Just the intro from a long article that argues that global cooling could trigger massive geopolitical changes, which would make the current WoT just a warm-up for something MUCH bigger. BTW, the article says this is as the result of new research, which is not true. I have a book published over 30 years ago that describes these kinds of abrupt climactic changes.
The climate could change radically, and fast. That would be the mother of all national security issues. Global warming may be bad news for future generations, but letâs face it, most of us spend as little time worrying about it as we did about al Qaeda before 9/11. Like the terrorists, though, the seemingly remote climate risk may hit home sooner and harder than we ever imagined.
In fact, the prospect has become so real that the Pentagonâs strategic planners are grappling with it. The threat that has riveted their attention is this: Global warming, rather than causing gradual, centuries-spanning change, may be pushing the climate to a tipping point. Growing evidence suggests the ocean-atmosphere system that controls the worldâs climate can lurch from one state to another in less than a decadeâlike a canoe thatâs gradually tilted until suddenly it flips over. Scientists donât know how close the system is to a critical threshold. But abrupt climate change may well occur in the not-too-distant future. If it does, the need to rapidly adapt may overwhelm many societiesâthereby upsetting the geopolitical balance of power.
Though triggered by warming, such change would probably cause cooling in the Northern Hemisphere, leading to longer, harsher winters in much of the U.S. and Europe. Worse, it would cause massive droughts, turning farmland to dust bowls and forests to ashes. Picture last fallâs California wildfires as a regular thing. Or imagine similar disasters destabilizing nuclear powers such as Pakistan or Russiaâitâs easy to see why the Pentagon has become interested in abrupt climate change.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/07/2004 12:45:31 PM ||
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Bank robbers never seem to look in the bag. They're not too smart, you see.
But the marketing of GPS tattletales for kids won't stop...mom likes reloading her browser window once a minute to see where her precious darlings are. Maybe even institute a new house rule, you must go outside once every 30 minutes to let the signal lock on so mom can see where you are while she watches the home remodeling channel.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has pardoned a defiant warlord who was handed over by Pakistani authorities earlier this week after being arrested in the neighboring country, a senior official said here on Friday. "Padshah Khan Zadran has been released at an order by President Karzai, and he is currently in the capital city as a guest," Minister of Border Affairs Mohammad Arif Noorzai told Xinhua.
Karzai's crazy, unless being a "guest" in Kabul involves being chained to the wall in somebody's cellar...
Zadran, a luantic renegade Afghan commander arrested over two months ago during a visit to his family in a tribal area of Pakistan close to the Afghan border, was handed over to the Afghan government on Tuesday. The warlord was accused by Karzai's US-backed government of allowing his militia soldiers to conduct armed banditry along highways in the country's eastern border area after his appointment of a provincial governor was removed in late 2001. Zadran, who fought along with US forces in the war against the Taliban in 2001 and participated the subsequent Bonn peace conference, was once appointed governor of the southeastern Paktia province soon after Karzai's government came to power. But the appointment was removed soon as local officials were not happy with their new governor and refused to accept him. Skirmishes have been seen in the province since then as militia troops loyal to Zadran set up unauthorized checkpoints along highways in the province to charge money form passers-by.
They're called "banditti."
Zadran's militiamen even fought against government forces and fired rockets at Gardez in the provincial capital of Paktia in revenge, killing about 70 people, according to official reports.
But they're not dead anymore, so Karzai let him off...
President Karzai earlier issued an order to arrest the warlord, whose soldiers were also believed to have made attacks against US forces deployed in the province. However, observers here said that Karzai's government could not afford to punish the defiant strongman as he has widespread support among local people in his tribal area.
Better to let 'em support a corpse.
Minister Noorzai said that tribal leaders from Zadran's area would come to Kabul in coming days to discuss with Karzai on a possible position for Zadran in the government.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 09:55 ||
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Zadran's militiamen even fought against government forces and fired rockets at Gardez in the provincial capital of Paktia in revenge, killing about 70 people, according to official reports.
Is this just Pashtuns killing each other? If so, then I suppose a pardon might be appropriate.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/07/2004 11:19 Comments ||
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As the picture of a bloodied, mangled head belonging to a suicide bomber circulated through international police offices yesterday, Canada's top military commander in the Afghan capital downplayed reports that the man who killed a Canadian soldier was himself a Canadian. "I think terrorists ... they don't have national identities," Maj.-Gen. Andrew Leslie told a press conference. "I don't think nationality is a factor â they are pan-national."
"It's just his family that's Islamic Canucks."
Agence France-Presse news service this week quoted a Taliban spokesperson claiming responsibility for the attack that killed Cpl. Jamie Murphy Jan. 27, and describing the bomber as a man some believe to be Abdullah Khadr, son of Toronto's Ahmed Said Khadr, an alleged Al Qaeda operative recently killed in Pakistan. Investigators circulated the gruesome photo â and another of the face of a suicide bomber who killed a British soldier Jan. 28 â in an attempt to identify the men. It is not known when DNA tests that might identify the remains will be completed. "In both cases, the heads are â I won't say intact, but discernible," Leslie said.
He was initially adamant the bomber was not Khadr, but yesterday he skirted around the issue. "I have a great deal of trouble accepting claims from any organization that kills innocent people," is all he would say when asked about the Taliban's claim.
"You know how they lie..."
The "remnants" of the suicide bomber's head belongs to a man of 25 to 40 years of age, Leslie said. Khadr, who has been accused of running a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, is 23.
On the other hand, we're hoping he wasn't leading an easy life there, just before the end...
A board of inquiry team from Ottawa's Department of National Defence, headed by Col. George Rousseau, arrived in Kabul yesterday to begin an intensive review of the suicide bombing. The four-person board is to sift through forensic analysis and photos of the bombing site to try to determine the circumstances surrounding Murphy's death. They will also scrutinize a video taken by a soldier who went down the same bumpy road Murphy did, 15 to 20 minutes before the deadly bombing. The sketchy images, taken by a hand-held video camera, depict several Afghan men riding bicyles, but "there's no discernible features," Leslie said, adding that technicians are trying to "enhance the quality of the film." Leslie hinted that the attack on the British patrol, the day after the one that killed Murphy, had a common purpose. "I'm confident that they are linked ... but I'm not going to tell you what the evidence is," he said.
"I can say no more!"
Earlier in the week, Leslie suggested the attack on the Canadian was directed at NATO, not the Canadian forces. In Islamabad, Pakistan, Abdullah Khadr's sister again repudiated the claim that her brother was the Kabul bomber in an interview yesterday â although she acknowledged that her recent e-mail messages and phone calls have gone unanswered.
That's a good sign...
She refuses to relinquish hope that her brother is alive, she said: "From a religious point of view, one can never lose hope." Zaynab Khadr, 24, said the accusations of terrorism amounted to a smear campaign against her family.
Kinda hard to smear the Khadr family, isn't it? They've done a pretty good job of it themselves...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 09:42 ||
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Al-Ghamdi's of the north, eh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2004 11:44 Comments ||
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Islamic Canucks blowing themselves up? When is that "friendship fence" going to be built?
Posted by: Charles ||
02/07/2004 12:55 Comments ||
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"You know how they lie..."
We all know how severed heads lie.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2004 13:03 Comments ||
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"She refuses to relinquish hope that her brother is the one that did it, she said: "From a terrorist point of view, one can never lose". Zaynab Khadr, 24, said the accusations of a religious point concerning terrorism amounted to a smartsmear campaign against her family.
#6
I kinda like that idea of General Leslie's: terrorists have no nationality. I'd like to extend it a little further: they have withdrawn from human society, and belong NOWHERE. We don't repatriate bodies, or "allow" next of kin to bury them. We grind them up in a big shredder, and pump the resulting goo about 5000 feet underground at an undisclosed location - or even better, at several undisclosed locations. I'm sure that will get some turbans wound rather tightly!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/07/2004 16:51 Comments ||
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A marked increase has been witnessed in the number of coalition forces in eastern Afghan provinces to hunt down al-Qaeda and Taliban elements believed to be hiding in the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Local tribesmen, who are able to move both sides of the Durand Line, claimed of the unprecedented movement of the US and other allied forces in Barmal area of Paktika province of Afghanistan during the week. Dozens of helicopters are hovering over the area day and night, which sends signals of fear and uncertainty among the tribesmen living on both sides of the divide.
"A helicopter! Two helicopters! Oh, Mahmoud! I feel so fearful! So uncertain! Oh, hold me, Mahmoud!"
The search for suspected terrorists has been increased in Nawey Ada, Macha Dad Kot, Shakin and Gomal areas of Paktika province and local tribesmen are also subjected to body search while using the access roads in the area.
"Kevin! You got any more rubber gloves?"
It has been learnt that as many as 60 containers have been shifted to the area to be used for residential purpose. A number of fresh US and allied forces, eyewitnesses said, have been moved to the area, where a major operation is likely to be launched any moment to comb the mountainous region for Osama Bin Laden and his other top lieutenants.
In another development, some mysterious armed persons issued warnings to barbers and music shopkeepers in Azam Warsak and Rustam Bazaar area of South Waziristan agency on Friday not to shave beards of the people or sell cassettes or videos in the area, which is against the teaching of Islam.
"Mysterious armed persons"... Oh, who could it be?
"Those who shaving peopleâs beards would face death and those selling cassettes would be taken to task as well," the armed persons onboard two pick ups warned the shopkeepers in the Pakistani border areas. However, Assistant Political Agency Wana, Headquarters of the agency, Rehmatullah Wazir denied that any such incident has taken place.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened. But to be on the safe side, don't shave anybody's beard, okay? And dump the music."
But local barbers and music centre owners have closed down business and sought security of life and property from the authorities. It was learnt that the armed persons manhandled some of the shopkeepers after they reportedly showed some resistance to close down shops. The armed persons also smashed the mirrors inside the barbersâ shops and collected hundreds of cassettes terming them un-Islamic, local tribesmen informed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 1:20:50 AM ||
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It strikes me that this would be an excellent way to round up these pricks. Just open up a phoney video store or barber shop, and allow these mooks to hang themselves.
Not really any different than the first famous sting operation that was immortalized by Dom Deluise and Jerry Reed in the movie "Hot Stuff".
Hell's Bells, folks, these idiots would come to US! No need to chase them!
Why not?!
Ed Becerra
Posted by: Ed Becerra ||
02/07/2004 1:35 Comments ||
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Continuing with Ed's idea...
Barbershop 3, where Ice Cube and Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer) become CIA agents to pay off the debt on the Barbershop in Chicago and get Queen Latifah out of jail. They go to the Afghan/Pakistan border and kick ass on the Taliban and everybody. They can link it to that hilarious movie series Fridays by having Fridays 3, Holy Friday.
#5
When Allah created the universe, two of his main ideas were that people should not shave beards or sell cassettes.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/07/2004 11:28 Comments ||
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Ed---I like your flypaper or sting operation. Use their intellect and cultural prejudices to lure them to their doom.....like a venus flytrap. Definitely a class act. After the first few suckers, word will spread and the trap will be exposed, but then the world will be safe for barbers and music shops again. It is a win-win!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/07/2004 13:56 Comments ||
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Actually, Paul, it could go on forever. Remember, Islam has that little problem where any member can claim any OTHER member has become a heretic.
All we will have to do is put a few REAL video stores and/or barber shops down on the ground, along with a fake or two. If they DON'T attack, they're failing in their duty to their religion, and we can get, say, a co-operative Sufi Muslim (decent guys and NOT Islamo-facists) to put on a turban and speechify at length how cowardly they are by NOT attacking.
Make it so they HAVE to attack a real target or face their screeching masters for not being radical enough. Then simply arrange so they can't tell which one's the real target.
We'll loose a few people, but then, we've done this before. It's the "Q-ship" method.
Come to think of it, something like this happened in the NY subway system when that guy Bernie Goetz shot a few wanna-be muggers some years ago. The mayor of NY didn't want to admit it, but for some weeks after the shooting, crimes in the subway went DOWN. The street-scum didn't know who might or might not be carrying, and chose to err on the side of caution.
As was said by a famous millionaire from Gotham City.. "Criminals (and terrorists) are a superstitious, cowardly lot."
*evil grin*
Ed Becerra
Posted by: Ed Becerra ||
02/07/2004 18:17 Comments ||
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Yemeni authorities have rounded up 17 people for selling recordings of songs criticising the government over soaring prices of consumer goods, a Yemeni web site said yesterday. The 17, who own stalls or shops that sell cassettes, were detained in various parts of the country and are being held by the intelligence department, according to alsahwa-yemen.net, which speaks for the Islamist opposition Islah party. They include a 13-year-old boy who was taken away on Thursday from a stall that sells cassettes in Sanaa, it quoted a relative as saying.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 12:57 ||
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I belive Mike Sylwester has a theory about this. It could be that allah is an 8-track kinda guy.
#2
Hey, I just do not have my creativity fez on this morning, but I will bet that, given a little encouragement, Mike Morley will come up with a few verses to a song criticizing the govt over the soaring prices of consumer goods.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/07/2004 14:03 Comments ||
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A lot of this is the same as what Paul posted the other day, but it adds a little more info in a number of areas.
FRENCH counter-terrorist police believe that a Sydney associate of accused terrorist Willie Brigitte used computer programs to plot the layout of Australian military bases and tried to obtain chemicals to make a bomb. The claim is one of several to be made tomorrow on the Nine Networkâs Sunday program, based on information provided by investigators. Others include a suggestion that the Sydney associate and Brigitte were in contact with a "handler" in Pakistan - an alleged member of the terrorist group Lashkar e-Taiba (LET). Authorities in Australia and France have believed since the time of Brigitteâs arrest in Sydney on October 7 that he was connected to LET - and by proxy the leadership core of its sponsor, al-Qaeda. As though the exploding Jaish member and the implication of the LeT, LeJ, and JeM in the attempt to whack Perv werenât complicated enough already, this shows us that al-Qaedaâs control over its affiliate arms in Pakland is an international rather than just a local phenomenon. Perv evidently thinks he has some measure of control over the Pakistani jihadis, but that doesnât appear to be the case if elements of them (and sizeable elements at that) are willing to both bite the hand that feeds them as well as encourage nastiness overseas.
According to Sunday, Brigitte has admitted in official interrogations to training with LET in explosives and other weapons, as well as high-altitude endurance. The Australian revealed earlier this week that Brigitteâs Australian wife, Melanie Brown, had recalled a man she did not know visiting the coupleâs Sydney flat for three weeks before Brigitteâs arrest and studying the internet with her husband. Authorities believe this man was the associate described by French investigators. The Australian first revealed on November 10 that authorities believed Brigitte and at least one of his associates were assessing the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor, the Holsworthy army base and the Garden Island naval base as potential terror targets. The French also assert that Brigitte admitted to being asked to rendezvous with a Chechen bomb expert in Sydney. The Chechen connection is interesting because it works to further tie the terror machine together. Another group of Chechen allegedly infiltrated Japan back in December, so it looks like they may becoming the preferred jihadi tool for use in societies where Arab or Pakistani muscle is going to stand out.
