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40 dead in Moscow subway boom
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Snow: O’Neill Given Classified Documents
Documents given to former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill for a book contained classified information, according to a letter his successor John Snow sent to Congress on Friday. The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, said that a preliminary investigation conducted by the Treasury Department’s inspector general found that sensitive information was released in the documents given to O’Neill when he left the department. The "documents were not properly reviewed before their release," said the letter signed by Snow. It also said, "We have identified a number of documents that contain classified information and we are taking corrective action concerning those documents."
D’oh! How the hell did that get in there?
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 6:09:11 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jeez, what the f*ck was dubya thinking putting this guy anywhere NEAR the cabinet?! If the dems have any sense (meh, arguable), they'd ignore the WMD red herring and go after this guy's competency - "how many OTHER irresponsible nutcases are running around in the Administration?!"
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 18:13 Comments || Top||

#2  I have seen a lot of carelessness by supposedly security conscious adults. One individual left classified locked in a trunk at a foriegn airport. The poor private that went to pick it up nearly had his ass kicked by three thieves who watched him retrive it.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 18:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Years ago when I worked in the Pentagon, an unfortunate O-5 (LtCol) left a binder of Top Secret printouts on the counter at the coffee shop down the hall from our computer center.

Not a good way to get promoted .... even if we all did have clearances, this stuff was definitely Need to Know. We all kept our desks VERY clean for a while after that and two of us checked the safe to make sure it was locked every shift, just in case that was the night we'd get the calling cards saying the security people had paid a social call on our particular offices.
Posted by: rkb || 02/06/2004 21:16 Comments || Top||


Testostepalooza!
Ladies, if you’re anywhere around Bangor, Pennsylvania, you still have time to head on over to the Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center this weekend for and Episcopal Church retreat called Mens’ Lives: Journeys and Transitions:
Through story, poetry and song-presentations, dialogue and exercise-movement, contemplation-worship and silence, participants will share their loves as men.
Form a single line.
Posted by: Christopher Johnson || 02/06/2004 3:11:49 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Riiiiiiiight. I'd be there, but my favorite commercial is on that day.
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 15:19 Comments || Top||

#2  er, I don't think testosterone has anything to do with this one.
Posted by: BH || 02/06/2004 15:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Obviously a meeting of men who's wife's signed them up. Like Dar, I have things to do that day ... what was it now? Oh yes, my shoe laces need new aglets.
Posted by: Jim K || 02/06/2004 15:29 Comments || Top||

#4  I'd love to go, but I have to wash my hair that day...
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2004 15:36 Comments || Top||

#5  the, um, car needs, um, painting.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 02/06/2004 15:42 Comments || Top||

#6  This isn't one of those festivals where I would feel out of place if I wasn't wearing a totally leather outfit or an Indian headdress, is it?
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 15:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Yes
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 15:56 Comments || Top||

#8  No beer or cigars? Can the poetry be limericks? Come on, work with me here, people!
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 16:07 Comments || Top||

#9  WC Redneck - you could bring an end to the whole sad affair with "There once was a man from Nantucket. . . "

There, now I feel validated.
Posted by: Doc8404 || 02/06/2004 16:34 Comments || Top||

#10  You want me to go where?
Posted by: Raptor || 02/06/2004 16:54 Comments || Top||

#11  Like to, can't. I'm washing the cat.
Posted by: mojo || 02/06/2004 17:07 Comments || Top||

#12  Mojo, brush off you tongue with velcro ever five minutes. You will cut your hairballs in half.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 17:11 Comments || Top||

#13  ROFLMAO... Snork.. glub... My sweet baboo and wife is the senior warden of a local /// never mind this could get me in deep/// LOL Forget that you know me.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 17:20 Comments || Top||

#14  What, no Lifetime screening? No spa or manicure service? Dammit, I want my keesh!
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 18:09 Comments || Top||

#15  I have to change my kids oil. Have a great time tho....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 18:15 Comments || Top||

#16 
I have to clean the grout in my shower.
Posted by: Analog Roam || 02/06/2004 18:18 Comments || Top||

#17  I'm due for a high-colonic.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 02/06/2004 18:32 Comments || Top||

#18  I was all hot to go till I saw the price tag for this little number. Oh, well, I got a half a foot of snow to blow that just fell, so I will do that first. *sigh*
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/06/2004 20:05 Comments || Top||

#19  I'd go if Hugh Hefner was involved.
Posted by: Rafael || 02/06/2004 21:06 Comments || Top||

#20  I'm with YOU guys - "sharing our loves" ... um, I like mine exclusive but those who want this sort of thing should go to Esalen on the California coast south of Monterey - they've been doing it longer and in any case the mineral hot springs there are great to soak in late at night ... you can usually see the Milky Way and the sea otters play in the kelp beds at the base of the cliffs ...

female Episcopalian MDiv who will remain firmly anonymous on this one!!
Posted by: anon || 02/06/2004 21:10 Comments || Top||

#21  You gotta be fucking kidding me. First they elect the cake-eating bishop & now this shit? I thought us Catholics had it bad.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 21:20 Comments || Top||

#22  #12 SH - ROFLMAO! I think I just hurt myself laughing at that image.

As for the "retreat" - barf!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/06/2004 22:24 Comments || Top||

#23  Been to a couple of military retreats - those weren't bad, especially the one in Bertchesgaden. Of course, there's a world of difference between a half-dozen military chaplains and an Episcopalian bishop... especially the guy we had speak who had been a Green Beret in Vietnam. Not sure I'd be able to make it this weekend anyway - it's a long walk to Pennsylvania, and I need a new pair of shoes.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/06/2004 22:30 Comments || Top||


Wife escapes bulldozer attack
A man who locked his wife in a toilet and tried to knock it down with a digger is being hunted by police. It is believed Peter Rigden, 64, enticed his wife into the outside loo of their £1.2m Crawley Down home and then tried to bulldoze it.
"Honey, can you go out to the loo and see if I left my glasses there? I’ll just wait for you on the dozer."
His wife Gabrielle, 45, escaped with minor injuries before the toilet in Sandy Lane was knocked down. It is thought Mr Rigden then set fire to his barn containing gas cylinders which exploded. A car was also set alight and destroyed in the grounds of the house. Police officers and firefighters were called after Mr Rigden’s French wife rang them from a neighbours house at 1050 GMT on Thursday.
French wife? Perhaps they were having a discussion on foreign policy that got out of hand.
Neighbours described Mr Rigden as an "eccentric".
As opposed to being "nuts"?
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 9:16:54 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't condone it.
But I underSTAND it.
Posted by: Anonymous || 02/06/2004 9:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Why do divorces cost so much? Because they are worth every penny.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 10:04 Comments || Top||

#3  so she actually TRIED to get away from a bulldozer.

had more sense than Rachel Corrie.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 02/06/2004 10:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Obviously the lunatic in question wasn't IDF trained.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 10:15 Comments || Top||

#5  P-P-P-Peter's c-c-c-coming to k-k-k-kill me!
Posted by: BH || 02/06/2004 10:47 Comments || Top||

#6  If you have a 1.2 million Pound estate, you're definitely eccentric. If you were normal, or "brown", THEN you're nuts.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/06/2004 10:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Women. Can't live with 'em, can't bulldoze 'em.
Posted by: Unmutual || 02/06/2004 11:24 Comments || Top||

#8  I have never felt that type of intense rage towards my wife, but felt nearly as much towards my wife's extended family on one occasion. I was attending their annual July 4th get together. The worst is always when the Karyoke started. First a 9 year old girl sang am incredibly bad rendition of a Shania Twain song that included some line about her having PMS, but that just made me nauseous. My anger peaked when her 8 year old brother took the Mike and began to belt out a non-melodic rendition of "She Thinks My Tractor is Sexy," an insufferable song to begin with that my wife and daughter are partial to.
I took my youngest son for a ride on a skidoo to escape the madness. I know that had I, at that time, been in posession of keys to heavy machinery the stage/tent would have had to have been evacuated. I think someone should study the effect of that particular song in particular and Karyoke in general on workplace violence.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 11:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Um. . . If you can afford a 1.2 M Pound home can't you also afford the extra shillings for indoor plumbing?

"enticed his wife into the outside loo" !!?? I wouldn't be able to get my wife into an outhouse with a cattle prod. (and believe me, I've tried) Oh! Hi honey. . .
Posted by: Doc8404 || 02/06/2004 12:15 Comments || Top||

#10  Feb 14th is a week Saturday.

Just a reminder.
Posted by: john || 02/06/2004 13:26 Comments || Top||

#11  mmmmmm I wonder if she'd like a John Deere or a Kubota dozer....decisions...decisions....
Posted by: dataman1 || 02/06/2004 14:08 Comments || Top||

#12  Thank you John.
Remember paying for a Diamond is Forever.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 17:22 Comments || Top||

#13  Can't add anything to this list of comments. LOL.
You're all nuts, especially SH. Wait'll someone sets one of your headlines to music and sings it at a Karyoke party,SH.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 17:25 Comments || Top||

#14  Jeeze Louise! I spend 2 days away from RB up north at 25 below and come home to this? The Army of Steve is running amuk. Doc8404 has it right. The guy must have been a 64 year old charmer to get his wife into the loo. It almost was a St. Pancake moment.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/06/2004 20:16 Comments || Top||

#15  Ya' gotta give him one thing - the English are entertainingly eccentric. An American would have just shot her.

A 1.2 million pound estate and they have an outdoor john? Guess it's not as much fun to be rich in England as here. Course, since his wife is French, she probably didn't notice anything unusual. (Sorry - have to get the obligatory Frog insult in where we can.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/06/2004 22:29 Comments || Top||

#16  We rented an eleven-room house in England when I was stationed at RAF Alconbury. There was indoor plumbing of course, but there was also a flush-toilet outdoor loo as well. That was for the gardener, the coal delivery people, and so forth to use, instead of coming into the house. The only disadvantage was that it wasn't heated. That meant that winter coal deliveries (and who needs a coal fire in the summer, even in England) were very quickly done.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/06/2004 22:34 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Riyadh Police Stage Six-Hour Mosque Siege
Why would they stage it? To make it more fun than the real thing?
Security forces staged a six-hour siege of a mosque in Riyadh yesterday after a wanted militant took refuge there following a car chase in the city.
Al-Starsky and al-Hutch?
The incident occurred at the Suhail ibn Saad mosque in the King Faisal Quarter in the east of the capital. According to eyewitnesses, the siege started at 10 p.m. on Wednesday evening after a GMC saloon car carrying two suspected militants was forced to stop at a makeshift checkpoint. One of the two was then arrested by security men but the other ran off into the nearby mosque.
"Curly-toed slippers, don't fail me now!"
When residents of the area were contacted by the press, it was still not clear whether the suspect had been taken into custody. They said that security forces had withdrawn at dawn. There were also conflicting sources as to whether there had been an exchange of gunfire between the suspects and the government forces, it is reported.
"Yeah! There wuz a shootout, dead guys all over the place!"
"There wudn't no shootout!"
"Well, I heard gunshots!"
Meanwhile authorities here believe they have found the body of a wanted militant who is thought to have been injured in clashes with police but had managed to escape. It is reported that forensic teams are conducting DNA tests to confirm that the body is that of Amer Mohsen Al-Zaydan Al-Shihri, a Saudi national and No. 23 on a list of 26 top suspects wanted in connection with “terrorist” operations in the Kingdom. The list was published in December. Since then one militant has been killed and another has surrendered.
Tearin' 'em up, aren't they?
Shihri’s father, Mohsen Shihri, told Okaz daily that his son had at one time worked with the Kingdom’s religious police but then had gone to Afghanistan eight months before the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
"They figured that with all his experience, he could beat their wimmin, too!"
“He told me he went to Afghanistan for jihad and training to face the enemy,” the newspaper quoted the father as saying, adding that his son had returned home after the US-led war in Afghanistan. He had then been detained for two months.
That sure did a lot of good.
Last week seven men were arrested and large amounts of arms and explosives seized in a raid in Riyadh on the home of another suspected militant, Hamoud Juwayer Al-Feraj. Six security officers were killed in the raid, along with the suspect’s father who had tipped off the police and led them to the house.
I hadn't heard the part about Pop being the one to tip them off. Wonder if Sonny plugged him?
The authorities allowed the mother of the suspect to visit him in Al-Hair prison on the day of Eid Al-Adha.
I hope she spent the time slapping him.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/06/2004 15:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Curly-toed slippers, don't fail me now!"
LOL.... jeez... to many ways to roll... I'd hoped to find a rerun.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 19:30 Comments || Top||


Video shows al-Qaeda training for suicide bombings
A video purported to be from accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network shows Saudi militants planning, training for and carrying out what it said was the Nov. 8 bombing of a housing compound for foreigners in the Saudi capital Riyadh that killed 17 people. The 90-minute video, viewed on an Islamic Web site in Dubai, shows a vehicle driving up to what it says is the Muhaya compound in Riyadh before loud explosions and gunfire erupt. That portion is blurry and badly lit and the building is not visible. It was not possible to verify the video’s authenticity. However, it uses language similar to past statements attributed to Al Qaeda and the training scenes are like those seen in videos of Al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. The Web site that showed the video has released other seemingly credible Al Qaeda statements.
I can probably cook up a "seemingly credible" al-Qaeda statement. You just take a Guardian editorial, add some anti-Semitism and random invocations of jihad and poof, jihadi statement all ready to go!
The new video contains excerpts from several of bin Laden’s previously broadcast comments, as well as the words of other Al Qaeda members and Khattab, a Saudi-born Chechen military leader who was killed by Russian forces in 2002.
Khattab was also al-Qaeda, but that’s neither here nor there ...
Militants are seen training with rocket-propelled grenades and surface-to-air missiles and in hand-to-hand combat. The video also showed training courses on bomb-making and displayed detonators, timers and wires. It calls the training camp al-Battar and said it is on the Arabian peninsula.
Can’t be, Nayef sez they ain’t there.
"If we wanted to destroy the country, then attacking institutions beneficial to the people is much easier than killing a single American," said a man who identifies himself as Nasser bin Hamed al-Harbi, allegedly one of the two suicide bombers. The video showed men purported to be carrying out reconnaissance of the compound and said the attack was rehearsed repeatedly and computer-simulated. Some of the footage clearly came from a handheld camera. Two voices could be heard praying as the vehicle moved, moments before the sound of an explosion. Some members of the team that attacked the compound were believed to have escaped.
Some of them always seem to get away in Soddy Arabia...
In one scene on the video, more than 10 men are shown, most of them covering their faces with ski masks or Arab headscarves, carrying RPGs, semiautomatic weapons, grenades and AK-47 semiautomatic rifles. The video also showed the two purported suicide bombers. Some militants were shown spraying the vehicle dark blue with light blue stripes along the sides. Saudi authorities said the vehicle used in the attack had been painted to resemble a Saudi security vehicle, with a dark blue body and light blue markings. "The mujahedeen target only the crusaders. As for the infidel leaders, their day will come, God willing," a masked man identified in a subtitle as Abdul Aziz al-Moqrin said on the video, holding an assault rifle.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:04:48 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  SO well coordinated. Lets bow down to murder. Race of peace. Philosophy Holmes!
Posted by: Lucky || 02/06/2004 0:34 Comments || Top||

#2  And let's thank the Bush family who have always had "cordial" relationships with these pricks
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 3:38 Comments || Top||

#3  NMM, you made a mistake -- this thread isn't closed yet.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 7:07 Comments || Top||

#4  NMM,you sound like a broken record.To hear you tell it America's "cordial"relations with the House of Saud started with Bush.
Are you ignorant or just a simple-minded fool.America has had"cordial"relations with the Saudi's for 70 or 80 years,I could be wrong,but I think there have been a high number of Democratic Priesidents during that time.
Posted by: Raptor || 02/06/2004 7:38 Comments || Top||

#5  The Neutered Mental Morons are trolling today.

Happy Birthday Ronald Reagan. If it was not for people like you, we would not have the freedom the NNMs take for granted.
Posted by: john || 02/06/2004 8:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Please provide the alternative to maintaining relationships with countries with whom we have crucial national interests as well as strong disagreements. (By the way, that includes THE WHOLE FUCKING WORLD).
Posted by: eyeyeye || 02/06/2004 9:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Reminder: Please don't feed the trolls.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 10:42 Comments || Top||

#8  NMM: don't forget the Roosevelts. And the Kennedys.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/06/2004 10:43 Comments || Top||

#9  Meanwhile, back at the ranch...
I hope before they graduate from their suicide-bomber training they go through a live-fire exercise.
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 13:29 Comments || Top||

#10  I keep thinking of the Python episode which featured a Scottish bomb squad. Through the rest of the episode there were guys dressed like bag pipers lying all around making ticking noises.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 17:14 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Brigitte sent to target Sydney army bases, claim French
Frenchman Willie Brigitte was sent to Australia by Pakistani terrorists and planned to target military bases in Sydney, the French counter-terrorism unit DST alleges. Brigitte’s key contact in Australia was a Pakistani man who was also believed to be part of the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, DST deputy director Jean-Francois Clair told the Nine Network’s Sunday program.
It would be interesting to find out just how far up in the ranks of the Lashkar that this goes. The fact that a Lashkar man was the contact probably means al Qaeda doesn’t have much of a presence in Australia.
This man, whom Sunday will name, used the internet to view the layout of army bases and attempted to obtain chemical ingredients for explosives, the program will allege at the weekend.
Since I live in Australia, i’ll watch this and see if there is any additional information
"French terror suspect Willie Brigitte was sent to Australia by a Pakistani terrorist organisation and was in the process of considering which military targets the group would attack," Sunday said in a statement. Lashkar-e-Taiba, or Army of the Pure, has proved the most brutal terrorism group active in the Indian states of Kashmir and Jammu. Brigitte told his French interrogators that his handlers asked him to meet a Chechen explosives expert in Sydney, DST alleges. Brigitte said the meeting with the unidentified Chechen, who might still be in Australia, never occurred. Brigitte was part of a group of fewer than six people in Sydney which included his Pakistani contact, DST alleges.
Right about the normal size for an operational terrorist cell.
The French were surprised ASIO had not interrogated Brigitte under its new powers before he was deported to France, Sunday reporter Sarah Ferguson said. And they were surprised that ASIO took four days to respond to one their final warnings of their suspensions about Brigitte’s intentions in Australia. "They (French) were surprised that they didn’t respond more quickly and they were surprised that he wasn’t fully interrogated here," Ms Ferguson said. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock’s spokesman said there was a delay in responding to the French warning because it was sent on October 3 - the Friday night before a long weekend. Brigitte was arrested for visa violations two days later and five months after he arrived in Australia. Sunday cites an unnamed French judicial figure saying ASIO’s naivety made him "go cold".
Typical incompetence
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 2:01:56 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The French were surprised ASIO had not interrogated Brigitte under its new powers before he was deported to France, Sunday reporter Sarah Ferguson said. And they were surprised that ASIO took four days to respond to one their final warnings of their suspensions about Brigitte’s intentions in Australia.

"Suspensions"???? Haahaha...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 02/06/2004 10:50 Comments || Top||


Europe
Germans Search Mosques in Terror Sweep
Police in Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate state searched dozens of mosques and Islamic organizations Friday, detaining one man, as part of efforts to clamp down on terrorism. Across the western state, about 150 officers conducted searches that also involved checking the papers of more than 70 people, the state criminal office said in a statement. One man was detained on suspicion of being in the country illegally, it said. The searches were part of efforts to "further clarify Islamic structures," the statement said. Most of the searches were in the state capital of Mainz and the city of Worms.
The Islamists live in the city of Worms? How appropriate.
Posted by: TS || 02/06/2004 8:37:59 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Lifting the Lid: Global Accounting Plan Far from Easy Sell
more EU unilateralism
The global accounting industry is edging toward abiding by a single set of standards but opposition from European banks and insurers may force a delay in its introduction or even derail the plan. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), which has been working for more than two years to create a global system that would be close to U.S. rules, is now having to counter political as well as business pressure to ditch parts of it before planned adoption in 2005. The new system would change the rules governing how some companies recognize revenue, account for pension fund gains and losses and record the gains and losses on various derivatives, such as foreign currency options. The problem is that for many European companies the rules will mean a big cultural change, forcing them to disclose much more information to investors, and in some cases they may have to report losses.
can’t do that, especially if they’re real While that has its plus side as greater transparency is more likely to attract U.S.-based funds, it is still too much for some to stomach. "For some it may well impose real losses," says Roger Adams, executive director of the London-based Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. "I don’t think people can’t calculate the numbers. They are unhappy because they wouldn’t like the resulting numbers," he said.

The current schedule would see the rules adopted when companies publish their results next year. That now seems like a very optimistic target. Around 7,000 companies in Europe, 3,000 of them in the U.K., are due to embrace the guidelines. For many the transition may be far from smooth. "People are nervous about it; 2005 is an ambitious date," said Edward Nusbaum, chief executive of accountants Grant Thornton, an international accounting firm based in Chicago. "Probably one will get better information if it was delayed slightly."
like, until we all are retired and dead and don’t care about the stock price anymore
What has particularly frustrated proponents of the new standards is the growing divide within the financial services sector in Europe. European banks and increasingly insurers are lobbying with the top European Union regulator Frits Bolkestein to resist the adoption of some key international accounting standards, which would force them to reveal their holdings of derivatives and account for assets at fair value. For banks, the main battle is over the issue of "macro hedging," a technique they use to balance their assets (mainly loans) against their liabilities, such as deposits. For insurers, the battle is being waged on a much broader front. The industry argues that the completed international standards on financial instruments, which would force them to value their investments at fair value, would make their accounts much more volatile and, in any case, could not be adopted in time for next year. The banks and insurers want the new standards to be adopted without changing rules on derivatives and asset valuation accounting.

The protest gathered steam last year when French President Jacques Chirac picked up cudgels on behalf of the insurers and banks, saying the planned rules could potentially threaten Europe’s entire economic system. IASB officials, however, disagree with Chirac, saying the draft rules are still lenient compared with those already faced by U.S. companies. While U.S. companies have to calculate fair value of both assets and liabilities, they are asking European firms to just revalue their assets, said an IASB official, who declined to be named. Supporters of the rules say those who oppose them are scared to reveal the true nature of their earnings and the risks in their businesses. However, they fear opponents will use stalling tactics -- such as saying they are not prepared for the switch -- to derail the plan. "If not being prepared prevents the standards from being adopted, you are not going to be prepared ever, whether it is this year, next year or 10 years from now," said the IASB official. (Additional reporting by Mark Bendeich in London)
Posted by: anon || 02/06/2004 11:22:11 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The protest gathered steam last year when French President Jacques Chirac picked up cudgels on behalf of the insurers and banks, saying the planned rules could potentially threaten Europe’s entire economic system.
When your entire economy is based on cooked books, state subsidies, bribes, bad loans that are mysteriously forgiven, and incredibly anti-market labor policies, a little transparency could definitely wreck things. Just as Western ideas of individual freedom and accountability undermine the tribe-based power of sheikhs and mullahs, so "Anglo-Saxon" capitalism disrupts the power base of certain corrupt elites. The US does need a PR campaign, not in the middle east but in Europe and East Asia. We need to tell the blokes there that nobody forces you to take a test at thirteen. A test that if you don't pass, forces you into a trade school with no chance to go to college. Also nobody forces you to sign up for an "apprenticeship" at 17 for a company that you will probably work for for the rest of your drab blue collar life. But I suppose that this will have to wait until the war against the Islamists is over.
Posted by: 11A5S || 02/06/2004 12:06 Comments || Top||

#2  If this isn't a sell / short signal for Euro stocks, I don't know what is.
Posted by: Raj || 02/06/2004 12:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Enron was a child compared to our sophisticated moral adult cousins.

Hmmm, adopting some American accounting standards. How imperialistic of us to impose some transparency on them.

Hmmm, could be considered like our blunt way of talking v. their flowery language.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 15:02 Comments || Top||

#4  We went through this same crackdown on derivative holdings several years ago. There was quite a bit of whining then everybody found a new way to cook the books.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 15:51 Comments || Top||

#5  The title keeps giving me a visual picture of my kids' striped tabby slaking his thirst in the toily.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 17:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Enron was a child compared to our sophisticated moral adult cousins.

Now that was crude.. true.. but crude.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 17:26 Comments || Top||


The War Against Israel and Growing European Nationalism
By Ilka Schroder, no not him, her, the Green MP.
Don’t know if anyone is listening though.
Too long to post, so click on the link.

The radical German MEP Ilka Schroeder claims that Europe is prolonging conflict in the Middle East in order to satisfy its global ambitions. To do this, she writes, it is using the Palestinians as cannon fodder for Europe’s proxy war against the US. The youngest MEP in Europe tells The Sprout that there is no difference in the consciousness of the average Member of the European Parliament and the average German peacenik.
Posted by: tipper || 02/06/2004 10:19:46 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I commented on something similar here.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/06/2004 11:32 Comments || Top||

#2  before you get too excited about this lady, she believes in the abolition of all secret services, everywhere, and opposed the war in Kosovo. As far as I can tell, she is at least as much concerned about stopping EU pretensions to great power status, cause she dont like great powers in general, as she is concerned about fairness to Israel. She doesnt want an EU force in the middle east (a reasonable position on her part) cause she doesnt want any EU forces, which are part of globalization, which shes against. Also a way of bucking Joska Fischer, a moderate Green, whom the radical Greens dont like (and Kosovo WAS the bitter divide for the German Greens). Interesting article, and worth reading, but take in context. I wonder how the other German radical Greens react to this woman???
Posted by: liberalhawk || 02/06/2004 11:44 Comments || Top||

#3  LH:

so what you're saying is that she's using this to further her own political agenda. so what else is new? the irony is that her position is that the EU uses the Israel/pali conflict for the self same reason. My only regret, as you well note, is that she would probably not be taken seriously by those who should consider her comments. Cuz I think she's abso-frikkin-lutely right.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 02/06/2004 14:06 Comments || Top||

#4  I don't think that you can say that the EU has a homogenous policy or strategy for diplomatic realitions with any outside entity. Her argument may hold for an individual EU member state, but even within that state there would be both a ruling party and opposition party stance on the issue.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 15:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Or more finely... how many LSDs do they have?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 17:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Shipman, I haven't heard LSD used in that context for years. Latin, librae, solidi, and denarii. A UK term for money. No longer in current use.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/06/2004 19:46 Comments || Top||


Rumsfeld in Germany to Meet With Allies
edited big time for brevity
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived here on Thursday, looking to mend fences with European allies, strengthen NATO’s role in rebuilding Afghanistan and explore a broader mission for the alliance in stabilizing Iraq. In a speech to an annual international security conference on Saturday, Mr. Rumsfeld is expected to build on Vice President Dick Cheney’s call to allies last month in Switzerland to move beyond differences over the Iraq war and redouble common efforts to combat terrorism and the spread of illicit weapons.

Embarking on a three-nation European trip, Mr. Rumsfeld dismissed the views of some senior European officials that the trans-Atlantic alliance needed major repairs, and chalked up any nagging problems to the normal vagaries of diplomatic relations. "Since the Eisenhower administration the NATO relationship has gone from little difficulties to things better" Mr. Rumsfeld, a former United States ambassador to NATO, told reporters traveling with him. "I would say the relationships right now are fairly normal."

Mr. Rumsfeld will meet informally on Friday with fellow NATO defense ministers, who are certain to question him about the prewar intelligence the Bush administration used to justify the invasion of Iraq. Testifying before Congress on Wednesday, Mr. Rumsfeld defended the intelligence on Iraq’s illegal weapons programs and said it was still possible that inspectors would find hidden arms.

The defense ministers will focus on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The administration and some NATO members have been pressing for the alliance to take charge of the international force patrolling south-central Iraq, which is now under Polish command and receiving logistical support from NATO. Mr. Rumsfeld expressed hope that the alliance would "take a still larger role." Until recently France and Germany, two important NATO members that opposed the war, refused to consider sending troops to Iraq. But with the American-led occupation expected to turn over sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government on June 30, the two allies have signaled a possible change of heart that could open the door to a NATO deployment.
Eventual NATO involvement in incremental steps is wise imho
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who is to visit Washington this month, has said that Germany will seriously consider the United States request to reduce what Iraq owes it and that his country will not block any NATO decision to send peacekeeping forces to Iraq. Stabilizing Iraq may be a long-term issue for the alliance, but Mr. Rumsfeld said NATO must first address more immediate problems in Afghanistan. "NATO’s role, its first task really, is to do well the Afghan task," he said. "It’s a significant thing they’ve undertaken." Last month NATO’s top military commander, Gen. James L. Jones of the United States Marine Corps, complained that alliance members were not providing enough troops to fulfill NATO’s plan to expand its reconstruction efforts beyond the capital, Kabul, and the northern area of Kunduz. NATO assumed command of a 5,500-member security force in Kabul in August and later won United Nations authorization to expand its mission beyond the capital. NATO forces under German command took on security duties in Kunduz last month in the first part of a project to field up to five new provincial reconstruction teams.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 9:38:51 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any unexplained stranglings in the area?
Posted by: mojo || 02/06/2004 10:30 Comments || Top||

#2  I kept expecting to see "Rumsfeld met with a blogger named 'True German Ally' for lunch before leaving for Poland..."
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 02/06/2004 10:32 Comments || Top||

#3  I will attend the conference :)
Won't be lunch I guess but a handshake :)
Posted by: True German Ally || 02/06/2004 10:53 Comments || Top||

#4  TGA - Cool! At least you won't have to eat rubber chicken, heh. Rummy would do well to enlist some wise experienced folks, such as yourself, to translate between the press and realities. Your press is as agenda-driven as ours - and apparently just as blindered by their liberal background. Such advice would pay off in the reduction of wasted motion.

