FOR more than a year now Saudi Arabia, the kingdom that sits atop a quarter of the worldâs oil reserves, has been hit by a wave of terrorism that shows no signs of abating.
Until a month ago, it was nothing but "operations against deviants." Now Saudi officials use terms like "conflict" and "war." And after a suicide-bomb attack destroyed the security forces buildings in Riyadh earlier this month, Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz said, "We are waging war against evil-doers."
"War" is no exaggeration. According to Saudi sources, kingdom forces have clashed with terrorists at least 80 times since last November. Some seem to have been fairly large-scale battles. Casualties on both sides run into the hundreds. The security forces have captured more than 1,000 alleged terrorists and uncovered terrorist arms caches that could supply fairly large military units.
Government losses are not reported. But a recent meeting between Prince Nayef and families of the "heroes lost in the war against deviants" attracted a large turnout.
Worse is the fear that the terrorists have instilled in the average Saudi.
Last Wednesday, a rumor, spread by Arab satellite TV channels, notably Al Jazeera, warned the people of Riyadh not to venture out of their homes because of "imminent explosions." The streets emptied in a flash, turning the usually bustling city into a ghost town. Prince Salman bin Abdul-Aziz, the governor of Riyadh, had to appear on television to reassure citizens they would be safe.
These may be early days in a long struggle. It is foolish to compare the threat, as did one Saudi editorialist, to a "patch of cloud in a serene sky."
Over the past half a century, the kingdom has faced a variety of challenges - from advocates of pan-Arabism, from proto-Communists, from Iranâs Ayatollah Khomeini. In every case, the Saudis were able to contain the threat by a mixture of firmness and compromise. They bought off some enemies with fat checks. In other cases, they made political pirouettes to get out of a tight corner.
Some Saudi policymakers believe the latest threat could also be handled via traditional means. They are wrong.
Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, the deputy interior minister and the man in overall command of the campaign against terror, insists that the new threat, from al Qaeda-style groups, is in an altogether different category.
He is right.
It is enough to watch one of the blood-curdling diatribes of these terror masters, often broadcast by Al Jazeera, to know that this is one monster that cannot be restrained, let alone tamed, by traditional methods. These groups have said they seek nothing but total victory for their diseased ideology. And there is every reason to believe that they mean it.
The first thing to do is to understand that these al Qaeda-style terror groups do not exist in isolation. They are products of an entire society and must be studied in a broader context.
Think of a nesting set of Russian "matrushka" dolls.
The biggest doll represents Saudi society, which has become obsessed with religion in the past few decades.
Before oil, the Saudis lived in tents and certainly had no money to build houses with two entrances, one for men, the other for women. The oil bonanza has allowed most of them to build their homes on the basis of architectural apartheid.
In the pre-oil days, Saudi women had to work to help ward off collective starvation. Now they are given an expensive education but kept locked up at home.
In 1960, there were no more than eight mosques in Riyadh; today, almost 3,000. (Some put it closer to 20,000!)
In 1960, the kingdom didnât have the money for a single state-sponsored school of theology. Today, there are hundreds, producing tens of thousands of Islam "experts" each year.
The second doll, nested within the bigger one, represents the numerous institutions, always well-funded by oil money, that the kingdom has set up to make sure that citizens behave in as Islamic a way (whatever that means) as possible.
The third doll represents the many hundreds of charities, big and small, that have collected billions of dollars for Islamic causes that no one quite understands and/or controls.
The fourth doll represents the army of preachers, teachers, muezzins, muftis, mutawaa (enforcers) and "discerners of good and evil" who outnumber those who work in the vital oil industry.
The fifth doll represents the many thousands of Saudis - recruited, trained and financed by the state - dispatched to Afghanistan to wage jihad.
Finally, we have the smallest and deadliest doll: the terrorists and suicide-bombers who regard virtually all other Saudis as impious, if not downright heathen, and, thus, facing the choice between "reversion to Islam" and death.
They are the ultimate products of a society in which religion, rather than being regarded as part of life, has become an obsession that engulfs the entire nationâs existence.
From the moment they wake up until the moment they sleep, Saudis are bombarded with religion, with not a single day of respite. Every evening they watch television that sings the praises of martyrdom, which means killing some Israelis, Americans or, more recently, Iraqis in suicide attacks.
Saudi state TV now devotes long programs to the effects of terror attacks on the kingdom itself. It gives officials unrestricted air time to lament the attacks and to condemn "the evil doers."
But all such programs are immediately followed by others in which fire-eating preachers talk about "our Palestine," "the beauty of martyrdom" and the ugly soul of the Western powers. The 9/11 attacks and the suicide-murder of Israelis sitting in cafes or riding buses to work are presented with a mixture of admiration and awe. The criminals who are killing Iraqis in the name of Islam are presented as "fighters against occupation."
Today, the Saudis are paying the price of not wanting to understand that simple truth. The same "evil-doers" who cut off the testicles of Soviet soldiers, many of them Muslims, in Afghanistan in the 1980s are now killing Saudi workers and Iraqi schoolchildren.
Until they understand this, the Saudis will be unable to play their part in the war against terrorism, let alone protect themselves against the self-appointed enforcers of Allahâs will on earth.
Posted by: tipper ||
04/28/2004 11:28:08 AM ||
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Saudi Arabiaâs security forces are besieging al-Qaeda terrorists in a mountainous area in Al-Ammariya, about 35 km northeast of the capital Riyadh. They were tipped off about the location by a kidnapped Indian who had escaped from the terrorists.
Surprisingly, however, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is in the dark about both the Indian and the incident. MEA director Venu Rajamony said he was unaware of the event.
Navtej Sarna, MEA spokesperson, said the ministry was not informed of the developments. Officials in the Indian embassy in Riyadh too had been kept in the dark about the developments.
Head of Chancery Sanjay Rana from Riyadh said the embassy officials would find out more.
However, according to sources, there was no reported information about any kidnapping of any Indian in Riyadh.
The terrorists have been hunted since they fled Wadi Hanifa two weeks ago, abandoning their truck. Arab News reports that the terrorists were located in the area when heat sensors and night vision binoculars revealed that one of the five had been injured and that the other four were carrying him.
According to Al-Riyadh newspaper, an Indian who was kidnapped by the terrorists and forced to help them, tipped off the security officers about the present location of the militants.
The Indian gave his captors the slip after being held for a week and informed local officers at a police checkpoint in the area.
The newspaper also reported that the militants had run out of food and were in danger of starvation if they did not give themselves up.
The rugged nature of the area makes it not easily accessible by car or jeep. There are also many caves and other possible hiding places in the area. The suspects are said to be armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 12:50:47 AM ||
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An audiotape, attributed to senior al-Qaeda member Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, has warned that Americans will be targeted âeverywhereâ and âmore severelyâ this year.
"Muslims should stay away from American civilian and military places and gatherings," said the voice on the tape carried by Islamist websites, including www.al-ansar.biz. "We warn Americans against maintaining their presence in the Arabian Peninsula, and establishing bases, pursuing their occupation of Muslim countries, supporting the Jews in Palestine and the apostate and dictatorial governments in Islamic countries," added the voice purported to be that of Abu Hajer Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, who has taken over as al-Qaedaâs chief of operations for the Gulf, replacing Khaled Ali bin Ali Haj, a Yemeni, who was shot dead by Saudi police in Riyadh in March.
"We continue to attack Americans everywhere in the world until they stop their aggression and withdraw their soldiers from Muslim territories," the voice threatened. "The Jews, Americans and the Crusaders in general remain the target of our next operations, which this year will be more severe," added the voice, however, the authenticity of the tape could not be verified.
The tape also denied that the group âMujahedeen in the Arabian Peninsulaâ was responsible for car bomb attack on Saudi capital last Wednesday. The attack had been claimed earlier by an al-Qaeda linked group, which calls itself âThe Brigade of the Two Holy Mosques in the Arabian Peninsula.'
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 12:45:40 AM ||
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Two Miami radio journalists were fined $5,463 dollars for broadcasting a phone conversation that fooled Cuban President Fidel Castro into believing he was talking with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Joe Ferrero and Enrique Santos, of Spanish-language radio station "El Zol" called the fine absurd and promised to pay a whopping bag of pennies to the Federal Communications Commission in Washington.
The FCC cited a requirement that persons be informed if their telephone conversations are to be broadcast.
In June, the pair, who host a humour show, managed to fake Chavezâs voice and were put through to Castro, who maintained a conversation with the phone-y Chavez, a political ally, for 25 minutes, before the Miami-based radio host doing the voice said, "So -- you agree that your island is in deep shit?
"You fell for it!" he shouted.
"What did I fall for you shit-eater ... you faggot!" an irate Castro shot back, in addition to some choice insults making reference to the mother of the caller.
In January 2003, the radio station pulled the same trick on Chavez, who was phoned and connected to someone he thought was Castro. He chatted away for 20 minutes before the joke was up.
Miami is home to almost a million Cuban-Americans, mostly anti-Castro, and to tens of thousands of Venezuelans, mostly critics of the leftist-populist Chavez.
Posted by: tipper ||
04/28/2004 11:38:27 AM ||
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#1
These guys should get Medals of Freedom, not fines.
#3
It's not nice to fool Mother Nature Papa Fidel!
$5463? How come such an odd number?
They aren't going to end up paying that themselves. Probably the Cuban community will put up that money (a collective pittance) just for the entertainment value of having Fidel get duped!
The Islamic terror organization al-Qaida could be training several Honduran citizens who have converted to Islam to recruit them into their militia, Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez said Tuesday.
At a press conference in the capital Tegucigalpa, Alvarez said several Honduran citizens who study at local mosques received scholarships to travel to Middle East countries to study Islam, but they might be trained to join the terror group.
"We are investigating because we do not want these people to later return brainwashed and carry out terror acts in our country," he added.
The minister said the probes were jointly conducted by the Honduran Security Ministry and the General Attorney's Office Against Organized Crime.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 8:41:10 AM ||
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#1
received scholarships to travel to Middle East countries
Now where could they have gotten the scholarships from? Not Soddy, mebbe? Turn off the cash, turn off the flow of Islamonuts.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- President Alvaro Uribe threatened paramilitary forces with annihilation on Tuesday unless they abide by a cease-fire and stop trafficking in drugs. Claiming that some of the groups want to kill him, Uribe also backed U.S. extradition efforts against paramilitary leaders charged with drug trafficking. "The peace process with the illegal self-defense groups cannot advance amid cease-fire violations, vendettas, drug trafficking, or confrontations between criminal groups," Uribe said.
Can we give Uribe a command in Najaf?
Uribe's comments came as power within the right-wing paramilitary groups appeared to be shifting to members involved in drug trafficking. Paramilitary co-founder Carlos Castano also disappeared on April 16 during an alleged attack by rival drug-trafficking militia leaders. The events have thrown the government's nascent peace process with the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, into doubt, Uribe said in a statement released by his office.
Paramilitary leaders facing such drug-trafficking charges in the United States have also said they see no point in completing a peace process only to wind up in a U.S. prison. "Extradition is not a subject for negotiation," Uribe said. "Those who want to avoid it should demonstrate to the international community their good faith and willingness to redeem themselves."
He said paramilitary groups must concentrate their forces, believed to number from 12,000 to 18,000 fighters, in specified zones monitored by the Organization of American States. "They must move forward on demobilization," he said. "Otherwise the government will keep combating them until they are annihilated."
Send this guy after Sadr!
Almost halfway through his four-year term, Uribe has cracked down on Colombia's two leftist rebel groups. But critics say he has been less tough on the paramilitary forces, which waged a dirty war against the rebel groups for two decades.
Sounds like he's fixing that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2004 12:29:09 AM ||
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If he whacks the rightest paramilitaries, will the left-handers stop whining about us trying South American forces.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 13:51 Comments ||
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IT sounds like something out of a science fiction movie â an invisible "forcefield" protecting landmarks and high-security installations from terrorist attack. But itâs a reality and the early warning weapon in the hi-tech war against terrorism has been developed in our own backyard.
A Sydney firm has invented an invisible "bubble" that can be thrown around buildings, ports, airports and even parts of the sea using thermal imaging technology. Castle Hill-based Zone Products Australiaâs system can detect a tank at 15km in pitch black conditions and can alert the presence of chemicals, gases, radioactive and other materials in a protected area. It is capable of providing an intrusion protection shield from the seabed to low-level airspace â a world first.
It can detect not only human body heat but a range of chemical weaponry, so-called "dirty bombs" containing uranium, as well as common types of explosives. People, aircraft, cars, divers, dinghies as well as a range of deadly devices can be picked up and, if in place, the system could have prevented the Madrid bombings. The spatial multi-sensing protection system has been designed specifically to monitor and protect military installations, infrastructure, landmarks and commercial operations.
The "Thermal Bubble" can be used invisibly at checkpoints, perimeters or to encompass entire installations with a series of long-range heat-sensitive cameras. In the case of terrorist attacks on rail systems, underground tunnels and underwater port foundations, the Thermal Bubble deployed at entry points can provide early warning, enabling authorities to take preventative measures. Zone Products Australia managing director Bill Nolan said the system could detect body heat through snow, rain, sleet, dust or blizzards.
"We started working on it after September 11," he said. "Our sole intent was to provide early warning of attacks to enable targets to be evacuated or defended. We have completed testing on real targets and believe that our technology has achieved its aim at a world-class level."
Although for "security reasons" Mr Nolan canât reveal which companies have bought it, itâs understood at least one sensitive installation in Australia has installed the system.
The Pentagon, a client of Zone, has also expressed an interest. Zone is a finalist in the Innovation and Information Technology categories of the Western Sydney Industry Awards, with the winners to be announced on Friday.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 2:23:29 AM ||
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#1
Its an infrared thermal imaging system. The 'forcefield' is journalistic license.
#2
Predator technology finally makes the mainstream.
Posted by: Baltic Blog ||
04/28/2004 3:20 Comments ||
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Phil-
You're absolutely right, but let me point out Clarke's Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguisible from magic."
In Iraq, the locals thought that wraparound sunglasses were x-ray machines. They thought we had miniaturized air conditioners in our guys' uniforms. They believe that our satellites can see through roofs and bunkers.
Let the press call it a force field. Let the bad guys believe it. It's one more arrow in the quiver.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/28/2004 9:06 Comments ||
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Australian troops in Iraq had been belittled and insulted by Opposition Leader Mark Lathamâs description of their presence there as symbolic, Prime Minister John Howard said today. Mr Latham said yesterday the government had changed its position several times on why the troops were there and how long they would stay, leading to fears that their commitment was political. He said the commitment was being driven by political timelines and being stretched for political or symbolic reasons.
Mr Howard said the description was inaccurate and insulting. He said the incident during his visit to Iraq on Anzac Day when the Australian frigate HMAS Stuart went to the aid of American troops under attack from terrorists showed the Australian presence was not symbolic. "Anybody who says that is symbolic doesnât know what they are talking about," Mr Howard told ABC Radio in Brisbane.
"You try and tell the crew of the Stuart that it was symbolic - you try and tell the Americans who were fished out of the water by that crew, by the rescuers from the Stuart that it was a purely symbolic act. "I think that is not only insulting, it is also ignorant."
Mr Howard said Australians were contributing very significantly to what was a very important exercise in Iraq. "The idea that we should pull out at the present time ... that would be sending a terrible signal not only to the people of Iraq but also to our allies.
Which is exactly the point Labor wants to make, just like Zappie did in Spain.
"It would give great comfort to those trying to deny the Iraqi people a democratic future. It would give great comfort to terrorists around the world (and) it would do great damage to the reliability and the reputation of Australia.
"But what is most reprehensible about what Mr Latham said is the apparent belittling of the role of our forces by saying their role is symbolic. That is insulting and itâs ignorant," Mr Howard said.
Posted by: TS (vice girl) ||
04/28/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Four words: Australian Special Air Service.
P*ss off, Mr. Latham.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
04/28/2004 2:01 Comments ||
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If the WOT was just about Bin Laden, you would think that Australia had less of a stake than they do with what currently is being accomplished. The kooks that struck in Bali will continue to be dangerous until all the Arabist financiers and proliferators are hung from the nearest tree.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 2:17 Comments ||
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EY, as I understand the SAS have been withdrawn from Iraq
An Italian court Wednesday acquitted nine Moroccans of plotting to attack the U.S. Embassy in Rome by poisoning its water supply. .... The nine were arrested in February 2002 on suspicions they were planning to spike the embassyâs water supply with a mildly poisonous chemical compound, which was found at the Rome apartment where four suspects lived. Maps indicating the U.S. Embassy were found outside the same apartment. ....
At the time of the arrests, authorities found nearly 10 pounds of potassium ferrocyanide - a chemical used in photography - on the stairwell of the apartment. In a locked cabinet containing a gas meter outside the apartment, they found photocopies of utility company maps on which the U.S. Embassy was marked with a "X," and more than 100 blank application forms for residency permits. Inside the apartment, police found maps indicating building sites in Rome and 10 boxes of firecrackers. Following the arrests, authorities found two holes - the biggest measuring 12 by 20 inches - in an underground tunnel adjacent to the embassy, raising suspicion the suspects intended to carry out an attack.
Defense lawyers insisted the holes resulted from ordinary wear and tear, and that even if the chemicals had been dissolved in the water supply, the quantity found by police would not have been sufficient to cause harm.
In a separate case, the court also acquitted a Pakistani, a Tunisian and an Algerian arrested in 2002 and accused of forming a terrorist cell based around a Rome mosque. The two cases were not connected but were joined to shorten court time. The three also were accused of association aimed at international terrorism, based on telephone taps in which police alleged hearing the suspects talking about weapons, including bombs and Kalashnikov rifles.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/28/2004 11:34:09 PM ||
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it's readily apparent to trained eyes whether the holes are due to moisture spalling rebar via rust or poor concrete or chiselling. This was either poor policework, political interference, or innocent "usual suspects". Damn.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 23:38 Comments ||
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#2
"the quantity found by police would not have been sufficient to cause harm"
Added to Frank's challenge this merely indicates they were stupid jihadis. Since when is that sufficient grounds for an acquittal in Italy? Most criminals are stupid. Most jihadis are well below that - they are willing cannon fodder, after all. Stinks.
MADRID, Spain â Spanish officials made a direct link between the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the United States and the March 11 attack on trains in Madrid by indicting a Moroccan fugitive believed to have participated in both terror cases. Thereâs a connection? Iâm shocked, shocked, I tell you! (Not)
Judge Baltasar Garzon said Amer Azizi helped organize a meeting in northeast Spain in July 2001 that key plotters in the U.S. attacks, including suspect suicide pilot Mohamed Atta, used to finalize details.
Azizi was initially included in an indictment Garzon handed down in September against Usama bin Laden and 34 other terror suspects. Azizi was charged then with belonging to a terrorist organization.
The new indictment charges Azizi with actually helping plan the Sept. 11 attacks. Garzon accused Azizi of multiple counts of murder â "as many deaths and injuries as were committed" on Sept. 11. You mean it wasnât the Jooooos and Bushitler?
The indictment was based on information provided by authorities in Britain, Turkey and the United States, Garzon said.
Well, that explains it. The U.S. and Brits obviously lied - everyone knows the CIA and Mossad were responsible for 9/11, and maybe 3/11 too. Islam is a religion of peace, after all.
[rabid moonbat LLL mode OFF]
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut bskolaut@hotmail.com ||
04/28/2004 3:49:56 PM ||
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Hat tip LGF
PARIS, April 28 (AFP) - The French government said Wednesday it would allow an Islamic imam it deported last week back into the country, but warned he faced legal action after making comments endorsing wife-beating. "Il faut battre les femmes car elles sont inferieuses! Aïe! Mes jambes sont plus courts que normal!"
The decision to permit the return of Abdelkader Bouziane, a 52-year-old Algerian who preached at a mosque in the western city of Lyon, followed a ruling by an administrative tribunal that the deportation was illegal.
Government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said France would not oppose Bouzianeâs return, but added the imam "will have to answer to French justice for his acts and statements" if he does come back from Algeria, where he was sent to a week ago.
Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin said Tuesday that intelligence surveillance of Bouziane, who had lived in France for 24 years, showed he "belonged to a movement whose extremist elements justified terrorism."
He said comments Bouziane made to the April issue of Lyon Mag, a local magazine, in which he endorsed wife-beating and declared he was polygamous confirmed the governmentâs decision to go ahead with a February deportation order based on the concern that the imam was a threat to public order.
Bouziane, who adheres to a version of Islam preaching a literal interpretation of the Koran, has already applied for a visa in Algiers, where he was held by Algerian police after arriving, the newspaper Le Parisien reported.
The case has proved an embarrassment to the government, which has deported several other imams in the past months but mainly because they urged a jihad, or holy war, against the West.
An administrative tribunal that reviewed the case after Bouzianeâs forced departure ruled that the government had acted illegally by not formally charging the imam with any crime and not giving him an opportunity to defend himself.
A second review upheld that verdict, despite the interior ministry supplying newly unclassified intelligence reports purporting to depict Bouziane as a dangerous radical.
De Villepin on Tuesday said he wanted French law toughened to give his ministry more powers to detain suspected extremists because of Europeâs changed security environment after the May 11 train bombings in Madrid.
Those attacks, which killed 191 people, have been attributed to Islamic radicals, many of them Moroccans.
The sudden reversal of the French governmentâs determination to keep Bouziane out of the country apparently obviates a legal appeal the interior ministry had been preparing.
If the appeal had also gone against the government, it may have tied the ministryâs hands when it came to deporting other imams in France.
The country counts around five million Muslims in its population of 60 million -- the biggest Muslim community in Europe.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
04/28/2004 12:06:31 PM ||
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Tony Blair admitted yesterday the Government had got it WRONG over immigration. The Prime Minister acknowledged for the first time it had been a mistake to brush off warnings that the system is being abused. His spectacular U-turn also included a pledge for a âtop to bottomâ crackdown on scroungers from abroad. Mr Blair even admitted he should not have branded critics racist for objecting to Labourâs seven years of immigration policy failure.
He said the issue had reached âcrunch pointâ â days before millions of East Europeans become eligible to live here. The PM told a CBI conference on migration: âWe will neither be fortress Britain, nor will we be an open house. âWhere necessary, we will tighten the immigration system. Where there are abuses, we will deal with them, so that public support for the controlled migration that benefits Britain is maintained. ... We cannot simply dismiss any concern about immigration as racism. In part, what has put immigration back up the agenda â with public concern at its highest since the 1970s â is that there are real, not imagined, abuses of the system that lead to a sense of unfairness.â
The PM even referred to cases such as hate-filled Muslim cleric Abu Hamza. He said: âThere are high profile examples of the absurd, like radical clerics coming here to preach religious hate, people staying here to peddle support for terrorism. ... The combination of all these things ... led to a crunch point. That is where we are now. These are real concerns. They are not figments of racist imagination. The vast bulk of the British people are not racist. It is in their nature to be moderate. But they expect government to respond to their worries. They can accept migration that is controlled and selective. They accept and welcome migrants who play by the rules. But they will not accept abuse or absurdity. Why should they?
"That is why we have begun a top-to-bottom analysis of the immigration system â how it operates, how it can be improved, how it can agree migration where it is in our countryâs interests and prevent it where it isnât. One thing already is clear â the overwhelming majority migrate in and often out of Britain fairly but there are areas of abuse and we can and should deal with them."
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/28/2004 9:23:10 AM ||
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(the former Anonymous4052)
We cannot simply dismiss any concern about immigration as racism.
Hmmm- Looks like Mr. Blair is getting more and more wisdom every day.
I really like our president, but I wish he'd get some of the same clarity. Although he doesn't use the term racism, he does seem to be pandering to the Hispanic vote in the Southwest. Yet many Hispanics are bothered by the illegal immigration problem here. (I am in California)
All us "Anglos" aren't so concerned about the people from Mexico, and Central America as we are about people using the Southern border for netharious purposes.
Anecdotal reports about abandoned Islamic prayer books, in Arabic, and prayer rugs found in isolated locations on ranches in Southern Arizona gives one the creeps. One wonders what these folks brought in besides the rugs and books that they didn't abandon.
