muslims in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. The mosque is close to Mount Arafat, where the pilgrims converged Saturday for the climax of their annual trek. In speaking of terrorists who killed fellow Muslims, al-Sheik was clearly referring to the Prophet Muhammad's final sermon, delivered on Mount Arafat 14 centuries ago. It contained the line: ``Know that every Muslim is a Muslim's brother, and the Muslims are brethren. Fighting between them should be avoided.''
"Infidels, of course, remain fair game."
Al-Sheik also criticized the international community, accusing it of attacking Wahhabism, the sect whose strict interpretation of Islam is followed in Saudi Arabia. ``This country is based on this religion and will remain steadfast on it,'' he said. ``Islam forbids all forms of injustice, killing without just cause, treachery ... hijacking of planes, boats and transportation means,'' he said.
If something's forbidden, but there's no punishment for it, then it's not forbidden. Piss off, sheikh.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 20:25 ||
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Nobody's gonna listen, so it doesn't matter. Maybe we'll just kill this piece of islamic fecal matter last - after he watches the destruction of the rest of the "religion of pieces".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 20:43 Comments ||
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The problem Al' is you religion is to dangerous with sharp things, starting with a box cutter.
The cleric who delivered the sermon Friday at the annual hajj pilgrimage had a simple request: God grant victory to Muslims fighting around the world. The prayer by Sheik Saleh al-Taleb to 500,000 people in Mecca's Grand Mosque and nearby streets came as the hajj neared its climax. ``Oh God, give victory to the mujahedeen [holy warriors] everywhere,'' al-Taleb said. ``Give them victory in Palestine. Oh God, make the Muslims triumphant and destroy their enemies, and make this country and other Muslim countries safe. Oh God, inflict your wrath on the criminal Zionists.''
"God, please kill them all!"
After the sermon, pilgrims headed to the tent city of Mina, the last stop before they go to Mount Arafat for a day of prayers and soul-searching that is the main ritual of the annual gathering. Rajab al-Arabi, a Belgian pilgrim of Tunisian origin, said that hearing a Grand Mosque sermon is ``something one wishes all one's life. It's a dream come true.'' But he added that he had expected a stronger message. ``In Belgium, we have Egyptian and Moroccan clerics who freely criticize the hardships of Muslims, which includes the injustice that has befallen Iraq and the occupation it is under,'' he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 12:18:36 PM ||
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Muslims have really gotten a bum rap.
Republican propaganda to demonize Islam.
When will the truth be told ?
(religion of peace, and all that horseshit)
#3
"YES,YES. Iraqi's were much better off before when all they had to worry about was being raped on their wedding day by the Hussain kid and the groom being run through a shredder by his brother. Or bank accounts being cleaned out by this pair. Or dear old dad Hussain putting your eight year old in prison. And the freedom to criticize the Baath regime at all levels just as we have in Belgium. YES YES, we all pray to Allah for the return of this kind of justice." (IDIOT!)
#5
"Muhammed was a liar."
LOL... And, thus, he set the standard for all Muslims to follow... [like the double entendre?]
"Oh God, give victory to the mujahedeen [holy warriors] everywhere..."
... "But he added that he had expected a stronger message."
And what, pray tell, could that be? Oh, he wants call-to-prayer loudspeakers on every corner in Brussells (they've missed a few so far, I guess) and all meat Halal and, as GK points out so well (!!!) the return of Saladin Saddam to his rightful place. After all, what's an Arab state without a cruel dictator?
I once posted a long comment (several months ago - and got reamed for it, too) that Islam is a pathogen. We have holocaust-deniers and flat-worlders and Hyde Park Rangers who believe all sorts of inane shit - so why not have some guilt-ridden holdouts who wanna be eco-friendly to something as obviously virulent and lethal as Islam? Pfeh. It is now, and always has been, a bug - and one with which Freedom cannot coexist - for it precludes symbiosis and tolerance in its very tenets of existence. Someday we'll either quit quibbling and stomp it out - or submit. Ready for a re-run?
#6
Right on, .com. Islam is a farce, an attempt by the "children of Ishmael" to steal the birthright of Abraham from the children of Isaac. It's a perverted parody of Judaism, and a farce upon humanity. The entire thing needs to be classed a nut cult, and all members jugged as being dangerously deluded. The Scots have been known to hold a grudge for 30 generations, but only an Arab would carry a grudge for 4000 years.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 18:38 Comments ||
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#7
"I once posted [...] that Islam is a pathogen."
Slowly, sadly, but inexorably, I am coming to the same conclusion. I've seen precious little to contradict it.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/31/2004 18:47 Comments ||
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#8
Count me in, too, fellas.
If Islam can't cook up a Reformation right quick now--one that includes dropping all references to jihad as holy war on non-Muslims and decides that it means only "inner struggle"--they're going to have to be banned as a "religion" worldwide.
#9
If it isn't a lie than apostasy laws would not be needed. Maybe the source of all the shame in islam. They all know it's a lie but that "honor thy father" thing. Hey if it is good enough for Pa...
Six Saudi security agents seeking militants were killed in a hail of gunfire in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, according to Saudi officials and a statement circulated in the name of al-Qaida on Friday. But the two versions differed after that, including on how the deaths occurred. The Saudi Interior Ministry indicated that they were killed in an ambush Thursday at the home of terror suspect Khaled al-Juwaiser al-Farraj, while the statement attributed to al-Qaida said they died in an exchange of gunfire there.
Knowing something of the veracity of both sides, I don't believe either totally...
The Al-Qaida statement, a copy of which was sent to The Associated Press Friday, said al-Farraj was detained and his father was critically wounded. The Saudi government said the father died. The al-Qaida statement did not explicitly identify the militants as al-Qaida, but referred to them as "mujahedeen," or Islamic holy warriors.
Since only Bad Guys acceptable to Qaeda qualify for the title, what's the difference?
According to the Interior Ministry, al-Farraj was detained Thursday morning before any shooting occurred. Investigators then conducted a routine search of his apartment and the violence erupted. "Bullets were fired in their (agentsâ) direction through the gate of the house" that killed six officials and al-Farrajâs father, a ministry statement said. Riyadh governor Prince Salman said earlier that the government forces "did not fire a single bullet ... because they did not expect to encounter terrorists."
Dumbasses.
The ministry also said that seven people linked to the suspected group were arrested, but it wasnât clear if those arrests came at the scene of the violence or elsewhere. The purported al-Qaida statement said all the militants escaped except al-Farraj.
My guess is that the Soddies rounded up the neighbors...
The al-Qaida statement, which was dated Thursday, vowed to continue fighting the Saudi government and its Western supporters, swearing to "take revenge on anyone who fights the faith and its people, or stands as a line of defense for the Crusader forces." The militantsâ statement, under a headline of "The Voice of Jihad" and signed "The al-Qaida Organization in the Arabian Peninsula," was relayed to news organizations by the Saudi Institute, a dissident Saudi group based in Washington. There was no other immediate verification of the documentâs authenticity, but it resembled the style of previous al-Qaida statements seen by AP. A line of fine print at the top said "The voice of the mujahedeen in the Arab Peninsula," a phrase previously used by al-Qaida. "The mujahedeen will continue on the path and force the infidels out of the Arabian peninsula," the statement said. The Saudi Institute, which monitors human rights in the kingdom and advocates democratic reforms, said it was alerted to the statement by an unidentified colleague in Riyadh. "I believe the statement is authentic. It resembles previous al-Qaida statements in form and language," said Ali al-Ahmed, the instituteâs director.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:14:26 AM ||
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--Six Saudi security agents seeking militants were killed in a hail of gunfire in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, according to Saudi officials and a statement circulated in the name of al-Qaida on Friday.--
Boy! Who expected to find any of those in Soddy Arabia?
Authorities in Saudi Arabia say security forces have discovered a car rigged with explosives, rifles and pistols in a hideout in the capital, Riyadh. Officials say police who had been following a suspected terrorist cell raided two houses, seizing explosives, guns and ammunition. The raids took place on the eve of the hajj pilgrimage in the Saudi city of Mecca. That same day, seven people - including six police - were killed when militants opened fire on them as they searched the house of one of the group members. Saudi Arabia has been fighting a wave of militant violence, blamed on supporters of Saudi-born Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden.
Okay. They uncovered a terrorist cell the hard way, then...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 00:05 ||
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But I don't understand. Al-Q said they were mad because there were infidels in the Holy Land Containing Mecca, but we've all moved to Kuwait and Iraq now.
Oh, wait, do you think they mean the Sauds?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/31/2004 0:16 Comments ||
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Hat tip to Drudge, EFL
British Airways (BAB) has canceled three flights from Heathrow Airport to Washington, D.C., and Miami because of government security concerns, the airline said Saturday. Flight 223 to Washingtonâs Dulles airport will not fly on Sunday or Monday, but is to depart on schedule at 3:05 p.m. local time Saturday, said an airline spokeswoman. U.S. officials said Friday that new intelligence indicated Flight 223 and Air France flights from Paris to an unspecified U.S. city could be terrorist targets. Whatâs with this flight 223?
Flight 207 to Miami will not fly on Sunday, she said, but had departed Saturday morning. The spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, said BA had canceled the flights on the advice of the British government. She cited security fears but gave no further details. "The safety and security of our operations is our absolute priority and will not be compromised," the airline said. More at link
Posted by: Gasse Katze ||
01/31/2004 10:44:57 AM ||
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I don't get it. Why not load up the plane, get it out on the tarmac, then nab your suspects ?
#5
UPDATE: - British Airways (BAB) and Air France on Saturday announced the cancellation of seven flights to and from the United States because of security concerns. BA canceled four flights between Heathrow Airport and Washington on Sunday and Monday and one from Heathrow to Miami on Sunday. Air France canceled two Paris-to-Washington flights. There are no plans to raise the terror alert in the United States because of the latest threats, Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.
Put the wind farm directly down-wind of a modern hog farm and people will be sick for farther away than that.
Onshore wind farms are a health hazard to people living near them because of the low- frequency noise that they emit, according to new medical studies. Doctors say that the turbines - some of which are taller than Big Ben - can cause headaches and depression among residents living up to a mile away. Low grumbling noises give me a headache too ... oh hi darling, what am I writing? Oh nothing nuttinâ at all.
One survey found that all but one of 14 people living near the Bears Down wind farm at Padstow, Cornwall, where 16 turbines were put up two years ago, had experienced increased numbers of headaches, and 10 said that they had problems sleeping and suffered from anxiety. Dr Amanda Harry, a local GP who did the research, said: "People demonstrated a range of symptoms from headaches, migraines, nausea, dizziness, palpitations and tinnitus to sleep disturbance, stress, anxiety and depression. These symptoms had a knock-on effect in their daily lives, causing poor concentration, irritability and an inability to cope." Sounds like Terry McAuliffe after the latest poll.
Dr Harry said that low-frequency noise - which was used as an instrument of torture by the Germans during the Second World War because it induced headaches and anxiety attacks - could disturb rest and sleep at even very low levels. "It travels further than audible noise, is ground-borne and is felt through vibrations," she said. "Some people are having to leave their homes to get away from the nuisance. Yet, despite their obvious suffering, little is being done to relieve the situation and they feel that their plight is ignored." Bet the air is clean, though.
Similar problems have been found by Dr Bridget Osborne, a doctor in Moel Maelogan, a village in North Wales, where three turbines were erected in 2002. She has presented a paper to the Royal College of General Practitioners detailing a "marked" increase in depression among local people. "There is a public perception that wind power is âgreenâ and has no detrimental effect on the environment," said Dr Osborne. "However, these turbines make low-frequency noises that can be as damaging as high-frequency noises. When wind farm developers do surveys to assess the suitability of a site they measure the audible range of noise but never the infrasound measurement - the low-frequency noise that causes vibrations that you can feel through your feet and chest. "This frequency resonates with the human body - their effect being dependent on body shape. There are those on whom there is virtually no effect, but others for whom it is incredibly disturbing." People shaped like Michael Moore have it really bad -- wonder if thatâs his excuse?
There are more than 1,000 turbines on 80 wind farms around Britain. They have rapidly increased in number during the past decade as a result of the Governmentâs aim of getting 10 per cent of Britainâs energy needs from renewable sources by 2010. To meet that target, there would have to be at least 5,000 turbines. ARE YOU READY TO RUMMMMMMBBBBLLLLLEEEEEE???
Mark Taplin, who has lived close to a wind farm near Truro in Cornwall for almost a decade, said: "It has been a miserable, horrible experience. They are 440 metres away but if I step outside and they are not generating I know immediately because I can hear the silence. They grind you down - you canât get away from them. They make you very depressed - the chomp and swoosh of the blades creates a noise that beggars belief." The Greens would complain if they were hung with a new rope.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2004 12:19:46 AM ||
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The Greens would complain if they were hung with a new rope.
Any chance they will be? :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/31/2004 0:22 Comments ||
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Any chance Leni Riefenstahl Barbara Hole-out will be?
Posted by: NotMike Moore ||
01/31/2004 1:01 Comments ||
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Attach flutes and oboes to the tips of the blades so that they make a nice cheery noise?
#4
NotMikeMoore - We don't generally go in for personal abuse here at Rantburg and I suggest you restrict your abuse to left wing sites where it seems to the standard for interaction.
#9
They've been complaining about the wind farms killing birds, too. Guess we human-types just can't do anything right.
Posted by: Dar ||
01/31/2004 10:17 Comments ||
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NotMikeMoore (or maybe you are): Care to explain further? I don't get the joke, or the reference.
Whitecollar redneck: LOL
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/31/2004 10:52 Comments ||
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Continuous low frequency noise is used as torture. No shit, haven't you ever been stuck at a traffic light with some snot-nose blasting Eminem next to you ?
#12
I spent yesterday next to a screaming 200 MW GE Steam Turbine. I feel groovy what with that paycheck 'n' all. Plus my ears are clean from the earplugs. We call that a bonus.
My computer fan on the other hand is out of hand. I am going to lay down now...
#13
Does anyone remember the "Brown Noise" episode of South Park where the whole world sh*t its pants? There has been research in that area concerning crowd control. It's hard to riot when you're carrying a load in your pants.
#14
BS,
I know someone will correct me if I'm wrong (thanks ahead of time) but Leni Riefenstahl made "The Power of Will" for Hitler. I don't understand the reference though.
#15
On another windmill note. Does anyone remember the stink that some of the Kennedy clan were making about the potential windfarm that could be viewed from their compound (Versaille) on the Cape? Freekin' hilarious! Talk about the Bourbons of the US.
#16
NMM wrote: Any chance Leni Riefenstahl Barbara Hole-out will be?
C'mon, NMM, be a sport, we're all supposed to be friends here. You can Barb can have a mutual exchange of blunt instruments elsewhere.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2004 13:09 Comments ||
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As someone with a serious tinnitus and hyperaccusis problem (~70dB at 6000hz, bilateral, constant, with "supporting" sounds ranging from 800hz to about 10,000hz), this is not a joke. My wife and I are seriously moving to an area where our nearest neighbor is ten MILES away, just to get away from extraneous noise.
As for the traffic noise, between the constant bouncing from the potholes to the constant blare of some people's idea of "music", by the time I make the 12-mile one-way commute to take my wife to work or bring her home, I'm a basket case, and need at least two hours of NOTHING in order to recover.
My case isn't "normal", and what these people have to put up with is different, but it's still a serious concern. Sounds like someone didn't do any HUMAN engineering when they were working on the design. Maybe they can relocate these "wind farms" to some more isolated, uninhabited areas, such as some of the bare rocks off the northeast coast of Scotland.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 18:52 Comments ||
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Don't worry about that, Redneck. The clan is probably so shitfaced when they're at "the compound" that they probably see it already. Or visions a lot worse.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/31/2004 19:31 Comments ||
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#20
Whitecollar redneck - I know who that unrepentant Nazi was. What I don't understand is the meaning of his comment.
But then, he probably doesn't either. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/31/2004 21:12 Comments ||
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Frequency of noise
this is from memory - I might be off a bit, but not too much
typical truck exhaust noise is about 300 hz, human voice can as low as about 60 hz and about as high as 1600 hz. Typical male rap singer is about 150 hz but lowest notes of bass guitar are at 60 hz or below
ELF
ITâS a colourful book that sits on a shelf in the countryâs largest Islamic bookshop deep in the southwestern suburbs of Sydney. But unlike much of the texts surrounding it, Jihad and Jurisprudence is considered by moderate Muslims to pose a danger to society. Inside, Western laws are described as null and void and all Muslims are called to participate in violent jihad, or holy war, in "infidel lands".
Its author Abu Qatada is the suspected leader of al-Qaâida in Europe and is under arrest in Britain. Joining a jihad group is, he states, "not a seasonal choice" but a divine order. "Infidel Christians and Jews who live on Muslim lands can be considered protected people, but those who are not in Muslim lands can have no protection and cannot be trusted; they are war infidels."
