F1 team BAR might relocate from Britain to Japan, according to David Richards. The F1-principal, currently operating the team out of Brackley, said local legislation on tobacco advertising could force BAR to move house ahead of 2005. BAR employs 450 staff at its current British base. âThe knock-on effects will be significant,â Richards told the assembled media as the wraps were taken-off a shining new Honda-powered racer in Spain on Sunday. Richards said the original plan was to phase-out tobacco advertising by 2006. But he says a UK-turnaround will see Lucky Strike logos outlawed as of July next-year; but only if the Formula One operation is based in Britain. âForeign teams with foreign sponsors can [keep advertising],â DR continued. âIt is a disaster in the making. I donât know how itâs going to work out.â He said if the law stays, âthe whole thing could go to Japan within a year.â Just in case anyone missed the posting of a few weeks ago, I thought I would post this new information. Also, F1 boss, Mosley, said that Europe would not be able to economically support the F1 circus in a few years! The old saying of cross your feet so you can shoot them both with one shot still holds true.
The dog, named Clifford, lives with his owner in Livermore, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area. Cliffordâs owner, Steve Borba, said he was tired of getting spam e-mails, so he signed up for an e-mail account using the name Clifford J. Dog. Eventually, a pre-approved credit card application arrived addressed to Clifford J. Dog, and Borba sent it in as a joke. I thought Clifford was a big red dog.
"It asked for his motherâs name. I put âPugsy Malone.â When it asked for a Social Security number, I put nine zeroes, and I even put that this was for a dog and not to send a credit card," Borba said. Is that how the Pakistaniâ Passport Office works as well?
The credit card company issued Clifford a card despite the obvious warning on the application, Borba said. After the card arrived, Borba alerted the company of the error and the card was deactivated. Borba said that Clifford never got to use his credit line. I hope it donesnât Robert Mugabeâs feelings that Clifford has better credit than he does.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 1:10:56 PM ||
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Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 13:14 Comments ||
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LOL,SH. So you're saying that credit ratings have gone to the dog(s). I went in to a rental house once after the tenants had skipped. Among the trash and garbage, I found over a dozen notices that his checks had bounced and one note from a department store,that came with a new credit card, congratulating him on his good credit. Go figure.
#3
Does anyone wonder why Credit card interests rates are so high? Its because the credit card companies are willing to extend credit to anyone - even a dog.
And when they default who cares? The other suckers cardholders will pay his bill!
#5
GK--Did the names on all those papers match? He could have been using someone else's credit!
Like the ad sez: Grrr-ruff! Mamacita!
Posted by: Dar ||
02/02/2004 17:24 Comments ||
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They matched. And when I got to the police station to file a complaint, one of his rubber checks was to me, they dumped out a manila envelope that held over thirty bogus checks he had written. BTW, his name was not Clifford "Big Red" Dog.
Timothy Thomas, 24, of Gouverneur, is accused of flashing members of the Amish community in a Saint Lawrence County village on several occasions earlier this month. In Dr Ruthâs opinion, Tim must have a very bizarre and disgusting active and healthy fantasy life.
In his statement to sheriffâs deputies, Thomas says he was driving home from work on Jan. 6 when he stopped his car, took off his clothes and exposed himself to an Amish man driving a buggy. Now thatâs the kind of perp statement the polices can dig right into.
Another time, he allegedly exposed himself to two Amish boys in -7 degree weather. Brrrrrrrrr. Want to see my hairy horse chestnut? Brrrr.
He told deputies he did "this type of thing about once a week." Thomas told deputies his actions were a cry for getting stabbed with a hay fork help. Tim, at 7 degrees I can understand why you might be crying for help, but two Amish kids are not going to be able to do much for you as their pants and coats are not likely to be your size. Maybe one could spare a wool mitten for your ... ah package, though.
Authorities say Thomas likely targeted the Amish because they donât have telephones and couldnât immediately report the incidents. Kind of an ineffective cry for help. I hope he got frost-bitten waiting for the boys to hike to a gas-station to report him.
He faces charges of public stupidity lewdness.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 10:35:19 AM ||
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What a pity no one challenged him to put it on a flag pole.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/02/2004 10:37 Comments ||
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I'm sorry, what did this have to do with Hillary again?
#3
Sorry, the guy was from upstate NY. Failed attempt to be funny and lure in members of the VRWC. Hillary's name is like honey to them.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 11:04 Comments ||
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#4
Right, I got that. I don't know why you didn't go all out:
HILLARY'S CONSTITUENTS DIE IN GRISLY ACCIDENT
HILLARY'S CONSTITUENTS CHARGED WITH BRIBERY, CORRUPTION
HILLARY'S CONSTITUENTS KNOCK OVER 7-11 IN THE BRONX
All of these are bound to be true any given week in New York.
#5
Angie, I think Ann Coulter has already got that covered. Sorry, I should have gone for the Amish angle. The article struck me as funny mostly because I can't imagine somebody deciding to cry for help, by exposing themselves in the Middle of a frigid Winter.
DO you think he was a repressed member of a Polar Bear club?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 13:21 Comments ||
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AN AFGHAN mayor and seven of his relatives were killed when a remote-controlled bomb exploded near their vehicle in an attack blamed on Taleban or al-Qaeda rebels, it was revealed yesterday. Three children, sons of Mayor Khalif Sadaht, were among the casualties of the roadside blast on Saturday afternoon in Deh Rawood, southern Uruzgan province, said provincial governor Jan Mohammad Khan. The other four fatalities were believed to be members of Mr Sadahtâs family. Five other people were wounded. The mayor and his family were travelling home in a four-wheel-drive vehicle when the blast occurred. Six suspects have been arrested in connection with the explosion, Mr Khan said, and a team from the provincial capital was sent to help with the investigation.
I hope the team is composed of very large men with moustachios and truncheons. Goddamned kiddy killers...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:16:05 AM ||
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(2004-02-01) -- In the annual contest between stone pillars symbolizing the devil and thousands of devoted stone-throwing Muslims, the devil won again this year as at least 244 pilgrims died of trampling during the Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca.
"We were disorganized and Satan came ready to play," said an unnamed Imam speaking for Allah, the official deity of Islam. "We threw everything we had at him and those stone pillars are none the worse for the attack. But hundreds of our people are dead, or on the injured reserve list. Ultimately, you have to blame leadership. Allah and his preachers take personal responsibility for the loss."
The Imam said the loss will not affect his mission "to propagate the deep truths of our religion so that all citizens of earth can benefit from the peaceful, intellectual and spiritual teachings of Islam."
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/02/2004 11:41:21 AM ||
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...."to propagate the deep truths of our religion so that all citizens of earth can benefit from the peaceful, intellectual and spiritual teachings of Islam."
Seems he's losing that game too. The game plan is not even spreading to his own team.
The United States has canceled an alert of an Al Qaida attack on a military base in Oman. U.S. officials said the alert, issued on Jan. 27, was found to have been based on information that was not credible. The Jan. 27 message issued by the U.S. embassy in Muscat as well as the State Department warned of "unsubstantiated threat information aimed at Western military interests in southern Oman." At the time, officials said the U.S. intelligence community had received information of a possible Al Qaida attack against the U.S. military presence in the sultanate. "After subsequent analysis, that âunsubstantiated threat informationâ was determined to be not credible, and we hereby rescind our Jan. 27 warden message, effective immediately," the embassy said in a statement on Saturday.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:24:25 AM ||
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Oman seems to be fairly quite most of the time.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 10:42 Comments ||
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Makka's Grand Mosque imam has lashed out at Israel, condemned Iraq's continued occupation and called for unity among Muslims in the face of oppression. Speaking from Islam's holiest site in Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abd al-Rahman al-Sudais marked the start of Islam's Eid al-Adha â the festival of the sacrifice â with a message for all Muslims. "In Palestine, Muslims suffer oppression and al-Aqsa mosque [in Jerusalem] buckles under occupation ... how can we live peacefully while our holy lands ⊠are being tarnished by a band of infidel Zionists?"
"How could we possibly exert the least bit of self-control, negotiate in good faith, reach compromises? It just can't be done!"
Saudi's best known cleric told millions currently performing Hajj and tens of millions more via satellite broadcast that Israelis were escalating hostilities by building new settlements and separation barriers. The cleric also lamented that Iraq "bleeds and that the occupier has ransacked the country and seized its riches."
I confess. I, personally, have seized about $30 worth of Iraq...
"I pray that our brothers in the nation of the Rafidn (Mesopotamia) be governed according to the Sunna (Islamic tradition)," added al-Sudais, calling on Muslims everywhere to unite "to defeat all their occupiers and oppressors."
"Get out there and explode for Allah!"
He said Islam is "misrepresented by Western media which associate it with terror."
Prob'ly because holy men take every opportunity to urge people to unite "to defeat all their occupiers and oppressors."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/02/2004 00:15 ||
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F&%king losers will never allow Israel to live in peace - it gives them something permanent to seethe over - quit pretending they will and kill the loudest bastards
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2004 10:04 Comments ||
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Fred, as an American taxpayer who is funding the reconstruction, as well, I would like a souvenier to commemorate my contribution to piece. Were any of the Sadaam statues nudes? I have an idea of which chunk of Iraq that I might want.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 10:46 Comments ||
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heh, I wish he would give the full-blown seethe sermon before the stoning of the devil ceremony. We need to get the numbers up on the ritual human sacrifice portion of the hajj.
#4
I think I'm going to start praying to the REAL God that Mecca gets smacked with a quarter-mile asteroid next year at Haj season. Maybe send a message to the turbantops that they're braying like asses to the wrong Fella.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/02/2004 11:07 Comments ||
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OP: quarter-mile asteroid? Good Gawd, how big a hole do you want? A 50 yard across asteroid would leave Mecca and the surrounding hundred miles uninhabitable. A quarter-miler could be a planet killer.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2004 12:27 Comments ||
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SteveW: Ke=MV. Quarter-mile diameter asteroid, mostly basalt, would have the kinetic energy of about 140MT. Not quite a planet-killer, but would take out Mecca, Medina, Mt. Ararat, Jedda, Riyadh, and most of the Red Sea's west bank. The shake, rattle, roll, and air burst would do serious damage to anything within about 300-400 miles - not quite enough to reach Israel, but enough to let everyone in the Arab world know that the Big Guy is seriously pissed at His children's opressors.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/02/2004 14:01 Comments ||
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The chutzpah. How about the Sudanese enslaved, raped and murdered by Muslims? How about the Hazara or teh Algerians slaughtered by the wahabis?
For a change how about asking for beheading of the Jihadi murderers and rapers?
The British government said Monday that it is considering giving courts the power to try terrorist suspects in secret and without juries -- proposals condemned by civil liberties groups. Rantburg had an article announcing the proposal in early January.
Home Secretary David Blunkett published a discussion paper outlining changes to existing anti-terrorist laws. They include secret trials in which judges and lawyers would be cleared beforehand by the intelligence services. There is also a proposal to allow judges to convict suspects on a lower standard of proof than in normal criminal trials, where guilt must be proven "beyond reasonable doubt." The proposal would allow judges to convict if they thought "on a balance of probabilities" a suspect was guilty. The civil rights group Liberty said the plans were "wholly unacceptable."
"We can't accept those plans. We'll go to a different court!"
"Simply introducing more laws, greater powers and stiffer penalties will go a long way to undermining British justice and will not make our country any safer," said campaigns director Mark Littlewood.
Seems to me like dumping Captain Hook and Abu Qatada would go a really long way toward making your country safer...
Blunkett said the threat of suicide terrorist attacks made it necessary to debate ways to "deal with these delicate issues of proportionality and human rights on the one hand and evidential base and the threshold of evidence on the other." Speaking to Britainâs Press Association news agency Sunday during a visit to India, he said authorities needed the power to act on intelligence information while protecting its sources. Blunkett said he hoped to have new legislation in place by the next national election, which must be held by mid-2006. Will all people incarcerated for suspected terrorist activity be held that long?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 2:22:41 PM ||
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Just like a gutterball, I was on a roll. This should have been under Britain.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 17:20 Comments ||
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Attorney-General Philip Ruddock today warned that al-Qaeda may be planning to outdo its attack on New York, as airlines grounded flights amid fears of chemical or biological attack on an aircraft. Over the weekend, British Airways, Air France and Continental Airlines cancelled several trans-Atlantic flights, citing security concerns. Intelligence experts reportedly said possible threats may include the release of a biological agent on a plane so those aboard would spread the infection without knowing it.
Yep. That'd be an act of spectacular Islamic bravery...
Speaking from Boston where he is involved in security talks, Mr Ruddock told the Nine Network that significant progress had been made in decapitating the al-Qaeda leadership. But he said that success had not stymied al-Qaedaâs ambitions to attack Western interests, including Australian interests. "The belief here, in terms of their preparations, they would be seeking to outdo what they did before," he said. "I canât comment any more specifically than that but there is a real and continuing concern about what they might be able to do, which is all the reason we need to be working stronger than ever at dealing with these issues."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:04:25 AM ||
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So far so good but they will, in some way, hit. But lets hope it won't be anywhere near 911. Time to target the brains.
With each successful attack, another thugocracy goes down. Next up: Iran. Hell, maybe even Americans will become custodians of the two holy thingies. That should get their calvins wound up.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/02/2004 3:51 Comments ||
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maybe even Americans will become custodians of the two holy thingies
Perhaps we could test the next generation Mars rover on the big black rock.
#4
maybe even Americans will become custodians of the two holy thingies
Nah, that's what we have Jordan for. Plus the King has a actual historic claim to the position.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2004 9:49 Comments ||
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#5
I wish that, just once, NPR or BBC would stick the microphone into the face of some of our native muslims moms with babies in strollers and ask them how they feel about their counterparts attempting to give their little mohmohs smallpox or worse.
#6
how can this be? John Kerry says it's all hype? Just a police action?
(/sarcasm off)
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2004 10:07 Comments ||
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Hose recommends that no one eat the submarine sandwichs. It's not worth it.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 10:51 Comments ||
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STILL WAITING . . .
Here it is February 2nd and NYC hasn't been nuked yet. I've been looking out the 41st floor window for the mushroom cloud all day, but so far, there's been nothing.
P.S. - Off topic?? Last week a I saw a P-3 (or maybe an EP-3) flying low and slow up the Hudson at about 9:30 a.m.
Posted by: Tibor ||
02/02/2004 14:54 Comments ||
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Tibor, I think that the P-3's could be used for surface search (detection of boats) or sub-surface search, but I don't think that would do much with respect to the WOT. The P-3 does have fairly long legs that would allow it to be used for identifying a surface craft. Can't think that a patrol up the Hudson would be useful for a purpose other than land navigation practice.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 17:33 Comments ||
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Just giving the Cadets a little look see at how life could have been different.
The German government did not invite emissary of Chechen rebels Akhmed Zakayev to Berlin, the German foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday. He said the United Kingdom had given asylum to Zakayev, so he could freely travel in the European Union. A number of deputies from the Socialist Democratic Party of Germany invited Zakayev, who is on the international wanted list of Interpol, to visit Germany on January 28-30. Zakayev has met with German parliamentarians. Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergei Krylov thinks the significance of Zakayevâs trip to Germany should not be exaggerated. The Berlin voyage of the emissary of Chechen rebels âwill not have a serious influence on the Russian-German relations or long-term consequences,â the ambassador said. Confidence in the bilateral relations is so high, âthat we can discuss every issue openly and speak straightforwardly as need be,â he said.
Five North African men were convicted Monday of ties to Osama bin Ladenâs terrorist network and sentenced to four-to-eight year prison terms. The defendants were found guilty of links to a cell that sent would-be terrorists to Afghanistan, Tunisia and Algeria, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. However, they were cleared of charges of aiding and abetting clandestine immigration. A charge of trafficking in arms was dropped. Anti-terrorism investigators have described Italy as an important logistical base for the al-Qaida network, especially for procuring false identity documents and finding recruits for training in bin Ladenâs camps. The stiffest sentence - eight years - went to Abdelkader Mahmoud Es Sayed, an Egyptian who allegedly organized the Milan cell. He was tried in absentia, although investigators say he may have died fighting for bin Laden in Afghanistan. If he was a organizer, I doubt it. Heâs most likely running another cell somewhere under another name.
ANSA reported that the court handed down a 7 1/2 year sentence to Abdelhalim Hafed Remadna, an Algerian arrested in 2001 as he tried to board a train in Milan, two months after the Sept. 11 attacks. Police said he had phony Italian residency papers and was trying to leave the country. Like the other defendants, Remadna had links to a Milan mosque and Islamic culture center that the U.S. government has called the main al-Qaida station house in Europe. Iâll wager the Italians have this mosque under close observation.
A librarian at the culture institute, Yassine Chekkouri of Morocco, was sentenced to four years. Nabil Benattia, a Tunisian arrested shortly after Remadna, got five years. Another Tunisian, Lased Ben Henin, who was arrested in Germany in October 2001 and extradited to Italy, got six years, ANSA said. Defense lawyers challenged the sentences. Of course they did, thatâs what they do.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2004 2:16:58 PM ||
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Police said he had phony Italian residency papers and was trying to leave the country.
In Islamic utopia all identification documents will be phony.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/02/2004 22:31 Comments ||
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but not to worry, cher ami, for French superiority is demonstrated once again where it really matters ....
The United States stuck the boot in after failing to bring Paris to heel on Iraq, but newly released intelligence documents reveal the sole truth that the US Army was once awed by the well-shod French soldier. It was hardly the stuff of high Parisian fashion, but for those strolls through Indochinaâs booby-trapped jungles, the US military knew there was nothing better than the French armour-plated shoe. Army intelligence documents from 1954 show French design expertise was pressed into service to protect soldiers from dastardly bamboo spikes coated with buffalo dung, planted by anti-colonialist Viet Minh troops. "The recent development of an armoured-sole shoe represents a significant achievement in French military footwear design," the US Army intelligence report said.
Soldiers who fell victim to the spike could be maimed, infected and out of action for up to six months, prompting military boffins to seek a solution, the document showed. The armoured shoe was of ankle height and similar in construction to a tennis shoe. But crafty French military cobblers inserted a steel wire mesh, similar to chain mail, in the vulcanized rubber sole. "Technologists testing the shoe were able to hammer nails through the sole and mesh only by exerting considerable force," the admiring army report said, suggesting the footwear might be developed for use against landmines. The shoe would have won few prizes for fashion, though, as it was made of "heavy oil drab duck, with an unbleached drill lining," according to the report, marked "Confidential," which appeared in the Armyâs Intelligence Review. It was not clear if the French design was used as a model for US reinforced boots. in other words, the headline is ... um ... exaggerated. but if it makes you feel better about yourselves ....
Posted by: rkb ||
02/02/2004 11:43:38 AM ||
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You have to give the French credit for going to all that trouble to save your sole.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/02/2004 12:12 Comments ||
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The United States stuck the boot in after failing to bring Paris to heel on Iraq
SH,are you moonlighting with AFP now?
#3
Actually, weren't there several variations of the small, foot-sized punji traps that were designed to pierce the boot higher up on the ankle from the sides? Of course, any protection on the sole is better than nothing, since you're likely to be pushing straight down with all your weight behind it.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/02/2004 12:45 Comments ||
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Any truth to the rumor the boot ran faster away from than into battle?
Posted by: john ||
02/02/2004 13:24 Comments ||
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No but we could test the truth in rumor about French steel-reinforced boots being ideal for kicking in the balls.
More on the interesting year in French politics .... and indirectly in re: EU financial corruption probes too
French Euro-MP Jean-Charles Marchiani has been placed under investigation for alleged misappropriation of funds concerning commissions paid by the oil group Elf in its Nigeria operations, he said Saturday. Marchiani confirmed a report in Saturdayâs Le Monde newspaper that said he was being probed by a Paris judge who suspects him of having received five million dollars in commission from Elf in connection with a contract in Nigeria. But Marchiani told AFP: "I confirmed (to the judge) that I did not receive a single cent from Elf or from any of its subsidiaries."
In November a Paris court handed stiff jail terms to three former top executives at the French oil giant, bringing to a close a trial that exposed unprecedented corruption at the once state-owned firm. Twenty-seven other defendants in the mammoth corruption case received lesser punishments ranging from three years in prison to suspended sentences, and were ordered to pay fines. Elf, which was privatized in 1994, is now part of French giant Total - formerly known as TotalFinaElf.
Posted by: rkb ||
02/02/2004 11:38:52 AM ||
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I thought I was the only one contacted by a Nigerian treasury offical about the transfer of funds....
Hi. My name is Legolas and we have a very important mission that I cannot elaborate on for security reasons. Please give me a thousand castars. The transaction will be totally secure.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/02/2004 12:26 Comments ||
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France was in political turmoil Monday over the conviction on corruption charges of former prime minister and protege / close friend of Chirac Alain Juppe, as three separate investigations were launched into claims that the judge who sentenced him was the target of phone taps and threats. The speaker of the National Assembly Jean-Louis Debre announced plans for a parliamentary enquiry into allegations made Saturday by judge Catherine Pierce that her offices were broken into and her computer tampered with during the run-up to Fridayâs verdict. The enquiry came after President Jacques Chirac ordered an investigation under three top judges, and the justice ministry began proceedings to determine if criminal charges can be brought.
The row over the alleged interference drew attention away from the separate debate over the future of Juppe himself, the head of Chiracâs Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party who has been widely tipped as a centre-right candiate for presidential elections in 2007. Juppe, 58, was found guilty of illegally paying party workers with funds belonging to Paris city hall and given an 18-month suspended prison term and a ten-year bar on holding public office. However he immediately announced an appeal, which put the sentences on hold. Franceâs political world was awash with speculation about Juppeâs intentions, with commentators saying his resignation from the UMP could open up a period of fierce in-fighting, just seven weeks before important regional elections.