#2
from San Diego, BigEd, I'd say we Anglos have real concerns on illegal immigration. The illegal population is a real drain on tax dollars and hospital emergency rooms, and they never contribute enough in sales taxes/payroll taxes to make up teh diff. Close the border to illegals!
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 11:31 Comments ||
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Frank G- I'm in the LA Area, 100 mi north of you, and we have the same problem. For example : there are constant problems with the funding of the university hospitals (USC, UCLA) because of the high %age of illegals who are admitted.
But as bad as that is, as I said above, an impoverished Latino will not be toteing a canister of Ricin to the LA City Hall!
#8
I'm in San Diego as well, and I don't think anyone really looks at the other side of the illegal immigration issue.
Basically the migrant workers and illegals act as a safety valve for Mexico, allowing them to avoid political change for decades. Mexico, with a hard working population, tons of mineral wealth, and a border with the US could easily have clawed their way up to the first world if they'd had decent governmet. The safety valve prevented that from happening.
Bleeding heart pro-illegal immigration types have doomed millions and millions of Mexican citizens to poverty over the decades because of their misplaced priorites.
Turkey is vigorously fighting terrorism but âit is unable to prevent some Turkish citizens from participating in band formations in Chechnya," Turkish ambassador to Russia, Kurtulus Taskent, told Tass on Wednesday.
âRussia and Turkey have signed a number of agreements on jointly fighting terrorism. There exist mechanisms for their implementation and they do workâ, Taskent said. However, he said, âThere are not enough police to watch over everyone." âIt may occur that some persons took part in the criminal activities in Chechnya and were killed,â the ambassador said.
According to the official information of the Russian power-wielding agencies, two militants, Turkish citizens, were liquidated during special operations of federal forces in Chechnya. In this connection Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov told the French âLe Figaroâ on March 6: âFederals have liquidated dozens of foreign terrorists, among them those from NATO countries, mostly from Turkey.â
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 8:46:08 AM ||
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#1
Don't be surprised if the Russians start funding a few Kurdish groups inside Turkey, on the sly.
The Turks are going to have to wake up and do something.
#2
Moslem governments always seem to take the path of least resistance with their crazys. First they redirect the anger elsewhere (routinely to Israel and the US) In the end it's safer to let them go abroad than keep them at home.
Posted by: Dave ||
04/28/2004 9:02 Comments ||
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#3
C'mon, we know there aren't any violent Islamists in Turkey. They're secular.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 9:40 Comments ||
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#4
the turkish state is secular, and the majority of the Turkish citizens support the secular state. There is a minority of Islamist extremists - not sure why this is a contradiction.
#5
It is more a nationality question than Islamism what is getting some Turkish nationals to Chechnya, Turkey has some 4mln citizens of Caucasian descent from which possibly up to 1 mln are from Chechnya. There are always some idealists who join the struggle in Chechnya against the Russians because they still regard themselves Chechen.
Posted by: Murat ||
04/28/2004 10:20 Comments ||
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#6
It is more a nationality question than Islamism
Yeah. Sure. You keep telling yourself that.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 12:00 Comments ||
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#7
There are always some idealists who join the struggle in Chechnya against the Russians because they still regard themselves Chechen.
Then let them go, and hope that they never come back. Those types are the ones that you can do without.
US antiterrorism experts have voiced an alarm that due to the relative poverty of the local people terrorist and mafia groups meet little resistance along their channels for drug, arms and human trafficking.
The Al-Qaeda affiliates is actively searching for new routes eyeing the Balkans as a perfect location for settling their terrorist cells, experts said.
Lax institutional control and corruption practices offer additional tints of attraction to terror groups' interest in the Balkans.
Antiterrorist experts have warned also about the spotted increased terrorist recruitment activity in the region.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 8:36:21 AM ||
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#1
Crush the barbarian assassins!
Posted by: Hammer of the Moors ||
04/28/2004 12:57 Comments ||
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A few weeks ago, the U.S. Army announced that 17 soldiers in Iraq had been removed from duty, and six of them were facing court martial for mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the infamous prison where Saddam Hussein and his henchmen tortured and executed Iraqis for decades.
60 Minutes II has obtained photographs of what was happening in Abu Ghraib. The photos show American soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners.
Note that the accused are already facing charges; the only "news" here is that CBS got hold of pictures. Anyone want to place bets on the tone of the report? Iâm betting they treat it like a second My Lai.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 4:05:13 PM ||
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This is a repeat of an earlier entry! What idiot submitted this?!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 22:08 Comments ||
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#2
LOL - could've been me - again
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 22:12 Comments ||
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#3
(It was me, of course.)
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 23:22 Comments ||
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#4
Maybe they will run the pictures in the same timeslotwith Nightline's tribute to our fallen heros.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/29/2004 0:48 Comments ||
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Sharia Gains Foothold in Ontario
By DeNeen L. Brown
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, April 28, 2004; Page A14
TORONTO -- Suad Almad, her head wrapped in a blue silk scarf, was discussing her beliefs with a group of friends. She said fervently that she thought the lives of all Muslims should be governed by Islamic law, known as sharia....
Some Muslim leaders in Canada said that there should be no controversy about the new arbitration process, but some opponents expressed concern that people might feel coerced into accepting sharia-based arbitration...
Alia Hogben, a board member of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, said she opposes the religious tribunals. "It is difficult to speak up because we donât want to feed into anti-Muslim, anti-Islamic stuff ..."If I am a woman of faith, and the community of people who see themselves as leaders say that if I do not follow the sharia court here, the Islamic Institute, then I will be tantamount to blasphemy and apostasy," Hogben said in a debate shown on Canadian television. "And you know that in some countries, apostasy means death sentence." ... how could she get this idea
Ali [President of the Society of Canadian Muslims] said the creation of the Islamic Court of Civil Justice would allow this "without violating any Canadian Law." Ali told the Canadian Law Times that sharia tribunals were important for practicing Muslims in Canada. He said that Muslims would no longer have an excuse not to follow sharia because it would no longer be impractical in Canada.
"The concession given by sharia is no longer available to us because the impracticality has been removed," Ali said. He has written that Muslims who choose not to be governed by sharia "for reasons of convenience would be guilty of a far greater crime." Ali said in a telephone interview
- No intimidation there --- Canadian Moslems will all become victims of Islam
Posted by: mhw ||
04/28/2004 6:57:37 AM ||
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said the creation of the Islamic Court of Civil Justice would allow this "without violating any Canadian Law."
ahh..yes...killing of infidels, honor killings, beatings, stonings and supression of women will not violate any Canadian laws.
The liberals have found themselves in a bit of a box, haven't they. heh heh
#3
IIUC someone who writes a private contract in the US can designate that disputes under that contract are resolved by a private arbitrator, rather than the courts. The usual choice is the American Arbitration Society, IIUC. This saves time and expense associated with the government run courts.
But one CAN choose a religious organization. And IIUC religious Jews, for example, can and do choose religious courts, and BY THE CONTRACT make decisions under Jewish religious law. I dont see why muslims cant do the same with Sharia.
Of course if someone is subjected to threats of violence to use this, thats blatantly illegal. But social pressure??? Social pressure to do something you dont wont to is as "American as Apple Pie" If you think social pressure invalidates a contract, Im not sure you really beleive in freedom to contract.
And I dont see that this has anything to do with honor killings, etc.
#4
Not just Canadian Muslims, Shipman; watch for them to start involving infidels soon . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
04/28/2004 9:59 Comments ||
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#5
LH,arbitration is for civil matters only,my read on this is they want Sharia to superseed secular Canadian law.I wonder how long it will be before some poor women is sentence to stoning,or soeone setenced to death for apostay.
#7
Raptor, yes, and when you accept arbitration, the arbitrators decision supercedes civil courts. If I write, and ask my wife to sign, a prenuptial agreement stating that on divorce our assets should be divided in accordance with Jewish law, as interpreted by the local Orthodox Rabbinic court, would prenup be automatically void??? The way I read the above selection, all thats happened is that a set of courts has been created that someone COULD refer to in a private contract. Nothing in Canadian law has changed.
#9
I dunno. I think this has a chance of being a GOOD thing. Here's why:
Say you're are a muslim in Canada and you're happy as a clam (is that halal?). One day you get called before the tribunal. They come up with some godawful islamic ruling that sounds inane, archaic and downright stupid (hey, it's possible). So you shake your head and say the muslim equivalent of "F-you." You choose to be westernized. We call that "assimilation."
#10
How do you invoke a law like Sharia?
How do you keep the morons in your hand?
How do you invoke a law like Sharia?
Examine France and you will understand!
Organ Music.
Posted by: Able Weiss ||
04/28/2004 17:26 Comments ||
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From KesherTalk:
including the requirement that parties enter into arbitration only on a voluntary basis. Any decisions by arbitrators are subject to court ratification. Canadian officials said that no criminal matters would be considered by sharia arbitrators and no corporal punishment could be imposed. Crawley said that legal provisions in other provinces also permit such tribunals.
Jewish courts, using the same methods, have been operating in Ontario for years. Such a court, called a Beit Din, deals with monetary, business and family disputes, but no criminal matters. "Jewish courts have been operating in Toronto for as long as Jews have been here, hundreds of years," said Rabbi Reuven Tradburks, secretary of the Beit Din of Toronto. He said he had not heard of cases decided by arbitrators in Jewish courts that had been overturned.
"A court will not enforce a decision in violation of the Charter of Rights," Crawley said, referring to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, part of the nation's constitution. He also said there were limits to arbitrators' powers. They cannot, for example, rule on matters regarding third parties. "The rights of children cannot be arbitrated," he said.
#12
I like it as an augmentation of civil law (Jewish law model) but not to usurp the law. And only if both parties agree to this. I am not ready to submit to Muslim law but I bet most of the Achmeds and Mohammads running around donât realize how strict Sharia can be. The only gripes I have seen from westerners in Islamic courts is that they have little grey area. For instance if little Abdul think that because he had a bad parent that itâs ok to steal Sharia will not agree with that Liberal aspect. Also if Mohammad neglects to pay child support Sharia will not let him off the hook because he canât find a job. I donât think they should extend this to capital cases because Canada doesnât allow for the death penalty. Again I think this is ok for someone to choose, but not to force it upon someone.
#14
I don't understand how you can say that this is just a civil matter or that Muslim women won't be coherced into giving up rights. They barely have any status at all in their culture...this just makes it easy for the Muslim men to abuse them.
Note the last sentence: He has written that Muslims who choose not to be governed by sharia "for reasons of convenience would be guilty of a far greater crime
Shame, shame on the women's groups for looking the other way. From what I know of Sharia - women have no rights except what are given to them from men. This should simply be ruled illegal and abusive.
Posted by: B ||
04/28/2004 19:13 Comments ||
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#15
Examine France and you will understand!
I was about to say the same thing.
I wonder how they intend to square Sharia with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:
15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
...
28. Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/28/2004 20:13 Comments ||
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#16
Same way they "square" differences with all infidels, perhaps?
WASHINGTON -- Tossing a verbal egg at Dick Cheneyâs military record, Sen. Frank Lautenberg blasted the vice president Wednesday as the "lead chickenhawk," who squawks about John Kerryâs Vietnam War record despite never serving himself. I donât think Cheneyâs ever questioned his service, so the illegitimate Senator is also a doddering liar and a fool
"The chickenhawk has no idea what it means to have the courage to put your life at risk to defend this nation," Lautenberg said on the Senate floor. "But they are quick to disparage those who did sacrifice."
In his speech, Lautenberg, D-N.J., defined chickenhawk "as having the shriek of a hawk but the backbone of a chicken." "and you sir, have the face, ethics, nd brain of an ass, so there"
"We know who the chickenhawks are," he said. "They talk tough on national defense and military issues and cast aspersions on others, but when it was their turn to serve, they were AWOL from courage."
Kerry has said that President Bush and Cheney have no credibility in criticizing his military service and anti-war effort since Bush has faced questions about his National Guard attendance and Cheney had five student and marriage deferments of service during the war.
Kerry, a decorated Navy veteran who volunteered to serve in Vietnam, said he does not begrudge anyone who did not fight in the war.
Bush and Cheney have not personally commented on Kerryâs military service or anti-war efforts, but White House spokesman Scott McClellan has refused to condemn Bush adviser Karen Hughesâs comment that Kerry misled Americans by "pretending" to throw away his medals after returning from Vietnam.
Other Democrats on Wednesday defended Kerryâs military service. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said the president should explain what he was doing while in the National Guard.
"As far as we know, Senator Kerry got three purple hearts for risking his life in Vietnam and President Bush got a dental examination in Alabama," said Pelosi after attending a meeting with Kerry campaign chairwoman Jeanne Shaheen. smell the desperation?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 5:49:53 PM ||
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A wealthy matron once confronted Winston Churchill at a party. "You are drunk, sir!" she accused.
"Madame," replied the Prime Minister, "you are correct. And you are ugly. But in the morning, I shall be sober..."
#3
Seantor Frank disparages my good name, and as you know, Nancy Pelosi joins Barbara Boxer is bringing disrepute on our California. If Maxine Waters could get in this story it would be a trifecta of ignorant assholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 18:08 Comments ||
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#4
I am hearing the audio of this from pompous ass himself on Hewitt. This is very instructive. It is worse than the text. I think Lautenburg is even breathing heavily. But it just might be his age.
He ought to go back to doing more things like this :
Bragging about provided pork for a new interstate onramp. Expensive but harmless to national security.
#5
You'd think that this old fart would be ashamed of himself for being the Dims' last minute stand-in (and not very legally at that) for the Torch in NJ and would just keep quiet, but nooooooo....
Posted by: Jen ||
04/28/2004 18:47 Comments ||
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#6
As a Vietnam-era veteran, the father of a soldier currently serving in Iraq, and a native of Senator Lautenburg's esteemed state of New Jersey (Exit 9), I respectfully invite the honorable Senator to kiss my hairy white ass.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/28/2004 19:03 Comments ||
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#7
Jen : You say the Torch is a "fart"? look at the exit sign from the German autobahn! Very close. Look where he is standing! According to the translator on Google, the word ausfahrt means exit which is what Frankie the stand-in should do from the Seanate. It sounds as though senility is setting in.
#9
Just heard some of Lautenberg's "remarks" -- he actually calls Vietnam Vets insane: "[something about those who weren't wounded]... You could see it in their [mental or emotional?] makeup..."
Unbelievable!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 19:59 Comments ||
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#10
Odd... I can't seem to find a transcript of his bleatings anywhere. Just a video, and, honestly, I can't stand to listen to his blather long enough to find the quote.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 20:06 Comments ||
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#11
Yeah - He's either drunk or forgot the Paxil for his dementia. That kind of stuff is downright cruel.
#14
I always thought Chickenhawks killed and ate chickens. Does this make Kerry a chicken?
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/28/2004 20:10 Comments ||
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#15
The Iron Madam and Hubba Bubba are sittn' 'round the coffee table, in Chappequa, a-plottin and a-schemin.
The long knives of the DNC. Of course someone will have to be put up to the dirty work.
A phone call will be made. Bubba speaks. "Terry, I got you this job, buddy. You get rid of Kerry, and you stay for four more years. He stays, and I am powerless to protect you. He he he."
#17
.com - Don't forget - It is in Boston. If the DNC dumps Kerry. How would you feel if a hometown boy was booted out in favor of the Iron Madam or the Sunny Sue-master from North Carolina.
#18
Big Ed - *snicker* How much more entertaining that would be, heh, however much less likely!
The implosion seems to be gathering momentum - so many of his campaign points dissolving right before the public's eyes, from unchallenged war-hero BS to "I'll go to the UN" UNSCAM... just awesome - even to the undecided, I'll wager. Have you ever seen anyone who is as snake-bitten as this assclown?
Where was Dick Cheney when that war was going on that had 58,235 young men died and many more wounded and many with wounds that were never visible. But you could see it in their emotional structure and the psychology of a war that everyone thinks in retrospect was misguided.
It kinda blends in with some blather about the war being a mistake, but I can't see any way to interpret that but Lautenberg re-playing the "Vietnam Vets is Nuts" myth.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 21:03 Comments ||
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#20
well, we don't want a nut as President, do we....I guess I agree with Lautenburg on that. The Torricelli Option looms! Pass the popcorn?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 21:17 Comments ||
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#21
BigEd, from what I hear, the local Boston media hates Kerry with a passion. They might actually enjoy him being dumped right before the convention.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2004 22:05 Comments ||
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#22
From what I hear, anyone who knows Kerry dislikes him
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 22:11 Comments ||
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#23
On Rush's site he has a great segment where you can listen to the laut say this stuff. I heard bits and pieces of Rush today and had to check out the audio. Well worth it. Rush lays into these gusy with no mercy.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
04/28/2004 22:18 Comments ||
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#24
The remarks were originally going to be delivered by John Corzine, but Lautenberg was asked to step in at the last minute.
Posted by: Tibor ||
04/28/2004 22:38 Comments ||
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#25
the local Boston media hates Kerry with a passion.
From a Masshole / long-time Kerry watcher, that's affirmative.
Ted Koppel and ABC Newsâ âNightlineâ will pay tribute to the more than 500 American service men and women killed in action in Iraq by devoting the entire broadcast to reading the service membersâ names and showing their photographs. Entitled âThe Fallen,â the special âNightlineâ broadcast will air FRIDAY APRIL 30 (11:35 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network. ABC News will also simulcast this tribute live on its Jumbotron in New York Cityâs Times Square. ABC News Radio will air excerpts of the program.
Using photographs and information drawn from the Army Times Publishing Companyâs online âFaces of Valorâ database, Fridayâs âNightlineâ will dedicate the half-hour program to showing a photograph of each service man and woman in succession with their name, military branch, rank and age, while Mr. Koppel reads their names aloud. Since the broadcast is only 30 minutes long, Fridayâs broadcast is limited to showing just those âkilled in actionâ in Iraq, as certified by the U.S. Department of Defense.
âWhile âNightlineâ has been reporting on every fatality in Iraq and Afghanistan under the heading âLine of Duty,â we realized that the casualties were on their way to becoming just numbers,â said âNightlineâ executive producer Leroy Sievers. ââThe Fallenâ is our way of reminding our viewers -- whether they agree with the war or not -- that beyond the casualty numbers, these men and women are serving in Iraq in our names, and that those who have been killed have names and faces.â
âMemorial Day might have been the most logical occasion on which to do this program. But we felt that the impact would actually be greater on a day when the entire nation is not focused on its war dead,â said âNightlineâ anchor Ted Koppel.
The list is organized alphabetically by U.S. State and includes those whose names have been released by the Pentagon from March 19, 2003 through today, April 27, 2004. Names released between now and Friday April 30, will be added to the broadcast.
Done properly and with respect, I don't have a problem with this.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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"Done properly and with respect"...from NIGHTLINE?
Posted by: Stephen ||
04/28/2004 0:31 Comments ||
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#2
âThe Fallenâ is our way of reminding our viewers...
I didn't need reminding, Mr. Nightline executive. Perhaps you do, so go ahead. Asshat.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/28/2004 0:40 Comments ||
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#3
Yeah, brought to you by the same dickheads at Disney who bring you Farenheit 911. It's all about the synergy!
#4
Koppel and Co. have ZERO credibility in this regard. What about Afghanistan? Oh...guess those soldiers including Tillman don't rate. Koppel can kiss my ass.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/28/2004 1:37 Comments ||
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#5
Do it, do it right, and then don't just go right back to trying to demoralize the American public.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 2:00 Comments ||
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#6
If they wanted to do it right, they would have to spend more than 30 minutes. There's other motives behind this and it's disgusting.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/28/2004 2:24 Comments ||
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#7
Rafael--you're the asshat--these people died so you can sit on your LaZBoy and spout your Faux News crap
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
04/28/2004 3:17 Comments ||
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#8
I concur, as long as its done with respect, its fine.
My issue is when the left uses body counts and coffins the way the right uses aborted fetus pictures at planned parenthood protests.
The dead deserve respect and dignity. They are not a propaganda device.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
04/28/2004 3:40 Comments ||
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#9
For Koppel there is a fork in the road ahead, the street sign for one of his choices is marked Wellstone Memorial service.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 4:12 Comments ||
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#10
Yeah NMM, and don't you ever forget that!!! Those soldiers deserve more than 30 minutes, and not to be used for YOUR propaganda. Asshole.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/28/2004 4:24 Comments ||
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#11
Don't be fooled. This is a publicity stunt by ABC news to promote an anti-war agenda.
Posted by: Mark ||
04/28/2004 6:25 Comments ||
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#12
Read their names, but also show the pictures of 500 Iraqi children who have better lives today (or are alive today) because of what our servicemen and women have done.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/28/2004 8:30 Comments ||
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#13
hmmm...I'm torn. If this was about respect rather than propaganda, I'd think it was great. But we all know that it's not.
I suppose everyone can see it as they want to. Personally, I find it completely offensive, their poorly concealed glee over our dead countrymen. It's so sickening, eeech.
I'll try to get past it and be appreciative of the honor that most Americans will be affording the dead - and bite back my growing disgust of the shameless ghouls in the newsrooms.
#14
"...these people died so you can sit on your LaZBoy and spout your Faux News crap."
Actually, they also died for your freedom to sit on your LaZBoy, NMM and spout your BBCABCNBCNNMSNBC crap, too.
Those soldiers killed in action (God rest them.) died so that there might be "liberty and justice for all."
I don't think I'd die for NMM's right to spew his venomous bile, but that's me and I'm not as noble as our military.
As to the issue, I don't think that showing coffins is meaningful, but reading names is better and more personal.
However, given the fact the fact that ABC has never done this for any other conflict of the 20th or the 21st Century, I'd say that promoting an anti-war, anti-Bush agenda is probably right.
(If I'd lost a loved one in WWII or Korea or even Vietnam, I'd like to know that ABC would have a night, also, to read their name.)
So, it's obvious that they're singling out the WOT for this treatment to "shock" the audience into the "horror" of the Bush "blood for oil" war.
Remember, ABC didn't even afford this privilege of reading the names of the 9/11 victims except to air the 9/11 "anniversary" ceremonies where they did so at Ground Zero.
Posted by: Jen ||
04/28/2004 9:04 Comments ||
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#15
dream on Matt. I think it's more likely they will show the bodies of 500 dead Iraqi children (killed by Sadaam, but the announcer will word it to make it seem they were victims of the war) and then say something like, "this is the cost of occupation war.
Write them nice letters stating, without equivocating, we will be watching the program, and that their product sell is at risk if we detect ANY attempt to use this for political or ideaological means, or for an antiwar agenda in the broadcast.
The families who lost these brave folks and the families with their kids and relatives in harm's way deserve nothing less.
#18
Badanov-
Excellent idea! I'm checking this out as we speak...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/28/2004 9:58 Comments ||
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#19
Better start writing, 'cause this is Bush-bashing central ala Koppel--that famous antiwar journalist activist from way back.
The idea to show soldiers in this way harkens back to the Vietnam era--by "personalizing" the fallen, the left hopes ultimately to engender support for Kerry and Hillary, as the "defenders" of American young people "who are being duped and murdered by an evil and corrupt lives-for-oil government who doesn't give a rip about anyone but themselves and their narrow, conservative, political agenda." But "we--'the righteous protectors of the truth'--we will make it all clear to you. These brave men and women didn't have to die. While we, as Americans, might disagree with the policies of our ever-changing governmental adminstrations, we can all agree about how terrible this loss of life really is. And you can trust us because we, and we alone, feel the appropriate level of grief for this tragic loss of life, and we, and we alone, feel deep, unspeakable sorrow for their families. We know. We understand. It's just too bad it had to happen at all. Sniff. In fact, does it need to happen? (hint, hint) It's a question we all have to ask ourselves in these troubled times . . . # 225, #226, #227, #228 . . . "
("There are other ways, Frodo . . . ")
Journalists have a motto that "the masses are asses" and they live and write accordingly.