Have fun!
Posted by: .com || 02/06/2004 11:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Say hello to Rummy for us, TGA!
Posted by: Mike || 02/06/2004 11:22 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd like to see Rummy say something like, "gee if you guys don't feel UN supported enough to get us troops to help in Iraq, the least you could do is help us in Afghanistan"
Posted by: mhw || 02/06/2004 11:24 Comments || Top||

#7  If I get the chance I will mention Rantburg to him... but I guess at least his aides are reading it already!
Posted by: True German Ally || 02/06/2004 11:34 Comments || Top||

#8  mhw--There are Germans deployed to Afghanistan. Have been for some time. It's just Iraq that they have problems supporting, but they did loan our Marines some Fuchs NBC recon vehicles in the beginning of the conflict.
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 13:25 Comments || Top||

#9  Dar, I wasn't aware that Germany had loaned the Fuchs-Panzers to the Marines. That's good. I do know they had a least six German Fuchs teams in Kuwait during the drive Baghdad. They inspected the Iraqi missles that landed in Kuwait for signs of ABC. And I can't find it on the web, but I remember reading somewhere, probably a German magazine, that a Fuchs team actually went into Iraq to inspect suspicious chemical stores.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 14:04 Comments || Top||

#10  I'll bet TGA is gonna be quite an asset in my next 6 degrees of association game.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 14:41 Comments || Top||

#11  That was rather undiplmatic of Rumsfeld - making our allies travel all the way to Germany, rather than meeting them in their own countries.
Posted by: A Jackson || 02/06/2004 18:42 Comments || Top||

#12  Good luck on your meeting with Rummy, TGA. The hopes of all Rantburgers are pinned upon our number 1 lobbyist, TGA! Also, see if you can get a direct feed established from DOD to Fred's server.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/06/2004 20:25 Comments || Top||

#13  Rummy has a major problem on his hands. NATO is a military alliance. More and more, the European nations have no real military power. An "alliance" where only one of the partners has any ability to contribute isn't much of an alliance. Canada's armed forces are pathetic. The armed forces of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and a half-dozen other NATO members couldn't contribute two full-size, fully-equipped regiments. Spain, Portugal, and Italy have the manpower, but lack really modern equipment. The same goes for the new member-nations of the former Warsaw Pact. Germany has a reasonable military, but is so hobbled by its constitution as to make it virtually unusable except in Central Europe. The less said about the French, the better. NATO isn't dead, but it's not the liveliest "alliance" around, either.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/06/2004 23:01 Comments || Top||

#14  TGA, good luck on the conference.I seldom post comments, though am a regular reader.Thanks for being our true ally.Sometimes I wish you're an american.
Posted by: Sonnie || 02/06/2004 23:30 Comments || Top||


Schroeder to Step Down as Head of Social Democratic Party
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Friday he would step aside as chairman of his Social Democratic Party, a move he hopes will counter stubbornly low poll ratings and end squabbling over the government’s reform plans. Schroeder will remain as chancellor, but said he planned to hand over the party chairmanship in March to Franz Muentefering, the leader of the Social Democrats’ group in parliament. "I will concentrate on my work as chancellor and head of government," Schroeder told a news conference. Muentefering, a close aide seen as being closer to the party’s core voters, will take on responsibility for selling the government’s reform policy to the unsettled Social Democrats.

As part of the changes, the party’s general secretary, Olaf Scholz, will step down, Muentefering said. Scholz was only narrowly re-elected to the post by a party conference in November. Schroeder last year pushed through a package of reforms meant to revive the stagnant German economy, trimming welfare benefits and speeding up tax cuts -- and struggling to overcome resistance from left-wingers in his own party and Germany’s powerful unions. The party’s poll ratings have slumped since Schroeder narrowly won a second term in office September 2002,
in a camapign with anti-American rhetoric
and it suffered several setbacks in state elections last year.

Schroeder has combined the roles of chancellor and party chairman since early 1999, reluctantly taking over the party post when a power struggle with leftist Oskar Lafontaine ended with Lafontaine’s surprise resignation as both party chairman and finance minister. Friday’s decision "is in the interest of the process of renewal in Germany," Schroeder said.
Davids Medienkritik has a rather unflattering foto of Schroeder. Check his feet...
Posted by: rkb || 02/06/2004 9:11:18 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As you see...I'm rather busy these days!
Schroederdaemmerung has begun!
You will remember who predicted it...
Posted by: True German Ally || 02/06/2004 10:54 Comments || Top||

#2  I wish you the best for regime change TGA. TGA for Chancellor!!!!
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 11:02 Comments || Top||

#3  WCR - I echo your sentiments... but TGA wouldn't stand a chance cuz he's much too rational and realistic - and prolly wouldn't tolerate the micro-inspection of his life, not to mention his kitchen garbage... hmmmm, those are the same limitations that good people face in Merkin politics, too! ;-)
Posted by: .com || 02/06/2004 11:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Thanks folks... I have been actively involved in politics most of my life, but you know...the real action goes on in the back room.
And yes .com, I really like privacy and hate grinning into cameras.
I have met quite a few interesting people in my life.
Posted by: True German Ally || 02/06/2004 11:42 Comments || Top||

#5  "Chancellor TGA" Has a nice ring to it that would strike terror in the hearts of islamists everywhere.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/06/2004 12:47 Comments || Top||


Europe studies radical trade veto plan
MASSIVE HYPOCRISY ALERT.
Governments would be allowed to ban imports from countries that did not share their national values and standards under proposals for radical changes to global trade rules being studied by Pascal Lamy, Europe’s trade commissioner. The changes are put forward in a discussion paper prepared for Mr Lamy, who has not taken a position on the issue, by his staff and outside advisers. His spokeswoman said he wanted to launch a debate at a conference this summer. The paper says legalising curbs on imports that do not meet individual societies’ "collective preferences" would promote global economic integration by reducing international tensions.
What he really means is that it would give the EU official cover for what it’s been doing for years. grrrr
World Trade Organisation rules prohibit import bans except in specified circumstances, such as when products are found to be unsafe. However, the paper says the WTO rules give too much weight to science and too little to local social and political sensitivities. The paper does not detail what kinds of imports the European Union might want to restrict. However, it says divergent national regulations and public attitudes worldwide threaten to create growing trade frictions over environmental policy and in sectors such as agriculture, services, software and pharmaceuticals.
i.e. markets where the US is strong
The EU is under strong international pressure over its regulatory policies because of its long-standing ban on hormone-treated beef and de facto moratorium on approving genetically modified crops. The US and other countries say the measures violate World Trade Organisation rules, though many European consumers support them. The paper insists it is not seeking a pretext to erect new import barriers.
umm hmmm ... sure ... and I have an organic veggie farm to sell you, used only by a little old lady on weekends who picked off each insect lovingly by hand
However, it acknowledges that economic liberals and developing countries - long hostile to efforts to link trade and social standards - might attack the idea as protectionist and Eurocentric.
gee, maybe because it is??
"Mr Lamy believes ’collective preferences’ will shape trade policy increasingly in the future," his spokeswoman said. "He believes this is a debate we should have."
See, when WE do it, it’s principled social action. When the US does it, it’s hegemony and exploitative and against international law (which we sign but don’t obey) an’, an’, STUFF like that.
The paper says global integration is entering a new phase that directly threatens countries’ social models and regulatory systems,
the EU is getting it’s head handed to it in foreign trade as a result of inefficient social regulations and the choices it makes about perceived risk vs. perceived security
increasing the risk of "ideological" trade conflicts that will be hard to resolve through existing international mechanisms. Efforts to harmonise international standards, and rulings by the WTO’s dispute settlement procedures, are not enough to prevent future trade conflicts, the paper says. Governments imposing trade restrictions would need to show they were based on genuine public demand and social priorities
Which should be easy since we have elites who speak in lockstep and a populace used to following along meekly
Posted by: rkb || 02/06/2004 8:43:20 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  my mother used to call this "cutting off your nose to spite your face".
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 9:17 Comments || Top||

#2  When did they suspend the laws of economics in Europe? Do these people even shop for themselves or have someone else do it?
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 9:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh, this will end well.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  "cutting off your nose to spite your face"

more like, "I'm losing so I'm taking my ball and going home."
Posted by: anon || 02/06/2004 10:34 Comments || Top||

#5  (LOL)Go ahead,restrict Euorpean scientific development.
Posted by: Raptor || 02/06/2004 10:59 Comments || Top||

#6  This is simply hysterical... but it seems hysteria is their norm...

If they form a "buyer's cartel" (as they seem to be trying to fashion here) before (without?) becoming independently self-sufficient in all essential trade sectors, aren't they inviting eventual disaster?

For example, given their Govt stance of nose held so high they live in self-defeating nose-bleed territory rarified company, the Phrench may not be able to import anything from anybody. Seems they'll have to add a clause or two which allows them to import from lesser beings (non-conforming suppliers) "just cuz we feel like it" (a Get-out-of-Jail-Free card) to provide cover for their internal inadequacies in certain areas. But hindsight management seems to be the norm for EU members, so I'm sure they can manage this without even a hint of the embarrassment such an overt admission would require of someone in the real world.

Wotta load.
Posted by: .com || 02/06/2004 11:04 Comments || Top||


40 dead in Moscow subway boom
EFL-And The Link is to The BBC, Better Graphics and Decent Map of Moscow Subway. Initial Reports indicate a Female suicide bomber.
About 40 people have died and more than 100 were injured in a suspected suicide attack on a packed Moscow subway train. The blast happened at the height of rush hour in the second carriage of the train as it entered a tunnel from -station.
As a linking Station, most people who have been to Moscow will be familiar with Paveletskaya.
Smoke filled the tunnel, Interfax reported, and hundreds of passengers have been evacuated. If the explosion is confirmed as a bomb attack, suspicion is likely to fall on separatist militants from Chechnya. Russian police told French news agency AFP that the blast was "probably" caused by a suicide bomber.
As previously noted, probably female, as now being reported. Women are seeming to become the Bomb Vehicle of Choice...Sigh. They simply attract less attention.
Up to 350 were reported injured in the incident, many suffering from broken bones, smoke inhalation and burns, Russian radio reported. BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford in Moscow says there were scenes of panic and confusion as people fled the powerful explosion. Scores of dazed commuters, many with faces bloodied by injuries and blackened with smoke, poured into the city streets to escape the flames. The train had left the Paveletskaya station, on the metro system’s green line, and was travelling south from the city centre to the Avtozavodskaya station through a tunnel when the blast occurred. Wounded passengers were guided to safety through the tunnel by emergency services, while fire officials attempted to put out a large fire caused by the explosion. More than 50 ambulances arrived at the scene and police sealed off the surrounding streets. The train was severely damaged in the blast, which occurred as many commuters were travelling to local offices and factories.
Rush Hour in Moscow.

And now a little commentary. I have previously written here that I’d like to see the Chechnyian Conflict as maybe a template for a more agressive War against Militant Islam...but it does not seem to be going well for the Russians, and they certainly don’t have some of the tough Rules of Engagement that are inflicted on American troops...and it still doesn’t seem to be going well. Grozny is in shambles, looking to my eyes as bad as many WWII cities...and yet it still doesn’t seem to go well for the Russians.

At the time I made this argument many people said Russian soldiers are bad conscripts, ect., ect, ect, and not the equal of American soldiers. But I didn’t buy that argument then, and I don’t believe it now. They are soldiers, subject to the same boredom and stress and terrors as is so with all soldiers...and they want to stay alive...as do all soldiers.

So this raises two questions:

Since the Russians have been unsuccessful, can America afford to be more aggressive in its war in Iraq or Afghanastan...or wherever? Or is it just better, even militarily better, to just suck up the casualites that we seem to be suffering, and just soldier on?

This presumes that we wish to avoid a war of civilizations with maybe one to two hundred million muslims being slaughtered, with the balance being force converted to Christianity. (In the end, this may be an option forced on us...I’m just thinking the unthinkable.)

The second question is...Why isn’t this happening here? I’m sorry but I don’t think that Tom Ridge and Homeland Security is doing even a competent job on our borders, either north and south. If someone wanted to be smuggled in with 25 lbs of simtex or C4, I think it is easily doable.

To answer my own question...it is possible that the various WOT’s have more to do with local factors than with any real and express threat to the United States. Iraq is confined to Iraq, Afghanistan to Afghanistan, and Chechnya to there and Russia.

I don’t like the way things are going in Iraq, but maybe it is really the best we can do or hope for and continue to hope to avoid importing the war into our shopping malls or subways. Just some thoughts.
Posted by: Traveller || 02/06/2004 4:17:26 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I've posted this view before, but it bears repeating. In Chechnya, the people have to choose between an arbitrarily violent kleptocracy and another arbitrarily violent kleptocracy. The Russians are not winning in Chechnya becuase they are not presenting an attractive alternative. Cutting off the sources of funding would help a lot, but at the end of the day you have to persuade them that they want something other than violent Jihad. Killing them on its own is not a solution. You have to have a carrot and a stick.

But if you want a radical solution short of killing them all, then ship them by the million to Saudia Arabia. They did a lot to create the problem. Let them fix it.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/06/2004 4:54 Comments || Top||

#2  There are actually thousands of people in Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Saudi Arabia who are of Chechen descent because they were forced out by the Russians when they first colonised Chechnya in the 19th century.
In fact, many of the Arab volunteers in Chechnya, are actually the descendents of Chechen refugees.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 5:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Killing them on its own is not a solution.

It is a solution, just not a very agreeable one by modern standards. And yet this was how Caesar brought Gaul under submission.

But as you note, the Carrot is important also. Caesar brought Roman Roads, Roman Civilization and even the promise of possible eventual Roman citizenship.

Still, the rebellions in Gaul were not brought to an end until he took an entire tribe and chopped off the right hands of 5,000 surrivors and set them on the road to begging. (One historical source has him lopping off both hands, but I prefer the former version of what happened).

In any case, are the Russians REALLY that bad in Chechnya? Or as bad as you say? I confess that I have a soft spot in my heart for Russia and the Russians and tend to give them the benifit of the doubt.

I should research this more (and I have been following Chechnya pretty closely)...but here's the problem, there is so much that could be looked into...that if you did everything you wanted...you'd have no life....lol

Still, thank's for your take on this.
Posted by: Traveller || 02/06/2004 5:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Compare the Russian capture of Grozny with the American capture of Baghdad. The circumstances of the fall of Baghdad are well-known. When the Russian army got close to Grozny, it simply placed artillery on the hills next to the city and began firing. To say nothing of the "filtering" operations that went on in the liberated territories. Yes, I think they really were that bad.
Posted by: gromky || 02/06/2004 5:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Both Paul Moloney and Gromky make vaid points.

But, at some level, aren't we all refugees...myself from a very small farm in Kentucky, to now a very large city? I've moved on, but thinking about this a little more, this seems to be a bad argument...I left voluntarily for a better life. If you're forced out, I suppose that the resentments could linger for generations, especially in a Tribal based culture.

And as to Gromky...yes, the manner of war between Baghdad and Grozney is very telling and an astute observation...but should not the Russian brutality have by now not brough the population to heel?

Or, as seems to being suggested by both of you, the Russians are doomed to Lose in Chechnya? I just can't see Putin walking away, even after his upcoming re-election.

Is the lesson from Chechnya one that says that there is a limit to force?

Well, this will be an interesting on to watch as it plays out in blood and broken bones on both sides.
Posted by: Traveller || 02/06/2004 6:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Russia is really a patchwork of nationalities, with the ethnic Russians simply the dominant group. There is very little seperatism amongst the other ethnic groups in Russia, even amongst the Muslim Tartars etc.
The difference is that those other groups feel somewhat Russian, or at least don't feel different enough that they will fight to enforce their non-Russianess. In contrast, the Chechens have always been opposed to Russian rule, probably from a wide variety of social and historical reasons.
After the devastation committed by the Russian state in the first war, followed by even worse devastation in the second, I get the sense that a significant part of the population will never accept being Russian. Just losing a child or spouse in a war can be devastating to a family, but in Chechnya where Clans are so important, the ramifications go far further.
I get the impression that even if the current insurgents (which are little more than bandits and fanatics really) are destroyed, they will still be a separatist movement for decades to come. And if the predictions of the demographic catastrophe in Russia prove true, the Chechens might just have to wait 50 or 60 years and there won't be enought Russians left to make another war worthwhile for them, unless the Russkies just use their nukes.
But if you have to use nuclear weapons on your own people, it brings up moral questions of just how important to maintain territorial integrity.
But that's just my opinion, maybe the Chechens will become sick enough of war that they will come to accept Russian rule, and just content themselves with cheering against Russia in the World Cup.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 7:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Russia's deportation of the entire Chechen nation during World War Two, its subsequent failure to compensate that crime, and its recent devastation of Chechnya have made reconciliation and integration possible.

Chechnya lies along the border, so Russia could and should simply carve it off and seal the borders. Chechens currently living in Russia would have to choose Russian or Chechnyan citizenship and adjust their living locations accordingly.

That said, an independent and isolated Chechnya would be a social and economic hellhole. Criminality pervades the society to an extraordinary extent, and now the growth of Moslem radicalism will combine with that criminality to make the society absolutely barbaric, even savage.

In two generations the Chechen language will be as dead as the Apache language is now.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/06/2004 8:17 Comments || Top||

#8  I meant to write ... "have made reconciliation and integration impossible."
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/06/2004 8:19 Comments || Top||

#9  short answer - yes - there IS a limit to force. pace the far right, A carrot is a huge leverager of a stick. and pace the left, vice versa. Hearts and minds ARE necessary - grabbing them by the nether parts isnt enough. The US Marine Corps knows this. The Russians, apparently, do not. But it takes patience and an amazing degree of emotional self denial - why should we provide carrots to Iraqis in the Sunni Triangle, who cheer when our troops are killed, who take ingratitude to an extreme - crush em down is a NATURAL response - do we have the maturity to soldier on? I dont know.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 02/06/2004 10:09 Comments || Top||

#10  interesting comments. It seems not unlike the Paleo situation. Even though it would be a mobsters paradise, thus a hell-hole, it seems that the Russians should take a note from the Paleo situation and work toward sealing them off now..instead of fighting for 20 years and then trying to do it.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 10:26 Comments || Top||

#11  Mike S,I have the San Carlos Apaches on my east flank,and White Mountain Apaches on my north flank.Not a good example of a dead lanquage.

TW,you mentioned living in Phoenix,I live about 5 miles from Roosevelt Lake.Shoot me an e-mail.
Posted by: Raptor || 02/06/2004 10:27 Comments || Top||

#12  Raptor right off hand I'd say your flanks are safe from the Utes and Texans.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 10:37 Comments || Top||

#13  Mike S,I have the San Carlos Apaches on my east flank,and White Mountain Apaches on my north flank.Not a good example of a dead lanquage.

TW,you mentioned living in Phoenix,I live about 5 miles from Roosevelt Lake.Shoot me an e-mail
Posted by: Raptor || 02/06/2004 10:39 Comments || Top||

#14 
Thanks for the correction about the Apache language. I thought nobody spoke it any more. I'll have to come up with a better example.

Suggestions welcome.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/06/2004 12:34 Comments || Top||

#15  If Russia is forced out you'll have another Afganistan post Soviets. It wont be long until all the new OBLs of the world would flock there.

Traveller's lamentation, which I lament to also, about a serious blood bath might be just posponed by a Russian retreat now. A lot of positive things so far in the WoT but until the Iran problem and the Saudi problem are crushed, then what? Untill a serious targeting of those with the wealth and ability to fund terrorism, is carried out to it's conclusion, even if some innocents die, the fire just smolders and flares up here and there. "Wars and rumors of war."

What does victory in this war mean what does it look like? Tribalism, clanish, thugery or what we as a western culture have been striving for. Freedom from that shit.

I for one do not want a nuclear answer. But this war will not be over because Afganistan and Iraq have been liberated. Those are mere formalities to what needs to be done and done soon.

Mike, Gip tinla.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/06/2004 13:05 Comments || Top||

#16  You really had to have lived in Russia, or one of their former communist satellite states, to understand the Russian mind. Russian and American mentality is not the same. It's hard to explain exactly; you have to see both sides yourself.
The Russian people can step it up if they have to, as the battle of Stalingrad during WW2 illustrates (picture tanks rolling off factory lines and straight into battle). They don't call it the Great Patriotic War for nothing.
Post-soviet Russia is a weird animal though. It's an attempt at blending western attributes with typical Russian ones. And the result is Chechnya.
During communist rule, the Russians would have no qualms about rolling regular army tanks and troops onto their own streets and in their own cities, to prevent a revolt or calm down the population. This was done in Czechoslovakia and was about to be done in Poland in the 80s, and as recently as the 90s during a failed coup attempt in Moscow (remember the shootout with the parliament building?). Yet in Chechnya, the forces doing the fighting are called Federal Troops, Federal Police, Interior Ministry Troops, Security Forces, or whatever, because Chechnya is seen as a domestic issue, or as a matter for the police (albeit a slightly better armed "police"). It wouldn't have been treated as such during the soviet times.

I confess that I have a soft spot in my heart for Russia and the Russians and tend to give them the benifit of the doubt.

So do I. And I really hope that the mistrust of the past is put away for good, and both sides work for a better relationship. There shouldn't be a reason for any antagonism between us and them.
Posted by: Rafael || 02/06/2004 14:15 Comments || Top||

#17  ...with the balance being force converted to Christianity.

*Shakes head* We don't want 'em: The Conversions would be based on fear, which is the opposite of faith. We have too many hypocrites in the Church already without adding another 750 million plus.

They will simply have to accept that there are some things that their religious books dictate that they choose not to do, just as the Jews have to accept that they choose not to stone adulterers, adulteresses, and rebellious teenagers, despite what the Torah says. They can keep their religion, be free to change from it if they don't like it, and otherwise be moderate muslims. Spin Jihad as being spiritual and intellectual warfare ALONE, leave out physical force, and they'll be perfectly acceptable.

Of course, nobody will trust them politically, any more than anybody trusts Christians in light of the Middle ages and the Crusades debacles.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/06/2004 14:24 Comments || Top||

#18  I feel a little more educuated thanks to this thread. I also have an even greater appreciation for the difficult and at times thankless task the troops are doing in Iraq. America does have the best soldiers in the world...their restrain and professionalism is remarkable. God, you've gotta love 'em.

...as to the forced conversion idea...well, I suppose it was bad. But at some level I think that Islam as an idea must be defeated. Someone here mentioned that Islam is a pathogen...I prefer to think that ideas rule the world, that ideas live in people, people are just carriers. I was trying to replace Islam with something...Christianity sprang to mind.

The easy answer is, of course, that Islam undergo a Reformation much as occurred in Christianity in the West. But still I don't know if this is possible....though this may be because of my limited time frame reference. I want change now, not the two to three centuries that such a transformation of Islam would normally take.

Dangerous times.



Posted by: Traveller || 02/06/2004 15:26 Comments || Top||

#19  Traveller, Our WOT seems to be a different animal than the what the Russians are engaged in. We are accused of being an occupier, but most would have to agree that the Russians have no current plans of leaving Chechnya.

Regardless, Russia entered into a quagmire in Afghanistan, but we seem to have not fallen into that trap in either Afghanistan or Iraq so far. The real test will come if either newly formed government is overthrown by a popular movement. Intervention at that point might be dicey.

If you allowed the population to pick their citizenship and resettle appropriately, those who chose to become Russians would be choosing permanent 2nd class citizenship for their family. The ethnic Russians would treat them with suspicion, thinking that they might be plants, and in some cases the Russians would be right. Living in squalor purpetually would be a poor alternative as well.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 16:18 Comments || Top||

#20  Because of the long term occupying power situation, Northern Ireland might be a better parallel than the current situation in Iraq. I can not see the British trying to win the hearts and minds of the Irish people by shelling Belfast.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 16:21 Comments || Top||

#21  BTW, Super Hose, thanks so much for reformating my message. I did want to say this before this thread disapeared.

As a combat vet, the phrase "Hearts and Minds," does throw me a bit. Be that as it may, I did think that being an occupying power in Iraq would be easier, whould have gone better than it seems to have.

Rights and Wrongs to my eye seem easy to me in this case (hence no real need for hearts and minds)...but then I have never been to Iraq, so what do I know? I have a friend that travels back and forth to Iraq and he laughingly tells me that for all my reading and whatnot, my level of ignorance on local conditions in Iraq astounds him...lol.

On Chechnya, I am sure that I am far worse.

Gotta run..



Posted by: Traveller || 02/06/2004 16:52 Comments || Top||

#22  Like to see NMM get up close and personel with some of those"Sons of Geromino".
Posted by: Raptor || 02/06/2004 17:07 Comments || Top||

#23  This may cause some folk to laugh, but here are some remarks from a Russophile from way back, who has been observing the Russian Army for a long, long time, albeit as an amatuer.

The current War in Chechnya has been to date an outstanding strategic victory for the Russian Army after the pounding they took in Grozny in 1995.

Sometime around 1998, the Russian general staff managed to convince the government that Chechnya was so important that a seperate MOD level department was established for the Transcaucusus.

The result a year later was unmistakable as the Chechens tried to expand their jihad into neighboring Dagesstan. From that point in 1999 until 2003, the Russian Army has managed to successfully engage the Chechens in battle at nearly every turn primarily through use of the only military asset they claim dominance in: artillery.

Yes, Grozny was leveled and yes there were some atrocities, but what the press here doesn't want you to know is that the Russian Army have vigorously prosecuted war crimes including officers of rather high rank. The leveling of Grozny was deplorable, but then the Chechens chose the battlefield.

This will eventually be to their everlasting credit and benefit. Also, the Russian reduction and elimination of the Chechen resistance, at least on the strategic level, will be something military historians will write about for some time to come, in my opinion.

Now, the Chechen rebels have shifted their operations into terrorist operations, use of ambushes and terrorism bombings primarily, but the fact remains that the Chechens have been renedered impotant in conducting any large scale operations in Chechnya, and this is a critical shift.

It has been a bloody and painful road since this strategic shift by the Chechens but eventually, the underground will be liquidated and bombings will eventually become fewer and far less deadly.
Posted by: badanov || 02/06/2004 21:17 Comments || Top||

#24  Dear Badanov:

Thanks for the imformation. This was my sense of the situation in Chechnya. I was aware of the criminal prosecution for war crimes...though to be honest, I am generally opposed to war crimes trials...maybe in all instances.

War is just far to messy a business to prosecute individual soldiers at the grunt level. Such incidents should be taken care of at the brigade or divisonal level...as conduct unbecoming a soldier.

On the other hand, superior officers that make it unit policy to commit atrocities...that is another matter, but still something to be delt with by the individual country involved, as apparently is being done by Russia.

All in all, I wish Russia ever success in Chechnya. The Moscow subway bombing however still seem to me to be an example of Chechen barbarity.
Posted by: Traveller || 02/06/2004 22:32 Comments || Top||

#25  Oh, I see:
Russians killing 250.000 Chechen civilians -- deplorable, but hey it was Chechens that chose the battleground.
Chechens killing 100 Russian civilians -- an example of Chechen barbarity.

Yeah, whatever. Why not have Russian artillery bomb Moscow instead, since it seems that murdering hundreds and thousands of innocents is not criminal once the "battlefield" is chosen.

There were *some* atrocities? *Some* atrocities? One *QUARTER* of the Chechen population was murdered.

If the Hitler examples don't suit you, then think of this: Putin is Saddam Hussein, and the Chechen are the Kurds under Saddam's rule. Except that even more Chechens were murdered by Putin than Kurds were murdered by Saddam.

Is there any *actual* difference between the dead Kurds by Saddam's chemical weapons versus the dead Chechen by Putin's non-WMD artillery?

And don't give me that crap about war crimes trials in Russia. Yes, we've seen war crimes trials in Russia where for the witnessed rape and murder of 18-year-old girls the state prosecutors side with the defense lawyers and ask for the acquittal of the rapist-murderer.

And frankly, *even* if Chechenya became Jihadi paradise and a new Afghanistan that would *still( be nowhere near the level of oppression and murder that Russia has inflicted on it.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 02/06/2004 23:30 Comments || Top||

#26  Aris, well said. Shit does still smell like shit. Russia has some serious weirdness! So in the context of the WoT. What?
Posted by: Lucky || 02/07/2004 0:10 Comments || Top||

#27  Come on, Aris, don't pull your punches now, How do you really feel about Chechen Conflict? Which side are you on...lol

I suppose that we are going to have to agree to disagree on this...There have been too many booms all over Russia, in parks and cars, trains and rock concerts and subways and entire apartment houses...The Russians could kill every man woman and child in Chechnya and I would turn a blind eye to the event.

The practical question of the thread was...how to pacify an entire country side...at least in reference to Chechnya, no one really seems to have an answer.
Posted by: Traveller || 02/07/2004 0:50 Comments || Top||


Explosion hits central Moscow - Subway during rush hour
not much on the wires yet, CNN (the bastards) giving feed from their euro branch 00:49z
An explosion rocked the Moscow metro on Friday, causing casualties, the Emergency Situation Ministry said. Clouds of smoke filled the tunnel near the Avtozavodskaya station and passengers were being evacuated, said Viktor Beltsov, spokesman for the Emergency Situations Ministry. He could not confirm that the cause or give any further details about the number of victims. He said that rescuers were already on the site. Interfax, citing emergency officials, said that the explosion occurred in the second wagon of a train after it left the Paveletskaya station near the center of the Russian capital and headed southeast to Avtozavodskaya station. A fire raged in the wagon, which was badly damaged. Numerous ambulances were seen outside both metro stations, which police immediately barricaded.

The Russian capital has been on alert for terrorist attacks following a series of suicide bombings that officials have blamed on Chechen rebels. In December, a female suicide bomber blew herself up outside the National Hotel across from Moscow’s Red Square on Tuesday, killing at least five others. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a Moscow rock concert in July, killing themselves and 14 other people. That was followed five days later by an aborted suicide bomb attack at a central Moscow restaurant that killed the sapper trying to defuse the bomb. The suicide bomber was arrested and is currently awaiting trial. In August 2000, a bomb exploded at a crowded pedestrian underpass filled with kiosks at Pushkin Square, a popular meeting place located near a metro line. The attack was initially blamed on Chechen rebels, but some police later said that a turf battle between rival businessmen or criminal gangs could have been the motive.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 1:36:54 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Note: CNN has adopted the al-bbc 'scare quotes' method, their tagline: Authorities: Not Ruling Out "Terrorism" ; what a bunch of turds.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 1:39 Comments || Top||

#2  So we have the Irbil suicide bombing, today's massacre in Kashmir, and a probable attack on the US last week during Eid al-Ahda prompting the flight cancellations.

Call me a conspiracy nut here, gents, but it looks to me as though the bad guys have gone into worldwide attack mode. I've noticed before that these attacks tend to come in waves and the Riyadh and Casablanca bombings were also coinciding with similar big booms in Chechnya. This is one of the reasons why I tend to believe that the terror machine is a lot more closely coordinated than many pundits tend to believe.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 1:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Why do I get the feeling Americans may have to get involved in Chechnya one day.
Posted by: A1 || 02/06/2004 2:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Dan, maybe the pilgrimage to Mecca and Eid celebrations are the cause of the latest upsurge? This Jihadis see their acts of murder as doing God's good work, and so killing and bombings must be especially holy during Muslim holy days..
Although other waves seem to not have such an excuse.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 2:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, al-reuters has come through with some copy:

MOSCOW (Reuters) - At least 22 people were killed in a blast in a central Moscow metro (underground) railway line in the morning rush hour Friday, Interfax news agency quoted the city fire brigade as saying.

Certainly don't think it's a coincidence that this and kashmir happen at the end of eid. Just makes me wonder how bad the french burned us by waving off the mutts on that flight over Christmas.

Religion of Peace©.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 2:10 Comments || Top||

#6  Let's just hope this suicide bombing chic doesn't come to the US's most important city, NY-but of course the rantbourgeois never liked that town anyway---unless The GOP uses it for a photo op during the convention--as if the GOP is welcome in NYC HAHAHAHA It's just beyond good taste for those bastards to use NYC for their convention--but I will use my vacation to be there to protest
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 3:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Vacation from what?
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 4:19 Comments || Top||

#8  NMM- Wow, can we count on another giant puppet head? Nothing says "righteous social protest" as much as a giant puppet head!