The Arabic-language book was bought by The Weekend Australian from The Islamic Bookstore, in Sydneyâs Lakemba. It is evidence of what moderate Muslims fear is the spread of radicalising books and pamphlets that could serve as a convincing rationale for terrorism among younger impressionable members of the Australian Muslim community. Among those concerned are the countryâs most senior Islamic leader, Sheikh Taj Din Al Hilaly, and Islamic scholar Mohsen Labban. Both warn this literature could lead to Muslims isolating themselves from mainstream society and create a situation where radical ideas can be incubated. "They (fundamentalists) choose certain translations which have this tendency towards dogmatic and violent attitudes as the meaning of verses (from the Koran)," Mr Labban says. "What we are talking about is shaping the mind. A mind that makes you dogmatic, superior and intolerant towards everyone else. This leads to no tolerance for integration or assimilation or acceptance, and perhaps antagonism towards the rest of society."
Sheikh Hilaly himself is an unwilling recipient of this kind of literature, including the works of the 18th century founder of the fundamentalist Wahhabi form of Islam, Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahhab. But some time ago he made a firm decision about how to deal with the caches of booklets and pamphlets that turn up unsolicited every few months on the doorstop of Lakemba Mosque, the most prominent place of worship for Australiaâs 280,000 Muslims. So seriously does he take the literatureâs ability to influence people, he makes trips to the rubbish tip to dispose of it.
Most of the literature raising concern is Wahabi, the pure form of Islam practised in Saudi Arabia. Based on a strict interpretation of the Koran, Wahabism has developed a negative reputation worldwide because its adherents include Osama bin Laden and his followers as well as Afghanistanâs ousted Taliban. Wahabis believe laws laid down in the Koran, termed Sharia law, should be the way society is governed. Other moderate Muslims say official groups are spreading this literature, rather than a few individuals returning from the Middle East with books in their suitcase. But the moderates are reluctant to name these groups publicly, fearful of dividing the Muslim community and attracting unwanted attention.
The Saudi embassy in Canberra has a dedicated branch called the Daawa Office to distribute Islamic literature but has refused to answer repeated questions from this newspaper about its role. The Weekend Australian understands responsibility for spreading Wahhabi literature worldwide rests with the Muslim World League and its affiliate the International Islamic Relief Organisation, both registered in Australia. They are Saudi government-controlled and have both been implicated in funnelling money to al-Qaâida. The US Central Intelligence Agency says the IIRO funded six militant training camps in Afghanistan. The MWL is run out of an apartment in Melbourneâs northern suburb of Preston. Director Mohamed Ahmed says about four shipping containers of literature arrive every year from Saudi Arabia for distribution in Australia, but says the material is never extremist -- merely copies of the Koran and other booklets to aid sheikhs and imams. Shafiq Rahman Abdullah Khan, who is listed on registration documents as IIRO director, says he has no knowledge of the organisation.
The Australian Government has expressed its concerns to Saudi officials about the distribution of literature as well as money flowing from Saudi Arabia to schools, mosques and Islamic centres in Australia. But it remains a delicate area for the Government. Religious freedom is a fundamental right in any democracy. And the importation and dissemination of fundamentalist doctrine is therefore legal. However, Wahabism remains a potent label that some Muslims use against their rivals to try to damage their reputation. "Itâs a derogatory term that some people use to describe Muslims they donât agree with," says Amir Butler, chair of the Melbourne-based Australian Muslim Public Affairs Committee. "There is no doubt we would like to see him out of there," one member of the coalition says of Sheikh Hilaly.
Jihad and Jurisprudence has a Wahabi rationale. Qatada rejects democracy, elections and parliaments. According to Wahhabism, they contradict Islam because God made laws, not man. Wahhabi followers in Australia exist on the fringes of the peaceful mainstream Muslim community. Qatadaâs book clearly differs. The Jordanian-born cleric says violent jihad should occur everywhere and all Muslims are obliged to participate to remove the infidels. "Muslims, there is no substitute for fire, no substitute for arms, no substitute for blood," he exhorts. As the spittle flows from his lips. In other words, itâs a Religion of Peace
Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison says reports that a Somali man who visited Australia has been charged over alleged links to Al-Qaeda are incorrect.
Well, that's a comfort...
Omar Abdi Mohamed was reportedly charged in the US with allegedly receiving $500,000 from a group accused of links to Al-Qaeda. Senator Ellison says the Somali man did visit Australia, but he has not been charged with any offence related to terrorism.
What offense has he been charged with?
"US authorities have advised us that they have not added Mohamed to any US terrorism watch list," he said. "In fact, according to US authorities with whom our embassy in Washington has consulted, and contrary to media reports, Omar Mohamed has been charged with immigration fraud which is unrelated to any terrorism offences."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 00:02 ||
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He just wanted to visit some tourist sites
Posted by: NotMike Moore ||
01/31/2004 1:03 Comments ||
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A New Zealand court has ruled that a 16-year-old Sri Lankan girl can be deported back to her homeland where she suffered years of sexual abuse. The girl and her grandmother lost an appeal in the Auckland High Court against the refusal by Associate Immigration Minister Damien O'Connor to allow them to stay. Lawyers for the government assured the court that the girl would not be deported until medically fit. The girl's legal representatives argued that would need a major improvement in her psychiatric condition. The Sri Lankans, whose names have been suppressed, initially sought refugee status after arriving almost two years ago. It later emerged that their real reason for travelling to New Zealand was to escape sexual abuse, which began when she was seven.
Oh. Well. That's different. Send her back, then... Uhhh... Where's this O'Connor guy live, precisely?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 00:02 ||
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France will soon pass a law to curb anti-Semitic television broadcasts coming from the Middle East and fine satellite operators who distribute anti-Jewish programs, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said on Saturday. Raffarin told the annual dinner of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) that he and several cabinet ministers had seen some of these broadcasts and found them "unbearable to watch (and) revolting." This followed an appeal by CRIF President Roger Cukierman to block anti-Semitic broadcasts from the Middle East, which officials here say encourage Muslim youths in France to attack Jews to take revenge for Israeli policy against the Palestinians. "I believe deeply that our struggle against hate must take on a new dimension," Raffarin said as he announced the government would submit a bill to parliament to enable French judges to stop a satellite station that broadcasts anti-Semitic material. He said the law would force satellite operators to inform Paris which stations they carried and threaten them with fines if they transmitted provocative broadcasts.
Satellite television is widely watched in the poor suburbs around French cities where most recent anti-Semitic attacks have occurred. Cukierman said: "We see that messages of anti-Jewish hate are invading the air waves. Day after day, they reach households in our cities and suburbs thanks to satellite dishes." He said satellite television broadcasters had beamed into France Egyptian and Syrian programs based on the 19th-century Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious forgery purporting to show Jewish plots to dominate the world. "The Al Manar station, which belongs to Hezbollah, broadcasts from Lebanon unbearable scenes ... one sees actors disguised as Jews who slit the throat of a non-Jewish child and collect in a saucer blood supposedly meant for their unleavened bread," he said. Cukierman said Franceâs 600,000 Jews were living "a period of malaise" and asked what their future would be. "The anti-Jewish climate is spreading at schools and universities, across the whole country. Even small Jewish children have become victims."
Can anybody see the obvious? They denounce the Anti-Semitism report that found that the majority of anti-semitic attacks were caused by followers of the ROP but what do they do?
Ban the Hijab and block Hezbollah TV.
It's so pathetic it must be French.
Posted by: Daniel King ||
02/01/2004 13:57 Comments ||
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(2004-01-31) -- Allowing European Union (EU) nations to sell advanced weaponry to the communist Chinese dictatorship will help maintain global balance, according to the French Foreign Minister who wants the EU to drop its embargo on such sales. "There is a balance in world affairs -- a yin and yang, if you will," said Dominique de Villepin (who is a man). "There will always be iron-fisted regimes and there will always be oppressed people yearning for freedom. It's part of the circle of life. By selling military technology to China at a time when dictatorships are threatened by the forces of freedom, we help assure that balance is maintained. Besides, if we don't sell to them, all the Chinese money keeps going to the Russians, whose weapons aren't nearly as effective as ours." While the United States opposes arms sales due to China's record of human rights abuses, Mr. de Villepin said the term 'human rights' is "open to interpretation."
"It's such a loaded term," he said. "Every time the U.S. wants to stop us from arming a dictatorship, they throw out that red herring." Mr. de Villepin said, however, that France and her allies had learned something from the experience of selling weapons to Saddam Hussein while Iraq was under U.N. sanctions. "As your American Girl Scouts say, 'get the money before you give them the cookies'," he said.
Posted by: Mercutio ||
01/31/2004 11:30:37 AM ||
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Mr. de Villepin said the term âhuman rightsâ is "open to interpretation."
#4
It must be very convienent for the eurotrash to have morality when it suits them but if it is the pocketbook anything goes.
This is another example of how much france has become an enemy of the US.
The frogs are basically barred from selling to taiwan (trying to cheat your customers doesn't endure a long standing commerical relationship) and now they switch sides for the dollar.
Posted by: Dan ||
01/31/2004 16:49 Comments ||
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Looks like the clue bat used on France and Germany (or maybe just Germany) is beginning to work. Joschka Fischer, the German foreign minister, has made a dramatic attempt to improve relations with Britain by indicating his willingness to abandon the push for a full European government. Speaking to the Telegraph today in his first interview with a British newspaper since the Iraq war, he appears to accept that his federalist dreams are now unrealistic. He says that while EU institutions must be made more effective, a community of 25 will work best when "resting on strong member states".
He admits that he "learned a lot" from the Iraq conflict, which split the EU down the middle, with Britain and many smaller countries under bitter attack from Berlin and Paris for backing US strategy. The dispute raised fundamental questions of how close European neighbours with different histories and traditions could agree on vital joint policies. Mr Fischer has clearly thought long and hard since the battles of the summer. "At the end, I think all the countries have the same interest: a strong Europe," he says. "But we have different traditions, different political disputes at home, complicated parliaments, complicated majorities... but this is Europe. We have to balance that and go forward. Language and history matter in Europe and we have to understand these different histories and the difficulties."
Mr Fischer gives an assurance that Europe will not become a superstate: "Nobody has an interest in a European superstate in the way it is described by Eurosceptics, especially in the United Kingdom." His wish is that Europe should act more effectively on issues such as foreign policy and trade, subjects on which small nations struggle to make their voice heard.
Mr Fischer, a former street-fighting anarchist in the 1970s, is now one of Europeâs most popular politicians. His comments represent a sharp change of tone from four years ago, when he shocked sceptics by floating the idea of a European government in Brussels, with a bicameral European parliament. His references to British history indicate that, rather than wanting to team up with France and leave Britain behind in an expanding Europe, Berlin has edged closer to Londonâs pragmatic view of the EU and is keener than ever to build bridges. Mr Fischer says he hopes that more young people in Britain will learn about Germanyâs post-war history and therefore come to understand how it approaches Europe. Noting that his nation was destroyed by what he describes as "Nazi barbarians", he says that German leaders have long backed closer EU integration as the best guarantor of peace. He describes the European constitution as an "excellent compromise" between Britainâs reluctance to pool sovereignty and Germanyâs post-war preference for concentrating more power at European level. He suggests that he now regards the constitution as the high water mark of integration.
Mr Fischerâs comments, including reassurances that Europeâs defence policy will not lead to the creation of an EU army or compromise Nato, will also reassure the Americans who feared that France and Germany might use their EU ambitions to set up a rival power to the US. He refuses to be drawn on whether he and Germans in general feel vindicated by growing evidence that intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was faulty. He says he was not convinced by the case for war but emphasises the need to "win the peace".
⢠Italy and Spain last night attacked what they described as moves by Britain, Germany and France to take command of EU policy-making. Tony Blair plans to meet Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and President Jacques Chirac in Berlin next month to align policies in a range of areas, raising fears among other member states. Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, said the creation of a directorate of countries was "a worry for those who believe Europe is a mechanism for power-sharing, not a mechanism for the concentration of a hard core of power".
Posted by: tipper ||
01/31/2004 11:07:01 AM ||
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That piece of sh*t fischer is a terrorist mutt who should be in a cell in Gitmo.
#2
Correct me if I'm wrong TGA, but I believe that Fischer's sole previous political experience was 'throwing stones a police during political rallies'. An upstanding citizen he is.
The western Ukrainian city of Lviv incured Russia's ire Wednesday after the city council approved the placement of an "informational tablet" about the late Chechen rebel leader Dzhokhar Dudayev. Lviv's city council had previously irritated Russia for a similar incident shortly after Dudayev's death in 1996, when it approved a request from Ukrainian nationalists to change a street originally named after 19th-century Russian author Mikhail Lermontov to be named after Dudayev. Referring to the intention of putting up a memorial plaque, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Boris Malakhov assailed Lviv officials' "lack of understanding" and condemned plans to further commemorate "an odious personality" who supported terrorists.
"Those people are crazy!" he said, mournfully...
Iryna Podolyak, head of the international relations department of the Lviv mayor's office, denied a statement by a Russian official that Lviv had agreed to allow a civic organization place a memorial Dudayev at a street named after him. She said that the city council denied the request because the Chechen warlord had no historical connection to the town. However, the council agreed that an informational tablet could be placed there so that people would know who the person the street was named after was. Before his death, Dudayev was the guiding force and top commander of the separatist movement in the Russian republic of Chechnya, where the second war in a decade is in its fourth year. Some Ukrainian nationalists maintained close ties with Dudayev and even fought with the Chechen rebels in the first 199496 war.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:50:43 AM ||
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KERRY O'BRIEN: The occupation of Iraq has turned out to be a bloody and thankless task for America and its allies. Now it's said that much of the suicide bombing offensive there post-war has been the work of an Al Qaeda-linked network in Europe. That network goes by the name of Ansar al-Islam, a radical Kurdish Islamic group that supported the former regime of Saddam Hussein. It was originally based in northern Iraq, but the head of the organisation now lives in Norway and America is putting pressure on the Scandinavian nation to take action.
Of course it's purely American pressure. Norway has nothing to fear from men with turbans and automatic weapons who've declared war against Crusaders and Jews...
PETER MARSHALL, BBC REPORTER: Tranquil and splendid in its Scandinavian isolation, Norway has the freshest, clearest climes in Europe. Peace is in the very air. But Norway is now said to have spawned the latest wave of international terrorism. Here, both hunted and harboured by Western democracies, is the man allegedly behind suicide bombings in Iraq and beyond, a man accused of laying a path for Al Qaeda. His name is Mullah Krekar.
Mullah Krekar is at least the titular head of Ansar al-Islam. He appears to be the guy in charge of the Kurdish hicks they use for muscle. Included within the structure of Ansar is also al-Tawhid, headed by Zarqawi, who is actually Helmut, Speaking for Boskone... Or maybe Ernst Stavro Blofeld. We're not sure yet...
One of Oslo's poorest suburbs.
"Poor" in Norway is a relative thing...
Ever since Norway gave him asylum 13 years ago, it's been home to Mullah Krekar. As an Iraqi Kurd, he was opposed to Saddam's regime, but he was also the sworn enemy of other Kurdish groups and of the West, for Krekar wanted no less than an Islamic state.
Which, of course, fits right in with the Norwegian ethos, because... ummm... Well, because it does. Somehow.
He set up a small army to achieve it, its name ⊠Ansar al-Islam.
I thought you already said that, Pete. That's why I explained it.
GUIDO OLIMPIO, AUTHOR, NETWORK OF TERROR. It's very important in the radical arena. Everybody talk about in the mosques about it. Al-Ansar is a big movement and they are ready to fight and they are ready to die against the Americans, so it is very important.
Everybody. In the mosques. In Norway. Sven, what's wrong with this picture?
PETER MARSHALL: His refugee status in Norway secure, Mullah Krekar had secretly returned to the mountains of northern Iraq to lead radical Islamists. By December 2001, he formed Ansar al-Islam.
You keep saying that...
Its members, some 500 of the most militant guerrilla fighters, raged war on the PUK, the regional administration. They were denounced as terrorists by the US.
"Hmmm... Yasss... Turbans... Automatic weapons... Kill people... Marvin!"
"Yes, Mr. Secretary!"
"Denounce them as terrorists!"
PETER MARSHALL: Is your brother a terrorist?
Oh, Pete! That's such a hard question!
KHALID AHMED, MULLAH KREKAR'S BROTHER: No, I don't know. I don't think so.
"I mean, he ain't never exploded or nothin'!"
PETER MARSHALL: But he is the leader of Ansar al-Islam.
By now I'm getting the impression he's the leader of Ansar al-Islam or something...
KHALID AHMED: You know, he was the leader of this group from December 2001 up to May 2002, and this time there was no fighting between PUK and Ansar al-Islam and there was talking.
Well, who were those guys they were fighting, then? You know, the 'Boom! Boom! Allahu akbar!' episodes? The ones where the guys with the turbans and beards were cutting people's throats?
PETER MARSHALL: It's a legalistic answer which some say barely disguises the truth. Mullah Krekar has been of concern to intelligence agencies around the world. They tracked his labyrinthine trail across Asia and Europe.
They nabbed him in the Netherlands, on a tipoff from the Medes and the Persians, and the Dutchies didn't have the cojones to jug him. They sent him on to Norway, land of gorgeous blondes and the limpest court system outside of Belgium...
The Dutch had found Krekar with what looked like an inventory of Ansar's fighting capabilities. They'd enough supplies for five or six months of warfare on the front or two years or more for fighting as guerillas. Back in Norway, Krekar was acquitted of a subsequent terrorism charge on the grounds that his group was waging war and thus couldn't be considered terrorist.
No matter how many people's throats they cut...