But Australian law enforcement officials have maintained no such man existed and that Brigitteâs admission was part of a cover story. Look for forged documents, they appear to be a staple of the jihadi lifestyle.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 1:32:15 AM ||
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sigh...sounds like the cancer has really invaded the lymphnodes to spread around the body.
WARNINGS from French spies that terror suspect Willie Brigitte had entered Australia slipped through the net because the alert was first picked up by ASIOâs skeleton staff on a weekend.
"This is the ASIO watch officer. I'm away from my desk now, but if you leave a message at the tone I'll get back to you!"
Documents produced by ASIOâs French counterparts reveal they first expressed concerns about Brigitte on Friday, September 19, last year. However, their "routine request" for information was sent on a weekend and was not acted upon by ASIO until staff returned to work on the Monday. A second French request a month later asking that Brigitte be placed on immediate surveillance was not acted on promptly because it was sent over the Labour Day long weekend. It took staff until Tuesday, when they returned to work, to start making inquiries.
"Hey, Bob! What the hell is this?"
"I dunno. I'll check it out. Any more coffee?"
Brigitte was arrested two days later on a visa violation.The revelation came as a Strategic and Defence Studies Centre paper yesterday revealed ASIO lacked essential language and cultural skills and was heading for a "catastrophic" staff shortage.
"Hey! It's in French!"
"Go on!"
The paper found ASIO had been downgraded in the past decade and overworked staff were more likely to quit than in other areas of the public service. "An ongoing loss of experience and corporate memory would be certainly catastrophic, particularly in the light of claims that ASIO is already lacking intelligence experience in senior ranks," researcher Christopher Michaelsen wrote in the latest SDSC newsletter. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock yesterday dismissed the apparent delays. A spokesman confirmed that it appeared alerts were sent on the weekends but were never followed up with any telephone call or electronic confirmation. "We do have people on call (on weekends), but again, if you were sending any urgent message, if you knew it was late at night or on the weekend, you would think you would call to just say, âI sent this through - I want to make sure you got itâ," the spokesman said.
Must have changed the rules since I was a watch officer...
The spokesman said that neither contact from French authorities carried any sense of urgency and the second alert even requested only that Brigitte be put under surveillance - not questioned or detained as a suspected terrorist threat.
Well? Did you put a tail on him?
He said Australian authorities responded in the best way based on the information received and alleged plots and links to al-Qaeda were not known at the time.
Oh. They left that part out?
Brigitte was interviewed by ASIO after his arrest but he refused to co-operate and was immediately deported to France.
"Y'won't talk, huh? Alright, me bucko! You're off to la Belle France!"
The spy group could have used powers to force him to speak or face prosecution but French laws were, at the time, deemed more effective in forcing a suspect to co-operate.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 1:23:35 AM ||
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In the book who was used in the 80s at West Point for teaching history of WWII in Pacific it is told that an Australian recon pilot sighted a Japanese fleet sailing I think it was toward New Guinea and the pilot went to have his 5'o clock tea instead of reporting.
Don't know if it is true, only that Americans found 1942 Australia a sleepy country and Australians being lax so they were prone to believe this story.
Senator John McCain told reporters at a global security conference: "It wasnât just an American intelligence failure, it was German, it was French, it was British, it was Israeli -- it was all intelligence failures, and we need to find out why that happened." Asked about McCainâs comments, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said France had not reached the same conclusions as "the Anglo-Saxons" on the basis of available intelligence such as satellite photographs. She said that was why Paris had argued against last yearâs U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and in favor of letting U.N. inspectors keep searching for the alleged weapons of mass destruction. "Itâs true that intelligence...has its limits. Knowing how to recognize its limits and find other means is the way to avoid committing mistakes," she told a news conference. anglo-saxons?? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Are they trying to call us white trash? lol
#4
The "Anglo-Saxons" line goes back to an old French hatred: anyone who speaks English. Seriously, during the Nazi invasion of France, the English offered a temporary union that would guarantee the French colonies would stay in the war, and guarantee someplace for French forces to recover. The French response included a wonderful line to the effect that they'd rather be Nazi slaves than English partners.
As far as I'm concerned, there's no difference between the current French government and the Vichy.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/07/2004 16:34 Comments ||
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Yeah really, Cheddarhead, I don't recall France ever saying Iraq didn't have WMD and they can prove it, I suppose they really aren't actually saying their intelligence was correct, they are just saying they are smarter than us, and they made the correct decision based on the intelligence, and we didn't cause we are dumb white imperalists.
The thing is, America would rather err on the side of safety and protect her citizens, while France obviously would not.
(except protecting their citizens from the little girls headscarf onslaught)
Or maybe it is just that France doesn't give a flying F about anyone elses safety except their own, and they think they will be safe from Islamofascists if they appease internationally and "crackdown" internally by removing headscarves.
I wouldn't wish sharia on any country, but if any country ever deserved it, it would be France.
And whaadya know, they just might get it.
#8
Unfortunaely you see more "anglo-saxons" references in the French press these days. Every one is deragoatory. A knee jerk response, just the same way they spit out "cowboy" when talking about the Bush admin. Simply a defense mechanism that is so lacking in originality that its use only accentuates France's irrelevance in the WOT/anti Islamofascism battle to come in the next 20 years. Not irrelevant in intel and policing, but in military commitments beyond what they're doing in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Michael ||
02/07/2004 19:59 Comments ||
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Unfortunately few people have read Count de Marenches, the French spychief's, "The Fourth World War" (1992 Morrow). The book is loaded with material on the early France-Saddam Hussein entente, which was initiated by Marenches himself. In reality little has changed over two decades.
#10
I will probably be the last one to hold onto the WMD claim but I still say the jury is out on WMDs. We still DON'T control the area in the Sunni triangle and we passed Sammy's digs five times with seeing him. On another note $CREW THE FRENCH!
Germanyâs foreign minister on Saturday challenged a U.S. proposal to give the NATO alliance a role in Iraq peacekeeping, raising the prospect of new trans-Atlantic dispute. But he didnât bludgeon a policeman this time so itâs okay.
With U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld listening, Joschka Fischerâs warning at an annual defense conference recalled some of the sting of their sharp exchange a year ago in the buildup to the war that ousted Saddam Hussein. "The risk of failure and the potentially very serious, possibly fatal consequences for the alliance absolutely must be taken into consideration," Fischer told the gathering of leading security officials and experts from about 50 countries. Youâre right. Perhaps you should stay in the ministry.
Rumsfeld had to be physically restrained from responding did not respond directly to Fischerâs challenge. The United States proposed a NATO role in Iraq in December, and Rumsfeld on Friday suggested the alliance could take command of zones now run by Poland and Britain. NATOâs new secretary-general insisted the alliance should not rule out a role in Iraq. "If a legitimate Iraqi government asks for our assistance, and if we have the support of the United Nations, NATO should not abdicate from its responsibilities," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the conference.
But Joschka will be busy behind the scenes...
Returning to the scene of a dramatic clash with Fischer last year, Rumsfeld earlier Saturday gave a spirited defense of the Iraq war, saying it had made "the world a safer place." He did not mention the failure to find banned weapons in Iraq. And Fischer reasserted that Germans "were not, and are still not, convinced of the validity of the reasons," using phrasing that angered Rumsfeld at the conference a year ago. Some people are never happy.
While conceding little ground over the necessity for the war, Rumsfeld and Fischer emphasized that both camps now want to look to the future. "Joschka, why donât you get your head out of your ass and look to the future?"
"Umm ... hokay. Cheez, itâs bright out here!"
Fischer called for Europe and the United States to join together in a broad effort to bring peace and stability to the Middle East. A major push to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, fight terrorism and promote economic development in the Middle East would help heal the trans-Atlantic rift, Fischer said. Back to the Paleos, knowing that if this again becomes the central issue, nothing else will ever get done.
"Neither the United States nor Europe and the Middle East itself can tolerate the status quo in the Middle East any longer," Fischer told the audience, which included Rumsfeld. Which is why we should support the security fence.
Rumsfeld expressed support for Fischerâs proposals, saying the NATO alliance could help Middle Eastern countries beef up their security forces and serve as a catalyst for economic and democratic change like in eastern Europe after the fall of communism. "Much like weâre doing in Iraq, Joschka."
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2004 2:09:51 PM ||
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Again Rumsfeld shows us just whose brains are calcified in NATO. Rather than calling France and Germany Old Europe, let's consider those in Europe, regardless of nationality, who can work with us, and ignore the rest. A French Jean Monet would be great right about now. Sarkozy?
It's funny that Fischer was supposed to be some passionate revolutionary radical thinker in his bloody youth, but look how predictable he's become through his defending the fantasy ideology of the nostalgic Commie apologist masses, just lapping for a fight with Regan's reincarnation, W; fully secure in the knowledge that no harm will befall them by doing so; the opposite would be true if he ever called out those of his persuasion to come to the fore with America, as Poland, Italy, have done; in fact the majority of NATO is fully on board with Bush. JF does NOT show balls by his criticisms. To do so, he would have to tread the same awkward way Bush and Rummy and Wolfy are; a group willing to finally take on the elephant in the room. Say this tomorrow George on Russert.
One last thing. Rummy, as opposed to JF, is the stodgy/conventional one in private life, but a total maverick in wanting to revise how we connect politics/international relations/military dots. A 70-year old totally free thinker outclassing the supposed intellectual/politcal mainstays of static old-formula Europe and others of the apologetic international Left. When he leaves DOD, I want him to replace Trump on "The Apprentice"
Posted by: Michael ||
02/07/2004 20:24 Comments ||
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Got to make up for my losses by not listening to Bob Brinker in January of 2000 when he said GET OUT! Cracks in euro currency
The daily Telegraph writes: "A report by the investment bank Morgan Stanley called âeuro wreckageâ has warned that the markets may start to target the government bonds of the weaker states in 2004, ultimately causing interest rate spreads within the eurozone to widen so far that monetary union itself
could unravel." Below and the rest of the link is EURSOCâs commentary:
Morgan Stanley said it would be easier for countries to pull out of the eurozone than generaly assumed since the national central banks remain intact, issue their own euro notes and coins and still hold most of their foreign reserves. Wonder which currency they hold the most of????
President Vladimir Putin blamed Chechen militants for an explosion Friday in a Moscow subway car that killed 39 commuters during the morning rush hour. Putin called the attack "a grave crime" that was part of "the plague of the 21st century." He also rejected any peace negotiations with rebels from the breakaway republic of Chechnya. "Russia does not hold talks with terrorists," Putin said. "Russia destroys them."
First Russia had better get its tactical intel house in order. You can't destroy them unless you know who and where they are. Russia's been thrashing around in Chechnya for years and the same old suspects keep doing the same old things...
Authorities think the explosion was due to an 11-pound bomb left under a seat in a backpack or suitcase. No group claimed responsibility, and officials at the scene were divided about whether it was the work of a suicide bomber. "We unequivocally condemn this cowardly attack," U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said in Moscow. "No political cause can justify terrorist attacks that kill and maim innocent civilians."
"Call 'em 'freedumb fighters' all you want, it's still terrorism..."
Deputy Mayor Valeri Shantsev said there was no shrapnel in the bomb, unlike the ones used in most suicide attacks. But the Interfax news agency quoted police sources as saying they have a videotape of the suspected attacker and her male accomplice standing on the subway platform.
Brought her to the station and kissed her goodbye, did he?
Many Muscovites think stronger measures are needed to combat what they see as a growing threat from Chechen militants. "Terrorist attacks like this are going to continue until the problem of Chechen terrorism is solved," said Sergei Popov, a pilot from Moscow. "Unfortunately, these attacks may eventually affect the aviation sector as well." Dmitri Trenin, a Moscow political analyst, said Fridayâs blast represented "a major quantum leap" in the level of fear, violence and terrorism in the Russian capital. Some observers, including Putin, think the incident probably was connected to the presidential elections March 14. They couldnât bloody the Chechen polls to their liking because of all the extra security, so theyâre going after the presidential elections. This latest boom, incidentally is the 3rd time theyâve attacked Moscow in less than 12 months. Just an idea of what the US may have to deal with further down the line.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 1:46:28 AM ||
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I like Russia's attitude. You can't argue with cockroaches - all you can to is stomp 'em (or poison 'em).
#3
Some chutzpah of Putin :
"Russia does not hold talks with terrorists," Putin said. "Russia destroys them."
And along with the EU he decries the targeted killings and demands that Israel's Sharon deal with Arafat and the PA.
Oh sorry those are activists.
"We unequivocally condemn this cowardly attack," U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow said in Moscow. "No political cause can justify terrorist attacks that kill and maim innocent civilians."
Would like to see Powell now call on boths sides to work towards peace, yadda yadda yadda.
Posted by: Barry ||
02/07/2004 13:39 Comments ||
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A Saudi sheik who owns one of the largest ranches in British Columbia has been named in a lawsuit by people who lost relatives in the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. The class-action lawsuit, filed in the United States, lists a number of people suspected of being part of the "Golden Chain," a group of wealthy patrons who donated millions of dollars to Osama bin Laden starting in 1988. Ibrahim Mohammed Afandiâs name is on that list. He has owned the Gang Ranch near Clinton, B.C., for the past 16 years. Conservative foreign affairs critic Stockwell Day says he wants the government to find out if the ranch owner is linked to international terrorism. "There have been some suggested links and we would like to find out so that the gentlemanâs name either can be cleared or it can be found out if there is the possibility of some association with al-Qaeda," Day said. If he is found to have funded terrorism, Day said the Gang Ranch could be seized under new anti-terrorism legislation. Afandi has not been charged with any crime in Canada or the United States. The manager of the huge ranch, Larry Ramstad, said heâs known Afandi for years, but hasnât seen him for about a year and a half. Heâs probably fled back to the Magic Kingdom, where itâs never against the law to fund terrorists as long as Prince Nayef runs the Interior Ministry.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 1:57:30 AM ||
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If Afandi has a large ranch in BC then imagine his palace in SA. There'd be a little zoo, rape room, large garage, all neat stuff. Go boom!
Okay, definitely read with salt at the ready, but the author has very good contacts in the region, and I would think that at least some of the assertions have merit. EFL
There are many intriguing questions which have remained unanswered. The first is why did Iran and Libya let down Pakistan by giving officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) all the details of the role played by Pakistani scientists in helping them to develop a military nuclear capability? Since the beginning of 2003, Iran was under tremendous pressure from the IAEA and the US to come clean on its nuclear projects after the IAEA detected its enrichment plant at Natanz. All that Iran had to do to avoid international sanctions was to admit that it had a clandestine programme, give details of it and agree to dismantle it. It did not have to volunteer details of the role of Pakistan in this programme. Why did it do so?