I'm afraid that the largest suicide bombing has already occurred in NYC, doncha remember 9-11?
Posted by: Craig || 02/06/2004 6:57 Comments || Top||

#9  A1, let's hope not. Let the Russians sort out their own house. (Although they've been having a rough time of it) It's another ethcnic/tribal territorial pissings war we don't need to be involved with. I feel bad for the civilians just trying to go about their daily business getting caught up in this shit.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 7:48 Comments || Top||

#10  so let's see....

the paleos explode themselves because they are in such dire straits, right? so I guess the chechens are too? and the Iraqi opposition?

naw. the answer is that these people are morally, spiritually and culturally bankrupt. one manifestation of this is their diminished value for human life -- the lives of others and the lives of their own lemming cannon fodder. meanwhile the west views it through their own lenses, interpreting their actions as acts of desperation.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 02/06/2004 9:04 Comments || Top||

#11  please don't feed the troll.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 9:49 Comments || Top||

#12  Having the convention in NYC is called "sticking it to them". And as the only party interested in preventing another 9/11, it seems the perfect location.
Posted by: eyeyeye || 02/06/2004 9:50 Comments || Top||

#13  yeah, well, I live in NYC. I have the utmost confidence in our security. Having said that, I think, um, the weather will be nice enough to walk instead of taking the subway. WhatEVER the weather is like! ;o)
Posted by: PlanetDan || 02/06/2004 15:41 Comments || Top||

#14  Jarhead, with all due respect, this is as much a part of the WOT as anything else--this bombing was done by Chechen based Islamists, funded by the Saudis, trained in Afghanistan, etc.
These are Bin Laden's boys, who have appropriated native Chechen separatism and radicalized it to wage jihad.
I'm with A1--I think that the US will either end up sending troops into Chechnya and the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia or helping the Russians in a serious way with that.
The Islamists main theatres of operation have been Kashmir, "Palestine" and Chechnya--with Kashmir and Paleostine beginning to fade from that equation, the IslamoNazis will now focus on Chechnya and given the fact that Putin is proving to be such a hot-headed KGB control freak, they'll be able to get more followers than before who are angered by his severe reprisals.
Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro || 02/06/2004 15:56 Comments || Top||

#15  I wouldn't be surprised if there were more than a few soddis 'helping out' with this boomer. Are the rooskies capable of defending themselves, or have they disintegrated to the point where they're just trying to get out of there if they can?

And is it just me, or is that idiot actually hoping for an attack on NYC during the Rep convention?
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 18:05 Comments || Top||

#16  Jen, points noted. A couple observations however: 1) If we ever get involved w/Chechnya prolly be more then 5 years down the road, unless Bush loses, then who knows. Reason - Bush or any other GOP is not going to help them after they snubbed us on Iraq. 2) A couple of my brethren have already been to Georgia training their NCO's in our (Corps) light infantry tactics & MOUT warfare. 3) We have no plans in the hopper for either place. 4) We're stretched too thin w/Afghan, Iraq, Nkor, & possibly Iran to put much on this one. Not to mention our normal meals on wheels. 5) This maybe part of WoT, but not our WoT. Until Chechens f*ck w/us, we won't budge. 6) Putin - W wouldn't walk across the street to piss in Putin's ear if his brain was on fire. Enough said. 7) Keeping this war going between them is not exactly at odds with our own interests. Yes, that is sick in a humanistic way but a Machiavellian concept of distraction our own government is not immune from taking. 8) Afghan training grounds for future Chechen rebels have pretty much dried up. Turkey & Murat - how about your backyard?? 9) Binnie is pretty much an impotent derelict in a cave somewhere living off rice and gristle - funding from them has been significantly reduced 10) Until Russia jumps on board w/Iraq - remember the Russkies sold the Iraqi's Kornet anti-tank missiles & nvgs, we're still pissed - Russia will get the brush off from us.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 21:44 Comments || Top||

#17  I hear you, Jarhead. (You are too funny, BTW!)
And you made some great points.
I agree that if--big if--we fight in Chechnya, it's waaaayyyy down the road, i.e. the last place left on the planet to clean out the bad guys.
And we're going to be more likely to do it at the request of the Georgians than we would the Russians.
Reason Numero Uno will be to secure (former Soviet) nukes, don't you think?
Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro || 02/06/2004 22:01 Comments || Top||

#18  Jen, thanks. Three years working at Parris Island tends to inundate a guy w/certain venacular proclivities. (Been thinking all day how to join venacular w/proclivities, prolly still messed it up though)

Anyways, IRT; Georgian request - that's an angle to get us there I hadn't thought of. We want them on our roster, if not only just to make the Russians feel uneasy. So it makes sense to me.(Imagine Russkies training the Canadians in Quebec - we'd hate it to.) When my boys were in Georgia they said they Russkies were pretty uncomfortable having 'Merikanskys on their doorstep w/ammo. Way down the road though I agree, the possibility for us in chechland exists.

Securing nukes may be another matter. Russian crime syndicates would be the ones to deal w/oddly enough on that. Kind of funny but the corruption and graff in Russia (plus their gov't is so inept) is across the spectrum. We'd have to get into some pretty deep labyrinths to secure them I fear. Not sure how much CIA was gutted by the Huckster on their ground intel in commie-land. Crushing the chechens (down the road of course) may help solve the problem. Or, by seeing us improve Afghan/Iraq and possible ass-whooping of Iran the situation may solve itself. However, I've always enjoyed world travel, and prolly have not given the proper thought to a site seeing tour of beautiful Grozny. Plus, if it sucks as much as I've heard it does, sign me up!

Like your website to btw, congrats on making der comissar's list of dangerous bloggers. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 22:32 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Nothing to see here, move along!
Via Bros. Judd:

COLORADO GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Ad Hoc Legislative Committee on Academic Freedom

Thursday, December 18, 2003 – 10:00 a.m. to 12:35 p.m.

Senate President John Andrews, Committee Chair

SENATOR JOHN ANDREWS: Thank you all very much for coming, I’m John Andrews. I’m the President of the Colorado Senate, and I represent the City of Centennial and Arapahoe County in the Senate. A provision in the rules of the General Assembly allows for informal or ad hoc committees of legislators from one or both houses to convene when the legislature itself is not in session for the purpose of hearing testimony or discussing issues of concern in an informal way that contributes to our base of knowledge and awareness of those issues that should help us prepare for the formal legislative activity which in the this case begins a little less than three weeks from now, Wednesday the 7th of January.

The purpose of our meeting this morning is to consider the protection of academic freedom in state-supported colleges and universities here in Colorado. A goal that no one would disagree on, but the implementation of that goal can be controversial, and the missing ingredient in much of the debate over the past several months seems, to some of us, to have been actual, verified experiences of students or faculty members at our fine colleges and universities across the state about whether there are adequate protections for academic freedom.


SNIP


REP. MADDEN: Witchhunt! McCarthyite! Aren’t jobs and food more important???

SNIP

It was an adviser to the Political Science Association, accused the Auraria College Republicans of working with the Independence Institute at Metro State, this is not true. I can assure you that the Auraria College Republicans have had no contact with the Independence Institute until now and we will continue to work with Independence Institute on this very issue. This professor accused the College Republicans of coercing, like I say, with Independence Institute and she explicitly said in the Political Science Association meeting—it’s a student-lead organization that I quote, “Republicans needs to withdraw from the Political Science Association.” This is very disturbing because the Political Science Association is a non-partisan student-lead organization. She is only the adviser of the students participating in all political affiliations including Republicans.

SNIP

BRIAN GLOTZBACH: I have a political science, actually a political geography class, and in my opinion it was centered pretty much to the left. The required readings, I felt were, you know, of the left and not representative of a broader viewpoint, yet goes to challenging both sides of the debate.


SENATOR JOHN ANDREWS: Did you get a mark on your course that you felt was fair?


BRIAN GLOTZBACH: You know, I have been under attack regarding my statement, but it could have been and it could not have been. I am not privy to what the judgment of the professor was, I could get a B in the class. I felt I did A work, our exams are strictly essay questions that were subjectively graded. There was no right or wrong answer, so depending on someone’s interpretation it could have been graded differently, in my opinion.


SENATOR JOHN ANDREWS: Did you wish to tell the committee something else?


BRIAN GLOTZBACH: Well, I just want to go. You know, as for my time at Metro State and I have gotten it in the CU Boulder. I have not had any type of this stuff going in the classroom. However, I do still see the proof. I work in the campus bookstore and I have seen all the books that are required readings for the classes. I have observed that there is a distinct lack of material from any author that could be considered a conservative. Liberals on the other hand, are a little luckier. Michael Moore’s books are required for history classes. Howard Zinn is a constant requirement. Noam Chomsky has been a required reading. My question is why is Sean Hannity never required reading. How come Bill O’Reilley’s books are not there? How come different points of view are not presented to our young men and women? Why do we need to limit opposing viewpoints and thus limit the quality of education that these students receive, and that the taxpayers of this state subsidize? Basically, what I would like to see is that we have all sides of the debate open and that no one is under represented on campus when it comes to this debate. And I feel that right now, the conservative point of view is definitely lacking on our campuses.



ANNE CLODFELTER: SNIP ...However, some professors see the classroom as an instrument with which to liberally indoctrinate the students. The professor has, in my American History, in the fall semester of 2003, was a very qualified teacher.

At that time, there was no room in her class for conservative points of view. Every day, she used the classroom as a sounding board and she insulted the president whose policies are those of Republican lawmakers. One day she got up in front of the class and told us that the president could not be an historian and be a Republican. This hurt me very much because I am a conservative and I want to be a historian. Another time, she got up in front of the class and said that President Bush started the Iraqi war because he got a hard-on. I thought this was a very inappropriate way to be talking about the president. Instead of spending on history, my professor spends a significant amount of time lecturing on current programs of the Republicans and the president. When my peers or I tried arguing and tried to question or argue against her ideas, she ridiculed them, leaving the person feeling humiliated in front of the class. One of my more outspoken conservative peers began skipping classes because as she told the teacher, she was afraid to come to class.

The teacher refused to acknowledge the student’s fears. The political talk is one thing, I would not have to deal with her after the class is over, but I had a hard time dealing with political bias towards history. The books she chose for the class called President Reagan’s philosophy on the use of tax cuts to boost the economy, quote, “a naïve plan.” When tax cuts worked to boost the economy, the book stated it was, quote, “Good luck.” The book and the teacher portrayed the Rosenberg’s as martyrs, and Stalin and his successors in the Soviet Union as persecuted by the United States. This bias towards history affected me as a history major because I want to leave college with an understanding of the conservative viewpoints of history as well as the liberal ones. I want to get the whole picture.

SNIP - The audio is available at the link.

Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 10:06:56 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good article. We will see how far this gets but I'm afraid it is ingrained in many of our college institutions. Some of these teachers are leftovers from the 60's and 70's.
I recently woke up to the left wing bias in our media.
It was so obvious I don't know why it took me so long to see it. NPR is another one.
Posted by: dataman1 || 02/06/2004 22:53 Comments || Top||

#2  I was part of college republicans. I went to a small liberal arts school. No one ever screwed w/us. One teacher, (looking back) was very liberal and may have crossed the line, however, most of us just laughed at her.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 23:00 Comments || Top||


Bush Guard Commander Recants AWOL Charge
The ex-military man who first launched charges during the 2000 presidential campaign that President Bush had gone AWOL from the National Guard has recanted his story.
(You don’t say!)
The account from Brig. Gen. William Turnipseed, who told the Boston Globe four years ago that Bush never showed up for Guard drills with his Alabama unit, had become the centerpiece of Democratic attacks on the White House in recent days.
"Had [Bush] reported in, I would have had some recall, and I do not," Gen. Turnipseed told the Globe in May 2000. "I had been in Texas, done my flight training there. If we had had a first lieutenant from Texas, I would have remembered."
(Apparantly NOT!)
But on Wednesday Gen. Turnipseed reversed course, telling NBC News: "I don’t know if [Bush] showed up, I don’t know if he didn’t. I don’t remember how often I was even at the base." Still, the same day the retired general had withdrawn the allegation, Democratic National Committee chairman Terry (The Rat) McAuliffe was citing Turnipseed’s earlier, erroneous account in a bid to keep AWOL charges against Bush afloat. "The commander this week reiterated the entire time [Bush] was supposed to show up in the Alabama National Guard he wasn’t there," McAuliffe told CNN’s "Inside Politics" on Wednesday. "He said he made it up later, but you don’t have that option. When you’re supposed to serve our country, you’re supposed to be there."

In fact, McAuliffe was wrong on the latter point as well, since Guard regulations expressly allow for make-up drills, according to no less an authority than Gen. Turnipseed himself. In July 2000, the New York Times reported, "Colonel Turnipseed, who retired as a general, said in an interview that regulations allowed Guard members to miss duty as long as it was made up within the same quarter." Asked if McAuliffe was prepared to apologize to the White House for misstating Gen. Turnipseed’s position on the Bush AWOL allegation, a spokesman for the DNC told NewsMax: "I don’t know. We’ll get back to you."
I would really like to know how long Mr. McAuliffe served in the Military? I don’t have to look and neither do you. Scratch one option from the DNC dirty play book. They will next clain the Bush showed up in a dress or drunk (or both) for guard duty. Terry, the Rat disgusts me! Does the TRUTH hurt Terry? Well does it?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 02/06/2004 4:40:27 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  McAuliffe: "....When you’re supposed to serve our country, you’re supposed to be there."
Just like Senators Kerry and Edwards who haven't attended a Senate vote for three months. AWOL, Mr McAuliffe?

Turnipseed? TurnipSEED? That naive idiot didn't even make it to the truck so he COULD fall off.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 17:11 Comments || Top||

#2  I've tried, without any success at all, to get my mind around the concept that this "Bush was AWOL" business is actually going to be the Democrats' Big Burning Issue of the upcoming election.

It's especially difficult since, until about this time last year, I myself was a Democrat- and had been, for more than thirty years.

WTF happened to my [former] party???? Did somebody put something in the water or something that made them all drooling idiots? If so, who did it? Bill Clinton? Michael Moore?

Sorry, just venting...
Posted by: Dave D. || 02/06/2004 17:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Dave D., you must feel like the Pretenders who went back to Ohio to find that Akron was gone. I kept expecting the regular Democrats to jump in and back Joe Lieberman. It never happened.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 17:25 Comments || Top||

#4  TurnipSeed is a fine local name GK. I'm starting to think I may know this guy..... he'd be about 90..
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 17:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Save this. The Dems will still be spouting this in November. Am I the only one who is wondering why Kerry's activities after the war aren't horse fodder yet? Am I missing something here?
Posted by: dataman1 || 02/06/2004 18:42 Comments || Top||

#6  WTF happened to Akron?!
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 19:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Aaaaaand what do you think the chances are that Turnipseed's recantation won't get buried by the media? They have WAY too much emotional investment in trying to drive GWB out of office to let inconvenient facts stand in the way...
Posted by: Prince Tofurki bin Turducken || 02/06/2004 20:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Data, just wait bro'. The whole medal throwing tantrum he pulled will be displayed as soon as he is declared their candidate. He also mocked the Iwo Jima Memorial on the cover of an anti-war mag a few months later. More to follow....
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 21:57 Comments || Top||

#9  #4 Shipman, didn't mean to offend the whole clan; just the one. GA seems to have more Turnipseeds than AL and all of them have a first initial W. BTW, MS has a 98 year old W.A. Turnipseed.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 22:09 Comments || Top||


Thousands show for Michael Moore lecture, book signing
NMM reminded me that Michael Moore’s book Stupid White Men is the most damning inditement of the Left’s inability to marshal a coherent argument about anything. I have read (OK tried to read) the book and its unreadable, and I speak as someone who will plough through the most amazing crap, but MM’s stuffs is beyond crap. Its barely literate ramblings of someone who has no grasp of anything of significance. In itself this is not that suprising - lots of people have stupid, incoherent and extremely boring opinions, but the Left has turned him into some kind of prophet and this says far more about the Left that I ever could. As evidence to support this rant I present this article.
"One-two-three-four! We don’t want your racist war! Five-six-seven-eight! Stop the violence, stop the hate!" Supporters of Michael Moore in the standing-room-only crowd chanted such slogans while waiting for the author and filmmaker to begin speaking in the Auditorium on Friday. Event organizers estimated about 4,300 people attended the event, with between 200 and 300 people turned away. The official number of people in attendance was not available.

Residence Halls Association was one of the groups sponsoring the event. Among the others were the Black Student Alliance, the Council of Racial Ethnic Students and the Department of Residence Life. "I’m like (Moore’s) biggest fan," 2002 MSU alumna Breanna Spiteri said, adding she has all of his books and movies. "I’m basically in love with him," she said.

At the event Moore spoke of reaching solidarity within the Democratic party, saying the most important thing is removing President Bush from office. "I will go out and enthusiastically support whoever the (Democratic) candidate is," Moore said. He also described his new movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11," which is set to come out this fall. "It’s about using the death of 3,000 people as an excuse to enact a right-wing agenda," Moore said.

MSU-DCL College of Law student Shana Molloy said she attended Moore’s lecture because she’s a big supporter of retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, Moore’s choice for the Democratic nomination. "I enjoy his films, his political stances - he’s a funny guy," she said. And Moore’s audience wasn’t limited to college students. "I think he’s really cool. ’Bowling for Columbine’ is one of my favorite movies," said 10-year-old Alexa Springsteen.

Moore also touched on the importance of getting out to the polls in November. "We’ve got it easy," Moore said of social activism. "All you’ve got to do is vote and bring 10 people with you."

"We’re working on an initiative that would dramatically increase voter turnout," Osterloh said. "The initiative would set up a lottery in which voters are automatically entered by casting a ballot. The prize would be $1 million."
I actually think that MM is a PT Barnum type opportunist and is giving the suckers what they want and making a bucket-full of money at the same time. He seems to have figured out that the next step up on the money tree is elective office as a democrap candidate.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/06/2004 8:06:30 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I think he’s really cool. ’Bowling for Columbine’ is one of my favorite movies," said 10-year-old Alexa Springsteen.

Next Moore will be writing "Harry Potter and the White House Ghoul".
Posted by: Charles || 02/06/2004 8:17 Comments || Top||

#2  I saw an interview w/him one time. He said some funny shit. Heck, I even agreed w/one or two things he spewed. However, for every one thing he says that makes sense, he babbles four or five half-truths to go w/it. He's perfect for a lot of the human cattle in this country and knows it. He appeals to the self-loathing LLL's running around feeling guilty about being born white and plays well on the fears of naive soccer moms about the 'nefarious NRA'. That's his scam (a pretty good one to) and I am sure he had no problem taking his tax cut this past year. Bottomline, a conniving charlatan finding his niche in the market. No different then a modern day PT Barnum as so aptly quoted above.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 8:40 Comments || Top||

#3  I suspect that Michael Moore, being one of those "rich bastards", is really a CIA plant.
Posted by: Rinz || 02/06/2004 8:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Thousands? Well, the nutcases and fringies don't have any Dean rallies to go to anymore, got lots of free time now.

Oh and when pressed about facts in his 'documentaries', lardass falls back on the "I'm a satirist" line. And like any good socialist, he sends his kids to private school and laughs all the way to the bank with News Corp. checks.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 9:08 Comments || Top||

#5  The roar of the adoring crowd was deafening....Bah..Bah..Bah...
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 9:36 Comments || Top||

#6  "I’m basically in love with him," she said.

Two words in response: "Ewwwww!" and "Yuck!"
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 02/06/2004 9:52 Comments || Top||

#7  Michael Moore is a big fat ugly liar. After reading about that bold Marine, reading about Moore's keanulint-headed following is discouraging. With all due apologies for insulting the keanulints' intelligence.
Posted by: Steve from Relto || 02/06/2004 10:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Hey, what about the Council of Elrond?

ELF HATERS! Free the Mordor 7!
Posted by: mojo || 02/06/2004 10:34 Comments || Top||

#9  "Event organizers estimated about 4,300 people attended the event, with between 200 and 300 people turned away."

Definition of a targetrich-enviroment?
Posted by: Anonymous || 02/06/2004 10:35 Comments || Top||

#10  "I’m basically in love with him," she said.

"Yes dear, there is such a thing as bad taste."
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 02/06/2004 10:47 Comments || Top||

#11  I had no idea Karl Rove was this good.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/06/2004 10:51 Comments || Top||

#12  Perhaps Mr Moore should take his book tour over to Iraq...to our Gi's fighting for his fat worthless ass. Bring along some of his Hollywood cronies too. Hell even invite Jane Fonda. Of course she will head straight for the local Al Qaeda trench. I'm sure our GI's would just love to hear him bad mouth President Bush. And when ytour done Mike I know a few guys around here who would like you to bring your book tour to our neighborhood and the local VFW. You know why Nam vets were unhappy after they came back. It wasn't about fighting in NAM it was people like MR Moore who ever since have made it UnAmerican to be an American. He has no honor. God Bless President Bush.
Posted by: dataman1 || 02/06/2004 11:21 Comments || Top||

#13  NEVER UNDERESTIMATE STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE NUMBERS!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 02/06/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||

#14  There will come a day when this fat lard ass's heart is going to take a nose dive and he will be found on the cold tiles of his bathroom floor in a pool of excrement clutching his chest. It will be a fitting end to a man who lies as easily as he breathes.
Posted by: remote man || 02/06/2004 13:21 Comments || Top||

#15  The whole thesis of Bowling for Columbine was that the killers were driven/encouraged/persuaded/induced to kill by the militaristic, warmongering, gun-happy, kill-crazed, fascistic nature of American society--then (c. 1999) on display in the bombing of Kosovo.

So who does Michael Moore endorse for president? Denny Kucinich, man of peace? No!--he endorses the very militaristic, warmongering, kill-crazed fascist who directed the bombing of Kosovo: Gen. Wesley Clark--Enabler of Columbine!

Am I the only one who sees an inconsistency here?

Posted by: Mike || 02/06/2004 15:42 Comments || Top||

#16  Ah Flint's own glorified underachiever strikes again. 4500 at MSU? They must have attached the words "free kegger" to the end of the flyer.

Posted by: Brainiac || 02/06/2004 16:50 Comments || Top||

#17  Being from Bridgeport CT, the home of the P.T.Barnum Museum, I resent any comparison of MM to Barnum. Barnum was merely a liar, scallywag, fraud and shameless huckster. MM doesn't rise to that level. The only thing Barnumesque about Michael Moore is his resemblence to P.T's elephant "Jumbo."
Posted by: Sgt.DT || 02/06/2004 17:07 Comments || Top||

#18  LOL Sgt.DT... I always advise anyone from Bridgeport to buy the commemorative half that features PTB on the obverse and a striking art deco eagle on reverse.... it was undervalued for years...
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 19:38 Comments || Top||

#19  The same type of people that spat on returning vets in the 60's and 70's attend speeches given by Michael Moore. Those same people will vote for the Democratic nominee in November, 2004. That's all you really need to know.
Posted by: Mark || 02/06/2004 20:01 Comments || Top||

#20  I'm from Michigan and apologize for the existence of MM. Please find it in your hearts to forgive us Michiganders and please remember that we did give you Mo-town, Seger, Kid Rock, the Mustang, big-ass Chevy Trucks & Ted Nugent ;) (please also forget that bit about Madonna being from there)
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 22:04 Comments || Top||

#21  Brainiac, good point on the kegger line. MSU students prolly thought it was the name of a new Irish Pub. U of M would've been a different story - libz o'plenty in Hash Arbor.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 22:06 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Musharraf holds press conference
President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Thursday pardoned Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the man accused of being involved in nuclear proliferation, on the recommendation of the federal cabinet, which met in Islamabad earlier in the day. Speaking at a crowded press conference at the Army House auditorium here, the president announced the decision and, at the same time, vowed to continue the country’s nuclear programme "come what may."
"The world needs more Islamic nukes..."
He said that some people in the domestic media were indulging in what he called emotionalism and sensationalism and creating doubts about their country. He said they did not understand what would happen to Pakistan if the government, the army or both were implicated in nuclear proliferation. "The UN Security Council will immediately impose sanctions against us, next we will be asked to sign the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) and roll back, then we will be declared a rogue state and finally our vital interests would come under imminent physical danger," he warned.
Sounds like a logical progression to me. All reasonable moves, too...
He said that for him Pakistan came first and everything else was secondary. "In the first place you (the media) should play a more responsible role in this matter and secondly, even if for the sake of argument it is accepted that the government and the army were involved in the affair, do you think it will serve our national interest to shout about it from the roof-top?"
I don't have the slightest doubt that the government and the army were involved. Except for a few people willing to believe five impossible things before breakfast, I don't think anyone does. The best Perv's going to get is a polite fiction...
The president responded with an emphatic ’No’ when a foreign correspondent asked him if he was prepared to hand over all the documentary evidence gathered against the scientists, allow a full and independent investigation into allegations of nuclear proliferation and bring Pakistan’s weapons programme under the supervision of the UN. He said Pakistan was a sovereign country and it would not allow any outsider to interfere in "matters that were truly ours, but if anyone from the IAEA comes here we will tell them everything."
"... that we want them to know.
He said no government, past or present, and no army chief, past or present, were involved in nuclear proliferation. He said the very nature of the programme was clandestine and, therefore, had to be kept secret even from intelligence agencies. He agreed with a suggestion that intelligence agencies should have investigated Dr Khan when he was spending left and right, "but then, that too had to be ignored because we were ourselves procuring material from the international black market." According to the president, only three persons - the president, the army chief and Dr Khan - were privy to the affairs relating to the nuclear programme between 1988 and 1999. Before that only Dr Khan and president Gen Zia ul-Haq knew what was happening at the KRL and later the then finance minister, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, was brought on board to look after the finances of the programme, he said.
That's a recipe for feathering one's nest. That's probably why they brought in the finance guy — there probably wasn't enough left after the beaks were wet to actually buy the stuff...
He said he as the director-general military operations had no idea what was happening at the KRL. However, when he took over as the army chief, he had immediately proposed the setting up of an organization to take over the custodial control of the programme, but the then prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, ignored the suggestion, he said. He was very harsh on some retired army generals whom he called ’military philosophers’ and ’pseudo-intellectuals’. He, however, absolved former army chiefs Gen Aslam Beg and Gen Jehangir Karamat of any wrongdoings in connection with nuclear proliferation. He said Pakistan was now an overt nuclear power and no pressure could make it give up this capability. He said Pakistan at the moment had 6,500 scientists to carry forward the programmes and there were 45,000 people working on various projects. He assured the nation that neither he nor the country was under any pressure from anywhere to give up the country’s nuclear programme, "we have the best of relations with all, the Europeans, Japan, the US, including now with India, and we are coming very close to the Russians as well."
"Not as close as we were with Iran, Libya, and North Korea, of course, but we're working on it..."
Asked if the world would pardon Dr Khan as he had done, the president said: "Leave it to me. I am standing between Dr Khan and the world community. Nothing will happen to him."
"We're thinking of moving him to a safe place to protect him. By helicopter..."
About Kashmir, he said he had not agreed to set aside the UN resolutions unilaterally and that he continued to recognize what was happening in the held Kashmir as freedom struggle and not terrorism. He said: "The world has not yet agreed on a universally accepted definition of terrorism."
What we've got so far, though, includes random violence directed against civilians, to include tossing grenades at them and cutting their heads off...
Referring to Dr Khan’s fate, he said he (the president) had to fulfil the international requirements and, at the same time, he had also to shield the doctor and "this was the minimum that I could have done to shield him."
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 1:46:48 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He said Pakistan ...would not allow any outsider to interfere in "matters that were truly ours, but if anyone from the IAEA comes here we will tell them everything.
LOL! Translation: The IAEA is so useless, how could it hurt?


As for Moo-Sherrif, I gotta say, I think this was a very successful tactic. Yes, I had sex with that woman, but it wasn't my fault and now it's all in the past and we need to move on for the good of the country. [voice over applause] smooth, very smooth indeed. It just might work.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 10:38 Comments || Top||

#2  One good thing. He's putting down UN which only means he's more than willing to deal with US.

Disturbing is that he's still equivocating on Kashmir as he gives the standard Islamic Conference Organization typical tactic of changing the subject. ("First let's discuss the meaning of the word, ladies and gentlemen of the Left.") So does he want a solution there or not? He gains nothing getting the Indians irritated. Kashmir does not threaten the democratic traditions of India, both socially and institutionally. I thought he had tipped the scales toward the US in the pardon affair, but he still has at least a few toes in the other camp's side. Let's be sure to have all the phones working between New Delhi and DC.
Posted by: Michael || 02/06/2004 11:42 Comments || Top||


Pakistan sold nukes to the Axis of Evil
Our "ally" Pakistan sold nuclear technology to Libya, Iran, and North Korea. And no one will do anything about it. The way things were set up is that the technology was officially sold not by the Paki government, but by a "private" citizen, Abdul Qadeer Khan. Khan is one of the inventors of Pakistani nukes and is considered a national hero. Now, officially, Pakistan cannot be blamed for the actions of one private person. Khan was to stand trial for his actions, but... oops, now the government has pardoned him. Can’t blame the Paki government, they didn’t do it; can’t blame the fall guy, he is pardoned. Meanwhile, three of the worst dictatorships have nukes (or "nuclear technology", whatever that means).

Hindustan Times:

US calls pardon of Pak nuke father an internal matter

The US State Department has said the decision of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to pardon a confessed provideer of nuclear technology was an internal matter.

It expressed no reservations about Musharraf’s refusal to prosecute Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist, despite his admitted role in providing sensitive technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea.

A State Department official, asking not to be identified, said the pardon was, in effect, a plea bargain aimed at encouraging Khan to expose others who participated in the scandal.
Posted by: Alex || 02/06/2004 12:56:19 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is way, way, WAY beyond time for certain mutts to start falling out of hotel room windows and stepping in front of buses. Obviously the 'nice guy' angle will just get one or more of our large cities incinerated. If they want to play hardball with the varsity, we need to be pitching inside, if not throwing at their heads.

When the mushroom cloud blooms over Manhattan it will be too late to abandon accomodation.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 1:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Questions also have to be asked about why the CIA and other intelligence outfits are 'shocked' to discover something that has been an open secret in the region for years.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 1:35 Comments || Top||

#3  too much dependence on our tech and not enough on having people on the ground
Posted by: Dcreeper || 02/06/2004 3:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Spare me 4th infvet--you and your ilk would like nothing better than to see a mushroom cloud over Manhattan since it's full of people who totally disagree with your lying war-mongering president--remember NYC was 80% for Gore before the election process was usurped by the hand-picked Republican Supreme Court--so spare me your worries for Manhattan
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 3:51 Comments || Top||

#5  NMM: Again with your irrational bigotry, or at best a complete failure to understand the opposition. So what if Manhatten, or Berkeley went Gore. They are still Americans, and we don't cotton to folks killing Americans, or nuking Americans.