Juppe, who is also mayor of the southwestern city of Bordeaux and a member of the National Assembly, confirmed that he would announce his decision Tuesday. "I have had a good think. I respect the court. Tomorrow probably on television I shall tell the French what I have decided. Till then I hope you will understand that I am keeping it to myself," he told supporters who gathered to wish him well at the Bordeaux city hall. Prompting speculation that he is urging Juppe to stick it out in the hope of quashing the verdict on appeal, Chirac told journalists with a straight face, amazingly
in Marseille that his protege was a "political figure of exceptional quality, competence, humanity and honesty. France needs men of his quality." Chiracâs left-wing opponents said that he himself had been indirectly damaged by the Juppe verdict, because during the period when the illegal payments were being made - the late 1980s and early 1990s - the president was the mayor of Paris and Juppe his financial director. "Given what the judge said there can be no doubt at all that when Jacques Chirac has completed his term in office, at some time or other - by some manner or another - he will face judicial proceedings," said Socialist leader Francois Hollande. Chirac is currently protected by presidential immunity. thanks to a measure he introduced himself because of this issue
Rumours were circulating about who could have ordered the alleged phone taps at judge Pierceâs offices in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre, with memories reawakened of another magistrate - Eric Halphen - who complained of harassment while looking into corruption at Chiracâs party. In an interview with Le Parisien newspaper, Pierce said, "Our offices ... received regular âvisitsâ over these last months ... Our work computers were gone through. We also think our telephones - including our personal ones - were tapped. We donât know who was behind all this. We simply came to the conclusion that a lot of people wanted to know what would be our decision," she said. Iâll bet ... and one of them works on the Champs Elysse
The state prosecutor in Nanterre said that two preliminary police investigations were already set up earlier this month. The first followed the receipt of a threatening letter in which the author said that if Juppe was not barred from office he would face justice "by force if necessary." The second investigation was into an incident in which a workman was found dismantling the ceiling in Pierceâs office. The man told police he was trying to make his way into the next-door office, whose lock had broken.
Posted by: rkb ||
02/02/2004 11:34:11 AM ||
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Pressure & harassment : S.O.P. for "sensitive" cases. This may cause some turmoil, but I doubt this will lead to serious consequences for anyone. Still, very messy. Obviously, the UMP (Chirac's presidential party)'s operatives are less qualified than the late RPR's ones, ha ha.
Security officials have said that a member of the terrorist network of Al-Qaida was captured on January 29, 2004 in an operation about Istanbul bombings on November 15 and 20, 2003. Reported this last week, got a name now.
Noting that 45 people were arrested by State Security Courts (DGMs) since the beginning of operations on November 15, 2003, the directorate said that a member of international terrorist network Al-Qaida was captured in Istanbul on January 29, 2004. He was identified as Baki Yigit. Baki, Mr. Truncheon. Mr. Truncheon, Baki. Now that youâve been introduced, perhaps youâd like to have a nice long talk.
The directorate said that 113 CDs, 20 floppy disks, 5 micro cassettes, 9 hard discs and a laptop were confiscated in the same operation. Oooh, intel gold mine.
ââDuring his interrogation, the detainee said that he held talks with leader and military officials of the terrorist network abroad. Sure like to know where "abroad" is. Iâd guess Iran.
He said that they had given him directives for acts. The detainee said that he had received finance from the terrorist network for his efforts of planning training programs in military camps.ââ Another gold medal performance from the Turkish Truncheon Team.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2004 10:56:01 AM ||
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113 CDs, 20 floppy disks, 5 micro cassettes, 9 hard discs and a laptop
Right off hand I'd say they were good on backing up their stuff. It's a good habit, I recommend to all.
A Norwegian court has ordered the founder of an Islamic militant group to remain in custody for another four weeks. Mullah Krekar, head of the Kurdish group Ansar al-Islam, was charged last December with plotting the murder of his political rivals in northern Iraq. "The accused, with reasonable grounds, can still be suspected of illegal acts," a court statement said. Iâd say so.
US officials say Ansar al-Islam may be behind Sundayâs suicide bombings in northern Iraq, which killed 56 people. The US also suspects the group has links to the al-Qaeda network. Theyâre a wholly-owned subsidiary.
The Iraqi Kurdish mullah has repeatedly claimed he is no longer leader of Ansar al-Islam, and denies terror links. Except when being interviewed on the al-Jaz website.
Norwegian prosecutors had sought to keep him in detention while they investigated what they said was new evidence against him, relating to a plot to murder rivals in Iraq during 2000-2001. Norwayâs elite economic crime unit, Oekokrim, presented its evidence on Friday in a closed-door session of the court. Economic crime unit = following the money.
The nature of the new allegations is not known.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2004 10:20:17 AM ||
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Conspiracy to Lurk with Intent to Gawk? Terrorist Masterminding? Being a bad tipper?
#2
There ought to be a rule that when another country calls for the immediate release of a homicidal psychopath, the country that has the dirtbag in custody shoud have the option of extraditing the earthsack(pc for dirtbag) to any country making said protest.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 10:54 Comments ||
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There ought to be a rule that when another country calls for the immediate release of a homicidal psychopath, the country that has the dirtbag in custody shoud have the option of extraditing the earthsack(pc for dirtbag) to any country making said protest.
SH, I agree 100%, but only if such earthsack is delivered from 40,000 feet with an anvil wrapped around his ankles.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/02/2004 11:15 Comments ||
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THE chief of military intelligence in Serbia and Montenegro today warned the al-Qaeda network and other terror groups were present in the region and planning to step up their activities. "We have information that al-Qaeda has its strongholds in Kosovo, the northern Albanian towns of Bajram Curri, Krume and Tropoje and that they are active in the western Macedonian towns of Tetovo, Kicevo and Gostivar," Colonel Momir Stojanovic told the state-run Tanjug news agency. The head of the Military Security Agency of Serbia-Montenegroâs army said "international terrorist activists" were trying to establish and strengthen links with "extremists and terrorists" in the Balkans, including the south Serbian province of Kosovo. Stojanovic said the activities of "extremists and terrorist organisations" were aimed at "creating an Islamic state in the Balkans" that would be "linked with Islamic countries of the Middle East".
Muslim extremists were "ideologically, organisationally and financially supported by some international terrorist organisations, extreme political circles in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries," he added. Stojanovic, appointed to the post last March, headed the Yugoslav army intelligence service in Kosovo during the 1998-99 conflict. A witness at the war crimes trial of former president Slobodan Milosevic in The Hague has pointed to Stojanovic as the officer who had ordered a mass killing of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in reprisal for a murdered Serb officer.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:19:17 AM ||
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There might be truth to it, but I don't think I would trust anything the chief of Serbian military intelligence has to say about Kosovo and Albania.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/02/2004 0:45 Comments ||
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I tend to agree, but I felt that his claim was worth noting. While it is true that Serbian authorities and their apologists have sought to paint any Albanian nationalists in the region as being linked to al-Qaeda, there may well be some actual fire in addition to all of the smoke in this case.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 0:55 Comments ||
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Haven't we found Saudi "charities" running terrorist funding and intel operations in that area?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/02/2004 6:55 Comments ||
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Dan, i'm sure there is, and I guess the Israelis, Indian and other services all have their own agendas when they leak information.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/02/2004 7:06 Comments ||
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EFL
... The propaganda structure has been successful in recruiting well known and probably well meant U.S. artists like Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte and Ed Asner to promote the propaganda film "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and the U.S. speaking tour of Mrs. Nora Castaneda, the President of the "Bolivarian" Womenâs Development Bank, among other events. It is surprising that they have not yet contacted Robert Redford but I am sure they soon will.
This formidable structure also seems to incorporate, at little or no cost, dozens of womenâs liberation, gay, anti-globalization, environmentalists and pacifist groups, all looking for the most diverse allies against the common enemy: the U.S. government. I think these groups have all the right in the world to express their social, political or sexual preferences but I grow very worried when they try, in their well meant ignorance, to export to Venezuela issues which are of very low priority and concern for us, and when they try to make of these issues political banners of the current Venezuelan government. In special, I am worried and surprised to see how the racial issue is being advanced by the Venezuelan government, in collusion with some of these groups, as one of the main reasons why the so called "bolivarian" revolution exists. Chávez initiated this strategy in his Sunday speeches, when he started claiming that his revolution was against the white oligarchs and that the opposition hated him because he had a "bemba" (gross lips). The President started to use this type of racial expressions to try to build a national mood in which white was bad and brown was good. This is an attitude which I would define as racist. Most people have grown used to think that racism is only practiced by whites against non-whites but, of course, it can also be practiced the other way around. In his speeches Chávez was not so much complaining about being excluded, as he was being exclusive. Whites, he kept telling us, do not belong here... One of the most recent moves in this direction was the invitation extended by Venezuelan Ambassador in Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, to a Washington D.C. based organization called TransAfrica Forum to visit Venezuela to "see for themselves the situation of the Afro- Venezuelan people."
In Venezuela we speak freely and without malice about blacks, whites and browns. I have never heard the expression "Afro-Venezuelan" being used in my country, except by pompous, newly graduated sociologists. At any rate, the delegation of TransAfrica visited our country for nine days, a high quality group including actor Danny Glover, Bill Fletcher and others... Howerever, most Venezuelans felt outraged when Bill Fletcher gave a speech in which he put Chávez and [Martin Luther] King in the same level, as heroes in the fight against racial discrimination. I am sure that decent people all over the world can see the difference between a racial integrator (King) and a racial disintegrator (Chávez). During his nine days visit the group was told, by almost everyone they met with, that there was not a racial problem in Venezuela. Yet, they came back home with the pre-conceived notion (or strategic objective) that the revolution of Chávez is a revolution in favor of the oppressed poor and black, against the whites. This is what they have been saying in the U.S. press, ignoring the fact that Chávez is rejected by 75% of the population and that this percentage includes 85% of brown Venezuelans.
At this moment in time, the group of TransAfrica, together with the Global Womenâs Strike is promoting the U.S. speaking tour of Mrs. Nora Castaneda, the President of the Womenâs Development Bank in Venezuela, already mentioned above. Mrs. Castaneda is described in the invitation as a person of "African and indigenous descent," In the U.S. perhaps this means something, in the context of the existing racial war, but in Venezuela this is a laughable qualification since we are, almost all, of African and indigenous descent. In fact, the term is racist because it excludes an inevitable ingredient of our mix: the Spanish.
TransAfrica has been mostly idle during the last three years. Their only activities of note since 1998 have been their visits to Cuba, Haiti and, now, Venezuela. They do not show much else in their Web site. If this all they are doing, there is a danger that they are ecoming a political tool and are abandoning their noble mission. That would be their problem and, frankly, I would not care less. It is only when they touch our lives in Venezuela that they become targets for our criticism. I offered to visit them at their headquarters in Washington D.C., in order to give them the other side of the story. I never received an answer. I would hate to think that men of the stature of Harry Belafonte and Danny Glover are already beyond the stage of being objective and into the stage of not desiring to be confused with facts. Bringing racial conflict into Venezuela, as an artificial political strategy, is a crime only equivalent to the bringing of smallpox to the Indians of the New World. The difference is that the smallpox came to us unwittingly but the racial issue is coming to us as part of a deadly, conscious, political strategy.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 9:18:10 PM ||
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EFL. The New York Times assigning a left-wing history professor to review a left-wing history book is de rigeur. That the reviewerâs last published book, a monograph on the fall of the Soviet Union, was "clever," according to David Pryce-Jones, but written by a Soviet "apologist" is, again, status quo. When the book in review claims that Kim Jong-Ilâs North Korea is an overstated evil (and that all Kim needs is a little tenderness and understanding) and that, on balance, President George Bush is "more evil" than the "Dear Leader" of North Korean, we shrug our shoulders; a typical of the tenured radical, pandering to 68âer constituents. And, after years of conditioning, we at the Politburo are not surprised when the Times positively reviews such a book. It is logical that the NYT will be illogical. Stephen Kotkinâs review of Bruce CumingsâNorth Korea: Another Country, an examination of the current crisis on the Korean peninsula, finds a book brimming with historical revisionism and moral equivalence, a book, we think, unworthy of praise, however faint, from Americaâs top-selling "serious" broadsheet. (The Economist, the only other major publication to review Another Country, panned the book, chiding Cumings for "pick[ing] his facts to fit his prejudices") All the brains of a keanulint.
Kotkin quotes the author as urging the United States to butt out of Kimâs affairs, for, after all, "it is their country." Penetrating analysis, for sure. But most readers will surely understand that "their" refers to Kim Jong-Il and his leisure-suited yes-men, not the enslaved people of North Korea. Regardless, the problems plaguing the "Democractic" Peopleâs Republic are the fault of, from the very beginning, evil Uncle Sam. Cumings, Kotkin says, is clear on this point: "The United States contributed mightily to the [current] North Korean predicament." And he isnât talking about Americaâs financial contributions to the North, the bags of cash meant to bribe Kim into nuclear compliance, and the donations meant to alleviate the effects of a man-made famine. Kotkin had to go to a music store to replace a busted harp string. As did Cumings.
"[Cumings] suggests that it was not Kim Il Sung or Stalin who incited hostilities but Dean Acheson and Harry S. Truman." This bit of selective history is important to Cumings case (he has written a previous book on the subject). But Kotkin is engaged in a recitation of Cumingsâ theses, not a critical review of their cogency. The historians skeptical eye is not on display. Instead, these themes--that the Korean War was a legitimate "anti-imperialist" struggle that, thus, legitimizes Kimâs current enthusiasm for Stalinist dictatorship--are not disputed or discussed at length by the reviewer. Cumingsâ lips fell off.
Cumings can barely conceal his enthusiasm for Korean communism. He is quoted by Kotkin as recommending Pyongyang as a holiday destination with therapeutic powers: "On my infrequent visits to the country I have been happy...empathy for the underdog is something I canât help, being a life-long fan of the Cleveland Indians." A real cut-up, this Cumings. Besides reading like the delusional dispatch from a modern-day Walter Duranty, we think there is something crass in comparing a mediocre baseball team to a totalitarian government guilty of genocide against its citizens. (A question for Cumings: if you are a sucker for the underdog, then why not root for the hundreds of thousands of innocents languishing in Kimâs concentration camps?) Hey Cumings? You think starvation under communism is better than prosperity under capitalism? Asshole.
All that personalty-cult business, absurd "Juche" philosophy and lack of freedom forces Cumings to concede that "politically [North Korea] is not a nice place, but it is an understandable place... [itâs] an anticolonial and anti-imperial state growing out of a half century of Japanese colonial rule and another half century of continuous confrontation with a hegemonic United States and a more powerful South Korea." That Korea is "not a nice place" is surely the understatement of the year. That the lack freedom and rights afforded to North Korean citizens is "understandable" leads us to believe that Cumings might be in the pay of Kimâs propaganda machine and is so preposterous that it doesnât merit a serious response. If thatâs anticolonialism then give me colonial states.
We might also point out that in the Korean War the stronger, industrialized north attacked the weaker, agricultural south. It wasn't until well after the armistice, when their respective economies had time to kick in and SKor grew out of its penchant for strongmen, that SKor started getting really fat and happy, leaving the north in the dust.
While "Mr. Cumings writes with fury" regarding American "war crimes," which he disingenuously refers to as a "holocaust," the review makes no mention of the countless torture camps that dot the North Korean landscape, except to claim that their ubiquity is overstated and their cruelty is insignificant: "[Cumings] deems the gulag both smaller than usually asserted and survivable, partly because detaineesâ families are incarcerated with them," which might explain the lack of "fury" directed at the DPRK leadership. Cumingsâ political philosophy: Freedom bad, tyranny good. Read, freedom is slavery.
This is a truly appalling sentiment; and one that is presented without controversy by Kotkin. What "new" information is Cumings privy to that would challenge existing estimates of detainees? (He might want to consult "The Hidden Gulag," a 125 page report compiled by the United States Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, complete with satellite photographs of the camp complexes and spine-tingling testimony from camp survivors). Regardless of numbers, Cumings claims that the gulag at least itâs survivable and they generously arrest the whole family, presumably to alleviate the boredom of the accused. (Would Cumings also--given the experiences of Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi--label the Nazi KZ komplex "survivable"?) Probably.
In comparison to the "shrewd" Kim Jong-Il, Bush is "the greater evil," says Cumings. Again, the reviewer registers no disagreement, treating the comparison as judicious and entirely reasonable. Cumingsâbrand of "scholarship" is of the Robert Thuston, David Irving variety--we love the ideology, so we support the ideologues. But because the dominant view is contra Bush--the reviewer occasionally writes for the American Prospect, for example--this apologia for mass murder and fifty years of state Stalinism is treated with seriousness. Well, evil IS serious.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/02/2004 10:46:37 AM ||
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Please make that Insane Book Blasted.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/02/2004 10:52 Comments ||
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"...something I canât help, being a life-long fan of the Cleveland Indians." As a fellow lifelong Indians fan, I can only say that Cummings is the proverbial turd in our punch bowl. Cummings is the the Wahoo Club, what Adolf Hitler is to the American Kennel Club.
The NYT must be bucking for another Pulitzer.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 11:02 Comments ||
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As an amoral athiest its hard to know where to start. If evil exists anywhere in this world it exists in N Korea. Would I put a bullet in Kimmies head? Yes I would! Would I beat him to death with a baseball bat? Yes I would? And I would steel myself to the task by thinking of the many many thousands of dead and destroyed people he is responsible for.
EFL
Dozens of people have been hurt in clashes with police while demonstrating during a general strike in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu. Police used batons and tear gas against thousands of protesters and those injured or arrested include a number of senior opposition leaders. The strike was in protest at alleged police brutality at demonstrations. I guess the police are sticking to their guns billy clubs. I wonder if their motto is - the beatings will continue until human rights improve.
There have been many street protests in Kathmandu over the kingâs decision to sack an elected government in 2002. Five parties from the dissolved parliament have been at loggerheads with the monarch ever since. They want him to restore the dismissed government or create a new one which includes their unemployed leaders. The BBCâs Sushil Sharma in Kathmandu says the strike has crippled life in Kathmandu and neighbouring districts. Businesses, schools and factories have remained shut and the streets have been deserted. You donât really need a government in a ghost town.
Several protesters have been hurt in recent clashes with the police. Batons, tear gas and water cannons have been used against the protesters, whom security forces have accused of breaking the law by chanting anti-monarchy slogans. Although the opposition parties say they are still committed to a constitutional monarchy, their youth wings have been playing into the hands ofthe communist rebels pressing for a republican system. They vowed to step up their protests after a recent interview by King Gyanendra in which he appeared to have dismissed their demands. Ptooie.
The king dismissed the government in 2002 saying it was not doing enough in a bloody struggle against insurgents fighting for a Maoist republic. My impression is that a five party coalition government would probably have been too preocupied fighting each other to take effective action against the insurgency.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 2:41:41 PM ||
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Sorry meant to file under Central Asia
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 17:19 Comments ||
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Collection of articles from Times of India. EFL: Musharraf to address nation
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would address the nation over television after the Eid holidays next week to explain the need to crackdown against the father of the countryâs nuclear bomb Abdul Qadeer Khan and other scientists for allegedly proliferating nuclear technology to Iran and Libya. Damage control
Khan built hotel in Timbuktu
The architect of Pakistanâs nuclear programme Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has been sacked as scientific advisor to the Prime Minister, had amassed properties at home and abroad besides building a "fabulous" hotel in an African nation where he transported furniture by an air force plane. Hendrina Khan hotel, named after Dr Khanâs Dutch wife, in the city of Timbuktu in the African state of Mali was one of the dozens of business undertakings of the nuclear scientist that were now being investigated by Pakistani intelligence officials to verify allegations by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that the countryâs scientists collaborated with black marketeers of nuclear technology, The News daily said. This guy is amazing. Imagine, being able to build a hotel and all these other investments on the salary of a humble scientist. Heâs a role model, like Ken Lay, Martha Stewart and Hillary Clinton.
It said the probe revealed that not only did Dr Khan build a hotel in Timbuktu but used Pakistan Air Forceâs transport aircraft C-130 in early 2000 to ferry an exclusive range of carved wooden furniture from here to his hotel. The aircraft landed at Tripoli airport in Libya and the cargo was then taken to Timbuktu by road as it could not land in Mali. Dr Khan himself accompanied the furniture from Islamabad. Investigation needs a snappy title. Furnituregate? Hotelgate?
The details of the trip were revealed by Dr Muhammad Farooq, a centrifuge expert at the countryâs premier nuclear installation, Khan Research Laboratory (KRL). Dr Farooq is one of the 13 scientists and officials of the KRL interrogated by the investigative agencies. Quoting officials, the paper said Dr Farooq provided damning account of Dr Khanâs "international activities". One of the "little guys" Khan stepped on on his way up.
"Farooq had the most specific information on transfer of knowledge and technology to Libya and Iran. He put Qadeer (Khan) in a very tight corner. At least one other KRL scientist confirmed Farooqâs account independently," an official said. "Donât be surprised. It is just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of such business undertakings suspected to be linked to Dr Qadeer that are still being investigated," he said, adding that Dr Khan was involved in expensive London real estate, consisting of apartments in posh districts of the British capital. The nuclear scientist has direct links with half a dozen houses there, having combined value exceeding Rs 150 million, the paper said. Bet this is the line the Pak investigators will follow. Theyâll push the nuke secret trading on the back burner and focus on his defrauding the state for his own profit.
Pak scientist Khan untraceable
A day after his sacking from the post of scientific advisor to the Prime Minister for his alleged involvement in the proliferation of sensitive nuclear technology to Iran and Libya, mystery shrouds the whereabouts of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. Media reports on Sunday said confusion prevailed over the whereabouts of the scientist. A Pakistan newspaper, which managed to speak to him briefly, said Khan declined to comment on reports of his arrest.
"I have left my matter to God," he reportedly told the newspaper. When asked about his condition, he said, "I am all right and thankful to all my sympathisers". The report said it was not known whether Dr. Khan was kept under house arrest. It would be a good idea.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2004 11:46:33 AM ||
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C'mon, Steve! Anytime you post this, you're supposed to go "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" and get it out of the way! Wake up, buddy!
Posted by: Dar ||
02/02/2004 12:09 Comments ||
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I think the Dems ought to get an ivestigation going on this one too . The unspeakable , tyrant Bush knew full well that this guy was using C-130's to haul his furniture around. There.