#20
A tribute to fallen defenders of freedom?Not according to Ted Koppel.His response to question on purpose of show,"I SEE IT MORE AS A RORSCHACH TEST".Translated,ABC could care less about honoring their sacrifice,the network wants controversy and ratings,thus being able to charge more for ads.Koppel went on to give obvious impression he thinks that stating the number of American dead every night on Nightline isn't getting results he wants,so he intends to put faces to the numbers in hopes of "a bit of a shock" turning viewers against Bush and the war.This is same Nightline that a producer has stated the show would not show images of people jumping from World Trade Center,because the images would anger Americans and make them want to wage war against the terrorist supporters.
Posted by: Stephen ||
04/28/2004 14:16 Comments ||
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#21
BOTTOM LINE -
Does anyone really think Howdy Doody is going to do this correctly?
#22
One last anti-Nightline rant.As Rex(#4)points out this show will only cover Iraq casualties,not those suffered in Afghanistan.Why?Because if Nightline combined the two they would be agreeing that Iraq is a part of WOT,that Pres.Bush was right in going to war w/Iraq.By only showing Iraq casualties,Koppel and crew are denying overthrowing Saddam was right,denying the terrorists Saddam supported were a threat to US,denying the WMD programs of Saddam were a threat,instead saying these fine Americans died for no reason at all.This show looks to be a glossy version of Bush lied,see who died.
Posted by: Stephen ||
04/28/2004 14:36 Comments ||
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#27
Instapundit links to a WaPo article that points out May sweeps week starts tomorrow. Nightline staffers claimed not to know that at the time the decision was made.
#28
Seriously, does anyone watch Nightline anymore? Didn't ABC almost kill it for something that would compete with David Letterman last year? He won't be a Cronkite, he isn't respected and no one is watching. Even Cronkite has made an ass of himself the last coupla' years.
#29
If there's any justice, if that asshat Koppel has the gall to show up at a military base, or especially an active AO looking all butch-war-correspondent with his safari jacket and boots, the first passing GI will give him a buttstroke right across his pearly white (capped) teeth.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
04/29/2004 0:11 Comments ||
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#30
In the vein of my comment above, anyone hear anything (anecdotal or confirmed) about any media personnel getting blanket-partied or otherwise getting the reception they deserve from the folks whose efforts they're trying to undermine?
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
04/29/2004 0:13 Comments ||
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#31
RbR - Lol! Think he's the last of the 60's-era Roland Hedleys? And you're right, he'll likely end up as somebody's hood ornament if he shows his mug to real soldiers after this stunt. Living in his snobby pseudo-intellectual artificial world, he has no idea.
I donât have a link for this - sorry. I received it via email but thought RBâers would enjoy this.
Marcus Millen, son of Matt Millen, former Penn State and NFL star and now Detroit Lionsâ GM, will soon graduate from Easton, Pennsylvania High. At 6-1, 245, he was a three-year starter at inside linebacker, making 96 tackles during the 2003 regular season. In addition to making the state playoffs this past season, Easton High is a national wrestling power, and young Millen was a state-tournament qualifier in the 215-pound class.
He credited Pat Tillmanâs example as playing an influential role in his decision to attend West Point
Posted by: rkb ||
04/28/2004 9:46:18 AM ||
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Thanks for this! Great way to end the day.......
#2
Agreed - Marcus is a prime example of what's right with America - and I wish him the best.
Now his Dad - well now, that's a different story... he was too slow, couldn't cover guys coming out of the backfield, had hands like bricks, and Sherry (!!!) he played for the hated 'Niners! What kinda half-hearted Texan are you? S'okay to call Marcus a classy guy, but not a word 'bout that Bayside Buggerhead father of his? Lol!
Just kidding - Marcus is someone for all of us to be proud of - and support! Matt's prolly proud as a man can be, I'm sure. Way to go, son, you rock!
...for money laundering and numerous irregularities in Saudi and other embassy accounting. The Allbritton family owns Riggs as well as the ABC-TV affiliate here in town.
Federal bank regulators are preparing to impose on Riggs Bank what could be the largest civil penalty ever against a financial institution for violations of anti-money-laundering laws, sources familiar with the discussions between Riggs and government officials said yesterday. The fines being contemplated by regulators could top $25 million, the sources said. The penalty will be imposed for what the bank acknowledges have been years-long deficiencies in complying with the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial institutions to report suspicious activities to federal authorities. In imposing fines, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Riggsâs main federal banking regulator, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a law enforcement unit of Treasury, will cite the bank and its holding company for deficiencies in risk management and internal controls, sources said. The Federal Reserve Board, which regulates bank holding companies as well as a Riggs unit that engages in foreign transactions, will also cite the company for similar deficiencies, sources said. The penalties and management changes would come as the FBI, bank regulators and three congressional committees continue to delve into Riggsâs international banking relationships, particularly its two-decade role as chief banker for the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington. That relationship, as well as other multimillion-dollar embassy accounts, ended in recent weeks as a result of the ongoing probe. Riggs says it terminated the relationship. The Saudis say they ended it. Either way, friction stems from a review by investigators of the Saudi accounts for evidence of money laundering. Investigators have reached no conclusions about the reasons for series of layered transactions over several years in the embassy accounts, including the personal accounts of the Saudi ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, sources say. Riggs is also being subpoenaed by lawyers representing the victims of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
04/28/2004 9:03:49 AM ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush, who has made national security the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, has signed a directive to help protect Americans from biological attacks. The presidential directive, which Bush signed last week and is being announced on Wednesday, aims to plug gaps in the nation's defense against terrorists who might use biological agents.
Specifically, it works to coordinate what the government already is doing to protect food and water supplies, for example. A classified version of the directive instructs agencies on how to best carry out their biodefense work. An unclassified version of the directive will be released at a briefing Wednesday when it is announced jointly by the Homeland Security, Health and Human Services and Defense departments, an administration official said Tuesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
The administration declined to publicly release the directive on Tuesday, but memos posted on the Web site of the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, said the directive "has a strong emphasis on the water sector." One memo said the general concept the directive to protect water is a "surveillance system" for water supplies that would be similar to an early-warning system designed to detect intentional releases of harmful biological materials. The new directive charges the Environmental Protection Agency with developing a plan to examine how such a surveillance system could be set up to protect the nation's water supply, the memo said.
Administration officials worked for months to identify holes in the nation's defense against biological attacks - and then find ways to fix them. The effort was led by retired Gen. John Gordon, Bush's homeland security adviser, who took a broad look at the problems, focusing on the threats that were the most likely to materialize.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2004 12:56:49 AM ||
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(CNN) -- The wreckage of a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that went missing during a routine training flight was found Tuesday evening along the banks of a South Carolina river, and the three soldiers in the flight crew are presumed dead, a military spokesman said.
The Black Hawk wreckage was found in a heavily wooded area in the median of Interstate 95, where the freeway crosses the Great Pee Dee River near Dillon, South Carolina, said Maj. Richard Patterson of the 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg. "There were no visible signs of survivors at the scene," Patterson said, adding that the search-and-rescue mission for the helicopter has become a search-and-recovery mission.
The helicopter, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, was flying in bad weather from Fort Bragg to Florence, South Carolina, Monday night when it went missing. Another helicopter traveling with it landed at a civilian airport in Dillon after losing contact with the first aircraft. The crew of that helicopter returned to Fort Bragg and has been questioned as part of the investigation into the crash, Patterson said.
Dusty Owens, the emergency management director for Florence County, South Carolina, said the wreckage was spotted by a truck driver traveling down I-95, who reported it just before 8 p.m. After hearing reports of the search and seeing search aircraft overhead, the driver saw broken tree limbs and searched until he found the wreckage, Owens said. Some of the debris from the crashed helicopter was found in the river, and a team of divers has been brought in as part of the recovery effort, Owens said. One lane of I-95 has been closed to facilitate the recovery effort.
The crash site is about 70 miles southwest of Fort Bragg.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2004 12:53:29 AM ||
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I know this stretch of 95 very well, it's only about a 45 minute ride from the house. Believe me, it's possible for something to go down in the middle of that median and not see it...my prayers and thoughts to the families of the crew.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/28/2004 1:22 Comments ||
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#2
Many civilians don't realize that many members of the military die each year during training and other non-belligerent activities.
I have no idea just how many the Coast Guard loses each year but I bet the number is more than one, and they die in weather that I only see in my nightmares.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 1:57 Comments ||
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Betcha this somehow gets added to casualty figures by the left.
exceprt from a Statement to the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2005 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
New York City
April 27, 2004 - I opened this transcript hoping to find that Bolton had really gone off his nut in an entertaining fashion. Instead I found that there is an upcoming opportunity to strengthen this treaty which has proved to be, at best a worthless piece of paper and, at worst, a boondoggle for proliferators and their customers. I am encouraged that GW seems to have an improvement plan mapped out.
The United States supports the Non-Proliferation Treaty and is committed to its goals. But despite our strong support, the support of many NPT countries and the best intentions of most of you here, at least four NPT non-nuclear member countries were or are using the NPT as cover for the development of nuclear weapons. States like Iran are actively violating their treaty obligations, and have gained access to technologies and materials for their nuclear weapons programs. North Korea violated its NPT obligations while a party, and then proved its strategic decision to seek nuclear weapons by withdrawing from the Treaty entirely. Two states in the past -- Iraq and Libya -- had also violated the NPT. Libya took the important decision to disclose and eliminate its weapons of mass destruction programs, a paradigm that other nations now seeking nuclear weapons should emulate.
snip - continued intro
President Bushâs Proposals
The U.S. remains strongly committed to its Article VI obligations, and President Bush has made major contributions to the goals of Article VI. The transformation of our relationship with Russia led quickly to a commitment by President Bush to undertake reductions in deployed nuclear weapons to historically low levels. A similar pledge by President Putin soon followed, and both commitments were later codified in the Treaty of Moscow. There are many similar accomplishments, such as the establishment of the Global Partnership against the spread of WMD, which President Bush has proposed expanding, and which will accomplish much toward ridding the world of WMD materials and equipment. Overall, it is a very impressive record of action that is making the world a safer place.
In order to address loopholes and the crisis of noncompliance with the NPT, President Bush announced four proposals that would strengthen the Treaty and the governance structures of the International Atomic Energy Agency (âIAEAâ). The first proposal would close the loophole in the Treaty that allows states such as Iran and North Korea to pursue fissile material for nuclear weapons under peaceful cover. Enrichment and reprocessing plants would be limited to those states that now possess them. Members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group would refuse to sell enrichment and reprocessing equipment and technologies to any state that does not already possess full-scale, functioning enrichment and reprocessing plants. Nuclear fuel supplier states would ensure a reliable supply of nuclear fuel at reasonable prices to all NPT parties in full compliance with the NPT that agreed to forego such facilities. In this way, nations could use peaceful nuclear power as anticipated by the Treaty, but not to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons. The Treaty provides no right to such sensitive fuel cycle technologies.
Second, President Bush proposed creating a special committee of the IAEA Board of Governors, to âfocus intensively on safeguards and ⊠ensure that nations comply with their international obligations.â The Bush Administration is committed to working with the IAEA and its members to ensure that clandestine nuclear activity is uncovered and reported to the United Nations Security Council. As the President said when announcing these proposals, âFor international norms to be effective, they must be enforced.â
As a third step, the President urged states that are serious about fighting proliferation to approve and implement the Additional Protocol and proposed that, as of the end of 2005, the Additional Protocol be a condition of supply for Nuclear-Suppliers Group-controlled items. While the Additional Protocol is not foolproof, if implemented and rigorously enforced, it would give the IAEA important new tools to detect undeclared nuclear activity. As President Bush said: âNations that are serious about fighting proliferation will approve and implement the Additional Protocol.â There are no excuses; if you wish to be considered a responsible partner and leader in strengthening nuclear nonproliferation, you must be willing to do your share by demonstrating a willingness to assume the obligations of this important new tool. The IAEA has demonstrated over the years that it is able to devise approaches that can protect sensitive or proprietary technology. I urge all states that have not concluded an Additional Protocol to do so at the earliest possible date.
Fourth, the President proposed that we stop states under investigation for NPT and IAEA violations from holding seats on the IAEA Board of Governors or on the new IAEA special committee. As it now stands, states under investigation by the IAEA are allowed to sit in judgment of their own covert nuclear weapons programs as well as those of other rogue states. Violators thus can get a platform to impede effective IAEA action and enforcement against their own secret nuclear weapons efforts. It was outrageous that Iran actually was a member of the Board last year while that body was deliberating how to deal with Iranâs nuclear weapons effort. Ensuring that suspect states do not sit on the IAEA Board is particularly important given the Boardâs tradition of trying to reach decisions by consensus. As the President said, âThe integrity and mission of the IAEA depends on this simple principle: Those actively breaking the rules should not be entrusted with enforcing the rules.
The Inherent Linkage Between Articles II & IV of the NPT
The central bargain of the NPT is that if non-nuclear weapons states renounce the pursuit of nuclear weapons, they may gain assistance in developing civilian nuclear power. This bargain is clearly set forth in Article IV of the Treaty, which states that the Treatyâs ârightâ to develop peaceful nuclear energy is clearly conditioned upon parties complying with Treaty Articles I & II. If a non-nuclear weapon state party seeks to acquire nuclear weapons and thus fails to conform with Article II, then under the Treaty that party forfeits its right to assistance in the development of peaceful nuclear energy.
-snip- specifics to cases of Iran, North Korea and Lybiaâs circumventions of treat and concluding statement.
Whether citizens agree that Bush has the right plan, the opportunity to improve the NPT is wasted at extreme hazard to our future safety.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 3:35:04 PM ||
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I got mine.
Posted by: not tellin ||
04/28/2004 15:48 Comments ||
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Just 38 percent of likely voters have a favorable opinion of the U.N., while 44 percent have an unfavorable view, according to a poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports.
Feelings about the U.N. are considerably more negative from a year ago. Leading up to the Iraq war, 48 percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of the body, with just 31 percent holding an unfavorable view.
Those describing themselves as liberal voters had the highest opinion of the U.N., with 60 percent giving the agency thumbs-up. Just 20 percent of conservatives had a positive view, while nearly two-thirds, 62 percent, frowned on the global body.
Two-thirds of those who say theyâll vote for President Bush in November have a negative impression of the U.N., whereas 59 percent of Kerry supporters view it positively.
If the Oil-for-Stuff controversy goes badly, the UN may have approval ratings that will improve the esteem of former-Gov Davis.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 4:09:42 AM ||
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#1
heh! And so far, the UNSCAM has only been reported in the blogs.
Just 60 percent of the LLL's gave it a thumbs up - and probably over 50 percent of that 60 percent - have no idea who Kofi is.
38 percent favorable 44 percent unfavorable...where does the other 20 stand?? That's a pretty big number for "no opinion".
#2
The views of the other 20 percent hinge on the recommendations of Oprah, Simon Cowl, Paula Abdul and/or Jerry Springer.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 5:02 Comments ||
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And in other news: Ten percent of likely voters are willing to drive all the way to New York to help move the UN's stuff onto a boat bound for anywhere but North America.
#7
RC: No, no. We are a civilized people. The sledgehammers and blowtorches would be for opening the files and safes of the bureaucracy before we let them take it out of the country. Never know what skeletons might be hidden in there with the dusty flight recorders.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/28/2004 9:25 Comments ||
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#8
Mr. Annan, tear down this building!
Posted by: Cthulhu Akbar ||
04/28/2004 10:11 Comments ||
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US should work with France to move the UN headquarters to Europe. France is far more infatuated with the UN and might consider it a bump in prestige to be able to hob-nob with the dictators of the world.
US should create a Democratic Caucus in the UN to ensure the things that are important to us and our allies go through the United Nations rather than letting the dictatorships dominate the UN agenda.
US should work to get Bill Clinton as Secretary General. The US has never had a Secretary General because of ancient Cold War agreements that should be changed. Although he may disagree with our President he wouldn't go against serious US interests. The UN would vote him in because it would then appear to them that the UN is above the US.
#13
Although he may disagree with our President he wouldn't go against serious US interests.
Which is why he ignored the terrorist threat for eight years.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 13:15 Comments ||
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#14
A year ago many of us knew the UN was not only worthless but was actually a serious danger to the US. Until this mob of thugocracies was discredited, the US had to constantly fight the world-wide myth that it was the arbiter of the moral high ground and international legitimacy. And we had to pay 25%+ of the tab for the privilege. Pfeh.
Without some pivotal event, reform was impossible -- and withdrawal was the equivalent of international "shunning"...
Thanks to the stupidity, arrogance, and greed of Bevan Sevon, Kofi & Kojo, and Saddam the job of displaying the dirty laundry and flaws of the UN is being done - in spades. And we can thank Claudia Rosset (formerly of the WSJ) in particular for her hard work to expose the UNSCAM scandal. In addition to her breakout revelations of how it worked and getting the WSJ to champion it as an "above the fold" mainstream story, she's a non-idiotarian who has a special place in her heart for that moron in NorK. Here's a link to some of her other excellent work.
Now we have the opportunity of exposing the UN's structural flaws which have been deftly manipulated by both friend and foe alike to the detriment of both the UN and, in particular, the US.
We came up with the League of Nations and the UN. We can take what we've learned and try again. There does need to be a viable alternative to the UN before it can be killed. Surely we can design one that actually makes sense and works fairly. It certainly shouldn't include the Bad Guys, this time.
#17
"Which is why he ignored the terrorist threat for eight years." Robert Crawford, do you place evil intent on a blind man for not seeing the big picture? I don't argue that he ignored the threat, but so did the Republican dominated Congress during that time, Congress is empowered by the Constitution to declare war and they chose not to despite the fact that Bin Laden officially declared war on the US. Were they blind? Evil? or simply lazy?
I don't consider being blind as going against US interests, it's just a lack of vision.
#19
The perfect place for the United Nations is in Pyongyang. The meltdown as Kofi and Kim try to out-do one another in stupid pranks would see the end of both within a year. Besides, then the staff wouldn't be tempted to steal the silverware - you don't need much to eat grass.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/28/2004 18:11 Comments ||
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United States Olympic hero Mark Spitz has raised the spectre of an American withdrawal from this summerâs Athens Games due to security concerns. Spitz, who won seven swimming golds at the 1972 Olympics in Munich when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by terrorists, believes the US team is at this stage not certain to show up in Greece.
With ongoing conflicts involving the US in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as heightened terrorist fears since the events of September 11 2001, Spitz claims American politicians will still be keeping an open mind on whether to send a team to Athens. He told BBC Radio 5 Live: âWe are looking under the microscope at all the different terrorist acts and we know there is a high degree of probability that something could happen in Athens. Would that be political suicide to send a team there if you were the Bush administration?
âIf you were to yank the carpet out from under the American team and nothing happened, would that be because they are only after Americans? If that does happen in will happen in the 11th hour and 59th minute.
âI would say that about six months ago it was highly unlikely but each day as it goes on with current world affairs it becomes more probable than not that ongoing conversations will take place as to how important it is to put athletes in harms way.â
However, a spokesman for the US Olympic Committee said: âToday there is absolutely no consideration given to the notion our team will not be in Athens.â
I would suggest that if the US team is attacked by an islamfascist group in Athens, the gloves will come off. We won't go nuclear, but a good 3/4 of this country will finally get it, and get mad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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..IIRC, Dr Spitz is a member of the US Olympic Commission - if so, this may be the two minute warning.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/28/2004 0:19 Comments ||
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Hey, Aris, how are those stadiums coming along?
#3
Athens 2004 could be far, far worse than Munich 1972.
Dr. Spitz knows whereof he speaks.
I think the USA team should stay home.
Posted by: Jen ||
04/28/2004 0:25 Comments ||
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I doubt anything will happen. Targetting Americans will put other nations' athletes at risk and that would piss off the whole world (or parts of it anyway).
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/28/2004 0:26 Comments ||
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#5
Meanwhile, the people that built the Parthenon thousands of years ago can't get the roof on the main stadium for the Olympics.
Posted by: Jen ||
04/28/2004 0:30 Comments ||
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#6
From the link that Raj provided:
The union claims average working hours are being pushed up from five to seven a day, to between seven and 12 hours a day
Say it ain't so!!! My record is 16 hours straight. Two shifts. Illegal, but hey... I know people who regularly do 12 hours.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/28/2004 0:31 Comments ||
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#7
These Olympics are going to be unpleasant. I'm not so much worried about the Koran & Semetex crowd as I am about the Eurotrash fans. They're gonna be booing the flag and the anthem and our athletes. Considering the fact that we'll dominate the medal stands as usual, there's going to be a lot of chances for booing.
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
04/28/2004 0:51 Comments ||
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#9
Rafael, don't be so sure. They bombed the UN in Bagdad, they attacked Turkey twice, Jordon just missed a big on, Syria ditto, SA got hit, Madrid! The jihadies could care less about pissing people off. They want total jihad, Islam vs the world. But guess where jihad isn't going on. Cough cough, Iran.
#11
Jokes are often made about the dearth of great jewish athletes; the jokes don't seem to account for Spitz. It shows that identifying ethnic heritage is not important for most people in the US. Note - he may not be jewish, but I read a variety article several years ago that talked about the backlash against Olympic athletes. His backlash came because everyone expected him to be the jewish Omar Sharif bun as an actor Mark turned out to be a wonderful swimmer. At least he didn't insult Micky Mouse.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 2:07 Comments ||
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#12
yesterday - they took out insurance on game cancellations due to unfinished venues and security concerns. Security costs are $1 billion, up 300% over the last games
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 7:03 Comments ||
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#13
#6 Rafael, I've heard that the key to success in running your own business is to work half days -- the beauty of it is it doesn't matter which 12 hours you work.
#14
I'm not so sure the atheletes are in danger as much as the crowds are. The Olympic village can be protected and routes to and from stadiums can be protected. Maybe during a Marathon or something outside the stadiums...
On the other hand the Olympics is a world wide audience and would be too good to pass up. My guess is the bad guys will attempt to target a hotel, somewhere near where a lot of media types are staying to ensure it gets lots of coverage. I would also guess that it would happen early on, perhaps before the games (but after the media has arrived) to put a pal over the events and make sure everyone talks about it throughout the games.
I also expect some serious arrests in the days and weeks before the games as Europe attempts to clean up/disrupt any cells or such hoping to be involved. I expect the Greeks to ethnicly profile as well as profile due to passports (which are known to be easily forged or from nations of concern). I expect the civil liberties issues will be worth sorting out afterwards if a bloodbath can be prevented.
And not just your own business ... I averaged 65-70 hr weeks when I worked in Silicon Valley startups during the late 70s and early 80s. On salary, of course ... but also on profit-sharing arrangements.
When the software development got hot and heavy, our reception area sofa often had 2 or 3 toddlers all sleeping together, snug in their jammies, late at night. My daughter also spent more than one day at work with me when she had the sniffles. A large blanket over a work table makes a snug sleeping / play den .... backpacking sleep pad + kiddy sleeping bag and pillow, books, toys and later a small TV. And then, lunch and snacks (and occasionally dinner) plus short breaks for story time, or a walk outside or whatever .... Mom and kid days were pretty common given that most of the technical staff were in our 20s and early 30s then. Dad and kid days were pretty common too.
None of us whined about doing it, either. If you didn't want the benefits of being part of a startup, sometimes stock options but more, the excitement of doing cutting edge work and the flexibility, then you could go work for one of the dinosaur companies instead.
#16
Will car bombing be an Olympic event this year? Will the explosive belts slow down the runners from the PA? The normal level of terrorist activity in Greece is so high that the AQ, Hamas, Hizbollah, Fatah, et. al. teams will have to do something really spectacular to medal. Not to mention the problems with the bribed French and Russian judges...
#17
They'll go for the boats... liners, fousands of 'em..
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/28/2004 10:37 Comments ||
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#18
As far as I'm concerned, there's only two questions: Can adequate and reasonable security be provided by the host country? If not, is it worth putting Olympic athletes in possible harm's way?