What I see is psychological projection. This is probably how you would behave. Thankfully folks like myself and 4th InfVet, as well as almost all Republicans are far different. And I'll say it, better people than the likes of you.
Posted by: Ben || 02/06/2004 5:23 Comments || Top||

#6  NMM, it was your side that bemoaned the deaths of Gore voters instead of Bush voters on 9-11. Don't even dare try to spin that bit of bastardy away.

BTW -- did you get tired of your Faisal character?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 7:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Hehee RC did you note how the ahab the arab accent fell away after a bit.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 7:59 Comments || Top||

#8  Yeah, but the hate and evil was always there.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 8:43 Comments || Top||

#9  Don't be surprised if Perv got more then a few back channel calls from us saying WTF!! Fix your shit, this pardon better bear us some good fruit.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 8:55 Comments || Top||

#10  How is it possible for someone to be as stupid and bigoted as NotMikeMoore(but just as fat and stupid) and him still be breathing? Does his parents know he's using their computer? Or do they not go in their basement anymore? What tool.
Posted by: AllahHateMe || 02/06/2004 9:54 Comments || Top||

#11  Has anyone noticed how Africa, the Middle East, and the sub-continent have regressed to their pre-colonial chaos since European colonialism was dismantled. If the sun had never set upon the British Empire, how much better would the world have been?
Posted by: Highlander || 02/06/2004 10:38 Comments || Top||

#12  Ben, I've always been suspicious of the whole idea of "psychological projection," but in this case it seems to apply. Why do the lefties always screan "Bush=Hitler"? Perhas because they understand, at some level, that this conflict is about freedom vs. fascism. But what their minds don't allow them to grasp is the fact that they have become the Nazis. Hence they project it on to Bush and company.
Posted by: closet neo-con || 02/06/2004 10:45 Comments || Top||

#13  4thinvet. I'm with you bro. It's way past time.

MNN parents sold thier house and moved years ago. He lives with at his buddies from high school.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/06/2004 13:36 Comments || Top||


Second opinion: Our meaning of Allah’s Army
The idea of war under Islam is at the root of our belief. We have many meanings of jihad but one central meaning is fighting in the way of Allah. Many of us think that only defensive war is allowed in Islam and that covert or proxy wars are not permitted. Others think that aggressive war “to remove injustice” is also included. Here we are on interpretive territory. The idea of Islamic war joins us with other Muslims in other countries although this introduces complications into the discussion because nation-states cut into the concept of the “ummah” or one transnational supra-nation.

Major (Retd) Amir Afzal wrote in “Nawa-e-Waqt” (28 December 2003) magazine that the Pakistan army should apologise for its misdeeds and make itself into Hizbullah (party of Allah) and then convert the population of Pakistan into Hizbullah and use the big weapons with great care. All the foot-soldiers should be converted into shroud-wearing mujahideen ready to make night raids against the enemy. The entire nation should have one gun each and become a great flood of warriors to make Pakistan a castle of Islam. This is the most frightening flight of imagination on the part of an army officer. How should the army convert itself into Hizbullah? The last time it tried to do so, in 1995, it was caught in the act and one Zaheerul Islam Abbasi was put in jail for it. He later did create Hizbullah! Along with him was indicted Qari Saifullah Akhtar who was let off by the military court for some reason, one possible one being his jihad in Afghanistan and Kashmir. He was chief of Harkatul Jihad al-Islami which was later based in Kandahar because 80 percent of the members of the Taliban government belonged to it because of the connection with Afghan jihadi leader Maulavi Nabi Muhammadi with whom the Harkatul Jihad al-Islami was aligned in its early phase. After leading forays into Chechnya, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Qari Saifullah Akhtar fled back into Pakistan to escape American bombing and was later whisked off to the Middle East by his Arab connections.

According to daily “Pakistan” (29 December 2003) a number of political parties in Bangladesh parliament were getting together to bring a resolution for the apostatisation of the Qadianis in Bangladesh. The move was backed by the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat committee of the country which threatened to launch a violent drive in the country against the minority community. The Committee gave till 9 January 2004 for declaring the Qadianis non-Muslim. The Qadiani-baiting was an old West Pakistan disease while East Pakistan remained free from it mainly because East Pakistan was dominated by educated leaders. Mujib founded Bangladesh as a secular state but that experiment failed and the constitution was tweaked once again into accepting some of the dark instincts of the Muslims. One army general introduced the article about Bangladesh being an Islamic state; another put in the 8th Amendment more or less like General Zia of Pakistan. Now the next step is to be taken by declaring the Qadianis non-Muslims, followed most probably by the killing of the few Qadianis that live in the country. The closing of the Bangladeshi mind is a tragedy. The world might help by taking in the population of the Qadianis still living in Bangladesh.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 12:41:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Hafiz Mohammed Saeed sez they need nukes and troops for jihad
Atomic weapons, traditional weapons, a strong army and voluntary mujahideen are obligatory for jihad and the Jamaat ud-Daawa (JD) will continue protecting and arranging these resources for jihad against Hindus, the JD party announced Thursday at a Kashmir Solidarity Day rally. Around 3,000 people participated in the rally on The Mall, the biggest Kashmir demonstration in the city. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) also arranged a rally of about 1,500 people, mostly women and children. JD Ameer Hafiz Muhammad Saeed said the organisation would not allow the government to disregard the sacrifices of Kashmiri mujahideen, and would start a countywide campaign to inform people about “conspiracies against the Kashmir freedom struggle”.
"Dark conspiracies. Insidious plots..."
“Jihad is the only solution to the Kashmir issue and it was a fact and will remain a fact that jihad will free the Indian Muslims, who are looking to us,” he said. He said no one could stop Pakistani and Indian Muslims when they joined Kashmiris in their struggle against the Indian occupation because it was their “obligatory duty”.
"And if the Kashmiri Muslims don't want to do it, and the Indian Muslims don't want to do it, we'll do it ourselves!"
“Muslims throughout the world have a bond of kalma. From Lahore to Srinagar, Kabul to Baghdad, Basra to Chechnya, they are fighting under this kalma, but the infidel world doesn’t like it and describes it as terrorism,” he said.
That's because of all the civilian corpses, of course...
Mr Saeed said only jihad could guarantee the security of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan and the whole Islamic world. He praised Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and said he hadn’t committed any crime by transferring nuclear technology to Muslim countries.
Like North Korea ...
“He shared the technology for the supremacy of Islam and he acted on the Allah’s command,” Mr Saeed said, describing Dr Khan as a hero. “He is our hero, will remain our hero, and the government can’t undermine his honour under American pressure.”

JD Foreign Affairs Committee head Maulana Abdul Rehman Makki said in his speech that the Western media was linking terrorism with Islam, which were wrong. America, Britain, Israel and India are the biggest terrorists, who are occupying the resources of Muslims countries and violating human rights all over the world.
"They're violating our right to cut people's heads off! They're violating our right to call people apostates and kill them all, even their kiddies and their dogs! They're violating our right to enforce our tribal mores on people who couldn't care less!"
“The media and the (Pakistani) parliament should know that there are 77 commands related to jihad in the Quran. They should follow these and fulfil their religious duty,” he said.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Ishtiaq Ahmed, an Indian Kashmir Muslim League leader, also addressed the rally. Mr Ghafoor said General Musharraf was the first Pakistani ruler to change the national stance on Kashmir. “General Musharraf has been practically in American custody since the September 11 incident. He is acting on US orders and is now ready to withdraw from Kashmir and the nuclear programme,” he said. “Now, the time has come to stand against his polices. Otherwise, not only Pakistan, but the whole Muslim Ummah will be at stake.” He said the MMA would not allow anybody to play foul with the nation.
That's a pretty casual assumption that Pakland and the Ummah are one. Or is it an admission?
JI Lahore chapter head Mian Maqsood said America had “officially announced the beginning of nuclear cooperation with India”. He said more propaganda would be launched against Pakistan with the promotion of fake Pakistan-India friendship to eliminate Pakistan’s justification to keep atomic weapons. “Musharraf has a pivotal role in this dangerous plan,” he said.
It’s a Conspiracy(TM), by Gawd! Hold me, Fatima!
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:28:40 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
... he hadn’t committed any crime by transferring nuclear technology to Muslim countries.

I thought Pakistan signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/06/2004 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  a rally of about 1,500 people, mostly women and children

Human shields? Tres islamofascist, don't you think.

Muslims throughout the world have a bond of kalma. From Lahore to Srinagar, Kabul to Baghdad, Basra to Chechnya

Somebody buy this mutt a map.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 1:28 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought Pakistan signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Nope.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 1:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Then Pakistan should sign it now. Now is a good opportunity for the US to apply some pressure on this issue.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/06/2004 8:29 Comments || Top||

#5  I think it is a toss up between New York or New Delhi for the first Terro-nuke.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 12:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Do these guys care about anything else besides Jihad?Like gardening,for example?

"We will wage holy war against the infidel snails!We will not stop until we have rooted out every piece of weed planted by the Zionist plotters!"

Sigh...
Posted by: El Id || 02/06/2004 12:43 Comments || Top||

#7  I think it is a toss up between New York or New Delhi for the first Terro-nuke.

I've said before, and I'll say again, the time is rapidly approaching where we'll have to incinerate several Muslim population centers to get our point across to these dirtballs.
Posted by: Analog Roam || 02/06/2004 12:52 Comments || Top||

#8  "America, Britain, Israel and India are the biggest terrorists, who are occupying the resources of Muslims countries and violating human rights all over the world."

Please, please, please let's make this mutt's delusions come true! You wanna see occupying? You wanna see violation of the rights of the mad mullahs and oil sheiks? Just keep flapping your piehole.
Posted by: Craig || 02/06/2004 12:55 Comments || Top||

#9  As God as my witness someday I will use the line
Hold me, Fatima! properly in a printed sentence outside Rantburg.... read your letters to the editor... examine the crowds and their signs at the FireCracker...
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 15:14 Comments || Top||

#10  A couple of decades ago I came to the conclusion that if my choices were death by nuke or cancer, no competition, nuke.

Doesn't bother me that they get some because I know my grey ladies are there waiting. fatalist/realist doesn't matter, helps me sleep at night after I visit here and other sites.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 15:39 Comments || Top||

#11  From your lips to Allah's ear Analog. I am becoming concerned that is all they will understand. Our forbearance is wearing pretty thin. The Indians will just go apesh*t.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 17:24 Comments || Top||

#12  The Indians will just go apesh*t.

No doubt Red. My wife is Indian, and as a Hindu is very tolerant. However, she despises Muslims. If the Islamofreaks pop a nuke here or there, it's over. The Indians just don't have the nice sensibilities we do.
Posted by: Analog Roam || 02/06/2004 18:43 Comments || Top||

#13  The Indians, actually a very proud culture of warriors little known about outside of their region. We think of the Japanese w/Bushido as epitome of warrior breed, India had similar standards of their men back in the day. The Book of God, (the gita?) has many stories of battles, I remember reading about Krishna "the foe-consumer". Definitely not that mellow.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 22:13 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaeda hails 1999 Nepalese hijacking
A document reported to be from al-Qaeda has hailed the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane by Kashmiri militants as a "successful operation" from which other guerrillas can learn lessons. The plane was hijacked after it left the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, en route to New Delhi on December 24, 1999, and later landed in the Afghan city of Kandahar. After a week of tough negotiations, the government met the hijackers’ demands and released three militants from a prison in Kashmir in exchange for the passengers and crew. "The hijackers were clearly able to to lend greater prominence to their cause," the document, translated from a pro-Qaeda Arabic website Al-Palsam said. "The whole world began to deal with the Kashmir issue anew and according to a new perspective."
Did the Kashmiris a lot of good, didn't it? That was the hijacking that sprung Masood Azhar...
The document added that the Indian authorities were "afflicted with broken spiritedness, submissiveness and grovelling as they carried out the demands of the Mujahideen in front of the whole world."
... rather than having more innocents killed. It's always a bad move to give in to terrorism, and this particular hijacking illustrates it. The number of corpses which have as a result is a lot higher than the number that would have come had somebody just bombed the plane and killed everyone on it.
It said the operation should be studied "in order to derive lessons and insights from which Mujahideen can benefit." The document said the "greatest success in the matter was the speed of decision-making and resoluteness in the event when the Indian forces delayed in supplying fuel."
Yeah. That was when the killed the guy on his honeymoon...
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:09:11 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
the Indian authorities were "afflicted with broken spiritedness, submissiveness and grovelling as they carried out the demands of the Mujahideen in front of the whole world."

That's how Al Qaeda and its supporters expected the USA to react to September 11.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/06/2004 8:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Mike, The truely sad part is that they still expect us to do it after each of their 'This time I reallly will taunt you!' threats....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 9:13 Comments || Top||


Kashmir Korpse Kount
TWENTY people were killed today in attacks across Indian Kashmir on the deadliest day in the divided Himalayan province since Pakistan and India agreed to resume talks a month ago. Nine Islamic rebels and an Indian army officer were killed in a gunbattle in the northern Kupwara district, with three of the guerrillas’ bodies so charred they could not be recovered, police said. The shootout came hours after four troops from the army’s counter-insurgency wing, the Rashtriya Rifles, were killed when their bus ran over a landmine in the forests of the central Anantnag district, according to an army spokesman. He said another eight soldiers and two people operating the bus on contract were injured by the blast. Elsewhere, suspected rebels shot dead two civilians, a bystander was killed in crossfire and three more militants were gunned down by troops.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 12:07:47 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here's a update on one of the deaders:
Police in Kashmir killed a commander of a leading separatist groups fighting to end Indian rule in the Himalayan region, officials said Friday.
Rafiq Ledri, 35, who police allege headed the armed wing of Ul-Umar Mujahideen, was shot late Thursday during a raid on his hide-out in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu-Kashmir, said Javed Gilani, a senior superintendent of police. "We acted on a tip-off and the operation was a success," Gilani said.
Ledri's bloodied body was also identified Friday morning by one of his sisters in the police morgue, according to an Associated Press Television News cameraman who was present. The sister kissed Ledri's head and pleaded with the police to release the body for burial before noon prayers on Friday, the Muslim holy day.


"Get him out of here, he's getting ripe."
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 9:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Here's a update on one of the deaders:
Police in Kashmir killed a commander of a leading separatist groups fighting to end Indian rule in the Himalayan region, officials said Friday.
Rafiq Ledri, 35, who police allege headed the armed wing of Ul-Umar Mujahideen, was shot late Thursday during a raid on his hide-out in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu-Kashmir, said Javed Gilani, a senior superintendent of police. "We acted on a tip-off and the operation was a success," Gilani said.
Ledri's bloodied body was also identified Friday morning by one of his sisters in the police morgue, according to an Associated Press Television News cameraman who was present. The sister kissed Ledri's head and pleaded with the police to release the body for burial before noon prayers on Friday, the Muslim holy day.


"Get him out of here, he's getting ripe."
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 10:05 Comments || Top||

#3 
I'd call that grounds for a moderate amount of ululation and some underpriced champagne!

I'd call that grounds for a moderate amount of ululation and some underpriced champagne!
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2004 20:57 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Oh, boy, big target
Via Lucianne again!
U.S. Embassy in Iraq to Be the Biggest
The next U.S. Embassy in Iraq, scheduled to open in July, will eventually become the biggest American diplomatic mission in the world, U.S. officials say. While the future U.S. diplomatic presence in Baghdad is still in the planning phases, officials here agree that an enormous American contingent--of 3,000 or more U.S. employees--will be required in Iraq long after July 1, when the United States plans to turn over sovereignty to Iraqis. ``It most likely will be the largest in the world for some time,’’ a U.S. official in Washington said Friday on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 6:26:18 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It'll be the size of an air/land military base heh heh
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2004 18:33 Comments || Top||


A Hero from a Foreign Land
Minister Majko offers condolences to Ervin Dervishi family
Minister of Defense Pandeli Majko commiserates the family of the American soldier with Albanian nationality Ervin Dervishi. Minister Majko expressed to his family, on behalf of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces of the Republic of Albania, deeply felt condolences for the unexpected loss of the 22 years old youngster. “We share in your pain and at the same time feel proud for the heroic act of your son”, said Minister Majko to Ervin’s parents in the United States through phone conversation. He informed them also that the Commando Regiment will organize Thursday a military ceremony to honor Ervin Dervishi, the ceremony is in honor to the fallen in duty. The Minister has required the Albanian troops in Iraq to be silent for a minute in the memory of Ervin, while the military ceremonial takes place in Tirana.
Army Pfc. Ervin Dervishi
21, of Fort Worth, Texas.
Dervishi died in Baji, Iraq, during a combat patrol when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the Bradley Fighting Vehicle in which he was traveling. He was evacuated to the 28th Combat Support Hospital where he later died. Dervishi was assigned the Company B, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Died on January 24, 2004.
Army Pfc. Ervin Dervishi AMERICAN HERO
He went through basic training in Georgia and was stationed out of Fort Hood, where he was assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. Pfc. Dervishi was present for the arrest of Saddam Hussein.

“Life [in Albania] was hard,” Ms. Beebe said. “Both boys had already seen war up close. They had both witnessed a lot of death and destruction and murder.”

But that only spurred Pfc. Dervishi and his brother in their desire to join the military, go to college and eventually become police officers, Ms. Beebe said.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 02/06/2004 3:49:09 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Condolences, also to LTC Steve for the loss of Pfc. Dervishi.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 16:58 Comments || Top||

#2  He was an American, who started life in Albania. He joins the millions of other patriots that gave their life for this great country. My thoughts, prayers and thanks go to his family.
Posted by: Remote Man || 02/06/2004 21:54 Comments || Top||


Task Force “All American 2-6-2004
The 82d Airborne Division and attached units, also known as Task Force “All American,” continued operations within the Al Anbar Province to provide security and assistance to the Iraqi people. During the last 24 hours, forces conducted 259 patrols (including 16 joint patrols), cleared three small caches, and executed six offensive operations. Iraqi Civil Defense Corps forces also conducted 15 independent patrols. At the Trebil border crossing, the Iraqi border police denied entry to 24 personnel and 15 vehicles, and 12 personnel and 12 vehicles at Husaybah – all because they lacked passports.

Last night in 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division’s area of operations, a source led U.S forces to a cache along the Euphrates River east of Habbaniyah. At the site, they discovered one 60mm mortar complete, eight 60mm mortar rounds, five RPG rounds, and two hand grenades.

This morning in the 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division’s area of operations, paratroopers conducted a cordon and search northeast of Fallujah of two target locations to kill or capture Khalil Daham Sereh. He is suspected of receiving, transporting, and emplacing large quantities of improvised explosive device-making materiels (IED). The operation resulted in the capture of three enemy personnel – although none of them were the primary target. Also confiscated were four AK-47s, two bolt-action rifles, one RPG-7 manual, one electrical timer, and handwritten anti-coalition messages.

In 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment’s area of operations, soldiers conducted a cordon and search in Husaybah to kill or capture four named individuals believed to be financiers of foreign fighters. The operation resulted in the capture of five enemy personnel – including one of the four primary targets. Also confiscated were a computer and miscellaneous documents.

In 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division’s areas of operations, soldiers were attacked with indirect fire in eastern Ar Ramadi. A dispatched air force aircraft and a nearby patrol located the origin of attack and conducted a search of the area. The aircraft then identified an individual dismounted near a truck with an item that appeared to be a mortar system. U.S ground forces captured three enemy personnel, one 82mm mortar system, and 17 82mm mortar rounds.

Northwest of Khalidiyah, soldiers conducted a search of a target house to find weapons or ammunition. At the house, they captured Yaseen Abed Mukhalif – a former Iraqi Intelligence Service officer suspected of supporting anti-coalition actions in the area. Soldiers also captured Mukhalif’s brother.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 02/06/2004 1:57:29 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ....(at)a cache along the Euphrates River .... they discovered ....two hand grenades.
Damn! They cudda gone fishing.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 14:37 Comments || Top||

#2  They are dedicated professional soldiers (and they're weren't nothin but catfish in this part of the river)
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 15:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Mmmmm... catfish!
Posted by: Homer Simpson || 02/06/2004 19:48 Comments || Top||


Iraq: Soldier’s quick action may have saved lives
Edited for brevity.
In Iraq today, seven American servicemen are still alive, thanks to the quick thinking of a soldier from Lead [in the northern Black Hills of South Dakota, pronounced "Leed"]. Army Sergeant Brian Burelson is in a German hospital after being wounded near Baghdad by a roadside bomb. Burelson and the other six men in his bomb disposal unit discovered the roadside explosive device Wednesday. As they approached the device, Burelson realized someone had triggered the bomb by remote control. He moved quickly to pull the detonation core from the bomb, defusing a larger explosion and saving his men from almost certain death. A split second later, the detonator went off in his left hand, severing fingers and sending shrapnel into his leg.
Doesn’t get much closer than that!
Brian’s father says it’s a small price to pay. “I lost one of my best friends a few months back, Hans Gukheisen (died in a helicopter crash in Iraq last year), so I pray every night that Brian would come home safe and he’s coming home safe, not all of him but most of him,” Bill Burleson said.
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 1:40:12 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Damn! Another Hero! Well done!

The sad part is the media is too busy talking about Janets right boob to report it :((.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 13:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Somebody clarify:

How do you realize somebody has triggered a bomb by remote control ? (I mean, other than jumping 20 feet into the air and scattering yourself over a wide area -- thanks Cap'n Blackadder !)

Is it that some parts are visibly moving, yet the necessary explosive reaction is somehow not started properly ?

Also, how good does your sphincter control have to be in order to do this job ? (not sure I could pass)

Posted by: Carl in N.H || 02/06/2004 15:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Started a fuse going evidently an electric match... Jeeezzz... I wish I was that quick.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 15:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Bravo! Too bad the media will never focus on his brave deeds. It's probably just as well. Real hero's take satisfaction in the more meaningful rewards - such as the lives saved!

Well done!
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 22:09 Comments || Top||


Green Berets Routed Iraqi Brigade
EFL
During the April 6 Battle of Debecka Pass fought near between Mosul and Kirkuk, Antenori said, the Americans’ prior training in Kuwait with the shoulder-fired Javelin surface-to-surface missile system turned out "to be worth its weight in gold." During that fight, 31 Americans and 80 Iraqi Peshmerga troops, aided by Navy fighter bombing runs guided by Air Force combat air traffic controllers, successfully dealt with an Iraqi infantry brigade that was equipped with T-55 tanks and armored personnel carriers, Antenori said.

The fighting went back and forth, he recalled, but ultimately the Navy jets and Javelins destroyed myriad enemy armored personnel carriers and tanks, taking "the wind out of the Iraqi’s sails" and helping to seal the victory. After two more hours of fighting, the Iraqis left the battlefield, Antenori said, abandoning eight of their tanks and 16 APCs during the withdrawal. Not everything, though, went according to plan, Antenori acknowledged, noting that a Navy bomb mistakenly killed a group of Kurdish soldiers gathered around a disabled T-55 tank. "It was just one of those terrible things that happens" during war, he said.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 02/06/2004 9:14:26 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Battle of Debka pass?????
Posted by: liberalhawk || 02/06/2004 10:17 Comments || Top||

#2  31 Americans and 80 Iraqi Peshmerga troops, aided by Navy fighter bombing runs guided by Air Force combat air traffic controllers
Somebody say jointness?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 10:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Company-strength (111) dismounted infantry--with a bit of air support--stops a mounted attack by an armored brigade.

These guys are good.
Posted by: Mike || 02/06/2004 10:40 Comments || Top||

#4  The guys they were fighting were pretty bad, but it's still impressive.
Posted by: Hiryu || 02/06/2004 10:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Sure, the iraqis are Keystone Kops, but they did have tanks, aks, rpgs, and everything else that can put out lead. And come on, it's an ENTIRE FREAKING BRIGADE! Thats 111 guys taking on 4500! How many rounds did they send out trying to kill a company?

Of course, the iraqi mutts learned the same thing the taliban and soddis learned in afghanistan: the only thing that keeps U.S. troops from dealing incredible death and destruction upon you is restraint. Once the gloves come off, you are in a world of shit.

Props to joint operations and SF for doing the job and doing it well.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 11:23 Comments || Top||

#6  "Its a trick! There are two of them!" (from an old joke..).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 11:54 Comments || Top||

#7  CrazyFool, what's the rest of that old joke? (it's older than me, probably)
Posted by: (lowercase) matt || 02/06/2004 12:10 Comments || Top||

#8  The joke.... (This gets edited and recycled for each conflict. This version is from Afghanistan)

A large group of Taliban soldiers are moving down a road when they hear a voice call from behind a sand dune....

"One US soldier is better than ten Taliban"

The Taliban commander quickly sends 10 of his best soldiers over the dune, whereupon a gun-battle breaks out and continues for a few minutes then ssilence. The voice then call out.....

"One US soldier is better than one hundred Taliban"

Furious, the Taliban commander sends his next best 100 troops over the dune

and instantly a huge gunfight commences. After 10 minutes of battle, again silence. The voice calls out again....

"One US soldier is better than one thousand Taliban"

The enraged Taliban commander musters one thousand fighters and sends them across the dune. Cannons, rockets and machine gun fire ring out as a huge battle is fought. Then silence.

Eventually one wounded Taliban fighter crawls back over the dune and with
his dying words tells his commander..... "Don't send any more men....it's a trap....there's two of them
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 12:25 Comments || Top||

#9  Not everything, though, went according to plan, Antenori acknowledged, noting that a Navy bomb mistakenly killed a group of Kurdish soldiers gathered around a disabled T-55 tank.

Someone might wanna create some sort of all-clear signal for Kurds that don't understand English and tell them not to venture out until it's given....
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 02/06/2004 14:56 Comments || Top||

#10  It's still a good joke.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 15:21 Comments || Top||

#11  too bad about the Kurds. It seems that they are good allies and warriors.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 22:12 Comments || Top||


Denver Marine’s Selfless Act Contributes to Victory
When the Marine Corps turned its attention toward the Global War on Terrorism, few would have thought that a small-town Marine with dreams of seeing the world would return home as a combat veteran, decorated for his combat heroism. Lance Cpl. Brandon A. Warpness, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 7, 1st Marine Division, while serving as assistant machine gunner, was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, with combat “v” device denoting valor for his actions during Operation Iraqi Freedom, April 7. After coming up to a minefield on the west side of the Diyala River, which hindered the advance of 1st Tank Battalion’s offensive on Baghdad, a mine-clearing charge was detonated to clear the ground. The minefield, however, remained a daunting 150-meter hurdle of anti-tank mines and grenades rigged as anti-personnel mines for the advance. Abandoning the safety of his amphibious assault vehicle, Warpness ran 120-meters down the middle of the minefield, ignoring the danger of enemy rocket-propelled grenades and machinegun fire, and placed a bangalore torpedo into the remaining minefield to clear a path.