From Oslo, Khalid Ahmad runs an Islamist website. Norwegian prosecutors believe his brother, Mullah Krekar, has been doing the same, but he's been using the Internet to command Ansar terrorists. The Norwegians are currently holding Mullah Krekar in connection with two Ansar bombing attempts in northern Iraq. They say they've plenty of witnesses, most notably this young would-be suicide bomber who was thwarted before he could self-detonate. As well as demonstrating his failed technique, he's made a lengthy confession saying he was trained and inspired to kill by Mullah Krekar. In the land which has long been a haven of accord and conciliation, a venue for conferences on peace, the Krekar affair marks an important change ⊠innocence betrayed.
"Oh, Sven! I feel so betrayed!"
"Oh, hold me, Ole!"
When Norwegian TV showed distraught relatives of suicide bombers damning Krekar, the country was shocked.
"Cheeze, Helga! I'm shocked!"
"Me, too, Sven. Is there any more fish?"
CARL HAGEN, LEADER, NORWAY PROGRESS PARTY: For a long time, when Mullah Krekar has been on television, he's been the kind old grandfather who wouldn't kill a fly. But of course, in the last week or so when we had more videotapes from Iraq and his former position, I think the attitude among the Norwegian public is even more against Mullah Krekar than it was before, and I think they're furious with the Government for not getting the guy out of Norway.
"Ya, sure! T'row the bum out!"
PETER MARSHALL: Intelligence agencies looking into Krekar's activities over the last 15 years have found he was a man who liked to travel. With asylum in Norway, he moved around Europe, ostensibly preaching, staying at various times in Britain, Germany, Sweden and, on more than one occasion, in Italy ⊠in Milan. The Italians had independently turned up Krekar's name and phone numbers in their own inquiries into Islamist terror networks. They became convinced something new was happening. Italian intelligence believes that it was at this mosque, the Via Quaranta in the centre of Milan, that the link between the Krekar-founded Ansar al-Islam and Bin Laden's Al Qaeda was forged. The Italians became convinced of the al-Ansar/Al Qaeda alliance when they placed two suspects from Via Quaranta mosque in a bugged cell. One was a suspected al-Ansar operative. The other, who had flown in from London, was allegedly Al Qaeda. The Milan prosecutor, in a rare interview, told us Al Qaeda turned to Krekar's Ansar al-Islam because Ansar had a ready-made terrorist infrastructure.
Comes as a surprise, doesn't it? Pete missed the best part, though. It had a ready-made terrorist infrastructure because al-Qaeda provided the funding and the cadres that set it up. Abu Zubayda was its controller when it was just getting off the ground as a "little Afghanistan."
STEFANO DAMBRUOSO, ITALIAN PROSECUTOR: We found that principally Ansar served this kind of group in terms of logistical support and help for their activity, especially for training their people in the area where they had already organised some camps.
Ummm... They're a wholly owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda...
PETER MARSHALL: The Italians believe they've traced the bombers' route. They're recruited in European mosques, travelling from Milan down through Syria and then into Iraq. For 10 years, Guido Olimpio has been warning of the dangers of Al Qaeda and their alliances. This is exactly the sort of network he envisaged.
It's actually not very original. Clandestine terror networks are kind of constrained to fit into an organizational mold, mainly because no other approach works.
PETER MARSHALL: Was the fact that the Americans were interested in Iraq and perhaps going to invade Iraq was that an attraction or deterrent for Al Qaeda?
They were active in Iraq as a thorn in the side of Kurdistan before the U.S.A. got interested in them. They first showed up shortly before 9-11-01. Very shortly before it, in fact.
GUIDO OLIMPIO: It was an attraction, definitely. We observed very new phenomena. A lot of people, in the months before the war, started to say, "We are ready to fight. We would like to fight in Iraq against America."
That's because the mosques were swarming with recruiters, many of them no doubt Sammy's agents, other al-Qaeda or Takfiri who were out to make points at the expense of the Great Satan. Not only did they get the lunks from Europe and the Middle East willing to strap on an explodo-vest, they also managed to get a bunch of human shields on board to make fools of themselves.
PETER MARSHALL: The Italians and other Western agencies are now working on the theory that the Ansar al-Islam/Al Qaeda group is responsible for some of the most murderous attacks in Iraq since the war was declared over. From the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August to the attack on the Al-Rashid Hotel and the Red Cross Thingy in October, some 70 people have been killed and hundreds injured. There's also suspicion, because of the methods and level of planning, that the network may have been involved in November's bombings in Istanbul which left over 60 dead. But what of Mullah Krekar?
I dunno. What of him? You're telling the story, Pete.
Last month on Arab TV, he was introduced as the leader of Ansar al-Islam. He didn't demur. To Western intelligence and the Americans in particular, this confirms what they already believe. Norway's wariness of America's approach to the war on terror has led to questions about the evidence against Mullah Krekar.
"Sven, I got some questions about the evidence against Mullah Krekar!"
PROFESSOR STAALE ESKELAND, OSLO UNIVERSITY: The main evidence, as far as I can see, comes from witnesses in Iraq.
Yep. That's where the corpses are.
They are in the custody of PUK, which is under American control, and then the representatives of the Norwegians prosecutions go down there and make interviews with them, and I think they're completely unreliable.
"I can tell these things without going myself. I'm a professor, y'know."
You cannot know whether they tell the truth or not because they're under such a great pressure.
"So obviously it's all lies and we should give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he hasn't killed anybody I know!"
ERLING GRIMSTAD, CENTRAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT, NORWAY: We have more than 1,200 pieces of evidence in this case and it's--
"Hey! You cut me off, sucker!"
PETER MARSHALL: So you're not just relying on confessions?
What the hell do you think? Have you ever investigated anything?
PETER MARSHALL: I'm a journalist! I investigate stuff all the time. Stuff like this.
ERLING GRIMSTAD: No, this is all a puzzle ⊠all this puzzle has to fit into each other to make us believe in a certain fact of information.
"Y'see, one piece confirms another or disproves another. You put them together and then look at more pieces and either prove or disprove them. It's kind of hard to explain to somebody who's a journalist, even if he investigates stuff. Like this."
PETER MARSHALL: If the puzzle doesn't add up to a conviction, in the next week, Norway could release Mullah Krekar, the man who founded and inspires the group who've opened the doors of Iraq to Al Qaeda.
That'd be Ansar al-Islam, I'll bet. Wouldn't it, Pete? (Toldja they had a limp court system.)
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 00:53 ||
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#2
One correction: Sven is a Swedish name. Not sure where Helga is common, but it sure isn't Norway. Try Ola & Kari for your archetypal Norwegians, should you ever have need for them again.
#5
Great article Fred. Loved the commentary too. It would seem that slowly the Norwegians are waking up too the truth. I'm impressed a journalist had the balls to make this report over there.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/31/2004 13:43 Comments ||
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#6
Thanks for the article and commentary. Fortunately, the aricle never used the phrase "spiritual leader of Ansar-al-Islam" which I have seen over and over in the press about Mullah Krekar. I'll grant him some leadership skillz...but no way does any of this involve spirituality!
#7
Part of the recent Amnesty International rant against the US included condemning the US for acting as if it was engaged in a war against terrorists,when AI thought the US should treat the terrorists as criminals,w/civil rights,etc.
Note that "Back in Norway,Krekar was acquited...on the grounds that HIS GROUP WAS WAGING WAR AND THUS COULDN'T BE CONSIDERED TERRORIST."Norway is thus in agreement with the US on the status of the terrorists as engaging in war,not a criminal enterprise.Wonder if Amnesty International will condemn Norway now?
Posted by: Stephen ||
01/31/2004 17:36 Comments ||
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Russia's nuclear forces reportedly are preparing their largest maneuvers in two decades, an exercise involving the test-firing of missiles and flights by dozens of bombers in a massive simulation of an all-out nuclear war. President Vladimir Putin is expected to personally oversee the maneuvers, which are apparently aimed at demonstrating the revival of the nation's military might and come ahead of Russian elections in March. Time-honored tactic in Russia.
The business newspaper Kommersant said the exercise was set for mid-February and would closely resemble a 1982 Soviet exercise dubbed the "seven-hour nuclear war" that put the West on edge. Goody.
Official comments on the upcoming exercise have been sketchy. The chief of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, was quoted by the Interfax-Military News Agency as saying the planned maneuvers would involve several launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles in various regions of Russia, but he wouldn't give further details. Wonder if any will land on Chechnya? Kommersant said the maneuvers would involve Tu-160 strategic bombers test-firing cruise missiles over the northern Atlantic. Analysts describe such an exercise as an imitation of a nuclear attack on the United States. I suspect we'll have some air and naval units at a discreet distance practicing how we'll respond to a nuclear attack.
Other groups of bombers will fly over Russia's Arctic regions and test-fire missiles at a southern range near the Caspian Sea, the newspaper said. The military also plans to launch military satellites from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the Plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia - a simulation of the replacement of satellites lost in action, Kommersant said. Russia's system warning of an enemy missile attack and a missile defense system protecting Moscow will also be involved in the exercise, it added. Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent military analyst, said the military has regularly held nuclear exercises that were timed to coincide with the annual test-firing of aging Soviet-built missiles. "It has been a routine affair, but it can be expanded if they want a show," he said. Seems like that's what the new Russian army can do best, put on a show.
Putin has repeatedly pledged to rebuild Russia's military might and restore pride to the demoralized service. When he ran for his first term in 2000, he flew as a second pilot in a fighter jet and later donned naval officer's garb on a visit to a nuclear submarine - images that played well with many voters who are nostalgic for Soviet global power and military prestige. Mission accomplished! And look, no protests. Kommersant said Moscow had notified Washington about the exercise, describing it as part of efforts to fend off terror threats even though it imitates the Cold War scenario of an all-out war. "You boys won't mind if we dust off a few books from 1987 in response, will you?"
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2004 12:45:56 AM ||
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Oh, boy, are they going to start standing on balconies in pecking order, too?????
#3
wonder if any of the Tu-160's will stack it like one did the other month.personally i think the russians are sold out and should give up trying to be big hard and clever,it dosn't suit thier decrepid armed forces,fools.
#4
Um "aging Soviet-built missiles", that for some reason sounds more threatening than a modern missile if only for the fact that I worry bout it exploding during launch. Joking aside this line worries me a bit "images that played well with many voters who are nostalgic for Soviet global power and military prestige. "
I just wonder what groups are speaking here? Life under the Soviets wasn't what you'd describe as "pleasant".
Posted by: Val ||
01/31/2004 7:12 Comments ||
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#5
"...a missile defense system protecting Moscow..."
Aren't the Russians some of the people screaming the loudest about America developing a missle sheild.
Sounds like"Do as I say,not as I do."
#6
this line worries me a bit "images that played well with many voters who are nostalgic for Soviet global power and military prestige. "
Nothing new, believe me. These are the same quacks that came out a few days ago for the 80th anniversary of Lenin's death. Same ones that paraded during the 75th anniversary...and the 70th....65th...
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/31/2004 8:05 Comments ||
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#7
commies in russia are finished,probably the most corrupt nation on this earth with thousands of nukes dotted all about the place and enriched uranium stores in wooden warehouses with 2 gaurds and a rusty padlock on the door,was it not long ago some one thieved a whole fuckin power plant away from a russian navel base,jesus whats to stop them pinching a few nukes, and yet people still claim America is the still the biggest and most dangerous country on the planet.Amazes me how dumb some people are. As for putin kicking up a fuss about BMD,just how stupid does he think we are,i mean its not as if they could deploy one they wouldn,t - oh wait they already have around Mosco. Just another case of the Loony left doing the enamys work for them when they say BMD shouldn't be built, makes my blood boil with anger!
#8
Very good points - at the same time, however, I'd feel a lot safer if the Russians were better at this, since a highly skilled team in the silos will not be so busy trying to remember the sequence of tasks that they don't get confirmation.
Posted by: Colin MacDougall ||
01/31/2004 12:58 Comments ||
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I'm even more concerned about the TIMING of this exercise. Al Qaida promises to "make its biggest strike ever" against the United States by Feb 2. Maybe the Russians know something we don't - like, that may include a nuclear strike, and they want to be in their holes and ready, in case the US retaliates. Either way, both A-Q and Russia would lose, but it would be a huge mess to clean up after.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 19:43 Comments ||
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Reuters
Three Muslim rebels were killed in Indian Kashmir on Saturday when a fierce gunbattle broke out between troops and rebels hiding in a mosque. Army spokesman Colonel Dharam Adhikari told Reuters the militants had fired with heavy weapons on soldiers surrounding the mosque. "...all three terrorists were killed. A search is still going on," he said. One soldier was seriously wounded. The gunbattle happened as people in Kashmir were preparing to celebrate Islam's second biggest festival, Eid-al-Adha. Militants have sought refuge in the past in mosques across Jammu and Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in predominantly Hindu India. Most other sieges have ended in bloodshed.
G'bye, boyz. Say hello to Himmler for us.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 20:29 ||
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The âfatherâ of Pakistanâs nuclear bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has been removed from the post of scientific advisor to Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali for his alleged involvement in the proliferation of sensitive technology to Iran and Libya.
Wow! My surprise meter just pegged!
The action followed a meeting of the National Nuclear Command Authority, chaired by President Pervez Musharraf. He was removed to "facilitate" an ongoing probe into the proliferation, officials in Islamabad said.
Trying to keep a certain distance between his files and the shredder, eh?
On Friday, Pakistan Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told the local Pakistani media: "There is no evidence against Dr A Q Khan and he is not a suspect as yet."
That's the thing with information ministers: you always expect them to lie through their teeth.
He added, "We are questioning a number of scientists and some of them are suspects, but Dr Khan is not amongst them."
"He's in a class by himself!"
Sources allege that Khan was the kingpin of a nuclear bazaar where the highest bidder was sold nuclear weapons technology. Whether Khan was acting on his own, or at the behest of key military figures within the Pakistani establishment has yet to be determined. Earlier this week, Pakistani diplomatic sources claimed Bhopal-born Khan spent $1 million in gifts and preparations for his two daughtersâ weddings. This week, Pakistani opposition figures told rediff.com that Khan, who is compared by his well wishers to Albert Einstein, had been gifted a villa on the Caspian Sea and access to exclusive caviar fishing rights by Iran in exchange for vital information about uranium enrichment technology. Then, one of Khanâs former Dutch colleagues, who worked with the Pakistani scientist at the exclusive FDO laboratories in Amsterdam, told rediff.com how Khan used "every trick in the book" to steal confidential blueprints that facilitated Pakistanâs nuclear breakthrough and established it as the worldâs seventh nuclear power after the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and India.
Einstein... ummm... probably didn't do that. I'm not sure Bohr did, either.
On Thursday night, Pakistani diplomatic sources, comparing Khan to a "Karol Bagh lala", detailed the metallurgistâs purchase of a $400,000 Teflon marquee for one of his daughterâs weddings as well as lavish gifts of BMWs and houses for his daughters and sons-in-law. No questions were asked about Khanâs lifestyle, his frequent trips abroad -- always first class -- and his lengthy periods of residence under an assumed name at some of the worldâs most expensive hotels.
The report gathered dust until fresh investigations were ordered on the instructions of ISI chief Lieutenant General Mahmoud Ahmad, who handed his findings over to President Pervez Musharraf in 2001. Late last year, unable to ignore the mounting evidence of Khanâs lifestyle, Musharraf confronted Khan to ask why he had breached Pakistanâs trust.
"Abdul Qadeer, I feel so betrayed!"
Drastic action against Khan is considered unlikely since he is genuinely popular in Pakistan. In the unlikely event of his ever being prosecuted, he would reveal the names of those within the upper ranks of the Pakistani army who collaborated with him in his nuclear adventures. But the turmoil around Khan and his activities has also thrown up evidence of how much some of Pakistanâs younger scientists resent his bagging all the credit for his adopted countryâs nuclear achievements. His fiery temper and his willingness to spend up to Rs 50 million in publicizing his own achievements has not helped either.
His ego was taking up all the space, was it?
In one recent interview, he was asked about the benefits of being âTheâ Dr Khan. He replied: âIf I escort my wife to the plane when she is flying somewhere, the crew will take notice of who she is and she will receive VIP treatment from the moment she steps on the plane. As for me, I canât even stop by the roadside at a small hut to drink chai without someone paying for me. People go out of their way to show the love and respect for me. It is very gratifying.âAsked when he last paid for dinner, Khan said in the same interview, âItâs been a long time, I canât remember, but I have never tried to take undue advantage of who I am. Once, I was leaving the VIP lounge at an airport, and the security guard asked to see my VIP lounge card. I didnât scream and wave my arms and say âDonât you know who I am?â
"I just had him killed. On the spot."
âI just took my card out of my pocket and showed it to him, that man was just doing his job, and that wasnât a problem for me at all. His supervisor did come and yell at him though, he waved his arms and said âDonât you know who this is? This is Dr Qadeer Khan!â
That was when he was killed on the spot.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 12:13:07 PM ||
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While India and Pakistan are getting ready to move the peace process forward, the government has also initiated a back-channel dialogue with the jihadis in an attempt to get them to fall in line and not mount attacks in Indian-held Kashmir.
Yep. That oughta work.