#19
The whole Athens Olympics scares the heck out of me--- and I lived there and loved it. But the prospect of Greek security forces....mmm, I saw how the Greek police forces managed automobile traffic, and how they kept Americans so safe from the N-17 gang. So, my answer to Bomb-a-rama's question is "probably not".
#20
We should stay out of this Olympics. The risk far outweighs any reward. Besides, the Olympics have outlived their purpose/usefulness. They used to be a big deal because athletes came from all over the world to compete against each other, but now with easy and quick global travel that happens practically every weekend. All they are now is a terrorist's dream opportunity, with US athletes and fans as the primary targets.
#21
If we do anything in terms of non-attendance, it should have nothing to do with any government edict. Jimmy Crack-Peanuts threatened to confiscate any passport of athletes who wanted to go to Moscow in 1980. In retrospect, owing to what happened, Jimmy ended up looking stupid.
The closing ceremony with the flags had the Los Angeles City flag raised to the tune of the Olympic Hymn.
What we should have done is gone and had the olympic flag and hymn played when we won something. The athletes would not have been denyed to participate, and we could have made our point about Afghanistan if we thought it appropriate in that venue.
Targetting Americans will put other nations' athletes at risk and that would piss off the whole world (or parts of it anyway).
That's never stopped the Islamonazis before, Rafael.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/28/2004 16:25 Comments ||
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#24
Bush can guarantee the safety and security of our athletes with one sentence: "If there is a Muslim terror incident in the Athens Olympic Games, I will destroy Mecca", then do it if something happens. When SA complains, just say "that's enough, or Riyadh's next". These people understand the concept of power - what they don't understand is the concept of restraint. We need to show them that we exercise restraint because we choose to, and when we choose not to, we can be even nastier than they can, 'cause we've got the BIG toys. We need to employ that same concept in Najef - "we won't come in there if Sadr and his bad boys come out by noon, Wednesday. If they're not out by then, we still won't go in there, because there won't be a "there" to go into. Noon, Wednesday. Don't be late." We need to stop playing these little games, and start being the mean, evil, wicked, bad, nasty, cruel and heartless bastards we can be. That's the only thing that will make these people back off. They have no respect for anyone not like them, but they can learn fear. The lessons need to start - yesterday.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/28/2004 18:26 Comments ||
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#25
Translation: We need to be ruthless enough to be respected.
#26
Amen, Old Patriot. There was a time when using precision weapons meant using a 300KT weapon instead of 10 MT. In this case though, a B53 ground burst would be just the thing.
#27
that would sure do it old patriot but the surrender monkey's of the dem party would be in a frenzy...the those world leaders that supposedly say they support skerry would be upset...
as for the olympics i think we should stay home. let them conduct it without american support/money/patronage. plus greece has done a fairly poor job getting ready for the security issues that will surrond this olympics..
didn't the ancients also cancel their olymipics during the Peloponnesian War?????
Posted by: Dan ||
04/28/2004 19:08 Comments ||
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#28
I read somewhere that in the classical age Olympic games were either not held during times of war, or the currently-being-waged-war had to stop while the games went on.
THE Malay community is the result of a diverse and distinctive mix of cultures and religions. However, of late, there has been the concern that many traditions and rituals previously associated with the Malay psyche are being rejected as un-Islamic. Recently, a local daily carried an interview with Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim. Among issues discussed was the "Arabisation" of Malay culture. Rais talked about the rejection of many ancient Malay traditions and rituals considered un-Islamic, which resulted in the neglect of Malay culture.
His concerns could not have come at a better time. Art forms such as wayang kulit, dikir barat and menora were deemed un-Islamic and banned in Kelantan after Pas gained control of the state. Some Malays reject the adat bersanding because of its Hindu origins. Now, there is a worry that many Malays are replacing their culture with an Arab-slanted one.
The new "dress code" being adopted, says Dr Hatta Azad Khan, director-general of Istana Budaya, is definitely an example of this "Arabisation" of Malay culture. Eddin Khoo, director of Pusaka, a non-profit organisation dedicated to cultural preservation, notes the change of head dress he sees following Friday prayers. "The traditional songkok appears to be less popular with congregationists, especially among the younger ones," he says. He has noticed that the songkok has instead been replaced by the ketayap (skull cap), the kefayih (head scarf) and Tajik (Afghan) caps.
If this is indeed true, why is it happening?
The new resurgence of Islam is one of the reasons, says Johan Jaafar, New Straits Times columnist and former Utusan Malaysia editor. "It has had diverse effects on the mentality of the Malays," he says. "As they become more âMuslimâ, they become less Malay. They discard old values associated with the Malays, and which are considered un-Islamic. They believe that cultural expressions like theatre and art forms like wayang kulit are un-Islamic because of their pre-Islamic origins." President Bushâs hands-off policy towards Wahabi indoctrination in America and abroad has been a disaster. On 9-11, there were large secular movements through most of the Muslim dominated states. Three and a half years of Bush alliances with Muslim clerics, has butchered secularism in that part of the world. In last months elections in Malaysia, the choice was between two Islamofascist parties. In every case where Muslim fundamentalists dominate a state, genocidal movements arise, which threaten American interests. Either the US President supports Secularism, or the recruitment base for Islamic terror grows. Islam isnât peace. As Ernest Renan said in 1870, it is, "the greatest shackle ever placed on humanity. Letâs put our security interests over their exercise of depraved cultic rites.
Posted by: Man Bites Dog ||
04/28/2004 2:14:42 AM ||
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PATTANI, Thailand: Clashes between security forces and suspected Muslim rebels in southern Thailand left at least 127 dead in the bloodiest day in the history of the troubled region, officials said. The authorities said police and soldiers battled armed groups who launched coordinated dawn attacks at 10 police stations and security checkpoints in the provinces of Yala, Pattani and Songkhla near the Malaysian border. Officials said the attackers were mostly teenagers, poorly armed with only machetes and a few guns. Television footage showed their dead bodies being lifted from pools of blood and thrown unceremoniously into trucks.
Taking out the trash.
The last battlezone was at a mosque outside Pattani provincial town, where between 32 and 38 rebels who had holed up there after fleeing security forces were killed when troops stormed the building to end a six-hour standoff.
"Well, I counted 32 bodies, but we seem to have some extra arms and legs. I'll get back to you later."
Smoke billowed from the heavily-damaged brick mosque as police and internal security officials examined the scene. Elsewhere in Pattani, armoured personnel carriers patrolled the streets and helicopters hovered overhead. Major Chitnart Bunnothok, spokesman for the Fourth Army which patrols the troubled region, said before the mosque raid that 93 attackers had been killed, 12 were injured and one was arrested. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said only two security personnel were killed and that the toll was low because police and army were well prepared and the attackers were only lightly armed.
Thai Army gets extra points for marksmanship, Operational Security and intel work. Well done.
The attacks were the latest in a series of bombings, raids and murders in Thailand's southern provinces, which over the past four months have claimed the lives of some 65 security forces, government officials and Buddhist monks.
Deputy Director of the Internal Security Command, General Panlop Pinmanee, said it was "absolutely certain" Wednesday's raids were mounted by separatists and that they were trained by militant groups operating in the south.
Saw another report and a photo that said the attackers had brand new Motorcycles of Doom. Should not be too hard to trace where they got them.
He said security officials were braced for an attack after an upsurge in separatist incidents in neighbouring Narathiwat province last week which were staged as a bid to divert authorities' attention.
That would be the arson attacks on 50 schools, government offices, etc. The Thai police grabbed a whole bunch of suspects, I'd wager some of them talked.
Thaksin said the raiders were attempting to steal weapons, and that he believed they were linked to a group which carried out a January 4 raid on an army depot, killing four soldiers and making off with hundreds of rifles. "The purpose of the raid was to steal weapons from government security forces which would then have been sold," he said.
You steal weapons to use, either to steal more weapons with, or to be tucked away for future use.
The premier did not contradict Panlop's assertion that separatists were to blame, but downplayed the sectarian nature of the trouble, saying that the militia responsible was made up of both Thai Muslims and Buddhists.
Have you checked to see if the Buddhists had converted to Islam?
A separatist movement raged in the region until the 1980s when a government campaign largely ended the movement, but trouble flared again in recent years, sparking fears militants had been mobilised by foreign terror groups.
Islamic leaders said they feared Wednesday's unprecedented violence, and the high death toll among the young rebels, would spark a major deterioration in the south where resentment of central authority already runs high. "I am really concerned that the problems in the south will escalate even further," said Abdul Rosue Aree, deputy chairman of the Islamic Council in Narathiwat.
"The incident will definitely affect Muslim people's feelings. They will have bad feelings towards authorities and the turmoil will continue, it will not be resolved," he said.
"This problem would be solved if the infidel police would just stand still and let us hack them to death....say, is this mike still on?"
Posted by: Steve ||
04/28/2004 10:12:54 AM ||
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Who is this one guy who was arrested? Methinks he's the one that tipped them off.
Muslim militants in eastern Indonesia burned down several hundred homes in an overnight attack on a mainly Christian area where 26 people were killed in three days of fighting. The attacks on Christians in Maluku province, once known as the Spice Islands, continues with no end in sight, according to the Washington, D.C.-based human rights group International Christian Concern.
On Monday, several hundred homes of Christians were burned down in the Tanah Lapang Kecil and Batugantung neighborhoods of Ambon, the provincial capital. The attack began at about 3 a.m. and continued into the afternoon hours until all of the homes were destroyed, ICC said. According to news reports, government buildings have been abandoned and taken over by unidentified snipers using the rooftops to scout victims, including several policemen who have been killed in the past few days. ....
According to the Australian Associated Press, the latest violence began when members of the regionâs small Christian separatist Republic of South Maluku marched through Ambon to mark the 54th anniversary of a failed independence bid .... In response to the march, the AAP said, Muslim gangs torched houses and churches, and set fire to a local Christian University and United Nations offices. Several people also were hacked to death with machetes by the mobs, AAP reported, before hundreds of troops from Jakarta arrived to try to quell the attacks. ....
The leader of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, Habib Husein al-Hubsyi, threatened earlier this week to send 7,000 holy warriors to the province.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/28/2004 9:00:15 AM ||
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...hundreds of troops from Jakarta arrived to try to quell the attacks...
to prolongue the bloodshed...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/28/2004 9:04 Comments ||
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#2
Good Morning America....here is another clue for the terminally clueless. The world is divided into infidels and non-infidels. They want to kill you or convert you. Simple, easy to understand, but yet still seems to escape your mental grasp.
I can't wait until the Thanksgiving when my family members have to start backtracking and qualifying their NPR mindset. Oh..oh...it will be so hard not to rub their faces in the error of their past ways. But..being a Christian...I'll try my best not to.
#4
If you want to see what these riots are like in Indonesia, here are some pictures from past riots.(warning-some of these pictures are very graphic)
There are also pictures of the police either standing by as Christians are massacred, or actually joining in in the killing and destruction.
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/9388/index2.html
#5
The Religion of Peace(TM) and Tolerance strikes again!
Posted by: The Doctor ||
04/28/2004 9:58 Comments ||
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#6
The world is divided into infidels and non-infidels.
Yes, but according to Al Qaeeda, Karzai is an infidel. Chalabi is an infidel. The govts of Algeria and Egpt and Turkey and Indonesia are infidels. A very good portion of the folks who read the Koran, pray to Allah, and call themselves muslims are "infidels"
#8
Yes, Liberalhawk, but it's only a matter of degrees. If Algeria, Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia want to fight against the West, AQ would forget their complaints and pass the AK-47s and RPGs to their brother Muslims. When they finished with the West, then they'd turn on each other. AQ is just trying to "shame" the other Muslim countries into being "good" Muslims. That's how it works. I remember some writer, who had an article in Vanity Fair about SH, called it "psychotic gangsterism." That about sums it up--whether they're "secular" Muslims, or "religious" Muslims. There is a little inkling, though, that other more normal people who consider themselves Muslims are starting to call the terrorist-style Muslims infidels. But I don't think they're very popular. The "kill-kill" types are the ones who get all the airtime.
#10
LA Times ran an article about this yesterday. It never mentioned the Muslims torching Christian homes. Just that the was violence between the two groups. Like being beaten by the school bully and the teacher punishing the bully and the victim for fighting.
#12
Lets also not forget that many many Muslim family's and children were killed in this weekends atrocity in Ambon by your christian 'brothers' 3 Muslim women were hacked to death by FKM (MSF) Christian Students. Also that they (we the christians) burned down the new Muslim High School, setting education in Ambon back 10 years for innocent students, oh and of course were warned countless times NOT to do the march through the Muslim Neighbourhood on that day as it would be Highly "Provocative".
Guess what........... the Political Figures manipulating the well meaning 'christians' didn't listen or care. A riot was started, and Lives and Souls of innocents were taken from this planet. When will we learn NOT to be manipulated into violence......ever......for ANY reason ???? An entire Muslim neighbourhood was burned to the ground with elderly and children in it......... so lets just see clearly that this whole thing actually had very very little to do with Religion at all. If you want proof, I can give you Truck Loads.
As usual it was about Power, Greed, and selfishness........ Alah / Jesus had Jack to do with it.
Well, that's my 10 cents worth.
Signed : Jawa
Posted by: Paul Jawa ||
05/05/2004 1:11 Comments ||
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#13
I thought this was concise and HONEST news ??? I agree it was all about Power, Greed, and selfishness........
Was it really worth flying that RSM flag in the faces of victims family's who have long memory's ??? Especially on that special Muslim Day.
What was achieved...... Serioulsy ??? The average christian (50% of population in Maluku) cringes when some Activist breaks out the FKM flag, as he know's it is only to stir up trouble, and will result in unrest, and conflict (meaning bloodshed and tears)
The average person in Maluku (christian or Muslim) live in harmony as neighbours and even family members. They're actually famous for their Religious Tolerance, and have been for decades.
They don't want violence or strife or death....... but hey, guess what. It's Voting Time in Indonesia....... Take Religion out of it, and have a fresh look !!! A real look.
The so called 'christians' burning houses were from Jakarta..........and the Muslim's slashing and killing were speaking with Javanese Language and accents )i.e. NOT known Locals !!....... Hello >???
Well, that's my 5 Rupiah's worth anyway.....
Mr. Cinta
Posted by: Cinta Baru ||
05/05/2004 2:04 Comments ||
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#14
Lets see this for what it really is and stop trying to stir up more Racial Strife and Hatred.
It's not "Muslim again Christian" it's just the age old 'People against People'.
Struggle for power, assets and selfishness. One Political Group wants to be the leaders, president, Police Chiefs and librarians once this whole Conflict heads down the road behind East Timor and becomes a New Separate Country.
Leave religion out of it. It's just a Mask to desguise peoples ugly actions and murderous intent.
bukah Mataku. (open your eyes)
Posted by: Truth Search ||
07/15/2004 23:03 Comments ||
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EFL
Scores of teenage terrorists militants armed with little more than machetes attacked security outposts across Thailandâs troubled Muslim-dominated south Wednesday, but they were slain like pigs at a slaughter house repulsed by police who had been tipped off to the offensive. At least 107 militants were killed. 107 things to worry less about. Next.
The last of the raids was quashed when police fired tear gas into a mosque and then killed 11 fighters who tried to escape. Three policemen and two soldiers were also slain in the fighting. What!? Terrorists using a mosque to run an operation!? Come now.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
04/28/2004 7:07:38 AM ||
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From Hi Pakistan:BANGKOK: At least 127 people, all but two of them suspected separatists, were killed in a series of clashes in Thailand's Muslim south today, officials said.
Looks like some of those "arsonists" the Thais arrested the other day tipped them off about this attack. This will at least put a dent in the cannon fodder ranks.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/28/2004 9:08 Comments ||
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Gunfire and explosions rocked Ambon, leaving at least eight wounded as Christians and Muslims clashed for a fourth day in Indonesia's Maluku islands.
Shortly after dawn, unidentified assailants launched attacks in several districts of the provincial capital.
Plumes of smokes could be seen rising from at least two areas, and gunfire echoed across the religiously-divided city for several hours.
Ambon police chief Brigadier General Bambang Sutrisno said officers were collecting casualty figures, but said security was improving in the province, where Muslim-Christian violence three years ago killed 9,000 people.
"We believe things are getting better," he told The Associated Press.
Eight Muslims - all with bullet or blast wounds - were taken to an Islamic hospital as a result of the violence, staffers there said.
Many members of Jemaah Islamiah, an al-Qaeda-linked extremist group blamed for a series of deadly bombings in Indonesia, have told authorities that they fought in the conflict.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 1:08:37 AM ||
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More than 70 people have been killed in dawn clashes between black-clad young men and security forces in Thailand's restive Muslim south when armed gangs raided police posts in a sharp escalation of four months of violence.
"Seventy four of the culprits were killed and four were wounded," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters on Wednesday. Two soldiers and two policemen also died after gangs of young men dressed in black and wielding guns, swords and machetes launched the early morning raids on security posts across the troubled region, home to a low-key separatist rebellion in the 1970s and 1980s.
Thailand's three southernmost provinces have been hit by a wave of shootings, bombings and arson attacks that had claimed at least 60 lives since a January 4 raid on an army barracks that left four soldiers dead. "They attacked five of our police booths in Yala province this morning and we killed 22 of them," provincial police chief Colonel Prinya Kwanyuen told Reuters. The largely Muslim province of Yala is 1,300 km (780 miles) south of the capital, Bangkok.
An Interior Ministry official said the attackers were killed in raids across the three southern provinces, including in Pattani province, where a battle was still raging between troops and gunmen holed up in a mosque. Local television showed heavily armed police and troops taking up positions in rural areas, as well as wounded soldiers from the nearby Malaysian border being unloaded from trucks onto hospital stretchers. At least one dead soldier was shown lying in the wreckage of a destroyed building.
Despite a huge military clampdown in the south, the violence has shown few signs of abating, leading anaylsts to fear the region's disaffected Muslim youth might become a fertile breeding ground for the likes of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Bangkok has so far blamed the trouble on gangsters exploiting disgruntled elements of the local Malay-speaking population who feel few emotional ties to the predominantly Buddhist country and its distant capital.
However, Yala Governor Boonyasidh Suwannarat said the coordination of attacks, and the way the assailants were armed, suggested a degree of training.
"This morning showed that they have reached the stage of being confident enough to reveal themselves. Many of them were wearing white or red headbands as identification," he said. "The type of knives they carried showed that they must have been well trained."
Also shows what happens when you bring a knife to a gunfight.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 12:52:33 AM ||
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CNN now reporting 93 attackers dead. Plus four soldiers/police. For suprise attacks this ratio is completely wrong. They police must have known they were coming and counter ambushed them.
President Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami admitted on 27 April that "we certainly have political prisoners [in Iran] and...people who are in prison for their ideas," ISNA reported the same day. "I have pursued these peopleâs problems...and protested," he said in a meeting with a youth group in Tehran. "I have clearly stated that I do not accept the conviction of any political or press activist unless tried in a free and fair tribunal." Some in the audience objected to the fact that he had remained silent during "sensitive political moments" and turned the "enthusiasm [of early reform days] into despair," ISNA reported. But he urged young people to be realistic. "We are in the East," he said, and Iranâs internal conditions should not be compared to countries "that have experienced democracy for hundreds of years."
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/28/2004 11:41:25 PM ||
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East is East and West is West and...
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/29/2004 0:45 Comments ||
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TEHERAN
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami described Lebanonâs Hezbollah movement as the âpride of world Muslimsâ for its resistance to Israel at a meeting with one of its leaders recently freed from jail by the Jewish state, Iranâs official news agency IRNA said on Tuesday.
The reformist president on Monday met Lebanese cleric Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid, one of a number of Hezbollah prisoners freed in late January in a swap with Israel.
âFreed Lebanese PoWs are symbols of religious resistance,â Khatami was quoted as saying to Obeid, who had been held in Israeli jails for 14 years before his release.
âThe Lebanese resistance fighters are the pride of world Muslims, Arab nations and the Iranians,â Khatami said, adding that âno one will forget the fact that it was the Lebanese resistance fighters who kicked out the Zionist occupiers and liberated Lebanon.â
Khatami isnât a "reformist." Bush lied when he said "Islam is peace." Islamofascists and not "Baathists" are attacking American troops in Iraq. Limited war cannot work in Iraq. It is time to cut out all spin, and refer to all spinners by the term they so clearly deserve: liars.
Posted by: Man Bites Dog ||
04/28/2004 1:17:29 AM ||
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An Iranian opposition group with sources inside Iranâs military is making public a list of the senior military personnel and military units it says are involved in Iranâs secret nuclear weapons programs.
Yeah, it is CNN, but there is some valid information here
Scare quotes by al-Bawaba, I don't think they buy the story either.
Syrian president, Bashar Al Assad "personally" supervised Tuesday nightâs operation in al Mazza neighborhood of Damascus where a "terrorist" group attacked foreign targets, Syrian sources told Al Bawaba. Al Mazza is a neighborhood in Damascus known to be the residence to many foreign diplomats and embassies in addition to high ranking Syrian officials. Al Bawaba sources have revealed that president Assad drove in his car from his residence in the Rawda neighborhood to the scene at al Mazza to head the police force that were confronting the "terrorists."
Right, the president drove into a firefight.
Late on Tuesday, a "terrorist" group used two cars to fire RPG rounds at the ex-UN buildingâs ground floors which caused a fire in it. Security forces nearby the building fired back at the attackers, who then responded with their machine guns. Two "terrorists" were killed on the spot while a third was killed in hospital while being hospitalized. According to the Syrian police, a fourth terrorist was severely injured.
"The Syrian Arab Republic which has confronted all forms of terrorism for more than 25 years, and condemns the terrorist incident which targeted the stability and security of the citizen and homeland," a Syrian official was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Syrian sources added that authorities found a "terrorist" hideout in Khan al-Sheikh, 25 kilometers south to Damascus where the group was hiding its weapons.
Meanwhile, analysts were disregarding the possibility that Al Qaeda may have been responsible for the attack. Nabil Milhem, a prominent Syrian journalist, told Al Bawaba that he discounts any claims linking Osama Bin Laden's network to Tuesday attack. "I donât think Al Qaeda is behind this attack as their previous attacks were organized and better plannedâŠlike the Riyadh and Casablanca attacks as well as many others around the world," Milhem explained.
According to Mohammed Jarad, editor-in-chief of the Syrian state-owned daily Tishreen, investigations are now underway to determine who was behind the attack. "It is still too early to say anything. Terrorism has now become a global problem and not just a Syrian one,â conveyed Jarad.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/28/2004 10:42:20 AM ||
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Have we offered them FBI assistance yet? If not, why not?
I'd LOVE to hear their reaction to that.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 10:55 Comments ||
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(the Fmr Anonymous4052)
Assad drove in his car from his residence in the Rawda neighborhood to the scene at al Mazza to head the police force that were confronting the "terrorists."
More like that he called up CNN, and had them send a camera crew. He could then watch the direct feed from his underground bunker deeeeeeep under the main presidential palace in Damascus.
Of course CNN would never show US the footage. "We couldn't handle it."
#3
Steve, If you would just read your primary school textbook you would understand that Bashir Assad is both brave and powerful! He personally directed the operations that repelled the Zionist aggressors from Lebanon and saved many of those people from starvation. It was only under his leadership that Lebanon has become the paradise that mirrors Syria. In fact many terrorists vacationers flock to these countries. The fact he lead a dangerous police mission to destroy Zionist controlled terrorists is not a great leap of faith. For your transgression you must now sing the Baath party song in Arabic and English. Long Live Assad!
#6
Dugout Bashir Assad lies a quakin' on the Rock
He is free from any danger or from any sudden shock...