The certificate signed by Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general, 1st Marine Division, awarded to Warpness, who was a Private First Class at the time, stated that the act of valor was "instrumental in breaching the obstacle. His initiative, perseverance and total dedication to duty reflected great credit upon himself and were in keeping with highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval services."
And the sort of thing we almost routinely see from Marines...
“I think my overall experience in Iraq was a good experience,” said Warpness. “I learned to appreciate this great country more than before.”
That says it all, IMHO.
Warpness signed up in the Marine delayed entry program, Dec. 16, 2000, and proceeded to boot camp the following year in July after attending Laramie High School. “I was scared and proud at the same time,” stated Marci Warpness, Brandon’s mother, when speaking of her son’s decision to join the Marine Corps. “Joining the Marine Corps afforded him the opportunity to see different parts of the world.”
Good job Mom, you raised a good kid, a damn good Marine.
When Marci asked her son if he regretted joining the Corps, he replied, “No, Mom, I don’t. I wanted to see the world, that was my goal and I’ve certainly done that. I’ve driven from ocean to ocean and been up and down both seaboards; I’ve been to four different countries, and met a lot of nice people along the way,” explained Warpness. “I’ve done all of this in just two years.”
Things the boys who're mall rats today won't do in a lifetime...
“When he returned home, the difference in him was beyond description,” explained Marci. “He and his father, a former Marine, stand the same way and the only way to describe it would be to say that they stand ‘tall and proud.’”
I bet Dad’s told more then a few guys at the VFW about junior & rightfully so.
“The best way I can sum up my short time in the Marine Corps is to say that I’ve had a lot of fun and seen a lot of places,” said Warpness. When asked about returning to Iraq, Warpness stated he has had plenty of time to get himself and his family ready for his next deployment if he is called upon.
Young hardchargers like this give me hope about this country. One of them IMHO is worth more then a thousand LLL pansies whining about shit that means nothing in the big picture. This boy saved lives and will never ever have to wonder if he made a difference in the world. Semper Fi.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 9:10:43 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wow! Can you say valiant?
Posted by: Steve from Relto || 02/06/2004 9:20 Comments || Top||

#2  This guy is a Hero.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 9:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Semper Fi,Mac.
Posted by: Highlander || 02/06/2004 10:40 Comments || Top||

#4  "I’ve had a lot of fun and seen a lot of places"

That's pretty much how I summed up my time in the Marines. People look at you like yer crazy when you say that.
Posted by: BH || 02/06/2004 11:14 Comments || Top||

#5  Jarhead, BH, or anyone who knows, what is a bangalore torpedo?
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 14:39 Comments || Top||

#6  SH, my barney version (for brevity): Basically long-ass tube of steel piping, charge goes through the ass-end and is pushed up all the way until its under the designated obstacle and then detonated. Very similar to the bangalore used in the "big red 1" movie w/Lee Marvin. Great for clearing strands of concertina wire or hardened obstacles where tracked vehicles can't get through.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 14:52 Comments || Top||

#7  A True American Hero. The Republic will not fail with such men to protect it.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/06/2004 15:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Jarhead, thank you, I think I can picture it.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 17:40 Comments || Top||


Former Marine earns Bronze Star, Purple Heart as Soldier in Iraq Or Old Warhorse doin’ us proud
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld shakes the hand of Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Meyerhoff. Meyerhoff, a former Marine rifleman in Vietnam from ’68 to ’69, was wounded in an ambush in Iraq. He and two other soldiers are nominated for the Bronze Star for their actions during that ambush. The soldiers are with the 461st Personnel Services Battalion, a Reserve unit from Decatur, Ga.
Sorry not much more info, good to see an old guy still out leading by example for the young warriors (Rifleman in ’68 w/Leathernecks!)
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 9:01:18 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here's the link to the story. These were POSTAL WORKERS armed with a SAW. Don't piss them off.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 02/06/2004 9:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Thanks for the link Chuck. A must read to get the rest of the story. Very moving and an example of how good training cuts across all job types in the mil. Makes you wonder how reservist postal workers handled business when Lynch's active duty unit didn't ensure their weapons were clean enough to return fire with. The difference being, these guys actually earned their Bronze Star.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 10:10 Comments || Top||

#3  No disrespect to Marines, but “Postal Workers Armed with SAWs” is a bit funny. I guess it’s true that ‘Once a Marine, always a Marine.’ Good job Marines!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 02/06/2004 11:31 Comments || Top||

#4  So these guys went postal,hoo-ya.
Posted by: Raptor || 02/06/2004 11:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Sarge, actually this guy was former jarhead. His unit now are reservists w/the Army Personnel Services Battalion. But yeah, "going postal" is a term we often use. I liked that after 35 years, he's still "in the shit."
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 14:31 Comments || Top||


CPA Briefing 2-5-2004
Snippets
  • On Thursday morning, coalition forces conducted five joint cordon-and- knock operations targeting former regime elements and facilitators, detaining 19 individuals. In a separate operation, coalition suspects -- coalition soldiers recognized and captured a suspected Ansar al- Islam facilitator, Wafsi Hunan (ph).
  • On Tuesday, coalition forces conduced a raid near Tikrit, targeting a weapons dealer suspected of possessing Saddam Hussein’s personal collection of firearms. Six individuals were captured, one the brother of a suspected Fedayeen member, and another individual, Nessar Shayhab (ph), reported to be the nephew of Ibrahim al-Douri and a member of the local Fedayeen cell.
  • An Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldier was shot and killed near Tormea. Witnesses reported that a blue Opel fired at the soldier while he was walking down the street and hit him three times in the neck, head and chest. The car then stopped and took the soldier’s AK- 47 and fled the scene. Coalition forces and Iraqi police are investigating.
  • On Wednesday afternoon, after detonating an improvised explosive device against a coalition passing -- against a coalition convoy passing west of Tormea, two Iraqi civilians were wounded and were taken to the local hospital for treatment. They are both in stable condition. Coalition forces identified the four attackers, returned fire, wounding one and capturing the other three.
  • In the early morning’s -- in an early morning raid this morning, forces raided a location in Tikrit, looking for Abu Aimad (ph) al-Tikriti, a former brigadier general and the former director of military intelligence for northern Iraq. Al-Tikriti was also targeted for suspected leadership in a cell responsible for attacks against coalition forces and civilians. Al-Tikriti was captured along with three other individuals.
  • Earlier this morning, coalition forces conducted a cordon-and- search of two objectives northeast of Hit to kill or capture the Gota (sp) and Moleq (sp) brothers, believed to be weapons dealers and active supporters in the region of anti-coalition elements. The operation was conducted without incident and resulted in the capture of 23 enemy personnel, including six of the eight primary targets.
  • The Iraqi police station in Am Al-Mahawal (sp), located north of Al Hillah, was attacked by a group of belligerents yesterday. The Quick Reaction Force for Multinational Division Central South was dispatched to the location, and upon arrival two police were found wounded and seven assailants were captured. The patrol conducted a joint search with Iraqi police around the city and arrested four additional suspects. While returning to the police station, the patrol was attacked and one Iraqi -- an additional Iraqi policeman was wounded. Additional military assets were sent to reinforce the QRF, and a total of 11 detainees were taken to the Al Hillah police station for further investigation.
  • To answer your question, we are about one-third of the way complete with the transfer of soldiers. We started in November. We’ll finish in about May. We started -- today, for example, we did the almost complete -- we have almost completed the transfer of outbound 101st Airborne soldiers and the inbound soldiers from the 2nd Brigade -- the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division. We have already completed down in multinational division southeast and multinational division central-south. We still have to do the Baghdad region, the west region and the north-central region.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 02/06/2004 8:35:04 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Grinding, grinding, grinding them down.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/06/2004 8:37 Comments || Top||


Video shows Sammy forking cash over to terrorists
New footage has been released purporting to show Saddam Hussein paying large sums of money to a terrorist group. Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Nicholson says the footage is "incontrovertible proof" of the former Iraqi dictator’s links to international terrorism. It appears to show the former Iraqi President plotting crimes and paying money to members of an international terrorist group. Baroness Nicholson says the group of men in the footage looked after Saddam’s chemical and biological warfare. The footage given to Sky News was reportedly looted from one of Saddam’s palaces. There has been no independent confirmation of the tapes and Sky News cannot verify their veracity. However, Baroness Nicholson says there is no doubt the footage highlights Saddam’s links to terrorism and chemical weapons. "This is incontrovertible proof of Saddam Hussein’s involvement in international terrorism," she said.
It’ll be interesting to see which group he’s handing out the cash to. PLF, Hamas, or MEK are definite possibilities, I suppose it’d be too much to hope for that the individuals in question are known al-Qaeda operatives. All the same ...
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 1:44:04 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  wow, assuming it's determined that it's reps from a terrorist group in the video... what the hell was he thinking making a tape of it?!?
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American || 02/06/2004 2:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Sky News LOL--The Fox BBC--and Baroness Nicholson--the Oswald Moseley of her generation!>?? HAha--PLEASE STOP QUOTING Goebbels Faux News LOL!! I bet they even claim he showed his titty--really Rantbourgeois--even the
Freepers didn't fall for this BS
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 3:57 Comments || Top||

#3  For those unfamiliar with NMM: If you disagree with him, you are the one that is Goebbles. Facts, even taped evidence don't mean anything to him. He looks only at the messenger.
Posted by: Ben || 02/06/2004 5:28 Comments || Top||

#4  wow, assuming it's determined that it's reps from a terrorist group in the video... what the hell was he thinking making a tape of it?!?

He was proud of it!

Remember, this kind of largess is what made him a "great man" in the eyes of Arabs who didn't have to worry about his rape squads.

NMM -- what's wrong? The acid kick in a bit later than usual?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 7:13 Comments || Top||

#5  heh. wow.. NMM is trolling at full throttle today.. did somthing bad happen to the democrats or did he just get his second degree dumbbelt?
Posted by: Dcreeper || 02/06/2004 7:36 Comments || Top||

#6  Dean is done. The rage has to go somewhere.
Posted by: eyeyeye || 02/06/2004 9:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Did the Harvey Milk High School have a snow day today?
Posted by: Lil Dhimmi || 02/06/2004 13:49 Comments || Top||

#8  LOL... that's mean Lil
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 15:24 Comments || Top||

#9  lil dim - too funny.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 22:15 Comments || Top||


100 hard boyz rounded up in Iraq
U.S. and Iraqi forces captured more than 100 suspected guerrillas in raids across the country, arresting one of Saddam Hussein’s intelligence chiefs and another Iraqi believed involved in a suicide bombing last month, a U.S. commander said Thursday. The raids on Wednesday and Thursday occurred as daily attacks on U.S. forces are climbing after a recent lull. Rebels lobbed a mortar shell Thursday at a checkpoint near Baghdad International Airport, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding another. The military also counted a few high-level rebel suspects in a string of recent arrests. Chief among them was former Brig. Gen. Abu Aymad al-Tikriti, who was head of military intelligence in northern Iraq under Saddam’s regime, Kimmitt said. Al-Tikriti, believed to have commanded a guerrilla cell, was arrested along with three others near Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit on Thursday. On Wednesday, U.S. forces captured Majid Ali Abbas al-Dazi, suspected to have coordinated a suicide truck bombing Jan. 24 in the central town of Samarra, about 70 miles north of Baghdad.
This guy should be rather interesting to hear from, since most of the suicide bombings are said to have been coordinated by al-Qaeda rather than the Baathists. This guy could be more of the link between al-Douri and Ansar al-Islam that we’ve been told about in the past.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:17:14 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And still more American soldiers continue to die because George Bush lied along with Condi the moron and Rummy the power crazed
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 4:03 Comments || Top||

#2  And more Iraqis are NOT being killed by Saddam and his sons. Far more Iraqi civilians are not being murdered by Saddam's regime today than Americans are dying.

Your side is the one that is supposed to care more about the Iraqi civilians than us. But all this line of argument proves is your own hypocracy. As well as your irrational bigotry.
Posted by: Ben || 02/06/2004 5:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Please stop responding to this NMM troll. Feeding him responses only makes him hungrier to generate more inflammatory material. Let's have a look at his postings through the board:

3:29:43 AM
3:36:19 AM
3:39:43 AM
3:41:26 AM
3:38:16 AM
3:44:07 AM
3:47:19 AM
3:51:35 AM
3:57:42 AM
4:00:31 AM
4:03:08 AM
4:07:46 AM

For 40 minutes worth of "work", he gets to reload the page again and again for hours, gleefully reading responses with misspellings and sentence fragments to his shot-from-the-hip comments. The best thing to do is simply ignore the attacks, so that they appear by themselves with no responses. Remember, this isn't a representation of actual viewpoints or an exchange of ideas, it's just some bored guy trying to inject some excitement into his mundane life when he's sitting in front of a computer at 3:30am on a weeknight.
Posted by: gromky || 02/06/2004 6:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Gromky's right. Somebody peed in NMM's corn flakes this morning. Too funny!
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 7:25 Comments || Top||

#5  I'll stop gromky.... maybe it'll work.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 8:03 Comments || Top||

#6  I think it's sad. Trolls are like ADD children. Look at that posting schedule. Poor lil' special-needs fella. Kind of feel sorry for him. He's doing the best he can do with his limited vocabulary and thought process. Maybe we should be more understanding of his desperate cry for relevance.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 9:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Heh, heh... NMM needs to be a little more careful. Rantburg didn't get to be the 3 of truncheons clubs for nothing!

These HTML symbol-thingies are pretty cool...
A¢ÀA¢¾A¢¼A♦3¢À -- "I'll see you and raise you $20."
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 9:26 Comments || Top||

#8  Doh! What happened? It looked fine in the preview?!
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 9:27 Comments || Top||

#9  Looks great Dar. What's wrong?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 15:26 Comments || Top||

#10  Altho this is rather a peculiar forum to discuss your Penny stock investments.... A looks like it's moving... you may have a winner.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 15:27 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Policeman gunned down in latest violence in southern Thailand
Motorcycle gunmen have shot dead a police officer in southern Thailand, where a series of attacks have killed at least 14 security, government and religious figures since early January, police said. Sergeant Major Panya Darahim, a district police investigator, was gunned down by two attackers on a motorcycle in southern Narathiwat province. He was pronounced dead at hospital, a police commander said. "He was shot at around 8am by two attackers on a motorcycle as he was getting into his car after dropping off his wife at a nursery school in Sungai Padi district," Major General Khamronwit Thoopkrajang told AFP.

The attack appears part of a pattern of attacks that have rattled the deep south, a Muslim-majority region where a separatist movement has rumbled on for decades and until recently was considered too fractured to conduct well-coordinated attacks. The spate of violence erupted January 4 with a raid on an army depot in Narathiwat that killed four soldiers, and simultaneous attacks on 18 schools and two police checkpoints. Two bomb squad officers were killed the next day as they attempted to defuse a bomb in Pattani. Three monks were then hacked to death late last month in Narathiwat and Yala. Three policemen have also been killed in the region in similar attacks, while a government irrigation engineer was slashed to death Wednesday in Pattani.
Posted by: TS || 02/06/2004 5:38:34 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  exporting the Motorcycle of Doom™ to Thailand huh?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2004 18:35 Comments || Top||


Malaysia Is Caught in Nuclear Probe
More details, EFL:
Managers at the Malaysian factory owned by Scomi Precision Engineering, or SCOPE, opened their doors to journalists Friday in an effort to prove their contribution to nuclear proliferation — if any — was unwitting. The case raises questions about export and trade regulations on so-called "dual-use" items, components for illegal technology that are indistinguishable from common machine parts to all but the experts. Seven months ago, according to the CIA and Britain’s MI6, similar parts were found in boxes marked with SCOPE’s name aboard a ship bound for Libya. Investigators say the parts were for centrifuges, machines that can be used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons production. According to Malaysian police, SCOPE built its Shah Alam factory to fill an order from the Dubai-based Gulf Technical Industries, which negotiated a $3.4 million contract through a Sri Lankan middleman named B.S.A. Tahir.
They built a entire plant to fill one order from one company? Think maybe they expected more business making "things" that they didn’t know anything about?
Between December 2002 and August 2003, SCOPE shipped four consignments to the Gulf company, according to SCOPE’s parent company, the Scomi Group. Using designs from the customer, SCOPE made 14 parts from high-grade stainless steel and aluminum obtained from the Singapore branch of a German supplier, Che Lokman said. He said 15 Malaysian contractors did the work, their employment terminated when the contract was filled.
Then you hire another group of contract workers for the next shipment, so no one is around long enough to notice how many are being made. Wonder if any of them have had "accidents"?
Scomi group spokeswoman Rohaida Ali Badaruddin said the Gulf company never told SCOPE what the parts were for, and SCOPE never asked.
The check cleared.
Rohaida said SCOPE complied with government regulations in shipping the parts found in the Libya-destined crates. While an export permit is required for "sensitive items," none was sought in this case because nothing appeared out of the ordinary, she said.
Just machine parts in the box, nothing to see, move along.
Tahir, the middleman, visited the factory several times, as did engineers from Dubai, Che Lokman said. "To my memory," he said, Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist, Khan, never came.
"I don’t remember" means you can’t be charged with lying about his visiting. Che’s talked to his lawyer.
But a Malaysian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AP that Khan visited Malaysia several times — including to attend Tahir’s wedding.
Tahir is looking like a bigger player all the time.
National police chief Mohamed Bakri Omar said his Special Branch started investigating the Tahir-arranged deal after the CIA the MI6 informed them about the Libya shipment last November. Che Lokman said Malaysian police first came to the factory "two or three weeks ago" and that no foreign investigators had visited.
I’ll wager the Malaysian government doesn’t want any foreign investigators looking around and won’t grant permission.
He said the factory currently has several clients, Malaysian and international, but declined to give details citing confidentiality.
"I can say no more."
Malaysian authorities say they are satisfied that the components built by SCOPE may have had medical or petrochemical uses. But U.S. and European officials have told AP the components from Malaysia were highly sophisticated and would have few uses other than nuclear enrichment.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 2:33:12 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "To my memory," he said, Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist, Khan, never came.

Right out of the Clinton playbook...
Posted by: Raj || 02/06/2004 15:32 Comments || Top||


The centrifuge parts controversy: The Anglo-German link
More details coming out:
International investigators in the centrifuge parts controversy have uncovered evidence that could implicate British, German and Singapore-based interests. Sources told The Malay Mail that investigators have established a clear link between Dubai-based Gulf Technical Industries L.L.C. (GTI) and a group of investors, including a British national. Checks into another company, Bikar Metalle Germany, have led the investigators to an operation in Pandan Crescent, near Clementi Road in Singapore. The firm has been identified as Bikar-Metal Asia Pte Ltd. GTI is at the centre of an on-going multi-national investigation into the supply of centrifuge parts for export to proliferating countries. These new findings on the involvement of British, German, and Singapore-based companies have thrown wide open the implications of reports that originally alleged the involvement of companies from Malaysia, Switzerland, Turkey and South Africa.
Getting bigger all the time.
Intelligence agency sources said GTI, owned by British national Peter Griffin, ordered 14 components from Malaysia’s Scomi Precision Engineering (SCOPE) Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Scomi Group Bhd. The raw materials were sourced from Bikar-Metal Asia Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Bikar Metalle, based in Germany. The Singapore-based company supplies precision sheet blanks of aluminium, copper, brass and plastic to the industry. The company also specialises in precision metal cutting for cicular blanks and ring blanks. On its website, the company said they operate 24 hours to tailor to their clients’ needs. The Malay Mail could not reach its managing director Thorten Heise on his cellphone last night.
Raw materials and blank cutting, most likely they wouldn’t know what the metal was intended for.
Bikar Metal was the second German company implicated in the controversy. The New York Times had reported earlier this week of three middlemen in the supply of centrifuges to GTI who were Germans, identified by American officials only by their last names – ‘Brummer’, ‘Heinz’ and ‘Liech’. A Dutch citizen identified by Pakistani officials as "Hank" was also described as a middleman, though American intelligence officials believe that Hank is his first name. The man is believed to have some connections with Urenco, the European conglomerate where Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistani’s nuclear arms programme, once worked. Dr Khan was convicted in absentia for stealing technology there, though the conviction was overturned on a technicality.
Interesting.
Dr Khan smuggled out of Pakistan a mix of new and untested centrifuges and centrifuge parts, the senior official said. Some of the machines and components were defective, by his account.
Or he just pretended they were, had them shipped to Malaysia for re-furbishing and to serve as models to copy. Then sent them to Iran where the IAEA found traces of enriched uranium. Check the Malaysian factory for traces of radiation.
Meanwhile, Malaysian officials said the Dubai-based, Sri Lankan businessman Bukary Syed Abu Tahir, who is the middleman believed to control GTI, the company that gave the manufacturing contract to Scomi, has been made available to the US and British intelligence.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 12:08:10 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You see how this war can turn into a police investigation. Khan was convicted, so what. It's not about who did what. It's about why these counties are arming themselves.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/06/2004 13:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Damn good point Mr. Guy... need to ask Sen. Kerry about the arrest of Dr. Khan.... and the criminal investigation that proceeded it. All handled in a perfectly legal fashion.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 15:30 Comments || Top||


Malaysia Factory Counters Nuclear Charges
EFL:
An engineering company accused of supplying equipment destined for Libya’s nuclear program opened its factory Friday to show how it could have unwittingly contributed to the international black market in atomic technology. Officials with Scomi Precision Engineering, whose majority shareholder is the son of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, said the parts that the CIA alleges were produced for Libya are indistinguishable from components its makes for the auto, oil and gas industries. "To me, they were just normal parts," factor manager Che Lokman Che Omar said. "I have been using these machines for 15 years, and I have made many more difficult parts."

The CIA and Britain’s MI6 informed the Malaysian government last November that they had seized centrifuge components in boxes marked with the company’s name from a ship in Italy headed for Libya, authorities have said. Centrifuges are sophisticated machines used in a variety of industries to separate fluid components according to mass. They can be used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons production. Police are investigating the Malaysian company and a middleman who arranged the deal as part of a widening international inquiry into a global nuclear black market triggered by Pakistan’s admission that its top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, sold nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
We’ve gotten enough information from Liyba and hopefully from Pakistan to disrupt at least part of this market.
A spokeswoman for the company, Rohaida Ali Badaruddin, said the company did not seek to determine the end use of equipment it sold or check the backgrounds of customers. She said no export permit was required from the government to make the shipment. U.S. and European officials have told AP that the components from Malaysia were highly sophisticated and would have few uses except for nuclear enrichment. The company is a precision-engineering subsidiary of the Scomi Group, whose majority shareholder is Kamaluddin Abdullah, 35, the prime minister’s only son. The company made "14 semi-finished components" for Dubai-based Gulf Technical Industries and shipped them in four consignments between December 2002 and August 2003, under a deal worth $3.4 million negotiated by a Sri Lankan middleman named B.S.A. Tahir.
Ah, got a name of the Dubai company, bet they’ve had a few visitors going through their files.
The CIA and Britain’s MI6 said the deal involved supplying centrifuge components for Libya’s uranium enrichment program. Malaysian and Western officials say Tahir is an associate of Khan, the Pakistani scientist.
I expected nothing less. Mr. Tahir is in custody and is reported to be co-operating.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 10:24:44 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Googled Gulf Technical Industries:

Gulf Technical Industries LLC
Activities: STEEL MILLS-AGENTS, TRADERS - CARBON STEEL, SPECIAL STEEL, PIPES - TUBES, DESIGN - ENGINEERING
More Info: Carbon tubes , heat exchanger tubes , stainless steel tubular , OCTG
Year Established: 2000
Number of Employees: 5

They have a P.O. box and a phone number, but no physical location or web site listed. Interesting.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Here's more interesting tidbits:

Scomi's largest shareholder is Kamaluddin Abdullah, the son of the Malaysian Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi. The 35-year-old son has no management role in the company and does not sit on the board. He is only a shareholder, a Malaysian official familiar with the company said. Scomi's chairman is Tan Sri Asmat Kamaluddin, a former secretary-general of Malaysia's international trade ministry.

Western and Malaysian investigators said the equipment was ordered by Dr Khan, who has admitted responsibility for trading nuclear secrets. He made periodic trips to Malaysia over the past few years, according to Malaysian and Western intelligence agencies, not always travelling under his real name.


I guess Khan was a hands-on type of manager, bet he visited the plant and inpected the goods.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 10:52 Comments || Top||

#3  I just wonder who the individul is who will be setting off the 1st Terrorist bomb in the next 10 years.
Posted by: dataman1 || 02/06/2004 11:12 Comments || Top||

#4  More tidbits:
Dr Khan grew rich on the nuclear trade, acquiring a hotel in Mali named after his Dutch wife, as well as villas and estates in Pakistan, all on a salary of about £15,000 a year, according to leaks to the press in Islamabad. He commandeered a Pakistani military transport plane to fly a cargo of antique furniture accompanied by another Pakistani nuclear scientist to his Timbuktu hotel, via a stopover in Libya, according to the leaks.

Senior sources in Vienna said the Malaysian firm manufactured the centrifuge parts to order from Libya. A spokesman for Scomi said the company had been assured the components would not be used for nuclear purposes and it was recently informed by the Malaysian police that BSA Tahir, a Sri Lankan businessman who arranged the deal, is under investigation by Malaysian, American and British intelligence over his alleged involvement in the supply of nuclear technology to Libya.

Pakistani officials have said Dr Khan ordered "disused equipment" to be sent to Malaysia for "reconditioning" before being sent on to Iran, Libya and North Korea.


Methinks Malaysia has some dirty laundry.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 11:25 Comments || Top||

#5  And more: Scomi said its three-year-old plant, located in Shah Alam some 50 kilometres from the capital Kuala Lumpur, did not have the capacity nor tecnology involved in making nuclear weapons. Company officials also insisted that there is no way for them to determine the end usage of components that they supply.

The controversial order for parts was placed through Mr Tahir on behalf of a Middle Eastern company Gulf Technical Industries. Received in December 2001, the sale generated nearly 80 percent of Scomi's entire revenue for the year.


80 percent? Hummm, seems like this is all you do and your other jobs are just a cover operation. By the way, what were the other 20 percent and where did they go?
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 11:44 Comments || Top||

#6  Still more:
The New Straits Times quoted intelligence agency sources as saying that the owner of Gulf Technical Industries (GTI), which ordered the components from SCOPE, was a British citizen named Peter Griffin.
Raw materials for the components were sourced in Singapore from a subsidiary of a German company called Bikar Metalle Germany, the sources said.

They said US, British and Malaysian intelligence services and the IAEA were investigating the two links.


Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Jeepers! So that's what he meant!
"We need guns and rockets, bombs and warplanes, tanks and warships for our defence," Dr Mahathir told leaders from 57 nations gathered for a two-day summit of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia's new capital.

"But because we are discouraged from learning of science and mathematics . . . we have no capacity to produce our weapons for our defence," he said.

Oh, that's it! Defence (Defense!)! Now who are Malaysia's enemies again?
Posted by: Quana || 02/06/2004 15:44 Comments || Top||

#8  A spokeswoman for the company, Rohaida Ali Badaruddin, said the company did not seek to determine the end use of equipment it sold or check the backgrounds of customers.

None of these clowns ever will. Those are the type of people we are dealing with. If their countries don't clamp down on them, we need to clamp down on their countries. We are fighting a delaying action until the countries come around. If this keeps going, the WMD "issue" in Iraq will be a very small footnote to the big booms taking place in the West.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/06/2004 21:01 Comments || Top||


Malaysia PM urges nuclear probe
Just the new stuff: Malaysia’s prime minister has told police to investigate "without favour" allegations his son had a stake in a company making nuclear parts for Libya. Abdullah Badawi said there was nothing to fear from the truth.
"You can’t handle the truth!"
Police say foreign intelligence warned them that Malaysian centrifuge parts were on a Libyan-bound ship last year.
That would be the US, Britian and maybe Germany.
The company, controlled by Kamaluddin Abdullah, made the parts after being told they were for oil and gas work, a spokesman said. "We received the drawing for the part and made it according to the drawing. We were told these parts were for the oil and gas industry," factory manager Che Lokman Che Omar told reporters.
This could be true, how many people even know what a nuclear centrifuge looks like. Remember Sammy had the barrels for his "supergun" manufactured in Britian saying they were high pressure pipes for the oil industry.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 9:04:24 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mahathir is up to his neck in this. He's supported many Islamist positions in the past, including unifying and arming the ummah (khalifa), nukes for Muslims (the Islamic bomb), and replacing the dollar with the gold standard. The major difference between him and Mahmoud al-Ghamdi on the block in Mekkah is that Mahathir is not anti-technology and is OK with women going to university and working in factories as long as they wear the hijab. Now the son of his annointed successor is revealed as the majority investor in a key link in Khan's nuclear network. You don't need to believe in conspiracy theories to see what's going on here.
Posted by: 11A5S || 02/06/2004 12:50 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Nasrallah Supports Regime Change - Here
EFL, via Robert Prather
For the first time since the start of the war in Iraq, the leader of a large and recognized Shi’ite religious organization has publicly called for a jihad against the U.S. forces. Meanwhile, American pressure on Syria is mounting...
Sunday was apparently "America Day" in Syria and Lebanon. In addition to al-Shara’s evaluation of the U.S. administration, the secretary-general of Hezbollah had a few important things to say to President George Bush. For example, he invited all the Muslim religious sages in the entire Islamic world "to do something together about the situation in Iraq, so that the Americans will not be able to take advantage of the split in the Muslim leadership. Let us adopt the Iraqis to our hearts so that they will be able to unify their choice: opposition in the form of a war of jihad, making sacrifices for the cause [or suicide attacks - Z.B.]."
Uhhh... What if they don't? You'll kill them all?
This was the first time since the start of the war in Iraq that a Shi’ite religious leader of a large and recognized religious organization called for a jihad against the American forces. Neither the Shi’ite leadership in Iraq, which is far from being a monolithic body and contains fierce opponents to the United States, or even the Shi’ite leaders in Iran, dared to say what Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah did in precise terms, pulling no punches, and in public before a crowd of thousands of his followers. "The resistance movement [against the U.S. in Iraq] may not be able to remove the U.S. from Iraq within a year, but it will be able to remove Bush, [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld and [National Security Adviser] Condoleezza Rice, together with their Zionist friends, from the White House," Nasrallah assured his listeners. Nasrallah’s scenario requires no deep understanding: Suicide attacks and sabotage operations against the American forces in Iraq will cause American public opinion to turn against the president and not re-elect him, thus bringing about the disappearance of this group of leaders from the White House.
In his dreams
So the terrorists openly admit they want a Democrat in the White House. McAuliffe et al. must be so proud!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut bskolaut@hotmail.com || 02/06/2004 8:45:32 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nasrallah needs the fear of (our) God put into his pitiful black heart. I suggest a JDAM
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2004 21:37 Comments || Top||

#2  So the IslamoFascists want a Democrat in the White House, this should surprise no one. That they would be stupid enough to announce it will only serve to help President Bush. Once the news gets out that the terrorists believe their job will be easier if the haughty French-looking Senator who, by the way, served in Vietnam, becomes President Bush wins. Undecided voters, if there are any, and those not too partisan, i.e. anyone not currently posting at the Democratic Underground, will flock to the Republicans. That is if Karl Rove, et al, can get the message out.
Posted by: Scott || 02/06/2004 21:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Okay....So...when I go to cast my vote in November I'll ask, "Who would the Sheikh of Shi't, Chiraq of France, Annan of the UN and Usama bin Laden of al-Qa'ida vote for?" Then I'll vote for the other guy. I'll vote for President Bush
Posted by: Garrison || 02/06/2004 23:05 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaeda not likely to posses nuclear weapons
Osama bin Laden may wish he had met Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. But even if he had, and used his millions to buy bomb plans, the al-Qaeda chief would have had great difficulty obtaining weapons materials. Experts say that it is highly unlikely that bin Laden and his shadowy, scattered network has got anywhere close to acquiring the technology for a nuclear weapon, but they prefer not to rule out the possibility.

Bin Laden’s most likely source is top Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who appeared on state television on Wednesday to make a dramatic personal apology for leaking atomic secrets, the latest twist in a proliferation scandal stretching from Libya to Iran and North Korea. "One can only speculate because of the absence of hard evidence, but from what we know these nuclear plans have been handed over only to nation states," said security expert Andrew Tan of Singapore’s Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies. Experts said that there was no evidence that Khan or any of the scientists at his Khan Research Laboratory or at Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission had passed nuclear secrets to al-Qaeda. "Even if they did, it is not sure that al-Qaeda would have the infrastructure to develop nuclear weapons based on the information and technology it had received," said Tan. "What has happened is disturbing and one of the greatest fears has been of a nuclear state passing what it knows around — particularly to terrorists."

Two Pakistani nuclear scientists who worked on Pakistan’s highly secret uranium enrichment programme were detained in October 2001 on suspicion of sharing information with bin Laden, but were released two months later. Both were reported to have met bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar during trips to Afghanistan while working for Ummah Reconstruction, a charity agency that developed flour mills and agricultural projects in Afghanistan. Information would be insufficient for al-Qaeda. "The more significant question is whether al-Qaeda can get hold of highly enriched uranium," said counter-terror expert Clive Williams of the Australian National University in Canberra. Possession of even 15 kg (33 lbs) of that fissile material would enable al-Qaeda to build a relatively unsophisticated bomb in a safe house and blow it up, causing destruction in a large city on the scale of the Hiroshima bomb, Williams said. The difficulty for al-Qaeda would be to obtain uranium, with Russia and Ukraine the most likely sources via black marketers. "If the price were right you’d have to assume they would do it," said Williams, but added that any seller would be aware that the price might not be worth the international retaliation.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:07:16 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Duh Saddam had a lot more money and opportunities than Osama as did Qaddafi and neither had an operable nuke--so who is being lied to here? OK wait a minute we're going to orange alert just to scare everyone into voting Repooplican LIes Lies and more lies to the sheeple
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 4:07 Comments || Top||

#2  First!
I wouldn't put it past Dr. Khan to have a ready built bomb as a sort of retirement/safety plan.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 8:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Shipman, That might explain his 'pardon'.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 9:17 Comments || Top||

#4  The article assumes that al-Qaida does not have the infrastructure to fabricate a bomb from scratch. I suppose that analysis is somewhat dependant upon the quality of intelligence. And it says nothing about al-Qaida inheriting a completed bomb from a sympathetic government (those sympathetic governments having recieved all the technology from Pakistan).