Unconfirmed reports have said that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has videotaped his defence and sent a copy abroad through his daughter. Meanwhile, the ruling party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain met Dr Khan along with Senator S.M. Zafar. Mr Zafar is very close to Dr Khan and had defended him in a Belgian court in 1980s against charges he stole documents on enrichment. Dr Khan reportedly handed out one copy of the video to them. The copy has explosive material revealing many secrets, it is said.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/02/2004 7:54:40 AM ||
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For those interested in the European history of AQKhan see: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Pakistan/AQKhan.html
Despite recent efforts by the Jamaat-e Islami amir, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, to put forward a formula to placate the smaller parties within MMA, the six-party religious alliance, differences persist and continue to threaten the integrity of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal. An important meeting of the heads of the six parties scheduled to be held in Karachi last week was postponed reportedly because of basic differences on some core issues, including the deal the two major component parties of the alliance have cut with the government on the Legal Framework Order. Leaders from the smaller parties have expressed unhappiness over how the alliance is being run and have accused the two larger parties of having hijacked the alliance. Theyâre angry they arenât getting their cut
Effectively, Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Qazi Ahmed are now running the alliance. And their influence within MMA follows the logic of the headcount in the legislatures. Interestingly, there are differences between JI and JUI (F) also. However, the two major parties have tried to downplay them because neither is likely to remain politically effective without the other. Further, the discontent of the smaller parties within the Alliance has also helped the two get closer. Maulana Rehman is widely tipped to become leader of the opposition in the national assembly, as was his father Mufti Mehmood in the 1970s. With him out of the picture, Qazi Ahmed and Maulana Sami-ul-Haq would be left competing to become president of the MMA. It is believed that Qazi Ahmed is open to the idea of Maulana Sami-ul-Haq replacing Maulana Noorani. But Maulana Rehman does not like this idea. Maulana Sami-ul-Haq is likely to present the case that both JUI-F and JI have had it good and that it is time for them to share the spoils with his party. But insiders say this argument is not going to work with Maulana Rehman whose party won the bulk of MMA seats in parliament. The continued infighting has prevented the alliance from making good on its promise to take to the streets in protest against operations in the federally administered tribal areas and the detention of Pakistanâs nuclear scientists. However, observers say this is actually because the alliance is in no position to actually execute this threat. âThe smart thing the government has done to strike a deal with the MMA is that it allows it to push its agenda in FATA under a provincial government run by the MMA,â says this analyst.
The MMA, say observers, has let down its constituency by first compromising on the LFO and then allowing the vote of confidence to go in Musharrafâs favour by abstaining from voting instead of adding to the negative vote of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy. âIt wanted to maximise its political advantage in NWFP and Balochistan by cutting a deal with the government but now faces the problem of salvaging its image as a genuine opposition party,â says a PPP leader. The main task before the MMA now is to draw a strategy on how to arrange its rally on February 5, the Kashmir Day and execute its threat of protest marches against the detention and questioning of the nuclear scientists.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/02/2004 1:30:29 AM ||
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The bitterness was palpable among the more than one dozen hardened jihadi fighters. Veterans of the 14-year guerrilla struggle against Indian control of Kashmir, they had gathered in a cold, dingy room in the Pakistani-administered zone to discuss their narrowing options. Last monthâs historic agreement struck between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee posed a near-knockout blow to the militantsâ hopes of ending Indiaâs occupation of the disputed Himalayan territory. In the deal, Musharraf promised to crack down on the militants, ending their cross-border attacks on Indian forces. In turn, Vajpayee agreed to begin unconditional negotiations with Pakistan on the status of Kashmirâa source of tension that has twice led these nuclear-armed rivals to war.
Not all of the guerrillas are ready to lay down their arms. "We will not allow Musharraf to sell out the blood of our martyrs," says Saifullah, a bearded fighter in his early 20s. "We will continue the jihad no matter what." But others seemed resigned to the fact that the fighting may be coming to an end. "We have been betrayed," laments Mohammad Ashraq, a native of the Kashmiri capital of Srinagar. "We have no choice now but to return to our homes." Ashraq is probably right, given the larger forces pushing the leaders of India and Pakistan toward peace. "Itâs the beginning of the end of the Kashmir jihad," says Rifaat Hussain, a defense analyst at Islamabadâs Quaid-i-Azam University. It might be a bit early to start writing the epitath. Weâll have to see what happens when the winter snow melts, and what happens when Musharaf steps down as Army chief.
Musharraf has promised to curb the jihadis before. But in the past he hedged his bets, ordering only a temporary halt to attacks in the hope that India would reciprocate by sitting down for talks. This time, following two serious assassination attempts last December, one led by a suicide bomber belonging to the outlawed jihadi group Jaish-e-Mohammed, he has more reason than ever to clamp down on his homegrown militants. Facing down the jihadis will be no small task: since an indigenous insurrection against Indian rule broke out in Kashmir in 1989, some 10,000 fighters belonging to at least six Pakistan-based guerrilla groups have crossed the border to aid their Kashmiri brothers-in-arms. But already Islamabad has transformed the battleground. The constant Pakistani artillery barrages that once provided cover for the guerrillasâ infiltration have ended. The ceasefire along the Line of Control dividing Kashmir has held since December. Pakistani Army units have been given orders not to offer any aid to the militants, and security forces are combing Pakistani cities in search of extremists.
Masood Azhar isn't in jug. Hafiz Saeed isn't in jug or dead. It's still not serious.
Pakistanâs generals have even taken the jihadis out of their military playbook: in the event of war, the militants will no longer be counted on as a guerrilla force designed to attack Indian Army units behind the lines. "The Army realizes that the jihad strategy is counterproductive and is determined to reverse course," says retired Pakistani Army general Talat Masood. Thatâs an important revelation right there. The various Jihadi outfits, like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad etc were part of the Pakistani Order of Battle. There training camps in Kashmir are located within walking distance of Pak military camps, and they share uniforms and weapons. Many soldiers actually go on tours of duty with the Jihadis across the Line of Control, and then return to their units. The Jihadis were always meant to be a highly motivated army that would be used in any war with India, which is why they have been able to run rampant all over the country for the last couple decades.
The embittered militants know that they can still change the course of events. "We can bring down the entire peace process with a massive guerrilla operation," boasts Saifullah. Yet they no longer command much support among Kashmiris, who are sick of the violence that has claimed upward of 60,000 lives. Islamabad and New Delhi are now set to start talking again on Feb. 16. India seems more eager to address a string of specific concernsâtransport, trade, communication and water rightsârather than begin by tackling the tough security issues.
While welcoming Musharrafâs new hard line against the militants, India is still skeptical about the Pakistani militaryâs commitment to the peace. Indian intelligence sources say that not all of the jihadi camps inside Pakistan have been put out of business. "Until all these are shut down, the flow of trained and armed militants into Kashmir will not stop," says an Indian intelligence source. "So it would be foolish on our part to stop hunting [the militants]."
Nevertheless, if the current calm can be extended, Indian security forces would theoretically be able to reduce the frequency of their operations in Kashmir and begin to scale back their numbers. Political leaders would find it easier to negotiate more autonomy for the Kashmiris, even though New Delhi is unlikely to cede any of the two thirds of Kashmir that it now controls. In the short run, peace and more autonomy would go a long way toward answering most Kashmirisâ aspirations. And thatâs when bitterness might truly be replaced by hope.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/02/2004 12:31:18 AM ||
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You just can't kill the beast. It must be expertly exterminated. Jihadis are like dusty wooley devils.
Islamic militants fighting Indian forces in Kashmir have been offered a cash incentive of more than $4,000 each if they lay down their arms and surrender.
That's good money in Kashmir...
But they can only cash their cheques after three years of good behaviour.
And what do they eat on in the meantime?
More than 40,000 people have died since Kashmir's separatist conflict began in 1989. Recent initiatives to resolve the dispute include talks between India and Pakistan set for later this month and an unprecedented meeting last month between moderate separatist leaders and India's political leadership. However, Kashmir's hardline separatists, who are more representative of the region's militant forces, were not invited to New Delhi. Now Kashmir's Indian Government is trying to lure the rebels with money, offering every surrendering militant $4,300, as well as a monthly pension. The Government is also offering retraining and employment schemes.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/02/2004 00:07 ||
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more good news.
Posted by: B ||
02/02/2004 10:07 Comments ||
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Pakistan nuclear pioneer Abdul Qadeer Khan and four others have confessed to leaking nuclear secrets to groups working for Iran, Libya and North Korea, an official close to the Government's probe told AFP. "Dr Qadeer and four others have accepted that they were involved in leaking nuclear know-how outside Pakistan to groups working for Iran, Libya and North Korea," the official said. It was the first time North Korea had been named as a recipient of nuclear information from those under investigation.
I think we knew that without the admission...
The official said information was leaked between 1986 and 1993.
"But certainly not later than that! No, no! Certainly not!"
He said an 11-page report carrying the confessions has been submitted to President General Pervez Musharraf. Asked if there will be criminal proceedings against those who have confessed he said it is up to the National Command Authority to take a decision, of which President Musharraf is the chairman. It was not yet clear whether Khan had admitted to giving centrifuge designs for uranium enrichment to Iran and Libya, he said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/02/2004 00:05 ||
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Good! And let this be a warning to anyone else who might reveal or sell secrets of weapons of mass distruction technologies to insane state regimes: You won't get away with it forever - and you might even lose your job!
From Zayed of Healingirag blog "Thanks to everyone who pointed out this story to me. Wendell Steavenson, a former reporter for Time magazine, has been in Samarra interviewing Zaydunâs family, his cousin Marwan, an Iraqi ICDC lieutenant, as well as the American Colonel in command of the US force in Samarra." Most of you may recall the Marwan and Zaydun, two cousins, who drove a small white flatbed truck carrying ceramic floor tiles and toilets into Samarra. Inside the town they were stopped by an American patrol as curfew violators.What happened next is disputed. But two things are clear: The truck they were driving was destroyed, and the two cousins went off a bridge into the Tigris and one of them drowned. Slateâs follow up story is at the title link.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/02/2004 15:14 Comments ||
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#2
Whatever its smell all of the story's points seem to check out though, so far. The alleged dead man was indeed discovered dead. The truck is inexplicably crushed.
The idea that they were taken to the bridge just for purposes of being left there just seems bizarre to me.
Give the soldiers the benefit of doubt, as you would give anyone -- but what other reason is there to say that this story smells like "bullshit"? The soldiers' story smells much more like bullshit to me, and far more bizarre.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/02/2004 16:15 Comments ||
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If you read the full description of the event on Zayed's blog, there are some inconsistencies in not only the facts of the case, but also the manner of reporting.
Why, for example, would soldiers have exposed their position by using flash lights, as Zaydun contends? Why would the soldiers have bothered to push them into the river, when they very easily could have simply shot them? If they did want to drown them, why would the soldiers have removed the cuffs from their hands?
I agree that leaving them at the bridge does seem weird, however. It is this fact that the soldiers admit to that makes me question things at all...
#5
"Why would the soldiers have bothered to push them into the river, when they very easily could have simply shot them? If they did want to drown them, why would the soldiers have removed the cuffs from their hands?"
Well one possible answer could be that the soldier weren't actually meaning to kill them, just have some sadistic fun watching them struggle in the river -- which would also explain why they didn't throw them over the 50-foot drop, but over the 5-foot one.
#6
Having read the article, I think the American soldiers are lying about what they did. The American military leadership in that area lacks the integrity to do what they ought to do to punish the culprits.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/02/2004 23:14 Comments ||
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Iraqi police caught two men placing a roadside bomb Monday near the capitalâs main Doura oil refinery, a U.S. commander said. Excellent!
The two men were believed to be an Iranian and an Afghan, but ``we have to first develop that through interrogation and try and determine what that means,ââ Brig. Gen. Martin Dempsey, commander of the 1st Armored Division, told a news conference. He did not elaborate. It means they bagged a couple of visting terrorists who are going to have the undivided attention of the intel types.
With a refining capacity of 110,000 barrels of oil a day, Doura produces much of the gasoline, heating oil and cooking gas supplies for Baghdad. It also distributes crude oil used as fuel by two of the capitalâs four electric plants. Which makes it a prime target.
Dempsey, whose division is in charge of Baghdad, did not say how destructive the bomb could have been or how close it was to the main facility of the refinery. Because heâs not stupid.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2004 12:28:49 PM ||
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#1
Just a couple of tourists using the Visit Iraq Vacation package with a a few thousand dollars of spending money compliments of Al-Qaeda et al.
#2
nice haul that,bet the iraqi coppers are more then happy, shame they don't have huge nets to haul these scum about in. nice to see them captured alive - bet there gonna squeel some use ful info, then kill em.
#3
I hope they pursue the Iranian angle. Either he is working with AQ (but Iranians are Shite and won't work with AQ, would they?) or Iranian Intelligence on a sabotage mission.
Note to CPA: undermine the Iranian agents in Iraq, including Muqti al Sadr and SCIRI.
Posted by: ed ||
02/02/2004 15:08 Comments ||
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#4
This is very good news. I'm guessing that the locals are getting pretty tired of the "Ferners" coming in and blowing stuff up. Iraq is going to become a less and less hospitable location for these scum.
Posted by: remote man ||
02/02/2004 17:16 Comments ||
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#5
The two men were believed to be an Iranian and an Afghan ...
... fighting to expel the foreigners from Iraq.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/02/2004 23:16 Comments ||
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EFL
...In the last 24 hours, DEBKAfile went back to its most reliable intelligence sources in the US and the Middle East, some of whom were actively involved in the subject before and during the Iraq war. They all stuck to their guns. As they have consistently informed DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly, Saddam Husseinâs unconventional weapons programs were present on the eve of the American-led invasion and quantities of forbidden materials were spirited out to Syria. Whatever Dr. Kay may choose to say now, at least one of these sources knows at first hand that the former ISG director received dates, types of vehicles and destinations covering the transfers of Iraqi WMD to Syria.
Indeed the US administration and its intelligence agencies, as well as Dr Kay, were all provided with Syrian maps marked with the coordinates of the secret weapons storage sites. The largest one is located at Qaratshuk at the heart of a desolate and unfrequented region edged with marshes, south of the Syrian town of Al Qamishli near the place where the Iraqi, Syrian and Turkish frontiers converge; smaller quantities are hidden in the vast plain between Al Qamishli and Az Zawr, and a third is under the ground of the Lebanese Beqaa Valley on the Syrian border. These transfers were first revealed by DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly in February 2003 a month before the war. We also discovered that a Syrian engineering corps unit was detailed to dig their hiding places in northern Syria and the Lebanese Beqaa.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
02/02/2004 11:30:57 AM ||
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#1
We (i.e. the US) have to know more than what's being said. Especially with the Satellite Intel showing container trucks heading over the border.
So why, IMO, is the Administration holding back and taking all the "no WMD's" lumps?
Posted by: Daniel King ||
02/02/2004 12:20 Comments ||
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#2
Read this by Michael Ladeen
I'm skeptical of the current WMD story.
Posted by: Barry ||
02/02/2004 12:31 Comments ||
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#3
The link did not work.
The column is from NRO 02/02/2004
Posted by: Barry ||
02/02/2004 12:35 Comments ||
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#4
Here's the NRO Link
I agree - there must be WAY more to this than meets the eye. I can only guess they've been burned enough that they're waiting until they have (more/better) smoking guns.
#5
So, after reading the Ladeen article, why on Earth would the CIA sandbag their own WMD investigation and take all the insults of incompetence?
Posted by: Daniel King ||
02/02/2004 14:04 Comments ||
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#6
Why would they send whats-his-name to Africa to sip mint tea and talk to nobodies about Iraq's attempts to buy uranium?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/02/2004 14:51 Comments ||
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#7
Kay's report makes it a zero sum politically to got for the 'blue ribbon committee' route. If something turns up in Syria and the administration is seen to have done something to find it, this becomes a 'win politically. Not going the blue ribbon committee route is a net loss politically.
Soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division raided 16 locations throughout Bayji in search of former regime elements who are suspected in anti-Coalition activities including bomb making and financing, planning and executing attacks against U.S. soldiers and Iraqis. The operation, dubbed Operation Final Cut, began in the morning of Jan. 28 and continued through the afternoon of Jan. 31.
Information from Iraqi citizens brought Coalition soldiers to Bayji to capture individuals who were suspected of attacking Coalition forces and intimidating the local population. The operation was planned so the intimidation and the attacks would end. During the three-day operation, soldiers from 4th Infantry Divisionâs 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and Iraqi police targeted people for capture. The soldiers captured 26 individuals and confiscated 219 AK-47 assault rifles, 16 shotguns, three SKS automatic weapons, one RPD machine gun, one RPK machine gun, 23 pistols, 25 rifles, two SVD automatic weapons, one 82mm mortar tube, two pounds of plastic explosives and 90 pounds of artillery propellant. The soldiers also found material commonly used to make improvised explosive devices, including 900 feet of electrical wire, 13 car-alarm mechanisms and six circuit boards. In one of the raids, three armed enemy, including one individual specifically targeted for involvement in anti-Coalition activities, were killed in the morning of Jan. 28 when they leveled AK-47 assault rifles at soldiers as they entered the building the attackers were in. No Coalition soldiers were injured in the clash.
In addition to conducting raids with Coalition soldiers, Bayji police officers manned traffic-control points and detained individuals for weapons violations, confiscating ammunition and weapons in the process. The confiscated weapons include two rocket-propelled-grenade launchers, two rocket-propelled grenades, 28 rocket-propelled-grenade propellant charges, 12 pounds of TNT, 90 detonators, 1,000 feet of detonation cord, 75 pounds of artillery propellant and one .50 caliber heavy machine gun. When asked how he will build on the operationâs momentum and success, the commander of 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, Lt. Col. Pepper Jackson, said, "The most important thing we can do is continue to focus on elements attempting to hold back the progress and future of this country."
Operation Final Cut Update
BAYJI, Iraq - In phase IV of Operation Final Cut, a joint operation with Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and Iraqi police, soldiers from the 4th Infantry Divisionâs 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment raided five locations in Bayji during the late evening of Jan. 31, in an attempt to capture specifically targeted individuals who are suspected of anti-Coalition activities including bomb making and involvement in attacks on Coalition forces. The soldiers captured nine individuals, seven of whom were targets of the raids. They also located and confiscated five AK-47 assault rifles, one RPK machine gun, 200 containers of artillery propellant and material used in making improvised explosive devices. Soldiers seized more than $5,000 in U.S. currency, 650 Syrian pounds, two million new Iraq dinars, 4,000 in old Iraqi dinar and 350,000 in Turkish lira.
TIKRIT, Iraq - A former sheik of Mukayshifa, targeted for capture by Coalition forces, came to a forward operating base near the town and surrendered to U.S. soldiers in the morning of Jan. 31. The individual was sought because he is suspected of financing attacks against Coalition forces. A patrol from B Company, 299th Engineer Battalion went to the former sheikâs residence and confiscated one shotgun, one rifle and ammunition for the weapons.
--An Iraqi boy led a patrol from 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment to the site of an improvised explosive device emplacement five kilometers northwest of Duluiyah in the morning of Jan. 31. The soldiers located the emplacement and requested assistance from the Moldovan explosive ordinance disposal team working in the area. The team destroyed the IED. The patrol continued to search the area and found and confiscated two boxes of TNT and two boxes of 14.5mm anti-aircraft ammunition.
--One attacker was killed after he fired at a C Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment patrol in the afternoon of Jan. 31, five kilometers southeast of Balad. Soldiers retuned fire and struck the attacker as he attempted to flee into a wooded area. An AK-47 assault rifle was recovered from the scene. One other individual was captured in the vicinity of the initial attack.
--As soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery were patrolling an area three kilometers west of Duluiyah in the afternoon of Jan. 3, they came under rocket-propelled grenade attack. The soldiers saw two vehicles leaving the scene at a high rate of speed. Soldiers fired on the autos in an attempt to disable them and wounded one of the attackers. The others in the vehicles fled on foot as a nearby artillery battery fired rounds in support of the patrol. The wounded attacker was captured and was evacuated to 21st Combat Support Hospital. He is in critical but stable condition.
--While on patrol, pilots of an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter saw three men loading rockets onto a flatbed truck in the afternoon of Jan. 31 five kilometers southeast of Balad. When the helicopter passed overhead the men tried to flee in the truck they were using. The pilots pursued and called for assistance from a 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment patrol. The enemy continued their efforts to elude but eventually abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot. The patrol was able to capture one of the three and confiscated the truck. The rockets the men were trying to load were later destroyed.
--Another helicopter crew spotted an ammunition cache consisting of 200 100mm artillery shells in the morning of Jan. 31, 150 meters west of Highway One near Bayji. The AH-64 Apache pilot called for assistance, and a patrol from B Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Regiment responded and located and secured the site. The munitions are scheduled for destruction.
From the ever-interesting www.strategypage.com:
The new American troops coming into Iraq, and replacing those who have been there for a year, are also going to take a less active roll in policing Iraq. In the cities, including Baghdad, American troops will move to compounds on the outskirts and leave it to Iraqi police and security forces to keep the peace. There are about 14,000 Iraqi police and security troops in Baghdad now, and another 5,000 being trained. The US is making police recruits undergo far more training than Iraqi police have ever had in the past. Traditionally, most of the police were seen as larcenous thugs, and this is being changed by exposing the police recruits to modern police methods and the concept of being an honest cop. This seems like a wise and necessary step. I hope the security forces are up to the job.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
02/02/2004 10:04:34 AM ||
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Let's mpt let them guard the ammo depots just yet.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 11:35 Comments ||
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move your right hand to the left a little bit, SH.
Brian Taylor, a Marine reservist, servied in Fox Company, Second Battalion, 23rd Marines during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Wall Street Journal is publishing his diary in serial form. Part 1 appeared last week. Hereâs an excerpt from Part 2: 26 Mar 03 0737Z
Yesterday was the day the war really began for Fox Company. . . . 12 kilometers or so north of Nasiriyah we came to a town called Al Garraf, from which the lead element of the convoy (Alpha battery 1/11) had just been ambushed. Fox got the order to attack with Second Platoon as its main effort. We trucked up (to the objective) and immediately started hearing shots and initiated our attack. Jensen, on orders from Sgt. McMullen, leaned out the side of the truck and sent SAW bursts into a nearby bunker. We scrambled out of the truck and behind a berm toward our position looking across the highway straight into town. Iraqi machine-gun fire was zinging and snapping overhead, but we were covered by the crest of the road. . . Our company commander, a well-liked man named Maj. Kirkpatrick, was doing what COs do, coordinating things by radio or runner. He had air assets at his disposal but he gave us a few extra minutes to complete the mission rather than calling in an air strike. He was concerned about bombs dropping so close to us and into the village where there were civilians. Within four minutes of our counterattack beginning down the main street, the volume of enemy fires sharply fell off and the convoy was moving again as we crossed the road. Maj. Kirkpatrick waved off the bombers.