Posted by: Matt ||
04/28/2004 13:32 Comments ||
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#7
Did he calibrate the scopes on the sniper rifles for his forces?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 14:15 Comments ||
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#8
Most Stalinesque statement I've heard in years...outside of North Korean agitprop that is... :))
__________Borgboy sez Assad a mere toddler compared to Josef Visserionovitch
#9
This was a faked terrorist attack staged by the baby Assad to drum up sympathy or draw attention away from the WMD that Syria has stashed in other countries. It played out just like the Saudi "terrorist" attacks. Blow up or fire upon empty buildings. Target moslems but only the non-arab variety (Sudanese, etc). No actual Syrian or Saudi killed or even in danger. Soon he will claim that it was the Kurds (if he wants a justification to clean house) or Al-Q (if he wants to play the "See we are victims of terrorists not supporters" game). He learned the lesson from the House of Saud. He was a little slow on the up take, but he finally got it.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/28/2004 16:53 Comments ||
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#10
I can believe that Assad faked something, but the notion that the Saudi attacks were faked (as opposed to supported by one faction within the Saudi govt) is tinfoil hat territory.
#12
LH, though I failed to state it that way, that is what I meant to say. However, if elements or factions of the government were involved then I would call that a black hat operation disguised as terrorism. I also failed to say that that although attacks are occuring within Syria ans SA, they are certainly not directed against the governments there. For these governments to claim that they are in the same boat as us is ludricrous.
Posted by: Scott ||
04/28/2004 18:30 Comments ||
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Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 02:19 ||
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This could turn out to be good news for Israel, as well as the USA.
If it turns out Hezbollah is in fact sending AA missiles to be used against our troops, nothing would stop the Israelis ( with encouragement from the US )from knocking Syria out of the game, perhaps even for good this time. The supplies of AA have to be coming, in some part from Syria and southern Lebanon.
Three loud explosions were heard in a district of the Syrian capital that houses several embassies late on Tuesday, as official sources reported a gunbattle between "terrorists" and security forces.
Syria's ambassador to the United States, Imad Mustafa, told CNN that one assailant was killed and another captured in the gunbattle.
He appeared to point a finger of blame at al-Qaeda.
"We've being doing our best against al-Qaeda. We share the same enemy (as the United States). We aid the US in its fight against al-Qaeda and terrorism," said the envoy.
An AFP correspondent at the scene in the Mazzeh district of western Damascus said a building which houses UN offices was on fire, while residents said one of the explosions occurred near the City Mall shopping centre.
SANA said that "terrorists" had attacked security forces in Mazzeh.
"A terrorist and sabotage group opened fire indiscriminately in the Mazzeh district," SANA said, quoting a security source.
"The security services confronted them and are in full control of the situation."
The Mazzeh district is home to several Western and Middle East embassies, including those of Britain, Canada, Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as UN offices.
SANA later scrapped a report that three gunmen were killed in a gunbattle with police outside the Canadian embassy, without giving an explanation.
It said earlier, quoting its own reporters, that four gunmen fired at passers-by and Syrian police in front of the embassy, sparking a gunbattle in which three of the assailants were killed and the other wounded.
Local residents contacted by AFP said sirens blared after the explosions and that security forces had cordoned off the area. Rounds of automatic gunfire were also heard.
The gunfire stopped at about 18:00 GMT, an hour after the blasts, they said, adding that a university campus in the area was evacuated.
In London, the Foreign Office confirmed that at least one explosion and a shooting incident took place close to the residences of the Iranian and British ambassadors.
"There has been an explosion and shooting close to the Iranian ambassador's residence and in the vicinity of the British ambassador's residence," a spokesperson said.
He said no injuries had been reported to British embassy staff.
US diplomats in the Syrian capital reported hearing two loud explosions, but could not determine what caused them or their exact location, a state department official said.
However, the official, citing the diplomats' report-back to Washington, said the explosions were not near the US embassy in Damascus.
The official added that the US embassy was closed for the day at the time of the blasts and that the diplomats were seeking further information from Syrian authorities.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 12:46:44 AM ||
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CNN is reporting that they were placing explosives under a car. If true then this is an assasination attempt. Not AQs MO.
#2
Does that mean that they will make the AQ guys turn the lights out in their office, pull the shades down and screen their calls with Caller ID?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 3:30 Comments ||
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#3
1) Low casualty count.
2) Middle of the night.
3) Against an *unoccupied* building of symbolic, non-practical significance.
4) In full view of various foreign embassies, actually *in* the embassy district, in a country with poor access for free media.
5) Very loud, with multiple explosions, yet few bodies.
6) Right after a series of embarrassments, including the foiled Jordanian chemical plot, more press about the "secret war" on the Iraqi border, and the Syrian Kurdish mini-uprising in March.
7) Comes as the Coalition starts to make sabre-rattling noises in the general direction of the Syrians and Iranians.
8) Comes a week after the Israelis demonstrate once again their willingness to assassinate Arab leaders who piss them off sufficiently.
I'm sorry, but combine this with Syrian officials whining about how they're fighting al Queda, too, and I have to say - this has all the hallmarks of a self-inflicted wound.
You know it's a clumsy false-flag operation when *I* can spot it.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/28/2004 7:44 Comments ||
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#4
Mith H. is absolutely correct. The "attack" was staged. When the Syrian ambassador to Washington yesterday said that Syria stands shoulder to shoulder with the US in the WOT I knew then the attack was faked.
Posted by: Mark ||
04/28/2004 8:29 Comments ||
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#5
Oh, don't get me wrong. They probably had some agent provocateurs recruit, arm, and shepherd some young idiots in the right direction. They might even have siphoned them off from the stream of jihadi flowing through the eastern provinces and al Qaim. I doubt it was a whole-cloth fabrication. But the incident stinks to high heaven of Syrian invention.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/28/2004 9:17 Comments ||
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#6
Maybe it was Kurds trying to get revenge for the killing of tens of their community some weeks back?
#7
It definitely wasn't an AQ trained force. This op doesn't fit their tactical template at all. I could write a monograph about this, but just one point. AQ is death on recon, sometimes spending years getting to know every aspect of the objective. There's no way they would ever hit an empty building.
#8
11ASS, I agree. When has AQ not left gobs or sprayed people, Kuffar or otherwise, at the scene of one of their attacks? How hard would it be to rent a bombing bozo in Damascus, a city where even the Weather Underground probably still maintains an office? I wouldn't be surprised to find that security forces were at the scene waiting to permanently silence the patsies respond. Do you think that this is just a ruse to give a coming attack on the US embassy political cover? If we evacuate, they'll just hit the Brits instead.
Cynic, how does blowing up an abandoned UN building, sound like tribal Kurdish justice to you?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 13:43 Comments ||
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The partial reports filtering out of Damascus indicate that the large-scale terrorist attack carried out Tuesday night, April 27, in the al Maza diplomatic quarter of the Syrian capital - a simultaneous car bomb, machine gun, grenade, rocket assault on several targets that set UN offices on fire and singled out the Canadian embassy â has brought the encroaching global terror warfront dangerously close to Israel.
Earlier on the same day, the new Saudi network leader, Abdulaziz al-Muqrin, on a newly-released audio tape threatened fiercer than ever attacks this year against âthe Jews, the Americans and the Crusaders.â He promised that Saudi Arabia would not be able to protect US interests. But âthe Jewsâ topped his list of targets.
The Damascus assault by mixed bombing-shooting teams recalls al Qaedaâs pattern of attack in most of the strikes it has carried out in the Saudi capital of Riyadh since May 2003. If al Qaeda was indeed behind the Damascus raid, its Tehran-based commanders are clearly in the process of further stretching their warfront across the Middle East into a fresh theatre, adding Syria to its bases of operations. While the Americans focus on their war against insurgents in Iraq and the Israelis are caught up in fighting Palestinian terrorists, al Qaeda is drawing a ring of fire around both.
Monday night, April 26, Jordanian TV aired the confessions of captured al Qaeda-linked terrorists, including Syrians, saying they had planned a chemical attack on Jordanian intelligence and US embassy in Amman. Jordanian security reported trucks seized with 20 tons of toxic chemicals that could have killed 80,000.
DEBKAfile reported earlier this month, that this attack was directed equally against targets in Amman and the Adam Bridge gateway from Jordan into Israel.
Al Qaedaâs order of action this month shows a certain logic in terrorist terms: first, the chemical weapons attack that was foiled by Jordan, followed by the bombing of Saudi General Intelligence headquarters that wrecked the kingdomâs counter-terror nerve center in Riyadh, then the homicidal speedboat bombers that aimed to sever Iraqâs main oil exporting route at Basra offshore terminal and, three days later, the attack on foreign missions in Damascus, including UN offices and the Canadian embassy.
The sound of these blasts was still reverberating around the Syrian capital Tuesday night, when Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN secretaryâs special envoy to Iraq, stood before the UN Security Council in New York and emphasized the importance of sticking to the June 30 handover deadline in Iraq. Brahimi is determined to get a caretaker government up and running in Baghdad before that date; Al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents are equally bent on frustrating his effort. Osama bin Ladenâs network in conjunction with Iraqi guerrillas sabotaged the last UN operation in Baghdad when they blew up the mission building on August 19, 2003 and murdered the last UN Iraq envoy Sergio de Mello and 22 UN staffers.
The Damascus attack alarms in Israel on two scores:
1. The ease with which al Qaedaâs cells and killers pass through borders and move across the Middle East at will, striking from operations centers uncomfortably close to Israelâs borders in Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
2. It is feared that they will next attempt to infiltrate Israel from several directions at once.
The following passage from an article published by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 153 sheds new light on al Qaedaâs current mode of operation:
Al Qaedaâs new methods were exposed by two earlier events this month - a suicide bombing that destroyed the heavily secured, seven-floor Saudi General Security headquarters on Riyadhâs al-Washm Street on Wednesday, April 21, and the raid a day earlier by Jordanian security forces on a villa in Ammanâs affluent Upper Hashami neighborhood. In the second event, the Jordanian squad made two astonishing discoveries. One was that they had seized a section of a terrorist ring bent on a chemical weapons attack. The other was the first Iraqi cell known to be working for al Qaeda.
The threat of non-conventional warfare hangs more palpably over the Middle East now than ever before. So too does the very real menace to the royal houses of Saudi Arabia and Jordan. It is now clear that al Qaeda or its surrogates have infiltrated Saudi and Jordanian intelligence and counter-terror agencies to a degree that imperils the two thrones.
There is no other way of accounting how two car bombs came close enough to blow up one of the most sensitive anti-terror facilities in the Saudi kingdom and prop of the royal house. The entire city had been on the highest alert for months. This week it reached a new climax after Saudi security intercepted in the Riyadh area five booby-trapped vehicles laden with a total of four tons of explosives.
Yet two bomb vehicles drove around the town past roadblocks and security checks without being apprehended. The Saudis were as usual intent on minimizing the damage, claiming four dead and 148 injured when the true death toll stood at 24 and 250 wounded.
But they could not disguise the first time that al Qaeda has directly attacked a Saudi security target and personnel charged with protecting the royal family, after a series of bombings against foreigners in the kingdom. Indeed most of the casualties were members of Saudi security forces.
DEBKA-Net-Weekly quotes counter-terrorism experts as asking how the bombers penetrated the security barriers of the heavily fortified General Security building â not once but twice. They drove up to the barriers without being stopped one hour before the blast and engaged the guards in casual conversation on the working hours in the building. They then turned around and came back an hour later. Seeing hundreds of workers heading out of the facility at the end of the workday, they crashed a barrier and blew themselves up in the packed parking lot adjacent to one of Riyadhâs busiest streets.
The suicide bombersâ freedom to move around a jittery capital without being challenged, the readiness of the guards at a highly sensitive facility to reveal such information as working hours are only two anomalies that indicate that some high-up in the Saudi security service must have cleared the way for them to reach their target.
The incident in Jordan was still more revealing. The Upper Hashami estate, home to some of the wealthiest families in the Hashemite Kingdom, is tightly secured by a private firm, Jordanian security personnel and police officers.
Visitors must show identification before they are allowed in. A fence surrounds the neighborhoodâs opulent villas and its guards carry state of the art electronic monitoring equipment. No one goes in or out without the knowledge of Jordanian security. Certainly anyone seeking to rent a villa is thoroughly vetted.
Nonetheless, al Qaeda was able to rent a villa for eight to 10 terrorists, at least seven of them recent arrivals from Iraq. All were highly trained in chemical warfare. Yet security personnel in Upper Hashami saw nothing amiss in a bunch of terrorists living it up in the posh suburb and armed to the teeth at all times. By good fortune, a neighbor who found their presence odd telephoned Jordanian security authorities, who immediately acted on the information. But was Jordanian security really taken by surprise? Did some high-placed al Qaeda plant make sure that the service tasked with guarding the throne was kept ignorant?
The grave breach discovered in his capital and his security and intelligence services was the real reason why King Abdullah called off his trip to Washington at the last minute, rather than affront at what his spokesmen claimed was President George W. Bushâs retraction of the Middle East âroad map.â The Jordanian monarch could not afford to delegate this crisis to anyone but himself.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 12:47:54 AM ||
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#1
Great read. The jihadies want a world war. they could care less about sunni this or shia that. They want total jihad. Blood libel, to the death!
#2
Debka of course centers everything on Israel but my take is somewhat different.
Imagine for a moment that Assad of Syria was going to play ball with the US, do a Libya. Arrest the militants, seal up the border, turn over his WMD. The Al Qaeda hardboys would be hampered in Iraq and would have serious public relations issues as another dictator/ally of theirs changed sides. So they put together a quick ad-hok attack hoping to destabalize Syria or scare Assad back onto their team.
This is the transcript of the Jordanian broadcast in which the confessions were made. It's quite long, but very informative.
Al-Qaeda terrorist group was planning to launch its first terrorist attack with chemical weapons against Jordan, a leader and members of Al Qaeda terrorist gang
confessed Saturday. The confessions were made by Azmi Al Jayousi and other members of the gang and aired tonight by Jordan television.
It's a excellent article, I checked and the link still works. Way long, so I snipped it down, Dan.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 12:53:51 AM ||
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Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/28/2004 23:54 ||
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#1
At this point a partition would only serve to carve up Iraq in convenient spheres of influence for Syria, Iran and Turkey. Iraq will function as a unitary state once we take care of Iran, Syria, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Once we bloody the old 2x4 on the correct heads the cross-border instigating will drop the level of annoyance only, there will be a peacefulness that spreads throughout the area.
In the post thumping Middle East, I expect that Kurdish separatism will continue but with fewer outbreaks of gross violent behavior. Palestinian population in Jordan and Lebanon will remain politically outspoken, but will begin to assimilate into their respective nation-states. Also, economically speaking, Lebanon will make a highly effective trading partner for Syria. Lebanon's current status as a chaotic, subjugated vassal state is ruining a symbiotic economic relationship that has worked very well throughout previous centuries.
Balkanizing Iraq just results in inefficient and weak âstateletsâ that sub-optimize. Partitioning has resulted in poor economies in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and throughout the Balkans. It's a bad idea and would necessitate a perpetual American military presence in each state.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/29/2004 0:44 Comments ||
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#2
I dunno - the Kurds have deserved a state for over 500 years. They've proven it repeatedly - and been screwed each and every time. As for keeping it together, it just doesn't compute as relevant, IMO. Not even a tick on the old stability meter. :-)
Aside from that, I used to refer to SyrLeb as a two-fer. Fact is, it should be IraSyrLeb - and it's a three-peat. Whack the Mad Mullahs and Damascus starts waffling and falling into civil war as Baby Assad will be the first man down and whatever passes for Gov't in Lebanon dissolves. They'll all be very very bizzy with their own affairs. Just finish building those arms caches, broadcast the magic phrase ("Oh Pejman, these Karbala kumquats look mighty tasty!") on the Mohammad's Magi-Meals show, and cut the head off that damn sqawking chicken over to the East...
#3
I don't know the right answer, but what bothers me is their inability to separate church and state and the law from their religion. I'm not sure their culture is advanced enough to handle it, though I think their are plenty of Iraqi's who can.
Remember that the American Revolutionaries already had a good grasp of the advantages of these principals, having been separated by distance from the King. The Sunni's and Shia's just don't seem to grasp it...whereas the Kurds, having run themselves separate of the state for years ..seem to grasp it fairly well.
But more importantly - I think we should at the very least, divide Iraq into at least 3 separate states that are linked, much in the way as the EU isshould be linked. Our own original states held the majority of the power in our early days. The federal government had very limited actual powers...just look at the history of the attempts to set up the lighthouse service to see how much of a gentleman's agreement the Fed govn't really was. They issued mandates and the states followed them if they felt like it. The Federal govn't in early America was not strong, but over time they grasped the power/advantages of a strong union. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
I don't see why don't apply those concepts to Iraq. They really are three separate states - denying it isn't helpful, IMHO.
#4
B, don't forget that our country's founder had no intention of separating church and state other than not creating a new American Anglican church. The Supreme Court paper-mache'd that idea together out of some strips of a Jefferson letter in the 1940's - some pretty effective revisionism.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/29/2004 5:56 Comments ||
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#5
I've never heard that before, but OK..(B's mind working to rethink that whole meme). Considering the language of our forefathers and that it was through the structure of the church that things were really functioning here in the US, it's a new idea to me, but ok...hmmm...I guess I can buy that.
BUT, be that as it may, Christianity by nature, allows for people of other faiths to worship in peace. Islam does not. Christianity is about forgivness - Islam is about blame.
You can not have a representative government if your leaders do not believe that those holding minority viewpoints are unworthy of being represented.
I think for that reason, we should at the very least, divide them into states, that hold the majority the power for the day to day of their constituents and overarch on top of that a loose federal government that is based on the mutual benefits of cooperation between these states
....just as our country was set up or the EU should be set up.
For all practical purposes, they are separte states and I think we should recognize that and act accordingly, rather than pretend they are somehow magically going develop a multicultural consciousness.
The United States has warned its citizens to avoid travel to Israel, and to leave the Gaza Strip immediately. A State Department statement said that the Islamic militant group Hamas had made threats against US interests. Two Hamas leaders have been killed in recent weeks by Israel, and the US says the situation "remains extremely hopeful volatile".
The warning came shortly before a blast partially destroyed the home of the Gaza police chief in Gaza City. No one was hurt in the pre-dawn explosion, Palestinian police and witnesses said. There has been no immediate comment on the explosion by the Israeli military.
"We can say no more!"
"The Department of State warns US citizens to depart Gaza immediately and to defer travel to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza due to current safety and security concerns," the statement said. Hamas has vowed a "volcano of Dire⢠revenge" against Israel. "Statements have been made by Hamas elements and other terrorist Groups threatening revenge against US interests following the killings of Hamas leaders in Gaza, which could include kidnappings," it continued.
So that's who swiped the KCNA Style book.
The statement said American citizens "should avoid, to the extent possible, public places such as restaurants and cafes, shopping and market areas and malls, pedestrian zones, public buses and bus stops, and other crowded places that tend to go kaboom venues".
Wednesday's statement updated a travel warning from 23 March, which was issued on the day Israel assassinated Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. It now refers to Hamas threats to avenge the 17 April murder of his successor Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi.
#1
"All useful American Citizens are urged to leave Gaza immediately - However... if you're a Corrie-ISM asshat, your meeting point is at the Yassin Ave./Rantissi Blvd. intersection - look for the laser dot"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 22:17 Comments ||
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Just one excuse after another, from Kofi
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) hit back at the media over allegations of widespread fraud and corruption in the UN programme that oversaw Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)âs oil sales in Iraq (news - web sites).
With a brewing scandal enveloping the United Nations (news - web sites) over the programme, a defensive Annan blamed "outrageous" press reports about the affair and also took a swipe at the United States and Britain.
"If you read the reports it looks as if the Saddam regime had nothing to do with it. They did nothing wrong, it was all the UN," he told reporters in some of his bluntest comments yet on the matter.
"Some of the comments that I have been read have been constructive and thoughtful. Others have been rather outrageous and exaggerated," he said.
Annan has already appointed an independent enquiry headed by former US Federal Reserve (news - web sites) banking chief Paul Volcker to look into the oil-for-food programme, which was the largest aid scheme in UN history.
The programme, which closed last year, has been dogged by allegations of bribes and kickbacks, including a US television report last week accusing the director and two other top UN officials of getting payoffs from Saddam.
Oil-for-food allowed Iraq use its oil revenues to buy humanitarian supplies in a bid to ease the effects of sanctions slapped on Baghdad over its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
UN monitoring was intended to ensure that the revenues went for aid. In January, a Baghdad newspaper published a list of hundreds of individuals said to have got payoffs by the regime.
Meanwhile the US government says Saddam and his associates may have pocketed around 10 billion dollars, including more than five billion from smuggled oil sold outside the rules of the programme.
"We had no mandate to stop oil smuggling," Annan said. "There was no way the UN could have stopped it."
He said some of the smuggling was done overland in trucks through northern Iraq, where the United States and Britain at the time patrolled a "no-fly" zone -- and a similar zone in the south -- that kept the regime hemmed in.
"They were driving the trucks through northern Iraq to Turkey," Annan said. "The US and the British had planes in the air. We were not there. Why is all this being dumped on the UN?"
Annan has also been put on the defensive because of revelations that his son Kojo worked for a company, Cotecna, that was contracted to work under the programme.
"There is nothing in the accusations about my son. He joined the company even before I became secretary general," the UN chief said. "Neither he nor I had anything to do with the contract for Cotecna."
Oil-for-food was launched in December 1996 and was terminated in November. Its director, Benon Sevan, has denied any wrongdoing.
Annan recalled that the day-to-day monitoring of the programme was done by a sub-committee of the 15-nation UN Security Council and not the UN secretariat which he heads.
"All this is dumped on the secretariat. These allegations are doing damage," he said. The inquiry panel has only begun work in the past weeks and will give an initial update on its investigation within three months.
WASHINGTON - A former manager in the scandal-scarred oil for food program will tell Congress today how top U.N. officials running the program deliberately looked the other way, congressional officials said last night.
Frenchman Michael Soussan, a former program coordinator for the $100 billion fund, is expected to be the star witness of a House International Relations Committee hearing looking into Saddamâs gigantic $10.1 billion rip-off.
Committee sources said Soussan, now a New York-area writer, is expected to give the first, under oath, public account from an insider about how top U.N. officials were aware of Saddamâs oil smuggling and kickback schemes but chose to let him get away with it.
Allegations surfaced in a Baghdad newspaper earlier this year that Benon Sevan, the director of the program, was among 270 sympathetic international political and financial figures who received sweetheart oil deals from Saddam
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 21:09 Comments ||
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Kofi: Hire Johnnie Cochrane now, before someone else does. And remember, the first guy to flip gets the best deal.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/28/2004 21:48 Comments ||
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A U.S.-bound shipment of thousands of AK-47 assault rifles and other combat-type weapons, seized by Italian authorities who suspected they were being smuggled, actually have legal permits to be imported, American officials said Wednesday. About 7,500 AK-47s, AKM rifles and other weapons worth an estimated $6 million were seized April 20 aboard a Turkish-flagged ship in the port of Gioia Tauro. They were bound for New York from Romania. At the time, Italian authorities said the guns were hidden aboard the ship.
But Andrew Lluberes, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the weapons actually were cleared by U.S. authorities. "The permits are valid," he said.
Hah, I knew it. It was just a paperwork snafu.
A 1994 law prevents the U.S. gun industry from making, importing or selling military-style semiautomatic weapons. But under ATF regulations, a properly licensed company can ship such weapons to a "custom bonded warehouse" in the United States. There, they are disassembled and their key firing components destroyed. The remaining parts can then be reconfigured into a weapon that will meet the letter of the 1994 law and can be sold legally in the United States.
Unless, of course, they get real busy and don't get around to disassembling them till, oh say, Sept 13th.
Two U.S. law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the weapons seized in Italy were being shipped to a Century International Arms Inc. facility in Georgia, Vt. The company's Internet site bills Century as "North America's largest importer/exporter of surplus firearms and accessories." An official at the company, which is based on Boca Raton, Fla., refused to comment Wednesday. Dean Boyd, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said American and Italian authorities continue to investigate the case. The weapons remain in Italy. The 1994 weapons ban is set to expire Sept. 13 unless extended by Congress.
Which has nothing to do with the timing of this shipment. Really.
Gun control groups have been lobbying to win an extension, which President Bush promised to support during his 2000 campaign.