As a result, everyone in Pakistan from Musharref down can appreciate that any use of an atomic bomb on the United States by anyone will result in the total destruction of Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad,....that reality might not deter Osama but may induce other states to consider a Ghaddafi conversion.
Posted by: john || 02/06/2004 9:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Here's Cox and Forkum's take on the controversy over Iraq's possession of WMD.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 14:20 Comments || Top||

#6  "not likely" is not good enough.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 22:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Great day at Rantburg.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/07/2004 0:38 Comments || Top||


Africa: East
Sudanese army and jihadi militias block aid to the displaced
The Sudanese Army and allied militias have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee villages and towns in the country’s western Darfur province in the past year and are now blocking humanitarian aid to the refugees, says the rights group Amnesty International. The United Nations reported last week there are now an estimated one million internally displaced people in Darfur, and at least 110,000 more in neighbouring Chad. The world body said some 3.5 million people -- more than one-half off Darfur’s indigenous population -- are now "war-affected". On Tuesday the U.S. Agency for International Development warned of a "looming humanitarian crisis" in the region.
Argh, this conflict makes my blood boil. Damn jihadis, Damn Arab supremacists. Too bad the dupes sucked into Nation Of Islam don’t educate themselves and see what their "roots in Islam" really are, and what their life would be like today if they lived as a black African in Sudan, muslim or not. Islam doesn’t discriminate based on race? Yeah right! Another lie by Islam.
Posted by: TS || 02/06/2004 6:37:56 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Man!Why the hell can't Eourpe take car of this shit!

I realize that alot of Eourpe is already helping the U.S.,but Damn it,this is frigging rediculis.
We are commited,you can't tell me Eourpe(Eastern and Western)doesn't have the Troops,hardwear,and logistics to take down these savages.Canada why don't you get off your ass and build-up your Army.We are supposed to be friends and neighbors.It would be nice if our"friend"would help get rid of the barbarians.
Posted by: Raptor || 02/07/2004 8:16 Comments || Top||


Iran
Senator Kerry would seek direct talks with Iran: adviser
IRNA
Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry will seek direct talks with Iran if he wins the White House, his foreign policy chief said Thursday.
“Boy what a surprise”
Rand Beers, national security issues coordinator for the Massachusetts senator, was critical of President George W. Bush for shunning direct dialogue with Iran after branding it a member of an "axis of evil," dispatches indicated.
“yes that wan’t very nice of George-we know better and have access to more intelligence, what does he know anyway-how dare he”
Speaking to a foreign policy forum, Beers said the question of nuclear non-proliferation was one of the most significant issues facing the world and Washington should press harder to advance negotiations.
“couldn’t we just drop a bomb on those reactors and get it over with now?”
Beers said Kerry, currently leading the pack in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, sought more direct efforts to thaw relations with Iran that have been frozen since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“Well I guess Kerry can add another flag to his collection along with the North Vietnamese flag”
"John Kerry is not saying that he is looking for better relations with Iran. He is looking for a dialogue with Iran," Beers said. "There are some issues on which we really need to sit down with the Iranians."
“Ya like where are your nukes?”
He listed the cultivation of opium poppies in neighboring Afghanistan, terrorism and nuclear non-proliferation as among the questions Kerry would like to take up directly with Tehran.
“oh boy drugs”
"It`s a realistic sitting down and having the kinds of discussions that we`re just not having because this administration is so tied in its own ideological views of Iran and waiting for the Iranian regime to collapse."
“well let’s see sponsors terrorism, hides terrorists, supplies arms-why should we be mad about that?”
He said Kerry would want to work with a "broad range of countries" to stem the traffic in materials that could fall into the wrong hands and help make nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.
“Yes a letter or two ought to fix that problem”
"We`re going to have look at international (non-proliferation) regimes that currently exist and probably go through some revisions of those regimes in order to find a way to approach and address these problems," Beers said.
“I’m so reassured now”
Posted by: dataman1 || 02/06/2004 6:32:41 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kerry's in luck, most of the Mullahs speak French
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2004 18:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Several senators are trying to get a trip to Iran approved with them now. If he's sincere, why not go with them?
First diplomatic step is Head of State to Head of State? I don't think so. Send Kissinger.:)
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 19:05 Comments || Top||

#3  How is this different from US policy as enacted by the State Department? State's been trying to "engage" the Mullahs for decades; Kerry's Quisling is just saying he'd try hardeer.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 19:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Democrats= The Party of Appeasement/Surrender/Dhimmitude.
Posted by: Mark || 02/06/2004 19:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Direct talks? How 'unilateral' of him.
Posted by: john || 02/06/2004 21:47 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd talk to them directly to. My opening dialogue to Mullah Ragman - "y'all know your calendar is off by about a 1,000 years?"
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 21:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Kerry: What would it take to get you to endorse Heinz Ketchup as the Ketchup of Islam??

Mullah: You are a jew pig.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 22:01 Comments || Top||

#8  oops was supposed to be..Kerry to Mullah:
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 22:02 Comments || Top||


Latin America
Time to build the wall
Via Lucianne:
U.S. soccer team hears Osama chants in Mexico
The Mexican crowd hooted "The Star-Spangled Banner." It booed U.S. goals. It chanted "Osama! Osama! Osama!" as U.S. players left the field with a 2-0 victory. And that was in a game against Canada on Thursday before just 1,500 people. A game Tuesday in neighboring Guadalajara will determine whether the U.S. under-23 soccer team heads to the Athens Games. "This is what it is all about," coach Glenn Myernick said. "You are 90 minutes away from being in the Olympics."
They should keep in mind it’s just business. If we took it personal, we’d build the wall. That would spin some sombreros. I read once on another site that if we Americans actually knew what was written in their papers, there would be a wall.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 6:22:48 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  this is just sore losers with small minds - but, we should still build that wall ;-)
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2004 18:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Anyone bet there's more of this at the Olympics themselves? Any bets on how widely it gets reported?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 19:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Goddamn, but back in the old days, some of *hockey's* greats would show their appreciation for the opposing side by mooning them on ice. A crowd chanting "Osama" deserved that kind of Canadian response.

I wish one of the Canadian players remembered that old tradition. Hell, I wish I was one of them so that I could remeber it for tem...

- Vic
Posted by: Vic || 02/06/2004 21:25 Comments || Top||

#4  I think we should build the wall (north and south) or at least parole it with armed predators...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 22:14 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Bush Names Panelists in Iraq Intel Probe
EFL:
President Bush named seven people Friday to sit on an independent study commission to look into intelligence failures on Iraqi weapons, choosing former Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb and retired judge Laurence Silberman, a Republican, to head the panel. "We must stay ahead of constantly changing intelligence challenges," Bush said. "The stakes for our country cannot be higher."
Amen.
Robb, a moderate Democrat, was a former U.S. senator and governor of Virginia and son-in-law of the late President Johnson. He is married to Lynda Bird Johnson and has been practicing law since leaving the Senate. Silberman is a conservative who served as deputy attorney general in the Nixon and Ford administrations. He was named to the appeals court by President Reagan in 1985. Bush directed federal agencies to cooperate with the commission, which will report to the nation by March 2005. Bush said he has yet to select the remaining two members of the nine-member panel.
Waiting to see complaints about first seven.
Bush also picked Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to be a member of the commission. "In our war against terrorism, it is imperative that we guarantee the credibility and effectiveness of our intelligence capabilities," McCain said in a statement. "I will do my very best to help find the answers that the American people have a right to know."
McCain won’t be bullied by anyone, plus the press loves him. Or at least they did.
Bush also named Lloyd Cutler, former White House counsel to Presidents Carter and Clinton; former federal judge Patricia M. Wald; Yale University president Richard C. Levin, and Adm. William O. Studeman, former deputy director of the CIA.
Wald, a respected former chief judge for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, served as a judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
Don’t know anything about her
Bush had initially opposed a commission, but agreed to do so as calls grew from Republican lawmakers as well as Democrats. But the White House said the commission would look beyond problems in Iraq and examine the handling of intelligence on terrorists and U.S. adversaries. Democrats said any commission appointed solely by Bush could not be considered independent and objective. They have called for an examination not only of the work of intelligence agencies, but whether the White House pressured analysts and manipulated data to boost the case for war.
That’s the only thing they want.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 3:54:42 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I am betting that Sean Penn gets one of the final spots. I bet I can get odds that would mean that an unlikely win would pay off like a Powerball hit for me.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 16:52 Comments || Top||

#2  McCain is a brilliant pick: he's every Democrat's favorite Republican, but whatever his flaws (if you're a member of the VRWC, he's not your favorite Republican) he's also too much of a patriot (and too stubborn) to become a shill for the Angry Left.
Posted by: Mike || 02/06/2004 17:14 Comments || Top||

#3  A close objective look might lead to some solid recommendations to reverse some of the damage that has been done to our intelligence capability in the last 30 years.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 17:27 Comments || Top||

#4  program, instead we depended on reports from third party sources (French , U.N., etc.) and dissidents. I didn’t work the Iraqi target, but I HIGHLY suspect that the game is not yet over. I find it hard to believe that Saddam spent large amounts of money to acquire base chemicals and then not produce weapons. Also NOBODY can tell us when and where the KNOWN quantities ended up. Even if they dissipated there should be some residual to confirm or at least tell us where the storage/research was taking place. Don’t believe or discount the stories about the WMD going to Syria. If I were a betting man I would pick Iran. Saddam know that they would give us the MOST trouble and would be far more likely to use them. Syria (Bashir) is a nutless version of his Dad and will be deposed before too long by some hard liner.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 02/06/2004 17:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Cyber Sarge is on the money. We should not be appointing commissions while the work is still underway. This will not be received well in the field, and sends the wrong message to the Dhimmicrats - they will only be emboldened by this. Also, too many Carter personnel on the panel. 0 is the appropriate number. Hell, now we're hearing that even if we find buried stores of chemicals that isn't enough - that the only thing that will exonerate Bush is loaded chemical weaponry. The Dhimmicrats have redefined this to absurd levels, including counting themselves as belonging to the enemy camp. The theatre of operations is now the politcal arena, and all efforts should be put forward to defeating the Dhimmis.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 02/06/2004 18:19 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm still thinking we have/will find some of these for the same reasons noted by CS. W is going on Meet the Press Sunday so this diffuses that line of questioning to a large extent. McCain is a loose cannon and faux republican on many isssues, but national security isn't one of them. He has the gravitas (to use a newsy term) to make this a productive effort at reforming the intel biz for the better. Even Kerry and McAuliffe don't have the stones to question McCain's ethics, honesty, or patriotism - I'd like to see Michael Moore accuse him of something heh heh
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2004 18:44 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Is the Egyptian Judge of Israel in World Court Biased?
The world court denied Friday that one of its judges gave a magazine interview in which he was critical of Israel. The International Court of Justice, the highest U.N. judicial body, has been asked by the General Assembly to give a nonbinding opinion on the legal consequences of a 440-mile security barrier Israel is building that encroaches on Palestinian territory in the West Bank. The case is politically charged and Israel has already tried unsuccessfully to have the judge, Nabil Elaraby of Egypt, dismissed for alleged bias.
How in the world COULD he be biased?! He’s a judge, dammit!!! Oh. And Egyptian. Um, and the WC is a tool of the UN. Nevermind.
The weekly magazine al-Ahram al-Arabi quoted Elaraby in its Jan. 31 issue as saying Israel’s justifications for the barrier "are feeble and it could face punishment" if the court’s opinion goes against it.
And periodicals such as al-Ahram al-Arabi wouldn’t dare make up anything negative about Israel. They have a reputation to uphold in the arab world.
"If the court rules that the wall is illegal, Israel will suffer noticeable harm from both the political and the public relations aspects," the magazine quoted the judge as saying.
hey...ya find something that works, ya stick with it.
But court spokesman Boris Heim said Friday "the judge did not give this interview," and that the court was investigating the matter.
"Mahmoud! Investigate this! Quickly! And make sure he didn’t give the interview!"
An official at al-Ahram al-Arabi said that the interview was submitted by Awad al-Ghanam, a freelance journalist who has done work for the magazine in the past. The official said the magazine would also look into the matter. The court’s judges are barred under court rules from discussing the content of a case before a ruling. Israel wanted Elaraby dismissed because he was once a legal adviser to the Egyptian government, and because he gave an interview to the same magazine in 2001 which Israel said showed his prejudice. But the court ruled 13-1 that Elaraby’s 2001 interview — made before he was appointed to the court — was not prejudicial and he should remain on the bench.
After all, he’ll counterbalance the Israeli judge. What? There isn’t one? Quel surprise!
Israel says the barrier is to stop suicide bombers, but Palestinians say it will disrupt tens of thousands of lives.
Both statements are true. Both are good.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 02/06/2004 3:53:11 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Is the Egyptian Judge of Israel in World Court Biased?
Does a bear sleep in the woods?

Palestinians say it will disrupt tens of thousands of lives
And their point would be...?

Here's a suggestion: If the Paleswhinians stop disrupting tens of thousands of Israelis' lives with their bombings, kidnappings, etc., Israel would have no problem stopping the fence.

Action, meet consequence.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/06/2004 16:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Paleos need to get over the wall.

There. Been waiting to say that.
Posted by: john || 02/06/2004 21:04 Comments || Top||

#3  John - LOL. You're good! I bow to your superior wit. :-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/06/2004 22:18 Comments || Top||


Iran
People to defuse conspiracies on Feb 11, Feb 20: Emami Kashani
IRNA
Tehran`s Substitute Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani said Friday that the Iranian nation will defuse the conspiracies of ill-intended people on February 11, the victory anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and on February 20, the day slated for holding the 7th Majlis (Parliament) elections.
"Conspiracies... Dark conspiracies... Insidious plots... mutter... mutter... mutter..."
Addressing worshipers who gathered for the weekly congregational prayers in the Tehran University campus, he said there would be no such a free and independent country with a high dignity as Iran in the world. "Each society has its own ideology and beliefs which people should move towards them," said the Friday prayer leader, adding "our society enjoys divine beliefs and it is the people`s legitimate right that their society being administrated based on such beliefs."
"It is the people's legitimate right to have theocrats interpreting the Will of God™ and passing it on to them...
There are a few people in the country who protest and write to international organizations, saying there is no democracy in Iran. Protests are quite natural but they should not embark on ugly movements and inappropriate measures, said Ayatollah Emami Kashani. Pointing to developments in Iraq, the ayatollah hoped the country would be freed from ruling of the occupiers who claim they advocate democracy. "We hope true elections would be held in Iraq as Ayatollah Seyed Ali Sistani (Iraq`s most influential Shi`ite Muslim cleric), has proposed," he said. Emami Kashani also expressed felicitation on the occasion of Eid-ul-Ghadir, which marks Prophet Mohammad`s (Peace Be Upon Him) appointment of first imam of Shi`ite Muslims, Imam Ali (AS), upon the order of the Almighty God, and said, the Islamic Revolution was among the blessings of Ghadir which contributed to further recognition of Islam in the world.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/06/2004 15:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I had a thought. It happens.

According to Kashani, Iran is the bestest place in the whoooole wide world:
. . . he said there would be no such a free and independent country with a high dignity as Iran in the world . . . adding "our society enjoys divine beliefs and it is the people`s legitimate right that their society being administrated based on such beliefs."

Methinks the lady doth protest too much. Contrast him with JFKennedy, who said we weren't giving enough back to our country. We're good, but we're not great. We need to strive to do better.

I choose the less than perfect USA over the perfect Iran. Hope Kashani isn't insulted. Hope he doesn't kill me for saying that.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 02/06/2004 15:34 Comments || Top||


More disqualified hopefuls reinstated on order of Supreme Leader
IRNA
Secretary of the Guardian Council (GC) Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati Friday confirmed that a number of other disqualified hopefuls for the upcoming Majlis elections have been reinstated by the GC on the basis of expediency and order of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. Jannati made the remarks as he addressed a mass gathering of supervisors of the upcoming elections in Tehran. Vetting of the nominees ended Thursday evening with all its ups and downs, he said, adding a number of disqualified hopefuls were reinstated due to some reasons that the Supreme Leader considered as expedient and by his order. The GC secretary, however, added this issue will not have a considerable impact on the Majlis elections. Jannati noted that there were pressures on the GC to minimize the number of disqualifications and also to show that the GC`s thorough probe was unsuccessful. He added: "We did our best to observe the Constitution and the Supreme Leader`s guidelines."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 02/06/2004 13:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I've been watching this election evolve. Particularly, the Guardian dictatorship's Council's control of the slate of candidates.
The question keeps coming to mind: "who gets to count the ballots"? Or does it matter if all the approved candidates are your guys?
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 14:12 Comments || Top||

#2  GK, I don't understand why there aren't a steady flow of defectors ot of Iran. I don't think I would care to live there.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 17:03 Comments || Top||

#3  tick tick tick...
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 22:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Thank you oh Supreme Leader. Even a handful is most gracious of you to allow in this "election". May Allah praise your infinite wisdowm. Oh Supreme Leader may we start another Jihad in celebration? Let's see at last count there were only 1365 Jihads in progress and another hundred of so getting ready. Oh what the heck Let's call this one Oh Supreme Leaders Jihad. (I know a little lame but I'm burned out)
Posted by: dataman1 || 02/06/2004 22:43 Comments || Top||


Home Front
WI concealed carry falls one vote short
Damn, damn, damn! Edited for brevity.
Second Amendment supporters are fuming at what they call the "cowardice" of the Wisconsin Assembly in sustaining the governor’s veto of a concealed carry bill. Tuesday’s 65-34 vote was just one vote short of the necessary two-thirds needed to override Gov. Jim Doyle’s veto. The vote was "a slap in the face and a sucker punch to the safety of every Wisconsin resident," said Joe Waldron, executive director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA). Waldron singled out Rep. Gary Sherman, a National Rifle Association member and a Democrat, who just three months ago voted in favor of the concealed carry law. But on Tuesday, Sherman switched his vote -- "to protect his governor and what limited power the minority Assembly Democrats have," one newspaper quoted him as saying.
I’m all for rescinding that NRA membership right now.
Waldron said the blood of crime victims in Wisconsin - denied the right to defend themselves with a concealed weapon - will be on the hands of Gov. Jim Doyle and the lawmakers who upheld his veto. Gov. Doyle thanked "courageous" lawmakers for helping him keep Wisconsin’s 130-year-old ban on concealed weapons in place. He said the law is good for the state. "I did not want kids in this state going into crowded shopping malls or playgrounds with a lot of people walking around with loaded guns in their pockets," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel quoted him as saying.
Yeah, we have shootouts in the malls here all the time in PA. Save the children!
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 1:55:17 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Waldron for the Black Caldron!
Posted by: Charles || 02/06/2004 14:11 Comments || Top||

#2  "I did not want kids in this state going into crowded shopping malls or playgrounds with a lot of people walking around with loaded guns in their pockets,"

-What a fucking idiot. The ccw law doesn't help that one bit. People can sneak a gun in their pocket regardless of a law or not. Usually ccw owners are the most responsible gun owners you will find. There's an 8 hour course here in SC not too mention a thorough background check of all applicants. Doyle + Sherman = lying cowardly bitches.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 14:27 Comments || Top||

#3  What happens to Gary Sherman and Jim Doyle in the next election will have a greater impact on the future of the 2nd Amendment than the loss of this veto.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 15:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Jarhead, the nitwit seems to be saying that kids will be issued concealed weapons permits. In actual practice the permits would allow adults to return fire against the current batch of punk pushers and gang-bangers who are packing Tech-9's with cop-killer rounds.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 16:30 Comments || Top||

#5  SH - damn straight my friend. I prolly wasn't clear, I meant the law doesn't help give guns to kids. Nitwit is the right call sign for his ass - first of all, legal age (21 in most cases) is a definite requirement just to pursue a ccw. Most classes are given by cops or NRA certified instructors. No yahoos or hygeine-challenged bubbas on the back forty are showing junior how to shooot a guhn or give them a permit. A thorough background check is also done.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 22:58 Comments || Top||


AIM activist dumps Daschel, supports Republican candidate(!)
Severely edited for brevity.
Republican John Thune [former US Representative for SD] has received the backing of American Indian activist Russell Means as Thune challenges Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle in this year’s election. "I’m going to work with Sen. Thune’s staff and the state Republican Party, and that will open doors to work with the National Republican Party to completely change Indian policy in America," Means said. He made the announcement Wednesday during a Pennington County Republican luncheon, where he declared himself a "Lakota Libertarian Republican."
My surprise meter is pegged!
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 1:46:13 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Democratic Party is weak across the board. That's why Daschle is targetted.

There are 5 major southern democratic Senators who have decided not to run for re-election; J.Edwards, F.Hollings, Z.Miller, B.Graham, J.Breaux.

Is it because of the one issue (terrorism) none of the Democratic candidates for President don't want to talk about?
Posted by: Daniel King || 02/06/2004 14:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Bleah. Isn't Means the fellow who hounds after schools to change their mascots?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 14:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Why, yes he is!
Posted by: Raj || 02/06/2004 14:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Then Means is a bastard, and I'd hope Republicans would tell him where to go and how fast to get there.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 14:43 Comments || Top||

#5  To me, changing the mascott rants are superficial, window dressing, bullshit on Means' part. Let's talk about systemic issues like alcoholism, unemployment, and health care for the Indians. That's the shit he needs to express, not whether Poedunk H.S. in Michigan are called the red skins. BTW - I'm all for changing Indian policy in U.S. I'm not usually a sensitive guy, but the Native Americans are the only minority group I truly feel bad for in this day & age.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 14:45 Comments || Top||

#6  This could cut into the Democrats phoney Indian voter program on the reservations. Mr. Means most likely noticed after years of blindly voting for the Democrat party, his people were still not any better off. You take your help where you can get it, remember, we're at war.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 14:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Russell Means once did more than rant.... isn't there blood on his hands?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 14:47 Comments || Top||

#8  More on Means here:
Back in the days when American Indian activist Russell Means was firing pistols at U.S. military jets flying over Wounded Knee, S.D., it was big news. So, too, would have been the treatment received by a weekend festival in Erie, he said.
"The way you've been treated, it would have been national news," Means told about 200 people at Total Liberation Fest 2004. Means, one of the members of the American Indian Movement who occupied Wounded Knee for 71 days in 1973, was a featured speaker at the two-day festival. It also drew representatives of radical environmental and animal liberation movements. The event, which also included bands, was billed as "a revolutionary conference on state repression, political prisoners, social justice, and earth and animal liberation." Means spoke to the young people about the world left to them.
"This is the world your folks and their folks have given to you, a world of graft and corruption at every level of leadership," he said.
Means, who was born an Oglala/Lakota and described himself as "a Libertarian politically," said he used to favor militant and armed insurrection. Instead, he urged his listeners Sunday to know the U.S. Constitution and the rights it gives them. He also pushed for the replacement of patriarchy with matriarchy. Means said thousands of years of history record that men are incapable of leadership. "Matriarchy is a balanced society, in which you celebrate all sexes' strengths," he said.


Yup, he sounds like he's mellowed with age. Should be interesting to see how Daschle tries to counter him without pissing off the entire Indian block.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 15:06 Comments || Top||

#9  The Indian issue will once again have to be settled, just not like the last time.

And I say this w/halfbreed blood from way back.

They can have it both ways at this point in time. They were screwed monetarily and in other ways, no doubt about that (and Rubin and Babbitt helped by shredding records.)

HOWEVER, they are separate nations. They can have their own license plates. No tax on cigs and no tax on casinos. One CA(?) tribe just tried to welch on $3m in contractor payments on a new casino, IIRC, using the "sovereign nation" line.

IF they are sovereign nations, each treaty must be adhered to. If the treaty does NOT cover voting rights, that means they do not get to vote, run candidates unless the candidate is an AMERICAN and NO CONTRIBUTIONS TO ELECTIONS.

One tribe in the NE was using their 1790 treaty to gain more land.

As to HC - for some reason, I wouldn't think that HC was covered in treaties written in the 17-1800s. But I really haven't read any. If they are sovereign, too bad get it from their casino proceeds. Build a fence and charge Americans to get back in the country after visiting their casino.

You are or you're not, no special privileges. If you want to be a sovereign nation, then you will be treated as such. Pay them, sign the paper waiving future lawsuits against America(ns) and move on and cut the programs. Same w/reparations, which I'm coming to agree w/as long as diversity programs are cut to the bone. We can afford it that way.

The WSJ is one of the few who keeps an eye on this stuff.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 15:21 Comments || Top||

#10  Means is just another racist thug, just like Sharpton.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 15:22 Comments || Top||

#11  We may see a trend as tribes recognize that their gambling cash flows look awful tempting to socialist types who were having trouble funding nanny programs through the recession and have now depleted their rainy day funds.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 16:38 Comments || Top||


OECD: Surging US economy leads global recovery
The US economy strengthened considerably in December, leading the global economic recovery and leaving Europe and Japan behind, the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said today. The upbeat assessment of the US economy from the OECD came just hours ahead of a meeting of finance ministers from the G7 group of leading industrialised countries, with the weakness of the dollar the prime subject of concern. "Moderate to strong recovery lies ahead in the OECD area," the organisation said in a statement. "December data signal continued strong improvement in the United States but weaker development for Italy."

For the 30-nation membership of the OECD, the December leading indicator - a pointer of future economic activity - rose to 123.6 from 122.8 in November. The reading for the US was 133.3 (up from 131.7), the 12-nation euro currency zone struggled up to 123.8 (from 123.5), and Japan managed a weak increase of 0.2 to 102.3. Of the G7 economies, only Italy showed weaker development, its index slipping to 106.3 in December from 107.8 in November. The OECD’s data will give John Snow, the US treasury secretary, something to crow about amid unease - especially in the eurozone - at the fall of the dollar, which threatens to hurt European exports and, by extension, the fledgling recovery in continental Europe.

Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel-prize-winning economist - and a critic of US economic policy - predicted that Mr Snow would oppose any efforts by the G7 to counter the fall in the dollar. In interviews with the French media, Mr Stiglitz, a former chief economist at the World Bank, also called on the European Central Bank (ECB) to act to bring down the euro’s strong exchange rate against the dollar. "The Bush administration will make no concession," Mr Stiglitz told the French business daily La Tribune, ahead of the meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers in Boca Raton, Florida. "George Bush needs the fall in the dollar to support American growth and to be re-elected, even if that is to the detriment of Europe."
If he was president of Europe, I'd think that was a bad thing...
Economists acknowledge the need for the dollar to fall as it was overvalued and a decline would help to trim the enormous US current account deficit, the broadest measure of trade. But the euro has been bearing the burden of adjustment as Asian central banks have been intervening in the foreign exchange markets to mop up dollars at a record rate to keep their own currencies from rising and choking off exports. Mr Stiglitz urged the ECB to act in order to bring down the value of the euro. "The European Central Bank should intervene to bring down the exchange rate of the euro and it should also lower interest rates," he told France Inter radio. "If it did this, and it could do this if it wanted to, almost surely the euro would decrease in value relative to the dollar." The ECB left interest rates unchanged at 2% yesterday - twice the 1% level in the US. Jean-Claude Trichet, ECB president, warned of the risk of excessive exchange rate movements but declined to comment on what action the G7 finance ministers might take on currencies.
Posted by: rkb || 02/06/2004 11:36:46 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  snicker...first they were crowing about the decline of the dollar. Now they are starting to whine about it. Maybe...just maybe..one day they will realize that markets don't conform to politics, politics conform to markets.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 12:08 Comments || Top||

#2  I was flamed on another site a few months ago explaining how the low dollar will hurt Europe and help the US. To those folks I give a Nelson Muntz "HA, HA". This is entry level college economic theory. If this poor, dumb, state-university-edjicated, redneck can see this WTF are they teaching in the Ivy League?
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 13:50 Comments || Top||

#3  As Bill Hobbs says, "I blame the Bush tax cuts."
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 15:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh, yeah, and if we can get a handle on tort reform and cut corp. taxes, China and India will have a real run for everyone's money.

We'll smoke them.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 15:27 Comments || Top||

#5  A2U, if tort reform is put in place, the economic impact of EPA regulations is controlled and workman's compensation fraud is curtailed then it would be truly fun to inact whatever dollar strengthening measures the G-7 wants. The economic result wouldn't change, because growth would be stoked by the lowering of the costof business.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 16:46 Comments || Top||


Re: latest jobs and other economic news
title changed from the Reuters one; efl
U.S. stocks rose on Friday as investors took the view that lukewarm jobs data should keep the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates any time soon... The government reported 112,000 nonfarm jobs were created in January, below Wall Street’s average estimate of 150,000. That indicated that the recovery is moving in the right direction, but not too quickly that the Fed will be forced to hike interest rates to cool an overheating economy. "The positive is that interest rates are probably going to remain low for a longer period of time than people were expecting because you didn’t see the job growth people expected," said Jay Finkel, senior equity trader at fund firm Lord Abbett & Co. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 82.52 points, or 0.79 percent, at 10,578.07. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 10.83 points, or 0.96 percent, at 1,139.42. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index was up 28.09 points, or 1.39 percent, at 2,047.65.

The odds of the Federal Reserve increasing short-term U.S. interest rates this summer for the first time since May 2000 lengthened after the jobs data. Stock investors like lower interest rates as they tend to spur consumer spending and boost corporate profits by keeping down the cost of borrowing. "The news is good, but not as good as everyone had hoped for," said Edgar Peters, chief investment officer at PanAgora Asset Management Inc. "Overall, it points to a continued, stable recovery, although it is not overwhelming."
stable is good, it implies sustainability
The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent last month, the lowest in two years, from 5.7 percent in December.
Posted by: rkb || 02/06/2004 11:28:36 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the gap between the household and the employer reports was even worse than usual this month -- the imputed job increase based on the household survey was about 500k as opposed to the increase based on the employer report of about 100k.
Posted by: mhw || 02/06/2004 11:34 Comments || Top||

#2  mhw, that's because the employer report is inaccurate. People make the claim that it represents more people than the household survey but they are missing the point. It doesn't represent the country it only represents the companies that are being polled. With more new companies being started in the US as time goes on and the churn of leadership in business due to technology advances affecting every industry you cannot judge the economy by a group of companies anymore. You are simply missing what has become a huge part of our payrolls... new companies and independent consultants. The past 15 years have dramatically changed our economy. As it stands the household survey is the one that gives the true picture.

It's obvious this is true even on a personal level. Ask yourself this... if there are barely anymore jobs today than a year ago (according to employer survey) and the labor pool has grown it should actually be harder to find a job. Now look at your own and your friends situation... 1 year ago I had a few unemployed friends and everyone was worried about getting laid off. Now I have no unemployed friends and some are looking at better job offers. On a personal level it's clear to me which report is giving the accurate picture.
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American || 02/06/2004 11:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Damn Proud,

Actually, the labor force has barely increased in the past year and, in fact has decreased since Oct. based on the household survey: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t01.htm

A problem with your 'more new companies' hypothesis is that this is not easy to understand quantitatively. A single person may be a sole proprietor in 3 or 4 companies each doing a slightly different business. Furthermore, a lot of people are contract workers rather than payroll workers (my daughter for example). Whether she is working or not, she would respond to the household survey that she is a contract worker. Also the household survey has discontinuities in it because of adjustment for census estimates. I'm not that confident of either survey frankly. There isn't a good survey that measures the 'difficulty of finding a job' or the 'worry about getting laid off' either in a way that correlates well to either the employer or the household survey. Bummer.
Posted by: mhw || 02/06/2004 12:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Or as my macro eco-prof once said... "Well technically this is a big ass country, so who knows?"
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 14:50 Comments || Top||

#5  A couple of econobloggers had an interesting theory, what if the Bush tax cuts brought more people into the workforce since there was more takehome?
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 15:31 Comments || Top||


Economic forecasters: failure to meet target = slump
ScrappleFace
(2004-02-06) -- Economists today lamented news of the fifth straight monthly increase in non-farm jobs because it fell short of the figure they had predicted.