The resistance melted away. Echo Company swept through town from south to north (we were attacking to the east). We became the base of fire for Echoâs maneuver, but it quickly ended. The whole shootout had lasted about 40 minutes. Afterward, Broberg described a moment when an Iraqi in a white robe, perhaps a hundred meters away, mounted a roof with a rifle and began throwing grenades. There were no Marines within his throwing range. Broberg opened up with his SAW, and his team with him. He said the man just stood in a hail of fire for several seconds and then slumped. Wade said later, "Iâve hunted all my life and killed all kinds of things, but my mind just kept saying, âHey, thatâs a dude.â "
During the initial skirmish I suppressed a shooter behind a one-story building 180 meters down the main street. He kept stepping out from behind a building with a green flag on the roof and loosing bursts of AK fire. I sent an HEDP grenade down there with a bang. Long. Two more with proper range and he didnât come out anymore. Staff Sgt. Ivers congratulated me, saying, "Good job suppressing those targets." But for me there was just that one.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/02/2004 9:36:05 AM ||
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Anyone else catch the Blackadder reference?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/02/2004 9:42 Comments ||
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Isn't it unusual for a major to command a company? Shouldn't he be part of the battalion staff?
Posted by: Dar ||
02/02/2004 12:26 Comments ||
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#5
Dar, depends. Could've been recently promoted. Plus, they are reservists, whole different world. But for reservists, they're still Marines, and therefore still whooping mucho iraqi ass.
Excerpted from a larger article ...
Security guards for both parties said they did not search people entering for the ceremony because of the tradition of receiving guests during the Eid festivities. The attack was a surprise blow to the political leadership of the Kurdish minority, the most pro-American group in Iraq. The dead included Irbil Governor Akram Mintik, Deputy Prime Minister Sami Abdul Rahman, Minister of Council of Ministers Affairs Shawkat Sheik Yazdin, Agriculture Minister Saad Abdullah and two deputy leaders of the PUK. Officials at the KDP said party leaders were greeting people when the attacker approached them and detonated the explosives strapped around his body.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:30:24 AM ||
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When you're fighting the islamofascist jihadi monkeys, you can never, never drop your guard, even for a minute. These people are nuts.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/02/2004 14:43 Comments ||
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The day began in bright sunshine, a fitting way to start the four-day Muslim holiday, the Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice. The streets of the regional capital of Iraqi Kurdistan were blissfully traffic free as Kurdish families took advantage of the clear blue skies and crisp winter air to visit friends and relatives. At the offices of the regionâs two main political groups, the Kurdistan Democratic party and its rival the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, celebrations were also in full swing. But the seasonal greetings being exchanged between hundreds of party faithful and other well-wishers were about to be shattered. Shortly before 11am two men, apparently wearing Kurdish dress, suicide belts wrapped around their waist, slipped past the normally tight security at the party buildings to deliver their own Eid message. In explosions that appeared to be carefully synchronised, they killed at least 70 people and injured more than 200.
They also shook Kurdistan and its war-weary people to the core, and raised fears that the debilitating insurgency that has brought havoc to the rest of the country has found a new battleground. There had been attacks in the Kurdâs northern enclave before, but nothing to compare to yesterdayâs atrocities, which killed many high-ranking politicians and local leaders. The attacks marked the first time that bombers have struck with such force at the Kurdish parties in the northern region, an area previously regarded as far more peaceful than most of Iraq.
At the KDPâs headquarters near the Kurdish parliament in the city centre, the reception room was crowded at the time of the blast. Witnesses said people were jostling to shake hands with party leaders who included Sami Abdurrahman, a veteran Kurdish leader who was the deputy prime minister of the Kurdish regional government and one of the Kurdsâ toughest - and best - negotiators. Alongside him stood, among others, the minister of agriculture, Saad Abdullah, the governor of Irbil, and the head of the cityâs police force. Sheikh Allein, a local tribal leader, said: "It was so busy and everyone was in a good mood. I was a few feet away from Sami. Then a man stepped forward to shake hands and - bang. I donât remember much else but I saw immediately that many of our leaders had been ripped apart. I am lucky to be alive."
It was a similar scene across town, at the PUKâs regional headquarters, where leaders moved through hundreds of people gathered in the conference room, shaking hands and kissing old friends. Abdullah Ahmed, 22, was acting as an usher. Speaking from a hospital bed, he recalled: "I saw a man entering the room carrying a flower for one of the leaders. He looked a bit odd and as he stepped forward to one of the officials, I saw him move his hand towards his pocket and one of the bodyguards hurling himself toward the man. Then there was an explosion and I woke up in hospital. I know Kurds have enemies, but how could this happen in Kurdistan?" Mohammed Rizgar, a war-grizzled PUK peshmerga, ran into the hall after the blast occurred. "I have fought in many battles but I never saw anything like that. Everything was ruined. There were fingers, legs, bits of face, everywhere."
"The scene is pretty chaotic," Qubad Talabani, son of the PUK leader Jalal Talabani, told CNN. "We are hearing reports of many casualties. There are many, many injured as well. What seems to have happened is some of the walls seem to have collapsed in a building so that many people seem to be trapped under rubble. It was a very big day for the parties because of the holiday season and well-wishers going to the party headquarters."
Irbil soon echoed to the sound of sirens as the dead were taken to the morgue, and the injured to the cityâs hospitals. News of the death of the deputy prime minister and his colleagues spread across town. There was pandemonium in the Rizgari general hospital, as porters tried to push trolleys along blood-stained corridors clogged with frantic friends and relatives. Doctors screamed at nurses for bandages and blood, and then more blood. Peshmerga fighters guarded the hospital gates to prevent hundreds more distraught relatives from entering, though some of them wanted to give blood to their injured loved ones.
In the intensive care unit, a man lay unconscious, twitching violently and held down by members of his family. He was in charge of electricity for the city; he had severe head injuries and was not expected to last the night. In the ward next door, men with charred faces and hands, and torsos slashed with shrapnel screeched in agony as their wounds were dressed. The minister of health, Jamal Abdulhameed, said US forces offered to ferry emergency medical supplies from nearby Mosul. He said Irbilâs health system was "stretched to the limit but that they were coping". He added: "This is a tragic day for Kurds, who have suffered so much in the past. But we are a tough and resilient people and we wonât let either former Baathists or Islamic madmen deprive us or our freedom."
Many of the wounded who were still able to speak talked of their undimmed determination to fight for Kurdish rights in Iraq, called into question by recent geopolitical machinations. "I have nearly died for Kurdistan under Saddam and I nearly died today," said Sirwan Razek, a KDP peshmerga, as he was visited by Mahmoud Othman, a senior Kurdish politician. "Make sure that our political parties donât let us down again," he said before drifting into unconsciousness.
The call for unity among the often fratricidal Kurdish parties was a familiar refrain among the wounded. "These bombers have shown us that all Kurds are targets, and it must now be time to pull together and push for our rights in Baghdad," Dr Othman said. Idris Ahmed, a member of the PUK who was being treated for serious burns to his face, told Reuters: "We received well-wishers for the Eid al-Adha holiday in our building, whether Arab, Kurd or Turkmen. We will fight terrorism and the terrorists who carried out this explosion."
The PUK and the KDP are on the verge of uniting their divided administrations in the north to form a common front in the face of opposition to a Kurdish federal state. Dr Othman said the attacks showed that even Kurdistan, which has been largely free from the insecurity of the centre, was "not immune to acts of terrorism". Last night speculation as to who was responsible for the attack centred on Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Islamist group that is suspected of having connections with al-Qaida. Colonel Harry Schute, the senior US officer in the self-rule area, said there had been no warnings of the attack, but that "it has the fingerprints of Ansar al-Islam or al-Qaida, or whatever they have morphed into, all over it".
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:28:58 AM ||
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Dan, good posts.. buh.. please edit them down some next time ;)
The United States has used information gained during interrogations of Saddam Hussein to help round up insurgents and identify false leads, a senior military official said Sunday. American military officials believe about 14 cells of Saddam loyalists are operating in Iraqâs capital, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. There are about 250 to 300 "hard core" insurgents in those cells. Documents found with the ousted Iraqi president and information gleaned during interrogations have helped American troops disrupt those cells and track their finances, the official said. He would not say what information Saddam might have given his American interrogators. Sundayâs statement was the first indication that Saddamâs interrogations are bearing fruit.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:26:12 AM ||
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It was just a matter of time. If saddam's vanity didn't cause him to talk, valium and lack of sleep would end up doing so. No need for using his own methods, although no doubt the haters of the left want to think that's what is happening.
#2
What made him talk was the announcement by Bremer of who's going to put him on trial.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/02/2004 0:37 Comments ||
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#3
Ahem.
Read my timeline from last month and take a guess the methods used.
Giggle juice and electrodes are only viable when there is a high degree of urgency over accuracy. And once you do that, you've bascially burned any chance of getting accurate info with any reliability - because at that point the subject will be conditioned to tell you what he thinks you want to hear: whether it is the truth or not. Because once past a given point, the subject is incapable of distinguishing between those 2 things himself. Far better to take your time and do it right.
As I posted previously, it takes a couple weeks for them to get him healthy enough to start on him (and as a side effect its a great prep - he has to keep guessing when we are going to finally "start" on him). Then it takes about 3 to 6 weeks of "treatment": no drugs or beatings, all psych and physio-biology. After that, they will break him without him realizing he is broken.
And that the best kind of "break" to have - information obtained under that is more easily verified and usually far more valuable and accurate (this includes things he doesnt say that are very indicative of laying out the negative ground too - i.e. eliminating some areas from consideration). The info willb e essentially given voluntarily although unwittingly.
However, if they really want to destroy the guy, once they get everything out of him, they will draw up a video tape (his words, the arrests/kills from them) and the papers as well, and show them to him and show him how his words resulted in the destruction of the very things he thought he was protecting. Psychologically, that shatters him (especially an egoistic dictator who has delusions of superiority). This may even cause a complete psychotic breakdown, or catatonia, etc.
Do that, then hand him over to the locals for trial. A fate I would wish on few people.
#4
Old Spook -- Thanks for the great post. Was just wondering, in your opinion, is there any value in broadcasting little snippets of him giving up information to unnerve the rest of the resistance in Iraq? (I'm assuming they are videotaping the whole thing)
Well, I dunno. Seems to be plenty of good can be done by wringing him out and then giving him to the iraqis (or kuwaitis, or kurds). Time seems to be of the essence. I'd rather he got some rough treatment than the troopers keep getting blown up and attacked.
#6
saddam can only paint his portion of the the picture. But 4th I know what you mean. I think the current attacks are related to jihadis and not baathist. Just a hunch!
#7
the current attacks are related to jihadis and not baathist
If we accomplish anything, it will be because we finally acknowledge that the mutts will gladly stop killing eachother if it means they can kill us. Yes, the baathists are (allegedly) a secular, socialist, 'progressive' *cough* branch of islamofascism. But it's absolutely assinine to think that the baathists haven't teamed up with the aq mutts, the hizbollah mutts, the aai mutts, WHATEVER brand of walking turd is out there hoping to kill Americans. It's foolish to think otherwise. The baathist of all baathists should be used up for all he's worth, and he'll know how to crack the jihadis in the knees.
#8
Am I alone in thinking that handing Sammy over to the Iraqis (or anybody else) would be a bad idea? I have a suspicion that Sammy could yet evade that what he deserves: death, or at least permanent lock-up.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/02/2004 4:06 Comments ||
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Rafael
In an alternative universe he might, but in this one he doesnt stand a whelks change in a supernova.
#10
Trying Saddam themselves will be an important - but possibly turbulent - milestone towards a new Iraq. Needs to happen there & should happen there.
I think he's more likely to be painted as a misunderstood or perhaps confused old man in certain international venues. No Iraqi is likely to make that particular mistake, no matter what their religious sect or poitical beliefs.
#11
Even if Saddam refused to talk I would release this kind of report. Make his old friends sweat a bit, wondering what he's saying. Perhaps get them to move or change patterns, and give something away.
#12
Documents found with the ousted Iraqi president and information gleaned during interrogations have helped American troops disrupt those cells and track their finances, the official said.
I'll bet the information is 99% from the documents and 1% from the interrogations.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/02/2004 23:25 Comments ||
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A border patrol officer who was assigned as a teacher was stabbed to death yesterday near his school in Yala province. The latest killing kindled further fears among in the Muslim-dominated province, where border patrol police have been assigned to replace frightened teachers staying away from work. The body of Pol Sgt Prawes Wongsawat, 33, of the 445th border patrol police unit, was found in a swamp behind Nikhompitakrat school in Than Tho district yesterday morning. He had been knifed in the stomach and clubbed over the head. Police said the sergeant was killed early on Sunday morning while on guard duty at the school. He was normally accompanied by two Muslim villagers, but they had gone to a mosque for prayers just before the attack occurred, leaving him alone at the school.
Sounds like a setup, doesn't it?
It is believed he was assaulted by four or five assailants who clubbed and stabbed him and then dragged his body into a swamp about 10 metres behind the school.
Posted by: TS ||
02/02/2004 9:14:56 AM ||
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"He was normally accompanied by two Muslim villagers, but they had gone to a mosque for prayers just before the attack occurred..."
SCHOOLTEACHER Ernieyanty Hassan usually visits relatives during Hari Raya Haji, but she spent it at a mosque with her non-Muslim students yesterday. Ms Ernieyanty, 29, shared the practices of her faith with the 28 students, who observed 2,000 Muslims at prayer and watched the korban, the annual ritual slaughter of sheep. She said she felt âquite honouredâ to do this. The Secondary 4 and Secondary 5 students from Manjusri Secondary were at the Darul Aman Mosque, where prayers were held and 100 sheep slaughtered. Secondary 4 student Alvin Oh, 16, said he found the mosque visit worthwhile, although he felt squeamish watching the korban.
Posted by: TS ||
02/02/2004 9:10:15 AM ||
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#1
good. Once again we have too long ignored the barbarism of this culture. Let's get it out there so we can all decide how much we want to embrace the "religion of peace".
#4
hello pre-school ...yes, I wanted to be sure that my child got to watch the cute little sheep get slaughtered. And then I want sign her up to watch the porn films (sex is a part of life) before we go on our field trip to watch the public execution.
Posted by: B ||
02/02/2004 11:18 Comments ||
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#5
Wow, didn't know you for PETA members, B and Crazyfool. ;-)
#6
Hiryu--I have to agree somewhat. Branding and castrating calves ain't for the squeamish.
But we didn't do that for fun or to satisfy the bloodlust of some moon god either.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/02/2004 13:53 Comments ||
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#7
Come on Aris, it's hardly a PETA mentality to think it's barbaric to take your kids to watch lambsy woolsy get his throat slit to pacify the gods. Exactly what kid of lesson/message is that anyway? I guess I'm just not the type to think the a trip to the slaughter house is a appropriate or fun family outing !
Posted by: B ||
02/02/2004 15:09 Comments ||
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#9
These weren't kindergarten pupils, B. These were highschool students who have probably seen far, far worse than slaughtered sheep in the movie theaters.
And according to the article, the meat goes to feed people (besides "pacifying the gods") so yeah, it *is* PETA mentality to call this killing of sheep barbarism.
#10
These weren't kindergarten pupils, B. These were highschool students who have probably seen far, far worse than slaughtered sheep in the movie theaters.
And according to the article, the meat goes to feed people (besides "pacifying the gods") so yeah, it *is* PETA mentality to call this killing of sheep barbarism.
*g* And yeah, Shipman, this article is making me hungry too...
#11
Aris, I was pointing out that, to their minds, there isn't that big of a step between killing sheep (for religious reasons) and killing the descendants of pigs and dogs (i.e. infidels and zionists) for the same religious reasons.
If you want to kill sheep go ahead. Just try not to waste the meat :).
Damn I'm hungry for lamb stew right about now. Or perhaps a good roasted leg of lamb with mint jelly. Mmmmm......
#12
No, I'm sorry Aris, this is not Peta mentality. This is called barbarity. It's like taking the class to go see a stoning or a hanging or an execution. It's just plain barbaric. Yes we eat meat and we execute people- but those of us who have an ounce of civility wish it didn't have to be so - and certainly have no desire have our children witness the morbid horror of death.
God I'm glad I'm not a Muslim. It's this type of blood lust that just makes me think less and less of them each and every day. Jesus was into the lamb laying down with the lion. The Muslims are into slitting the lambs throat. I'll take Jesus any day.
#13
hmm...I posted as anon previously and forgot to change it here, but I stand by what I say above.
and it's a good point CF...a very good point.
Posted by: B ||
02/02/2004 18:28 Comments ||
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#14
"It's like taking the class to go see a stoning or a hanging or an execution"
You are making my very point -- you are comparing the taking of human lives with the taking of the lives of sheep, and thus are exhibiting PETA mentality. All other people believe there's a vast gulf between the two concepts.
And some of us *don't* execute people, because indeed we consider it barbaric. Some of us consider the execution *itself* to be barbaric, not just making a public spectacle of it all.
Indeed, if you are to execute people, I wouldn't mind having that be public either, if it could be done with the proper solemnity.
Your comments about blood-lust are yet again PETA mentality, conflating animal killing with human killing. And the "morbid horror" of witnessing sheep-killing isn't anything that 16-year-olds can't handle.
If these almost-adults can't handle it, then they should turn into vegetarians. Because what seems to me wrong is not sheep-killing itself but the hypocricy of considering something good enough to experience the gains thereof (mmm... tasty meat) but not actually see the process that goes into it.
Once again, these weren't little children getting traumatized.
And dude -- isn't the US a country where your schools have 12-year olds dissect alive frogs? Not just witness the dissection but actually do it themselves?
Gross! And far more morbid IMO that the sheep-slaughter that must perforce precede the getting of lamb chops.
#15
Aris--Good points. High school students are old enough to be informed where the meat they get in a grocery store comes from. And as long as the sheep are being butchered from some practical purpose, I have no problem with that. All life exists at the expense of other life. One needs to understand that and respect that, and teeny-boppers are old enough they should know it--they're old enough to produce life, and they should know what the process of consuming it entails.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/02/2004 23:54 Comments ||
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#16
Let me just say that if the Muslim population thinks they can bring back the process of ritual animal sacrifice, a barbaric process that Christians ended over 2,000 years ago when Christ sacrificed himself on the cross - then my outrage will be mild compared to the backlash it will cause.
Trust me, Aris, I'm not alone in this, nor is this a PETA mentality, try as you might to make some sort of distinction between the even more hideous practice of human sacrifice. Let's be clear here, you aren't talking about slaughter, or the production of meat, or hunting - you are talking about needless, meaningless sacrifice to the gods. Don't think, for one second, that only the PETA members will suddenly feel the shingles of tolerance for the "religion of peace" falling from their eyes.
If you want to bring it home to the American public the gaping chasam between these two religions - this is a great place to start.
Oh..and by the way - most schools have discontinued the pithing of live frogs, - it's called moving forward.
Look - I don't want to make this personal - I'll read your response, but I'm going to drop it after that. We're not going to achieve any shred of agreement on this.
Troops raided a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf kidnapping gang in the Philippines and killed two of the gunmen, the military said Sunday, also announcing reports that the gang had beheaded a hostage.
That was very Islamic of them...
Troops launched the raid on the bandit camp in southern Jolo island late Saturday after months of surveillance, said local army chief Brigadier General Alexander Yapching.
The offensive was carried out a week after Abu Sayyaf rebels killed a Marine soldier and wounded 12 others in Joloâs Patikul town. "This is the result of our long surveillance operation against the Abu Sayyaf," Yapching told reporters. "We have intensified the government offensive against the Abu Sayyaf group in Jolo."
Meanwhile, the military said belated reports from the field said that the Abu Sayyaf kidnapped a Muslim woman and beheaded her on suspicion she was spying for the government in nearby Basilan island. The remains of Abduka Amil however have not been recovered, the military said, as it condemned the gruesome killing.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:36:18 AM ||
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The government over the weekend stepped up security and mulled new efforts at public dialogue in the troubled southern provinces.
Bracing itself for a vulnerable period when thousands of people cross the Thailand-Malaysia border for family gatherings on the completion of the haj pilgrimage, the military added a further 1,000 troops to its deployment in the region.
Three Buddhist monks were killed last week, triggering fears of a return to separatist violence.
In the latest flare-up, a Thai border patrol policeman was killed before dawn yesterday when unknown assailants slit his throat as he guarded a police academy in the violence-torn south, police officials said.
The brutal attack marked the fifth killing of a policeman since a spate of attacks erupted in the Muslim-majority south early last month, which had also left several soldiers and the Buddhist monks murdered.
Across the country, however, analysts, academics and local leaders called for sensitivity in dealing with issues in the Muslim-majority provinces.
Some believed international groups could have aided the perpetrators of the violence.
Leading security analyst Panitan Wattanayagorn had said that the violence was quite unusual in the level of planning, operation and effectiveness.
While it was unclear who were behind the recent attacks, Mr Panitan and some other commentators believed that the Thai gangs could be taking lessons from the regional Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network, which has been linked to the Al-Qaeda.
But Mr James Kelly, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, told the The Straits Times on Friday that the United States had not seen any direct evidence of links with international terrorists.
âIâm not saying they donât exist, they might, but I havenât seen any,â said Mr Kelly, who was in Bangkok for the 17th US-Asean security dialogue.
Meanwhile, local Muslim leaders had presented a five-point proposal to the government aimed at curbing violence and restoring confidence, and there were indications the government might take some of them up.
Among the proposals were calls for the state to respect the opinions of local people without prejudice, and to be more transparent and informative using media outlets to promote community relations.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is expected to visit the south within a fortnight to meet local leaders and officials and discuss the plan.
Most officials were certain rebuilding confidence could take a long time.
Defence Minister Thamarak Isarangura said on Thursday that bringing normalcy to the south âwill take time but I donât know how longâ.