"If it gets to my desk."
Posted by: Steve ||
04/28/2004 4:38:51 PM ||
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60 Minutes II has obtained photographs of what was happening in Abu Ghraib. The photos show American soldiers mistreating Iraqi prisoners.
. . . . .
One of the soldiers who is now facing court martial, Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Chip Frederick, described to Rather what he saw in the Iraqi prison.
"We had no support, no training whatsoever, and I kept asking my chain of command for certain things, rules and regulations, and it just wasnât happening," he said.
Frederick is charged with maltreatment, assault and indecent acts for posing for a photograph while sitting on top of a detainee, striking detainees and ordering detainees to strike each other, among other things.
How did this become so public?
Frederick wrote home to his family about the treatment of prisoners. He said in an e-mail: "We helped getting them to talk with the way we handle them. Weâve had a very high rate with our styles of getting them to break; they usually end up breaking within hours."
How did this become so public? Did they get information that later saved lives?
I may be crude an uncivilized, but these animals prisoners captured by the military tortured and murdered before and after Saddam. Sat on someones head? Convinced someone that the wires attached to his hands were electric, but werenât? Mild compared to what happened to the recent coalition hostages. After hearing about what happened to that Italian hostage, it seems the only reason that we have to act is because these incidents became so public. I feel sorry for Gen Kimmit, cornered by the weasels at CBS.
#1
I'm sure CBS will balance with shots of the corpses hung from bridges, the rape rooms and mass graves, the gassed dead in Halabja, and the current scenes (apparently readily available) of ambulances being used as ammo/terrorist carriers, women and children as human shields - against their will, and the use of religious Moskkks as ammo resupply and attack centers, right? After all, Sweeps week is coming up?
(/sarcasm)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 21:22 Comments ||
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EFL
The Shia religious leadership is upset about being bullied by the radical al Sadr gunmen, but have been unable to organize an armed force that can deal with the problem. Well, maybe not entirely. There is apparently an Iraqi sniper operating in Najaf, killing al Sadr gunmen one by one. This, not surprisingly, has unnerved the al Sadr gangs, and caused them to act brutally towards Iraqis in attempts to find the mysterious sniper. Meanwhile, American military commanders are developing plans that will enable them to use their considerable combat power to work with whatever force the Shia religious leadership can come up with, to defeat the al Sadr gangs, while using as little American military force as possible. In Fallujah, the marines are moving into position for a final assault on the gangs.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/28/2004 4:11:46 PM ||
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#1
There is apparently an Iraqi sniper operating in Najaf, killing al Sadr gunmen one by one.
It would be funny as hell if it turned out to be some Iraqi Annie Oakley, a teenage girl, who is a deadeye shot, and ticked off that these interlopers are ruining her city.
#2
"Tonight on NBC, Muqutada al-Sadr makes his television comedy debut in a very special episode of Just Shoot Me . . . ."
Posted by: Mike ||
04/28/2004 16:45 Comments ||
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"American military commanders are developing plans that will enable them to use their considerable combat power to work with whatever force the Shia religious leadership can come up with"
Now that is cool!
Posted by: Evert V. in NL ||
04/28/2004 16:50 Comments ||
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#4
You know, it just occured to me to ask, what makes them think there's just one sniper?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
04/28/2004 16:56 Comments ||
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#5
There is apparently an Iraqi sniper operating in Najaf, killing al Sadr gunmen one by one. This, not surprisingly, has unnerved the al Sadr gangs, and caused them to act brutally towards Iraqis in attempts to find the mysterious sniper.
Well, this dispels the notion that Sadr's followers really give a damn about their countrymen's wishes. It's basically all about Sadr, Sadr, Sadr., and his Iranian mullah masters.
#8
Witnesses on the ground said insurgents were hiding behind women and children during the firefight
We need a few pictures or videos of this on the nighty news......
#11
I just got a new car with XM satellite radio. I can't tell you what a pleasure it is to have access to Fox News all of the time. I listened to the Fallujah action yesterday evening on the way home. I wish they would do a national radio broadcast so I could listen while at work, too.
Posted by: Tibor ||
04/28/2004 17:06 Comments ||
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#12
Fox News XM Channel 121. Love it but can't see the babes.
Posted by: Don ||
04/28/2004 17:20 Comments ||
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#14
I am a little rusty on my radical Islamic theology, and I need some help. Are the women shields and child shields martyrs? Does it depend on whether they volunteered to shield the jihadi warriors or if they are infidels forced to shield the warriors? How young a child can make the decision?
Posted by: Sam ||
04/28/2004 20:06 Comments ||
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#15
Sam, Sam, Sam - You are cluttering the theological experts with too many details. We can't answer this. The Imam al-Sadr is to busy defending his bony ass to answer such a hypothetical.
#16
You can get guidance here, Sam - just post your questions and a fatwa will be custom-generated. I'm sure the experts there will resolve these pesky details for you.
"Hanging aayaats on walls for protection
Islam Q&A - 12/04/2004 07:09:00 GMT
Is it proper to hang Quranic verses from the wall to
1. protect one from evil things
2. beautify the room with divine words
3. with the intention that it will gain me rewards
Answer :
Praise be to Allaah.
The ruling on placing the Mus-haf (copy of the Qurâaan) in cars to ward off the evil eye and for protection from danger is a bidâah. The Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them) never carried the Mus-haf to ward off danger or the evil eye. If it is bidâah, then we should remember that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: âEvery bidâah is a going-astray and every going-astray will lead to Hell.â (Telephone conversation with Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-âUthaymeen) (al-Bidaâ waâl-Muhdathaat wa maa laa aslun lahu, p. 259)..."
Big Finish: "I remember in this respect that Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said, âYou will fall prey to other nations, in the same way eaters gather upon a tureen.â A man asked, âIs it due to our small numbers?â The Prophet said, âNay, you will be abundant at that time. But you will be as worthless as scum. And Allah will void the hearts of your enemy of any respect for you, and He will imbue your hearts with effeteness.â People asked, âWhat do you mean by effeteness?â The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, âIt is to love life and hate death.ââ
#26
Frank, you're cracking us all up!
"Bidet, bidah, who's to know?" ROFL...!
Posted by: Jen ||
04/28/2004 23:04 Comments ||
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#27
The two quotes by .com (#s 17 and 21) may provide the answer. The second one makes the the key point - "But you will be as worthless as scum. And Allah will void the hearts of your enemy of any respect for you, and He will imbue your hearts with effeteness.â The prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) accurately describes the heart of those fighting the insurgents who hide behind women and children. I'm still not sure how the "bidâah" fits into this, but I'm from Texas and it may take awhile to figger that part out.
Posted by: Sam ||
04/28/2004 23:05 Comments ||
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#28
it's the "drinking fountain" you don't wanna use when you travel to EUArabia
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 23:09 Comments ||
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#30
Hiding behind women and children won't hide their sorry a$$es from an ARCLIGHT strike.
They've GOTTA let me get one in, and Fallujah just hungers for it! And I'd plan a doozie - thirty-two ships, in pairs, each coming in from a different compass point at ten minute intervals... Of course, the "H" models can "only" cram aboard 78 weapons, so we'll need the extra aircraft. Pull the Marines and any known, loyal Iraqis about fifteen miles, seal all the entry-exit points, and let her rip! Preferably beginning about 0257, local time - just when everybody's in deep sleep. For the town of Fallujah, it will be their last...
Yeah, I'm a bastard, but the Iraqis will get the point.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/29/2004 0:29 Comments ||
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#31
hey but which news agency would wanna show us those Islamo-kiddy-shields, none i bet,very sad :(
I hope it's the same kids mugging for the camera while american bodies were dragged thru the streets.
Iraqi Sunnis hold up a poster advertising a purported reward of U.S. $15 million for the heads of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, right, coalition forces commander Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez, center, or military spokesman Brigadier-General Mark Kimmitt in Fallujah, Iraq , 37 miles, 60 kilometers west of Baghdad, Wednesday, April 28, 2004.
#3
The fools! Don't they know who they're up against?? Can't they see Rumsfeld using the Twin Hypno-planes combined with the Grimace of Doom?? The weaklings are no match for Gesture Master Rumsfeld!
Who's that ginger-whiskered Arab on the left there?
#6
What's worth mentioning is that these guys feel they have to offer money so that someone else will do the job. After all, two of those individuals on the paper are IN Iraq already, so it shouldn't require too much effort to grab either of them. Am I right, cowards? So what do you say, boys? You guys up to the task?
#12
Soooooo cool. Soooooo macho. Sooooo incredibly funny that they can get themselves worked up into such a frenzy over a propaganda leaflet. I'm sure Rumsfeld will have difficulty sleeping tonight.
Posted by: Tom ||
04/28/2004 15:54 Comments ||
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#14
what I think is interesting is the big white space where someone very carefully photoshopped someone out of the picture.
If we killed these people for threatening our to kill our leaders like this, it would send a much clearer picture that Mr. Nice Guy doesn't live here anymore.
Posted by: B ||
04/28/2004 15:58 Comments ||
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#15
Remember these are the idiots that marched all over the world carrying signs that showed Sesame Street's Bert sitting next to Osama bin Laden.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 16:07 Comments ||
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#16
why their not go straight to top and offer reward for chainey? these guys need shot for the top and stop reach for small potatoes if they ever going get anywere in life.
#17
Nice of them to write the sign in English, too, for all those Iraqis, Syrians, Iranians, Paleo, etc., who don't read Arabic. Such thoughtful people.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/28/2004 16:41 Comments ||
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#22
The entire image looks like a Photoshopped pastiche. Why is Ginger staring into the back of the flier? Shouldn't he be looking grim and war-like, determined to meet the infidel with fire and sword?
The rest of 'em don't look overly concerned with current developments, either. Their calm dispositions must be due to the superior skills of the ubiquitous Mr. Abdul Kader Saadi, AP photographer to the stars and the Islami... blipblipblip ...ice offices in Iraq.
It says they have offices. Seems to me, we know where to go and find them...
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 20:10 Comments ||
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#24
I think it looks like a jihadi cereal box--"Fallujah Flakes." And what does everybody think of "shorty" holding the poster (the one with the red scarf and funny glasses)? These Iraqis--they come in all shapes and sizes and colors, don't they?
I also think it's great how one of them is holding a grenade in his hand--just like he'd be holding his pathetic . . . never mind.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 23:13 Comments ||
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#28
Lol! Ok, that does it -- when Fred gets back I'm sending him this thread and demanding he check the IP's - methinks SH and Frank G are one and the same! Prolly "Shipman" and "muck4doo", too. All the same devious twisted howl-at-the moon personality! Lol!
#33
LOL - gotta go - nite all - a new day in Fallujah tomorrow?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 23:40 Comments ||
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#34
Frank G, Chevy will be a good buy next summer when the new Silverado comes out. The way I understand the Familyfirst program - I am hazy on many of my benefits but my siblings like to use them - stockholders qualify for the program. It may be one of those deals similar to Wrigley where if you buy one share of stock, Mr Wrigley sends you a gum sample pack at X-mas.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/29/2004 1:00 Comments ||
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FALLUJAH, IRAQ â For military medics, the lesson that matters most from Lt. Jeff Copeland's US Marine convoy is not that it was ambushed three times by Iraqi insurgents on a single run. The key point for them: How and where were the two US casualties wounded?
As US troops struggle with ongoing violence, a newly established US Navy Combat Trauma Registry is charting casualty patterns in hopes of improving troop protection. The number of US dead in April has reached 122, with nearly 900 troops wounded. Already, specific dangers for US forces - roadside bombs and urban warfare - are prompting swift innovations.
The military, for example, has rush ordered thousands of Kevlar shoulder guards and blastproof sunglasses. The reason? Ask Lieutenant Copeland, a US Navy combat medic officer from Gainesville, Fla., whose first taste of combat came two weeks ago. Two of his marines took shoulder injuries from bullets and shrapnel. "He's done, he's gone home - he can't shoot," Copeland says of one case. New Kevlar shoulder guards might have protected the marine and kept him on the battlefront.
At Camp Fallujah, seven miles east of the city, new forms arrived this week that will allow surgeons to log details of injuries and answer questions about their cause, and armor used. Using a prototype form until now, US Navy medical corpsmen at the Bravo Surgical Company here have detailed more than 190 trauma cases. The new forms can be filled out on computer; some medical officers nearer the front line will hold voice recorders. "All we have is this huge database from Vietnam that ... needs updating," says US Navy Capt. Eric McDonald, chief surgeon for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. "We're trying to answer those questions - which glasses are better, which armor, which vehicle is better - in a scientific way."
There has been close cooperation between the US Army and the Navy, which traditionally provides medical support for the marines. "If you watch Roman Legion movies, that is where we are getting to," says Navy Capt. John Siefert, a doctor from San Diego, Calif., referring to Kevlar shoulder guards and lower skirts on flak vests.
"I've seen mockups of the future warrior, and they look like [Star Wars] storm troopers," says Cmdr. Ben Ernst, medical director of the unit, from Chillicothe, Missouri.
Trauma centers in US hospitals today are a direct outgrowth of Army medics coping with combat trauma in Vietnam. Improvements since that era - including forward surgical teams much closer to front-line action - have trimmed front-line death rates. In the 1991 Gulf War, ceramic armor plates were used only by Special Forces; today they are standard issue.
Parallel to the budding Navy effort, the Army has been pursuing the first stages of its own trauma registry. The birth of key innovations in Iraq, in fact, began over the winter, when the Army's 82nd Airborne controlled this area.
It was Lt. Col. Kelly Bal, an orthopedic surgeon with the Army's 82nd Airborne, who first detected the pattern of wounds to exposed shoulders. Colonel Bal jerry-rigged a Kevlar groin protector from a typical armored vest to fit around the upper arm, says McDonald. A prototype saved a soldier. The Army quickly bought 6,000, some 2,000 of which are now being used by marines. The Marines have ordered 25,000 more shoulder protectors.
A similar story surrounds the wide use of Wiley-X sunglasses with ballistic lenses and padded frames, and toughened goggles - a direct result of blast wounds to the eyes from IEDs. "Ideally, we would travel in hermetically sealed bubbles ... but we don't drape ourselves in this stuff [because] everything you add is a benefit, and has a cost," says McDonald. Shoulder protectors may hamper a marksman and add a heat burden. Some ballistic glasses tend to fog in heat. Experts are also working on a better earplug that permits frequencies like voices while protecting against the noise of a nearby grenade blast. Surgeons here also expect more coverage of neck and lower abdomen areas. "The future is mining that database," says McDonald, "to find the places where benefits [of new measures] outweigh risks."
Posted by: Steve ||
04/28/2004 10:53:18 AM ||
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#1
Simply amazing yet all our advancements in the midst of battle pale to the electric buzzing prayer rug. All hail Allan.
#3
Martin Staton, pointed out that the 10th Mountain had older vests due to shortages in Somalia, but the older vests had shoulder pads whic helped out immensely for crowd control.
It amazes me that the DOD and contractors have gotten this proficient at changing a product and getting the new gear into the field.
Hey sarge, there are rioters heading towards us.
OK, corporal, Platoon in your stances. We go on three, and don't jump if I give them the hard count....
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 17:07 Comments ||
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#1
I disagree in that I see the turmoil in the Muslim world as being reactionary as opposed to progressive. The whole idea of individual freedoms and rights undermines almost every power relationship in the Islamic world. The relationships of Amir to governed, Sheikh to tribe member and mullah to mosque go-er are upset by the concepts of natural law and rights originating from the people not from the Koran and Sunnah. Likewise, relationships between husband and wife and parent and child are challenged by Western concepts of freedom to choose you own career and mate. Every power holder in Islamic societies must fight westernization if he hopes to hold on to his power. OBL represents that fight. That's why his popularity is so immense in the Arab world.
I'd agree with the writer's thesis if an intellectual ferment similar to that of the rennaissance was ongoing in the Muslim world. It just isn't. The growth of Islam is due to Western medicine, Western agricultural techniques (and agricultural subsidies), and Saudi oil money. You remove any one of the three elements and the growth stops and in fact reverses.
You gotta love paranoia. All failing ârevolutionaryâ organizations consume their own as they fail. The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday warned all Palestinian factions against killing suspected "collaborators" with Israel, saying it was the only party authorized to deal with such people.
A senior PA official disclosed that more than 150 Palestinians were being held by the PA on suspicion of collaboration with Israel. He said the majority of the suspects were arrested in the past three years, and that some had confessed to passing on information to Israel that led to the assassination of Palestinian wanted men.
The official said the PA was planning to bring some of the suspects to trial before special security tribunals in the next few weeks in an attempt to deter others from assisting the Israeli security forces.
The warning not to kill suspected informants came amid increased calls by Hamas and Fatah to crack down on those who assist Israel in tracking down their members. Following the assassinations of Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the two groups vowed to launch a campaign to "eliminate traitors."
The armed wings of Hamas and Fatah announced earlier this week that they have decided to form an "anti-collaborator" hit team to track down and kill Palestinians who have links with the Israeli security forces.
Over the past week, at least four alleged collaborators were killed in separate attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Two of the killings, in Tulkarm and Beit Rima near Ramallah, were claimed by Fatahâs armed wing, the al-Aksa Martyrsâ Brigades, while Hamas said its members killed another two near the Maghazi refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
The man killed in Beit Rima was identified as Mohammed Husan, 30. Villagers said he was forced to announce through the loudspeakers of a mosque that he had been collaborating with Israel since 1997 and that he was responsible for the killing of wanted men.
Less than 24 hours after Husan was executed in the village center, the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades published a statement announcing that he had been killed by mistake and that he was innocent. The group also sent an apology to the victimâs family, saying a further investigation revealed that he was not a "traitor."
Collaborators â a phenomenon that affects the entire Palestinian society
Col. Rashid Abu Shabak, head of the PA Preventative Security Service in the Gaza Strip, said Wednesday that the PA was the only party authorized to pursue the collaborators and bring them to trial.
"As long as there is a Palestinian Authority that is responsible for internal security, then it must assume its role in fighting against these agents and prosecuting them," he said.
Abu Shabak noted that the PA had taken several measures in the past against Palestinians who collaborated with Israel, including the detention of some who allegedly assisted Israel in carrying out targeted killings.
"We have caught a number of collaborators whom we believe helped Israel in the recent assassinations of Palestinian leaders," Abu Shabak added. "But for security reasons, we are not planning to make public all the information that we hold. We have arrested a number of collaborators and the investigation is continuing."
The PA security official urged all Palestinian factions to provide him with whatever information they have about the identities of collaborators so that the security forces would be able to deal with them.
Abu Shabak expressed regret that the other Palestinian factions were not helping the PA security forces in their mission.
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/28/2004 9:56:39 AM ||
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#1
Paleo "traitors" = any Palis who oppose a second Holocaust
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
04/28/2004 11:21 Comments ||
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The official said the PA was planning to bring some of the suspects to trial before special security tribunals in the next few weeks in an attempt to deter others from assisting the Israeli security forces.
Heh, the PA's definition of "trial" is quite different from most everybody else's.....
..." Abu, you have been found guilty of collaborating with the Zionist dogs resulting in the killing of freedom fighters. for this you are sentenced to die horribly in public. Any last words?"
"Um... yeah. Do you mean to tell me that because I wanted to adhere to the terms of the Oslo accords, and help rid my people of the terrorist organizations that prevent us from moving into the 21st century, that I'm about to die? In my defense, I demand that we examine the copy of the Oslo accords that our leader brought home!"
"Um...yeah...Oslo accords...right. You mean you thought those were for real? Listen, I'd like to oblige you, but after Rantisi took the dirt nap last week, our leader crapped his pants and needed something to clean up with. He didn't want use toilet paper so he grabbed something that was worth even less..."
The Taliban have refused the proposal of Hamid Karzai and have said that they will not allow the election process to continue under current situation. According to Taliban second in command, Commander Dad Ullah talking to a reporter by satellite phone he said that they will intensify their activities to make sure the election does not take place under American occupation and will kill all the contenders of the elections. Ullah also said that the Taliban will continue to fight the American puppet regime of Hamid Karzai and that no peace talks will be considered. Previously, Hamid Karzai offered the Taliban the opportunity to send their representatives to run in the election in exchange for ending the fighting. The Taliban have flatly refused the offer.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/28/2004 9:38:31 AM ||
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#1
As I pointed out yesterday, if the Taliban were to return to power democratically, their Islamic creeds would not allow them to hold any more elections.
The only diplomatic exchange we need with the Taliban is one of bullets.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
04/28/2004 9:56 Comments ||
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#2
Er, no need to exchange bullets with the Taliban, they can catch 'em all.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2004 10:33 Comments ||
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Posted by: Mike ||
04/28/2004 11:32 Comments ||
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Dad Ullah
Is he someone's father?
Oh, Mike : I found this phot of a mysterious candidate for the chairmanship of the Pinellas Co., Democrat Central Committee. Perhaps this explains your comment.
#5
The Taliban have refused the proposal of Hamid Karzai and have said that they will not allow the election process to continue under current situation.
So what does Karzai think of the wisdom now of approaching those Taliban throwbacks with this "proposal" in the first place? If Karzai's smart, he'll learn from this experience.
#7
He's held out the hand of friendship, and the Taliban have bitten it. Now he can proceed to whack and stack to his heart's content, knowing he's done "everything possible" to achieve things peacefully. Let the killings begin.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/28/2004 17:14 Comments ||
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Nonnamouse
"...satellite phone? can't we track and target those"?
Available at all corner shops, PAYG, Worldwide. Someone has to pay, so take out the money. Take them out on a Monday morning in the office annonymously, even during Ramadan annonymously.
#9
True enough, Steve, but unfortunately they have that funny little tendency to shoot back at our boys; apparently letting yourself be shot by US Marines without defending yourself isn't Islamic or somesuch. Although I do think you're right; they'll end up catching a lot more of them than we will.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
04/28/2004 18:29 Comments ||
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and will kill all the contenders of the elections.
From Jihad Unspun
A Taliban attack near the American military headquarters at Bagram Airbase has killed five American soldiers while their Afghan driver was also killed. According to details, on the main highway leading from Bagram, some Americans were coming home from Koh Safi using a private vehicle when their vehicle was bombed using rockets. Taliban have accepted responsibility for this attack. According to Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi, the Taliban intelligence network has developed into a sophisticated system and it was this intelligence was used to find out that the Americans were using a private vehicle to return to Bagram airbase. American soldiers have started to use private non-marked vehicles recently in an effort to avoid attacks by Taliban. The Taliban spokesman warned drivers of private vehicles not to take American soldiers as passengers because Americans will be attacked regardless of the vehicles they are traveling in and locals could be caught in the crossfire. ....
According to other reports, American forces arrested a night watchman from a market in Ogyan Paktika and later executed him. It was reported that American soldiers gave the man a satellite phone and large sum of money to spy on Taliban and report any Taliban activity. But the same day the watchman reported to Americans using the satellite phone that some Taliban were in the market, and when American soldiers came to check the situation, a well planned ambush was carried out. The fighting was so fierce the Americans had to evacuate. Later on, Americans captured the watchman and killed him. Next morning they came back with his body and arrested five men and took the satellite phone and the money along with them.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/28/2004 9:36:45 AM ||
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Former Jammu and Kashmir home minister and National Conference candidate from Udhampur, Khalid Najeeb Suharwardy, had a narrow escape when terrorists hurled a grenade and opened fire on his rally on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring 52. The militants, who had positioned themselves on a mountain, hurled a grenade on the activists in Bagwa village, 15 km from Doda town at around 1.10 pm, official sources said.
"He's on the high ground, here's the wind-up, and the pitch!"
The grenade exploded just 50 metres away from where Suharwardy was delivering a speech, they said, adding that two people were killed on the spot.
Missed him by 50 meters, that was a close one. Well, by islamic grenade tossing standards, you'd think as well as they do at cricket they'd do better.
Maybe they should import their grenade tossers from Cuba.