Insiders told TFT the regime is holding secret meetings with key jihadi leaders and persuading them take the January 6 Declaration as a development that affords a win-win situation for all sides. Perhaps because of this track-II with the jihadi groups the state-run media as well as jihadi leaders have toned down their rhetoric against India. Some jihadi leaders TFT spoke with said they were no more concerned with the solution of Kashmir under the UN resolutions but the issue must be resolved to the satisfaction of the Kashmiris. Efforts are also in progress to convince the jihadis on the Chenab formula that suggests the division of the culturally, geographically, historically and economically distinct Jammu and Ladakh regions along religious lines and the merger of all the Muslim-majority areas â Doda, Poonch, Rajouri and Kargil â of these two regions. Earlier, the jihadis have been rejecting the Chenab formula. The jihadi leadership is also being asked to adopt a new interpretation of jihad.
I doubt that'll happen. Too much money in it.
The jihadi leaders have also been asked to change the editorial policy of their publications. Before the 12th SAARC Summit, the website of the defunct Lashkar e-Taiba was posting highly provocative stories about India. That does not seem to be the case now. What is being published is reproduction of political news stories. During the 12th SAARC Summit, the establishment had sealed the LeTâs office located just in front of the Holiday Inn Hotel. The Indians had set up their media center at the Holiday Inn. Some Indian journalists walked to the LeTâs office to interview Hafiz Saeed! But they were disappointed to find it locked.
According to a section of the media, information was provided to India on the whereabouts of Hizbul Mujahideenâs Chief Operational Commander Ghulam Rasood Dar who has since been killed. âIn line with the understanding with Brajesh Mishra, India received lists and intelligence co-operation from Pakistan as regards Kashmiri separatists and their bases. For this reason there has been a marked increase in the violence and success of the Indian forces in tracking down and killing Kashmiri fighters in Jammu and Kashmir,â claims a portal. However, such reports have been denied by both the government of Pakistan and the Hizbul Mujahideenâs spokesman Salim Hashmi. Some political analysts are not ready to buy such denials and believe that in the days to come more jihadis are likely to meet the fate of Dar. Hizb disagrees with such assertions and calls them âbaselessâ. Itâs possible, there has long been a rumor than Benazir Bhutto gave Indiaâs Prime Minister detailed lists of Khalistan separatists in the early 90âs, which lead to the eradication of that particular separatist movement by the security services.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/31/2004 8:42:27 AM ||
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MMA divided over Islamisation
According to Peshawar Diary in Jang, Jamaat Islami and JUI(F) were divided over details of the Hisba Act but the reason for its delay was being laid at the door of governor NWFP. The first disagreement was over the definition of âIslamic scholarâ as the ombudsman of the province. The two parties were not agreed over what constituted a learned man. On two committees under the Hisba Act, the Public Safety Committee and the Educational Committee, there were differences too. The two thought that their candidates were more qualified to serve as their chairmen. They also disagreed over the criteria set up to include journalists in the committees. The governor had taken exception to the setting up of Hisba Force and Hisba Court in the draft because the courts and the police already existed in the province. He had sent the bill for scrutiny to the Council of Islamic Ideology for a ruling but no response had been received from it. (The Council is down to two persons which means lack of quorum and the president has not yet appointed members of the Council.)
America âtrouble makerâ
Columnist Abdul Qadir Hassan wrote in Jang that the worldâs dominant powers liked India and thought Pakistan was a dangerous state which had to be kept under pressure. Unfortunately we have wasted our time and allowed ourselves to become weak with no weight in the international world. This was a period of our weakness and should be passed by us carefully not provoking anyone but not collapsing either. He wrote that Iran had succumbed and so had Libya. Iran which was thought to be a strong ideological state had bent before the trouble-making state America. It was obvious that we had to compromise, but our leaders should not do it willingly but unwillingly by first taking the people into confidence.
Saddam is at large!
According to daily Din, Saddam Hussein was not under arrest but had been seen in the city of Falluja. The people of Falluja said that the Saddam the Americans caught was phoney and a look-alike while the real Saddam had been with them. A group of people went to the Falluja mosque and swore on the Holy Quran that they had indeed seen the real Saddam Hussein after his alleged arrest in Tikrit.
Adviser Rana Ijaz in âtrubbelâ
Quoted in Khabrain adviser to Punjab chief minister Rana Muhammad Ijaz said that Muslims were wallowing in backwardness and that good Muslims should now start wearing pants. He said Muslim dress was not liked by anyone in the world and when he went out of the country he always wore pants. He said the mullahs of Islam had given nothing to the world because all the great inventions had come from the Christian world. While announcing that the government would celebrate Christmas officially he said that the maulavis were pulling at one anotherâs beard. In answer the maulavis said that Rana Ijaz was seeking to endear himself to the non-Muslims and thus threatening the country with sectarianism. They said only an illiterate person could think of wearing the Western dress. They said scientific inventions had come from the Islamic scientists in the past. They accused Rana Ijaz of having gone mad.
Gujranwala a religious city
According to Nawa-e-Waqt, Maulana Ubaidullah, Amir of Jamaat Islami of Gujranwala, said that Gujranwala was a religious city whose youth had played a big role in jihad in the past but now there was a conspiracy to spread obscenity and nudity in the city. He said that on a chowk in the city a cinema had put up a huge poster which had offended him. He said the cinema people probably thought that religious parties and the police had become weak. He said he would make his own plans if the city administration did not take the poster down.
Bahais declared apostate by Al Azhar
According to Khabrain, the Al Azhar University of Egypt had declared that the Bahai community was not Muslim because they did not accept the prophethood of Muhammad PBUH. In fact they were a mixture of different beliefs and were working for the Zionists.
Fraud without âribaâ
Writing in Khabrain Munir Ahmad Munir recounted that one Haji Muhammad Yusuf of Tablighi Jamaat traded in cloth and boasted that he would work without the curse of bank interest (riba) after which Allah will increase his profits. Members of Tablighi Jamaat and widows invested with him and he gave them returns of up to twenty percent. But after his business had taken off the Haji disappeared with 10,000,000 Rupees of his investors and was not to be found again.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/31/2004 8:30:23 AM ||
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It's been ages since we had nuggets, I've been famished for news.
Police and the military authorities averted a missile attack by defusing three long-range missiles fitted with timers here on Friday evening.
Define "long-range."
The three timers had been set at 4 am, 5 am and 6 am for Saturday and were attached to the missiles loaded on a multi-barrel long-range missile launcher at a mountain in Shahpur village close to the Pakistan Airforce Base, Kohat. Sources said that the targets of the missile attack were different locations of the Kohat air base. The base also serves as a technical training centre for recruits where 1200 cadets are present round the year. A Peshawar-based military officer who didnât want to be identified, confirmed the report saying that "Missiles ready to be fired with timers have been recovered". However, he said he had no knowledge about the target of the attack or the direction of the missiles.
"Over that way, someplace, I reckon..."
According to sources in Kohat, a police patrol under the supervision of DSP City Quresh Khan, deputed in the wake of a rocket attack on the PAF base in Kohat, three days ago, found these missiles at 5.45 pm on Friday and informed senior officials. Soon army and airforce authorities and police reached the scene and cordoned off the area, said the sources. The SSP, Kohat, Mr Abid Ali, told Dawn that the length of each missile was 3.5 feet and their make was Russian.
Boy, ain't that a surprise... Unpeg those eyebrows! You'll scare somebody!
He said the local army and airforce teams had dismantled the system and were moving the launcher and missiles from the mountain for further inspection and investigations. It may be mentioned that more than 350 Al Qaeda members were ferried from the Kohat base to the Guantanamo detention camp, Cuba, via Afghanistan in 2002. During protest meetings held in those days, some groups had warned the government of attacking the Kohat prison, where these suspects had been kept and interrogated, and the air base.
Which groups? Have you considered rounding them up and asking them pointed questions?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:45:01 AM ||
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The Armyâs new Stryker vehicle had its first combat encounter with a rocket-propelled grenade Friday. The round struck the front of the vehicle above its slat armor cage, cutting a hose inside the engine compartment. The vehicle commander suffered a superficial cut near his nose, officials said. But the Fort Lewis crew was otherwise unhurt and drove the vehicle out of danger, their company commander and 1st sergeant said. Good design or good luck? Hope itâs the former.
It was one of four RPG attacks on Strykers on Friday in Mosul. The other three rounds missed. Itâs hard to be accurate when you start running before you fire.
Soldiers throughout the brigade had figured it was only a matter of time before a Stryker was hit by an RPG, one of the most widely available anti-armor weapons in the world. Commanders said the attacks are proof that local insurgents are finished with merely observing the new vehicles moving about the city streets. More details at link.
#1
The grenade was fired from close range - less than 300 feet...
About a football field away? Is that what they consider "short" range? I'd have thought anything under 50 yds would be short range.
Posted by: Dar ||
01/31/2004 17:50 Comments ||
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Brilliant, Holmes!
U.S. officials say they have mounting evidence to suggest al-Qaida operative Abu Musab Zarqawi has had a hand in multiple attacks in Iraq, including those on a mosque in Najaf, the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and Italyâs paramilitary police station in Nasiriyah. Another al-Qaida member, Hassan Ghul, was arrested this month while entering northern Iraq and is believed to have met with Zarqawi to plan attacks against U.S. and coalition forces. And Zarqawi meets with Saif al-Adel, who runs al-Qaedaâs military committee. That puts Ghul on par at least with the likes of someone like Imam Samudra or Khattab, a definite keeper.
Now in U.S. custody, Ghul is believed to be cooperating with interrogators. He known as a facilitator who can move people and money around and is the highest ranking member of al-Qaida to be arrested in Iraq. Coalition forces are dealing with both Iraqi opposition and foreign insurgents, like Zarqawi. He has been described as a key link between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein, but has managed to avoid capture. The official wouldnât comment on Zarqawiâs suspected location. Thatâs cuz weâre sending a delegation there in the coming weeks ...
In August, a truck bomb struck hit U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, killing 23 people, and a car bomb exploded outside mosque in Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf, killing more than 85. In November, a suicide truck bomber attacked Italyâs paramilitary police headquarters in southern city of Nasiriyah, killing more than 30. The United States has ``strong suspicionsââ that Zarqawi was involved in all three, the official said. Interesting that heâd go after An Najaf, given how close Zarqawiâs said to be with the ayatollahs these days and how Shiâites regard their holy cities. It all probably makes sense to somebody somewhere ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:28:10 AM ||
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Whoah, what the heck happened to my formatting on this one?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:28 Comments ||
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It's those embedded returns, like IRNA has. I fixed it.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2004 1:52 Comments ||
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Any reports on the whereabouts of Imad Mugniyah?
Posted by: Pete Stanley ||
01/31/2004 2:07 Comments ||
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The conventional wisdom is that he goes back and forth between the Bekaa Valley and Iran depending on where VEVAK wants him at the time, but I haven't heard anything specific.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 2:18 Comments ||
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Interesting that heâd go after An Najaf, given how close Zarqawiâs said to be with the ayatollahs these days and how Shiâites regard their holy cities. It all probably makes sense to somebody somewhere ...
Indeed. One thought: as much as the black hats in Iran love their holy sites, I'll bet they love being Shi-ite Big Sh-ts even more, and so are nervous about the possible re-assertion of traditional Iraqi Shi-ite leadership of Shi-ism. Given that, small surprise to me if the black hats have made an alliance of convenience with the enemies of Iraq's Shi-ites, for now preferring to keep them and their leaders (e.g., Sistani) on the defensive and weak, and not minding too much if a few old bricks get blown up in the process....
The Iraqi authorities, with the help of American intelligence agencies, are creating an intelligence service here that will focus on rooting out guerrilla fighters, especially those from outside the country. The service will employ some former agents of Saddam Husseinâs security apparatus and will probably receive financing from the American government. Many of the agents will work in the border towns of Iraq to identify foreign fighters who have slipped into the country and will monitor their activities, said Ibrahim al-Janabi, a senior member of the Iraqi Governing Councilâs security committee. The service will employ 500 to 2,000 people, he said, and is expected to be formed well before the Bush administration transfers sovereignty to an Iraqi government on June 30.
The Central Intelligence Agency is taking the lead in helping put together the new service, American officials said. The C.I.A. has close ties to the Iraqi National Accord, an opposition group founded by former Baath Party members who worked from London and Jordan to try to overthrow Mr. Husseinâs government. The head of the group, Iyad Alawi, heads the Governing Councilâs security committee and met in December with the director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet, at C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va., to discuss the new intelligence service, officials said. Mr. Janabi, also a senior official in the group, is a leading candidate to head the new service.
The formation of an intelligence service is a very delicate matter here because of the deadly history of Mr. Husseinâs secret police force, the Mukhabarat, the main instrument of domestic repression. The agency dissolved after the ouster of Mr. Hussein in April, and many senior officials fled to neighboring countries. "Under the Saddam regime, the entire structure of Iraq was built on security," Mr. Janabi said as he sat in his office in a building once used to train Baath Party officials. "The mentality of the people revolved around this security." The new serviceâs projected focus on foreign fighters could help allay public fears of a return to those days. Mr. Janabi said fewer than 5 percent of the workers in the new agency would be recruited from the ranks of the Mukhabarat and other security forces that operated under Mr. Hussein. They will be vetted to weed out those guilty of human rights crimes, he added. He insisted that their connections, knowledge and experience could prove invaluable.
The creation of the new service comes at a time when American and Iraqi officials are trying to determine the significance of the role played by foreign fighters in the insurgency. Their numbers might not be large, but some officials say the most devastating attacks â the suicide car bombings â appear to be the work of such fighters. Some Iraqi officials, including Ahmad Chalabi, a Governing Council member with strong backing from the Pentagon, say they oppose the new effort out of fear that it may empower dangerous members of the old security forces. Mr. Chalabiâs party, the Iraqi National Congress, has long competed bitterly with the Iraqi National Accord for backing from the American government, which helps explain the clash between the two over the new service.
Another point of contention is that the Iraqi National Congress condemns the participation of former high-ranking Baath Party members in any aspect of public life, and especially in the new security forces. Mr. Chalabi is heading a committee on the Governing Council in charge of purging senior Baathists from the government, and recently unveiled a new set of laws intended to do that. Organizers of the new intelligence service "are recruiting former Mukhabarat officers in other countries, people who went into exile after the war and who are now coming back," said Entifadh K. Qanbar, a spokesman for Mr. Chalabi who sits in on meetings of the Governing Councilâs security committee. "We should vet them before theyâre recruited." Mr. Qanbar said American agents had recruited several such people in Jordan. Though he insisted that some recruits had taken part in the "oppression of the Iraqi people," he said he could not provide evidence to back that assertion. He added that the creation of the new intelligence service was being conducted in secret and that it might be viewed as illegitimate under the new sovereign government established after June 30.
As planned now, the service will fall under the Ministry of the Interior, which supervises many of the new security forces in Iraq, including the police and the border patrol. Nouri Badran, head of the ministry and an official in the Iraqi National Accord, sharply criticized the Baathist purges at a news conference this week. He said the "so-called de-Baathification laws" put into effect in May by L. Paul Bremer III, the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, had wrecked the countryâs security forces. "We lost a lot of people with long experience, with all kinds of experience," Mr. Badran said. "We had to let them go."
Securing the borders is crucial because "now there are indications of foreign intelligence activity and attempts to infiltrate Iraqi institutions," he added. "We need intelligence agencies to get information on the terrorists that are coming into the country."
There are varying estimates of the number of foreign fighters in Iraq. Mr. Janabi, the senior official at the Iraqi National Accord, said he believed that there were up to 5,000 such fighters in the country, with less than a fifth of those carrying out the operations and the rest involved in financing, recruiting and other logistical activities. Many were coming across the Syrian and Saudi borders, he said, and some from Iran. Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, a spokesman for the occupation forces, estimated that there were a total of 3,000 to 5,000 guerrilla fighters in Iraq, with 5 to 10 percent of those coming from outside the country.
Many of the new intelligence agents will be trained outside Iraq, primarily in Jordan and Egypt, Mr. Janabi said, adding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation may help with the training. Mr. Janabi said there was "nothing official" in the way of financing coming from the C.I.A. But Washington will probably provide some money, American officials said. The American government secretly contributes to several intelligence services in the Islamic world with which it has close ties, including those in Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan and Algeria.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:23:50 AM ||
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don't hire the ex-baathists--pay 'em for piecework and info but don't let them become part of a government institution--kinda like lucky luciano the mob and the docks during wwll
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
01/31/2004 2:09 Comments ||
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I wonder why the current Iraqi authorities don't simply ban all foreigners without their permission & offer cash rewards to any Iraqi for turning them in for arrest. Call it "jobs for jihadis".
Japanese lawmakers early Saturday approved sending troops for a humanitarian mission in southern Iraq, a decision stalled until the last minute by concerns over the level of violence there. The approval in the 480-seat lower house saved Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi the embarrassment of having to cancel a mission already under way. The ballot early Saturday was the oppositionâs last chance to freeze deployment and force Tokyo to call its forces home. The three major opposition parties boycotted the vote to protest the ruling coalitionâs move to cut short debate and force a vote. Opposition parties had accused the government of rushing its safety assessment in southern Iraq, and demanded a more extensive probe during a committee hearing late Friday. The ruling blocâs decision to close the session and send the legislation to the full chamber sparked a shoving match, as opposition lawmakers attempted to silence the committee chairman. "It appears very peaceful now (in Iraq), but a variety of different armed groups may draw near once the Self-Defense Forces are there and working," said Yoshinori Suematsu, a lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Party, late Friday, before the vote. "We must debate what youâre going to do if this happens." Yep, could happen, Yoshinori -- are you a man or a mouse? Squeak up!