Ever since sections of the US media got hold of the inspection reports of the IAEA inspectors who had visited Natanz and other sites in Iran and reported that the centrifuges being used by Iran, which had traces of enriched uranium, were second hand and that Iran itself had admitted that it bought them from elsewhere, there was considerable nervousness and even panic in the Pakistan Armyâs GHQ and in the nuclear establishment. A.Q.Khan made at least half a dozen visits to Dubai to meet officials of the Iranian intelligence and nuclear establishment. On at least one of his visits, he was accompanied by Lt.Gen. Ehsan-ul-Haq, the Director-General of Pakistanâs Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). According to reliable sources, during these meetings A. Q. Khan pleaded with the Iranians to return the copies of the drawings of the URENCO uranium enrichment plant in Holland which he had given to them in the past and not to tell the IAEA inspectors anything about the Pakistani origin of the centrifuges. The Iranian officials evaded his requests to return the drawings, but reportedly assured him that they would not reveal anything which might embarrass Pakistan.
And yet, they did. Why? What had gone wrong in Pakistan-Iran relations which made Teheran insensitive to Pakistani concerns? The Pakistani military-intelligence establishment was thus aware for over a year that Teheran was under pressure from the US and the IAEA to come clean on its military nuclear programme and the external assistance received by it. It was, therefore, mentally prepared for the subsequent developments to the detriment of the credibility of Pakistanâs past assurances that there had never been a leakage of Pakistani nuclear expertise to other countries. What came as a real bombshell to it was the disclosure by the US and the UK towards the end of 2003 that officials of Khadaffi had been secretly talking to them on Libyaâs clandestine nuclear programme and had agreed to dismantle it. The US-UK talks with Libya were a well-kept secret and, to my knowledge, none of the Western media could get scent of it. Till the Libyan case broke out, Musharraf was fairly confident that he would be able to ride out the storm over the disclosures of Pakistani collaboration with Iran without any adverse consequences to himself or to Pakistan because this collaboration had started during the rule of the late Gen. Zia-ul-Haq and Mrs. Benazir Bhutto and his own role was minimal.
As against this, the reports towards the end of 2003 that Libya too had made a clean breast of its clandestine programme and the role of Pakistan in it shook his sang-froid for two reasons. Firstly, much of this collaboration had taken place after he seized power on October 12,1999. Secondly, since he had been unaware of the secret talks of Libya with the US and the UK, he had had no time or opportunity for damage limitation. Why did Libya, like Iran, betray Pakistan by volunteering information about the role of Pakistan to its interlocutors from the US and the UK and subsequently from the IAEA when it was brought into the picture? What explains the total lack of concern of Iran and Libya to the embarrassment and difficulties which they would be creating for Pakistan by their singing on this subject? Many reasons are offered by Pakistani sources. They are speculative and not convincing, but would still need to be noted:
Teheranâs unhappiness with Musharraf over his failure to end anti-Shia violence in Pakistan and over reports of the ISIâs secret co-operation with the USAâs Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its covert operations to bring down the Islamic regime in Teheran. Iranian officials say that the CIA has set up relay stations in Pakistan to relay the TV programmes disseminated by the Iranian political exiles from California.
Khadaffiâs dislike of Al Qaeda and the Taliban and his concerns over the links of the Pakistani military-intelligence establishment with them.
The unhappiness of Iran and Libya over the repeated humiliation of Benazir and her family by Musharraf. Benazir, whose mother Nusrat is stated to be a Shia, had always been closer to Teheran than any other Pakistani political or military leader. For reasons which were never clear, Khadaffi had protected Benazir and her brothers after Zia overthrew Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto and sent him to the gallows. It was to Libya that they first went for protection. From there, Nusrat and Benazir shifted to Europe where they had houses in southern France and Geneva. After the murder of Shah Nawaz Bhutto allegedly by the ISI in 1985, Murtaza went to Geneva and then to Damascus. Wherever they went, they were financially looked after by Khadaffi. Khadaffi did always get on well with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, probably because he was the closest leader Pakistan ever got to a left winger.
A more acceptable reason is the fear caused among the leaders of Iran and Libya by the fate of Saddam Hussein at the hands of the US. The capture and public humiliation of Saddam have had no effect on the anti-US resistance movement in Iraq, but they have definitely had a sobering effect on many rulers of the Islamic world and made them more responsive to US concerns on the proliferation issue.
Pakistani sources claim that there has been another bombshell in the admissions of guilt made by Khanâs colleagues and juniors, who are still under custody and questioning. They are reported to have stated that during his over 40 visits to Dubai in the last three years, he had met Iraqi intelligence officials who sought his help in having some of the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) material of Iraq airlifted from Syria to Pakistan for being kept in safe custody there to prevent their falling into the hands of the UN inspectors. Khan allegedly agreed to their request. According to them, in October, 2002, Khan had a Pakistani aircraft, which had gone to Iran to deliver some equipment, stop in a Syrian airport on its way back. It picked up the Iraqi WMD "material" and brought it to Pakistan for safe custody on behalf of Iraq. It is not clear what did they mean by material---only documents or something more? I would find the need to get incriminating documents out of Iraq to be somewhat plausible at least.
The Musharraf regime has been desperately trying to see that this is not played up in the Pakistani media. There was a note of desperation in Musharrafâs admonition of the media during his press conference on February 5, 2004, at which he announced his pardon for Khan. He said: "For me Pakistan comes first and everything else is 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?"
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/07/2004 6:44:29 AM ||
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Great!.. the good thing is that the nukes are in ready state. Lets see who goes in to get these nukes.
#2
So, Anyone care to guess how mush of this activity would of happened if the US had not gone into Afghanistan and Iraq?
And how much of this activity would have occurred if we had waited for France and Germany and the UN to come to the table? Over to you, Senator Kerry.
Discuss.
Posted by: john ||
02/07/2004 7:58 Comments ||
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#3
Iran gets help. Libya gets help. Everybody gets help. But not Iraq ? It sounds like Iraq DID get help, got nervous and told Khan to take it back while the inspectors were around.
#6
This has all the makings of a Clancy novel. The preceding chapter was the pardon on Dr. AQ. It would be delicious to contemplate Libya, Syria, Iran, and Doc singing to the skies simultaneously. All of this, John, thanks to the upsetting of the apple cart that Bush has done in the Islamofascist belt.
Posted by: Michael ||
02/07/2004 20:39 Comments ||
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He is a black-market profiteer who worked to help Iran and North Korea acquire the nuclear weapons secrets that President Bush said makes them part of an "axis of evil." Yet when mad scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan received a public pardon Thursday from Pakistanâs leader, there was nary a murmur of protest -- in fact there was praise -- from American officials. To weapons inspector David Kay and others, it was an outrage. "I can think of no one who deserves less to be pardoned," said Kay, former head of a U.S. team that searched for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He said Khan was "running essentially a Samâs Club" of weapons technology. Yet others say the public response may mask U.S. officialsâ real motivation.
Oh, do you think?
What they are hoping, according to American officials speaking on condition of anonymity, is that Khanâs pardon becomes a plea bargain of sorts, with Pakistan trading leniency in exchange for Khanâs information about the still-at-large members of the worldwide nuclear black market. "We could beat our chests and be outraged," said Robert Oakley, a former ambassador to Pakistan who defended the Bush administrationâs low key response. "The most important thing is to get as much information possible as to where the links (to accomplices) were," Oakley said. "We have to make sure it doesnât happen again."
Then we kill him.
More than anything, the U.S. response shows just how solicitous American officials remain toward Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, that theyâre leery of any public criticism lest it destabilize this key ally in the war on terrorism. Any push by Musharraf for a trial of Khan could have led to a political showdown with Islamist and opposition groups who regard the scientist as a hero for founding Pakistanâs nuclear weapons program. Above all else, U.S. officials often say that if Musharraf were to be toppled, the alternatives -- in a country with strong nationalistic sentiment, powerful currents of Islamic extremism and nuclear weapons -- could only prove worse. So for now, U.S. officials seem willing to publicly accept Musharrafâs assurances that he will prevent further proliferation of nuclear secrets, even though some critics believe Pakistani military or intelligence officials might have helped Khan.
At the United Nations in New York, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he would talk to Musharraf by telephone over the weekend to make sure "there was no possibility" that remnants of the Khan network would survive. Powell did not criticize the president for pardoning the scientist but instead registered understanding. "He felt it was important for him to do," Powell said. Similarly, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, at a separate news conference, said, "Obviously, it is a difficult situation he has to deal with."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher credited Pakistani authorities with pursuing the investigation seriously ever since Iranian officials told U.N. nuclear experts more than two months ago about the leakage of secrets. "We think that Pakistan is taking serious efforts to end the activities of a dangerous network," Boucher said. Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "This is not about punishment. ... The Pakistanis have to use the most effective techniques to cut off this proliferation. There are others involved."
CIA Director George Tenet said Thursday that Khanâs network "was shaving years off the nuclear weapons development timelines of several states, including Libya" and "offering its wares to countries like North Korea and Iran." In the case of North Korea, however, Khan is believed to have begun providing sensitive technology only well after the country had developed the capability to produce plutonium-based nuclear bombs.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 1:36:31 AM ||
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#1
I can't get over the fact that I have read articles and reports on Pakistan's nuke deals with North Korea and Iran years ago in various places, and yet Washington is acting as if all this came from nowhere.
If you do an internet search for Pakistan's Ghauri missile, you'll find plenty of articles from the late 90's stating that it was a repainted NoDong missile gotten in exhange for nuke assistance.
I guess that nothing could be done about it until Libya decided to play ball. It makes me wonder what the next 'open secret' in the region will be publically aired.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/07/2004 6:15 Comments ||
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#2
All countries that are nuclear or NOOKLEAR (as GWB would say), how did they get this technology? Even the yankees stole the technology from the Germans. And they act like they developed it 'in-house' with their own intelligence. Read the history guys.
#3
Faisal,
Either you're as dumb as a box of rocks, or ...
you are the WORST TROLL EVER.
Posted by: Scott ||
02/07/2004 7:28 Comments ||
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#4
There is a grain of almost-truth in "Faisal's" comment. Not a big grain, and not a truth, but a tiny grain of almost-truth.
The US didn't 'steal' "this nuclear technology" from the Germans during or after WWII because the Germans hadn't developed it as far as a working device.
What we did do was to uncover the fact that there was a nuclear bomb program under Hitler (whose scientists misled him about how far along they were - sound familiar??). And then we hired Werner von Braun to work the delivery system (missile) side after the war.
The debate within the US nuclear program about weaponizing fission (fusion was entirely a US development originally) was intense and there were what later became very public fights about it.
As a side note, my father-in-law missed being sent to Anzio when he got pulled to finish his engineering degree and was sent to work on the Manhattan project. But he wasn't privvy to the top level debates - that can be gleaned from the detailed accounts of that project and of the decision to complete a fission bomb.
#9
Paul - I guess my main question has been who exactly is the driver of this whole proliferation scheme? Is it just Khan or somebody higher up? I'll admit that I don't understand the first thing about the byzantine nature of Pakistani internal politics, but this stuff seems to predate Musharraf by years, going all the way back to Sharif and Bhutto and maybe even to General Zia. So just who was actually running this black market and why?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 11:52 Comments ||
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#10
Who was running it?
Who do you think has the free cash to build the plants and buy the ships/pay the bribes necessary to move everything around?
My cash is on the Saudis. With the exception of North Korea, all the players are Muslim. The Norks were either used as a shell or as a convenient place to do some work where the civilized world could never chance upon it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/07/2004 12:20 Comments ||
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#11
I see Faisal musta got his room clean already and his mom is letting him use the family computer.
Now, if she can only get him to clean up his thinking.
#6 RCRN, even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then.
#13
So just who was actually running this black market and why?
I think it was probably a joint effort with the various dictators of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya and UAE providing the cash. While the actual proliferating was done under the direct orders of successive Chiefs of the Armed Services right back to General Zia.
But IMO there is a China angle that has been completely overlooked by the media, with China using the Islamic Bomb as a way of keeping the Americans offbalanced, while also keeping deniability, because all the proliferating was done by China's allies in Pakistan and Nth Korea, rather than by China herself.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/07/2004 18:26 Comments ||
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#14
Its' ironic that Hitler's persecution of the Jews almost certainly stopped him getting the A-bomb before the Americans.
Pakistanâs foreign minister said on Thursday his country will help the United Nations probe leaks of nuclear technology to Iran, although it would not allow an investigation into its own nuclear programme.
"Just keep your noses out of our underwear drawer!"
President Pervez Musharraf pardoned mad scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan on Thursday after he confessed to leaking nuclear secrets. Musharraf told a news conference Pakistan would give no documents to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency or permit it to hold an independent probe into Khanâs activities.
"But, really, we have nothing to hide! Trust us on this!"
But Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said Musharraf had been âmisunderstoodâ, and that what he meant was Pakistan would not allow the IAEA to investigate Pakistanâs own nuclear programmes, although it would help the body investigate Iran.
"See? It's all a misunderstanding..."
âWhat he said is actually that we are under no obligations,â Kasuri told the BBC World Service radioâs The World Today programme. âWe will cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency.â
"As long as they're investigating somebody else."
âWhat is the International Atomic Energy Agencyâs function?... Itâs a body that has come into the picture because Iran has signed the additional protocol. They wish to investigate whether Iranâs declaration is correct or not. We will not allow them under any situation whatsoever to come and peep into our programme. These are our national secrets. But wherever they need support to achieve their declared objectives...we will fully cooperate.â
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:04 ||
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Like pakiland could even cover second base on a bunt down third.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal accused the government Friday of using police and venal traders to foil their strike here in the city.
Damn those venal traders! Tryin' to make a living when there's important stuff going on!
Addressing demonstrators, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, acting chief of the alliance, called the general response âvery encouragingâ.
"I mean, it was very encouraging for a flop..."
âPakistan is passing through its darkest phase and the government has put the countryâs future at stake just to please America,â he said.
Not doing a very good job of it at the moment, though...
The MMA had announced 40 protest rallies in Lahore, but only two were reportedly held: one on The Mall and the other outside the Jamaat-e-Islami headquarters on Multan Road.
Two out of forty? That's encouraging? Maybe it was the burning rickshaws...
MMAâs Punjab president Hafiz Adrees said the nation would not accept Dr Abdul Qadeer Khanâs confessional statement because he gave this statement under âgovernment pressureâ. He accused Gen Musharraf of plundering the nationâs wealth and violating the Constitution. Jamaat-e-Islamiâs chief of foreign affairs Abdul Aziz Ghaffar said Muslims were glad when Pakistan detonated nuclear devices but now were disappointed.
"Mahmoud! Pakland just detonated a nuke!"
"Oh, Ahmed! I'm so glad!"
The MMA had claimed the Friday protests would be the biggest in its history. The alliance of religious parties was unable to bring out more than a few hundred people out on the streets. And traders refused to shutter businesses even when confronted by the Ababeel Squad. âThis is not a good sign,â said one political observer. âIf I were Qazi Hussain Ahmed, I would be very worried.â
What's a would-be caliph to do when the brownshirts don't work?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:04 ||
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#1
Can sanity really worm it's way into Pakistan? "Oh Ahmed, See how they burn, like candles. Look see that one, see how the boy glows"!