Only 112,000 new jobs were created in January, not the expected 150,000, due largely to a continuing slump in the economic forecasting industry.

"Nobody’s hiring experts to predict what the economy will do anymore," said an unnamed spokesman for the Union of Economic Forecasters (UEF). "Maybe it’s because the predictions are rarely accurate and every time the news breaks that the economy fell short of predictions, the stock market slumps. But at the UEF, we still think there’s a need for professionals who make self-fulfilling economic prophesies. In fact, we predict that in February, almost 300,000 new jobs will be created for economic forecasters."
Posted by: Steve from Relto || 02/06/2004 11:05:44 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  LMAO
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American || 02/06/2004 11:56 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd say Half a Million.

In for a little... in for a lot I always said...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 12:19 Comments || Top||

#3  This is the same type of expectations crap that is present in the Dem presidential primary (i.e. candidate z came in 3rd but beat expectations of a 4th place finish and therefore is the real winner). +150K would have been nice but +112K, the largest monthly gain in 3 years, is nothing to dismiss.
Posted by: AWW || 02/06/2004 12:55 Comments || Top||

#4  AWW, you don't understand -- it's an election year, so that "shortfall" is going to be described as "the worst economy ever". Remember, we're talking about people who are dishonest enough to call a spending increase a "cut" if it's smaller than the increase they wanted.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 12:59 Comments || Top||

#5  RC. You must be talking about the Medicare INCREASE the Reps wanted diring Clinton. As I recall the Reps wanted a 7% increase and Dems wanted 11%. So the Dems (and their media lapdogs) terrorized the Seniors by saying it was a huge slash which will leave them all starving and dying in the street.....

The media knew, and even admitted it was a bold face lie but still repeated it as it if it was gospel. Assholes - scaring all those senior citizens for their own benefit.

That is when I lost faith with the Democrats and the American Media. That and Hillary's 'Vast Right-Wing Conspircy' bullshit.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 13:43 Comments || Top||

#6  CF -- not just that, but every damned budget item. The way Congress budgets is they START with an X% increase across the board, then haggle over what to add above that. If a budget calls for less than X%, then the Donks run to the media babbling about "cuts". The media, of course, repeat whatever the Donks want, never bothering to do things like "investigate" or "report", which are beyond the capabilities of most of the talking hairdos.

(I'm almost 100% sure that defense spending is the exception to this; it's like it is assumed to decrease by some amount, and anything above that is decried as "guns over butter".)
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 14:15 Comments || Top||

#7  You are right RC. And dont even get me started on entitlements.......
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 22:12 Comments || Top||


Caribbean
Group Takes Over City in Haiti; 4 Dead
EFL:
An armed opposition group seized control of Haiti’s fourth-largest city in clashes that killed at least four people, while the government vowed to restore order.
Just when did you have order to restore?
Members of the Gonaives Resistance Front on Thursday set fire to the mayor’s home in Gonaives, 70 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince, then doused the police station with fuel, lighting it while officers fled, Haitian radio reports said. At least four opponents of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide were killed in gunbattles with police, Gonaives Resistance Front leader Wynter Etienne told Radio Vision 2000. Radio Metropole reported 20 people were wounded and more than 100 inmates were freed from the jail.
Only 4 dead and 20 wounded? Sounds like a slow Saturday night in LA.
"Gonaives is liberated," Etienne told reporters. "Aristide has to go... We’ve liberated the police station and freed the population" from Aristide’s rule. Etienne said the group aims to take control of other towns.
"So that we can oppress the masses, why should Aristide have all the fun."
Government spokesman Mario Dupuy said the armed attackers didn’t have the support of most people in Gonaives and linked the unrest to violence in the nearby Central Plateau. The attacks "are terrorist acts undertaken by the armed wing of the opposition," Dupuy said. "The police will have to take measures to re-establish order."
There he goes again, you can’t re-establish what you never had.
Thursday’s clashes came a day after Bahamas Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell and Colin Granderson, assistant secretary general of the Caribbean Community, concluded talks with the opposition and met separately with Aristide.
"Jean, better keep a bag packed."
Members of the armed group in Gonaives were once allied with Aristide but turned on him last year after their leader, Amiot Metayer, was found murdered Sept. 22. Metayer had long supported Aristide, but many of his followers now accuse the government of involvement in the killing.
Amiot getting a little too popular, was he?
Aristide has denied involvement, saying only the opposition stood to gain.
"Nope, wasn’t me, it was those other guys."
After 29 years of the Duvalier family dictatorship, Aristide, then a slum priest, won presidential elections by a landslide. He was overthrown the next year, then restored in 1994 by a U.S. invasion. He was re-elected in 2000, but has been plagued by political troubles. Opposition leaders have demanded Aristide’s resignation, accusing his government of incompetence and corruption. Aristide has refused to step down before his term ends in 2006 and has defended his government, saying it has made progress despite many obstacles.
Unless we have another massive wave of Haitians landing on Florida beaches, I don’t think we should intervene again. It’s a no-win situation.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 9:41:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who would want to take over a Haitian city. I would rather be in charge of emptying the porta jonnies at a Stones concert by oral syphon.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 11:32 Comments || Top||

#2  When you say "Haiti" nothing more needs to be said.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 16:09 Comments || Top||

#3  I gotta say SH your commentary is undescribable. I'm still laughing my ass off. Go man!
Posted by: dataman1 || 02/06/2004 18:08 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Small gifts make big difference for troops
The crate of cookies came during one of the toughest battles. U.S. Marines were engaged in heavy fighting in Nasiriyah and had suffered casualties from friendly fire. An Army convoy had taken a wrong turn and was ambushed — resulting in U.S. casualties and prisoners of war. To top it off, Mother Nature was throwing a fit with a raging sandstorm. Against that backdrop, cookies from a Girl Scout troop in Illinois addressed to U.S. Marine Corps Col. Brian Delahaut showed up. “I have no idea who these girls are 
 and it really brightened our resolve and it made us realize what we’re fighting for,” said the former helicopter pilot who helped plan part of the war. “You’d think of that support we were receiving, it was absolutely incredible. That was what was powering us.” Delahaut, a 46-year-old Marine reservist from Irvine, Calif., was in Bellevue Thursday talking to members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Winiecki Post 9677.

In November, that post helped send 550 cards from students at McAuliffe Elementary School to troops in Iraq for the holidays. To hear firsthand from someone who was there that those efforts made a difference hit a chord with John DePrey, the post commander and a Korean War veteran. “You send something off to someone you never see or hear from, but to hear 
 how much it’s appreciated makes it all worthwhile,” he said. Called to active duty in October, Delahaut was part of the planning staff for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He remained on active duty until July, when he went back to work at MK Diamond Products, a construction equipment firm headed by his dad. Delahaut fielded a few questions for other veterans, including the existence of weapons of mass destruction, which coalition forces have yet to find. “Are there weapons? I believe that there probably are,” he said. “When you go over there and see ... the way these Iraqi people were brutalized by this regime, we didn’t have to find any weapons of mass destruction.”
Right on Sir, enough said.
Delahaut said the support of Americans made an impact on him and other Marines. He added that troops that are still deployed also need that support. “As they do come back, reach out to them, shake their hand and tell them they did a great job,” he said.
My advice as well to any of you out there who want to show your support for the lads & lassies coming back. Wish the same courtesy had been extended to my Dad when came back from ’Nam, a little gratitude goes a long ass way.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 9:30:23 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Talk about getting a morale kick in the pants! When things are looking pretty bad and the spirits sag, nothing short of a vision from God beats a child's hug.

Been following that advice all my life, Jarhead. God bless all our soldiers and our veterans.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/06/2004 14:35 Comments || Top||


Marines make mark in Mazatlan
It’s always good to lend a helping hand to those in need, especially less fortunate children living in a broken down orphanage in want of repair. Due to a lack of funding, there are not many options available for the orphans here in Mazatlan to improve their living environment. However, fourteen Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit and about 30 sailors from the amphibious assault ship USS Denver answered a call for help and provided humanitarian assistance to the "Orfanatorio de Mazatlan," or "Mazatlan Orphanage" here, Jan. 18. The humanitarian project lasted about six hours and was coordinated by Navy Lt. M. Giralmo, chaplain, USS Denver. Marines from MEU Service Support Group 11 (MSSG-11) and sailors from the ship worked together to paint the orphanage’s walls, fix electrical problems and clean up the building. "I’m impressed with their work, their professionalism and their conduct," said Cristina Pena de Herrera, president of the Orfanatorio de Mazatlan. "Their discipline was very evident."

When the project was complete, the walls were painted with lighter colors, the lighting fixtures were fixed, the rooms were clean, and the staff and children were extremely happy. "It feels great to help out those who are less fortunate than us and to see the smiles on the little children’s faces," said Sgt. Raymond B. Cotton, radio chief, communications detachment, MSSG-11, 11th MEU. According to Cotton, it was sad to leave the children at the end of the day because of the bond they had made. Hopefully, every time the orphanage’s staff and children enter one of the bright, freshly painted rooms, they’ll think of the Marines and sailors, and smile. According to Cpl. A. Phillip Peacock, computer technician, MSSG-11, 11th MEU, this was the first visit to Mexico for many of the Marines and they were very impressed with the way the locals treated Americans. "We were treated like royalty," he said. "The food and merchandise were extremely inexpensive and the cab drivers were very friendly. Anytime the Marines needed directions or information the locals were very eager to help."
I’ve found that in a lot of countries - the media wants you to think that the average joe hates our guts, however, its usually the pseudo-intelligentsia elitists who are doing the whining.
The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit is scheduled to leave on a regularly scheduled deployment to the U.S. Central and Pacific Commands early this summer aboard three amphibious assault ships, including the USS Denver.
This article is off topic for WoT. My intent was to illustrate that stuff like this is going on every day in Iraq & on a larger scale. Ever wonder why the main stream media doens’t report it?
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 9:22:09 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ever wonder why the main stream media doens’t report it?
Lack of body bags. Besides its all a vast conspiracy for Bush to get all the Oil on the moon...

I wonder how many Tourists visit this other side of Mazatla?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 9:44 Comments || Top||

#2  The last time the Marines were in Mexico, it was for a different purpose. "the Halls of Montezuma"
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 02/06/2004 14:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Jarhead, the Marines did that in every port call on UNITAS (the booze cruise.)

The Destroyer Tender that I was on did quite a bit of that too - all coordinated by the Chaplain. We did good work.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 14:34 Comments || Top||

#4  SH, big roger that bro'. We helped boku orphanages when I was on my 'far east tour' - Japan, Korea, & Oki. Chaplain's always hooking it up - good deal for the lads to go out and do something constructive. Gives them different perspective on things. We were like minor celebrities over there, much like the UNITAS pulling into town in Venezuala. After community service time it's always good to get back to work blowing stuff up.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 15:00 Comments || Top||

#5  If the CO in those situations had the same discretionary funds to spend as the commanders in Iraq have, it would be fun to see the boost to the lcoal economy that would result from adding extra work farmed out to supporting local contractors.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 16:49 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Zaka to display bombed out bus at the Hague
Israel’s Zaka (Disaster Victims Identification) organization announced Friday that it would place a terrorist-bombed bus outside the International Court of Justice in the Hague. The burned-out bus was the target of a suicide bombing, in which 11 people were murdered in Jerusalem last week. The court will hold hearings on Israel’s security fence on February 23rd, and the organization has received the approval of the Hague municipality to set up the installation. Organization spokesmen told Ynet that the act is not meant to be political, since they are by nature an humanitarian organization; nevertheless, the statement continued, this would certainly be seen as a strong message against terrorism of any sort. "We feel that the world sees terror attacks as just another statistic, and not a human tragedy," they said. Zaka also intends to send a multi-lingual delegation of volunteers: "Only someone who has been exposed to this horror can effectively convey the human aspect of these acts," they said.
Posted by: TS || 02/06/2004 8:39:12 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Excellent. Israel seems to be on a public relations jag these days -- showing video of the bombing, saying they'll evacuate gaza.....

not that it will change world opinion, mind you.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 02/06/2004 10:09 Comments || Top||

#2  PlanetDan - it is a good move to counter the Rooters/AP/Al Jiz propaganda
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2004 13:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Frank, it may fuel Al Jiz propganda by giving them a view of the Paleos handiwork. Very good to shove the bus in the Hagues face though.
Posted by: Charles || 02/06/2004 14:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Body of 11-YO Carlie Brucia found
A sad but not surprising ending. Edited for brevity.
Officials in Sarasota, Fla., said they have found the body of Carlie Brucia and have charged a suspect in the case with murder. Sarasota County Sheriff Bill Balkwill refused to say where Carlie was found, saying it is an active crime seen. But CNN reported that the slain child’s body was found behind a church off of Interstate 75 in Sarasota. An unemployed mechanic with a criminal record has now been charged with kidnapping and murder. Joseph P. Smith, 37, continued to refuse to answer questions about the 11-year-old girl. He has been held without bail since Tuesday on an alleged probation violation stemming from a cocaine possession conviction. Smith has been convicted previously on felony drug charges. South Florida authorities said Thursday that "strong evidence" links Smith to Brucia’s kidnapping. Authorities believe Smith is the tattooed man in a mechanic’s shirt on the tape. He was taken into custody on a tip from a woman who lives with him.

State records show that Smith has been arrested at least 13 times in Florida since 1993. He was arrested in 1997 on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges -- but was acquitted a year later. Other arrests range from misdemeanor battery to felony drug possession charges. Investigators were searching for a pink backpack Carlie was carrying when she disappeared and urged TV stations to continue showing images of Smith’s car, a Buick Century station wagon. "We are certain that the ’92 Buick station wagon that we have is the vehicle used in the abduction," Balkwill said. Meanwhile, investigators in Sarasota say NASA’s attempt at enhancing images of Brucia’s abduction has not been that helpful. Sheriff’s officials said the quality of the enhanced images is not much better than the originals.
Florida have the death penalty?
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 7:32:18 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yes. Florida has the death penalty.
Posted by: Dragon Fly || 02/06/2004 7:34 Comments || Top||

#2  This makes me sick. As I am sure it makes all of you sick (especially those of us w/kids). My heart & prayers go out to her folks. I wonder how long it takes before Mike Farrell & Janeane the pig Garrafalo ask for clemency on this guy's behalf?

JH say: Buckle up Smith, it's the law in Florida.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 7:42 Comments || Top||

#3  If you have trouble linking to the TV story, try this Associated Press story, February 6, 2004, 7:37 AM EST.

Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 7:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Damn. I can't help but feel that this is because he was caught on tape. Maybe he would have done it anyway, but maybe he wouldn't have. Either way, damn.
Posted by: Charles || 02/06/2004 8:19 Comments || Top||

#5  I can't help but feel that this is because he was caught on tape.

Most likely she was dead before the tape was released, they'll have a estimated time of death later. This asshole picked the wrong state, he'll be on death row before he knows what happened. Florida doesn't screw around with these guys, just ask Ted Bundy. He's sitting next to Hitler in hell.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 8:41 Comments || Top||

#6  State records show that Smith has been arrested at least 13 times in Florida since 1993. He was arrested in 1997 on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges -- but was acquitted a year later

The judge, prosecutor, and jury from that case should be charged as accessories in this girl's death. I hope Ol' Sparky is warmed up, just enough to cook this mutt slowly.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 9:11 Comments || Top||

#7  ...It gets worse, folks.
FNC is reporting that a judge had the chance to put him away on probation violations on December 30th, but declined. Governor Bush needs to put that jackass under a microscope too - he's already got investigators going over the Sarasota County Sherriff's Office, because it appears that she was missing for an entire day before they ever really got serious about things.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/06/2004 9:19 Comments || Top||

#8  reported that the slain child’s body was found behind a church off of Interstate 75 in Sarasota

Bless her innocent soul, this guy has done nothing but cause deep pain for everyone including himself, he'll get his, no doubt about that.
Posted by: CobraCommander || 02/06/2004 9:55 Comments || Top||

#9  Did Florida ever fix Ol' Sparky or is he still lighting people on fire? I hope it's the later.
Posted by: BH || 02/06/2004 10:55 Comments || Top||

#10  They retired Ol'Sparky, I think they use the needle now.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 11:08 Comments || Top||

#11  State records show that Smith has been arrested at least 13 times in Florida since 1993. He was arrested in 1997 on kidnapping and false imprisonment charges -- but was acquitted a year later.

FNC is reporting that a judge had the chance to put him away on probation violations on December 30th, but declined.

This is why laws like Three Strikes get passed.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 02/06/2004 11:25 Comments || Top||

#12  I am usually against mob justice, but in this case we should make an exception. This waste of a human being doesn't deserve to breath another minute. After I saw the story I reviewed yelling and screaming with my kids. And then prayed they would never have to use it. Parents: Remind you kids that if a stranger tries to take them away to scream like they have never screamed before. The louder the better, perps don't like loud victims.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 02/06/2004 11:36 Comments || Top||

#13  Yeah the capacitors old old sparky were gettin kinda flaky..... 10, 100, 20, 1, 90, amps.... kinda fun to watch to I hear.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 11:46 Comments || Top||

#14  I personally see nothing wrong with using Old Sparky again at say 1 to 10 amps for say oh 1/2 our or so. Jump it up to 100 once in while...
Use resusciatation..etc....But hey that's my opinion only.
Posted by: dataman1 || 02/06/2004 12:14 Comments || Top||

#15  Yeah the capacitors old old sparky were gettin kinda flaky..... 10, 100, 20, 1, 90, amps.... kinda fun to watch to I hear.

Perfect. Put this turd with legs on a slow roast and let him suffer for days. This is one case where torture should be mandatory. Days and days of it.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 12:46 Comments || Top||

#16  Was listening to KVI Radio while driving home last night and they were talking to some women who 'helps' people who molest kids. She kept saying that we should understand their addiction and be compassionate and treat them instead of incarcerate them.

The show host kept asking her if they should be locked up after they had molested a child. She said that we shouldn't lock them up but be more understanding and treat their addiction (the show was about addrediline addiction or something - I did not hear the entire show).

The only treatment they deserve is ole sparky (with a flaky capacitor..).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 14:08 Comments || Top||

#17  My problem is not about understanding or what this guy deserves. My problem is if this guy will begin anew. That means the law failed to protect the innocent. Meaning that in case a criminal is released and kills another child a dozen or so between the liberals who advocated his liberation should pay for his crime. Ie loooooooooooonhg jail or even old sparky.

I am more than sick with people who play the big "generous" and "humanistic" liberal with other people's lives.
Posted by: JFM || 02/06/2004 14:34 Comments || Top||

#18  Always liked ole sparky,but they use the needle now cause judge said elecution was cruel and unsual punishment.
Posted by: djohn66 || 02/06/2004 14:38 Comments || Top||

#19  I am more than sick with people who play the big "generous" and "humanistic" liberal with other people's lives.

Damn straight, JFM. And don't forget being so "generous" and "Charitable" with other people's money.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/06/2004 14:41 Comments || Top||

#20  They retired Ol'Sparky, I think they use the needle now.

Then, I pray to God they miss the blood vessel, but dump enough poison into the muscle tissue to make the fiend's death at least as protracted, painful and scary as the poor child he killed. My heart goes out to her parents and family.

At what point do the !#8&^!#%* bleeding heart liberals wake up and realize that true compassion is swift and unrelenting justice. Examples made of criminals deter crime -- what better rehabilitation could a society want?
Posted by: cingold || 02/06/2004 14:49 Comments || Top||

#21  Stop that Cingold! You're an officer of the court!
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 14:52 Comments || Top||

#22  Did we ever get Saddam's people shredders? I think they could come in handy.
Posted by: Lil Dhimmi || 02/06/2004 15:02 Comments || Top||

#23  Lil Dhimmi -- you haven't heard? The left says those shredders never existed.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 15:25 Comments || Top||

#24  Stop that Cingold! You're an officer of the court!

Oooops! Oh well, good thing I never wanted to be a judge, anyway. Can you just imagine what would happen during vetting if somebody tried to appoint me and this stuff (not to mention what I say in the office) ever came up?

Since I don’t want to ever be a judge, let me just add to my comments: Damn the judges (“the person, not the office -- which I respect”™) who, in the name of “fair trial,” so blind the juries by excluding so much evidence that no prosecutor could ever get a conviction. Damn the judges who overlook how felons have violated probation, and don’t revoke probation. Damn the judges who don’t throw the book at these guys when they are convicted -- all the while knowing full well that studies show tremendous rates of repeat (and worse) offenses. If this guy was arrested 13 times, he probably has at least three times the number of bad acts for which he never got caught.

Now some poor family has to try to go on in life without ever seeing this precious girl grow up. No awkward first dates, no prom, no dad giving away his daughter to a nervous groom . . . All because the powers that be decided to rehabilitate this scum, but found that not any amount of money or second chances would do the trick. AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH ! ! ! ! !
Posted by: cingold || 02/06/2004 18:51 Comments || Top||

#25  RE Sparky or injection I found this from Death Row Fact Sheet:
In January 2000, the Florida Legislature passed legislation that allows lethal injection as an alternative method of execution in Florida. Florida administers executions by lethal injection or electric chair at the execution chamber located at Florida State Prison.
It's still legal so bring old sparky out of retirement.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 22:34 Comments || Top||

#26  "It's still legal so bring old sparky out of retirement."

-hell yeah! Tell Talahassee, Gainesville, and J-ville to turn down their grids -- we're getting all the juice up for this one.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 23:07 Comments || Top||

#27  Jarhead: Just Talahassee and maybe Gainesville. We don't want the juice running too consistently, now do we?
Posted by: BH || 02/06/2004 23:53 Comments || Top||


Reagan is 93
A great man, now reduced. Let’s not forget.
Posted by: someone || 02/06/2004 3:36:51 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A pawn for rich bastards who almost bankrupted this country with his insane fiscal policies--the worst president in history
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 3:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Of course he has someone paid for by the taxpayer to change his diapers how many people here have someone to take care of their parents if that happens to them?
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 3:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Note to NMM's (Not Much of a Man)custodian. He's not taking his meds again.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 4:00 Comments || Top||

#4  GK--eat me
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 4:08 Comments || Top||

#5  He _might_ have "almost bankrupted" the US. He DEFINTELY bankrupted the Soviet Union. If I'm in a fight, and I end up gravely injured, but my rival ends up dead, that's STILL a win in MY book, Mikey. The Soviet Union is dead and buried, and having been one of the soldiers who would have died trying to hold them back on the front lines of Europe, I'm GLAD, I tell you, GLAD! HA! GLAD!

So, don't ask me to cry for the price, Mikey. I'm alive, and if that cost the US a few trillion dollars, too bad!

(I'm selfish, I am! Heh!)

Ed Becerra
Posted by: Ed Becerra || 02/06/2004 4:18 Comments || Top||

#6  The sort of well reasoned rejoiner that I expected from you. Let us all pray that neither you, nor any member of your family, ever suffers from the ravages of alzheimers. Even you deserve more compassion than you give.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 4:21 Comments || Top||

#7  NMM; What a heartless, cruel, imamature liar you are. This is sure to convince undecideds of the rightness of your cause. You have no argument, just lies, baseless charges, and irrational bigotry.

Looking at the economy of the 90's, as well as most of the 80's, how can you even say these things with a straight face? Reagan's tax cuts did wonders for an economy mired in "malaise" under Carter. And Reagan is the one that brought down the Soviet Union.

But then, your kind always did root for the genocidal murderers, and all your talk of the "little people" was just horse manure you used to sucker folks into voting for your kind.
Posted by: Ben || 02/06/2004 5:15 Comments || Top||

#8  NMM is suffering from severe jelousy. The greatest statesman and President of the last century was, of course Billy Boy, not to mention that he was also a craven bulbous nosed coward. The other greatest stateman and President of the last century was Jimmah, who is about to write a bio with the working title "How I won a Nobel Prize by felching commie dictators and giving them nuclear power plants for very nice pieces of paper saying they would not develop nukes, at least on my watch".

Deal with it NMM- Bush and Reagan will gain in stature as the decades pass, Carter and Clinton will slide into oblivion.
Posted by: Craig || 02/06/2004 6:50 Comments || Top||

#9  NMM,what an ass!
I too believe Regean did great things,as mentioned,the fall of the Soviet Union.
However I hated his"Trickle Down"thereoy of economics,and that appears to be Bush's working model.I can understand the reasoning behind giving major tax cuts to the very well off and rich segments of our society spurs investment and growth.
But it seems to me that our economy would be better served with 10 people buy moderatly priced cars,instead 2 people buying Mercedes.Wouldn't it be better for the economy if instead of 1 family buying a $1 million beach house,15 faimilies bought 15 moderatly priced homes?
I do not know about the rest of you but I think Trickle Down economics suck.
I favor a Flat tax plan,everybody pays the same.
Posted by: Raptor || 02/06/2004 7:10 Comments || Top||

#10  Ronald Reagan was a great man. IMVHO the greatest American president of the 20th century.

He defeated the Soviet Union without firing a shot. And if he did this while suffering from a delibiltating disease, then that is all the more impressive.

And BTW I'm not an American.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/06/2004 7:31 Comments || Top||

#11  Happy birthday, Mr. Reagan! Defeated our biggest rival without firing a shot.

Raptor--I've always wanted a flat tax as well, but I do agree with the Trickle Down theory. When the wealthy are allowed to keep more of their money (after paying their fair share, which should be the same rate as everybody pays!), they have more to invest and spend creating more jobs. They're the ones to look to for employment, not the government!
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 7:39 Comments || Top||

#12  No words can express the great respect I have for this man. Happy Birthday Mr Reagan.
Posted by: Charles || 02/06/2004 8:10 Comments || Top||

#13  Ronald Reagan is 93.

I firmly believe that when Ronald Reagan passes, a choir of angels will guide him to Heaven. I don't know the details of his sins. But I do know that hundreds of millions of people are free today, due to him. And millions of people are alive today due to him. I believe, without a shadow of doubt, that God will judge this man with those accomplishments in mind and find him worthy of Paradise.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 02/06/2004 8:24 Comments || Top||

#14  Reagan's build up may have put the Soviet Union on the road to final destruction. However, Reagan's failure to confront Islamic terrorism in Lebanon and elsewhere led to the build up of that problem. You can't logically criticize Clinton's failure to confront Islamic terrorism without also noting Reagan's failure in this regard.
Posted by: mhw || 02/06/2004 8:25 Comments || Top||

#15  'Trickle down' economics is basic economics. My main argument against those who are against the economic ideas of Reagan is: A poor man has never given me employment. The idea behind trickle down economics is not that wealthy folks will buy Mercedes Benz's ( they will whether they get a tax cut or not )but that, being smart folks who got (or stay) wealthy by being smart, they will want to make more wealth by investing, and making larger gains on their income.

Rich folks understand you can't get wealthier by buying luxury items. Folks who have been against this type of tax relief never seem to understand this basic tenet of economics.

Favorable tax policies will encourage this type of investment behavior, and it will help evenone, including (God help us) NMM.

This type of policy takes a long time to take effect but once it gets going it is very hard to bring it down.

Raptor, Keynesian economics have shown to work well as well and there can be no question that it helped many poor and moderate income people, but unfortunately, it has far shorter cycles than supply side economics. Ultimately, for a nation to build wealth, Keynesian economics are not the way to go.

Reagan and Bush have both shown the supply side economics are the best way and one that works well for everyone.

Happy Birthday Mr. President. I was against you politically during the 80s, but that was before my head popped out of my ass.
Posted by: badanov || 02/06/2004 8:34 Comments || Top||

#16  Ronnie was the goods. I've served w/guys who were on W.House duty when RR was in office. They loved that old man. He made a point of knowing their names and a bit about their families. Unlike Willie the huckster who couldn't even render a proper salute. Reagan is prolly the favorite pres of Marines. (Truman prolly being the most hated & Clinton the most laughed at). My $.02.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 8:47 Comments || Top||

#17  NMM-
Ronald Reagan saved this country. If not from military attack, then from political domination. I will go to my grave believing that, and nothing will ever convince me otherwise.
Your comments are utterly cruel, heartless, and beyond contempt. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/06/2004 9:12 Comments || Top||

#18  badanov--I agree. One of the biggest fiascos of government trying to tax the rich more and thereby preserve the dignity of the working man was the luxury tax passed by Bush Sr. back in '90. By excessively taxing yachts over $100,000, among other luxury items, the government encouraged the wealthy to buy boats out of the country, thereby dropping the expected tax revenue from $31 million to $16 million, and costing the domestic boat manufacturing industry over 7,000 jobs. Did this prevent anyone with money from buying a yacht? No. It just screwed over the poor working stiffs here who built them.

Then about 9 years later we get Ted's son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy(D) from RI, proposing "The Boat Building Investment Act", which is a 20% tax CREDIT on American-made yachts over 50-ft. long. I don't think it passed, but it's another example of what "fairly" soaking the rich has accomplished.
Posted by: Dar || 02/06/2004 9:15 Comments || Top||

#19  mhw, what a stupid comment.
Posted by: AllahHateMe || 02/06/2004 9:35 Comments || Top||

#20  With Reagan it was the same deficit whining we're getting now. "Burdening our children's children" blah, blah. How many years passed before the SURPLUS arrived ? Long live the deficit, the only thing that caps spending.
Posted by: eyeyeye || 02/06/2004 9:39 Comments || Top||

#21  My husband is a small bus owner, NMM - deals w/plastics. Care to read what the National Assoc. of Mnfrs said in December???


Manufacturing
A new report from the National Association of Manufacturers and the Manufacturing Alliance (MAPI) found that much of the manufacturing sector's problems are not due to unfair actions by our trading partners, but are self-imposed. It notes that we have higher corporate taxes, higher pollution abatement costs, and higher tort liability costs than our key competitors. Overall manufacturing costs are 22.4 percent higher in the U.S. as a result of such self-imposed costs, reducing our competitiveness and contributing to the trade deficit.

In terms of tort liability, a new report from Tillinghast-Towers Perrin estimates this cost at $233 billion last year, up $27 billion from 2001. The report estimates tort costs at 2.33 percent of GDP, or $809 per person in the U.S. Of this amount, only 22 cents on the dollar goes to compensate victims for actual economic loss. The rest is for lawyers and additional payments for punitive damages and "pain and suffering.