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2004 12:37:49 AM ||
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U.S. soldiers riding in convoys in Iraq are relying on electronic "jammers" to help protect against the roadside bombs insurgents have used to deadly effect.
Go ahead. Tell all the Bad Guys about it. Dumbasses.
The anti-bomb technology isnât perfect, however. In some cases it only delays a bomb from detonating, so it can still explode and kill bystanders.
Obviously we wouldn't want krazed killers bumping off innocent bystanders, so I guess we should just not use them and take the hit, and that way any innocent bystanders will be... ummm... killed with our guys. I guess that makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense.
Itâs unclear how widely the jammers - the same technology that saved Pakistanâs leader from a recent assassination attempt - are being used in Iraq. That explains a lot
Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Armyâs chief of staff, acknowledged their use in testimony this week before the House Armed Services Committee, but he declined to discuss the bomb defenses in detail.
That's a good indication he hasn't recently been dropped on his head...
The military does not want to provide useful information to Iraqi insurgents, officials say.
Just admitting to their existence is saying too much...
Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., suggested few are being used. "The Iraqis have figured out if they hit that detonator enough times, theyâre going to kill a vehicle that does not have a jammer," Taylor told Schoomaker. "The percentage of vehicles that have some form of electronic jammer - it is minuscule, and I know it, you know it, and the Iraq insurgents know it."
I imagine the use is going to grow, though. And that transmitters will become more powerful. It's going to lend an entire new dimension to the concept of "hot pants" in some areas. Like Paleostine.
But Schoomaker said protection doesnât depend on universal use. "Every vehicle doesnât have to be equipped," he said. "You have to have groups of vehicles that have that kind of capability, under an umbrella."
Radio signals aren't confined to a single truck.
The jammers work by preventing a remotely transmitted signal - say, rigged from a cell phone - from detonating an explosive when the bomber presses the button. Depending on the distance, power and design of the jammer, some might prevent the bomb from going off. Others might instead set it off before or after the convoy passes - potentially wreaking havoc on bystanders.
Y'mean all those people who came out to watch the show Cousin Mahmoud was going to put on?
Roadside bombs have been primary killers of U.S. troops in Iraq. Many go off under passing convoys, killing or injuring the occupants of one of the vehicles. But in some cases, they have gone off only after a convoy has passed. That can be a sign that a jammer on one of the vehicles did its job, said James Atkinson, head of the Granite Island Group, a Gloucester, Mass.-based security and counterespionage firm. Anti-bomb jammers have been in use since the early 1980s, Atkinson said. Military aircraft have used them for decades, and versions of anti-jamming technology are advertised on the Internet. Itâs unclear if those versions are effective, however.
Same chance you take when you buy generic Vi@gra, I guess. Only you could end up shredded...
Depending on their sophistication, jammers can cost from hundreds to millions of dollars. Most can be powered by a car engine. Some work by transmitting on frequencies that bombers are known to use. Guerrillas frequently rig remote-controlled detonators out of garage door openers, car alarm remotes or cellular phones, Atkinson said.
Wireless doorbells work, too...
Others, called barrage jammers, put out signals on a wide range of frequencies, he said. These will knock cellular phones and CB radios off the air in a given area.
"Can you [boom!] me now?"
Both kinds can cause a premature or late detonation of a bomb, or prevent it from going off entirely. "When you see a car bomb that goes off several blocks away from its intended target, itâs usually a dead giveaway it was jammed," Atkinson said.
Or that Mom called Mahmoud to ask him to pick up some groceries on the way home from the attack...
Jamming devices carried in the motorcade of Pakistanâs President Pervez Musharraf delayed the detonation of a huge bomb that exploded moments after his limousine passed over a bridge near the capital Dec. 14, Pakistani intelligence has said. Since then, Pakistan has imported more jamming devices for security of VIPs, a senior government official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity Thursday.
Does he want to be anonymous Friday, too? Or only on Thursdays?
He refused to give further details, including where the devices were imported from, citing security reasons.
Wouldn't want to suport Zionism or something, y'know...
In Israel, a special unit in the Ministry of Defense developed jamming technology in the early 1990s and used it extensively in southern Lebanon in the mid- to late 1990s in an effort to neutralize roadside charges placed by Hezbollah. It is unclear what defenses exist against other kinds of bombs, such as those that rely on timers or are hard-wired to a switch. Pakistani officials claimed their jamming devices also interrupted a timer.
I tend not to believe them...
In Iraq, employing the jammers is one of a number of steps the military is taking to protect vehicles and soldiers. Others include deploying a more heavily armored Humvee and giving soldiers improved body armor. "Weâve taken some major moves there that are paying off, in my view." Schoomaker said. In Baghdad, a military official said the Iraqi bombs have varied widely in sophistication. "Our soldiers have become ... very adept at noticing, observing," said Brig. Gen. Vincent Boles, commander of the 3rd Corps Support Command. "Weâre discovering more than are exploding."
Posted by: tipper ||
01/31/2004 12:13:08 AM ||
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Cellphones - is that why Nortel's(?) profits soared?
#2
This would probably account for the odd coincidence a couple of weeks ago of a car bomb going off in the bomber's car within sight of a late-night US patrol.
I believe this was discussed here and that one of the self-eradicated jihadis was Saddam's nephew.
#3
A2U - I'm not sure what you point is or even if you have one, but Nortel is a classic case of markets punishing losers. At one time Nortel was Canada's most valuable company. There is now talk in the Singaporean press of a local company buying Nortel for peanuts. Welcome to free markets!
#5
#3 - Nortel is Canada's most valuable company once again.
"Nortel Networks Corp. regained the title of Canada's highest-valued company yesterday after surpassing Royal Bank's $41.6 billion market capitalization."
Posted by: James D ||
01/31/2004 11:10 Comments ||
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I was pretty sure we'd figured out the remote detonation trick several weeks ago, but didn't say anything - who knows, Zarqawi might be reading this. There were certainly enough clues lying around. What we see here is only confirmation.
Anyone playing with a full deck would know that the United States is the worst country in the world to attack. We're just so damned innovative. I'm sure every time a bomb is found that hasn't exploded, we've done a careful analysis of the thing, including the detonator. I would not be surprised to learn that a couple of 'just average soldiers' discovered that the exploder of choice was a remote garage door opener or gate opening device. They figured out the frequency, and broadcast it during a few "dry runs". They get a couple of premature booms, and presto! Pretty soon, A-Q is trying to find a new way to make big booms, using other kinds of detonators. This may also be why they've switched from remote hits to suicide bombers - the remote hits keep failing.
The more we whack and stack, the more desperate our enemy will become, until he's doing himself in trying to get to us. Go GI's!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 22:33 Comments ||
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Two rocket-propelled grenades have been fired at the Dutch embassy in Baghdad but no-one was hurt in the attack, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said. "Nobody was in the office, thankfully, and there are no casualties," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Martine de Haan said. "Two rocket-propelled grenades were fired and the embassy building is on fire," she said. Ms De Haan added that it was not yet known who was responsible for the attack. Earlier, a bomb exploded at an intersection in Baghdad but there were no immediate reports of casualties. It was not immediately clear if they were one and the same incident.
More pinprick attacks by pricks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 00:02 ||
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A PAS ustaz who told a Friday congregation in Penang that 10 year old rape victim Nurul Huda Abdul Ghani was punished by God because her parents did not support PASâ Islamic laws has come under fire from womenâs groups. They expressed outrage and disgust that the khatib (preacher) had uttered this in his sermon.
Posted by: TS ||
01/31/2004 8:29:30 AM ||
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That preacher is one sick bastard. He should be put on trial with the pedophile perp.
South Sulawesi Police accused on Friday Agung Abdul Hamid, the alleged mastermind behind the Dec. 5, 2002, blast that killed three in Makassar, of playing a key role in the recent terror attack in Palopo regency. Agung is still at large and has been hunted by the police since the bombing of a McDonaldâs outlet and a car dealership in Makassar. Provincial police spokesman Sr. Comr. Andi Nurman Thahir said investigators had found evidence that Agung was an accomplice of Jasmin, who has been named the prime suspect in the Palopo explosion, which killed four people on Jan. 10.
I thought Jasmin was the star attraction on several hundred porn sites?
The policeâs belief is based on the confession of another suspect, Arman, to the effect that Agung and Jasmin, known as Mister X, ate together at a seafood restaurant in Palopo a few days after the Sampoddo Indah Cafe was bombed, Nurman added.
"Mister X"? Why, he's first cousing to Mister Big!
"Therefore, we strongly suspect that Agung was involved in the bomb blast," he added.
Yeah. That clinches it for me, too. I guess.
Moreover, Nurman said, a forensic investigation showed that the explosives used for the Makassar and Palopo blasts were similar -- potassium chlorate, sulfur and aluminum. He said the police had arrested only five of the 12 suspects in the Palopo bombing. Those arrested are Arman, Ahmad Rizal alias Ical, Jedi, Benardi and Idil alias Abdul Muis bin Caâdi.
Jedi?
The seven others being hunted are Agung Abdul Hamid, Munir, Jasmin alias Jamir alias Yamin bin Kasau,
Who's not sure who the hell he is...
Ishak, Nirwan alias Iwan, Kahar alias Komar, and Aswandi.
A motley crew, the lot of 'em...
The police have officially charged only two of the five arrested men -- Arman and Idil -- with having roles in the terror attack. Arman, who was captured in North Kolaka regency, Southeast Sulawesi, was believed to have known about the plan for the bombing, while Idil, who was arrested in Bua village, Palopo, was identified as the person who collected funds for the mission.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 2:03:39 AM ||
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Any word on the motive for the blast. Funds were collected, so it must have had some popular support.
Indonesia`s Moslem Defense Team (TPN) has called on the police to release Rusman Gunawan, who is in the custody of the Jakarta Police on charges of terrorism. There is no reason for the police to detain Gun Gun, younger brother of alleged Jemaah Islamiyah`s top operative in Asia, Hambali, who is in US custody, TPN member, Achmad Michdan, said on Friday. "Thus, we ask (the police) to release Gun Gun or at least delay his detention," Achmad said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 2:02:01 AM ||
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he should be held held because of his name on general principles
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
01/31/2004 2:14 Comments ||
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Government troops recovered a firearms cache that was left behind by an ally of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group in southern Philippines. Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando said several high-powered firearms were confiscated on Thursday by members of the Philippine Army in a village in Cotabato City. Among the items seized from the Abu Sofia group, which banded together with the Abu Sayyaf, were an M-79 grenade launcher, an M-203, armalite rifles and assorted ammunition. The weapons discovery was a result of the governmentâs stepped up offensives against the Moslem rebels in Mindanao region, where most of the Moslems reside.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 2:00:13 AM ||
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The office of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri says she is aware of allegations she received vouchers for millions of barrels of oil from Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, but has no comment to make.
"I can say no more!"
"But you ain't said nuttin'!"
President Megawati is one of more than 200 world figures and organisations named in documents which detail Saddam's gifts to supporters. Iraq's Oil Ministry says the documents published in the Al-Mada newspaper are authentic and that it intends to take criminal action through Interpol against those involved in what it describes as the theft of state assets. On the list, Indonesia's President Megawati is described as having received vouchers for 8 million barrels of oil from the now-deposed Saddam Hussein government. In Jakarta, a spokesman in the palace today said while aware of the allegation, the President had no comment on it.
Is that a shredder I hear running?
Another person named on the list is Indonesian parliamentary speaker Amin Rice, who is expected to be a candidate in this year's presidential elections. He has also refused to comment on the report.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 00:02 ||
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Taking the high road. "I'll not respond to such an outrages charge, I'm shocked and dismayed, I say. This is libel!"
Federal authorities are detaining a Somali immigrant who is suspected of plotting to carry out a terrorist attack during the recent holiday season. The man appeared Wednesday at a closed hearing marked by extraordinary security in Detroit's federal immigration court. He was arrested in early December at his home in Columbus, Ohio, and was a factor in the government's decision to raise the national alert level to orange, or high, that month. The officials would not describe what kind of plot they suspect. The man, a U.S. resident for six years, is being held for alleged immigration violations and has not been charged with a crime or any act of terrorism, said his lawyer, Douglas Weigle. Weigle, who is based in Cincinnati, said the government's suspicions are farfetched. He said his client owns a small cell-phone business and is married with two children, ages 9 months and 2 years.
They never seem to say, "Yep, my client's guilty as sin!"
Weigle declined to discuss the terror allegations, but said his client is a victim of the times. "I don't think his case would be handled this way prior to 9/11," Weigle said.
Prior to 9-11 we didn't have quite so many dead people.
The man appeared in Detroit for a deportation hearing to answer government claims that he has overstayed his visa. He is being held at an undisclosed location and is appealing for asylum because he fears torture and death in war-torn Somalia. Jorge Martinez, a U.S. Justice Department spokesman, and Greg Gagne, a spokesman for the federal Executive Office of Immigration Review, said the case has been classified as a special interest matter, meaning federal officials are investigating possible terrorism links. The man's appearance in Detroit prompted federal officials to turn the small immigration court -- squeezed onto the fourth floor of the Crain Communication Building in Brewery Park -- into a high-security zone. Detroit police accompanied federal agents escorting the detainee to his appearance before immigration Judge Elizabeth Hacker. Bomb-sniffing dogs and extra guards were brought in to augment the court's usual security measures, a metal detector and a lone security guard.
It sounds like they expect his buds to bump him off, possibly taking everyone for several hundred yards around with him...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 20:10 ||
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Yes, Your Honor I own a small cell phone business. Mainly I modify the phones for external ringing. See these two wires here? They can be connected to either a speaker or to a bomb trigger. They have been selling quite well, Maam.
So I'm a successful businessman and shouldn't be considered a flight risk.
No comments ... Iâm not surprised, even though Iâm sickened.
A program made by Britainâs BBC says North Korea is killing political prisoners in experimental gas chambers and testing new chemical weapons on women and children. Titled "Access to Evil" and being aired on Sunday, the program features an official North Korean document that says political prisoners are used to test new chemical weapons. In a statement, the BBC said the documentary included comments by Kwon Hyuk, a new name given to a former military attache at the North Korean embassy in Beijing and chief of management at Prison Camp 22. Using a drawing, he describes a gas chamber and the victims he says he saw at the prison in the northeast of the secretive communist state, near the Russian border. "I witnessed a whole family being tested on suffocating gas and dying in the gas chamber. The parents, son and a daughter. The parents were vomiting and dying, but till the very last moment they tried to save kids by doing mouth-to-mouth breathing," he said. "Normally, a family sticks together (in the gas chamber)... and individual prisoners stand separately around the corners. Scientists observe the entire process from above, through the glass." Asked how he felt about the children, he said: "It would be a total lie for me to say I felt sympathetic about the children dying such a painful death. Under the society and the regime I was in at the time, I only felt that they were the enemies. So I felt no sympathy or pity for them at all."
Thank you, Dr. Mengele...
The documentary for the BBCâs "This World" series was to be broadcast at 9 p.m. North Korean officials in London were unavailable to comment. BBC journalist Olenka Frenkiel told Reuters she had three independent confirmations that Kwon Hyuk was genuine. The human rights group Amnesty International said it had been unable to confirm previous reports of such testing. "We have heard of these allegations but we cannot confirm them," a spokeswoman said.
And thank you for that limp-wristed response. It's so easy to have an opinion on American combat operations, so difficult to have an opinion on slaughters taking place in Megalomanialand...
Have you tried??? It would be hard, perhaps ...
North Korea -- described by President Bush as part of an "axis of evil" because of a nuclear weapons program and authoritarian system -- has denied accusations of human rights abuses.
"Of course we don't abuse prisoners' rights. Prisoners have no rights!"
A top-secret North Korean document also says political prisoners are used for "human biological experimentation and for production of biological weapons," the BBC said. It interviews a person said to be a former prisoner in North Korea who had been ordered to poison others. "An officer ordered me to select 50 healthy female prisoners. One of the guards handed me a basket full of soaked cabbage, told me not to eat it but to give it to the 50 women," Sun Ok Lee said, according to the BBC statement. "All who ate the cabbage leaves started violently vomiting blood and screaming with pain. It was hell. In less than 20 minutes, they were quite dead." Frenkiel said she had also seen other official North Korean documents, one of which referred to the transfer of a prisoner "for the purpose of human experimentation of liquid gas for chemical weapons" in February 2002.
#1
Reuters and the Beeb! I mean this is from Reuters and the Beeb! If things like this don't convince the idiotarians in the world that evil really does exist I don't know what will. Aside from the poor mindless SOBs that have been brainwashed for fifty fucking years I almost think Poyangyoyo should be nuked
#2
This has been know for YEARS but the media has deliberately suppressed it. Sun Ok Lee has (link-->) testified to this before congress. (Warning: her testamony is not for the faint of heart).
Now this Kwon Hyuk has testifed to much the same thing and the farking AI wants to verify this? Yet if you fart in the general direction of NK they get their panties all in a knot. Fuckers!
The US captures some people hell-bent on killing as many civilians in as many countries as they can, then locks them all up in the tropics. The prisoners are well-fed, given medical care, etc. Amnesty International and the rest of the "human rights" industry constantly whines about it, constantly expressing "concern" about the plight of those prisoners.