The grenade attack was followed by firing by militants even as security personnel whisked away the NC candidate to a safer place. Security personnel retaliated and the firing exchange continued for a brief period, they said, adding that 52 people were injured in the attack. The eight seriously injured were airlifted to Medical College Hospital in Jammu. Other injured in the attack are in Doda district hospital. Senior officials rushed to the spot while a search operation has been launched to track down the militants, they said.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/28/2004 9:18:38 AM ||
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From Jihad Unspun, written by Donna Mulhearn, an Austrialian who went to Iraq as a human shield and went back last Nov to start a house for street kids in Baghdad.
.... We talked about how we could help. In the last mission a few days earlier, our friends had been successful in negotiating with soldiers in getting wounded people off the street and evacuating families from areas of cross-fire. The doctors asked if we could accompany an ambulance packed with food and medical supplies across town to a hospital that had been cut off. It was in the US controlled section of the town so it was not able to receive aid because of constant sniper fire. The doctors figured our foreign nationality could make a difference in negotiating the safe passage of the ambulance with the soldiers.
It might seem a strange and unnecessary mission to help an ambulance drive from one place to another - anywhere else in the world itâs a basic thing, but this is Fallujah and this is war and nothing is as it should be, despite guarantees laid out in the Geneva Convention. The last time an ambulance went to this part of town it was shot at by US troops. I know this because two of my friends were in the ambulance at the time, trying to reach a pregnant woman who had gone into pre-mature labor. They didnât reach her, but the bullet holes in the ambulance are a testament to the fact they tried.
So we packed the ambulance with supplies and got in the back. With me were three other foreigners: Jo, Dave and Beth - two British, an American and an Aussie, a good representation of young people from the "Coalition of the Willing" trying to counter-balance the military intervention of our countries with loving intervention. We donned bright blue surgical gowns and held our passports in our hands. A couple of medical staff were with us, as well as the drivers in the front.
We drove slowly through the parts of Fallujah controlled by Iraqi fighters then stopped in a side-street that faced a main road. We could not go any further because the main road was under watch and control of US snipers. They had developed a habit of shooting at anything that moved. So we parked the ambulance in the side street and the four of us got out with the task of approaching the American soldiers, communicating with them and getting permission for the ambulance to continue to the hospital.
The area was completely quiet. The silence was unnerving. We prepared the loudspeaker, put our hands in the air and held our passports high. Before we ventured onto the main road we called out a message from the side street.
"Hello? American soldiers! We are a group of international aid workers. We are unarmed. We are asking permission to transport an ambulance full of medical supplies to the hospital. Can you hear us?" The reply was just a chilling silence. We repeated the message. Silence again.
We looked at each other. Perhaps the soldiers were too far away to hear us? We had to walk onto the main road and take the risk that we would be clearly visible as unarmed civilians, and approach the soldiers with our hands in the air. I took a deep breathe and for a split-second thought that this was probably the most dangerous thing I had ever done in my life. As I exhaled, my heart gave me strength: I looked at the others and could tell we were all thinking the same thing: "If I donât do this, then who will?" Their courage inspired me as we all stepped out on the road together. We walked slowly with our arms raised in the air. My eyes scanned the tops of the buildings for snipers. We didnât know where they were set up so we walked in the direction of the hospital. We repeated the message over and over again on the loudspeaker, in the silence it would have been heard for hundreds of metres. It echoed eerily throughout the neighbourhood.
I turned my head briefly and just in time. In the distance I saw two white flashes, then the loud bang of gunshots and the ugly realisation that they were shooting into our backs. It all happened so fast: ducking, hearing the whizz of the bullets above our heads, diving for cover off the side of the road against a wall. We huddled there for a moment behind a bush, then someone cried: "Letâs go". We crawled along the ground, at one stage I was walking low with my back hunched. In the scramble I fell. My hands broke my fall onto sharp gravel on the rough ground. I felt the sting of pain and could see the blood, but I had no time to stop and check what happened.
We ended up in someoneâs back yard then made our way back to the ambulances by jumping fences and going through gates. My hands were covered with blood, my left foot cut and my passport was stained red, leaving an ever-constant reminder of the episode. We re-grouped, but we didnât want to give up. Now we knew where the soldiers were, we could walk towards them. We decided to go out again.
Same drill: we called out the message first, then stepped out onto the road, this time facing the direction the gunfire had come from. "Hello! American soldiers. We are foreign aid workers- British, Australian, American. We are not armed. We are asking permission to transport an ambulance on this road."
My injured hand was shaking as I held my passport now damp with my blood. I tried to work out what I was feeling: fear, anger, determination. I still donât know. We had only repeated the message twice and walked a few metres when our answer came. Two more bullets. By this stage I think I entered a state of shock. I had been shot at, not once, but twice by American soldiers after politely asking permission to transport aid to a hospital. I guess the answer was âNoâ.
Jo got angry. We all did. We stepped back to the corner but Jo continued on the loud speaker. âDo you know it is against the Geneva Convention to fire at unarmed civilians and at ambulances?" she cried. "How would you feel if your sister was trapped in a hospital under siege without food or water?" ....
We bundled in the back of the ambulance. It was a handy place to be with deep cuts and grazes on my hand. I bowed my head as someone tended to my wounds. ....
PPS: Some people have asked: "how can you be sure it was American soldiers who shot at you?". The answer is that the area we were in was under the control of US soldiers for at least five days. Iraqi fighters did not have had access to the area the shots came from.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/28/2004 9:13:07 AM ||
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F*cking idiots.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/28/2004 9:20 Comments ||
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Jo got angry. We all did. We stepped back to the corner but Jo continued on the loud speaker. âDo you know it is against the Geneva Convention to fire at unarmed civilians and at ambulances?" she cried.
It is a long time standard of war conduct, when one side suspends the rules, the rules no longer apply. And I am very certain our snipers (God Bless them!) know what the 'rules' are when there are JAG officers sniffing up their commanders' asses.
"How would you feel if your sister was trapped in a hospital under siege without food or water?"
I would feel:
1) My sister is an idiot for not evacuating the area once it became a warzone.
2) My sister is a traitor for providing medical services also available to a lethal enemy of the United States.
3) Nothing stops my sister from leaving now and letting the Iraqis care for their own.
You would have to be a moron... or a traitor not to know ambulances have been routinely used by Arab/Islamists in other theatres as a means of clandestinely transporting weapons across the lines.
Nothing stops residents of a war zone from evacuating and transporting their wounded across the lines so they can get help. I truly feel sorry for those who are caught inside the enemy's camp, but I am not in the mood to allow our troops to become more vulnerable to further uneccesary harm because three or four Americans want to be awarded the Humanitarian of the Year awrd, even posthumously.
#3
I'm gonna let them in on a little secret. If American snipers shoot at you, they don't miss. Therefore, since they are alive, the shooters were not American, even though they think was a "secure" American zone.
#4
Hmpf. I was going to mock her, but I re-read it. They didn't hit anybody, and fired two shots, rather than a wild volley. It might have been some marines trying to scare a passel of damned fools out of their killsack without seriously hurting them. I don't think a true sniper team would have exposed their position in this fashion, but the reports suggest that the Marines have a lot of "sharpshooter" teams operating without full sniper training in Fallujah.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/28/2004 9:34 Comments ||
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They could also have been treated to a little Potemkin village by the terrorists. We know some of them are savvy enough to kidnap journalists, plant stories, then let the idiots go; who's to say they're not also up to driving a couple of useful idiots to an area they SWEAR is under US control then firing a few rounds in their direction?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
04/28/2004 9:36 Comments ||
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PPS: Some people have asked: "how can you be sure it was American soldiers who shot at you?"
She can't be sure, but she doesnt let that stop her, now does she?
#8
If the yanks wanted em dead they would be . walking down a warzone street like a bunch of retards deserve to get shot at , by either side . let me rephrase ... clueless f*cktards ..
#10
In the distance I saw two white flashes, then the loud bang of gunshots and the ugly realisation that they were shooting into our backs.
Eh.. hey dumbshit.... the people to you back were your 'Insurgent' friends from Iran, Syria, and a few Iraqi's.....
Iaqi fighters did not have had access to the area the shots came from.
How do you know? Why would U.S. snipers establish themselves deeply in their own territory where there are few targets... the targets are out near the 'front lines' or in 'enemy territory'.... You dont go deer hunting in Downtown New York.
#11
I turned my head briefly and just in time. In the distance I saw two white flashes, then the loud bang of gunshots and the ugly realisation that they were shooting into our backs.
Lie. If those were Marine snipers, you'd be dead.
Jo got angry. We all did.
Lol. You can't shoot me, because I'm an American citizen!
Posted by: Cthulhu Akbar ||
04/28/2004 10:27 Comments ||
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#12
If those were Marine snipers, you'd be dead.
True enough, C.A.--but if those were just plain old Marines (or plain old U.S. Army regulars)she'd still be looking at the dasies from the wrong end. Our training has reached the point where most U.S. troops would qualify as snipers in most of the rest of the world's armed forces.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/28/2004 10:33 Comments ||
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Update: a lovely debumking of this story may be found here. (Tip of the hat to Tim Blair.)
Posted by: Mike ||
04/28/2004 10:39 Comments ||
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Mike: good story, and Jo's account is good reading too. I suspect that at this point the Fallujans are starting to understand just how costly their little stunt at the bridge was. Or will, soon.
Posted by: Cthulhu Akbar ||
04/28/2004 11:22 Comments ||
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#15
The best part is that there are no soldiers in the area. However, there are Marines.
#16
What amazes me is that these useful idiots believe that since they are not Iraqis or Arabs they has some âshieldâ that protects them from harm. Since the town is surrounded and yet they somehow arrived in Fullujah, I suspect they probably used a smugglers route. I also suspect that my Marine friends are well aware of these routes and keep them under watch. Since the âinsurgentsâ have been using Ambulances fro transporting troops and arms, I would be VERY suspicious of one that suddenly showed up along one of the smuggler routes. Given the choice of talking to useful idiots or firing a volley over their head and scaring them away I would take the later. I have known Marines and if they wanted them dead we would not be reading this story. Advise to them would be to stay out of the city until it is âpacifiedâ.
Man - these women won't let up. Raised as pacifist ninconpoops, they see us as the Great Satan, just like the Islamofacists. Proof that politics is a circle, and if you go far enough left, you are on the far right.
I wonder if these "aid workers" have been measured for thier burkas yet?
I agree with all that the Marines wouldn't miss a kill shot. This Donna Mulhearn has got to be a real piece of work.
#18
Okee-dokee. Here we go. First thing in the morning . . .
As a journalist, I would like to say, and must say, that this story sounds SO INCREDIBLY AND COMPLETELY FAKE. Someone is just having a good ol' time. (Much more sophisticated than "Anti"-war(s) ever get.)
Nobody, I repeat, NOBODY writes like this unless they have had training to write like this--it's so "clean," so "perfect," so "relaxed," so "professional." What a story!
( ***Sometime, when I have more time, I'll write a piece myself and post it on Rantburg to illustrate how it's done--and hey, I'll make mine even more "exciting" and "damning" of the American troops, and the WOT--okay? ***)
Read the article again slowly and carefully (for some laughs ) within the context of an almost pulp fiction attempt to garner support against the WOT from Westerners, by painting American forces as (you guessed it--and please, do feel free to use an Arab accent when speaking the word) "aggressors."
I could be wrong. But that's my take on it. And I don't think I'm wrong.
#19
I love in the article how they point out that only the Woman and Child were hit by U.S. snipers. I would check the balistics before I made that statement, but clearly these girls grew up in a FAR LEFT household. Why were they trying to bring supplies to a hospital in the American sector? If there was a hospital being used there wouldn't the Americans take care of it's needs? This story has more holes in it than Odai and Qusai.
#20
Hey abdul.....Watch this shit.....bang bang. ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Posted by: Halfass Pete ||
04/28/2004 12:00 Comments ||
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Ex-Lib, I also noticed that they had to confiscate a Coke machine to keep blood cold yet they say power was shut off days ago? Double whamy against evil Coke and the U.S.
Murray - You are correct - had it been a Marine sniper, they would not have lived tell the tale, and what a tale it is.
Posted by: jawa ||
04/28/2004 12:33 Comments ||
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#23
Cyber Sarge:
Yeah, it really is an amazing piece. I like all the (Islamic) references to "blood." You've probably noticed how the Islamoids have a real emotional tie to "blood-soaked this, blood-soaked that," their wounds, their scrapes, their cuts, blah, blah blah. It's very personal for them.
This is fun: go back into the story and imagine a Marine, or even better, an average American, Brit, or Aussie talking about blood this way--no way!
Or take one of my favorite excerpts, for example: It all happened so fast: ducking, hearing the whizz of the bullets above our heads, diving for cover off the side of the road against a wall. We huddled there for a moment behind a bush, then someone cried: "Letâs go". We crawled along the ground, at one stage I was walking low with my back hunched. In the scramble I fell. My hands broke my fall onto sharp gravel on the rough ground. I felt the sting of pain and could see the blood, but I had no time to stop and check what happened.
Gotta admit--it sure is entertaining--great imagery--not bad fiction writing at all.
The most hysterical thing about it is the end note. Just doesn't quite fit with the rest of the story, does it? ("But, it's true--it was the Americans who shot at us so unfairly--I swear to Allah!") Just a bit smoother, and more fine-tuned to the Western ear, is all. Just not fine-tuned enough for this Western ear, I'm afraid!
I just want to know who they got workin' for 'em. It's either one of their own who was educated in the West, or your typical, run-of-the-mill liberal traitor.
#24
I'm pretty sure the "Jo" mentioned in the article is Jo Wilding, occasional Guardian columnist, serial pest, and PM-attacker. She and fellow nutbar Jenny Gaiawyn were in Iraq to teach circus tricks to the Iraqi children when they were taken hostage by "militants". I was sure Rantburg had this story but a search turned up nothing. See details here and scroll up for some more.
Since Mulhearn tells a similar story, I assume they were together. But Gaiawyn is not mentioned here. Off clowning around somewhere I suppose.
#25
Here is my version of what really happend. Some usefull idiots got into Fallujah amungst the bad guys. Bad guys realized dead westerners (blamed on US) would make great propoganda so they convinced them to walk into an ambush. Lied about where the US was, etc, and had one or two of their hardboys shoot at them. But the hardboys couldn't shoot worth a damn and the usefull idiots never figured it out.
#26
From Fox News describing the fighting in Faluhja - "Witnesses on the ground said insurgents were hiding behind women and children during the firefight."
On whose hands is the blood of "innocent" Iraqis?
Posted by: Sam ||
04/28/2004 14:29 Comments ||
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#27
"......trying to reach a pregnant woman who had gone into pre-mature labor".
Pre-mature??? Another young girl subjected to Son of Allan's lust.
I also notice how her fellows fail to have their surnames attached. Now, why is that? Do they not want recognition for their good deeds, or do they fear recognition in the World, when and if they return? Talk about dumb!
#28
Not to seem crass but shouldn't there be some Rachael Corrie award for stupidy? The winner has to either die, wounded, or captured doing something stupid for the Jihadis. This group would not qualify but the Japanese group would!
#30
Cyber Sarge, if you hit one of those links in my comment, above, you'll see that Mulhearn and Wilding (if "Jo" is she) were captured. Apparently Mulhearn was more afraid of the big bad Americans than the guys who actually captured and threatened her.
#31
Fox had a breaking news bit on western 'Human Shields' going to Fallujah and Najaf to protect the men who fight from Moskkks and hiding behind women and children brave Islamic Heroesâ¢. I'm thinking these shields need to be left on the battlefield, broken, bloody and used, and happy since they achieved their final higher purpose....idjits
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 18:12 Comments ||
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#32
If the story has any legitimacy whatsoever, (and I'm still sticking with my original take #18, #23), then it's choice #2: a typical, run-of-the-mill liberal traitor--who's been quite "Islamisized" of late, I may add. (Rare, but it can happen . . . I think. )
In a certain sense, it doesn't matter. Let's say it's on the level (and my, hasn't she "recovered" nicely from her terrible, traumatic, life-threatening, life-changing "ordeal" to put out such a well-written piece of liberal, pro-jihad propaganda story? I am impressed. She must have nerves of steel, I tell ya. But wait, wasn't she pretty shook up? I'm confused.)
In a sense, it boils down to the same thing. Let's pretend, for a moment so we can get into the right "mood" (a favorite liberal pasttime), that the story stands as real. Okay. No prob.
"I tried to work out what I was feeling: fear, anger, determination. I still donât know. (stupidity, perhaps?) We had only repeated the message twice and walked a few metres when our answer came. Two more bullets. (Maybe you should have repeated it again, and again, and again--let's see, that'd be 8 bullets . . . ) By this stage I think I entered a state of shock. ("Oh, my god, I'm in Iraq and no one cares--what ever will my narcissitic little self do now?" ) I had been shot at (Gasp! And, duh, you're in a war zone--isn't that why you went there? ) not once, but twice by American soldiers("I saw 'em do it--that's why I was so shocked, because there they stood, right out there in broad daylight--they just stood up and SHOT at me, those American aggressor soldiers") after politely asking permission to transport aid to a hospital (politeness--yeah, that's what the Iraqi terrorists in Fallujah are all about--oh, sorry, those damned impolite American soldier bad guys--she said pulleeeeze, after all. Insert California Valley Speak: "I mean--oh my gosh, they should have provided escort, oh my gosh . . .")
I think since Jo, Jenny, and Donna, evidently, don't have any children of their own to take care of, their mothering instincts have led them to Iraq as human shields--they just gotta "save" the children-men people of the Middle East. And I'm sure the children-men of the Middle East will be more than happy to oblige them. Well, Hubba-hubba.
Four Russian soldiers and policemen were killed and 15 wounded in war-wrecked Chechnya over the past day, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said on Tuesday.
Rebels fired on Russian positions 18 times in the past 24 hours, killing two soldiers and wounding 10, said the Chechen official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A soldier was killed during a clash with rebels outside Niki-Khita in the Shali district. Two soldiers were wounded in the fighting, the official said. A rebel was also killed.
A military vehicle hit a land mine and exploded outside the town of Urus-Martan, killing one Russian police officer and wounding three, the Chechen official said.
Rebels strafed an Mi-24 military helicopter with gunfire outside Dyshne-Vedeno. The helicopter made an emergency landing in Vedeno, the Interfax news agency reported. It said no one was injured.
Russia shelled suspected rebel positions throughout the separatist-minded region and rounded up at least 180 people on suspicion of aiding the rebels.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 8:45:20 AM ||
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International peacekeepers and Afghan security forces on Wednesday arrested 16 men suspected of plotting to smuggle rockets and other weapons into Kabul, a spokesman for the NATO-led force said.
Two rockets were found in a compound about nine miles from the capital, Kabul, and the men were arrested in a raid on two homes at a second compound nearby, said Cdr. Chris Henderson, a spokesman for the peacekeepers. "This operation was based on hard intelligence that indicated a transit route for munitions into Kabul, including the use of donkeys as a means of transporting rockets," Henderson said.
The much-feared DRC's!*
A senior Afghan security official told The Associated Press that information gleaned from the first arrest was instrumental in the second operation. Neither Afghan nor international officials would release the names of the commanders.
In other operations, a man was arrested with explosives outside the Finance Ministry on Apr. 21, and a cache of 48 Chinese-made 107mm rockets was found and destroyed in mountains southwest of the capital on Sunday.
Henderson said security forces were receiving important intelligence from those arrested. "Such information frequently leads security agencies to other individuals or groups who threaten the city," he said. "One success breeds the next one."
Mahmoud is singing, and he ain't even taking a shower!
* Donkey rocket carrier
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 8:42:12 AM ||
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Serene Husseini fears for the safety of her children. Sana Naji might leave Jordan over terrorism worries. Scared buyers are staying home rather than venturing into Samia Dabbas' clothing shop.
Such concerns were evident across Amman on Tuesday after state-run TV showed suspected al-Qaida-linked terrorists confessing to planning large-scale bomb attacks in Jordan's capital.
Naji told The Associated Press she was thinking of leaving Jordan for home.
"It's not safe here anymore,' she said.
"I was scared to death and the first question that came to mind was 'what should I do with my children,'' said Husseini, a 38-year-old mother of two boys.
"I'm afraid this isn't the end of it and that there might be others plotting to harm us.'
At an Amman bus stop, 23-year- old commuter Ammar Taher said the terror plot "was the talk of everybody aboard the bus.'
"We're all scared because we never thought the terrorists would come so close to do us harm,' he said.
Such talk is uncommon in Jordan, where terror attacks blamed on al-Qaida and other groups elsewhere in the world normally attract little attention by a public that enjoys relative safety in the volatile Middle East.
Three weeks ago, critics claimed the government had exaggerated the latest al-Qaida terror danger to justify tightening security across Jordan. Since late March, increased numbers of police began appearing in streets, outside ministries and shopping malls.
But officials in Jordan, a moderate Arab nation with close ties to America and a peace treaty with Israel, say the kingdom has been repeatedly targeted by al-Qaida and other militant groups.
"Who's in the mood to buy anything when the country is under a terror threat?' Dabbas told an AP reporter who visited her downtown Amman clothes store, which was empty of shoppers.
Jamil Abu-Bakr, a spokesman for the powerful Islamic Action Front, said the terrorists should not have planned to attack Arabs and Muslims.
Instead, he said, they should point their "guns at the enemy occupying (Muslim) lands in Palestine and Iraq,' a reference to Israel and America.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/28/2004 8:37:39 AM ||
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#1
keep terrorists dog in ya back yard , expect them to piss in it too .......
#2
The people of Jordan better cowboy up a bit because the Islamists are going to be looking for low hanging fruit when the dust settles in Iraq and they are on the run again.
23-year- old commuter Ammar Taher said the terror plot "was the talk of everybody aboard the bus.' "We're all scared because we never thought the terrorists would come so close to do us harm,' he said.
Well, Mr. Taher, all I can say is you got to confront the bastards, not only for your sake, but for your children, and grandchildren. . .
#5
I wonder when we'll see the first case of a Jordanian fleeing to Iraq because Jordan is just too unsafe.
Posted by: Tibor ||
04/28/2004 11:46 Comments ||
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#6
Well, Mr. Taher, all I can say is you got to confront the bastards, not only for your sake, but for your children, and grandchildren. . .
Yep, it's notable that the article mentioned nothing about the possibility that someone in Amman would be pissed off and would be willing to go on the record as criticizing terrorism. As it is, the impression that I got was that a large number of Jordanians are scared shitless...
#7
It's GREAT that they're scared. I hope they're scared shitless. The "King" may play semi-nice with the US, but the avg Jordanian is only slightly less insane than his kindred Paleo brethren. Hatred of the US is overwhelmingly popular, the blame game is the norm, and they are ardent practitioners of the honor killing code. Terror couldn't come to a more deserving lot.
Thank you, AlQ. In several cases, you asshats have chosen to eat your own kind and then take a dump on the living room carpet of your hosts. Keep it up, puleeeeeze. Go ahead and bitch-slap Jordan, they deserve a full dose.
#1
They'd run Bradleys and Abrams into the ground the way things are going. Why aren't they asking for Strykers? The situation seems to demand them, and I've only heard of a few losses in Strykers so far...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/28/2004 8:04 Comments ||
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#2
W ehave exactly one bridge sized unit trained on the Strykers and its in Iraq already.
The second one just completed its certification in Ft Lewis, and is comitted to the 2nd ID - thats Korea.
Follow on units are already scheduled, but the next one is stuck in Iraq - the 2nd Light Cavalry Regiment (AKA the 2nd Armored Cav - 2ACR, my old unit).
As for why they need armor, after all is said and done, nothing beats a tank if its supported by infantry. Combined Arms - been the name of the game since 1939.
#3
Heard a report yesterday that one of the Generals in Iraq has asked for up-armored and revamped M-113(cold war era)apc's.Since there are"thosands already in the inventory they,M-ii3,are readly available and would help bridge the gap in Hummers and available Strykers.
Sounds like a good idea to me.
#4
Read yesterday, though I don't have a link, that the Stryker had not proven substantially more protected than an armoured hummvee. Also heard that the unit in Iraq is in Kurdistan. They're probably getting good data on mileage.