âIt doesnât matter. We spent about 20 years fighting the communists, now we are in a similar situation,â he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:23:03 AM ||
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Indonesian police have arrested a key suspect wanted over a cafe bomb attack which killed four people in Palopo, South Sulawesi province earlier this month. Jasmin alias Yamming was arrested during a raid on a house outside of Palopo early on Sunday, Luwu district police deputy chief Wisnu Widarto told AFP. "He was arrested following our interrogation of another man who was detained for questioning on the previous evening. Jasmin is now under intensive questioning at the district police headquarters," Widarto said.
The Indonesians don't do the moustachio thing well, but they seem to make up for it in the truncheon area...
Jasmin, together with another man still on the run, is believed to have placed the bomb in the cafe. Both men left the cafe about 10 minutes before the blast, Widarto said. His protrait, showing a thin man with buck teeth, had been one of the two dummy sketches release by the police in their investigation of the bombing case.
Buckies are often a sign of inbreeding. Wonder if he's a hemophiliac, too?
Widarto said that Jasmin is believed to be an associate of Agung Abdul Hamid, the mastermind of the December 5, 2002 bombings by Islamic militants in the city of Makassar which left three dead. It was an indication that Muslim militants were also behind the bomb attack on the cafe and karaoke bar at Palopo on January 10. Police have now arrested six men over the cafe blast with five other suspects still on the wanted list. Police have said some suspects in the Makassar bombings knew those behind the Bali blasts in October 2002, which killed 202 people.
My guess is that some of them are relatives...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:09:39 AM ||
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The Indonesians don't do the moustachio thing well, but they seem to make up for it in the truncheon area...
Typical Rantburgian off-handed bigotry. Course, I'm still angry I got caught shorting moustache wax futures.
The EUâs anti-fraud office is to send a team of investigators to Jerusalem to look into reports that EU money is funding Palestinian terrorist organisations, according to German newspaper Die Welt. Their investigations follow months of allegations and counter-allegations that money meant for the Palestinian Authority finds its way into terrorist channels. If the Olaf team confirms the allegation then there will be "serious and personal consequences", said French Socialist MEP François Zimeray. French politics will be interesting this year ... see the next article re: the Juppe trial
The German conservative MEP Markus Ferber said it was "very likely" that it would result in the resignation of External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten - who oversees the whereabouts of the money. Him, too.
However, these claims about EU money funding terrorists have still to be backed up by hard evidence.
I suspect there'll be a studious effort made not to find it...
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a report last year saying that until 2000, a total of 900 million euro that was supposed to paid to the Palestinian Authority flowed into the hands of terrorists. Estimates say that around two thirds of the money, according to Die Welt, came from various EU funds, the rest came from EU member states and aid organisations. Mr Patten has always said that the IMF checked where the money went and how it was spent. However, IMF officials have claimed that the organisation only checked that the money went to the right accounts at the right time. They had no control over how the money was spent, they said. An ad-hoc Committee set up in the European Parliament to investigate the whole issue is waiting for OLAF to report back before publishing its report. The EU is the biggest international donor to the Palestinian Authority.
Posted by: rkb ||
02/02/2004 11:30:04 AM ||
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#1
I thought this investigation was old news.
Chris Patten, the PA was skimming over 20% just from the currency exchange rate alone. You F#$king Moron.
Here, let me hold that flashlight so you can free up another hand to find your ass.
Posted by: Daniel King ||
02/02/2004 12:28 Comments ||
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#2
The IMF assertions were old news, but the EU action to actually check out the evidence is new.
Did you notice the political affiliations of the people quoted here? Opposition parties in both France & Germany. Corruption and anti-semitic behavior are beginning to become issues.
#4
My belief is that any money given to the PLA supports terrorism at least indirectly. If the money is used to meet payroll,for instance, then payroll funds are available for bomb-vest and explosive labs. That's the chief problem I have with providing food aid to countries run by Sadaam types (Mugabe, Kim or Chuck Taylor.) If you don't make these guys feed their own people, than they have even more play money to misuse.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 18:20 Comments ||
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#5
What bugs me is that the US supports a minimum of five very large crime families employing thousands with no direct subsidy from the US government and with a very small number of outright violent acts.... Hell if the government gives you the money it's not even crime. What's wrong with these wooly dirt devils.
A CD featuring video testimonials of six alleged suicide bombers offers a new insight into who is behind a growing number of deadly attacks in Iraq. TIME has viewed a copy of the disc, which appears aimed at recruiting young men and encouraging resistance against Western and affiliated targets in Iraq. The pictures and sound present harrowing details of attacks against U.S. forces and their allies as well as ideological rants aimed at the "enemies of Islam." In dramatic footage, six men who are believed to have subsequently carried out suicide attacks talk about their plans and reasons for fighting. Significantly, several of the men appear to be foreigners, evidence that the insurgency may be drawing fighters from outside Iraq.
The testimonies are contained on a CD produced by the group Jaish Ansar al-Sunni, which Iraqi insurgent sources say has close ties to Ansar al-Islam, a terror affiliate of al-Qaeda that American officials accuse of multiple attacks across Iraq on Western and Iraqi targets. Five of the incidents described on the disc take place in or near the northern Iraqi cities of Mosul, Kirkuk and Erbil. This last city was the scene of two more suicide attacks Sunday morning, when at least 56 people were killed and 235 wounded in an assault on the offices of U.S.-backed Kurdish parties.
The video opens set against a mountainous backdrop with religious chanting and fluttering flags. Footage shows U.S. forces arresting Iraqis, with civilians diving for cover or, bleeding, being helped away to seek medical care. An unknown voice then introduces the goals of Jaish Ansar Al Sunni and makes clear that Iraqi religious fundamentalists direct the armed organization. The voice speaks of a desire to defeat the American "infidels," but also to set up an Islamic state not controlled by "treacherous agents" loyal to the United States and Israel.
Halfway through the 35-min. CD, six young men, alleged to have subsequently carried out "martyrdom missions," begin testimonials. Each explains his reasons for wanting to become a martyr. Some ask God for acceptance into heaven and others say they are also fighting for Palestine against American and Jewish aggression. Three of the six men speak with a noticeably non-Iraqi accent, according to Iraqi and foreign journalists who have also seen the tape. Sources within the Iraqi insurgency tell TIME that a Syrian, a Saudi and a Yemeni were among the alleged suicide bombers. The source, also described how Iraqi insurgents act as guides for the foreigners as they set up the attacks.
The first to speak on the tape is a man identified as "Burwa, the Kurd" Written subscripts on the footage allege that he launched an attack on July 22, 2003 in Mosul against U.S. forces. Five more attackers, most sitting cross-legged and facing the camera, praise martyrdom and attacks in September, October, November and December of last year.
On the CD each alleged bomber makes a statement announcing his intention, but without naming the specific target. Abu Thabet al-Muhajer believed to have carried out an attack last December 9th in Ninevah province, vows to continue the struggle against the Americans "until Palestine is free" and "as long as our brothers are suffering inside the jails of the tyrants."
The taped footage ends with a brief mention of the rewards in heaven for all martyrs including "adorned virgins" in waiting, a reference to the benefits for Islamic martyrs promised in some Islamic texts.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:21:04 AM ||
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#1
So go knock down his parents house and make a CD of the process.
The video opens set against a mountainous backdrop with religious chanting and fluttering flags. Jeesh... that guy who makes all of the NPR/BBC pieces has found himself another gig.
#4
Hmmm. Honestly we do need to get rid of these 'suicide' bombers. A dis-service to Islam, the religion of peace, and or course these people would burn in hell for eternity. To stop them, we need to clamp on wahhabism, another british (bastard) thingy.
#6
Why are you agreeing with the lying bastard? Wahhabism is a 100% native Arab invention. It has as much to do with the British as an Aztec sacrifice does.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/02/2004 23:16 Comments ||
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Israeli intelligence officials believe that al Qaeda has largely spared the Jewish state from terrorist attacks as part of a global plan to first destroy the United States and establish an Islamic empire before targeting Israel.
I think it's more a division of labor thing. Hamas and IJ target Israel, Qaeda gets everybody else...
This consensus is based on constant and intensive monitoring of al Qaedaâs operations, and statements and analysis of its leadershipâs beliefs, Israeli intelligence officials said.
When they tried to muscle in last year, Yasser told them to butt out...
Osama bin Laden and his followers have been under scrutiny here since the late 1990s â at least two years before September 11. Al Qaedaâs presence in the Palestinian territories today is limited to rank-and-file operatives, usually Palestinians or Jordanians, who are closely monitored by Israeli intelligence.
Just across the northern border, though, there's Ein el-Hellhole, chock full of every kind of Islamist loon that can be imagined...
The operatives maintain close links with Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, two groups responsible for most of the suicide bombings targeting the Jewish state.
So who needs Ansar al-Islam?
The Israelis believe the United States is al Qaedaâs primary objective and that Israel will be dealt with in the final stage of its global plan.
If the AQ global plan works, Israel will be long gone...
According to Jonathan D. Halevi, a reserve lieutenant colonel in Israelâs armed forces and a foreign ministry adviser, al Qaeda is waging jihad, or holy war, against the United States as "retaliation" for what it considers "the terrorist war waged by the U.S. against the nation of Islam." Reuven Paz, a veteran of Israelâs intelligence apparatus, said the goal set for al Qaeda 20 years ago by its main ideologist, the late Abdullah Azzam, a Palestinian, is to create a single Islamic state that would encompass the world.
That's the eventual goal of all the Islamist nutcases, to include Hezb ut-Tahrir...
Azzam was killed 14 years ago in Afghanistan by a bomb planted in his automobile. "No one knows who was responsible," said Mr. Paz, director of the Tel Aviv-based Project for the Research of Intelligence Movements, an outfit known in this countryâs intelligence community by the acronym PRISM.
Speculation I've seen is that it was Ayman who dunnit...
A recent recording made in Iraq by Abu Musaab Zarqawi, one of al Qaedaâs most influential leaders, affirms the Israelisâ contention that it not only seeks the downfall of the West, but also a purge of Islamâs own "clerical establishment."
Those who aren't religiously pure...
"You abandoned us in the most difficult of circumstances and you handed us over to our enemy," Zarqawi said.
"So now it's time for Dire Revenge™...
This bitter critique referred to the circumstances in which the regime of Saddam Hussein collapsed and Iraq came under the control of American and allied forces.
That's 'cuz brutal dictatorships are so... so... Islamic.
Zarqawiâs original name, according to the Middle East Research Institute, was Ahmad Al-Khalayla. A citizen of Jordan, he is believed to have planned a series of attacks there while the millennium was being celebrated, but was thwarted by Jordanian authorities. His seething hatred of the United States was expressed in this passage from a newly released recording: "Oh, Allah, rend the kingdom of Bush as you rend the kingdom of Caesar; Oh, Allah, curse the Arab tyrants and the foreign tyrants; Oh, Allah, strike the apostate rulers," he said.
Nobody does seething hatred better than an Arab. Good thing they're not too good at maintenance...
A key short-term objective, according to Ronen Bergman, a prominent Israeli writer who also has an extensive background in his countryâs intelligence apparatus, is "to destabilize" the various Arab and other Muslim states.
Most of which are inherently unstable...
Al Qaedaâs ideology contradicts Islamâs traditionally conciliatory attitude toward "the protected religions," Judaism and Christianity, according to Col. Halevi.
It contradicts most of the traditionally rational principles of logic and reason, too...
This changed largely because of "radical Islamâs hatred of the U.S. and other Western countries as leaders of the Christian world," he said. "The U.S. is viewed as a global infidel force menacing Islam with its ideology, social and economic values, and hostile policy seen in terms of a modern Crusader war against Islam." He attributed the idea of indiscriminate mass murder of Christians to Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a prominent al Qaeda leader, who contends that Muslims "have the right to kill 4 million Americans, including a million children, to displace 8 million Americans and to cripple hundreds of thousands more."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:08:09 AM ||
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#1
a global plan to first destroy the United States
heh heh
Gonna take a lot more than 2 buildings and 3000 people to do that. But hey, it's their suicide.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/02/2004 0:41 Comments ||
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#3
Israel will be dealt with in the final stage of its global plan.
First they have to get through the first stage. There will be no stage beyond that, though. Sorry. Tough shit.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/02/2004 3:58 Comments ||
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#4
"Destroy" America: Another BLOODY TUESDAY or two and the US dollar will be worth less than a square of toilet tissue. Big dog money folks the world over will be getting out of US dollars, US investments and US bonds faster than the speed of light. Why any islamic fascist dictatorship, islamist theocracy, Wahhabi-teaching madrassah or mosque housing anti-America hatred spewing clerics is still standing is beyond my understanding. This is serious business and no one who would be President in the foreseeable future appears willing to wreck full and complete havoc among this nation's enemies.
#5
Another 'Bloody Tuesday' and there will be no middle east left to pollute our world. We'll burn them from the face of the planet. And what's left of islam and the followers of the pedophile will have to decide: join the current century or die.
#6
well garison and allahhateme, as we speak the might forces for appeasement are feverishly working; their weapons- apologists for Islam, PC big media, socialist University professors
#7
Well, mhw, President Bush is hardly an appeaser or an apologist or too PC or too socialist or a professor. Consequently, he has no excuse for not having initiated a WWII-style mobilization of human and material resources marshalled against the Islamic Fascists. Unlike AHM, I believe the meltdown of the US economy is too high a price to pay for "no middle east left". Bloody Tuesday was more than sufficiently pricey to warrant ARMED pacification and reformation and modernization of all of Islamdom.
#8
A recent recording made in Iraq by Abu Musaab Zarqawi... affirms the Israelisâ contention that it not only seeks the downfall of the West, but also a purge of Islamâs own "clerical establishment." and... A key short-term objective..., is "to destabilize" the various Arab and other Muslim states
heh, heh...I guess the overall plan is to destroy the mighty USA and Israel by first dividing and conquering themselves. Sounds like a good plan...if you are a grandiose megalomaniac with no grip on reality.
Posted by: B ||
02/02/2004 10:24 Comments ||
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#9
Actually Garrison, Bush DOES have a reason, we don't have at this time the manufacturing capacity to do WWII scale mobilizations of materials, and we'd need conscription to be passed for the personel which I can guarantee will not pass in congress currently. Hell didn't our last M1 tank production facility shut down a little while back? Now just imagine how it is for the rest of the military? Most of our stuff is outsourced due to idiotic belief in the JUST IN TIME supply idea of the 90's. Great for business...horrible for a military. No it'd take another attack, but we wouldn't depend on foreigners leaving the US dollar, the govt would then go on a sale spree with bonds just like it did in WWII. The dollar is a pretty flexible and rugged monetary unit.
Posted by: Val ||
02/02/2004 10:25 Comments ||
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#10
Actually the USA is far and away the least trade dependant western economy. The US dollar could go to complete ratshit (to use an Australian expression) and it wouldn't matter that much to the US economy. The price of cuddly toys would rocket in price but who cares. The depreciation in the USD hurts America's trading partners far more than the USA and I think the powers that be in the USA understand this.
#11
besides, if we couldn't afford all that oil, we'd right quick get fuel cell technology and hybrid cars, etc. Then the rest of the world would have that technology too. Without all that oil income, who is going to fund the adventures of these spoiled Arab brats?
Posted by: B ||
02/02/2004 10:48 Comments ||
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#12
Slightly off topic, but I thought this was interesting (if not a bit exaggerated):
BOYCOTT WORKS TWO WAYS.
Several weeks ago, Germany announced its decision to stop all arms sales to Israel. Since then, other countries have followed suit. In response, Israel has canceled its annual multimillion dollar contract for its nationwide DAN buses which were manufactured in Germany, and is looking at other bus suppliers in the U.S., and Japan.
The Europeans and their Muslim allies should
understand that boycotts work both ways. When we said NEVER AGAIN, we meant it. Europe is stuck in the mentality of 1933 and conditioned to thinking of Jews as defenseless entities. The reality is very different. As long as Europe adheres to and supports its primitive Middle Ages death cult, European products must be off limits. We continue to call for a complete boycott of travel and products from the
following countries: France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, and China, due to their support, sponsorship, and/or participation in global Islamic terror. The voting record of the above countries at the U..N openly endorses Muslim terror. Remember, every time you buy a bottle of Evian, a Carlsberg product, a Spanish melon, a Godiva chocolate, a Dior lipstick, a Gucci bag, or a German kitchen appliance, you are financing the next Muslim
mass murderer.
The European Union gives over $10 million per month to the Palestinian Authority, knowing full well that the money is funneled to buy, import, and train Muslim terrorists and their weapons of mass murder.
We strongly encourage everyone to buy Canadian,
American and Israeli products instead. Buy Estee
Lauder or Ahava instead of Chanel, Dior, and YSL.
Tell the salespeople why. Educate the public when you shop.
Europe is underwriting the Arab war to exterminate the Jewish state. We cannot sit idly by while this happens. Make your voice heard and let them feel the sting in their pocketbooks. Let the Europeans know that supporting terror does not pay.
Posted by: Tibor ||
02/02/2004 10:53 Comments ||
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#13
They seem to forget that we have plenty of our own resources. The boycott will occur naturally as the dollar falls. You can't threaten to starve out your neighbor by raising the price of food ....if he lives on his own self-sustaining farm.
Posted by: B ||
02/02/2004 11:06 Comments ||
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#14
Tibor, don't forget NAOT footwear -- Yaleet i think is an Israeli company.
Most comfortable sandals i've ever worn, and they've held up for years...
#15
"We strongly encourage everyone to buy Canadian, American and Israeli products instead."
Oops? Tibor, did you really mean to include Canada?
Last time I checked, Canada was like a set of infected tonsils... Cosby said it well (inexact quote, but gist accurate), "Your tonsils are there to help protect you, but in your case they've gone over to the other side, so..."
Until Canadian Immigration actually reigns in its policies, it matters little what the US policies are -- unless we build the Friendship Fence and damned-near shut down commerce across the border. Clearly, they have much more to lose than we do... bringing all of the auto-manufacturing and other industries back to the US would be a double-boon to the US, not to mention a double-whammy to Canada.
Obviously the policies of both governments need to track in tandem if we are to stem the tide of asshats entering the US - and you'd think the Canadians will eventually figure out that these cretins will do damage there, too - so cooperation is a win-win. If the Canucks won't cooperate, we'll eventually have to take some measures they won't much care for, eh?
So when was the last time you checked? And exactly what was it that you were checking? Which Canadian immigration policies are you concerned with?
The last time I looked, Canadian immigration policies were not that much different from American.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/02/2004 20:34 Comments ||
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#17
.com --
I just posted something that had been e-mailed to me. If I had my druthers, Spain wouldn't have been on the same list as Germany, etc.
Posted by: Tibor ||
02/02/2004 21:24 Comments ||
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Iâm a Canadian citizen as well. She could enter Canada on a tourist visa (and she can say that she comes with the intention to marry me) and theyâll give it to her. Odds are that she wonât get rejected for this visa either. She probably wonât even need a consular interview. Whole process takes one month, max, but will most likely only take a few days. In the UK, they approve them the same day.
Hell, she doesnât even need to get married in Canada and she can apply for an adjustment of status while on a tourist or student visa. Canât do that in the US. Not even on the H1 working visas. Itâs even difficult for the L (foreign executive) and E (special ability) and O (extremely special ability) visas. And the million dollar green card route doesnât seem to work anymore.
HUGE difference in policy there, and thatâs just for spouses. Weâre not even getting into refugees!
Canadaâs immigration policy, while open, makes more sense than ours. They use an objective point system when admitting people in. People who qualify with enough points (67, but it used to be 75) will be granted an interview. Canadaâs main problem is the refugee system where virtually everyone is accepted. And even those that arenât just disappear and the Government does little to go after them.
I donât think Canada should change their immigration rules to fit are impractical ones. But they shouldnât complain if they face a closed border from us. I also think our immigration policy needs to be changed to suit the modern world. We preach globalization and easy movement of capital (including human), but we donât practice it. Yet we donât let anyone in anymore because we suspect that everyone is a terrorist. We know who the terrorists are. We know who hates us. We know whoâs coming after us. So simple. Why donât we do it?
#19
Rafael, while I don't have the precise personal experiences which ANON posted (and illustrate well some of the massive flaws in both US and Canadian policies), I do know many "Canadians" working in Saudi Arabia. Why the scare quotes? Because they are all Pakistanis and all Muslims and all chose to get Canadian citizenship because it was so fucking easy. I can't recite the details as I wasn't party to their games, I am only repeating what they told me. If they lied and you're perfectly right, then you may shit all over this comment.
Every one of them wanted US citizenship, but gave up because it was too hard to get. This includes those who got their Canuckiness both long before 9/11 and well after -- which happened a year after I began my last contract in Saudi. So 9/11 wasn't the factor, though it SHOULD'VE been as ANON pointed out, and should've heralded major changes in policy to keep our enemies out.
You stoutly defend Canada - and there's nothing wrong with that if you wish to do so. I have several friends from Canada and love her people -- except perhaps the Quebecois -- but I have no illusions about the Canadian Gov't and how its policies make a mockery of whatever the US does - as long as we share an open border. To argue this is wrong or incorrect is obviously foolish - and you're no fool. It's not personal, it's just observable fact.
As for Mexico, I agree with ANON again that our policy there is insanely twisted and mercenary. I would greatly prefer a complete rethink and revamp of how we deal with the entire world. I would love to see a rational and logical system that serves US interests as well as protects us from stupidity abroad. Patching patches in the myopic fashion we use now is not serving our interests at all.
#20
Whether it is easy or not to immigrate to Canada depends on very few factors (actually only two): your profession/skill appears on a most wanted list; and you have lots of money. These two things will get you the most points that pretty much guarantee a red carpet upon arrival in Canada.
I'm willing to bet, that the Pakistanis you met in Saudiland, already had both of those things, PLUS they spoke Engrish (which is good enough), PLUS they had some cousin or other already in Canada, PLUS they were well educated, giving them even more points. Otherwise, they wouldn't be in Saudi Arabia.
The suggestion of shutting down immigration, or denying applicants from specific countries, is the third-rail of immigration and no way will it be touched by anyone. Anyway, it is already too late to stop that avalanche.