North Korea is a country known for treating its people like shit. Relief supplies to deal with the nearly constant famines get sent to army units; women who get pregnant by the wrong (ie, Chinese) father get murdered; they spit on every agreement they make regarding nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Some people escape and insist that the North Koreans are using prisoners -- some in prison because they have the "wrong" opinions -- as human guinea pigs.
The response from the "human rights" industry? "Well, we can't be sure about this. It needs to be verified."
Bastards.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/31/2004 22:20 Comments ||
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Six Iraqi railroad officials visited Union Pacific Corp. and Amtrak facilities this week as they review technology to help rebuild the Middle Eastern countryâs rail system. Modern communications systems, equipment to rebuild tracks and locomotives are among items that interest officials from the Iraq Republic Railways Co., said Dan Stein of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Visiting Union Pacific and Amtrak allows them to see that equipment in action, Stein said. Some rails in Iraq were damaged during the war, but the country also had failed to invest in its railroad system, Stein said. About $200 million has been earmarked by Congress to help rebuild Iraqâs rail system, Stein said. The Iraqis, including the director general of the Iraq Republic Railways Co., Salam J. Salom, spent three days in Chicago before taking Amtrak to Omaha and visiting Union Pacific facilities Thursday and Friday. The Iraqi delegation will meet Monday in Washington, D.C., with executives from companies like General Electric and General Motors as they look for equipment, Stein said. Please model the new rail system after UP and not Amtrak!
Posted by: Dar ||
01/31/2004 6:24:09 PM ||
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Mike Dukakis didn't go over to fill them in on the success story that's Amtrak? He's some kind of big shot hack for them now. I think he's a railroad expert because he used to take the subway to the governor's office in those dark, dark days here way back when.
#2
Nobody's, I mean nobody's state run pasenger rail system makes money. If you could take short distance rail and get there faster than flying how much is that worth to you. The perfect example in this counrty is the NorthEast Corridor. This is one area where Amtrak does a pretty good job even with the constrainsts that freight traffic puts on the system. With the growing amounts of air line passengers and the limited amount of people the airports can process in and out every hour let alone day eventually we will come to realize that with modern high speed rail there is a certain range in which it makes no sense to fly. I'm guessing the distance is 400 to 500 miles when all is said and done. We've subsidized the automobile and trucks for years plus the airlines. After all do you really think SouthWest paid for the airport?
I think if Kerry eventually gets the nomination, Bush will have his hands full.
I post this also because in the body of this lengthy treatise, they mentioned something about Bushâs WMD vulnerability in the election. As I recall, the first word about Iraq from the Bush administration I heard concerned a regime change. I do not recall at that whether WMDs were even mentioned, but I do know that a regime change was called for.
Bush shouldnât have too much a problem with his base on anything, except non-defense spending.
#1
WMD was actually brought up by the State Dept. State decided to focus on that in the followups after the SOTU address.
Posted by: Val ||
01/31/2004 12:54 Comments ||
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Regime change in Iraq had been official U.S. policy since 1998, under Bill Clinton; it's nothing new.
As far as I can tell there has not been any change in our policy toward Iraq since Clinton first articulated the necessity for getting rid of Saddam's regime, nor has the Bush administration made any claims to bolster the case for regime change- regarding WMD or anything else- that had not already been made before, including claims by those who now heap scathing criticism on Bush (and Blair).
The only thing Bush did on Iraq that Clinton did not, was translate policy into action.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/31/2004 14:54 Comments ||
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I've just been reading about Kerry's wife a very rich heiress. who has the big mouth and left wing politics that normally comes along with a bucket-full of money you didn't earn yourself.
#4
On WMDs, everybody, and I mean everybody was convinced that Saddistam had either biological, chemical or nuclear programs going at some level. Even if they were two guys in a broom closet they were still "ILLEGAL"programs. As far as Goerge Bush commiting the nation to war, just what did Bill Clinton do with cruise missile attacks into central Bahgdad. Besides doesn't ant body in this country remember the USS Stark
Not enough in the article to EFL...
President Mohammad Khatami was admitted to the hospital Saturday with severe back pain, forcing the postponement of an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss the crisis over parliamentary elections. Earlier Saturday, Khatami indicated to reporters his government could not proceed with the Feb. 20 vote under the conditions that the hard-line Guardian Council had imposed, demanding that about 3,000 reformist candidates be stricken from the ballot. "My government will only hold competitive and free elections ... the parliament must represent the views of the majority and include all (political) tendencies," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Khatami as saying.
Posted by: CrazyFool ||
01/31/2004 11:26:46 AM ||
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EFL for just a taste of insanity The Times is a bit slow on the uptake. We ran this on the 28th. Perhaps they should just sponsor Rantburg and save themselves some effort?
With a budget deficit of about $14 billion, California could use a major infusion of positive energy. So it may be appropriate timing that in this most Asian of mainland American regions, State Assemblyman Leland Y. Yee, Democrat of San Francisco, has introduced a resolution that urges the California Building Standards Commission to adopt standards that would aid feng shui, the ancient Chinese practice of promoting health, harmony and prosperity through the environment. The resolution, which has yet to pass a committee vote before going to the full Assembly, is meant to encourage planning agencies, building departments and design review boards to provide for the use of feng shui principles, which often touch on the placement of doors and staircases, the position of buildings and the alignment of objects in rooms. It aims to help people live in harmony with nature by promoting the flow of chi, or positive energy, and neutralizing or avoiding negative energy..... Oooooo. Thatâll help.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck ||
01/31/2004 9:34:54 AM ||
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Oh, Sorry for the repost. I missed it on the 28th.
#2
For years I've heard that sea level on the west coast is actually around 25 feet lower than on the east coast. This is of course the explaination for all of the fruits and nuts that end up out there.
Of course it won't run afoul of the establishment clause! How often do you see the ACLU get its skivvies in a twist over ANY non-western religious/spiritual concept? Heavens, no...that would be a blatant violation of the Civil Rights of a Minority Culture!
Posted by: Prince Tofurki bin Turducken ||
01/31/2004 21:21 Comments ||
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One of the ironies of the Mideast conflict is that while the Palestinians clamor for a state, when push comes to shove, many of them prefer living under Israeli rule! Itâs not that difficult to understand. Life under Yasser Arafatâs regime is characterized by mob rule, chaos, violence and economic catastrophe. With all its troubles, Israel is relatively stable in comparison. With Israel accelerating construction of its security fence in Judea and Samaria, many Palestinians are hastily making plans to ensure that they will be on the Israeli side of the new border, once it is drawn. This is especially noticeable on the Tunnel Road, the highway connecting Jerusalem to the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements between Bethlehem and Hebron in the south. Palestinian Christians from the town of Beit Jala near Bethlehem have been buying up homes and property near the Tunnel Road because they know that under any future arrangement, Gush Etzion will remain a part of Israel. As a result, property values in the area of the tunnels have skyrocketed, while in Beit Jala, on the other side of the emerging border, they have plunged. For the Christian families moving out, it is a matter of self-preservation. There are no economic opportunities on the other side of the fence, and Islamic fundamentalism is encroaching on every aspect of Palestinian life.
Publicly, of course, these Christian families donât admit to this âstrategy.â That could bring reprisals from the Palestinian Authority and Islamic militants. Even in the churches, Arab clerics direct criticism toward Israel alone. Thatâs partially because they identify with the suffering of their Palestinian brothers and partially because theyâre afraid. But thereâs an old saying that people vote with their feet. And as many Palestinians as have the resources are making sure that theyâll be on the Israeli side of the fence. Beit Jala is not the only place where this is happening. For example, the Bedouin of the Yahalin tribe have been erecting their tents as close as possible to the settlement of Maâale Adumim, located between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Maâale Adumim, a city of 35,000, is also expected to remain under Israeli rule.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/31/2004 9:25:22 AM ||
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as many Palestinians as have the resources are making sure that theyâll be on the Israeli side of the fence.
That says it all, doesn't it? The people have spoken.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/31/2004 10:54 Comments ||
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I think the Paestinian Christians as much as they may not like Israel, they know the Israelis are not going to commit genocide. Now the Palestinian Muslims they're not so sure about. Better to be second class citizens tan first class corpses
Five suspected Muslim extremists from Lebanon and Sudan have entered Morocco on British passports with a view to carrying out terror attacks, a report in the press said yesterday. The five belong to the Usbat Al-Ansar group Arabic for League of Partisans which is said recently to have sworn loyalty to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, wrote the Al Ahdath Al Maghribia daily, quoting "security sources." The influential daily also reported that two foreign commando groups were planning attacks on "American and Jewish interests in Morocco and Tunisia during the Eid El Kebir holiday period," which begins on Sunday in Morocco. One of the alleged commando groups, made up of a Jordanian, a Sudanese and a Yemeni, was on its way to Morocco, while the other comprising an Algerian, an Egyptian and a Moroccan was heading for Tunisia, the paper wrote. Both alleged commando groups are linked to Usbat Al Ansar, wrote the paper, without specifying if the two groups were directly tied to the suspected extremists travelling on British documents.
The Moroccan authorities neither confirmed nor denied the allegations made by the paper, which come amid a new wave of arrests of suspected extremists in the north African country, still traumatised by a wave of terror attacks in its economic hub, Casablanca, which killed 45 people, including 12 suicide bombers, last May. Last week, Moroccan police arrested 37 suspected extremists in a raid on villages near the town of Meknes. One policeman and one suspected Islamic radical were killed in the sweep, which also netted some 90 detonators and nearly 4 kilogrammes (9 pounds) of plastic explosives. Those raids were carried out as part of continued police investigations into the attacks in Casablanca on May 16 last year the first terror attack in the north African kingdom, which prides itself on its moderate form of Islam and is trying to position itself as a burgeoning democracy.
Posted by: TS ||
01/31/2004 9:11:31 AM ||
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Buoyed by a huge exchange of prisoners and bodies between Israel and Hezbollah, German mediators are now keen to move on to the second phase of the deal, the Lebanese militant group said yesterday. Hezbollah secretary general Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah received the head of Germanyâs external Federal Intelligence Service August Hanning for talks on the next stage, a statement said. The two men âreviewed what had been achieved so far and agreed to start to set up specialist committees to begin immediate action on the next stage,â the statement said.
As well as Thursdayâs release of nearly 450 prisoners in return for a captured businessman and the bodies of three soldiers, Israel agreed to free Lebanese prisoner Samir Kantar at a later date in return for information on the fate of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad. Hanning said Germany would âmake maximum efforts with the parties concerned to ensure that the second phase too is crowned with success,â Hezbollah said. âI am full of joy at our success in securing the release of these prisoners, who have been able to rejoin their families after a long absence, easing their suffering and giving us a new spur to press our efforts to free more prisoners and throw light on the fate of others,â the German was quoted as saying. The 41-year-old Kantar received jail sentences totalling 542 years from an Israeli court in 1980 for infiltrating a northern seaside resort and killing a scientist and his four-year-old daughter as well as an Israeli policeman. Air force navigator Ron Arad has been missing since his aircraft was shot down over Lebanon in 1986
Posted by: TS ||
01/31/2004 8:59:40 AM ||
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And the second phase would be the attack on Isreal by the recently freed prisoners.
Isreal can never go back now.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/31/2004 13:45 Comments ||
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Has anyone heard anything about the cracks, the stability of the dam or the risk of the dam going in terms of damage to the PRC?
Tangentially, does anyone know about the configuration of the Aswan High Dam?
Posted by: Mahmoud, the Weasel ||
01/31/2004 2:25:59 AM ||
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I live and work here in China, and have for almost 8 years. I'm a construction consultant. I have seen the cracks there as well as other sites where mass concrete has been placed. I don't think the cracks are stress fractures, or bad concrete. Perhaps some dehydration problems thru inattentive curing procedures. I must say the sheer size of that thing floors me. I never took a picture. It's like taking a picture of a skyscraper from 5 feet away. Chine
I'm indeed from NYC. I know nothing about the dam that's not available from public sources. As with the Allied experience in WWII, dams are vulnerable to precision air attacks. If we ever get into a war of annihilation with China, I suspect the Three Gorges Dam would be at the top of the target list, except we'd probably hit it with a nuke, not JDAM's.
#8
ZF--Make a note to warn Chiner and his family beforehand, please!
Posted by: Dar ||
01/31/2004 10:22 Comments ||
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ZF--Make a note to warn Chiner and his family beforehand, please!
LOL. I live in NYC - a natural target for any nuclear strike, whether from nuclear powers (China, Russia, North Korea, et al) or Muslim terrorists. I'm resigned to it - I could move, but my job is here and my family and friends are all here. Anywhere that a foreigner would be in China (typically the major cities) is going to be a target for a US retaliatory nuclear strike if China does actually carry out its threat to nuke LA, NYC or a US carrier battle group.
#10
Because last year it was a Rantburg discussion that there were cracks in it and then the topic went silent, then a small dam in the North blew up, and now there is nothing again.
#11
Well the thing about dam's or for that matter any very large structure is that often times you won't know theres a flaw (serious or minor) till quite a bit of time has passed. A question I want answered is how much sediment has been piling up at the base of the dam these days?
Posted by: Val ||
01/31/2004 12:56 Comments ||
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It's the water pressure behind the dam that does them in. Even the vaunted British dam-busters had to do it two or three times to hit the dam just right to cause a problem. Of course, all bets are off with a nuke, which would vaporize the majority of that concrete, and leave the rest extremely weakened.
It's also relevant to the discussion that we're talking about two different kinds of dams with the Three Gorges (a high dam) and Aswan (although called a "high" dam, is really a low dam). I read an estimate once that a one-megaton dirty nuke at the power plant at Aswan would result in the loss of 70 percent of ALL LIFE between the dam and Cyprus, and poison most of the eastern Med. It's something that should not be considered lightly, perhaps only in a worst-case scenario.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 19:25 Comments ||
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Gents, a bit more history. I am US born and bred. Came here with major US petroleum company. Home is Phoenix, AZ.
BTW, the dam is now filling so sediment build up is years away, if ever.
Several civilians were killed as a result of the Sudanese planes bombardment yesterday of Chadâs part of al-Teinah town which is situated on the Chad- Sudanese borders. The incident is considered the first of its kind in the town which is divided between Chad and Sudan since the Sudanese military planes started to bombard the positions of the rebels in Darfur. Chadâs military sources said that 10 civilians were killed and other 16 wounded in the bombardment. The news was also confirmed by the regional coordinator of UNHCR in al-Teinah. Sans frontier doctor organization assumed providing care to the wounded in its field hospital in the area.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 2:10:37 AM ||
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I find it surpising that Chad hasn't downed one of these aircraft. They must have SAM's.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/31/2004 19:11 Comments ||
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Gunmen kidnapped a German man working for the UN in southern Somalia, a spokesperson for the German Embassy in Nairobi confirmed on Friday. Rolf Helmrich, who reportedly worked for the UNâs Development Programme, was abducted on Thursday morning along with three Somali UN staffers, whom the gunmen freed shortly after taking them hostage. The UN was reportedly negotiating with the regional Somali authorities to rescue Helmrich, whose vehicle was commandeered by the gunmen on a bridge in Kismayo, about 500km south of the Somali capital of Mogadishu. Abductions of foreign aid workers are not uncommon in Somalia. The gunmen usually try to negotiate ransoms for the return of hostages. But a recent spate of killings in the northern region of Somaliland has alarmed aid agencies. A British couple teaching at a Somaliland school and an Italian aid worker were killed in October.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 2:06:55 AM ||
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Somalis sure love the UN. They even have a similar flag. A bit too similar. OK, so it's exactly the same.
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/31/2004 7:40 Comments ||
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pay them anything but muzzle blasts and you're asking for more kidnappings/killings
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/31/2004 10:55 Comments ||
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Unidentified bandits this week killed two refugees and seriously injured three others in a refugee camp in northwestern Kenya, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency said on Friday.
"Yes! I am the Kenyan Robin Hood! I steal from the poor and give to... ummm... my creditors."
"On Tuesday, bandits attacked Kakuma refugee camp, demanding money from refugees. In the process two Somali refugees were killed and three others were seriously injured," Emmanuel Nyabera said by phone. Security has been beefed up in the area, but no arrests have been made, according to police.
Any suspects?
Nyabera said the camp, which houses at least 80 000 refugees from war-ravaged southern Sudan and Somalia, is located in an area known for insecurity. Last year, at least eight refugees and three Kenyan tribesmen were killed when what started as a small dispute over cattle rustling degenerated into bloody fighting.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 2:06:02 AM ||
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A little late, but then Iâve been sick ...
At least eight Russian servicemen were killed and 16 others wounded in the latest rebel raids and land mine explosions in Chechnya, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said Wednesday. Five federal soldiers were killed and another seven wounded in rebel attacks on military outposts throughout Chechnya in the past 24 hours. Near the village of Uluskert on Tuesday, rebels ambushed a military convoy, killing two soldiers and wounding another five. In the Chechen capital, Grozny, a land mine killed a sapper and wounded two comrades Tuesday. In a customary retaliation to daily raids by rebels, Russian artillery have shelled suspected rebel camps in the forested mountains in the Nozhai-Yurt, Vedeno and Itum-Kale regions. Federal forces detained at least 200 people across Chechnya on suspicion of being linked to rebels, the official said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:55:35 AM ||
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The governance crisis in Iran edged toward a climax Friday as conservative clerics refused to reinstate most of the reformist candidates who had been disqualified from next monthâs parliamentary elections.