Oh Qadeer, learned man, tell us what to think. The word.
A petition has been filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Friday against the anti-terrorism court (ATC) verdict in reference to the Taxila Christian Church Hospital terrorism case. Rawalpindi ATC Judge Manzoor Ahmed Mirza had given 10 years rigorous imprisonment and confiscated the property of one of the accused, Muhammad Taufique. This was challenged in the LHC by lawyer Bashartullah Khan who had also represented Mr Taufique in the anti-terrorism court proceedings. ATC Judge Mirza had given death sentences to three terrorists named, Ayaz Ahmed, Saifur Rehman and Abu Baker.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:03 ||
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These bastards should have gotten the life sentence. I don't why the judge gave them 10 years.
The UN atomic watchdog insisted on Friday that its investigation into black market nuclear trading was on track despite Islamabadâs refusal to reveal documents or allow inspections of its facilities. âWe are intensely interested in this black market because it impacts on our ability to complete our work in Iran and Libya,â said Mark Gwozdecky, spokesman of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He was speaking after President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday rejected demands for an independent investigation, sharing of documents with the IAEA or opening of nuclear installations to UN inspections.
"Go away, boy! Y'bother me!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:03 ||
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Kick the IAEA ass hard. What happened to NOOKLEAR programs of Israel and India? what a bunch of hyprocrites.
#2
Faisel, the problem with WMD is not Isreal or India. They are grown ups and not likely to hand them over to loose cannons. Pakiland(apparently so) Iran(Terroist U), Lybia(Hmm), North Korea(not Kim), Saudi Arabia(wahabbies). Anybody you'd like to see get the a Bigboy Faisel? Or how about some germs spread around a town near you. Think about it. You seem upset that Israell has a bomb. Are you at all concerned that they may give that stuff to some nut job with a bone to pick with some muslim comunity, say Lebanon. Or are you just pissin and moaning?
This routine makes a kabuki dance look like the boogaloo...
A habeas corpus petition has been made with the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench against restrictions on Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, asking the court to ensure that the nuclear scientists is allowed to lead a free life and to re-record his statement on the proliferation issue without coercion. Hasamul Haq, brother of Maj (r) Islamul Haq who is the principal staff officer of Dr Khan, has submitted the petition. Maj Haq is also under arrest and being investigated for nuclear proliferation. The petitioner prayed for halting the media trial of Dr Khan and an end to extraordinary security and undue restrictions on his movement. The petition stated that Dr Khan was a national hero and had rendered valuable services for the nation, but he was being humiliated on the basis of allegations made by other countries.
Not on the basis of his confession, of course...
The petition said that Dr Khan guaranteed national empowerment, integrity, security and prestige of Muslims but he was forced to record a confession under coercion. The petition has been filed through advocate Chaudhry Muhammad Ikram and the Federation of Pakistan has been made a party to the case through the interior secretary. Other parties to the petition are the Inter Services Public Relations director general, Inter-Services Intelligence director general and National Command and Control Authority chairman. The petition is likely to be taken up on February 9, along with other petitions by the detained scientistsâ families. The Attorney General for Pakistan Makhdoom Ali Khan has been asked to state the governmentâs legal position on the recent arrests of scientists and engineers of the Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) for âdebriefingsâ.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:03 ||
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I'm Dumbstruck. Seems the Markx Brothers had this covered in 39.
Twenty-one people including a top militant leader were killed Friday in a second straight day of surging violence in held Kashmir, police said. Twenty-three people died in violence on Thursday.
Looks like Hafiz Saeed came up with some more money...
Counter-insurgency police in Srinagar on Friday shot and killed Mohammed Rafiq, a senior commander of al-Omar Mujahedin group, a police spokesman said. Rafiqâs relatives alleged that he was arrested late Thursday and killed in custody.
Gee. Golly. That's terrible. [Tap! Tap!] Gotta get this sympathy meter fixed...
Al-Omar Mujahedinâs supreme commander Mushtaq Zargar said the death of Rafiq was âa big loss to us.â He named Khalid Javed as the slain guerrillaâs successor.
"T'anks, boss! I'll â duck!"
Troops killed 10 more militants in clashes while suspected guerrillas killed seven soldiers and three civilians, police said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:03 ||
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Three people including a policeman were injured on Friday in clashes between police and Mutthahida Majlis-e-Amal supporters who burned tyres and pelted stones at various places to protest alleged humiliation of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and other nuclear scientists.
"My mad scientist, right or wrong! My amir, drunk or sober!"
Police arrested more than 50 protesters who were forcibly trying to close shops. At least 50 protesters were arrested. Ferozabad Police arrested seven MMA activists and impounded the car they were travelling in. Police were deployed in large numbers in sensitive areas to thwart possible violence. Police resorted to teargas shelling and baton charge to disperse protesters and two MMA activists and a policeman were injured in clashes. Witnesses said a few protesters also fired into the air and threw stones at police stations. Witnesses said that MMA supporters burnt tyres and stopped traffic. At least 10 vehicles including two mini-buses and the same number of taxis and rickshaws were destroyed. âThere was no major incident and by and large the city has remained peaceful,â Mr Shah said.
"Aside from the flaming rickshaws, of course..."
He said the detainees would be booked on charges of damaging property and forcing people to shut their businesses.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:03 ||
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The MMA with it's Qazi should be thrown out of Pakiland. Period. That should put things in order.
Military officials say two Fourth Infantry Division helicopter pilots helped stop an insurgent attack. The Fort Hood-based pilots killed one insurgent and wounded another after spotting a rocket attack against a logistics base north of Baghdad. The military said the pilots saw two rocket smoke trails arcing yesterday onto Logistical Support Area Anaconda about 65 miles north of Baghdad. The crew saw one of the attackers and killed him. A patrol sent to the site found another wounded insurgent hiding in the bushes. They also found three rocket tubes with a rocket still inside one of them. The militaryâs statement says a timed detonation device made of a clock and batteries was attached to the rocket. The pilotsâ names werenât released. Tip: Set timer before you hook it up to launcher.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/07/2004 6:33:11 PM ||
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Senior Iraqi officials, from the president down to judges, will have to disclose their personal finances under new anti-corruption rules aimed at keeping the countryâs future government clean and prosecuting past malfeasance. Another step towards democracy.
The rules, set by a new commission and announced Saturday, reflect Iraqi efforts to redress the endemic corruption that warped the economy and government under Saddam Hussein. They are also meant to show the Iraqi public that things will be different when a new government takes power by the end of June. "The commission will not have a magic wand to end all corruption in Iraq. But itâs a good start," Iraqi Governing Council member Mouwafak al-Rubaie told reporters as he announced details of the Public Integrity Commission. "It is nearly an impossible job to do."
Kinda like drying up the Tigris, I'd guess...
Iraqis will be able to make anonymous complaints of corruption to the agency, which will investigate claims including bribery, embezzlement, influence peddling, false imprisonment and torture. It can also prosecute cases in court and recommend new laws, the council said in a statement. Sounds like a decent watch-dog.
The agency will look into cases dating back to 1968, when Saddamâs Baath Party seized power. After U.N. sanctions were imposed in 1990, crippling the economy and making resources scarce, corruption and bribery became rampant. Let the witch hunt games begin!
People who complain about witch hunts usually start from the assumption there aren't any witches to find...
Since Saddamâs fall, Iraqis have complained of cronyism and nepotism among the officials installed under the U.S.-led occupation - including among members of the council and the ministers they appointed. Last month, protesters in the southern city of Amarah pelted the governorâs office with stones, accusing him of handing out positions to relatives. Two recent studies of the Iraqi judicial establishment by the United Nations and the U.S. Justice Department found the legal system riddled with corruption and incompetence. U.S. experts training Iraqi police have worried that recruits could be prone to bribes. Surprise meter didnât budge that time either.
Al-Rubaie said the commission would have to prioritize cases - "We have to concentrate on the big fish," he said, rather than go after lower-level corruption. He also said the body would not be distracted by Saddam-era corruption from investigating current complaints. "The Iraqi people deserve leaders who are honest and dedicated to the transparent governance of Iraq," the council said in its statement. Corruption "eats away at the very foundation of an Iraqi citizenâs faith in the post-Saddam Iraq." By jove I think heâs got it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2004 1:46:35 PM ||
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Edited for brevity
When Manaa al-Obaydi returned to his job as deputy general director of Iraqâs North Oil Co. last April 11, what he saw almost made him turn around and go straight home. Buildings had been looted right down to the walls. Vast file rooms had been set ablaze. There were no offices. No cars. No chairs. While the vulnerable oil wells around Kirkuk escaped the kind of devastating blazes seen in Kuwait after the first Gulf War, looters had removed crucial equipment from pumping stations and other points in the network. Over the past nine months, however, al-Obaydi and other oil workers have produced a remarkable turnaround. An industry that was incapable of moving a drop of oil in April now is close to producing at prewar levels.
For both Iraq and the world, a great deal depends on the recovery. The countryâs proven oil reserves total 112 billion barrels, the third largest in the world. Iraq "makes an oilmanâs mouth water," said Robert McKee, the senior American adviser to Iraqâs Ministry of Oil. "You could turn this into a mecca for oil." Iraq is producing as much as 2.4 million barrels of oil a day, just short of the 2.5 million barrels a day pumped before the war, McKee said. Some private research firms offer a more conservative assessment, pegging daily average production at slightly less than 2 million barrels in December.
Southern Iraqâs oil infrastructure has recovered faster than in the north. The main offshore terminal at Mina al-Bakr is open and receiving foreign tankers. But the main pipeline for exporting northern Iraqâs oil to Ceyhan, a Mediterranean seaport in Turkey, is closed because of damage caused by bombers and thieves.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/07/2004 12:18:14 PM ||
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In my mind, the "looters" in Iraq belong to the same bunch of thugs who ravaged Kuwait city, stole anything of value, and set the oil fields ablaze. The events in April were just a continuation of Saddam's scorched earth policy. As well as an attempt to destroy evidence of the regime's crimes.
Excerpted from a larger article ...
U.S. forces in Iraq found seven pounds of cyanide during a raid late last month on a Baghdad house believed connected to an Al Qaeda operative. The cyanide salt was in either one or several small bricks, and U.S. officials said they believe it was to have been used in an attack on U.S. or allied interests. Cyanide is extremely toxic and can be used as a chemical weapon, although it was unclear if the cyanide was in a form that could be used that way easily. The raid took place on Jan. 23. It was unclear if anyone was captured in the raid. Parts for making bombs also were found in the house. The house was inhabited by a suspected subordinate of Abu Musab Zarqawi. Zarqawi is believed to have tried to direct Al Qaeda operations inside Iraq, although it is unknown if he is in the country now.
Still not saying if anyone was captured...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 12:04:27 PM ||
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Not saying if someone was captured usually means that someone important was.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/07/2004 12:47 Comments ||
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Thank goodness the Democrats have constantly reassured us that Saddam had no relationship at all to al-Qaeda. I'd be so worried otherwise!
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2004 13:31 Comments ||
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Eleven Iraqis wounded in bomb attacks on Kurdish targets in the northern Iraqi town of Arbil will be flown to hospitals in Ankara for treatment on Friday, the Turkish foreign ministry said. Turkey offered help after the bombings on Sunday killed at least 105 people at the offices of the two main Kurdish factions -- the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) -- which have traditionally had strained relations with Turkish authorities. "The PUK leadership, which responded to (Turkish) Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul's offer... yesterday, asked for 11 Iraqi citizens to be sent to Turkey and treated," a ministry statement said. The Iraqis, most of them badly injured, would be brought to Ankara "this afternoon," it added. Iraqi authorities would transport them to the Habur border crossing between the two countries, from where they would travel to the city of Mardin in eastern Turkey, then on a special flight to Ankara.
This is a good move on the Turks' part.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 10:12 ||
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The Kurdish parliament decided today (Feb 5) not to recognize a Governing Council decision to change rules on divorce and other family issues - a move that outraged some Iraqi women who saw it as a setback for women's rights here. In December, under the rotating presidency of Shiite cleric Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, the council voted to abolish the law regulating marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance, instead allowing different religious groups to apply their own traditions. The Kurdish parliament said in a statement it was sticking to a family law passed in 1959 and the amendments that the Kurdish administrations have introduced to it. The council's December decision raised strong opposition even among some of its own members. The decision has not been approved by U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer, who wields a veto.
And should not be...
Council member Mahmoud Othman, a Sunni Kurd, said the Governing Council decision was hasty and should have been deliberated with experts and women's organizations first. The decision passed by a slight majority instead of the necessary two-thirds, he said. Under the secular Baath party of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi women enjoyed more rights - in education, the workplace and marital status - than those in many other Arab countries. Kurdish women, living under their own regional governments since 1991, have campaigned against the Governing Council decision. However, some women's groups fear that the new influence of the conservative Islamic clergy since the collapse of Saddam's regime threatens the status of women in the future Iraq.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 10:09 ||
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The Kurds are trying to force Bremer to veto the decision. At least one group in Iraq is willing to stand up for womens rights, and it hasn't been the US. I find it disgraceful that Bremer hasn't vetoed the Sharia ruling yet.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/07/2004 12:51 Comments ||
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Charles, gotta let the fruit ripen before you pick it. Bremer will veto it if necessary, but (I suspect) he'd like the Iraqis to learn to reconsider bad decisions and fix them on their own. Part of developing a working democracy.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2004 13:33 Comments ||
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I saw a picture on BBC's site. Unveiled smiling Kurdish women dancing alongside with men. They were in a line alternating men and women and each one was in contact with the two persons of the opposite sex at his side. Can you imagine a Saudi or Taliban reaction to the picture? Instant heart attack.
After seeing this picture I thought there is still hope for the Kurds.
Kurdish security forces have arrested a suspected member of the Islamist extremist group Ansar Al-Islam as he tried to flee Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, a political official said yesterday.
Headed for where?
"Security forces from the PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) arrested Warzar Ali Wali near Penjwin, while he tried to return to the Sunni regions," said a PUK official on condition of anonymity. Close to the northern Iraq-Iran border, Penjwin is 50km east of Suleimaniyah. The source said the man had not been arrested over Sunday's twin suicide bombings in the Kurdish town of Irbil that targeted the offices of the PUK and its rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), killing at least 105 people.
I hope they're working him over questioning him thoroughly...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:14 ||
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... while he tried to return to the Sunni regions
This is not a good time to be a Sunni Arab in Kurdistan.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/07/2004 0:23 Comments ||
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A city council member in the restive Iraqi town of Fallujah and his nephew were wounded Wednesday by gunmen who sprayed their car with automatic gunfire, the nephew said. Sheikh Hisham Al-Alussi, who is also an Imam at a local mosque, was returning home with his nephew, Mohammad Taghlob, when the gunmen opened fire, said Taghlob, who was wounded in the leg.