My assertion is that anybody who has no conflicts with Canadian values, is productive and peaceful, should be allowed to come here. Every such person is given a chance. The new Canadian immigration and citizenship laws already provide for the event should things go wrong: fuck up and you're out. Should things go wildly wrong in the future, with terrorists streaming to the US from Canada, I can bet that this (liberal, in your opinion) immigration policy will change too, and quickly. For now, how many terrorists coming from Canada have you counted? Not a lot.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/03/2004 1:54 Comments ||
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#21
"how many terrorists coming from Canada have you counted?"
Personally? C'mon, drop the game and be real.
You've been here long enough to have seen the same news stories I have regards asshats who've been tracked and caught; who've been arrested with arms; who've been observed "scouting" border crossings; etc.
Knowing the FBI as I happen to, I also realize that they are almost clueless about terrorists and PC-correct down to their Joe Boxers regards the obvious best tool available: profiling. So I can't help but wonder that if I hear about 10 guys they've fingered (prolly actually done by RCMP or other Canadian law outfit) then 100 or 1000 went through unhindered and undetected.
The Pakistanis I knew were all in IT, all spoke passable Engrish, none could write in English worth warm spit, none were wealthy by any measure I'd make, and all immediately began gathering every warm body in their clan over there once one made it in. The Saudi payscale funded the operation in step-wise fashion.
I have nothing to change in what I wrote. Sorry it seems to get your dander up. I'll add that I would gladly help fund a fence so we needn't have this conversation again, since I have no vote to influence Canadian legislation or policy.
#22
I think you're reading me wrong (due to my bad writing). I agree it is easy to immigrate to Canada. A bit too easy. But I say that with hesitation because I am an immigrant myself (from Poland). And you won't find anyone more pro-American here on Rantburg or anywhere else, outside the US.
So there are immigrants out there who can fit in quite nicely. I knew a guy from Bangladesh, who worked in Saudi Arabia, in IT, who is now making quite a good living in Canada. And during the time that I knew him, I haven't heard him say one bad thing about the US. As opposed to the countless other immigrants that I know that spew anti-American vitriol on a daily basis.
Nonetheless, for the sake of people like me who would like to visit Texas, Colorado and Montana, I urge you not to start construction on the fence just yet.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/03/2004 5:10 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A suspicious white powder found in a U.S. Senate office building on Monday tested positive for the deadly poison ricin, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terry Gainer said.
About 16 people who were on the floor where the toxin was discovered were being decontaminated but no one was hurt.
Ricin is a poison derived from the pulp left over when castor beans are processed to make castor oil. There is no antidote for ricin, which can kill within 36 to 72 hours of exposure to significant amounts, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Moscow expects the eight Russian citizens being held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be handed over to Russia soon for trial, a senior Russian diplomat said in comments published Monday.
I'm all for it, as long as they shoot them...
"We expect that in the nearest future, these citizens will be returned to Russia for trial," said Deputy Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Trubnikov in an interview published on the Foreign Ministryâs Web site. Russia has been pushing for the extradition of its eight citizens, who are among hundreds accused of links to the Taliban or al-Qaida being held at the U.S. detention facility. Trubnikov said that at the end of last year, a "principal understanding" was worked out between Washington and Moscow about their return. He said that currently "coordination is underway about âtechnicalâ questions" such as the procedure for transferring the suspects. The Russian Prosecutorâs office has said that the detainees include residents of Russiaâs Muslim-majority republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, western Siberia and the Caucasus Mountains region.
That is all at this time. Nothing to see here. Move along. After all, itâs not like David Kay said Saddam had an active ricin program up to the time we went to war or anything, did he. Well, that might get rid of Janetâs boob.
#1
From this CNN story about this event, it also mentions:
In October, traces of ricin were discovered inside a small metal container in an envelope at a postal handling facility in Greenville, South Carolina. With the poison was an "angry, unsigned note."
Anybody got a sample of Howard Dean's handwriting? ;) If the LLL can blather up some lunatic conspiracies, I figure I can too. *g*
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/02/2004 21:59 Comments ||
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#2
The FBI has probably already ruled out terrorism.
#3
If it is ricin, that doesn't mean much. As I understand it, it's not too difficult to extract from castor beans, and castor beans aren't exactly exotic.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/02/2004 23:01 Comments ||
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Polls show Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark doing well as he fights for Oklahomaâs 40 delegates, but the state hasnât been entirely friendly territory for him. His polls are rising...
Clarkâs three-car caravan was headed back from a campaign appearance in McAlester to Oklahoma City shortly after midnight Sunday when it was pulled over by a state trooper. Bet itâs not hard to spot a speeding motorcade...
The trooper cited Clark staffer Reid Cherlin -- who was driving the lead vehicle carrying Clark and foreign policy adviser Jamie Rubin -- for speeding. Good thing your nameâs not Al Gore Jr.
The trooper said he clocked the car at 88 miles per hour in a 75 mile an hour zone. Cherlin said he had set the carâs cruise control for 83 miles per hour. My experience - and thereâs lots - no reasonable trooper writes tickets for 5 MPH over the speed limit, and you eliminate that standard of reasonableness at 10 MPH.
Cherlin and the drivers of the two other cars in the caravan were given $150 speeding tickets. Itâs a group thaaang!
Hat tip: Drudge. Edited for brevity.
The camera jostled past the crush of rescue workers, entered the bombed bus and paused on bloody pieces of flesh hanging from a twisted window frame. It moved to a severed right foot flung against a curb, then halted on an arm in the middle of the street. For the first time in more than three years and after scores of suicide bombings, the Israeli government has taken the horror and gore of a bus bombing directly to the public via the Internet, bypassing what one senior Israeli official called the "distorted" coverage of the international news media. "We decided this was the only way for us to bring our message to the world," said Gideon Meir, a senior foreign ministry officer. "It took us 3œ years to show these pictures."
The decision to put the graphic five minute and 38-second video on the Israeli Foreign Ministry Web site just hours after Thursdayâs explosion, which killed 11 people and the bomber, has unleashed an emotional public debate in a nation weary of a conflict that has turned Israeli buses, cafes and public streets into targets and frustrated by political leadership on both sides that has not ended the violence. Foreign ministry official Meir said the agencyâs Web site had received 600,000 hits on the video as of Sunday night. On Thursday, the day of the bombing, the site temporarily collapsed under the volume of attempts to view the footage, which carried the understated warning â "Caution: Video contains very graphic footage."
"Showing bodies or body parts . . . lying on the ground and using it for political ends is disgusting," said Jeff Halper, who heads the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition, an organization that monitors Israeli military actions against Palestinians. He accused the Israeli government of "trying to sell a certain political program, the wall, and to recruit the dead for this mission." "We should ignore the dead and maimed because it will help my political ends."
The video footage on the government Web site, www.mfa.gov.il, was taken by Ilan Sztulman, 45, who heads visual productions for the ministry of foreign affairs. He said he arrived at the scene of the Thursday attack only minutes after the blast and the opening shots of the video show the jerky movements of a cameraman running toward the bus amidst a crowd of rescue workers. "I get to the zone much faster than any other photographers because I have special permission to go in," said Sztulman. "Most of the journalists cannot go in until the bomb officers declare the area is bomb-free." At Thursdayâs bombing, most journalists were kept more than 30 yards from the bus in the first minutes after the explosion. Many of the body parts video-taped by Sztulman had been collected by rescue workers by the time journalists were allowed to move closer. The 11th victimâs body was so mutlilated that the passenger, an Ethopian woman, was identifed only this weekend using DNA tests.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/02/2004 3:29:38 PM ||
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Has the Security Fence gone up near Bethlehem?
Posted by: Daniel King ||
02/02/2004 15:41 Comments ||
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#2
This Jeff Halper sounds a nasty piece of work.
[google]
Ah, he wants to honour Rachel Corrie. Went to Israel in 1973 and is a professor of anthropology at Ben Gurion University.
I think Israel has done the right thing in making this video available. There is far too much censorship of what people *should* be able to see. The jumpers from the WTC, bits of bodies after a splodeydope detonates, the list goes on.
If people don't know what the enemy are capable of, they won't be in a position to make reasoned judgements about what to do about the situation.
Oh, I think I've figured it out...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
02/02/2004 17:02 Comments ||
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#3
reality is reality regardless of any political ends.
Posted by: Dan ||
02/02/2004 17:04 Comments ||
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#4
it's about time!!! Finally, Israel is playing the media game. All we've seen so far is (sometimes staged) wounded paleos crying for the camera. Let the world see what Israel suffers at the hands of these barbarians.
#7
Time to show what the Paleo death cults are all about - I think the splodeydope remains should be broadcast all over Paleostine - let em ululate - some will be disgusted and turn away
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2004 21:12 Comments ||
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#8
Let all the preachers of moral equivalence and those professing to be "fair minded" regarding Israel and the Palestinians watch the footage over and over until they get sick of seeing it.
Rantburg has a story about an FBI investigation into the shooting of an unarmed Security Guard in Texas. I should have talked about this beforehand, but I had my own encounter with Islamists look-alike.
I was working last July as a security guard in a construction site (would-be Four Seasons Hotel) near Floridaâs US1. It was around 7 P.M. when two middle eastern men (dark complexions, European-like faces) men in a Ford SUV drove by me, promptly parking about 150 ft away. The man in the passenger seat promplty began to take pictures of the construction site with a large camera, rapidly flashing away.
I inmediately thought the worst, and got off my car to confront them. I advanced a few feet, but being unarmed, I reconsidered and went back to my car to inform the other guard and the police, hoping to block the SUVâs path until police arrived. They were too quick. Once they saw me going back to the car they sped away, passing by me before I could make it back. To make things worse, when I tried to get the plate number the sun hit me right on the eyes (Four Seasons will be located right on the ocean, so they speed away almost directly away from the East, the Sun was setting right at that time.)
My heroic moment gone, I took my car and went around the hotel loop, and I informed one of the managers of the construction project, who told me he would call police, at which point I went back to my post, trying to forget about it.
This incident took place six months ago, and Iâm not yet sure the FBI has that data, and Iâm less sure theyâll take me seriously, with all the less-than-kind things Iâve said about them. So, should I call them?
#1
I have twice called the FBI with very suspicious and specific information only to be completely ignored or scoffed at. Once regarding a man who claimed in front of several witnesses that he had a bomb on a train - and another time re: a specific individual who although he may not have been a terrorist, certainly fit the profile of one. Muslim, under 40, very polite, religious, and had a vague source of income for a years worth of expensive, intense, computer classes that required no prerequisites, no exams and he showed no real motivation to pass a test that would be required to get a job. However, he was very interested in how to access the back door of computers.
At the time I reported it, the papers were talking about the fear of terrorists using the back door to access financial and military computers, but no one even bothered to call me back. How many other people have the FBI ignored??
#2
Note: I forgot to mention this on the article, but the Four Seasons Hotel would be one of the tallest buildings in Florida.
Anon;
I wonder how many more people have to get killed before the Bureau (and the Agency) get a shakeup. Remember, nobody was fired after 9/11, the same people who failed are still running the show.
#3
Sorge, if I had been in law enforcement, I would have looked for an efficient way to translate your sghting into actional information. For example, does the hotel have a surveilence camera that would have recorded the licence plate number? Without a way to further identify the men, there would be little to follow-up on.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 17:48 Comments ||
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#4
G-7's this weekend, kind of makes me wonder.
Hope Cheney's ticker's ok. Cheney-Rice? Cheney-Guiliani?
EFL
Christmas trees still adorn living rooms, clothes spill out of flung-open drawers, testifying to the haste in which nearly 1,500 villagers fled this southern Colombian town in early January as the army closed in. Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, ordered everyone to leave the town on Jan. 4, said Antonio Burgos, 83, the only remaining resident in Union Peneya. Gen. Martin Orlando Carreno, the new commander of the Colombian Army, visited the town on Saturday, where he commended his troops for taking control of a region that for decades has been a rebel stronghold. The soldiers have been patrolling the townâs deserted streets since they took Union Peneya last month. They want the villagers to return, but many are worried rebels may yet retake the town and punish those who violated their evacuation order.
Fearing for their lives, the townsfolk fled the village and headed for nearby settlements in the steamy jungles of Caqueta state, according to Burgos. He said there have been previous forced evacuations. "This has happened before, but never for this long," he said as he lounged in front of his modest home in Union Peneya, now nothing but a ghost town. He said he felt too old to leave with the others. In Colombiaâs 40-year civil war, Caqueta state has traditionally been a stronghold of the FARC, the nationâs largest rebel group which has fought four decades of war against the Colombian government. In Union Peneya, dead FARC rebels even hold a special section in the townâs cemetery, with 25 marble tombstones carrying the guerrillasâ noms de guerre. "If we want to triumph, and enjoy life, we help the FARC," reads one inscription.
But under the leadership of hardline President Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian army has taken the offensive and launched a wave of operations in areas like Caqueta. The army is determined to wrest control of rebel territory to deprive the guerrillas of a recruitment base, destroy the drug crops financing their operations and convince people they are better off living under the state. "This is part of the plan to attack the structure of the FARC in its core areas, where they generate their power to combat," Carreno said in an interview with the Associated Press.
The economy of Union Peneya, 240 miles southwest of Bogota, Colombiaâs capital, revolved around the production of coca paste, the primary ingredient in cocaine. Producers of the paste had to pay taxes to the FARC. The FARC even drew up its own currency for all transactions dealing with coca paste. The bills -- photocopies of Colombiaâs official peso signed by the "Milton Bradley" "FARC treasury" -- reportedly could be cashed at "rebel banks." These days, the once bustling town is still, its silence interrupted only by the occasional squawk of a farm animal or the footsteps of a soldier wandering the streets. No one knows when, or if, the residents will come back or if they will join the ranks of Colombiaâs more than 2 million people who have been displaced from their homes because of the war.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 2:32:15 PM ||
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EFL
South Korea played down a North Korean offer to provide missile technology to Nigeria, saying yesterday it was a tactic to gain leverage ahead of a second round of talks on the Northâs nuclear weapons programs. A Nigerian government spokesman said Wednesday his country had taken leave of our collective senses a memorandum of understanding with North Korea to share missile technology, but said no hardware acquisitions had yet been made or decided. Kim Kisu, second secretary of the North Korean Embassy in Nigeriaâs capital Abuja, later purposefully muddied the waters said no deal had been closed.
South Korean Appeasement Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun said it remained unclear whether Nigeria had accepted the offer, but he did not think the issue would cause many problems. "I see it as a tactic by North Korea to arouse anxiety from the United States ahead of the second round of six-nation talks," Mr. Jeong said in a briefing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said her government "noted" Nigeriaâs assertion that its trade with North Korea is unrelated to nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction. "We attach importance to this question, and we oppose the proliferation of nuclear weapons and delivery systems," she said. Bad Kimmie, down.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 1:35:13 PM ||
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"I see it as a tactic by North Korea to arouse anxiety
Okay... someone has to say it.
Eeeeettttttttthhhhhheeeeeeeeelllll! Fetch me pills.
While FBI officials were dismissing terrorism in the shooting of a security guard at a chemical plant in Texas just hours after they were summoned to investigate, they werenât nearly so skeptical about the possibility last year. Robbie House, an unarmed security guard at the BASF plant in Freeport says he was shot by a Middle Eastern gunman after confronting him near an ammonia storage facility last week. The gunman was also taking pictures; just like our two "naive" friends in Buffalo.
Now House says the FBI doesnât believe his story and suggests he shot himself. How? The story says he was unarmed.
Off the record, some law enforcement officials say they believe Houseâs story and think he may have stumbled into a terrorism reconnaissance operation. Local police also said they believe Houseâs story. While scoffing at Houseâs story now, FBI officials were reportedly thinking of Freeport as a possible target just last year. A story in the May 26, 2003, issue of Newsweek reported that in March 2001, terrorist scouts came to Texas to "case a major port in Freeport, Texas," as well as look at President Bushâs ranch in Crawford. The information came from the FBI, according to the story. Local port officials said they knew nothing about that threat.
by William Safire, New York Times EFL. Hat tip: Brothers Judd. With all the "intelligence failures" in the news these days, itâs comforting to know that there are also Tom Clancy-style "intelligence successes." Maybe in 20 years, weâll finally hear about some of them...
Col. Vladimir Vetrov provided what French intelligence called the Farewell dossier. It contained documents from the K.G.B. Technology Directorate showing how the Soviets were systematically stealing â or secretly buying through third parties â the radar, machine tools and semiconductors to keep the Russians nearly competitive with U.S. military-industrial strength through the 70âs. In effect, the U.S. was in an arms race with itself. Reagan passed this on to William J. Casey, his director of central intelligence, now remembered only for the Iran-contra fiasco. Casey called in Weiss, then working with Thomas C. Reed on the staff of the National Security Council. After studying the list of hundreds of Soviet agents and purchasers (including one cosmonaut) assigned to this penetration in the U.S. and Japan, Weiss counseled against deportation. Instead, according to Reed â a former Air Force secretary whose fascinating cold war book, "At the Abyss," will be published by Random House next month â Weiss said: "Why not help the Soviets with their shopping? Now that we know what they want, we can help them get it." The catch: computer chips would be designed to pass Soviet quality tests and then to fail in operation. Diabolically clever!
In our complex disinformation scheme, deliberately flawed designs for stealth technology and space defense sent Russian scientists down paths that wasted time and money. The technology topping the Sovietsâ wish list was for computer control systems to automate the operation of the new trans-Siberian gas pipeline. I remember the pipeline being a big deal because it was said to have been built, on the Soviet side, with slave labor.
When we turned down their overt purchase order, the K.G.B. sent a covert agent into a Canadian company to steal the software; tipped off by Farewell, we added what geeks call a "Trojan Horse" to the pirated product. "The pipeline software that was to run the pumps, turbines and valves was programmed to go haywire," writes Reed, "to reset pump speeds and valve settings to produce pressures far beyond those acceptable to the pipeline joints and welds. The result was the most monumental non-nuclear explosion and fire ever seen from space." . . . Ka-BOOM!
Farewell stayed secret because the blast in June 1982, estimated at three kilotons, Ye Gods!
took place in the Siberian wilderness, with no casualties known. Nor was the red-faced K.G.B. about to complain publicly about being tricked by bogus technology. But all the software it had stolen for years was suddenly suspect, which stopped or delayed the work of thousands of worried Russian technicians and scientists. Vetrov was caught and executed in 1983. A year later, Bill Casey ordered the K.G.B. collection network rolled up, closing the Farewell dossier. . . . Fred, Old Spook, was this one of your projects, back in the day?
Posted by: Mike ||
02/02/2004 12:49:21 PM ||
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That book on the Cold War, "At the Abyss" by Thomas C. Reed, looks like it's gonna be good! Nice post! RIP, Vetrov.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/02/2004 13:09 Comments ||
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That's how good the Reagan people were. They didn't even need a nuke to bomb the Soviets into shitting their pants.
We probably have intelligence success like this today(without the boom), but it won't come out for years. Still, this made me grin maniacly and think about what chips the Chinese are using for the Three Gorges Dam.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/02/2004 16:44 Comments ||
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#9
Fred, Old Spook, was this one of your projects, back in the day?
I think they'd tell ya, but then they'd have to kill ya...
#12
I can't believe the classification on this has expired or been rescinded yet, 21 years isn't nearly enough time. Maybe it's a warning to various other hostile nations that like to steal our tech. Make them spend billions of yuan dollars tearing their stuffs apart and wondering if it really works. bwaaahahahahha
Not WoT, but relevant to media coverage of the WoT. EFL. Geneva Overholser, former ombudsman of The Washington Post, has resigned from the board of the National Press Foundation because it plans to honor Fox News anchor Brit Hume at its annual dinner in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19. Past recipients of the groupâs Sol Taishoff award include TV newscasters David Brinkley, Dan Rather, John Chancellor, Jane Pauley, Barbara Walters and Nina Totenberg. Hume, the ABC White House correspondent who joined Fox in 1996 and anchors a nightly newscast, doesnât deserve the award because he and Fox practice "ideologically connected journalism," Overholser says.
She says that after they gave an award to Nina Totenberg? And she didn't turn into a pillar of salt?
"Fox wants to do news from a certain viewpoint, but it wants to claim that it is âfair and balanced,â " she says. "That is inaccurate and unfair to other media who engage in a quest, perhaps an imperfect quest, for objectivity."
"... perhaps even a hideously imperfect quest for objectivity."
She says groups such as the foundation, before lauding Fox or its lead news anchor, should debate whether the way Fox reports news is good for journalism. Someday, Overholser says, "I think we will look back on these years and think, âWhy didnât we have a discussion so that the public could benefit from a change in journalism that Fox is very successfully bringing about?â "
We already had the discussion. Didn't you get our note?
Ed Fouhy, chairman of the four-person committee that unanimously voted to give Hume the award, rejects Overholserâs argument. "Brit is an excellent journalist," says Fouhy, who at one time was Humeâs boss at ABC. "I admire him and his journalism."
Fox didn't hire him away from ABC because he was a dullard...
Says Foxâs Irena Briganti: "Brit Hume is a journalist of tremendous accomplishment, distinction and credibility. We are proud he is being recognized."
He'd be a star wherever he worked. It just galls them it's Fox...
Overholser, the former editor of The Des Moines Register who now runs the University of Missouriâs Washington journalism program, quietly resigned from the board of the foundation three weeks ago. "I would welcome a discussion about whether objectivity really exists, which media seem the least fair and balanced, whether objectivity is desirable, whether it wouldnât be better to have a more European-like model â in which media were straightforwardly ideologically aligned," she wrote in an e-mail to fellow board members. "All of those could be helpful to American journalism. And I can applaud Fox for all sorts of things, but being deceptively ideologically aligned â being hypocritical about it â far from contributing to such discussions, makes them impossible to have. (Fox News president Roger) Ailes has constructed the perfect trap: you question him, and the finger of accusation comes back at the questioner. One can marvel at his cleverness. But one should not confer journalistic laurels upon it."
#5
Past recipients of the groupâs Sol Taishoff award include TV newscasters David Brinkley, Dan Rather, John Chancellor, Jane Pauley, Barbara Walters and Nina Totenberg.
Hmmmmm... and what type of bias is the common denominator for the members of this distinguished list?
#6
--"I would welcome a discussion about whether objectivity really exists, which media seem the least fair and balanced, whether objectivity is desirable, whether it wouldnât be better to have a more European-like model â in which media were straightforwardly ideologically aligned," she wrote in an e-mail to fellow board members. "All of those could be helpful to American journalism. --
#7
Irena Briganti is the Fox News spokeswoman who, refering to Christiane Amampour's anti-Fox rant, said; "Given the choice, it's better to be viewed as a foot soldier for Bush than a spokeswoman for al-Qaeda." Gosh, I love that woman.