"Nope. Nope. Ain't gonna do it. We're in charge and you ain't."
The Guardian Council relented on only 1,160 of the 3,600 candidates it had dismissed almost three weeks ago in what analysts termed a brazen effort to clear the field of all but conservative candidates. It was not immediately clear how many of the 80 members of parliament barred from seeking reelection had been reinstated.
Only the ones who can be bought... cheaply.
The apparently final decision by the council, a 12-member appointive body with authority to reject legislation as well as screen candidates, was announced on state radio and the councilâs Web site late on the Muslim day of rest. It produced no immediate official reaction, but the number of restored candidacies fell far short of the full reinstatement demanded by outraged members of parliament, who have staged daily sit-ins at the legislative chamber in central Tehran. The striking lawmakers had anticipated the councilâs limited retreat, however, and issued a statement repeating their vows to resign or otherwise disable the government, whose day-to-day functioning has been entirely in reformist hands for four years.
Let's see if the have the danglers to actually do it...
A leader of the largest reform party spoke of pulling out of the Feb. 20 balloting. "The council statement means there is no option left for us but to boycott this sham election," said Saeed Shariati of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, in remarks cited by the Associated Press. "As Iranâs biggest party, almost all our candidates have been barred." Shariati added, however, that an official announcement about the reformistsâ intentions would wait until Monday.
Gonna wait and see what offers he gets over the weekend, is he?
"A lot of it is political rhetoric," said Shirzad Bozorgnehr, a senior editor of Iran News, an independent English-language daily in Tehran, referring to the threats. "Itâs hard to discern between the talk and real decisions that will result in action." Bozorgnehr said the impact of the councilâs decision would become apparent only after reformists saw which candidates had been validated and which remained disqualified. "The problem is that right now we donât know who they are. Are the most prominent reformists restored, people who matter and who will lead? Or are they insignificant people?" he said.
My guess is that the insignificant have the edge. What's yours?
The council, which answers only to Iranâs top cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggested it was being generous. "Approving such a high number of parliamentary hopefuls is nearly unprecedented in the history of the Iranian parliament," it said in a statement. The council also denied a formal request to postpone the election. The request was made by Iranâs reformist interior minister, Abdolvahed Moussavi Lari, who said the mass disqualification and the controversy that followed made it impossible for the ministry to mount "a proper election." The bid followed a vow by Iranâs governors to withhold their own crucial cooperation in setting up polling places. Similar threats from other elements of the reform movement, including student leaders, are widely seen as meant to stiffen the spine of Mohammad Khatami.
You have to let Jello sit for a really long time before it actually gets stiff...
The reformist president, who disdains confrontation, has sought to restore the candidacies by negotiating with the Guardian Council and parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karrubi, who promised "good results."
That was just before he became pregnant with Rafsanjani's love child...
"To shut down the elections means to shut down democracy, and God does not want such a thing for our people," Khatami said this week after turning down the resignations of dozens of top officials incensed over the candidate bans. Does anyone need any further proof as to whose side Khatami is on in all of this?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:40:25 AM ||
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who gives a freak--its an intramural fight between moronic islamo barbarians--its not a dem/repub squabble--its a team fight in the clubhouse of moonbattery--why pick sides--its stalin/trotsky--they should all be hung from the nearest lamppost in north tehran by their turbans
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
01/31/2004 1:51 Comments ||
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Iran does matter, and who wins is very important. OK, neither side in this dispute is very friendly to us. The point at issue is critical, though--is Islam compatible with a democracy?
Remember that Iran has been the shining example for Muslims around the world. (Up until the Taliban.) Maybe they were "only Shi'ites," but they succeeded in overthrowing a Western-style
regime and creating their own Islamic state, in which the Mullahs (representing God) make sure that all laws and representatives agree with Islamic law. Their compromise between democracy and Islam (give the Mullahs the veto
power) seems to be the most popular Islamic theory of democracy.
People pay attention to Iran: they were heroes. If the Iranians, without pressure from outside, spontaneously reject the Mullah veto, that says to the world that there's something wrong with either the theory or the practice of Mullah-veto government. Even if the problem is only with the "practice," that says that Muslims can't automatically trust Mullahs; that somebody needs to keep them honest.
In the current situation it doesn't look to me like a battle between Mullahs (which wouldn't help us that much), but a battle between Mullahs and everybody else. If the common Muslim has the right to judge the Mullahs, they're a long way towards a real democracy, and farther away from the Islamofacists.
That's why I get itchy when I hear people talking about invading Iran. If the revolt is spontaneous, Muslims around the world have to think seriously about how much power to give their Imams. If we have a hand in an Iranian revolt, world Muslims can ignore the serious issues and blame everything on us.
Posted by: James ||
01/31/2004 15:19 Comments ||
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A GROUP of US congressional aides is to go to Iran in February on the first official US visit there since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, today said the visit could set the stage for a later mission by US lawmakers.
Either that or it'll provide the Black Hats with somebody new to hold hostage...
The senator, who met the Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Wednesday said: "The delegation is confirmed, they are going next month. The Iranian government is not willing to have government to government talks but they feel comfortable with a step at a time."
Well, don't send a friggin' cake...
"They are skittish about going too far and we have gotten to the point where they will accept a small delegation of staffers. I think that will set the stage for meetings with parliamentarians and I think we are laying the groundwork for trying to improve relations with Iran, which would be a big boost."
I think we're sitting in the diplomatic bathroom, exploring our sexuality, myself. If they wanted to do something, they'd do it. They're not blushing maidens, who need to be wooed...
Only two years ago President George W. Bush said that Iran was part of a weapons proliferating "Axis of Evil" along with Iraq and North Korea.
Hit that nail right on the head, didn't he?
But while the United States has expressed concern about Iranâs suspected nuclear weapons research, relations have shown signs of a thaw. The United States provided relief assistance to the Iranian city of Bam, devastated by an earthquake in December, and proposed sending a high-level humanitarian delegation to Tehran. While appreciative of the US earthquake aid, Tehran said the visit of a delegation, that would have been led by Senator Elizabeth Dole and could have included a member of the Bush family, was best delayed.
"We hadda wash our turbans that day..."
Specter was among a group of US lawmakers who met Iranâs UN ambassador on Friday. Dennis Hastert, the leader of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, was also present. Specter said the discussions were "fruitful".
Yeah? Let's see them multiply...
"We talked about terrorism, we talked about co-operation against al-Qaeda. We talked about their nuclear programme." Zarifâs appearance in Washington was a significant gesture. He is basically confined to New York, where the United Nations has its headquarters, and was refused past requests for permission to travel outside the city. Last Friday, Iranâs Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi met Senator Joseph Biden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"Oh, yeah. We talked about baseball, chicks, that sort of stuff..."
The State Department said today that the Bush administration would not oppose any trip by US lawmakers to Iran. "In general, weâve always encouraged people-to-people exchanges with Iran," spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We certainly encourage congressional travel in general. It sounds like it would be fine with us, if thatâs what they decide to do." A senior State Department official said later that if such a delegation did travel to Iran, the administration would expect the lawmakers to raise US concerns about Tehranâs support for anti-Israel groups, its opposition to the Middle East peace process, human rights and its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons. In Tehran, the Iranian foreign ministry confirmed that Zarif had met several members of the US Congress, delivering a speech and then having dinner and talks on "regional and international questions".
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:35:57 AM ||
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jeez--i hope these congressional doofuses have their taquiyya detectors with them--not that they know what that means--this is wrong--bad timing--exactly when the council of guardians has messed up--it sends the wrong message--these guys will be coming home without their socks--sheesh
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
01/31/2004 1:58 Comments ||
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He is basically confined to New York, where the United Nations has its headquarters, and was refused past requests for permission to travel outside the city.
Excellent. Let's keep it that way.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/31/2004 23:58 Comments ||
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In the first claim of responsibility in a string of highway shootings, a man called police four times to say he was the sniper. A task force investigating the 20 shootings at cars, school buses and homes is trying to determine whether the caller is the gunman, Franklin County sheriffâs Chief Deputy Steve Martin said. The caller engaged in back-and-forth conversation, Martin said, declining to give details. Police spokeswoman Sherry Mercurio said the man made four calls Monday in a span of two minutes. He may have been disconnected twice for unknown reasons. Mercurio said the caller claimed to have shot someone that day, but no new shootings have been recorded since Jan. 22.
Either the body hasn't been found, or he's a crackpot. I lean toward the psychoceramic interpretation, myself.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:33:38 AM ||
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Did he sound like an angry, bitter, loner white guy? You know, like the last famous snipers?
Congressional and CIA investigations into the prewar intelligence on Iraqâs weapons and links to terrorism have found no evidence that CIA analysts colored their judgment because of perceived or actual political pressure from White House officials, according to intelligence officials and congressional officials from both parties. Richard J. Kerr, a former deputy CIA director who is leading the CIAâs review of its prewar Iraq assessment, said an examination of the secret analytical work done by CIA analysts showed that it remained consistent over many years. "There was pressure and a lot of debate, and people should have a lot of debate, thatâs quite legitimate," Kerr said. "But the bottom line is, over a period of several years," the analystsâ assessments "were very consistent. They didnât change their views."
Kerrâs findings mirror those of two probes being conducted separately by the House and Senate intelligence committees, which have interviewed, under oath, every analyst involved in assessing Iraqâs weapons programs and terrorist ties. The panel chairmen, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.), and other congressional officials said in recent interviews that they found no evidence that analysts shaded their findings to more closely fit the White Houseâs known desire to create the strongest, most urgent case for war with Iraq. The conclusion that analysts did not buckle under political pressure does not answer the question of why the intelligence reports were so flawed. Nor does it address allegations -- made by Democrats in Congress and Democratic presidential candidates -- that top Bush administration officials misused intelligence and exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq.
On Wednesday, former chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay told a Senate committee that he no longer believed Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction in the months leading up to the war. And he called for an independent inquiry into why U.S. intelligence agencies believed the opposite. The White House, which has said it opposes such an outside inquiry, has said final conclusions about Iraqâs weapons programs and U.S. intelligence cannot be made until the Iraq Survey Group, the inspection agency Kay used to lead, completes its work. "I want the American people to know that I, too, want to know the facts," Bush told reporters yesterday. "I want to be able to compare what the Iraq Survey Group has found with what we thought prior to going into Iraq." Bush added that Hussein was a danger and "we dealt with the danger. And, as a result, the world is a better place and a more peaceful place, and the Iraqi people are free."
There were instances before the war in which intelligence analysts said they sensed pressure to reach certain conclusions, but the House and Senate investigators said there was no indication they bowed to such wishes. Last year, for example, some analysts at the CIA complained to senior officials when Vice President Cheney made multiple trips to CIA headquarters to question their studies of Iraqâs weapons programs and alleged links to al Qaeda. And analysts at the Defense Intelligence Agency told investigators they sensed pressure when civilian Defense Department leaders constantly questioned why their analysis had found only tentative links between al Qaeda and Iraq.
But "their constant message" to congressional investigators was "they didnât buckle to pressure," another congressional official said. Neither the CIA inspector general nor the agencyâs ombudsmen received any complaints about outside meddling, a senior intelligence official said. Added one congressional official: "There were no anonymous calls, no letters, nothing."
The CIA, congressional intelligence committees, Kerrâs team and the Presidentâs Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board are investigating how the CIA analysis missed the mark so widely. That is a more difficult question to answer and a much more complex problem to fix than situations in which analysts are improperly influenced by elected officials, intelligence experts said. The congressional committees have found that CIA analysts relied too heavily on outdated, circumstantial intelligence and on information from unreliable informants. Kay told the Senate Armed Services Committee this week that he had talked to CIA analysts and had found no evidence of "inappropriate command influence."
"And, you know, almost in a perverse way," Kay added, "I wish it had been undue influence, because we know how to correct that. We get rid of the people who in fact were exercising that. The fact that it wasnât tells me that weâve got a much more fundamental problem of understanding what went wrong. And weâve got to figure out what was there. And thatâs what I call fundamental fault analysis." Kerr said the "analysts believed that the evidence supported their judgment. Whether it did or not is another question."
The CIA maintains that it is still too early to say that its assessment was wrong because the search for weapons is not over. There are still millions of pages of documents to be read, hundreds of sites to visit and thousands of Iraqis to be interviewed, the agency says. CIA spokesman Bill Harlow said Kerrâs and the committeesâ findings mirror the CIAâs view of its analystsâ work: "We have long said and still say that our analysts didnât change their assessment of Iraq because of any outside pressure." In fact, some analysts have told Kerr and congressional investigators that they welcomed the attention of Cheney on his visits. "Analysts are very independent people," Kerr said. "When they get pressure, they tend to react the other way. They find it quite easy to stand up" to superiors. "Itâs kind of the culture."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:18:46 AM ||
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How they missed the mark is actually quite easy to explain. If Kay is right, then most of Saddam's weapons programs were frauds perpetrated on Saddam by the scientists, who did their best to hide the fact it was a fraud, to keep from being killed.
So, if Saddam's own people are lying to him, it is not surprising that the CIA (As well as MI6, French, German, Russian and every other western intel service) got fooled as well.
Posted by: Ben ||
01/31/2004 4:41 Comments ||
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if you ask me a load of scuds and shit are in syria while the rest of it got bulldozed under the desert in the 9 odd months of U.N wrangling/appeasing before hand.I do howerver believe they will turn up.
#3
Ben, this also explains why the UNMOVIC Inspections never found anything. In retrospect, there was nothing to find, but the scientists did such a good job hiding nothing that even Saddam was fooled.
We should keep in mind that while Kay found no actual chemical, biological, and nuclear material, the Iraqis did have an active rocket program, and the UN sanction process was clearly unreliable. The sanctions and the "no-fly" zones were not designed as a permanent solution.
The UN resolutions were designed for Saddam to show he had destroyed his weapons programs, not for the US to prove he had or had not. Even if we now know our intelligence was flawed, it was really Saddam's obligation to demonstrate that fact to our satisfaction. Guilty until proven innocent. Even Col. Khadafi figured that out.
Posted by: john ||
01/31/2004 8:22 Comments ||
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I think john has stated almost everything we need to know in a nutshell, however, this thing will be political trouble for dubya. This subject will be harped on ad nauseum up until the day of the elections, even though all of the Dem candidates thought Saddam had WMDs, too.
Posted by: Les Nessman ||
01/31/2004 9:33 Comments ||
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February 2nd is approaching..
In the past 48 hours, the United States has received new intelligence that suggests a threat of possible terrorist attacks against the United States using aircraft. The intelligence also mentioned Air France and British Airways flights to the United States. British Airways Flight 223 was mentioned specifically. That flight was canceled twice in early January based on previous intelligence from an informant and other sources.
Dry runs? Leak detection? Any corpses found in Euroditches strangled with their own turbans lately?
In December, six Air France flights to Los Angeles, California, were canceled because of similar information. At the time, the national terror threat level was at orange, or high. The threat level has since been lowered to yellow, or elevated, and has not changed in response to the new intelligence. A representative for Air France in New York told CNN that the airline has been in close contact with French and U.S. government officials in the past several weeks, and has complied with all government requests for additional security. The representative could not confirm whether the airline had been contacted by U.S. officials about the latest intelligence but said no scheduled flights have been changed. Government officials said the intelligence mentioned flight paths between London and Washington-Dulles International Airport, and mentioned multiple dates, all within the next few weeks. Security has been increased in Houston, Texas, ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday, though that event was not mentioned in the intelligence.
If I was the Bad Guys, that's what I'd target. Lots of bodies to count, many of them bigwigs...
The officials said all agencies and officials concerned -- including those overseas -- have been notified of the intelligence, which is believed to be credible.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/31/2004 1:12:05 AM ||
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i'd be lookin' at 2/2--thats their end of haj--day of sacrifice holiday--they'd like nothing better than to sacrifice some westerner for allah the bloodthirsty moon god
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
01/31/2004 1:43 Comments ||
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I thought NYC was going to get nuked on Monday. And what's this about the next few weeks?? I thought we're gone by the end of the Hajj??
Congress should just take off Monday, it would be better for the country if they did. I'm even willing to pay them for their day off.
And did the frogs ever find that missing passenger?
NASAâs Mars rover Opportunity spied hints Friday of a mineral that typically forms in water - a finding that could mean the dry and dusty Red Planet was once wetter and more hospitable to life. That is the very question Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, were sent to answer. The preliminary discovery came hours before Opportunity was to roll its six wheels onto the martian surface for the first time. Engineers planned to command the rover to roll the 10 feet off its lander and onto Mars at 3:12 a.m. EST Saturday. Confirmation was expected three hours later. NASA scientists want Opportunity to find on the pebbly ground a mineral called gray hematite. The iron-rich mineral typically - but not always - forms in liquid water. Scientists said the preliminary evidence suggests Opportunity has already spied the mineral in the ruddy soil around it by using its mini-thermal emissions spectrometer, an instrument that measures infrared radiation. Confirmation should take a few days. Scientists want Opportunity to strike out for an outcropping several yards to its left. High-resolution images have revealed the presence of fine layers in the bedrock. The layers could have been laid down by water, wind or the buildup of volcanic ash.