Shooting up a holy man? That's never happened before, has it?
"Men in masks, who were travelling in a grey Opel, opened fire while my uncle was getting out of the car," he added. Alussi was seriously wounded, doctors said. He was known as a moderate religious leader who never attacked the US-led forces occupying the country in his sermons or called for a Jihad against them.
Y'don't think that might have had something to do with the Bad Guys trying to bump him off, do you?
Police have launched a search for the attackers.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:04 ||
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The landscape of the terrorist threat has shifted, many intelligence officials around the world say, with more than a dozen regional militant Islamic groups showing signs of growing strength and broader ambitions, even as the operational power of Al Qaeda appears diminished. Thatâs because theyâre all part of Binnyâs International Front. Since al-Qaeda has been hit hard over the last couple of years, the group is now having its affiliates fold back into the core in order to strengthen it, hence the merger last fall between al-Qaeda, the GSPC, and the Yemeni groups.
Some of the militant groups, with roots from Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the Caucasus to North Africa and Europe, are believed to be loosely affiliated with Al Qaeda. But others follow their own agenda, merely drawing inspiration from Osama bin Ladenâs periodic taped messages calling for attacks against the United States and its allies. Yet the money flows in from the same source, as does most of the training and leadership. Itâs more or less the subsidiary principle taken to a whole new level.
The smaller groups have shown resilience in resisting the efforts against terrorism led by the United States, officials said, by establishing terrorist training camps in Kashmir, the Philippines and West Africa, filling the void left by the destruction of Al Qaedaâs camps in Afghanistan. But what is also worrisome to counterterrorism officials is evidence that, like Al Qaeda, some of them are setting their sights beyond the regional causes that inspired them. We already knew about the camps in Kashmir and Mindanao. West Africa is a new one for me, Iâm guessing that it refers to the al-Qaeda/GSPC bases in the Algerian Sahara or else to operations that were set up in Liberia or Burkina Faso. Northern Nigeria is also a definite possibility.
The Islamic militant organization, Ansar al-Islam, for example, has largely fled its base in northern Iraq and elements of the group have moved to several European countries where they are believed to be actively recruiting suicide bombers for attacks in Iraq and Europe, officials said. Thatâs because the Ansar are little more than an arrow in the quiver of al-Tawhid, which is run by Zarqawi, who works for Binny. Itâs really not all that complicated ...
The mutation of the cells was illustrated last October when the authorities in Australia arrested a Caribbean-born French citizen who they believe was sent by a little-known Pakistani group to scout possible targets for attacks. The group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, was previously thought to be focused only on the struggle of Muslims in Kashmir. The LeT has been sending jihadis abroad to fight in Chechnya and Mindanao for years. This was just the first time that they started targeting Australia, here again at the behest of al-Qaeda. Thereâs been some speculation that the LeT is being used by al-Qaeda to fill the role of being the public face of the International Front while the latter remains underground.
The activity of such organizations is one reason intelligence officials believe that the threat of terrorism against the United States and its allies remains high. But the mobility and murky associations of the groups, most of which were operating before the Sept. 11 attacks, makes it difficult for agents to monitor their communications or follow their money. "They are like little time bombs that have been sent out into the world," said Gwen McClure, an F.B.I. agent and the director of counterterrorism at Interpol, the international police organization based in Lyon, France. "You never know where it might go off."
Most of these organizations existed before 9-11-01. The the WTC attacks not taken place we still wouldn't be aware of what's going on. Bad strategic move by Binny...
The deepening concern about the strength of the regional groups comes as Al Qaeda is described by officials as having been hobbled by the capture or killing of its top lieutenants and less capable of mounting an attack like the one on Sept. 11. Evidence of Al Qaedaâs activity continues to set off alarms, like the cancellation of several recent trans-Atlantic flights from Britain and France to the United States because of security concerns.
But I'd bet that even had the attacks succeeded, they'd have been carried out by members of the subsidiary organizations...
Beyond the recent concerns about Al Qaeda, counterterrorism officials in a dozen counties say they are also occupied by trying to understand the workings of obscure groups that appear capable of carrying out attacks without the financial or logistical support of Mr. bin Laden. "Al Qaedaâs biggest threat is its ability to inspire other groups to launch attacks, usually in their own countries," said a senior intelligence official based in Europe. "Iâm most worried about the groups that we donât know anything about."
Except for pickup teams, like in northern Nigeria last month, I don't think we'll see many "unknown groups," except in places where we haven't been looking for terrorism. It takes money, coordination, and training to form a high-caliber terror organization — one strong enough to be of any danger to the state. That sort of thing gets noticed, even in the PC USA — I've no doubt that the FBI keeps an eye on the doings of al-Fuqra, for instance.
That view was reflected at a meeting of police officials from the Asian Pacific region and Europe organized by Interpol in late January in Bali. In conversations there and in interviews throughout Europe officials voiced concern about the threat of regional terrorist networks, which they said would not be reduced even if Mr. bin Laden was captured or killed.
But the big money would be cut off, until the princes found another conduit. They'd have to get by on the proceeds of donation boxes in the mosques...
Many officials said they doubted that Mr. bin Laden was directing operations, although several officials said they believed that he was using couriers to deliver hand-written messages to associates in Pakistan. "From a cave in the mountains, how much can he do?" one official asked. That situation changes dramatically if heâs staying at an IRGC military base with Ayman though, donât it?
The officials said their view of Al Qaeda had changed. The terror network today is different from the Qaeda that existed before Sept. 11; a "credible argument can be made that itâs finished," said a senior Australian official. "However," he added, "to talk about it being finished is to ignore what it is." He said it was more accurate to see it as a movement of individuals who view the United States and the West as the enemy. "Every day around the world, we are discovering Al Qaeda members and cells previously unknown," he said.
But not organizations. Mapping critical nodes gives you the network. F'rinstance, everybody who Abu Qatada is considered to be a part of his network. The ones in his network that talk to somebody outside the network considered runners. They lead you to another node — say, Zarqawi. Everybody who talks to Zarqawi is a member of his network, and he has a separate set of runners for each node he's connected with, for instance Basayev and Mullah Krekar. Once the nodes are outlined, which I suspect has been done, their functions have to be identified, and that can lead to more "runners" in the form of electronic "talk" via phone or internet or bank transaction. It all depends on good intel collection, though.
Most of the members of the regional terror groups trained at the Qaeda camps, counterterrorism officials say. Still, most officials say they consider it unlikely that the regional groups could pull off an attack on the scale of Sept. 11. But they said interrogations of captured terror suspects and other intelligence have made it clear that the groups have the training, explosives and money to strike "soft targets," similar to attacks last year in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Indonesia.
The downside to that is that every time they do it, with the notable exception of Soddy Arabia, they get the heads chopped off their organizations. The organizations get expended like bullets, instead of being used as weapons systems.
In recent months, terrorists in Saudi Arabia have tried to assassinate senior government officials. Qaeda operatives are believed to be behind some of the attempted killings, but a previously unidentified group, which calls itself Al Haramain Brigades, or the Two Mosques Brigades, said in a statement in January that it had tried to kill Maj. Gen. Abdelaziz al-Huweirini, Saudi Arabiaâs top counterterrorism official and the No. 3 official in the Interior Ministry. Senior American officials confirmed that in early December, General Huweirini was the target of a shooting attack in which his brother was wounded.
I suspect they're "unrelated" to Qaeda in the same sense JI is "unrelated." There's a small handful of people who're associated with Binny running a semi-independent operation.
Several senior counterterrorism officials based in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region said they suspected that local and regional groups were coordinating their activities, but without direct contact with Mr. bin Laden or his lieutenants. The evidence would seem to suggest otherwise.
They point to the May 12 suicide bombings of three Western housing compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed 25 residents, including 8 Americans. Four days later, in Casablanca, suicide bombers carried out five simultaneous attacks, killing more than 30 people. The Riyadh bombings were ordered by Saif al-Adel and Zarqawi likewise called in for the attack in Casablanca. How is that not direct contact?
In both cases local groups, with loose ties to Al Qaeda, carried out the attacks. While investigators have not found solid evidence that the attacks were coordinated, "we donât believe it was mere coincidence," a senior European intelligence official said. Skipping through what we already know about Brigitte ...
But the most unusual part of the case is that the authorities believe that Mr. Brigitte was a low-ranking member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant Pakistani group that was formed a decade ago with help from Pakistanâs intelligence service to fight against India in Kashmir. The group was not known to have operations outside that region. Before the Taliban were driven from power, Lashkar-e-Taiba trained its men at camps in Afghanistan alongside Qaeda camps. Even though the group was banned by Pakistanâs president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, it continues to exist with training camps in Kashmir, officials said. A minor detail, no doubt ...
That's Pak Kashmir, not Indian Kashmir...
Mr. Brigitte had contacts with Lashkar-e-Taiba members in the United States, Canada and Europe, a senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the interrogation of Mr. Brigitte said. When Mr. Brigitte was discovered, the Australian authorities had been on the lookout for members Jemaah Islamiyah â which has been viewed as a Qaeda affiliate in Southeast Asia â trying to slip into the country. Iâm not exactly sure why itâs so shocking that Brigitte would have triple membership in al-Qaeda, LeT, and JI. I can be a member of multiple departments in a corporation too ... Skipping past a primer on JI ...
Still, counterterrorism officials in the region say the group is recruiting and reorganizing and training men in the Philippines. It has a dedicated cadre and access to large caches of explosives, which make it a continuing serious threat. It may also be switching tactics, to the assassination of important Westerners and the use of bicycles for suicide attacks, a senior Indonesian intelligence officer said recently. Skipping past a primer on Ansar al-Islam ...
The blurring of boundaries is also the case in Algeria, where the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, better known by its initials as the G.S.P.C., is growing more powerful and expanding its geographical operations. A year ago, G.S.P.C. kidnapped a group of European tourists, including nine Germans. The hostages were released after the German government paid a ransom of more than $1 million. The money has allowed the group to buy weapons, including sophisticated antiaircraft missiles.
From whom?
G.S.P.C. has increased its activities in Mali and Niger in recent months, officials from several countries said. The officials say the groupâs leaders are suspected of setting up training camps in West Africa and of plotting attacks in those countries. But a senior Western official said finding the camps would be nearly impossible. "Thatâs no manâs land," he said. The GSPC is also, by the word of their own leader, part of Binnyâs shadow army. Iâm still trying to figure out the level of resistance for recognizing the terror machine for what it is ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 1:39:52 PM ||
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believe was sent by a little-known Pakistani group to scout possible targets for attacks
I'm sure Lashkar-e-Taiba will be better known soon enough. Unlike Al Qaeda, LeT has been able to expand their infrastructure for the past decade without any arrests to disrupt them, apart from the commanders killed off in Kashmir.
But due to their transnational nature, if nothing else, I think LeT has to rank in the top tier of terrorist organisation, with Al Qaeda, Hezballah, al Tawhid and JI.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/07/2004 18:58 Comments ||
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Excerpted from a longer article by Jessica Stern
With each successive fatwa, bin Laden altered his mission. His third fatwa, issued in February 1998, urged followers for the first time to deliberately target American civilians, rather than soldiers. Although it mentioned the Palestinian struggle, this was only one among a litany of Muslim grievances. His fourth, in October 2001, emphasized Israelâs occupation of Palestinian lands and the suffering of Iraqi children under UN sanctions  concerns broadly shared in the Islamic world.
Basically, he was just listing grievances, which he didn't really consider all that important, as justification for jihad, which he did consider to be important...
Bin Laden was actively seeking to turn the US âwar on terrorismâ into a war between Islam and the West. The Sept. 11, 2001, âevents,â he said, had split the world into two camps: the Islamic world and âinfidels,â and the time had come for âevery Muslim to defend his religion.â A mastermind of Sept. 11, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, would later describe violence as âthe taxâ Muslims must pay âfor gaining authority on earth.â
"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun," as Chairman Mao famously said. In the case of Islamists, world domination would grow out of the barrel of a gun.
Individually, the terrorists I interviewed cited many reasons for choosing a life of holy war, and I came to despair of identifying a single root cause. But the variable that most frequently came up was not poverty or human rights abuses  as has been posited in the press  but perceived humiliation.
Coulda read that on Rantburg, Jessica. We've been discussing honor/shame cultures for a couple years now...
Humiliation came up at every echelon of terrorist group members â leaders and followers. For example, the founder and former leader of a Kashmiri group, the Muslim Jambaz Force, told me that the primary factor that led him to start the group was a sense of cultural humiliation. âMuslims have been overpowered by the West. Our ego hurts. We are not able to live up to our own standards for ourselves. It felt to me at the time I was involved in militancy like a personal loss,â he said.
"If you can't compete, because you're a part of a stagnant culture, what else can you do but kill people?"
But the militant despaired at what had happened to the jihad movement, saying: âThe first generation of fundamentalists â Qutb and Maududi â was focused on daawa â education. We focused on freedom. This generation is much more rigid, stricter, than my generation. They are focused on hate. Hate begets hate. You cannot create freedom out of hatred.â
Hatred's so much easier than rational thought. It's also self-perpetuating. The Islamist's hatred, as soon as its roots are understood, begets contempt.
Bin Ladenâs deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, observed that the ânew world orderâ is a source of humiliation for Muslims. He has argued that it is better for the youth of Islam to carry arms and defend their religion with pride and dignity than to submit to humiliation. Violence, in other words, restores the dignity of humiliated youth. This is similar to Franz Fanonâs notion that violence is a âcleansing force,â which frees oppressed youths from an âinferiority complex, despair and inaction,â making them fearless and restoring their self-respect.
That's where the contempt comes from. Beturbanned goobers, wallowing in their inferiority complexes, unable to build societies that are productive or even livable, running around with guns, shrieking and rolling their eyes — what're we supposed to do? Be afraid of them? They arouse fear, alright. It's not the fear of a formidable enemy, though. It's the fear of irrationality, the same fear that any psychopath arouses. And here we have an entire religion that marches lemming-like into organized psychopathy.
Fanon also warned of the dangers of globalization for the underdeveloped world. The purpose of terrorist violence, according to its advocates, is to restore dignity. Its target audience is not necessarily the victims and their sympathizers but the perpetrators and their sympathizers. Violence is a way of strengthening support for the organization and the movement it represents... Perhaps the most evil aspect of religious terrorism is that it aims to destroy moral distinctions themselves. Its goal is to confuse not only its sympathizers, but also those who seek to fight it. By the same token, the adversaries of terrorist groups need to respond not just with guns, but also by sowing confusion, conflict and competition among terrorists and between terrorists and their sponsors and sympathizers. They should encourage condemnation of extremist interpretations of religion by peace-loving practitioners. They should change policies that no longer serve their interests or are inconsistent with their values, even if these are policies the terrorists demand. In the end, what counts is what we fight for, not what we oppose. We need to avoid giving into spiritual dread, and hold fast to the best of our principles and values by emphasizing tolerance, empathy and courage.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:04 ||
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For hundreds of years the Moslems have assuaged their feelings of inferiority by brutalizing their girls and women and by brutalizing their religious minorities. Why, now, isn't that enough? Why do they have to travel abroad to modern countries and try to brutalize us here too? Leave us alone already!