----

If we (GASP) cust corp. taxes we become more competive. My (semi- rich depending on your definition)husband gets more bus and what happens? He has to hire more people, which in turn, gives the government higher revenues. - Check out what's happening in TN and other states, they're returning to the black.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 10:21 Comments || Top||

#22  For a perspective on Regan, entertain in your mind where we would be today if the WOT had been on us before the Cold War was done. How would we have dealt with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait? Then add in the result of the Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, Libya and Malasia using a nuclear cooperative to join the nuclear club in rapid succession.
Let's not forget that Africa is burning and Castro has subverted a number of coutries in South America
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 10:24 Comments || Top||

#23  I do not know much about the ins and outs of economics,heard the term Kensyian economics but have no idea what it is(guess I will have to do a goggle).
It just seems to me that more people would be put to work building 10 1,350 sq' homes than would be employed building 1 7,000 sq' home.
I would think it takes a whole lot more factory workers to build 10 $15,000 cars than it does to build 2 $40,000 luxury cars.
There are a lot of very smart,educated people here,could you explain to me why I am wrong in my reasoning?
Posted by: Raptor || 02/06/2004 10:25 Comments || Top||

#24  We can actually pin islamism on Nixon (1973 assasination that Arathug should have been taken out for) or Carter, 1979. The marines should have stood their ground.
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 10:30 Comments || Top||

#25  "A pawn for rich bastards who almost bankrupted this country with his insane fiscal policies--the worst president in history"

Aw, NotMikey, I'm so sorry that the Soviets lost the cold war. Maybe you should MoveOn, though, eh?

Please explain Reagan's fiscal policies in your own words. That is, please try not to resort to a bumper sticker.
Posted by: eLarson || 02/06/2004 10:32 Comments || Top||

#26  NMM:

I thought George W. Bush was the worst president in history. I mean, c'mon, he masterminded 9/11 with the Mossad to build that pipeline in Afghanistan, ran the Constitution through a paper shredder, assasinated Wellstone, invaded Iraq to steal its oil for Halliburton, Enron, and the International Zionist Conspiracy, sabotaged the Dean campaign by remote control with Diebold voting machines, exposed Janet Jackson's nipple ornament to distract the sheeple from his tax cuts, kicked his dog, cheated at solitare, and even dared to serve pork chops without applesauce, And besides that, he's a moron, right?

Me so confused.
Posted by: Mike || 02/06/2004 11:30 Comments || Top||

#27  AllahHateMe, I beleive MHW is right to a certain extent on Beruit. I am a big far of RR, but pulling out seems a mistake in retrospect, but only in retrospect. The Beruit pull out only mattered because it was a first of a chain of pullouts and demostrations that America is casualty adverse.
Had we not pulled out of Somalia after the fire-fight in Moghedishu, the theory that the jihadis had about the US being soft would not have been reenforced. The bigger mistakes was the policy of dealing with terrorists judicially and responding to state sponsors in symbolic fashion only.
The Regan/Bush I responces to Libyian terrorism and to Iranian agression were quite effective and should have negated the pullout from Beruit.
Based on a recordings of RM Nixon describing phone calls he had with then Governor of California, Ronald Regan, I beleive that Ronnie pulled out because he didn't believe that the UN was an effective force for peace-keeping - can't fault him there. Had it been commonly understood in America that Hezboullah was an Iranian surrogate, I think that Reagans responce would have been more adequate - possibly the carpet bombing of Tehran.
As for flat taxes, I saw a CSPN broadcast of a dated AEI panel where someone in teh audience asked Newt Gingrich why the GOP had dropped the fight for a flat tax. Newt explained that while there was a general desire among Americans for flat taxes, only a small percentage were willing to support a flat tax if they, personally, would lose their tax credit for children.
Sounds like the answer should have been a push for educating the American public not waving the surrender flag. If Russia and Iraq prove that a flat tax is good for the economy, hopefully the US will look at it again down the road. I suggest after Ted Kennedy and most of his generation are experiencing an infinite happy hour in the great beyond.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 11:56 Comments || Top||

#28  Happy Birthday Gipper!
Anonymous2u, is that the same small bus NMM rides to school?
Posted by: Lil Dhimmi || 02/06/2004 13:39 Comments || Top||

#29  I would think it takes a whole lot more factory workers to build 10 $15,000 cars than it does to build 2 $40,000 luxury cars.

Not necessarily. Think about the engineering that goes into a $40,000 car versus a $15,000 car. There's a reason why it costs that much. All those unnecessary goodies employ people from other industries. Also, former communist Eastern Europe used to employ hundreds of people making a $500 car... but where did that get them?

"Burdening our children's children" blah, blah.
Ask the Japanese what they think about that. If you're buying a home that will be paid off by your great-grandchildren, you start thinking more about passing on your wealth rather than spending now to get the economy moving again, no matter how much of a tax cut you're given. Thankfully this doesn't apply to North America...yet.
Posted by: Rafael || 02/06/2004 13:42 Comments || Top||

#30  Ah, it's The Gipper's B'day eh? No wonder NMM has appeared. A small-souled man, unable to bear the happiness of his betters, pissing into the punch bowl and crapping on the hors d'ouvres with so much hate, he doesn't realize how stupid he looks standing on the tables with his drawers down...

I helped run a Prison Ministry during the so-called Reagan recession, and we had NO PROBLEMS finding jobs for our converted and released prisoners: Liberals just stare at me blankly when I say that, and move on, totally unable to process it...
Posted by: Ptah || 02/06/2004 14:49 Comments || Top||

#31  I helped run a Prison Ministry during the so-called Reagan recession
Writing that down in the big permanent record. We may have a closet do-gooder in our midst. :)
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 14:55 Comments || Top||

#32  I helped run a Prison Ministry--God bless you, Ptah. Wonderful work!
As for the Gipper's birthday, I wish so much that he hadn't lost his "mind" to Alzheimer's: I think he would be so pleased and proud of GWB and so many of his policies and programs coming to fruition like SDI, the Patriot Missile program, the Adam Smithian "trickle down" economics and laissez-faire capitalism working yet again.
"Trickle-down" is proven Smithian capitalism. The fact that Bush 41 called it "voodoo economics" signalled the beginning of the end for him and thank God his son knows better!
Keynesian economics is nothing but virtually dressed up Socialism/Marxism--a command economy run by the state with lots of social welfare "benefits" built in for the "workers" all paid for with our taxes. Useless.
I agree that Reagan shouldn't have pulled us out of Beirut, but I'm sure he had his reasons.
I like to think that Muamar Quaddafi's recent "change-of-heart" was at least partly inspired by Ronaldus Magnus'es well-placed missiles!
It certainly kept him quiet for almost 20 years.
Happy Birthday, President Reagan I miss you.
Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro || 02/06/2004 16:31 Comments || Top||

#33  Great post on Reagan, Jennie. And congratulations for being selected the 10 of Hearts in the deck of dangerous blogger cards.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 16:45 Comments || Top||

#34  A lot of good info,folks.Much food for thought.

Should have sent the rest of the MEU,backed-up with the Sixth Fleet.With orders to hunt the terrorist down.Kill anybody(Christian Phlangests,Hezb,Hamas,etc) that tried to stand in thier way.
Arabs saw that as a sign of weakness,now we pay the price of appeasment.
Posted by: Raptor || 02/06/2004 17:31 Comments || Top||

#35  Thanks, GK!
And Raptor, you're right, too--dunno why RR had the USA pull out of Beirut like that.
Looking back on it now, it certainly was a big heads up almost 20 years before 9/11 and we still have Hezbollah ahead of us to deal with.
President Reagan was a wise man and as such, maybe he had to "pick his battles" and the one he chose to fight was Soviet Communism.
Remember also that the Soviets were backing the Islamists back then, too, like Arafat who was then in Beirut.
Had the US made a major deployment to Beirut to answer for the bombing of the Marine barracks, we would have been facing down Soviet legions and not a rag-tag bunch of Hezbollah "guerrillas."
Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro || 02/06/2004 18:00 Comments || Top||

#36  RR had the Marines pull out of Beirut like that due to the uproar from the same people demanding we pull out of Iraq now, or demanding that we never went in. BTW, it's usually forgotten that the Marines were in Lebanon as peacekeepers, under a UN mandate. Did a lot of good, didn't it? The UN ball and chain had the same effect it had on GHWB in Gulf War I. It would have taken a Security Council resolution to kill large numbers of Bad Guys and the USSR would have vetoed it.

Two days after the Beirut bombing, while they still counting the bodies, Reagan ordered the (unilateral) invasion of Grenada.
Posted by: Fred || 02/06/2004 20:48 Comments || Top||

#37  Happy birthday RR! :):):)
Posted by: Korora || 02/06/2004 22:27 Comments || Top||

#38  "The marines should have stood their ground."

-uh, yeah, we did. That's why there's over 200 of them dead along w/some soldiers & sailors. Maybe you mean the Marine's should have been given common sense Rules of Engagement to use instead of the fucking non-sense the UN and US lawyers gave us. For instance, not letting a Marine have full clip of ammo in the mag well of his weapon or a condition 1 weapon for that matter while on guard duty. Or, how about not allowing every local Lebanese fuck-stick contractor on baord the base in Beruit w/out a thorough background check. I could go all day.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 22:43 Comments || Top||


Africa: Central
LRA attack refugee camp, kill 54
Ugandan rebels attacked a refugee camp in northern Uganda early Thursday, killing 54 civilians and two soldiers, a missionary said. An army spokesman confirmed that the Lord’s Resistance Army attacked the Abia camp, 185 miles north of Kampala, before dawn. Lt. Chris Magezi said the rebels killed at least 20 people and critically injured ``scores of others.’’ The Rev. Sebath Ayele, a missionary with the Comboni Fathers Mission, told The Associated Press by telephone that he visited Abia camp, where 10,000 civilians live because of the war in northern Uganda, and said 46 people died at the scene, eight died in a nearby hospital and more than 70 others were wounded. ``I have just seen the camp now and some huts are still burning,’’ Ayele said. ``The rebels came in huge numbers, fought with the soldiers and overpowered them, killing two soldiers.’’
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:41:41 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Rev. Sebath Ayele, a missionary with the Comboni Fathers Mission (who should have been minding his own business back in Italy)
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 4:00 Comments || Top||

#2  NMM:

First, you ignorant bigot, the name "Sabeth Ayele" doesn't sound all that Italian. In fact, a quick search finds "Ayele" as a last name popping up in Ethiopia and Nigeria.

Second, you ignorant bigot, you might want to educate yourself as to what the Comboni Fathers Mission does. There's a good chance the Reverend Ayele knows about the dead and wounded because he works at a hospital.

I know you're a mindless little twerp who hates everyone who won't bow down to you, but your attack on a man who does more good before his breakfast than you will ever do in your life is disgusting.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 9:13 Comments || Top||

#3  RC, there seems to be almost a rote nature to NMM's posts today. It's like he is using a computer program that searches Rantburg for key words and then automatically posts a comment from a selection of his greatest hits.
I have seen cognitive function in his comments before that is not there today. It's like he is on autopilot. Maybe Stevo has co-opted the NMM handle.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 17:08 Comments || Top||


Caucasus
2 dead in North Ossetia boom
Two people are dead following another explosion in the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz, near Chechnya. It is the second deadly blast in three days to strike the capital of North Ossetia, a Russian republic near war-torn Chechnya. The North Ossetian department of Russia’s Federal Security Service says first reports indicate the explosion was caused by a grenade placed near a house. No group has claimed responsibility. Federal and regional authorities are already investigating the cause of another blast on Tuesday near the central market and a bank in Vladikavkaz. Two people were killed in that incident and 10 others injured. Because of the republic’s proximity to Chechnya, separatists are often among the first people suspected by Russian officials. But Interior ministry investigators say the blasts could be the work of rival criminal gangs.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:35:44 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus Corpse Count
Seven Russian servicemen were killed and at least 11 wounded in the latest rebel attacks in the breakaway region of Chechnya, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said Thursday. Rebels fired on federal positions 14 times in the past 24 hours, killing four soldiers and wounding six, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A military truck hit a mine and exploded Wednesday in Bamut village in the Achkhoi-Martan district, killing two soldiers and wounding three. A group of sappers came under rebel fire as they checked a road for land mines; one died and two were hospitalized, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Rebels also shelled a Chechen police car outside Nozhai-Yurt village, killing both officers inside. In the last 24 hours, 200 people were detained in the sweeps that have been widely criticized by Chechen civilians and human rights groups. Also Thursday, Russian authorities said an insurgent killed in a clash this week was a Turkish citizen, news reports said. Russian officials contend that the Chechen rebels are assisted by foreign fighters.
They also seem to have the corpses to back the claim up, not that little things like that matter for al-Guardian ...
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:34:14 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Turkish jihadi killed in Chechnya
Russian forces have killed another Turkish fighter in Chechnya, triggering renewed ire against Ankara for failing to stop its citizens joining the separatist struggle. "One fighter was killed on 2 February during an operation carried out by federal special forces in the Chechen republic," Russian news agencies quoted the Kremlin press office as saying on Thursday. The dead fighter held a Turkish passport bearing the name of Ziya Pece. A grenade launcher and a gun were found near his body.

At least seven Turkish fighters were killed by Russian forces in Chechnya last year. The latest killing prompted a senior Russian defence ministry official to renew criticism of Turkey for failing to prevent its nationals from infiltrating Chechnya and fighting on the separatists’ side. "We keep killing armed Turkish citizens on Chechen territory," the official said. "Turkey, which is a NATO member, is not taking the necessary steps to prevent fighters from infiltrating Russia, which is itself a partner of NATO and an active member of the international anti-terrorist coalition." Moscow last month upbraided Turkey for failing to act decisively against organisations and individuals who have provided backing to Chechen fighters.
This is al-Jazeera, so God knows if this statement is accurate or not, though the Turks seem to have cracked down pretty hard on the jihadi infrastructure in their country. Guess they still have some work to do ...
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:31:28 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A certain percentage of Turks can trace their ancestry to the Caucasus, so there is a lot of sympathy for the Chechens like there was towards the Bosnians.
They probably look the other way to supporters of the Chechens as much as they can get away with without actively helping them.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 02/06/2004 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Rock throwing is still an art. Not for the faint at heart. Picking a good rock is easy. Place a solid stone in your hand. weigh it mentally, a little toss will do, rare back and simulate an overhand throw, use a complete follow through, but don't let go, no not yet, take your time, life is in the balance, a measure of justice should include a pint of pain, no?
Posted by: Lucky || 02/06/2004 0:41 Comments || Top||

#3  You know Luck, I've always said rock throwing should be an Olympic Sport. Unfortunately for all of us, the Arabs would take Gold, Silver, & Bronze in that event.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 7:38 Comments || Top||

#4  You ain't ever seen my nephew throw have ya Jarhead?
Posted by: Jed C. || 02/06/2004 10:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Arabs throw rocks like they throw grenades: like little girls. Can't throw straight when you've started running away in midthrow
Posted by: Frank G || 02/06/2004 10:44 Comments || Top||

#6  So they just need a pitching coach, eh? I wonder if they'll accept UN Umpires calling balks on them for poor motion mechanics - allowing the IDF guy a free pass to the next point of cover... ;->
Posted by: .com || 02/06/2004 11:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Oops, this is Chechnya, so the IDF guys would be a visiting team - definitely an inter-division game. So, um, make it a Spetnaz guy. Sorry, heh. 8-)
Posted by: .com || 02/06/2004 11:13 Comments || Top||

#8  What caring, loving, rational mother would allow her children to pitch rocks at an armed, organized force? Wait a minute - I just answered my own question. . .
Posted by: Doc8404 || 02/06/2004 12:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Get a big enough rock, and it's no problem. Well, there's a bit of a problem - getting the rock in motion. Too bad the islamonuts spend so much time reading the Quran - a little physics may have been a good thing. There's a guy up in Denver built a catapult that throws 700-lb rocks about three-quarters of a mile. Land one of those on a tank turret, and there will be some king-size headaches inside. He's got range down pat, but still needs some work on accuracy.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/06/2004 22:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Bush to appear on TV to answer criticism
President Bush suggested to his staff that he appear on "Meet the Press" on Sunday as a way of answering questions about Iraq after a barrage of Democratic criticism against him, a White House official said yesterday. The president has stepped up his television presence over the past year or so, granting interviews to ABC’s Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters, NBC’s Tom Brokaw and CNBC’s Ron Insana. But at a time when he has dipped in the polls and is on the defensive over the failure to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, "Meet the Press" and its audience of 5 million represents a roll of the dice. Communications Director Dan Bartlett said that Bush, who plans to appoint a commission to examine intelligence failures on Iraq, "felt it was important that the American people hear his thinking on this issue and pursuing the war on terrorism." On Tuesday, Bush suggested "Meet the Press" because of the "lengthy format" and because "Tim Russert has an enormous amount of respect," Bartlett said.

Others were puzzled. "Frankly, it seems that they’re overreacting," said GOP consultant Don Sipple, who worked for Bush’s first gubernatorial campaign in Texas. "I don’t think it’s the best forum for him right now." But, Sipple said that "he’s in a much different race than they thought they were in a month and a half ago." Adam Levine, a former White House aide who portrayed Russert in mock sessions with administration officials, said: "There are times for the White House when it makes sense to do a big, high-profile, difficult interview." He said a Russert interview "is going to be fair and straightforward, and if you pass that test, you’ve moved beyond those [negative] stories."
Russert has a good reputation, despite being way out of the Larry King marshmallow league...
Russert, who typically confronts his guests with videotape and graphics of past statements to try to highlight inconsistencies, had asked for an interview two weeks ago but was turned down. "The biggest challenge is trying to distill everything down to an hour," said Russert, who will tape the session at the White House on Saturday. "You could literally have a 12-hour interview and want more. Tone is everything. You realize that anything and everything a president says usually has some impact."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:22:37 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Russert? Got'sya 101.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/06/2004 0:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, Russert does "gotcha" journalism, just like the rest of them. But at least from what I've seen, he doesn't play favorites - unlike damn near ALL other big-network journos who pound the hell out of Republicans, then do just about everything but fellate Democrats.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) || 02/06/2004 1:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Are you kidding?!?! Are we talking about the same russert mutt who was begging hillary to run for president? Yeah, THAT guy doesn't play favorites, nuh-uh. Nope, nope. Never.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 1:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Well it's about time the moron in chief showed up to explain his disastrous policies that have emptied the Treasury--made us a pariah state in the court of world opinion --and given tax cuts to the top 5% of the population---while the economy reminds one of his dad's mis-tenure and dis-connect to working families. Sorry guys-- he won't be selected elected this year
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 3:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh--and I'm sure with all the lies he told--his lips fell off...
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 3:44 Comments || Top||

#6  NMM -- have you replaced your lips yet? There's nothing you've said that is the least bit true.

Not that I'm surprised; you lie like your not-namesake.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 02/06/2004 7:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Sounds like it must be a bad day at BlogFoeAmerica.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 7:51 Comments || Top||

#8  W needs to go on the Factor w/my boy Billy O. Matter of fact, if he has the cojones that I like in a leader, he'll go on all the talking head shows and state his case (even Nat'l Pinko Radio). He should take critism if it's justified but definitely give some black eyes to his critics who also have it coming. That's my suggestion, he'd prolly win more then a few people over to. I'd like to see him say, "yeah, we've made some mistakes, no one's perfect but we're doing our best to make the U.S. a safer place & let's be honest; the world's better off without Hussein, Bin Laden is an impotent derelict in some cave in Pakistan, Market's up, crimes down, Al-Queda's a fractured mess, and the only person giving me oral sex in the oval office is my wife...."

BTW - I got a tax break to and am by no means a top 5% dude. As for the pariah state thing, c'mon NMM, do you really give a shit what some folks think outside the US? Thankfully we don't have to depend on any of those pussies for our nat'l security.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 8:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Actually, W is probably much better suited for a one hour sit down with a 'long question, no interrupt' journalist with left inclinations than a 'short question with interuptions' interview with right inclined journalists.

This is because W's best asset is likeability and the informal interview plays to this strength.
Posted by: mhw || 02/06/2004 9:56 Comments || Top||

#10  MHW, I'm sure Billy O would give W the whole hour and tone it down some. The ratings would be too massive not to.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 10:12 Comments || Top||

#11  Possibly so Jarhead.

However, the other part of the equation is that if W goes on Tim's show, Kerry will have to do so also. Kerry is way low on likeability and he also has the problem of not believing in anything beyond himself. The low likeability and insincerity are much more likely to come across on Tim's show because Billy O is also unlikeable.
Posted by: mhw || 02/06/2004 11:31 Comments || Top||

#12  I'm about to become rapidly unpopular here: I too, don't think that Bush will be elected this year. He looks embattled and as the election draws near he will be doing more damage control than any positive campaigning. Listening to Powell's UNSC speeches now seems painful, as you realize that so many months have passed, and what of those decontamination trucks? And those bunkers circled in red? Cheney's pre-war claim that there were stockpiles of the bad stuff now seems clearly false.
Fellow Rantburgers can see the bigger picture, but what about the "average" fence-sitting citizen, who thinks that everything except the economy is back to normal again? "Success means nothing happens" also means people start asking about domestic issues again.
In other words, is there enough Rantburgers out there to push Bush through? Call me a pessimist, but I don't think so.
Posted by: Rafael || 02/06/2004 13:14 Comments || Top||

#13  Jarhead, I too would love to see W go on O'Reilly and pound the Dems on FNC. I will be watching to see how Russert handles the questions with W. I watched when he had Hillary, Dean, Clark, Kerry, and Edwards on and the word 'softballs' comes to mind. I don't want him to go easy on W I just want him to be fair. O'Rielly? That would be a grand performance indeed! BRING EM ON!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 02/06/2004 14:05 Comments || Top||

#14  Rafael, the last two weeks have kind of a rough patch for Bush politically, but the election is several eternities away. Also, a little of John Kerry goes an awful long way. I think in November Bush clubs him like a seal pup.
Posted by: Matt || 02/06/2004 14:34 Comments || Top||

#15  Sarge, plus like mhw surmises, Kerry will have to follow suit and go on Billy O. If not, you know Billy O will say he's a puss for not coming on the factor for the rest of the campaign. Lots of indy's like me watch Billy O, big swing votes to be had.
Posted by: Jarhead || 02/06/2004 14:37 Comments || Top||

#16  You may be right Rafael... but there's a big demo bounce going on right now because of the primaries... the good guys will start shooting back in 2 mounths or so.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 14:58 Comments || Top||

#17  LOL Matt.... used to make Teeshirts... I (card club suit mark) New Seals.
In the overdone I valentine NY typeface.
Life was good.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 15:01 Comments || Top||

#18  wouldn't be there. Jarhead, although I would love to see him addressed by Brit Hume's Fox All-Stars I don't think any cable news show would get to host GW because the raw number of viewers.

Bush might even be well served to do a NH visit and face questions in a town meeting type visit. It would be interesting to see what his numbers did vis-a-vis Kerry in NH after the meeting. Might send chills through some DNC spines if he followed the Primaries around after about a month and flipped the polls back in his favor at each stop.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 17:34 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon
Syria sends Iranian weapons to Hezbollah
Syria has resumed weapons transfers to anti-Israel guerrillas based in Lebanon, including a covert shipment of weapons from Iran smuggled aboard a Syrian cargo plane that had delivered earthquake relief, American and Israeli officials say.
Another one? Or is this confirmation of the last one?
The officials said a Syrian government plane that carried aid to Iran in late December had loaded up with small arms and possibly explosives intended for Hezbollah and Hamas, militant groups carrying out armed attacks against Israel. The Bush administration has repeatedly demanded that Syria halt the flow of weapons to the radical groups, saying that only then would Washington consider an improvement in relations. Administration officials are now preparing a report on policy toward Syria that could lead to new sanctions against Damascus under the Syria Accountability Act approved last year by Congress.

The reports of the weapons shipment appear to derail hopes among some American officials and experts on Syria that the government of President Bashar al-Assad might take a cue from Libya and reach out to the United States and other Western nations. Except for Lebanon, which is controlled by Syrian proxies, Syria is surrounded by pro-American governments, with more than 130,000 allied troops across the border in Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who met with Mr. Assad last summer, told The Washington Post this week that the Syrians "need to take a hard look at what’s happening in their neighborhood and see whether or not they want to modify some of their policies." Mr. Powell’s spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, said Mr. Powell had been explicit about the need truly to crack down on terrorists, "not just close the office, but make it impossible for them to operate."

On a visit last month to Turkey, President Assad discussed the possibility that the Turkish government might help mediate between Washington and Damascus. "They are definitely on a new path, and the messages they gave to the U.S. are all positive," a Turkish official said, adding that his government is ready to sponsor talks.
Doesn't look that way now, does it?
Also on the positive side, officials say, Syria has cooperated with the United States in identifying and arresting members of Al Qaeda’s terrorist network. The officials say intelligence provided by Syria resulted in the thwarting of at least two attacks against American interests in the last year, one in Bahrain and one in the United Arab Emirates. In addition, Syria has made suspects available for interrogation by the Central Intelligence Agency. The agency, intrigued by the results from these encounters, has urged policy makers to avoid unduly antagonizing the Syrians.

In an interview with The New York Times in November, Mr. Assad called on the United States to reinitiate talks between his nation and Israel. But when Israel’s president, Moshe Katsav, issued a direct invitation last month, Syria backed away, complaining of "media maneuvers."

Edward P. Djerejian, a former ambassador to Syria, said Mr. Assad was trying to reposition himself in a regional landscape that had changed. "There is certainly a reassessment going on in Damascus about its policy approach toward the United States and the region," Mr. Djerejian said. "They’re reaching out now in a way they never have."

Administration officials are eager to point out that Syria stands to benefit from a prosperous Iraq next door, with the numerous prospects for trade and investment, but they say Mr. Assad may not feel he has the political strength to confront an old guard of anti-American advisers. Mr. Assad’s ambivalence seemed on display in his interview with The Times. He said Syria had already complied with many American demands, yet he was quick to criticize the American-led alliance’s difficulties in Iraq. He said any thought of Iraq as a regional model had disappeared for most Syrians in the face of the continuing violence there. "I think before the war on Iraq, some thought about this," he said. "Most of them now think this is a bad example of bringing democracy."
He thinks there's still a chance Iran or al-Qaeda is going to snatch Iraq away from us.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 02/06/2004 12:13:14 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Should Syria's new provisional government be established through a caucus system or through direct elections? I suppose we'll follow the model that we eventually use in Iraq.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 02/06/2004 1:22 Comments || Top||

#2  On a visit last month to Turkey, President Assad discussed the possibility that the Turkish government might help mediate between Washington and Damascus.

Assad knows that the US will be, once again, suckered by Turk promises to deliver that never materialize. So why not pretend to cooperate in this manner.

You need read no further than the first sentence of this article which tells you all you really need to know about Syria's intentions and the intentions of the religion of piss.

Syria has resumed weapons transfers to anti-Israel guerrillas based in Lebanon, including a covert shipment of weapons from Iran smuggled aboard a Syrian cargo plane that had delivered earthquake relief, American and Israeli officials say.
Posted by: B || 02/06/2004 10:53 Comments || Top||

#3  There's a photo of Bashar Assad on the NY Times page, and I am reminded of Heinrich Himmler every time I see that guy's mug. Just put on a small pair of spectacles, and....
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 02/06/2004 10:58 Comments || Top||

#4  Mike, I favor early elections. Really early elections.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/06/2004 11:04 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Well, this should keep McCain busy!
Via Bros. Judd:
President Bush was expected to name Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, to a bipartisan commission that will investigate flaws in U.S. intelligence used to justify the Iraq war, Republican sources said on Thursday... He would lend a streak of independence to a commission that Democrats doubted would be non-partisan since its nine members are being picked by Bush rather than by Congress. Republican sources said McCain was offered the post by the White House on Thursday and accepted. Aides said he would be in Germany attending a security conference on Friday, so he would not be in Washington for the announcement. Names that have been circulating as possible commission members included Robert Gates, a former CIA director under the president’s father; Nebraska Republican Rep. Doug Bereuter; and former Georgia Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn, among others. The White House was also drafting an executive order to set out the scope of the investigation. The administration was giving the panel a broad mandate to look beyond Iraq and at other intelligence matters like the nuclear programs of Libya, Iran and North Korea.
FIRST!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Anonymous2U || 02/06/2004 12:03:19 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sam Nunn would be an excellent choice. I hope he makes the final cut.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips || 02/06/2004 0:39 Comments || Top||

#2  This is good. I hope good is our payback.
Posted by: Lucky || 02/06/2004 0:46 Comments || Top||

#3  I remember that vicious spoof on SNL when McCain was running for Prez. I hope he doesn't sit at the conference table with a blindfold on, yelling in vietnamese and shoveling food into his mouth.
Posted by: 4thInfVet || 02/06/2004 2:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Why don't the Democrats get to pick a partisan hack/ho like Kenneth Starr? Seems like fair play to me--I think Al Sharpton should chair the inquiry--he's the Dem equivalent of Kenneth Starr as an "unbiased" lawyer
Posted by: NotMike Moore || 02/06/2004 3:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Note to the trucking department: Double the shipment of rocks to NMN, he crawled out toooo fast this time.

dorf
Posted by: Anonymous || 02/06/2004 7:27 Comments || Top||

#6  McCain is a good choice as is Sam Nunn. Neither one will suffer fools kindly.
Posted by: Steve || 02/06/2004 8:45 Comments || Top||

#7  Dude, Sharpton is a Rev. Are you recommending an Inquisition?
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 9:44 Comments || Top||

#8  You really are a silly bastard.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 02/06/2004 9:54 Comments || Top||

#9  McCain is a bi-partison committee unto himself.
Posted by: Super Hose || 02/06/2004 10:38 Comments || Top||

#10  McCain is a Democrat (probably one of the better ones). A good choice.

The Democrats are pissed because they can't appoint Michael Moore/Moron or that Franklin liar. (Or NMM).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/06/2004 12:45 Comments || Top||

#11  US Senator Zell Miller, Democrat of Georgia, anyone? It works for me.
Posted by: GK || 02/06/2004 13:34 Comments || Top||

#12  I have my doubts about McCain, but Zell would be an excellent choice, acceptable to both sides of the asile and an unquestioned patriot.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/06/2004 14:51 Comments || Top||

#13  Or Sam Nunn for that matter...
If Sam had hung on like his uncle they've ended up naming a carrier after him.... even so I bet he gets an attack sub one day.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/06/2004 15:04 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2004-02-06
  40 dead in Moscow subway boom
Thu 2004-02-05
  Surprise! Abdul Qadeer pardoned!
Wed 2004-02-04
  Bacha Khan Zadran snagged
Tue 2004-02-03
  Ricin in the mail
Mon 2004-02-02
  AQ Khan admits to leaking secrets
Sun 2004-02-01
  Saddam to Be Handed Over to Special Court
Sat 2004-01-31
  Pak sacks Abdul Qadeer Khan
Fri 2004-01-30
  Death for Japan cult chemist
Thu 2004-01-29
  At least 10 dead in Jerusalem suicide bombing
Wed 2004-01-28
  Thai jihadis threaten schools, 1000 closed
Tue 2004-01-27
  Abu Sayyaf commander banged in Jolo
Mon 2004-01-26
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Sun 2004-01-25
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Sat 2004-01-24
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