#9
"Fox wants to do news from a certain viewpoint, but it wants to claim that it is âfair and balanced,â " she says. "That is inaccurate and unfair to other media who engage in a quest, perhaps an imperfect quest, for objectivity."
#10
I watch Hume every night that I can. In the panel section of his show he usually has at least one representative of NPR. When Mara or Juan Williams is making a point, Brit stops Kondrake's chatter to let the an alternative view point be expressed. I have never seen him rant or belittle an idea that you would expect to not fit in with his own idealogy.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 14:50 Comments ||
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#11
Hooray for Hume - I like him the very best!!
As for Geneva Overholser, former ombudsman of The Washington Post, don't let the screen door hit ya....
Posted by: B ||
02/02/2004 14:57 Comments ||
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#12
She's just pissed 'cause Fox has the best looking anchorettes.
Posted by: ed ||
02/02/2004 15:01 Comments ||
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#13
I concur Super Hose. His is the best Cable news show by far.
I only wish they would have Charles "the Hammer" Krauthammer on more.
Posted by: Daniel King ||
02/02/2004 15:53 Comments ||
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#14
Maybe Overholser should read this about the Sunday morning talk shows.
http://archives.cjr.org/year/00/4/baker.asp
Posted by: David Gerstman ||
02/02/2004 16:56 Comments ||
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#15
Mara and I think Juan are going to be the Fox anchors for the Dem convention. A couple of weeks ago, someone linked to the NPR site and boy, were feathers ruffled. They're not dems, how dare Fox send them?
#16
EUropeons are more ill-informed, uninformed, misinformed and disinformed than even the increasingly diminishing number of mostly elderly folk who STILL get their "news" from the ABCNBCCBSPBSCNNMSNBCCNBC network.
Interesting ...
The specter of a biological attack was raised Sunday as a possible reason that a handful of transatlantic and domestic flights were canceled this weekend. One federal law enforcement source told CNN that the U.S.-bound flights were grounded mainly out of fears that terrorists would use the planes as "air taxis" to deliver biological, chemical or radioactive weapons material to cities in the United States. The source said the intelligence information was spotty and may be unreliable, and added that translation problems made the picture even less clear.
According to this source, the intelligence centered on British Airways, Air France and several U.S.-owned airlines, which the source did not identify. In some cases, specific flights were highlighted, some of them through several weeks in the future. All flights mentioned in that intelligence have been canceled. The federal law enforcement source also said that at least one federal agency, the Department of Energy, was concerned enough about the latest intelligence that it asked that cities install radioactivity detectors.
A key member of the Senate Intelligence Committee said the United States would have no way to counter a biological or chemical attack on a U.S.-bound airliner. "I donât think so, and thatâs partly the problem of not checking cargo, and itâs partly the problem of biological weapons, which nobody has figured out really what to do about yet," West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat, said on "Fox News Sunday." "Nobody has any idea about what to do about them on an airplane or on the ground." Outside the networkâs studios, Rockefeller added, "We donât know how to protect against any biological. ... You play it safe, and the plane doesnât fly, and people are going to have to get used to that, and people are not going to like that, but itâs what youâve got to do in this era."
British Airways, Air France and Continental Airlines grounded several flights to the United States for security reasons this weekend. Three Air France flights to Los Angeles, California, were canceled Christmas Eve and Christmas Day because of similar threats. British Airways canceled Flight 223 from London to Washington Dulles Airport on Sunday and Monday, and the return flight, Flight 222, both days. Flight 207 from London to Miami, Florida, on Sunday was called off as well. "We canceled these flights on advice from the U.K. government for security reasons," a spokeswoman for the airline said.
Air France canceled Flight 026 from Paris to Washington on Sunday and Monday, the airline said. Also, Flight 378 from Paris to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was grounded Saturday, but the Air France Web site said it was called off for "operational reasons." Continental Airlines also canceled Flight 1519 from Washington to Houston, Texas, on Sunday because of security concerns, spokesman David Messing said. "We werenât able to obtain the necessary security clearance from the Department of Homeland Security," Messing said. He said the cancellation was not caused by the Super Bowl, being played in Houston. A senior U.S. official said the airlines, not the U.S. government, decided to cancel the flights. "We did not want to cancel" the French and British flights, the official said. "We have been working all week to try and prevent that. Once it gets into the airlinesâ hands, however, then this is what happens." Hmmm .... airlines donât want lawsuits (or deaths, of course). And the US wanted what? A chance to flush out and capture key terrorists and uncover their intended means of destruction? If bioterror, then it would be very useful to look at the genetic signature of the material. Capture and quietly turn someone? This reminds me of the French announcement that allowed a suspect to slip away before a previously cancelled flight.
Posted by: rkb ||
02/02/2004 11:10:07 AM ||
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#1
If a plane crashes with bio on it, wouldn't it be burned? Certainly lessen the danger?
#2
With a Bio attack, what they are worried about is releasing the agent on the plane or in the terminal. You infect passengers and let them scatter carrying the virus with them. Effects won't show up for days or weeks. By then many more may be affected.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2004 15:54 Comments ||
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#3
Steve White, a pulmonologist as I recall, may have a thought on this as well. Due to the significant offloading of compressor bleed air during the flight, and the fact that the air is vented from the center of the cabin to the outside wall rather than front to back; it is very difficult to spread an infection on an airplane. If my FAA Human Factors training is correct, even on 16 hour flights there has never been documentation of a contagious disease spread beyond the row in front or back of the source. Not sure what effect the extreme low humidity would have on transmission. Would likely be hostile to non-spore forming contagions.
Israeli soldiers killed four Palestinian militants, including a one-armed leader of the militant Islamic Jihad group, in an intense gun battle Monday, Palestinian witnesses and doctors said. The army said troops came under fire as they attempted to arrest the militia leader, Yasser Abu Ayish, at his home and returned fire. The army confirmed three gunmen had been killed, while one soldier was lightly injured. Palestinian witnesses said four people were killed and the militantâs house in the Rafah refugee camp was destroyed. The militant leader was identified as Abu Ayish, whose legs and arm were blown off last year when a rocket he was building exploded prematurely. Itâs that red wire/black wire thing again.
Abu Ayish, who was using a wheelchair, was the leader of the Islamic Jihad military wing in the Rafah area, and was mainly involved in building homemade rockets. He was high on Israelâs wanted list. "Was" being the key phrase.
Palestinians residents said Abu Ayish and a brother, as well as local leaders of the militant groups Hamas and Al Aqsa Martyrsâ Brigades, had been killed. Sounds like they broke up a meeting.
Thousands of people, including hundreds of gunmen, streamed to a local mosque for a funeral later Monday. "We will retaliate in the next 24 hours," one Al-Aqsa militant said over a loudspeaker. Of course you will, we didnât expect anything less.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2004 10:34:54 AM ||
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#1
Enjoy your 72 dominatrices.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/02/2004 10:52 Comments ||
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#2
nice - but where do you put the toe tag?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2004 11:00 Comments ||
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#3
Around his ear of course. Other parts may not be large enough.....
#4
wow excellent story, really cheered me up after a long day at work. Sounds like old Abu in his spac-chariot didn't manage to do to well in this battle. great stuff.
#5
Thousands of people, including hundreds of gunmen, streamed to a local mosque for a funeral later Monday.
Should've dropped a J-Dam in the middle.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/02/2004 17:49 Comments ||
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#6
I am disapointed in a way. Before he died I wanted to see Yassin and Ayish battle it out in some kind of wheelchair chariot race pulled by a four poodle team. They could have worn togas.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 20:47 Comments ||
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I think Steven den Beste is right: Arafat gambled and lost, there will be NO single state for him to run Israelis out of.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday he planned to evacuate almost all of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, dropping a political bombshell that stunned friends and foes alike. "I have given the order to plan for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the Gaza Strip," the right-wing prime minister told the Haaretz newspaper. I am working on the assumption that in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza."
Sharon, once considered the godfather of the settlement movement, later spelled out his intentions in a closed-door meeting of his pro-settler Likud party, but gave no time frame. It was the first time Sharon had revealed plans for such a far-reaching withdrawal from territories Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war, and sparked immediate outrage from settler leaders. "I am in shock," Likud legislator Yehiel Hazan said.
Sharonâs move appeared aimed at showing Washington, Israelâs chief ally, he is serious about moving ahead with a "disengagement" strategy he has been working on for months before he presents it at the White House later this month. "Usually when the Israeli government speaks about evacuation of settlements, it aims only at public relations," Palestinian cabinet member Saeb Erekat told Reuters. "If Israel wants to leave Gaza...no Palestinian will stand in its way." ummm ... but a) could we still make a living in Israel and b) boy is it going to get violent over here on our side soon
The surprise announcement came amid a surge in Israeli- Palestinian violence over the past week that has cast further doubt on the chances of reviving a U.S.-backed peace roadkill "road map." Despite the bloodshed, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said preparations were under way for his first summit with Sharon since taking office in November. Shortly after Qurie spoke, Sharonâs words appeared on the Haaretz Web site, calling for evacuation of what he described as "problem" settlements in Gaza. His plan called for removal of all but two or three enclaves in the 360-square-km (139-square-mile) strip where more than a million Palestinian live in grinding self-induced poverty.
Opinion polls show a strong majority of Israelis willing to part with Gaza settlements. The largest concentration of settlers is in more than 120 enclaves in the West Bank. In excerpts from the interview, Sharon said he intended to present his plan to President Bush during his visit to Washington later this month. "It has to be done with American agreement and support," he said. "We are talking of a population of 7,500 people. Itâs not a simple matter. We are talking of thousands of square kilometers (miles) of hothouses, factories and packing plants. People there who are third-generation." financial restitution, maybe pack up the plants and move the equipment, blow up the buildings on your way out.??
"The first thing is to ask their agreement, to reach an agreement with the residents... itâs not a quick matter, especially if itâs done under fire," he said. Sharon had spoken in recent months only in vague terms about uprooting some of the more isolated settlements under a disengagement plan he has threatened to impose on the Palestinians should the "road map" fail. He has made clear, however, that such an arrangement would leave Palestinians with less land than they seek for a state. A Gaza settler spokesman called Sharonâs comments "miserable" and vowed that the nationalist camp would work "to cut short Sharonâs term as prime minister through legal means."
"... and replace him with... ummm... somebody else."
"We call on Sharon to immediately return to his old, good positions and not to bring another tragedy to the people of Israel through the expulsion of Jews from their homes," he said. ah, the wonderful historic concern of the Palestinian people for Israelis
In violence early Monday, a Palestinian militant who lost his legs and an arm to an Israeli tank shell a year ago battled soldiers who came to arrest him in a Gaza Strip raid that ended with him being killed along with three other gunmen. Some 10,000 mourners, including dozens of gunmen firing into the air, later marched in funeral processions for the four gunmen. "Sharon, prepare body bags. Blood for blood," the crowd chanted.
Posted by: rkb ||
02/02/2004 10:05:28 AM ||
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#1
Giving up the Gaza settlements is a no brainer. Its not as if they're on the high ground or anything. Israel should have pulled out of their long ago.
They also should build suburbs in a section of desert right next to Gaza, build a wall around it, and let the Pals have it. Then any Pals that screw around in the West Bank get deported to Gaza. Eventually the West Bank will either settle down or the Arab population will all be shifted to Gaza.
#2
My view is that Isreal tried hard to engage with the 'palestinians' and it didn't work. So now they will separate and put a wall around them and let them stew in their own mess. It will be the mother of all failed states that never were, and I wonder what the Arabs and the Euros and the UN will do about it. Probably not much!
#3
If by "high ground" you mean morality, I disagree, Ruprect -- the farms and industries created there were done so by hard work and sacrifice on the part of Israelis. The wider issue of the creation of Israel is a messy one, in part due to the bungling of international organizations such as the UN.
And why on earth is it Israel's job to create Palestinian suburbs? Let Arafat spend some of the $835 million he siphoned off into personal accounts - the money was given for the benefit of a fledgling palestinian state. The fact that that "state" has done little or nothing to build infrastructure, create a functioning educational system, attract industry or otherwise do anthing other than plan attacks on Israel is not Israel's fault.
I am not an automatic fan of Israel and some of her actions. But having done a little business in that region a while back, if I have to choose sides, it's clear to me which is the functioning democracy and which is a corrupt failure.
#4
Only 7,500 people? It has to be cheaper to give those families a better piece of land and save the associated costs. Besides, it will make it a whole lot easier to treat Gaza as an enemy country without the burden having to protect those settlers at the same time.
Good idea.
Posted by: B ||
02/02/2004 10:34 Comments ||
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#5
you leave the factories and greenhouses, and if the pals ever come asking for compensation for "refugees" from israel, you deduct the value of factories and greenhouses.
Arik Sharon is looking like a man of courage - i hope he can pull this off.
#6
Good move by Sharon - if they won't leave you just don't have to protect them. Israel needs to pull back to permanent defensible borders, and let the Paleos kill each other off in a civil war. We can call it Seethingstan
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2004 11:10 Comments ||
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#7
I hope he does it, for all sorts of reasons:
-it would be concrete evidence that Israel is complying with some of the provisions of the "roadmap," and the ball would be in the paleos court to do item #1 on their list: STOP THE TERRORISTS!
-it might get the euroweenies to SHUT THE FUK UP. Well, for a few days, at least, till they figure out how to spin this as a bad thing for the poooooor paleos.
-it would put arafart on the defensive, which in my book is always a good thing. mebbe it'll speed up his demise. if allah wills it, that is (though a JDAM is always a good fallback).
-with "paleo self rule" in gaza (no Israeli troops, no Israeli money, no Israeli nuthin'), they'll stew in their own incompetence, greed, corruption and infighting. I can't wait.
My fear is that Sharon is merely doing this to take the heat off the investigation into his bribe scandal, and that it will never amount to anything. he did't publish a timetable or lay out any specifics.
#8
I propose that the settlers receive a free screening os Escape From New York and Army of Darkness to give them an idea of what life beyond the wall will resemble.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 11:46 Comments ||
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#9
We are talking of thousands of square kilometers (miles) of hothouses, factories and packing plants
#10
rkb, by high ground I mean literally the topographically high ground. It's the strategic part of the West Bank and it butts up to the border of Israel.
#12
"I have given the order to plan..." This is a lot different than "I have ordered the evacuation..." isn't it? Time will tell, but I don't think it will happen anytime soon. Too much resistance.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/02/2004 16:49 Comments ||
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#13
I tend to think that this will happen. It just makes too much sense not to do this...economic sense, diplomatic sense, and most importantly, military sense, (I have read that every Israeli school bus in the Gaza needs a military escort.
The "Wall," seems to be the only practical solution to this intractiable problem.
On another level, as a Westerner and a non-jew, (Imagine what it must be like for people living in Israel?), I am just sick of reading and hearing about this conflict. I've followed this for more than 40 years now...and I'm just tired of it, weary.
I can only praise Sharon for having the vision to take some practical steps, (seperation and maybe transfer) to bring this to a real end.
There is also the important idea that maybe Sharon is positioning Israel for the next war...hopefully fought without the normal restraints placed on Israel.
#14
I can't wait. My fear is that Sharon is merely doing this to take the heat off the investigation into his bribe scandal,
What scandal? The allageations took place five years ago, on Crete, and did NOT involve General Sharon himself. The charges appear to be yet another smear against Sharon.
Unlike taking the blame for Sabra and Shatilla (which, BTW, neither he nor the IDF was culpable) Sharon won't grab his ankles for this trumped up political charge.
Buffalo Police questioned two Iraqi nationals who were seen videotaping the cityâs water treatment plant Wednesday. The men, who live in the states now, were spotted by a plant guard. Police then tracked the men to a home on Seventh Street, and after questioning them, believe the incident was an innocent mistake. The tape also contained video of the menâs home and of noted architectural structures in Buffalo. The men voluntarily turned over the tape and police officials say there was probably a lack of understanding about whatâs going on in our country right now.
Posted by: TS ||
02/02/2004 9:53:54 AM ||
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#1
I think we will begin to see security taken into account with repsct to construction of these types of facilites. I still expect that Muhhamad and Malvo's spree will result in better cover for vulnerable people pumping gas. With it being so frigid, I would drive past a conventional gas station to patronize one with windbreaks.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 17:56 Comments ||
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Posted by: mhw ||
02/02/2004 8:22:41 AM ||
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#1
Wonder what Mr. Cumings and Mr. Kotkin have to say about this? "Lies! All lies!" Yeah, something like that.
Rat bastard quislings.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2004 12:48 Comments ||
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#2
I'm sure Amnisty International asked for verification from Kimmie-boy-the-baby-killer about this and they have his personal assurance that this is not happening. So this must all be lies.
This has been known for several years - Soon-Ok-lee has testified before congress about this years ago.
Pakistani fishermen adrift in the Gulf of Oman near Iranian territorial waters were rescued by the Iranian Coast Guard today after receiving assistance from the New Zealand Air Force and the U.S. Navy. The stranded dhow, Al Kaseem, and its crew of three were spotted by a passing Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P-3K maritime patrol aircraft of RNZAFâs 5 Squadron, then on a routine patrol flight over the Gulf of Oman in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The P-3âs crew contacted the nearest coalition maritime vessel in the area, USS Higgins (DDG 76), also on routine patrol in support of OEF. After trying to reach the dhowâs crew by radio, the Higginsâs crew dispatched a security and rescue assistance team via small boat. The Higgins assistance team learned from the master of Al Kaseem that its crew of three had been adrift without food and water for three days near Iranian territorial waters. After providing Al Kaseemâs crew with enough food for five days, Higgins crew members attempted to repair the dhowâs ailing engine, but was unsuccessful.
Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command / U.S. 5th Fleet then contacted the Maritime Emergency Mutual Assistance Center (MEMAC) to relay the dhowâs position and coordinated the towing operation. The Iranian Coast Guard responded to MEMACâs request for assistance and proceeded toward the Iranian port of Jask with the Al Kaseem successfully in tow and its crew safely aboard.
#1
Higgins crew members attempted to repair the dhowâs ailing engine, but was unsuccessful.
This is an outrage! The crew of a guided missle destroyer can't fix a dhows engine? Don't they have a machine shop? The crew of an Iowa would have forged 'em a new block.... LOL
Posted by: B ||
02/02/2004 10:09 Comments ||
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#4
The engine must have been been pretty badly broken. All destroyers have at least one capable EN(engineman) on board to maintain the small boats and emergency diesel generators. I saw EN1 Parzynski rework most of a motor while we were swaying back and forth underway. He used his lap as a workbench. He had plenty of bench to work on as he was no stranger to the mess line.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 11:32 Comments ||
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EFL and a Confession, I Made good money buying HAL & KBR stock during the War, so I suppose I shouldnât bitch...and yet, this seemingly never ending story does make me crazy. Halliburton Co. allegedly overcharged more than $16 million for meals at a single U.S. military base in Kuwait during the first seven months of last year, according to Pentagon investigators auditing the companyâs work. If we canât charge double the going rate for gasoline to our troops, I can see them sitting around a board room saying, Then lets try it on Food...
The allegations, involving food-service work done by Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, come on the heels of another KBR dispute and have spurred an expansion of an already widening inquiry into Halliburtonâs government work in Iraq. Last month KBR reimbursed the Pentagon $6.3 million after disclosing that two employees had taken substantial kickbacks from a Kuwaiti subcontractor in return for work providing services to U.S. troops in Iraq. KBR also has been accused of overcharging for gasoline under an Army Corps of Engineers contract. The corps has cleared KBR of any wrongdoing, but the Pentagon continues to investigate the dispute.
Because of the new meal-billing discrepancies, the Pentagon has extended its audit of KBR food services to include more than 50 other dining facilities in Kuwait and Iraq, according to an e-mail "alert" sent Friday to more than a dozen U.S. Army contracting officials and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. This dispute focuses on meals served at Camp Arifjan, the huge U.S. military base south of Kuwait City. The e-mail memo that went out Friday said that in July alone, a Saudi subcontractor hired by KBR billed for 42,042 meals a day on average but served only 14,053 meals a day. The difference in cost for that month exceeded $3.5 million, according to Pentagon records. The Pentagon last year paid KBR more than $30 million for meals at the camp from January through July, a tab that included charges for nearly four million meals the government asserts were never served. Pentagon officials couldnât provide an estimate for the total cost of feeding troops in Iraq. Hummmm...14,000 times 3...well, Heck, thatâs close to 42,000 meals, ainât nobody going to notice...but the 4 Million meals not served, that could just be explained as a problem of higher math and a Saudi Vendor.
Iâm not being anti-war, but I donât like my tax money being spent this way. In fact, I half way feel that the Iraqiâs themselves should pay for the war, but with these kind of Shenanigans going on, itâs kind of hard to ask.
Posted by: Traveller ||
02/02/2004 1:28:23 AM ||
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Looks to me like the system is working the way it should. Its tough setting up complex operations in places where graft and incompetance are the norm. Its the job of auditors to catch these things and make sure they don't happen again.
The Left will doubtless jump up and down about this, but this is the way things are supposed to work.
#2
Is this the same Haliburton that current Vice President Dick Cheney once had a stake and that he also made a bazillion dollars (and has since converted into Euros and gold?
I guess I'll have to listen to ABC radio on the "half hour" and find out more about this scandle.
Trav, your a bud and this is a good post. But phil-b is spot on.
#3
Of course, the gas overcharge allegations turned out to be bogus, but I don't think that was reported very widely or loudly. Notice that the overcharge in this case is traced to a Saudi subcontractor. BTW, I made a recent post regarding all the numerous Halliburton allegations; you can read it here.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/02/2004 2:06 Comments ||
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#4
To The Two Phil's: (Smile)
I hope both of you are right and this is just a complex "System," kind of error and that they will get on top of it.
And yet, war profiteering has a long and profitable (lol & irony) history. These continuing reports are troubling. I am also not as sure as Phil-2 that the gasoline over-charging allegatiion is Bogus...the Pentagon continues its invertigation and we will see.