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/07/2004 0:31 Comments ||
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hold fast to the best of our principles and values by emphasizing tolerance, empathy and courage.
...even if that emphasis must come through the barrel of a squad automatic weapon.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/07/2004 0:39 Comments ||
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They can't, Mike. They're still inferior. If they can just brutalize enough people, they think they'll feel superior.
The jihadis give a whole new meaning to the phrase "a legend in their own minds."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/07/2004 0:41 Comments ||
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Perhaps the most evil aspect of religious terrorism is that it aims to destroy moral distinctions themselves. Its goal is to confuse not only its sympathizers, but also those who seek to fight it.
I think this reveals the author's real issue with terrorism. Not that it kills and maims people. Not that it threatens the fabric of our society. But that it makes the Left's 'balanced' moral equivalence hard to maintain. To right!, its causing confusion on the Left, but not here at Rantburg, where it causes clarity of thought.
It's nothing new really, now is it? They crave power and the respect that comes with it, but they haven't got what it takes to get it NOW! within the existing power structure. So they pick up a gun, point it at someone and feel the powerful immediately.
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I think the rise of Izzoid militancy is simple: they now have the money, solely due to oil, and the means, due to ease of travel and acquisition of weapons tech, and the fact that they control some "states" which afford them numerous logistical advantages to leverage the others to max effect.
The insanity has always been there, from Day One -- just read the Haddiths.
This is simply the time nexus where it all comes together to make their Global Domination Dreams look possible to the Islamists.
Had there been a truly moderate form of Islam, given the vast access to communications resources with which they could've thoroughly denounced, actively worked to deny funding, and totally ostracized the jihadis via fatwas or whatever, then there would be reason to dismiss this as an aberration. Such is not the case, late comers and their lame half-hearted commentaries / apologies notwithstanding. Those not actively engaged are not actually moderate, for they give passive support by their silence -- and the other forms of support when confronted or demanded by the jihadis.
Effectively, and we must always keep this in mind when dealing with them or reading what they write or evalutaing their actions and inactions: they are Muslims above all else. Thus, they will all share the same fate.
EFL
Brazilian police have arrested the second American in a month for making an obscene gesture while being photographed by an immigration official. Police say 56-year-old retired banker, Douglas Allan Skolnick, flipped his middle finger in a photo now required to be taken of all American tourists entering Brazil.
I can imagine what they're gonna see when Janet Jackson comes to visit...
Brazil began fingerprinting and photographing Americans entering the country last month after the US Government imposed a similar process on foreigners, except for those from 27 mostly European countries. "Mr Skolnick went before the judge this morning and opted to take the public prosecutorâs offer that he pay a 50,000 real fine ($US17,000) to avoid prosecution," said officer Marcos Koren of the Foz do Iguacu federal police. A judge had ordered Mr Skolnick held under house detention in a midtown hotel, guarded by federal agents, until the fine was paid. Authorities say that after changing the required currency at a Rio De Janiero money exchange booth, Mr Skolnick and an attorney, went before the same judge and paid the fine. He was then given his passport back.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/07/2004 8:08:16 PM ||
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I can imagine what they're gonna see when Janet Jackson comes to visit...
I don't think that's illegal in Brazil. Especially 'round Rio.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/08/2004 0:08 Comments ||
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EFL And fighting out of the red corner - Hugo Chavez
Venezuelaâs combative president, facing a possible battle at the ballot box this year, got a fiery pep talk on Sunday from US boxing promoter Don King.
Don King? He manages dictators, too?
King, famous for his flamboyant showmanship, praised Chavezâs social policies for the poor and even promised to help smooth over Venezuelaâs often rocky relations with US President George W Bushâs government. "Your magic lies in your people ties, you are one that is concerned with the poor, the underprivileged, the downtrodden and denied," King said on Chavezâs regular live television program Hello President. "I am going to talk to President Bush and make sure that he knows my relationship with you so we can straighten out a lot of things," the outspoken ring promoter said, hugging his host before shouting out "Viva Chavez." King was visiting Venezuela for an anti-drug boxing event in Caracas.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/07/2004 8:04:24 PM ||
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Oh, yeah, just what I'd like as an endorsement, from a convicted murderer, er, I mean mansualughterer...
Four Palestinians were charged Saturday with planting explosives that may have killed three Americans traveling in a diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip in October.
That was quick, wasn't it? We should use blackmail more often...
The four men, who appeared Saturday before a military court in Gaza City, are accused of planting roadside bombs on a main highway leading into the Gaza Strip from the Erez crossing point with Israel. The four men charged were Naeem Deeb Abu Fool, 42; Basheer Abu Laban, 32; Mohammed Dosouki Asaliyye, 21; and Ahmed Abdel Fattah Safi, 23. All four are from Gazaâs Jebaliya refugee camp, a festering sore stronghold of Palestinian Islamic militant groups. U.S. officials have been pressing the Palestinians to find those behind the attack and have repeatedly said they are disappointed with the level of cooperation from Palestinian police. Recently, they warned Palestinian authorities that some U.S. aid programs may be scaled back or canceled if there wasnât any progress in the probe. Military prosecutor, Jamal Shamiyye, presented the courtâs three-judge panel with handwritten statements from the four suspects in which they acknowledged planting explosives in the area to target Israeli forces. The men didnât have lawyers with them during Saturdayâs indictment. The court set a trial date for Feb. 29. They also shouted out at their appearance, âWe are not criminals. We did not do anything.â, reported the Khaleej Times. Too bad Arafat, the real culprit, isnât on trial.
While taking a tough guy approach to the budget in order to keep his promise to reverse Californiaâs fiscal direction, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proving to be a man of conviction and compassion when it comes to crime and punishment. Following recommendations from the stateâs Board of Prison Terms , Schwarzenegger has granted parole to eight murderers, all reportedly model prisoners who had been incarcerated for years. Another 15, he decided, should remain behind bars. Criminal Justice Legal Foundation President Mike Rushford said Schwarzenegger has granted parole in cases in which strong arguments existed to let the prisoners out.
Schwarzenegger, however, is not a softie when it comes to crime. He supports the death penalty and is facing his first state execution scheduled for next week. Amnesty International is pleading for mercy for 18-year death row inmate Kevin Cooper, but the governor has decided to deny clemency, saying the evidence behind his crime â the murder of four people using a hatchet â was "overwhelming."
Posted by: Dar ||
02/07/2004 1:02:31 PM ||
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the murder of four people using a hatchet â was "overwhelming."
You heartless bastards.... it was an accident did the defense even bother to call Ed Ames?
#2
The crime: On 4 June 1983, Douglas and Peggy Ryen and their 10-year-old daughter Jessica, together with 11-year-old Christopher Hughes, all white, were hacked to death in the Ryen home in Chino Hills, outside Los Angeles. Joshua Ryen, aged eight, was wounded in the attack, but survived. The victims sustained multiple injuries â at least three weapons were used: a knife, a hatchet and an ice pick.
Kevin Cooper was arrested several weeks after the murder. He had escaped from a minimum security prison on 2 June and had hidden in an empty house near the Ryens' residence for two nights before the crime.
The punishment: He's had 20 years to make his case; meanwhile, the four victims are still dead. Do it Arnold.
#4
I think they should hang the guy in the center of San Francisco. He should be flanked by two additional gallows: on the left with a member of Amnesty International playing the starring role, and on the right with a member of the ACLU filling the same position. Do it at noon on a Wednesday, and make public attendance mandatory. Watch the level of murder, rape, and other violent crimes crash down to low single digits, and watch the busy-bodies run for cover.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/07/2004 17:18 Comments ||
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Presidential elections scheduled in April will fuel a flareup in violence in Algeria, exiled Islamist leader Abassi Madani said Saturday, renewing a call for a second republic to be set up to replace a dying regime. âThe man elected in April will have the backing of the army and his mission will be to push the country deeper into violence,â Madani charged in an interview with AFP in Mecca where he joined the annual hajj pilgrimage. âThe current regime no longer has any reason to stay in power. It is near its end because ... it has no legitimacy and bases its authority on might,â the head of the banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) charged. âThis regime is responsible for more than 95 percent of the acts of violence,â which have left more than 100,000 people dead since 1992 according to official figures.
I'm no lover of the Algerian regime, but I'd say GAI had something to do with the violence, in addition to GSPC.
Madani said he opposed holding elections under emergency rule adding that those who run for office âwill regret itâ.
Oboy. More violence.
âThe regime is no longer valid, it is rotten. And we have put forward an alternative,â which would usher in a âsecond republicâ after that set up on independence from France in 1962, he said.
An Islamic "second republic."
Madani announced on January 15 a peace initiative under which the presidential elections would be delayed and a ceasefire put into place followed by a referendum on a new constitution. âThe authorities did not answer our appeal for an end to the violence because bloodshed and tragedy suits them. My initiative offers the Algerian people the chance to take back the initiative and sovereignty, but that does not please the current regime,â said the 72-year-old exile.
If he can offer a ceasefire, that implies he's in control of the gunnies. Tell me again why they let him out of jug?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 12:55 ||
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The constant in the Islamic uprising in Algeria is that there are two periods where intensity and sadism of Islamic attacks are at their height: elections and the "holy" month of Ramadan.
#3
His offer for a Cease fire is just legitime, as he is the leader of a party which was crushed by the army, but which won elections on 26.12.91, securing 58% of the votes at the first round... while he was already jailed.
The FIS has nothing to do with the GIA, which Algerians call "Groups Infiltrated by the Army).
The "gunnies" are in the hands of the army...
Hours after a deadly blast ripped through a Moscow subway, the New York Police Department announced it is sending a team of officers to the Russian capital. This is not the first time the New York Police Department has sent units outside of the United States, as part of recent counter-terrorism efforts. Since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, New York police have traveled to Britain, Canada and Israel. The New York Police Department said in a statement that the teamâs mission is to "observe and gather information on the Moscow subway bombing." The team of New York police will consist of officers from New Yorkâs intelligence division and transit bureau.
Posted by: TS ||
02/07/2004 10:25:30 AM ||
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Just NY? That's short-sighted of the rest of the country.
#2
Forgive it - for all the police brutality complaints and "unjustified shooting" wolf-cries from certain minorities in the Bronx and Queens, the NYPD is one of the world's largest and most capable police departments; it alone has three times the manpower of the Canadian military (at 38,000-41,000 to 11,500), body armor is not only the norm but mandatory for all policemen, and with their unfettered access to Interpol databases (special arrangement), I can see how their expertise would be particularly in demand ...
Posted by: Lu Baihu ||
02/07/2004 17:17 Comments ||
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I'm thinking the NYPD want to see what a blast in a subway car looks like.
A lawmaker and son of the Lebanese president on Friday denied receiving bribes from Saddam Hussein and offered to divulge his bank accounts and be subjected to an investigation. Emile Emile Lahoud, son of President Emile Lahoud, said Lebanese authorities could lift his parliamentary privilege of immunity from prosecution if they wished to interrogate him on the subject.
If I was on the take, I prob'ly wouldn't put the big bucks into my credit union account. I think I'd have another account someplace else, maybe under an assumed name. Emile Emile probably feels pretty safe...
Lahoud's name appeared on a long list of alleged benefactors of the deposed Iraqi leader last month. The list, published by Iraq's Al-Mada daily, included the names of 270 former Cabinet officials, legislators, political activists and journalists from more than 46 countries. Members of the provisional Iraqi government and opponents of Saddam have since distributed a list of the accused, based on documents from the Iraqi Oil Ministry. The newspaper said they are suspected of profiting from Iraqi oil sales that Saddam allegedly offered in exchange for political and popular support in their countries. The young Lahoud said he had nothing to do with the former Iraqi regime and has never participated in any illicit deals.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
"Whoever wants to examine my bank accounts is free to do so," the lawmaker said in an interview with Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International television station.
"But not my wife's accounts, okay? And not my cousin Claude Claude's..."
Earlier this week, a former member of parliament, Najah Wakim, whose name also appeared on the Iraqi list, denied taking any Iraqi money.
"Who? Me? Pshaw!"
The Lebanese judiciary has not moved to investigate the Iraqi allegations. Critics and government opponents accuse the judiciary of overlooking many cases involving senior government officials or their relatives.
It's a process known as "corruption."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 09:24 ||
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The son was his father's bagman. Until the very end Emile Lahoud opposed war on Iraq and suported the France-Germany appeasement effort in the UN.
Several suspects in a deadly bombing attack on a US diplomatic convoy will appear in a Gaza military court Saturday, Palestinian security officials said.
It wasn't immediately clear if the suspects had been charged in the attack or if their appearance at the court was part of an upcoming trial. US officials have been pressing the Palestinians to find those behind the Oct. 15 roadside blast in Gaza that ripped apart a diplomatic car, killing three American security guards. US officials have repeatedly said they are disappointed at the level of cooperation from Palestinian police in the investigation and have warned that some aid programs could be scaled back or canceled if there is no progress.
I'm "disappointed" when my steak's overdone...
On Wednesday, Jibril Rajoub, a senior security adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, told reporters that the Americans were using political and financial "blackmail" to push the Palestinians to find suspects in the bombing.
So does this mean it's working?
The US State Department has offered a US$5 million reward for information that leads to the attackers. Teams of FBI explosives and forensics specialists have visited the site of the blast and met with Palestinian security officials. In the days after the attack, Palestinian police detained seven members of a rogue militant group, the Popular Resistance Committees. It was unclear if those suspects were still in custody.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 09:17 ||
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Yep, the P.A. is starting to crack under the pressure, the coming months are going to be very interesting.
Anybody willing to speculate on why they denied for 24 hours that Abdullah Shami (assuming roomtemperature now) was wounded in the Israeli attack?
A 12-year-old boy was killed Saturday morning on Al-Widah Street in cenrtal Gaza City in an Air Force targeting of a white Peugot car carrying senior Islamic Jihad members. Some reports claimed that Tarek al Sufi, the bodyguard of Islamic Jihad leader Abdullah Shami, was also dead and ten additional people were wounded. It is not clear if Abdullah Shami was in the vehicle at the time of the blast. There were conflicting reports regarding the identities of the occupants; some reports claimed they included Aziz Mohammed Shami, a relative of Islamic Jihad leader Abdullah Shami, who was seriously wounded; and that another passenger in the car, Khalil al-Bassiouny, was killed. The IDF Spokesman confirmed the attack, saying the Air Force targeted a senior Islamic Jihad official riding in the car but refused to release his name, saying only that he was responsible for the deaths of a number of Israeli soldiers and was in the midst of planning further terror attacks.
Looks like they missed him. Dammit.