As for the ailing Spirit rover, NASA deleted 1,700 files from its flash memory Friday and then rebooted the rover. "I am pleased to report it appears to be working just fine," said Glenn Reeves, chief engineer for the roverâs flight software. He said NASA should be able to declare Spirit "fully recovered" by Sunday. While on the mend, Spirit already has resumed its science work, snapping the first-ever microscopic image taken on Mars of the surface of a rock. Spirit should begin drilling into the rock, dubbed Adirondack, sometime in the next four days. Initial measurements reveal the rock is an olivine-rich basalt. The volcanic rock is the most common type on the surface of Earth and does not require water to form. That disappointed scientists. "It is not the kind of smoking-gun evidence weâre looking for," Arvidson said. We explore planets, the French explore unemployment, and the jihadis explore the 7th century.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2004 12:55:33 AM ||
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I'm wondering about the Spirit. The report that it's operators here on terra firma were able to get it going again by deleting 1,700 files and rebooting sounds suspiciously like a Windows operating system fix. I certainly hope we did better than send the robot explorer out with a MicroSoft operating system.
#3
Sorry to spoil the dream, but the rovers are running an real-time OS called VxWorks that's specially designed for this kind of application. Details here .
#4
My understanding is that these old files essentially choked the flash drive. That somehow, NASA, or the OS, did not offload or delete them sooner, which caused the problem.
Posted by: Ben ||
01/31/2004 4:44 Comments ||
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Well, I've heard that an aircraft carrier was paralyzed by its Windows NT system lockup, and that the upcoming (but already superseded) land Warrior program used Windows CE ...
Posted by: Lu Baihu ||
01/31/2004 13:39 Comments ||
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I have a friend on the rover program and this is what he told me it was.
The problem seemed to be that the programmer decided to throw a FATAL_ERROR when the flash file system was full. JPL never tested the system long enogh to fill up flash. When this error is sent it reboots the system. So when the system comes back up it does it again... you get an infinite loop of rebooting.
Since the reboot took a lot of power, it would eventually go into a low power mode.
Luckily enough, when the system went into low power mode, it would accept commands. So therefore they could clear the file system.
Yep, the NT battle ship caused the end of two careers, NT on line ships and the admiral in charge.
Posted by: Capt Joe ||
01/31/2004 19:10 Comments ||
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Political demonstrations and civil unrest in Haiti prompted the State Department to authorize the departure of nonessential U.S. diplomats and family members, the department said Friday. At the same time, the department cautioned U.S. citizens against going to Haiti, where embattled Dictator-for-Life President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been the target of protests. Just exactly when was it safe to go to Haiti?
The State Department said the potential exists for spontaneous demonstrations and for violent confrontations between government supporters and students and other opponents of the Aristide government. "The government of Haiti has not been able to maintain order in Port-au-Prince or in other cities, and in some instances has assisted in violently repressing the demonstrations," the department said. And remember, death is not an option: is Haiti the Liberia of the west, or is Liberia the Haiti of Africa? Discuss.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2004 12:33:45 AM ||
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Lies, all lies! Everyone knows that Clinton solved the Haitian problem by restoring thugocracy democracy to Haiti when it sent U.S. troops to prop up that pseudo-Marxist kleptocrat freedom-fighting democrat, JB Aristede. And since then Haiti has been a gul-durned caribbean paradise, second only to Cuba-- maybe even ahead of Cuba! I have heard, for example, that literacy rates in Haiti now top Cuba's 99% rate, soaring past 110%! Plus which, health care has become universal and free in Aristede's Haiti, which-- though it has had the unfortunate consequence of making for long lines at the local reader of chicken entrails physician, all de folks standin' on de lines say dey happy, happy, happy, massuh.
I just don't know where you guys get your so-called "information" about Haiti. You must be watching Fox News or something...
#4
Hope this isn't OT, but the New York Sun (a local 25-cent 'on the go' broadsheet with neocon tendencies and pointed slanting) has a regular section on Haiti, and yesterday's was on the possibility of Bush losing votes from Haitian-Americans on this -- one group declaring themselves "80,000 voters in Dade County" ...
Posted by: Lu Baihu ||
01/31/2004 13:36 Comments ||
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At the same time, the department cautioned U.S. citizens against going to Haiti...
#8
I don't know, GK. I hear Pakistan's nice. Especially the border provinces.
Yeah, I had a tourist agent like that once - even gave me clothes to wear and a nice dirty M-16 to carry. Getting over was easy - it was the getting back that was difficult...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 19:14 Comments ||
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#9
Does anyone else think that part of the plague of these "Dictators for Life" is caused by the extremely bad investment advice they recieve. They ought to have mandatory investment seminars that the rookie despots attend before taking over a country. The NFL and NBA do that with good results.
Realistically, a guy like Castro has a long career and all these "tin-horns" think that they are going to get a 30 or 40 year slop at the public trough as well. Somebody needs to tell these clowns that few dictators make it past five years when their locals realize that there isn't going to be another election. Also, at a certain point, their loyal military commanders realize that four-star general is as they're going up the food chain unless some room is amde in the penthouse. Their wives start nagging the with the old, "when are you going to make dictator. Look at the oppulence that the ... yak, yak yak..."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/31/2004 19:43 Comments ||
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The Bush administration is seeking a big increase in spending for missile defense next year, setting the program on course to have a bare-bones system in place by the end of this year and up to 30 interceptors on land and at sea by the end of 2005. Thatâs what he said heâd do.
The money is part of a proposed $401.7 billion Pentagon budget that doesnât include money for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Officials last year went back to Congress for $87 billion beyond their budget to fund those missions, and documents obtained by The Associated Press show they expect to have to ask for money beyond this new budget as well. The documents say they donât expect to do that until calendar year 2005, after Novemberâs presidential election. The request for the Missile Defense Agency is $9.14 billion, according to a copy of the budget that President Bush plans to send to Congress on Monday. That would be nearly 20 percent above last yearâs $7.6 billion for the agency. The proposed spending is aimed at having 20 ground-based missile interceptors and up to 10 sea-based interceptors by the end of the 2005, as well as upgraded radars and command and control.
Pentagon documents say the total military budget of $401.7 billion for fiscal year 2005 is 7 percent more than 2004âs budget of $375.3 billion, which didnât include the $87 billion supplemental later sought - $20 billion for Iraq reconstruction and about $67 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Documents obtained by The AP on Friday indicate that budget planners focused on transforming the military, improving intelligence capabilities and further streamlining Pentagon management. According to the documents mistakenly posted on the Pentagon Web site, the budget request for buying aircraft will decline from $2.1 billion to $1.8 billion. The proposal also includes more money for spare parts for Army vehicles such as tanks, armored personnel carriers and Humvees: $20.1 million instead of $17.9 million. Soldiers have complained that using the vehicles so heavily in the harsh environment of Iraq has caused them to break down more frequently. There is also a slight increase for ammunition. Personnel needs, including salaries and benefits, were put at $105 billion, up from $98.3 billion this year. Other major categories in the $401.7 billion total include $141 billion for operation and maintenance; $70 billion for research, development and testing; $5.3 billion for construction and $4.2 billion for family housing. The Pentagon budget represents 17.8 percent of the federal budget, compared with 15.3 percent in fiscal year 2000, according to other documents obtained by The AP. Thatâs 3.6 percent of gross domestic product, compared with 2.9 percent in 2000. Thereâs the tax cost of the WoT: about 0.7 percent of GDP.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2004 12:26:58 AM ||
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"The request for the Missile Defense Agency is $9.14 billion"...
A deal at twice the price. Plus, with sales of the system (with some âadvantage-USAâ modifications) to Japan (..|.. NK), Taiwan (..|.. China), Israel (..|.. Splodydopes), and the UK (..|.. the French), it will more than pay for itself in short order.
#2
Don't forget our friends Down Under, Hyper!
The Ozzies are worried about all of the above, especially the French, who ventured down to their neighbor NZ to blow up that Greenpeace ship and they've definitely said that they want to be *in* on our SDI, plus they're adding some tech help in the bargain!
By Larry Elder, EFL
Supporters of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, aka "Deanie-boppers," accuse the media of piling on by repeatedly playing his now infamous Iowa caucus "concession speech," punctuated by his banshee-like "Yeeeaaaaaarggh!"
It's not as inspiring as Sammy being checked for lice, but it's funnier...
Deanâs admittedly un-presidential behavior gave his opponents....a cheap excuse to pound him, causing his sudden drop in the polls and his unexpectedly distant second-place finish to Sen. John "Hair Boy" Kerry, D-Mass., in the New Hampshire primary.
Only a little over one month ago, national polls gave Dean a commanding 20 percentage-point lead over his closest Democratic rival, yet he staggered to a third-place finish in Iowa. Talk about a meltdown. If Dean continues to under-perform, his campaign ends, and the blame game begins. Expect his supporters to say the overreaction of the media and the pundits to Deanâs, uh, rallying cry, brought him down. Really? Maybe it began when DeanâŠ..
Then Elder goes on to cite over a dozen foot-in-mouth events, amply illustrated with Cox and Forkum cartoons, where Deanâs demise may have actually begun. IMHO, it began when Dean hired the .com bubble master, âpolitical mastermindâ, and former Mondale aid, Joe Trippi, as his campaign manager. Joe burned through campaign money like he was running a .com company and was well on the way to positioning Dean for a Mondale-like defeat.
Posted by: Gasse Katze ||
01/31/2004 12:23:30 AM ||
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Now, now, let's be nice to .com, he's one of our favorites here! I'm sure .com manages his company better than that!
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/31/2004 0:28 Comments ||
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I think Deans a punk. But he's not stupid, just a punk.
I also think the national media took him down by making him a laughing stock. Why? Al Gore thought he was da man. Me thinks this has Slick Willey's finger prints. I noticed Winky has been out and about this past week. I think Winky still has many suporters, ala Michael Jackson, that are more than ready to play underhanded hardball!
It's easy to make a fool out of anybody. Just take a snap shot and start throwing darts. I saw Deans screech, not a big deal untill the "in crowed" makes a big deal out of it. Shame.
#5
Kind of hilarious actually, Al Gore's knack for turning a mighty wind into a fart. If Modern Science can figure out how he does it-- plus figure out a way to reverse the process-- my wife can tell you that I can single-handedly solve the energy crisis by producing enough wind to power millons of square miles of windmills... and that's even when I'm laying off the bean burritos!
Earth to Al Gore: please reveal your secrets of wind-to-fart transformation... the whole gul-durned "Earth hangs in the balance", doncha know?
#6
Look for Al to be out with a "I didn't know he was nuts!" statement soon. He'll work global warming in there somewhere as a reason he made the call.
#7
Sigh - so late to the game with this shitty dial-up...
Tanx, Dr Steve! I saw this and thought, "Shit! I resemble those remarks!" - but the connection was already (of course) made. BTW, I specialize in corp Intranets / Extranets - where the biz has never even slowed down. The idea that you could get rich selling [insert stupid idea here] just because the Internet offered a new sales channel died the ugly death it deserved. In other words, shit is still shit, even if peddled on the 'Net. Sadly, phools were separated from their money - as per usual - and gave the whole shebang an undeserved bad rap. Intra / Extra systems realy do save companies real money. At the very least, you have the whole world building and maintaining your WW "Wan". And the AT&T "Cloud" disappeared in a puff of logic... heh, heh.
As for Dean and his Deaniacs - they suffer from the zealot's curse: I believe in this so much that I'm blind as a bat regards any alternatives. I think Steven den Beste covered it well in his analysis of the inherent flaws of inductive reasoning... in effect, you can talk yourself into believing just about anything - with one or two early decision-point rationalizations...
#8
Dot. I'm reminded of an internet "can't miss" thing in the industry I work. All the dealers were invited to a local Best Western meeting room for breakfast. The deal was give a grand and be listed as the "go to location" for their product. As I sat there, crumb cake all over my lips, I saw savy guys writing checks. The push was real aggressive and I made my escape. They still sent biz my way as they had to make the customer happy. But sadly the whole net interprise collapsed that year. I'm a cautious guy, I like to wait for things to mature. Sometimes you miss the boat but at least your boat doesn't sink at the first sign of a storm.
Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party has pushed controversial land law amendments through Parliament making it easier to seize white-owned farms for blacks, the official Herald newspaper reported on Thursday. The move, made possible by the parliamentary majority wielded by President Robert Mugabe's party, overrides objections from a legal committee that the changes were unconstitutional. The government says the amendments will "consolidate the gains of land reform and remove bottlenecks in land acquisition". A major amendment in the bill - which will become law once Mr Mugabe signs it - is the abolition of a requirement that the initial notice of acquisition should be served personally upon the owner of the land to be acquired.
An e-mail will do. Barring that, a healthy holler. From downtown Harare...
A parliamentary legal committee, whose views are normally taken on board by the government, had condemned as unconstitutional the amendment's proposal that acquisition notices would now only be published in a government gazette. The legal committee is currently chaired by an opposition legislator, and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) said on Thursday the bill had been approved despite fierce objections by members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 00:08 ||
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You mean there are still successful farmers in Zimbabwe?
Posted by: Charles ||
01/31/2004 13:49 Comments ||
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Good ole' Bob, still digging deeper. One of these days, the walls are gonna collapse, Bob, and you're gonna be in the bottom of the hole. Happy farming - from below.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/31/2004 18:32 Comments ||
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The United Nations Security Council has voted to name countries which are refusing to enforce UN sanctions against the Al-Qaeda network and leaders of the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan. The resolution was adopted unanimously by the council. It sets a deadline of the end of March for all member countries to submit reports on their efforts to enforce sanctions.
Yeah. And then you guys are gonna get it! (Tell 'em, Kofi!... Kofi?)
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 00:02 ||
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It sets a deadline of the end of March for all member countries to submit reports on their efforts to enforce sanctions.
And if they don't? Then Kofi will consult with other members about possibly deciding to set up a committee to study whether he should set up a committee to look into the possibility of setting up a committee to study what should be done to them. Or he could do nothing (which amounts to the same thing).
I think I just made myself dizzy...
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/31/2004 0:14 Comments ||
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#2
They'll get the message, as long as the resolution states that each nation "will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations" :-)
#3
If you ask me Kofi is a complete waste of the earths precious oxygen,he needs putting down.I would class him as the most useless,unhelpfull Saddam appeasing slime on the planet.Send him to Gauntanamo Bay!
Two of the architects of the Iraq war, United States President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, are among nominees for the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Nominations for the prestigious award close tomorrow. After sending thousands of soldiers to war and failing to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Mr Bush and Mr Blair have been put forward to receive the Nobel peace prize. They were nominated by Jan Simonsen, an independent member of Norway's Parliament who says the pair got rid of a dictator and made the world safer. "Bush and Blair definitely still deserve it," he said. "Even though they haven't found those weapons they got rid of a dictator and made the world more safe. They got rid of a madman." Nobel watchers say neither Mr Bush nor Mr Blair has much chance of winning.
I'm not a Nobel watcher, but I don't think they do, either. They deserve it, but they won't get it.
Other nominees are varied and include: Pope John Paul II; the European Union to mark its expansion to include former East bloc states; the Salvation Army; former Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler; former Czech president Vaclav Havel; former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic; and Chinese dissidents. The 2003 prize went to Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi from a record field of 165 nominees. The prize winner is announced in October.
Wonder who nominated Hitler?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/31/2004 00:02 ||
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Wonder who nominated Hitler?
Arafat? Or some other Arab?
I think you're right, Fred - given the mindset of the Nobel committee (and I use the term "mind" loosely), Milosevic has a better chance than Bush and Blair.
Havel would be an excellent pick, but I'm willing to bet it goes to the EU (*gag*).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/31/2004 0:10 Comments ||
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#2
How about that Michael Moore fellow. He was into peace wasn't he?
How about that Michael Moore fellow. He was into peace wasn't he?
Nahh, he's into pieces - of pizza, cake, pie...
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/31/2004 0:20 Comments ||
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#4
I ever wondered why Chambelain and Hitler didn't get the Nobel Peace Prize for "preserving" the peace at Munich. Perhaps the Nobel Peace Prizes didn't exist. Or perhaps the Nobel committee didn't have the time before Hitler voded his signature by engulfing the remainder of Czecoslovaquia.
Anyway Churchill deserved the Peace Prize far more than any peacenik.
#7
I think Hitler was nominated by the Old Timers Commitee. Or maybe, since we all know Bush=Hitler, it was an honest mistake.
Now let's watch all the newbies here rip me to shreds.
#8
I don't think Bush has a chance either, but wouldn't it be great if he did. He deserves it. And just imagine the look on the Clintons' faces! Bill spent all that time trying to get peace in the Middle East so he could get the prize and then Bush gets it!!
Posted by: AF Lady ||
01/31/2004 20:23 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.
A tractor-trailer that blocked traffic on the Deception Pass Bridge between Oak Harbor and Anacortes for six hours has been cleared. The bridge was closed when the tractor-trailer truck ended up dangling off the bridge. The truck went up onto the guardrail shortly before 7 a.m. and had been balancing there, in danger of falling over the side of the bridge and into the water. Authorities didn't immediately try to right the truck because of high winds. Transportation officials declared the bridge structurally sound and were working to repair the damaged guard rail. 