At some level, when I was strongly supporting the war, I had a sneaking idea that somehow, in some fashion, the Powers that Be would figure out some way to have the War pay for itself. The $87Billion appropriations for this year alone leaves me wide-eyed in semi-astonishment. It's a lot of money...If it must be spent, I want to see it wisely spent.
As to Phil's idea and web entry that Halliburton is a whiping boy of the left...Well, I suppose I could dig into that and try to see what honest and independent opinion I might have...But would it be worth the time & effort?
Probably not. It's not like it's that big a deal. If Haliburton is in fact stealing (from us, I migh add), I can only hope that Phil_b is right and auditing will catch and correct the worse abuses.
However, I won't give 'em a free pass either.
BTW, a war for "Oil," isn't necessarily a bad idea...lol
#5
It will be interesting to see what comes of the gas overcharging investigation. I hope it was just a bogus claim. If not, then I hope someone at Halliburton gets prosecuted 100%. (which is why the gov't, especially the mil has auditing systems for checks and balances.) I've done some contracting work w/civilians, I will tell you we (in the mil) have super strict accounting practices and a massive check/balance system. Too bad our elected reps don't have nearly the fiscal common sense or rules that we have to follow. I like Traveller's comments, good to see another independent, just call it like you see it; that's how shit gets fixed.
#6
With the earlier Halliburton incident, the "overcharging" was traced to a Kuwaiti company that the DoD had mandated Halliburton do business with. You can read more details at: http://windsofchange.net/archives/004417.html.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/02/2004 9:49 Comments ||
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Traveller - What is it with the left that whenever they are challenged by a reasonable view they then confabulate 17 different opinions into a single 'position' in the hope(?) that nobody will try and dissect their 'position' and show they hold as much (hot) water as a chocolate teapot.
#8
I can't see a Saudi contractor pulling a scam to make extra money. By everything that .com posts everything in the House of Sod is on teh up-and-up.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 10:39 Comments ||
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EFL
A corrections officer was released Sunday from the prison guard tower where she had been held hostage by a pair of inmates for two weeks, a Corrections Department spokeswoman said. The surrender at the medium- to high-security Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis ended one of the nationâs longest prison hostage situations in decades. Negotiators had regular contact with inmates throughout the standoff, and at times had seen the guard or talked to her by telephone. The standoff at the 4,400-inmate prison west of Phoenix began Jan. 18 when an inmate attacked two guards and another worker in a kitchen area. That prisoner and another inmate then got into the observation tower, where they took the two guards hostage. One of the correctional officers â a man â was released Jan. 24. The inmates were identified by prison officials as Ricky Wassenaar, 40, and Steven Coy, 39. Wassenaar is serving 28 years for armed robbery and assault. Steven Coy, who is serving a life sentence, has spent the better part of two decades in Arizona prisons. His offenses include theft, burglary, criminal damage and drug possession. He was sentenced to life after a 1993 crime spree in Tucson that included armed robbery, aggravated assault and rape. But they were good boys. Really. Ask their mamas.
Both Coy and Wassenaar have committed numerous infractions while in prison, officials said. "I think my shock meterâs broken....nothing registering at all..." FYI for the Rantburgers outside of Arizona....the local media did not release the prisonersâ names until this was all over. They did this per the request of the Department of Corrections, who thought that this might complicate their negotiations and be harmful for the hostage. Maybe there are some good guys and gals in the media after all. If any of them are reading this, thanks.
Posted by: Desert Blondie ||
02/02/2004 12:53:56 AM ||
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Sudanese forces and pro-government militia have burned several villages and killed more than 175 civilians in West Sudan in recent attacks during an ongoing government offensive, a rebel official said on Sunday. Abdel Wahed Mohamed Ahmed al-Nur, chairman of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), one of two main rebel groups in the area, also told Reuters his group had killed about 700 government troops and militia. Fighting in Darfur has surged in recent weeks. Rebels say government forces have been bombing civilian areas with Antonov planes, helicopter gunships and heavy artillery during the offensive, driving thousands of people across the border into Chad. "Now (on Sunday), in east Jebel Marra, the government is bombing with Antonov aircraft and gunships," the SLAâs Nur said.
Last time they were Apaches. Guess the gummint used them all up...
Sudanese state radio reported on Friday that the Sudanese army had captured the town of Tine, on the border with Chad and north of Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state. The SLAâs Nur told Reuters four villages were burned and more than 75 civilians killed in government-led attacks on Saturday in the area of west Jebel Marra. SLA forces killed 700 government troops and militia, known as the Janjaweed, in a counter attack in west Jebel Marra. He said he was citing figures from commanders in the field. Nur said more than 100 civilians were also killed on Saturday when five villages were torched in the Jebel Moon area. An official from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the other main rebel group, confirmed government attacks in recent days in the Jebel Marra and Jebel Moon areas but could not give figures for the numbers killed. "It is very difficult to get the exact number, because the area is very wide and still some villages are burning," said JEMâs Abu Bakr Hamid al-Nur.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:38:50 AM ||
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#1
700 hundred seems like make believe. So who's your buddy, who's your pal. Very sad!
#2
I hope we didn't sell those clowns the gunships.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 10:41 Comments ||
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#3
SH, the Sudanese Army is equipped with old Soviet equipment (I.E., Anatov aircraft), including several dozen MI-24 HIND helicopter gunships. I guess it's about time to smuggle a few dozen Stinger missiles to the rebels - they drove the Russian helicopters from the sky in Afghanistan.
As for 700 casualties, I can believe it. I doubt the Sudanese Army has much discipline, and the "militias" have even less. Get 'em all crowded together (effective use of terrain, etc.), chop 'em up with machine guns and automatic weapons, you can do some serious damage in just a few minutes.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/02/2004 10:59 Comments ||
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#4
lose 700 troops? anyone give them a map and compass?
Five officers of Chechen President Akhmat Kadyrovâs security service were killed in the Chechen village of Alleroy, Tass learnt on Sunday from head of the Chechen presidentâs security service Ramzan Kadyrov. According to the security headâs information, gunmen of the chief of guards of separatist warlord Maskhadov âattacked the house of the chief of a group of our service in Alleroy Ruslan Dadayev early on Saturday morning, fired at his house with submachineguns and grenade launchers. Four of our officers were killed. Dadayev, heavily wounded, killed one and wounded four bandits. Maskhadovâs guards shot again and killed him.â Ramzan Kadyrov reported that bandits of Akhmet Avtarkhanov, chief of Maskhadovâs guards, burnt down the body of the killed gunmen so that he would not be identified and then escaped. âI announced a reward of 200,000 U.S. dollars for any information on whereabouts of Avtarkhanovâs bandits, which will help to arrest them,â Kadyrov said. Alleroy is the native village of chieftain of separatists Aslan Maskhadov, but residents of the village hate him. This is corroborated, among other things, by the results of voting of villagers on the draft of the new Chechen Constitution when more than 60 percent of villagers had voted for its adoption.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:33:00 AM ||
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#1
You see very few cases where bodyguards are wasted and the HVT is left alive. I guess that particular firm can count on a positive testimonial from Kadyrov.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 10:49 Comments ||
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President Bush will establish a bipartisan commission in the next few days to examine American intelligence operations, including a study of possible misjudgments about Iraqâs unconventional weapons, senior administration officials said Sunday. They said the panel would also investigate failures to penetrate secretive governments and stateless groups that could attempt new attacks on the United States. The presidentâs decision came after a week of rising pressure on the White House from both Democrats and many ranking Republicans to deal with what the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee has called "egregious" errors that overstated Iraqâs stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and made the country appear far closer to developing nuclear weapons than it actually was.
According to Kay, Sammy seems to have thought they were, too...
Mr. Bushâs agreement to set up a commission to study the Iraq intelligence failures was first reported Sunday by The Washington Post. The officials described the commission Mr. Bush will create as a broader examination of American intelligence shortcomings â from Iran to North Korea to Libya â of which the Iraqi experience was only a part. The pressure to establish such a panel became irresistible after David A. Kay, the former chief weapons inspector, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that "it turns out we were all wrong, probably," about the perceived Iraqi threat, which was the administrationâs basic justification for the war. The commission will not report back until after the November elections.
That's to take it out of play as a political weapon by the Dems. My guess is that it's going to leak like a sieve and they're going to use it as a political weapons from approximately Day One...
Some former officials who have been approached about taking part say they believe it may take 18 months or more to reach its conclusions. "It became clear to the president that he couldnât sit there and seem uninterested in the fact that the Iraq intel went off the rails," said one senior official involved in the discussions. "He had to do something, and he chose to enlarge the problem, beyond the Iraq experience."
Having done this for a living myself, I'd be interested in seeing the results. If there's a real problem — and there might not be; there might be a mother lode of WMDs just waiting to be stumbled upon this year, or next, or 20 years from now — I suspect it lies with missing the trend away from actual production from planning. Most of the HUMINT sources they trotted out on the teevee were from years gone by, so they may have been building obsolete parts of the picture into the current picture. But Powell at the UN also presented what seemed like reliable SIGINT that suggested chem weapons were available for deployment. It doesn't sound like the pieces fit together quite right, and that's very unusual...
White House officials said the president was still completing a list of who would serve on the commission, expected to have about nine members. Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director, said Sunday that they were talking to "very distinguished statesmen and women, who have served their country and who have been users of intelligence, or served in a gathering capacity." Among those who have been consulted, officials say, is Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser under Mr. Bushâs father. Mr. Scowcroft, who was a harsh critic of the process by which the current president decided to go to war, is currently the head of a foreign intelligence advisory board and it is unclear if he will play a role in the new commission.
It sounds like it's a political board. If they're actually looking for ways to fix it, I'd have a bunch of analysts involved, at least at staff level...
Mr. Bushâs effort is intended to put the study into a broader context â the retooling of American intelligence-gathering for a new era of terrorism and nuclear proliferation by rogue scientists and countries that may pass weapons into the hands of groups like Al Qaeda. But it is far from clear that those steps will insulate him from Democratsâ charges that the White House tried to manipulate the Iraq intelligence to justify the March invasion. At least, the Times certainly hopes not ...
Nor is it clear whether the commissionâs broader mandate will keep it from delving too deeply into the specific failures by the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies in the case of Iraq. Mr. Bush has been trying to avoid identifying individuals or agencies responsible for the Iraq failures. Senior administration officials concede they do not want to risk further alienating the C.I.A. or the director of central intelligence, George J. Tenet. In interviews on Sunday, White House officials rejected direct comparisons to the commission that is examining the intelligence failures surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks, or the commission that issued a blistering critique of NASA after the Columbia disaster a year ago. Instead, a senior White House official said Sunday afternoon, Mr. Bush intends to order a look "at the global security challenges of the 21st century."
The draft of the executive order specifically orders the commission to compare intelligence about Iraq with what was found on the ground there. But it is not clear whether the commission will decide to delve into issues beyond how the intelligence was gathered, and specifically how it was used. In the case of Iraq, that could put the commission into the midst of the politically charged question of whether the most dire-sounding possibilities were de-emphasized by Bush administration officials to build a national and international consensus on the need to take military action. The White House has denied any such effort to filter the intelligence. "It has to have that included," Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on Fox News, making an argument that has divided Democrats and Republicans for months in the debate in Congress about prewar intelligence. "And that is still not settled."
While other studies of American intelligence lapses have been ordered by past administrations, none has taken place at the level of a presidential commission. Nor have they operated in the midst of a heated political debate over whether the president was the victim of bad intelligence, as Republicans argue, or whether he sought to cherry-pick the evidence that would justify the decision to go to war, as many of the Democratic candidates for president have contended. Officials familiar with the discussions over the creation of the commission say that besides the Iraq experience, the commission may examine the failure to detect preparations for the nuclear tests that Pakistan and India set off in 1998, missed signals about how quickly Iran and Libya were moving toward a bomb with the aid of Pakistani scientists, and Al Qaedaâs focus on an attack on the American mainland. In Dr. Kayâs testimony, he noted that the same intelligence agencies that overestimated Iraqâs abilities seemed to have underestimated Iranâs and Libyaâs, and still cannot get a clear fix on North Koreaâs.
Only last week, asked about setting up an inquiry, Mr. Bush said he would await the findings of the Iraq Survey Group, which was asked to find Iraqâs unconventional weapons and which Dr. Kay led until last month. But it quickly became clear, White House officials said, that that position was untenable. Senator Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said last week that he would not stand in the way of an independent intelligence inquiry as long as it did not interfere with the months-long investigation by his panel, which plans to distribute a draft report to members of Congress on Thursday. The Senate panel "for the last six, seven, eight, nine months, has had 10 staffers working 24/7 on floor-to-ceiling documents and doing the most thorough investigative job on the entire intelligence community thatâs been done in 20 years," Mr. Roberts said in an interview last week. "We now have our draft report. I would at least like to get the draft report out and make it public, and then if people feel like they have to have an independent investigation, thatâs fine." Mr. Roberts has said the draft report by his committee staff had found no evidence that the Bush administration put pressure on intelligence analysts to exaggerate the dangers posed by Iraq â a conclusion that matches one offered by Dr. Kay in his testimony last week. But the Senate report is expected to be highly critical of the Central Intelligence Agency and its counterparts.
Representative Porter J. Goss, the Florida Republican who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and one of the C.I.A.âs closest allies in Congress, said in an interview on Friday that "unless weâre prepared for another intelligence failure, we need to get about the business of improving our intelligence service." Mr. Goss added, however, that he believed that any new broad-based reviews should be forward-looking â exactly the path Mr. Bush appears to have chosen.
One senior House Republican aide said an independent review could also have a political benefit for Republicans by providing a forum to attack Democrats for shortchanging intelligence in previous years, an emerging Republican theme against Senator John Kerry, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president. Mr. Kerry has been particularly blistering in his assessment of how Mr. Bush used American intelligence, saying he was "misled" by Mr. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell as they urged him and his colleagues to vote for a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq. Congressional officials said Sunday that Mr. Cheney had been in contact with leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee from both parties to discuss a possible blueprint for a broad, independent review of the state of American intelligence agencies. But Mr. Cheney, known for his reticence, gave little indication of what form the inquiry might take. Mr. Cheney himself has much at stake in the path the commission takes: He offered some of the most dire statements about Iraqâs abilities in the months leading up to the war. "Itâs not surprising," one White House official said, "that heâs been so involved in the creation of the commission."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:14:30 AM ||
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#1
I think this is good. As long as it doesn't turn into some witch-hunt. It's obvious there are still lapses in our intelligence capabilities. Mainly thanks to Slick Willy gutting them, but lapses none the less.
#2
According to Howling Howard Dean, VP Cheney forced Intel analyst to say there were WMDs so we could go to war. Now I am not saying he is a kook, but Cheney would have had to force people in several other countries as well and political appointees in the last administration to make this work. This can do nothing EXCEPT turn into a witch hunt. We have seen on the Intel committee how 'cooperative' the Dems want to be. Bush needs to clean house at the CIA/NSA/DIA/FBI of all the ex-Clinton politicos. Then appoint career Intel types and not someone who made a good campaigner. Then he should start all Intel estimates with a clean slate and then build from there.
#3
If I suddenly stop posting, you'll know I went a bit too far. Somebody's got to say it, though. There was ample evidence available to the international intelligence community, and to the US intelligence community specifically, that Saddam Hussein was engaged in building, stockpiling, and preparing for use unconventional weapons, including chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons. This was evident from imagery and other related intelligence information I saw in the 1980's, and from open-source material I've seen since then, including commercial SPOT imagery taken in the mid-1990's that a friend sent me via email. The problem isn't that he had them, or that he was building them, or developing them. The problem is, they haven't been found. A lot of that crud could have been destroyed in a very short time. It also could have been shipped to Syria, and many speculate. Sooner or later, however, we're going to find that missing piece, and when we do the entire house of cards of "faulty intelligence" and "Bush pushed us into war" is going to fall apart. The Democrats will simply switch to another attack frequency, but the rest of us need to pay attention, and hold these idiots that want to destroy this nation accountable for their actions.
I'm beginning to believe the Democratic Party is as corrupt as the Saudi Royal Family, and equally aimed at our destruction - Saudis from without, the Democrats from within. Both need a good case of lead poisoning.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/02/2004 11:35 Comments ||
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#4
Mike posted the a Krauthammer views of Rolf Ekeus a while back concerning Sadaam's stock piles. I trust Rolf a whole lot farther than I trust Hans Blix. Rolf seemed to think that Iraqi VX was too unstable to store and that eventually the nuclear program would have had to have been resurrected to deter, Iraq's local rival Iran.
Had Sadaam been more rationale he should have gotten the inspectors in quickly, achieved a clean bill of health, got the sanctions lifted and then resumed full scale unmonitored production of WMD. Luckily for us, rationality was never Sadaam's strongest charecter trait.
I still wonder the liquid in the mortar shells was VX that had degraded to the point where it tested negative as a nerve agent. As for the mobile labs or weather balloon inflation trucks, I don't know of many armies that would use these unless they are planning to shoot a chemical mortar round.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/02/2004 12:02 Comments ||
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The U.N. Security Council quietly dissolved a high-profile independent U.N. panel last month that was established more than 21/2 years ago to prevent the al Qaeda terrorist network from financing its war against the United States and its allies, U.S. and U.N. officials said. The move comes six weeks after the panel, headed by Michael Chandler of Britain, concluded in a stinging report that a number of Security Council sanctions against al Qaeda had failed to constrain the terrorist network. But Security Council members have denied the move was retribution for the panelâs conclusions, saying that the quality of the groupâs work was uneven and that the group had outlived its usefulness. The 15-nation council on Friday adopted a new resolution sponsored by the United States, Russia and Chile that would replace Chandlerâs panel with what they say will be a more professional body. The new panel is expected to keep monitoring the global war against terrorism but would be subject to closer Security Council coordination and oversight.
So they're not really dissolving it, they're firing the guys working on it now and starting from scratch. Good move.
The dispute underscores the challenge of managing an international counterterrorism operation through an organization whose 191 members are frequently criticized for failing to cooperate. It also reflects growing frustration among members that sanctions have done little to interrupt the flow of money and arms to al Qaeda.
Sanctions ain't all they're cracked up to be, are they?
Chandler criticized the decision, saying it would undercut the United Nationsâ capacity to combat al Qaeda.
... and cause him to have to find a job.
He suggested that his panelâs demise was a result of pressure from influential U.N. members who had been signaled out in his reports for failing to take adequate measures to combat al Qaeda. "A number of people were uncomfortable with our last report," Chandler said. He said that the Security Council was sending the wrong message and that one of the "key elements" of a successful counterterrorism strategy is "a strong independent monitoring group." Chandlerâs five-member panel -- the monitoring group on al Qaeda -- was established in July 2001 to ensure compliance with an arms embargo against the Taliban and a freeze on its financial assets for harboring Osama bin Laden. The missionâs mandate was expanded after the Taliban fell in January 2002, granting it broad powers to monitor international compliance with a U.N. financial, travel and arms ban. Chandlerâs reports have provided periodic snapshots of the international campaign against terrorism, often highlighting failings in governmentsâ responses to the al Qaeda threat. In August 2002, after a lull in al Qaeda activities, Chandler provided a prescient forecast of the networkâs resurgence. "Al Qaeda is by all accounts âfit and wellâ and poised to strike," the report warned. It was followed by deadly strikes in Bali, Indonesia; Casablanca, Morroco; and Saudia Arabia. "The group functioned very well, providing hard-hitting reports to the Security Council which painted a picture of what was really going on," said Victor Comras, a former State Department official who helped write the Dec. 2 report. "I am at a loss to understand why the United States is one of the main players in redrafting the new resolution and allowing the monitoring group to lapse," he added. "The United States was the greatest beneficiary of the monitoring group because it gave them a lever to name and shame" countries that failed to combat terrorists.
One U.S. official said the last thing the United States wants is to "muzzle" the United Nations. But he said that although Chandlerâs panel was effective "at getting headlines," his propensity for antagonizing member states could ultimately undermine U.S. efforts to harness the United Nationsâ support in its anti-terror campaign. Chandlerâs group "did a good job," said James B. Cunningham, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "But we are trying to make the committee more effective."
Some U.S. and U.N. diplomats said Chandler needlessly alienated potential allies and constituents at the United Nations, including some in the United States. Chandlerâs 2002 report irked Bush administration officials by casting doubt on the success of the U.S.-led effort to block al Qaeda financing. The Bush administration also challenged the veracity of Chandlerâs assertion in an earlier report that the Treasury Department had ignored warnings from SunTrust Banks that a key plotter in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had previously transferred large sums of money to an account at a Florida bank branch. Chandler infuriated officials from Liechtenstein, Italy and Switzerland with the Dec. 2 report that illustrated how two U.N.-designated terrorist financiers, Youssef Nada and Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, lived, traveled and operated multimillion-dollar businesses in their countries in violation of U.N. sanctions. Liechtensteinâs U.N. ambassador, Christian Wenaweser, one of Chandlerâs sharpest critics, complained that the Chandler investigation was shoddy and that he failed to adequately acknowledge his governmentâs role in helping build the case against two alleged terrorist financiers. "We donât question the usefulness of the monitoring group. Quite the contrary. But they have to have a clear mandate and guidelines on how they should and shouldnât do their work," Wenaweser said. "They didnât bother to verify basic facts; they got some things wrong. Travel dates. Spelling of names. Some of the stuff was silly."
Chileâs U.N. ambassador, Heraldo Muñoz, the U.N. terrorism committeeâs chairman, said the new eight-member panel -- called the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team -- would give "more teeth" to U.N. anti-terror efforts by strengthening the committeeâs expertise in finance and border controls, and improving its capacity to analyze terrorist trends. "I would like a monitoring team that is efficient, that is independent and that can closely collaborate with the committee," Muñoz said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2004 12:02:52 AM ||
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#1
As the UN continues it's slide into total irrelevance.
#2
That's ashame. We all know how good a job the UN does. Perhaps the Dems will get us back where we should be, cow towing to the UN and the rest of Liberal Europe.
#3
"But they have to have a clear mandate and guidelines on how they should and shouldnât do their work,"
That's code for more meetings and no finger-pointing.
Posted by: Daniel King ||
02/02/2004 14:13 Comments ||
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#4
No finger-painting? The parents will be unhappy, we like to have at least 3 (big) take home projects per semester. I believe it is right that the UN should set a good example in this regard.
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.