FOLLOWUP: From al-Jizzums
The attack on Saturday is believed to be an assassination attempt against Islamic Jihad members Aziz al-Shami and Khalil al-Basyuni. "Aziz Shami, 37, died of his injuries shortly after being admitted to the Shifa Hospital in Gaza," Dr Bakr Abu Safia, told reporters.
"Yep. He's dead. At least, all the pieces of him I saw were dead..."
Our correspondent said the targeted Jihad members may have heard the helicopters overhead and managed to get out of their car seconds before a missile hit their car in the busy al-Wihda Street of central Gaza.
"Feet, don't fail me â aargh!"
However, they were seriously injured and were rushed to hospital. Several passers-by, including the boy who later died, were hit by shrapnel.
Damn. It's Aziz and not Abdullah. Not the same person, though they're related. Call off the ululation.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 09:11 ||
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Update: Debka say Aziz Shami is a deader. Allan Ackbar. Pieces be upon him.
The Shining Path has never been that friendly to journalists, so trying to make contact is very difficult. In Lima I met members of left-wing parties that have traditionally had links with the Shining Path, and put out the word that I wanted to contact the guerrillas who in the early 1990s brought Peru to its knees. When the Shining Path leader, Abimael Guzman - known as President Gonzalo - was captured in 1993, the rebel movement all but collapsed. But recently they have become active again, kidnapping and invading villages to force the local population to listen to their communist rhetoric. Yet when a contact finally came forward, it was not from the Peruvian but from the Colombian guerrillas. "I hear that you are based in Colombia and that you know my boss," said an intense looking man known as 'El Flaco', meaning the thin one. He was not from the Shining Path, but rather Latin Americaâs most powerful rebel group, the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, with whom I had spent a great deal of time over the years. I was surprised by his presence in Peru, and shocked by his message. "There are many of us here, from the Bolivarian Movement," he said, referring to the FARCâs political wing. We are recruiting Peruvians for the revolution, and now have almost 1000 former members of the Shining Path."
The FARC control almost 40% of the country, but it is mostly the low lying jungles of the Amazon where there are few people. But under pressure from the Colombian army, which is backed by US helicopters and intelligence, the guerrillas have established camps in all the neighbouring counties: Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and Panama. Colombiaâs war is in danger of becoming much of South Americaâs war. The political situation in South America could not be better for the Marxist rebels of the 20,000-strong FARC. In Bolivia, the US-backed president was overthrown, and one of the fastest rising new politicians is vehemently anti-American and wants to legalise drug production. Venezuelaâs president has been accused of supporting Colombiaâs guerrillas and is allied to Americaâs old enemy, Fidel Castro of Cuba. The presidents of Peru and Ecuador - both US allies - are facing low levels of support and street protests. "Our time is coming," said El Flaco, his eyes burning with fervour. "The revolution will sweep through Latin America, and the gringos will be sent back home." With that he shook my hand and strode out of the hotel, leaving behind some guerrilla propaganda. I never did find the Shining Path. After meeting El Flaco, there seemed no point.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/07/2004 2:30:12 AM ||
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this is why I think we need to legalize drugs. It's not like there isn't a drug trade, or that drugs aren't readily available on every street corner in America. By making drugs illegal, all we do is give rise to these highly organized gangs who have tons of money and zero scruples.
#2
B: you have the wrong solution to the problem. The drug lords actually made more money when we "decriminalized" and reduced penalties for drug use and directed law enforcement to "go after the pushers." The recreational drug market boomed when the penalties for drug use dropped; more people were willing to try drugs because the risk was lower. If we legalize drugs the market for drugs will skyrocket. The crooks will still make lots of money; they just won't go to jail for it.
The real problem in Latin America is the corruption that prevents a healthy middle class from growing. See the book "Mysteries of Capital". I think the author's name is Da Silva. He describes in great detail the crookedness of the governments which require dozens of permits, which won't get approved without bribes, to get a simple project off the ground. Can you imagine having to get 33 permits just to get a house built?
See also Ingrid Betancourt's "Til Death Do Us Part." Rantburgers have groused about Betancourt's leftist ideas, but she describes the corruption and its poisonous effects very well. Take, for example, the Colombian government's efforts to build a medical clinic in a remote town. By the time the local caciques finished skimming off funds, there wasn't enough money left to install the medical equipment or pay staff.
My daughter just returned from a week in Colombia visiting our friend the exchange student. She tried four times to get her travelers checks changed into pesos. The first time she went to the bank, they said that the person who changed money was gone for the day. COme back tomorrow. The next day they said that they only changed money at 8 in the morning. So she went to the bank at 8. They told her to come back on Tuesday. On Tuesday they couldn't do it either for some reason. So she didn't spend any money in Colombia. How can you run a country that way?
#3
It's hard to argue with "mom" - and even harder when she's right! ;-)
Corruption, at its worst, does make almost everything a gov't tries to do a non-starter... which makes the populace distrust and despise gov't - knowing where the taxes go. I can see few other reasons which are as fundamental or as virulent in the process where a population can be persuaded to embrace communism, in spite of the mountains of evidence that it works far less well than capitalism.
S America is a disaster - when it should be growing economically by leaps and bounds - given the natural resources. Venezuela and Brazil certainly stand out as utter failures, with deepening poltical disasters in progress to match, in spite of potential. I'm sure simple corruption was the key ingredient, the match that lit the fuse, in both.
Then there's damned near the whole of Africa. Pull the plug - it's insanely corrupt and insanely tribal. Is you a Hutu?
When you do a realistic scan, including the US and Europe, it's pretty obvious that corruption slows a vibrant economy (from Enron to Global Crossing to the EU Stats Bureau to Parmalat), chokes a sluggish one (Brazil), and snuffs an emerging one (Zimbabwe). The mentality of betting the milk money on the lottery, insurance scams, BS lawsuits ("Fast food made me fat!"), cheating on taxes -- the whole lot -- must be unacceptable to the majority, else that society is sick... and when sick enough, it's doomed. And it all starts at home with what we teach our children.
#4
The solution is not decriminalization, but legalization.
What's the difference? Decriminalization keeps the same black market nonsense with fewer penalties, while legalization pushes the profits from thugs to capitalists.
Let's see whether FARC can make on drugs if Walgreens is selling the same stuff at market value.
#5
I gotta agree with B, legalizing would take the wind outta their sails. There wasn't much in the way of easy profits for bootleggers and speakeasys, once prohibition was repealed. The exact same principle is at work here. Prohibition (alcohol OR drug) is the single biggest motivator of corruption.
#6
The mentality of betting the milk money on the lottery, insurance scams, BS lawsuits ("Fast food made me fat!"), cheating on taxes -- the whole lot -- must be unacceptable to the majority, else that society is sick... and when sick enough, it's doomed. And it all starts at home with what we teach our children.
Yes! I was afraid you had weakned in your Nevada sojourn. Now let's discuss the rat in the American kitchen.... LOL!
#7
If the drugs become legal, Walgreens won't be competing with the thugs, they'll be buying from the thugs, because the thugs already control the drug sources.
#8
Mom, thugs can only control the trade as long as they have a monopoly. They don't have the work ethic or organizational skills to compete with the likes of Walgreens. No one wants to buy from a unreliable street dealer and risk getting ripped off if they could just go to the store instead.
#9
Scooter, I don't know how old you are, but I grew up in Chicago during the first Daley Regime. My godparents worked in City Hall--they were civil service, not patronage, and they were honest folk. From what they have told me, and from what I've seen, crooks and sloppy government make a formidable partnership. Do not overestimate the integrity of anybody who gets into a business involving poison. I have seen corruption expand to overflow all the available space in my neighborhood.
Yes, thugs do have the work ethic and the organization to make an illegal business work. The FARC are very serious capitalists depite their worn out marxist rhetoric; their drug and kidnapping businesses are quite well organized and lucrative. Having a crooked government makes their job that much easier.
#10
Mom, not that I buy into your antiquidated Chicago comparison, - in politics the Daley "machine" was more the notable exception than the rule - but for the sake of arguement, did the Chicago Mob thrive under prohibition, or legalized alcohol? You know the answer - prohibition was itself the primary cause of corruption, both then and now.
#11
The solution is neither decriminalization nor depenalization.
Problem is: the more pushers or trafiquants you arrest, the higher the price of drugs so other
people will be attracted by the drug business.
Solution is to reduce consumption of drugs this would have the prices drop and push traffickers into retirement. Solution is acting on users through mandatory desintoxication. Of course you can argue that there is a cheaper and surer way to reduce consumption. :-)
Iâm excerpting this from a much larger story from Knight Ridder newspapers that more or less regurgitates the Neocon Cabal(TM) theory without actually calling it that. However, there was one interesting bit of information that we did manage to get out of all of this.
Some of the disputed findings were presented as facts to Americans as Bush drummed up his case for war. Those findings included charges of cooperation between Saddam and al-Qaida, Cheneyâs assertion that Iraq had rebuilt its nuclear weapons program and would "soon" have a nuclear bomb, and Bushâs contention in his 2003 State of the Union address that Saddam was seeking nuclear bomb-making material from Africa.
Senior officials on Monday revealed new details of how Cheneyâs office pressed Secretary of State Colin Powell to use large amounts of disputed intelligence in a February 2003 presentation to the United Nations Security Council laying out the U.S. case for an invasion. A senior administration official said that during a three-day pre-speech review, Powell rejected more than half of a 45-page assessment on Iraqâs weapons of mass destruction compiled by Cheneyâs chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, and based on materials assembled by pro-invasion hard-liners in the Pentagon and the White House. Powell also jettisoned 75 percent of a separate report on al-Qaida, said the official. Still, he said, Libby continued pressing Powell unsuccessfully right up until a few minutes before the speech to include dubious information purportedly linking Saddam to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Iâm assuming that this has something to do with either the Atta/Prague connection or the case of Shakir. Possibly Salman Pak or various theories that have been put out in certain circles as to who Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is. While this article is more or less a hit piece on Cheney, it also means that what he told us about Iraqi ties to al-Qaeda as well as what Tenet told Congress a week or so later wasnât in the stack of disputed info. Stuff like Zarqawi being in Baghdad, one of Sammyâs agents being on the Ansar al-Islam ruling council, or Iraq training al-Qaeda in chemical warfare. The press has far too short an attention span to pick up on this, but itâs a distinction worth noting.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 2:14:39 AM ||
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There are many times I give a presentation where I omit data and talk to the key points. Rejecting data does not mean it is bad data, just not entirely relevent to the point at hand. Every journalist is intimately familiar with this reality.
Ask the writer of this article how much information he rejected in writing this piece.
Posted by: john ||
02/07/2004 7:27 Comments ||
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#3
The press likes to play up the supposed "conflict" between the Cheny/Rumsfeld/Condi/neo-con/Haliburton "hawks" and the allegedly more "mature, sober, realistic, internationalist" Colin Powell "doves" who are alleged to be struggling to restrain the "cowboy." No doubt there are differences of opinion within the administration, but these people are all on the same team.
John's right, as well--sometimes you leave things out of a presentation to declutter the agenda, and not because you disagree with them.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/07/2004 9:45 Comments ||
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#4
Damn. I just connected some dots I'm sure everyone else has:
o Iraq supposed to be training al'Qaeda in use of chem.
o Zarqawi in and out of Iraq.
o Zarqawi apparent leader of cells found with ricin
o Zarqawi's safe house raided and supply of cyanide salts found
Is any of that in doubt?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/07/2004 12:14 Comments ||
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America has convincing new evidence that iran is hiding an atomic bomb project despite Tehranâs promise to open up all of its nuclear facilities to international inspectors, a senior US official has told The Daily Telegraph. He said the Tehran regime was secretly trying to build a second and more advanced uranium enrichment plant in parallel to the large facilities in the town of Natanz revealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last year. "There is no doubt in our mind that the Iranians have a lot that the IAEA does not know about," said the official. "The Iranians have a military programme that the IAEA has never set eyes on."
Another western source confirmed that the nuclear technology smuggling network headed by Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistanâs top mad nuclear weapons scientist, had sold much more equipment to Iran than Tehran has so far admitted to. The latest intelligence on Iran, if corroborated, will ignite an intense international crisis with the Iranian regime. The US seems, for the moment, to be seeking to strangle Iranâs nuclear programme through inspections and diplomatic agreements brokered by Europe. But the presence of US troops either side of Iran - in Iraq and Afghanistan - is a reminder to the regime that Washington retains the declared option of "pre-emptive" military action.
Clear-cut proof of a secret nuclear weapons programme in Iran would be an acute embarrassment for Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, who has invested heavily in "engagement" with the clerical regime. Senior diplomats from the big three European countries this week met Iranian officials in Vienna to demand that Tehran halt these subsidiary enrichment-related activities, but reached no agreement. It was not clear whether they discussed US suspicions that Tehran had a second secret enrichment plant. Iran claims it has only sought to make low-enriched uranium as fuel for a planned civil nuclear reactor to generate electricity. According to US and western sources, it is now clear that Iran has been hiding much more. In particular, they believe Tehran has been trying to build a G2 centrifuge with high-speed rotors made of maraging steel, a light but high-strength form of the metal. This is a more efficient model than the aluminium-based G1 design that is under IAEA inspection in Natanz. Both versions are based on Dutch designs stolen in the 1970s by Khan when he was working as a metallurgist in the Netherlands for Urenco, the British-German-Dutch nuclear fuel consortium. Libya bought both the G1 aluminium and G2 maraging steel versions from Khanâs network. Officials will not say precisely how they have established that Iran is still working on an atomic bomb. But a wealth of information is emerging from the unravelling of the "nuclear supermarket" supplied by Khan.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 2:02:53 AM ||
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Senior diplomats from the big three European countries this week met Iranian officials in Vienna to demand that Tehran halt these subsidiary enrichment-related activities, but reached no agreement
#3
This article makes me stand by my belief that, despite all the hype, we have found plenty of evidence of wmd's in Iraq. I think that they have been classified so that they can pursue the global proliferation rather than just what was in Iraq. I wonder if the Bush administration has been willing to take the political heat in order not to interfere with investigators, who can do so much more when the press isn't blabbing every little detail and source.
#7
If that's what's going on, I'm sure the left will go berserk over the "politicization" of the information. But since they started down that road, I think they'll deserve it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/07/2004 12:17 Comments ||
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Thanks for the "MBA" link, John. I'm saving it.
#9
"The Iranians have a military programme that the IAEA has never set eyes on."
My nomination for the 2004 "Most Obvious News Item" award.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2004 13:27 Comments ||
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It's unlikely that Bush would purposely delay the timing of any WMD find for political benefit. He's paying way too high a price politically and diplomatically. If we had these cards, Bush would play them now. Instead, he's in damage control mode. Defining the role of the intelligence commission broadly to include intelligence underestimates as well as over estimates and including McCain and others shows that he's making the best of a bad hand.
That said, this article might explain why Tenet still has a job. Unraveling the NK/Libya/Pak/Iran joint proliferation program is a plus.
It also explains the strategic rationale for going to war in Iraq:
"the presence of US troops either side of Iran - in Iraq and Afghanistan - is a reminder to the regime that Washington retains the declared option of 'pre-emptive' military action."
We now have a much stronger hand vs. Iran and a better intelligence to guide how we play it. Unfortunately, Pres. Kerry might be the beneficiary of this accomplishment because there is only so much Bush can do to explain the benefits of his policies without diminishing their effectiveness.
Iranâs conservative Guardians Council has cleared 200 reformist candidates to stand in this monthâs parliamentary elections however more than 2,000 others are still barred from contesting the poll. Skipping through what we already know ...
In response, Iranâs Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered a review of the bans, and after vetting the 2,500 barred candidates, the conservative guardians council has reinstated about 10 per cent. However reformers say it is not enough and one leading party says it will boycott the elections scheduled for 13 days time.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 2:00:23 AM ||
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Chechnyaâs President Ahmat Kadyrov said Friday he shared the grief over the terrorist act in the Moscow metro that killed around 40 people and left some 130 other wounded, but he believed at the same time that statements fanning ethnic tensions were incorrect even in that situation. âIn a situation like that, opinions need to be especially correct and weighed-out, and itâs important that people donât make statements fanning ethnic strife,â Kadyrov said. Ethnic Chechens living in Moscow, as well as the residents in Chechnya, are disgusted by what happened in the Moscow metro and express condolences to the families of the dead and wounded, Kadyrov said. âLike all the Russians, they hate the adepts of Wahhabi fundamentalism,â he said. âQuite naturally, we condole together with the victimsâ families. Here in Chechnya ordinary people, Army servicemen, policemen, and government officials die at the hands of Maskhadovâs and Basayevâs terrorists every dayâ.
Kadyrov also reiterated he shared Russian President Vladimir Putinâs position. âHe made very correct conclusions, and that is the only way that Chechnya and the rest of Russia can be saved from terrorism,â said Kadyrov. âThere are forces both in the West and in the East that are trying to compel us to sit down to the negotiations table with the terrorists, but this is inadmissible. Why does no one try to bring the Americans to negotiations with bin Laden? Itâs high time all the insinuations about talks with Maskhadov were stoppedâ. Only the prosecutors or bullets can speak to that man, he indicated. âThe cup of our patience is overfilled, and weâre not going to speak to them, weâll be destroying them,â Kadyrov said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 1:54:43 AM ||
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âThere are forces both in the West and in the East that are trying to compel us to sit down to the negotiations table with the terrorists, but this is inadmissible. Why does no one try to bring the Americans to negotiations with bin Laden?"
I guess this means Putin won't be supporting the Middle East roadmap any more.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/07/2004 13:08 Comments ||
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Isn't Kerry the one willing to sit down with the Black Turban bunch in Iran and negotiate? People in general should know that and think about the implications to us of negotiating with those who call us "the Great Satan."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/07/2004 14:06 Comments ||
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Chechen mufti Akhmad Shamayev condemned the terrorists who organized and staged the terrorist attack at the Moscow metro. Shamayev said he, together with hundreds of pilgrims from Chechnya conducting hajj to Mecca and Medina, are praying for punishment of the people who staged the savage act. "There are no goals that can justify terrorism and murder of peaceful civilians," he said. Shamayev extended condolences to the families of the victims and expressed hope that the injured would recover in the near future.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/07/2004 1:42:59 AM ||
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Five Algerian police were killed in a bomb attack blamed on armed extremists in the eastern Kabylie region, security officials said yesterday. The officials said the extremists detonated the bomb on Thursday as a police patrol car was passing through the town of Boghni, 35km from the regionâs main city of Tizi Ouzou, killing its occupants. Elements from the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), a group linked to Osama bin Ladenâs Al Qaeda network, are said to be active in the area. The blast was the most serious attack against police in Algeria since the start of the year and comes just ten days after extremists killed two soldiers and a town guard near Tizi Ouzou. The hardline GSPC, led by Hassan Hattab, claims to only attack members of the security forces.
Unlike GAI, which used to kill everybody they could lay hands on.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:09 ||
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They used a bomb eh. Wonder how many more bombs.
A human rights group in Syria hopes to accelerate the pace of domestic reform by submitting a petition to Syrian President Bashar Assad next month calling for the scrapping of the 40-year-old Emergency Law and the release of political prisoners.
Sounds like a good way to get themselves jugged...
But Syrian officials argue that reforms are being implemented gradually, citing imminent changes in the ruling Baath Party structure although the Emergency Law is likely to stay in place as long as the country is in a state of war with Israel.
That's a synonym for "forever."
âWe, the signatories, herein demand the Syrian authorities lift the state of emergency and annul all associated measures,â read the petition. The petition said that the Emergency Law, which was established in 1963 when the Baath Party assumed power, had âshackled the activity of society and curbed its capabilities.â
An "emergency law" in effect for 41 years...
The petition also called for the right to form political parties and the return of self-exiled Syrians  estimated by activists at around 20,000  who fled the country to avoid detention, mainly in the 1980s. The Committees for the Defense of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria plans to submit the petition to Assad on March 8, marking the 41st anniversary of the Baath Partyâs ascension to power. Michel Kilo, a human rights activist, said that the petition had been in circulation for over three years and almost all the 1,000 signatures so far collected had been from people living in Syria rather than exiles. An earlier version of the petition, which called for a national conference comprising all Syrian figures and political forces, was submitted to Assad in May last year, when the signatories numbered 287. âWe have heard nothing from them (the Syrian authorities) since,â Kilo said.
Takes awhile to arrest 247 people. They'll be contacting you soon...
Political freedoms were given a boost when Assad took office in July 2000. Prisoners were freed and political discussion forums flourished. But a crackdown followed and several prominent human rights activists and MPs were jailed. Since then, the Syrian government has placed its emphasis on civil and economic reform before opening up the political system. Last week, four committees, consisting of intellectuals, former government officials and military officers, were established to examine ways of modernizing the Baath Party.
I'd recommend abolition as step one...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:04 ||
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#1
A human rights group in Syria
They've got one? And the members aren't dead? Maybe there's hope for Syria yet. (Naaahhh)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/07/2004 0:17 Comments ||
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#2
The Petition of 1000 Future Martyrs is more what it sounds like. Syria is another corrupt, rotten society, like Iraq that will have to go through the same painful process of reforming itself like Iraq is going through now. A national enema is a traumatic thing.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/07/2004 17:42 Comments ||
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Syria is definitely cooking. There are numerous people seeking Pentagon support to fund organizations like the the Iraq National Accord or the Iraq National Congress. The political repression has never been as severe as in Iraq and Assad has not developed the cult of personality that Saddam had. In fact, Assad is actually pretty weak and depends on his dad's old friends for all his information.
An earthquake measuring 4.2 degrees on the open-ended Richter scale jolted the city of Shahreza in the central province of Isfahan Thursday night. The seismological base of the geophysics institute, affiliated to Tehran University, said the tremor occurred at 23:05 hour local time. There was no report of any damage to property caused by the quake.
"Mene mene tekel upharsin..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:04 ||
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No Damage? Sounds like a cover-up to me. Even the smallest earthquake will cause damage.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/07/2004 8:24 Comments ||
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Sounds like Allah's still pissed with Iran.
What, you think Allah shakes the ground because he likes them?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/07/2004 10:20 Comments ||
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Iran's main reformist party announced Thursday that it would go ahead with a boycott of key polls in two weeks, charging that a review ordered by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had resulted in the reinstatement of just 51 of some 2,500 candidates blacklisted. The Guardians Council â the conservative-dominated vetting body which ordered the original blacklist â insisted its review was still under way and more candidates might yet be reinstated. But reformist MPs, who have already seen much of their legislative programme vetoed by the Guardians, made clear their patience was at an end. Some 130 deputies, who have been holding a sit-in at parliament since Jan. 11, announced they would now make good their threat to resign their seats and were consequently abandoning their original protest. "It's the worst possible outcome," said Islamic Iran Participation Front leader Mohammad Reza Khatami, brother of pro-reform President Mohammad Khatami, as he announced his party's decision to boycott the Feb. 20 parliamentary elections.
No idea how this crisis is going to play out... Though I do have my hopes.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:04 ||
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Bizzaro, thats where. But Iran is in play. A tuff nut. One of the toughest as, I think, most thinkers believe Iran is a hinge pin. A bigger problem than Afganistan, Iraq and yes even SA. Prolly!
#2
NLL - Hmmm. Are you trolling? Iran could be the easiest of the lot (Afghanistan, Iraq, SA, Pakiwakiland, NorK, Indo, Malay, Sudan, etc) by far.
Look at the demographics. Look at the fact that they have a "reform" movement. Look at the fact that Khatami was elected by a landslide. Look at the fact that his reformist parliamentarians have the stones to call the Black Hats' bluff and resign. There's more, but those demonstrate the key point:
The Mad Mullahs and their Gov Council and Rev Guard are isolated from and despised by the Persian people.
When the people are obviously already seeking a change from the corrupt and vile Black Hats, well hell, tipping them over so that the progressive majority in Iran can take control could be as simple as cutting off the snake's head -- not requiring a major invasion or reeducation of tribal barking moonbats and woman-hating Wahhabists. And, given what has been said on numerous Iranian blog sites, in numerous documentaries, and in numerous interviews, I sorta doubt that the average Persian gives a rat's ass about the Mad Mullahs' feverish nuke program... not to mention having their molecules merged with silica in a shiny sheet of glass approx 4-5 minutes after they launch the first nuke at Israel.
So I think you're sorta missing some key data regards Iran. I would suggest that the opposite of your take is true, in fact. It is ripe.
#4
A tuff nut. One of the toughest as, I think, most thinkers believe Iran is a hinge pin.
Of course it's Mr. Guy... jeez .com... no one can do a candence like that except for L.Guy. But I've been wrong before and I'm easily lead. ;)
The United States said on yesterday that it may soon allow US citizens to visit Libya using American passports and to spend money there, lifting some of the many US economic sanctions on Tripoli to reflect its decision to give up weapons of mass destruction. A statement issued by the US embassy in London said Libya and the US discussed the possibility of establishing a small diplomatic presence in each otherâs capitals. US, Libyan and British officials met in London to take stock of Libyaâs December 19 announcement that it had decided to give up weapons of mass destruction.
Progressing nicely...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:03 ||
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Will we be able to meet Gadaffi's bodyguards, then, hmmmmmm? Maybe get some autographed pics?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/07/2004 13:58 Comments ||
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#2
Or maybe a one-on-one workout? Hrowf! Hrowf!
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2004 14:47 Comments ||
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is reportedly scheduled to visit Washington late March during which time, in the words of an Egyptian parliamentarian, the seemingly tense relationship will be âthoroughly reviewed within the framework of a comprehensive program for strategic cooperationâ that is scheduled to be unveiled at the time. Deputy Mamdouh Abdel Razek, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Egyptian Peoples Assembly, revealed the upcoming plans before a packed audience in a House of Representatives conference room on Monday. âThis type of continuing consultations on issues of strategy and basic policies,â he said, âwould put US-Egyptian partnership at the level that befits what is often described as a special relationship.â He said that this was the âbest way to galvanize a relationship (and) save it (from) the ups and downs of surprises and misunderstandings, particularly now, in the wake of the war in Iraq and the difficulties facing the âroad mapâ for realizing peace between the Palestinians and Israelis.â This was the only reference made during the two-hour panel discussion to the US-led occupation of Iraq, which Egypt opposed, and to the steps advocated by the US and European powers for achieving a step-by-step settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Abdel Razek was one of a three-man Egyptian delegation who took part in the briefing sponsored by the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think-tank, and held at Rayburn House office building which allowed several Congressional aides, among others, to attend. The other speakers were Seifallah Fahmy, a member of the political committee of the majority National Democratic Party and one of the founders of Egyptâs International Economic Forum, and Mohammed Maged, an Egyptian banker. The panel discussion focused on political and economic reform in Egypt and, as the announcement read, âhow can US policy positively affect change in Egypt?â
My guess is "minimally." What's yours?
The Egyptians underlined that reform has to come from within. âIt cannot be dictated to us from elsewhere,â said Fahmy. âWe can receive advice. We should receive advice from friends, but we are very sensitive as people. We are Egyptians, we have pride.â
"We're wallowing in pride. We got pride oozing from every pore. Now, if we just had a pot to piss in..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:03 ||
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Short and sweet - "Sit on your nutters and keep the wacky wahabbis from spouting off in the mosques, or kiss that 2 bil a year goodbye. Your choice."
#3
Someone remind me, please: Why does the USA give $2B a year to Egypt? What's the underlying rationale for that boondoggle? Did Carter promise the money to Egypt at Camp David in the late 1970's? In exchange for what? An Egpytian promise not to commit suicide by attacking Israel?
Posted by: Mark ||
02/07/2004 9:07 Comments ||
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#3 The $2B is to ensure a demilitarized Sinai Peninsula. And it has worked. It is generally less known that Israel has received matching funds for the same reason.
#7
The $2B is a bribe, pure and simple, to keep them off of Israel's back. Heck, you could buy me off for 2 big ones a year. And, of course, the Israelis receive matching funds for their graceful permission in allowing the U.S. to bribe the Egyptians.
Libya paid $50 million to purchase nuclear blueprints from dealers who were part of the AQ Khan network, a report in the New York Times said on Friday. âThose blueprints, along with the capability to make enriched uranium, could have given the Libyans all the elements they needed to make a nuclear bomb. What the Libyans purchased, in the words of an American weapons expert who has reviewed the programme in detail, was both the kitchen equipment âand the recipes,ââ according to the report. The designs flown out of Libya and now in US possession closely resemble the warheads that China tested in the late 1960s and passed on to Pakistan decades ago. There is no evidence that the Libyans actually produced the warheads, much less sufficient nuclear fuel. According to American and European investigators, the network that supplied Libya was enormously complex, and not all the paths led directly back to the Khan Research Laboratories. Centrifuge parts were made in Malaysia, and other parts were obtained in Germany and Japan. The Japanese last year seized critical equipment headed for North Korea, though they never announced it. But both the centrifuge designs and the bomb designs seized in Libya appear to have come from the same country, according to the experts who have reviewed them.
If this stuff wasn't so scary, it'd be hilarious. We've got Fu Manchu in a turban, played by Binny, the Council of Boskone, played by the Soddy power elite, and now we've got a gen-yew-ine mad scientist.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
02/07/2004 00:03 ||
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Fred - do you ever get the feeling that we've slipped back into the days of the old Republic serials?
I keep expecting to see a badly made cigar shaped spacecraft to go flying by on a wire as it makes its way to the Middle East with a cargo of vaguely sinester thugs wearing comic-opera uniforms and baroque helmets...
Posted by: Ed Becerra ||
02/07/2004 1:42 Comments ||
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An awful lot of bad things going on while the top guy played with Monica.
Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
Posted by: john ||
02/07/2004 7:38 Comments ||
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#4
that's diddled, not fiddled
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2004 11:52 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