The probelm is that "major operations" have recommenced but no one wants to say so or act like it.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
04/28/2004 10:45 Comments ||
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#5
Maybe we can ask the IDF for a loan of some of those crazy looking made-over T-62 APCs.
#6
I heard similar report / discussion about Humvees - and the talking head attributed at least 200 US dead to using unarmored HV's instead of armored version or alternatives -- i.e. something that can survive the avg IED device.
I do not know enough about the Stryker's ability to withstand IED's - and as Mr Davis pointed out, they are being used in the safest area of Iraq - so unless they have serious bottom armor against IED's they are not the answer.
Bradleys are up to the task, but are helluvalot more expensive than HV's, but the report said (I admit this sounds high, but...) they are making 300 per month. I like the additional fact that it can fight back, when it's not a passive device, too. Whatever it takes, folks, whatever it takes.
ELF
Here you go, birthday boy
A U.S. airborne gunship pounded the Iraqi city of Falluja overnight in a display of overwhelming firepower against insurgents who have battled Marines on the outskirts of town for three weeks. As the U.N. envoy on Iraq was telling the United Nations of bloody consequences should talks fail in Falluja, at least one AC-130, first used in Vietnam, poured down fire in what Marines said on Wednesday had been a precision response to an attack.
"Vietnam" must be loaded as a macro in every newsroom.
Local residents said that only one person was injured and that 10 homes which were destroyed had been empty.
one person injured, and a hell of a lot of excess body parts.
A year after the fall of Saddam Hussein, who was spending his 67th birthday in a secret jail in U.S. custody, U.S. forces are trying to quell twin threats to the new order in Baghdad from Sunni Muslim guerrillas in Falluja to Shiâite fighters in the south before they hand sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30.
It was the second time in as many days that they had used such a gunship, a converted cargo plane nicknamed Spooky or Specter which spews concentrated cannon and machinegun fire over the ground.
It's Specter, Spooky was the original AC-47 gunship.
U.S. officers said an AC-130 killed nearly 60 Shiâite militia near the second flashpoint, Najaf, on Monday. Commanders near Najaf said that assault appeared to have demoralized guerrillas in the city and was part of a strategy to persuade their wanted religious leader to give himself up.
In Falluja a year ago on Wednesday -- previously a public holiday in honor of Saddamâs birthday -- U.S. soldiers killed and wounded dozens of demonstrators. It was an early public relations setback. The town is now a byword for Iraqâs aggrieved and long dominant Sunni minority and in the wider Arab world.
Yeah, no bias in this newsroom.
The local police chief said he would renew talks with the Marines about launching joint patrols in the town. U.S. officials, clearly aware that such a move could spark new guerrilla attacks on their troops, have said they will begin joint patrols in the coming days. It is not clear when.
Oh, there'll be joint patrols, Marines and Iraqi Special (cough*kurdish*cough) Forces, most likely.
Posted by: tipper ||
04/28/2004 7:06:33 AM ||
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#1
ahhhh, excellent Roooters spin : AC-130's, which were first used in VIET NAM! Flattened houses, which, of course, were empty....did the reporter leave Baghdad to write this? How did he get close enough to interview locals without getting killed? hmmmm?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 7:09 Comments ||
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#2
AC130's are not converted: they are purpose built. The old Spooky were conversions. These things are designed from the bottom up on a C130 airframe.
The "First in Vietnam" was gratuitous. The Cobra gunships were first used in Vietnam, and I didnt see that attached to its description. The reporter's bias/ignorance is showing.
The Marines with their M-16's that were first used in Vietnam, attacked insurgents along with Cobra Gunships that were first used in Vietnam, and personal light rockets that were similar to the ones first used in Vietnam. They were saved by their personal body armor similar to that first used in Vietnam, and called in support form the LVTP7's that were first used in Vietnam, and used 40mm grenade launchers like those first used in Vietnam to force back the Vietcon [backspace][backspace] [backspace] [backspace] [backspace][backspace] [backspace] [backspace] local rebels.
I think they have this macro'd along with quagmire.
How long till these guys finally stop trying to cast the news and start reporting it, ALL of it, minus the biases?
Well I guess that marks me out as a nationalist.
The American government is clear on this point: it is âa free and peaceful Iraq,â which it presents as critical to the stability of the Middle East, which in turn âis critical to the security of the American people.â
A free and peaceful Iraq is one in the American image â democratic, liberal, capitalist, under the rule of law. While completely sympathetic to this vision â who could not be? â I worry both that Iraqis do not welcome U.S. guidance and that such an ambition ultimately is unrealistic.
My thoughts on the second of these worries are clarified by Samuel P. Huntingtonâs remarkable new book, Who Are We: The Challenges to Americaâs National Identity, forthcoming in May. In it, the Harvard professor analyses the impact other civilizations are having on the United States â via immigration, bilingualism, multiculturalism, the devaluation of citizenship, and the denationalization of American elites. He argues eloquently for the need to reassert core American values in the face of this challenge.
Along the way, Huntington observes that Americans can choose among three broad visions for their country in relation to the outside world.
· Cosmopolitan: America âwelcomes the world, its ideas, its goods, and, most importantly, its people.â In this vision, the country strives to become multiethnic, multiracial, and multicultural. The United Nations and other international organizations increasingly influence American life. Diversity is an end in itself; national identity declines in importance. In brief, the world reshapes America.
· Imperial: America reshapes the world. This impulse is fueled by a belief in âthe supremacy of American power and the universality of American values.â Americaâs unique military, economic, and cultural might bestows on it the responsibility to confront evil and to order the world. Other peoples are assumed basically to share the same values as Americans; Americans should help them attain those values. America is less a nation than âthe dominant component of a supranational empire.â
· National: âAmerica is differentâ and its people recognize and accept what distinguishes them from others. That difference results in large part from the countryâs religious commitment and its Anglo-Protestant culture. The nationalist outlook preserves and enhances those qualities that have defined America from its inception. As for people who are not white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, they âbecome Americans by adopting its Anglo-Protestant culture and political values.â
Huntington sums up this triad of choices: âAmerica becomes the world. The world becomes America. America remains America.â
The left tends to the cosmopolitan vision; the right divides among imperialists and nationalists. Personally, I have wavered between the latter two, sometimes wanting the United States to export its humane political message and at other times fearful that such efforts, however desirable, will overextend the American reach and end in disaster.
Which brings us back to Iraq and the choices at hand.
Cosmopolitans reject the unilateralism of the Iraq campaign, despise the notion of guiding the Iraqis to âa free and peacefulâ country, and deeply suspect the Bush administrationâs motives. They demonstrate on the streets and hurl invectives from television studios.
Imperialists are guiding U.S. policy toward Iraq, where they see a unique opportunity not just to rehabilitate that country but to spread American ways through the Middle East.
And nationalists find themselves, as usual, somewhere in between. They sympathize with the imperial vision but worry about its practicalities and consequences. As patriots, they take pride in American accomplishments and hope U.S. influence will spread. But they have two worries: that the outside world is not ready to Americanize and Americans are unwilling to spend the blood and treasure to carry off an imperial mission.
Huntington is clearly a nationalist. Less clearly, so am I. I believe the U.S. goal in Iraq should be more narrowly restricted to protecting American interests. I hope the Iraqi population benefits from the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and can make a fresh start, while rejecting the rehabilitation of Iraq as the standard by which to judge the American venture there.
The U.S. military machine is not an instrument for social work, nor for remaking the world. It is, rather, the primary means by which Americans protect themselves from external violent threats. The U.S. goal cannot be a free Iraq, but an Iraq that does not endanger Americans.
Posted by: tipper ||
04/28/2004 6:58:38 AM ||
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#1
whoa! He's from Harvard? How'd he slip through the cracks?
#2
I also find myself between the later two. The experience in Iraq will probably tip the scales one way or the other on whether the world is worth saving from itself.
#4
"The U.S. goal cannot be a free Iraq, but an Iraq that does not endanger Americans." This is a narrow view of the goal. The ultimate goal is to defeat the radical Islamists who are the purveyors of world wide terrorism. Sure, one more immediate goal of the Iraq operation was to remove the threat posed by Traq through Saddam. But a free Iraq is poison to the radical Islamists, and the tenacity of their current insurging in Iraq is because they know what a free Iraq will mean to their movement. Their efforts to abort a free Iraq before it happens is testament that the Bush strategy is correct. So the goal should be a free Iraq, because this facilitates the defeat of the radical Islamists which will make all of us more secure.
Posted by: Sam ||
04/28/2004 12:29 Comments ||
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#5
"The U.S. goal cannot be a free Iraq, but an Iraq that does not endanger Americans." That's a reasonable fall-back position. A bare minimum goal. Why not aim higher, why not make sure the entire region does not endanger Americans?
#6
Imperial: America reshapes the world. This impulse is fueled by a belief in âthe supremacy of American power and the universality of American values.â Americaâs unique military, economic, and cultural might bestows on it the responsibility to confront evil and to order the world. Other peoples are assumed basically to share the same values as Americans;
No - they differ on many values, but DO share certain universal aspirations.
Americans should help them attain those values. America is less a nation than âthe dominant component of a supranational empire.â
No - America is a nation that is endangered in a global world, when many nations lag behind.
· National: âAmerica is differentâ and its people recognize and accept what distinguishes them from others. That difference results in large part from the countryâs religious commitment and its Anglo-Protestant culture.
The nationalist outlook preserves and enhances those qualities that have defined America from its inception. As for people who are not white Anglo-Saxon Protestants, they âbecome Americans by adopting its Anglo-Protestant culture and political values.â
The anglo Protestant culture has been shaped and reformed in many ways, to some extent by the cultures of immigrants, but in larger ways by the land itself, and the unique experience of living in this land. So more properly we should speak of adopting to the broader American culture, and dont need to focus on the anglo protestant aspects of it, though theyre certainly there. And of course immigrants today ARE adapting to American culture - well hispanic immigrants certainly are (i wont touch at this point on the hot button of Muslim immigration)
And the most important point, for strategy, is that the POLITICAL VALUES we espouse are widely held beyond the anglo Protestant world. Sam Huntington, IIRC, was skeptical of democracy succeeding in Mediterranean Europe, for crying out loud (anyone else have the "privilege" of reading him in the 1970's?) Democracy wont work in Latin America, in the Eastern Orthodox world, etc. Anyone who thinks Sam is an advocate for the view that "the muslim world is uniquely unequipped for democracy" has it wrong. He things anyplace outside the western european civ (although now im getting confused, i thought France and Germany and Norway and so forth WERENT anglo, and France and Italy werent Protestant) is incapable of democracy. Of course when youre propounding a "realist" view of Latin American politics, or raising alarums about Hispanic immmigration, I suppose you need to blur some of those "civilizational" definitions.
Elsewhere, troops killed 64 insurgent gunmen and destroyed an anti-aircraft system in the holy Shiite city of Najaf (search), U.S. military officials said Tuesday. The violence began after a U.S. military patrol came under attack and an M1 tank was hit by rocket-propelled grenades in separate incidents, officials said.
Night television news footage â taken from a road between Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa âshowed U.S. Army helicopters flying low over plumes of smoke rising from a green area and sparks of flashes, likely from gunfire. The fighting came as U.S. troops moved into a base that Spanish troops are vacating, about three miles from holy shrines near where anti-American Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is holed up.
U.S. commanders have said they will not move against the shrines in order to capture al-Sadr, whose armed supporters have launched attacks against the U.S.-led forces. Under the Geneva Conventions (search), firing upon mosques or other holy sites is prohibited unless the structures are being used in battle. Enemy forces in Fallujah and elsewhere have been using holy sites for shelter as they fire upon the U.S. military. Attempts to capture al-Sadr have been put on hold while negotiators try to resolve the standoff. The U.S. says itâs aware that moving against the shrines could turn the clericâs limited revolt into a wider anti-U.S. uprising by Iraqâs Shiite majority.
The battles in the south Monday evening took place on the east side of the Euphrates River, across from Kufa and Najaf, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said. The first fight came in the afternoon, when Shiite militiamen opened fire on a U.S. patrol. In the ensuing firefight, seven insurgents were killed. Hours later, a M1 tank was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades. A heavy battle erupted, during which warplanes destroyed an anti-aircraft gun belonging to the militia and 57 gunmen were killed, Kimmitt said.
Kimmitt told Fox News Tuesday that insurgents in Najaf number in the "hundreds, certainly not thousands" and that the reason more Iraqis are not turning them in is that they are afraid of them. "I think most of it has to do with the fact that the citizens have been intimidated for years and years ⊠thatâs probably the reason that theyâre [enemy fighters] not being expelled by their own people," Kimmitt said.
When asked if the U.S.-led coalition can get rid of enough guerrillas to decrease the terror threat, Kimmitt said yes, adding that "we certainly have done that to Sadrâs militia. Weâve taken some decisive military operations against them, weâve reduced them in almost all the locations where they tried to hijack the [democratic] process ⊠the media networks, the government buildings; weâre gonna continue to hunt down these Sadr militia types until theyâre no longer a threat to Iraq."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 3:58:35 AM ||
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#1
This God firsaken Kitty litter box is not sacred to me. Not in the least
Posted by: an delusian dog ||
04/28/2004 4:15 Comments ||
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#2
If this wasn't a bloody mosque we would have already leveled the building and Sadr. Damn world politics to hell!
Posted by: Charles ||
04/28/2004 8:50 Comments ||
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#3
Let's make it the holiest spot in Islam!
Posted by: Infidel Bob ||
04/28/2004 9:35 Comments ||
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#4
I have a problem with the geneva convention. We are being held to it, the enemy is not.
To me a deal is only valid when both sides adhere - I say turn the mosques inside out, and be thankful we arent your fellow moslems.
#5
"I think most of it has to do with the fact that the citizens have been intimidated for years and years ⦠thatâs probably the reason that theyâre [enemy fighters] not being expelled by their own people," Kimmitt said.
What I'm curious about is how much "intimidation" do Iraqis feel they have to take? At what point are they going to decide enough is enough and stand up to the thugs that are standing in the way between them and a possibly better future? If the majority of the population that doesn't support Sadr is unwilling to stand against him, the alternative is more of the same servitude towards whoever has the most armed militia members. I find it rather difficult to fathom that their breaking point hasn't as yet been achieved, unless their natural state is to be groveling at the feet of a strongman...
#6
Death of 64 gunmen increases holiness of Najaf . . . Under the Geneva Conventions, firing upon mosques or other holy sites is prohibited unless the structures are being used in battle.
The Marines just found employment for 4,608 vestial virgins in paradise. How is that against the Geneva convention?
The beauty of the Geneva convention is that you don't have to respect it if the enemy doesn't follow it. You aren't supposed to fire on a hospital or on a religious building but the enemy isn't supposed to fire you from it/take cover in it/call artillery strikes from it. If he does not only you are allowed to fire on hospital and do what the enemy has done but you can shoot him for warcrime.
The Geneva conventions were made to make war a bit less cruel not to give an advantage to bad guys. This is its main strength: you gain nothing by not respecting it and you lose nothing by adhering to it: if the enemy doesn't play by the rules you are allowed to not respect them.
#8
No matter what the enemy does, the press acts to hold you to the letter of the Geneva Convention. The Russians are not encumbered by the free press as we have seen in Grozny.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 14:00 Comments ||
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"There are two ways, I suppose, one could inform readers of the Geneva Convention stipulation against using places of worship to conduct military attacks. One might be to headline saying that Terrorists Attack Coalition Forces From Mosques. That would be one way to present the information.
"Another might be to say: Mosques Targeted in Fallujah. That was the Los Angeles Times headline this morning." --Donald Rumsfeld at DOD Operational Briefing, 27 April 2004
As they say, Q.E.D.
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
04/28/2004 14:19 Comments ||
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#12
Rumsfeld's comment should make the rounds of the conservative radio shows today (I hope). It is so absolutely correct and such a damming illustration of media bias that it can't be ignored.
Posted by: remote man ||
04/28/2004 15:09 Comments ||
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This is the first summary that I have seen of what is being covered in teh Iraqi papers.
Sadr warns US of âhell fireâ
(Al-Mada) â Muqtada al-Sadr warned that "hell fire" will be opened on US forces if they implement their threat to kill or arrest him. "The Americans must know that the people will open the hell fire against them if something happened to me," Sadr said.
This is a testable hypothesis.
Paul Bremer, Top Civil Administrator, said last Sunday that a dangerous situation is developing in Najaf because weapons are being stored in mosques, holy shrines, and schools. Sadr reiterated his previous threat to use suicide attackers if US forces enter Najaf or Karbala.
He won't wear the suicide belt himself, of course, he's much too valuable to the movement.
(Al-Mada is issued daily by Al-Mada institution for Media, Culture, and Arts.)
GC moves ahead with election plans
(Baghdad) â Hameed Majeed Moosa, head of the Iraqi Communist Party, said "the Governing Council has chosen me along with Dr. Raja al-Khuzai and other experts to supervise the coming elections.â He mentioned that the GC held a joint meeting with the UN envoy and the CPA to decide the powers of the board, which will work together with the UN envoy to prepare materials to be distributed among the people within 7-10 days. Moosa called on the press to participate in the success of the elections, while Khuzai announced "tomorrow the GC will start its first session about the elections".
Choosing a Marxist always portends success in an open election. Brahimi is such a genius.
(Baghdad is a daily newspaper issued by the Iraqi National Accord.)
(Al-Mada) Cartoon available at link -- A man -- who looks like a real sharpster -- stands by a coat rack and is trying to hang his shirt. He says, "I am perplexed. Shall I hang my shirt or suspend [hang] my membership?" In Arabic, "hang" and "suspend" are the same. It is context that differentiates between them. In this context, we are reminded of the number of people who are suspending their memberships as easily as hanging their shirts.
GC mulls choices for rotating presidency
(Al-Sabah) â Discussion over the rotating presidency of the Governing Council for May and June dominated yesterdayâs meeting. Some members suggested choosing two members from the GCâs presidential board to hold the two-month chair, while others suggested keeping to the procedure of choosing according to the alphabet. Al-Sabah has been informed that Naseer al-Chadirchi and Izzul Deen Saleem are most likely to rule the Council due to their being highly respected and efficient.
(Al-Sabah is issued daily by the Iraqi Media Network on behalf of the Coalition Provisional Authority.)
GC rumours âgroundlessâ (Al-Adala) â Rumours about some Governing Councillors being ruled out of future political work are groundless, Al-Adala has learnt. An anonymous source in the GC said its members are symbols of Iraqi patriotic movements, and ruling out any of them would serve nobody. The source added that patriotic powers must be represented in the next government in one way or another. Perhaps more elements will be added to the existing formation. Some believe that unrepresented bodies must be added. Others think adding elements must reassure regional countries, whereas a third group said that reassuring the US is vital.
(Al-Adala is issued thrice weekly by the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.)
New Iraqi flag âresemblesâ Israelâs
(Asharq al-Awsat) â Hameed al-Kifai, spokesman of the Governing Council, yesterday denied that the new Iraqi flag is similar to Israelâs. In any case, he said, the flag would be temporary until approved by an elected parliament. The GC accepted the flag without noticing the similarities with Israelâs. The GC agreed the flag will include a symbol of peace (white colour), Islam (crescent), and Kurds (yellow), said Kifai. But, the flag, with two blue lines representing the Tigris and the Euphrates, a white background, and a religious symbol, seems similar to the Israeli flag, which has two blue lines representing the Euphrates and the Nile, a white background, and a religious symbol.
And look how successful they've been.
(London-based Asharq al-Awsat, a Saudi independent paper, is issued daily.)
âSourceâ discusses privatisation plans
(Al-Bayan) â A Ministry of Planning source said there are many sectors that should be cancelled or privatised. He added agreements had been signed with a number of ministries in this regard. Privatisation will include some firms with large economic activities in order to be in line with the policy followed in the market economies, he said. Moreover, the State Company for Trading Cars might be the first to be privatised since it has large trade deals and funds a large number of businessmen. Its privatisation could also create competition in the market. As to its employees, who will be dismissed if it is privatized or cancelled, they will be waiting for job opportunities in other ministries, he concluded.
(Al-Bayan is issued thrice weekly by the Islamic Dawa Party, chaired by Ibrahim al-Jafari, Governing Council member.)
Mad cow appears in Iraq
Not true, Barbra Striesland is not doing a Baghdad concert. Where do they get this stuff?
(Al-Nahdhah) â A medical source revealed that symptoms of mad cow disease exist in Iraq, declaring that field visits to some Iraqi neighbourhoods affirmed the existence of the disease. About procedures taken to avoid mad cow, the source advised stopping imports of meat from countries known for having that disease. He added that Iraq has lately became an open market, and is increasingly liable to seeing its animals infected. He urged breeders to slaughter their animals in licensed slaughter houses after having them medically tested.
(Al-Nahdhah is a daily newspaper issued by Adnan al-Pachachi, GC member and head of Independent Democrats Movement.)
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 3:39:19 AM ||
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we are soo losing the propaganda war. This is IMHO, the Bush administration's biggest tactical error.
Mad cow? How about some reports of all the schools and aid we are giving? Spirit of America? Why is it getting as little media play there as it is here?
Come on guys! Whose in charge of pscyh ops?? Maybe it's time to find somebody effective.
#2
B, for me the summary gave me more of a sense of how Iraqi life is filling out. As an American, my picture of Iraq is that there is nothing else going on in the country except Najaf, Fallujah, Al-Sadr, Iranian/Syrian infiltration and that UN loose cannon spouting inflammatory statements at random.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 5:00 Comments ||
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seems similar to the Israeli flag, which has two blue lines representing the Euphrates and the Nile, a white background, and a religious symbol.
LOL. This is a slander based on the false claim that the Zionists wanted a state "from the Nile to the Euphrates" In fact the blue stripes on the Israeli flag are based on the design of the traditional Jewish prayer shawl or Tallit.
Of course that was in a Saudi paper,published in Londonistan, not an Iraqi paper.
#6
eL, I don't think this diatribe would even register on a spittlemeter calibrated for use with NK bromides.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
04/28/2004 13:56 Comments ||
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BTW, from everything Ive read the Iraqi Communist Party has been about as consistently supportive of democracy in Iraq as anyone. They suffered terribly under the Baathists, and are now pretty much "post communist" They are firmly secularist though. which in Iraq is a very good thing.
The U.S. Army found that more frequent and aggressive use of snipers made for more successful combat operations in Iraq. Each army brigade now has about three dozen trained snipers, and most brigades have encouraged the selection and training of more snipers within infantry companies. The ability to take down enemy troops with single shots is a major combat advantage, but can only be done if you have better trained troops and much better reconnaissance and observation on the battlefield.
The army has a five week sniper school, and the marines have a ten week course that is considered one of the best in the world. These schools turn out professional snipers who know how to operate independently in two man teams. Marine regiments (about the same size as army brigades) have about three times as many snipers per battalion as army units. But both the army and the marines are taking advantage of the greater number of veteran troops in their combat units, and the fact that just about every soldier has a rifle with a scope, and has a lot of target practice behind them. Infantry commanders are encouraged to find and designate about ten percent of their men as âsharpshootersâ (sort of âsniper liteâ) and make use of these guys to take out enemy troops at a distance, and with single shots. This is a trend that has been growing for over a decade, but has now become a major feature of American infantry tactics.
The marines wonât release any numbers of sniper kills (except that the top scoring sniper in Fallujah has 24 kills so far), but it is known from emails coming back that the marines use snipers, and sniping tactics (for non-snipers), extensively. Part of this is to comply with the Rules of Engagement (ROE) that call for minimizing civilian casualties. Most often, the marines only use a lot of fire power when they are ambushed (there is no better way to deal with an ambush than to blast your way out of it). But most of the Iraqi gunmen are killed by single shots, usually by the trained snipers, after the snipers and their commanders had carefully set up sniper firing positions that covered areas they knew Iraqis liked to travel through. UAVs and lots of scouting, plus questioning of prisoners, reveals the Iraqi routes and makes them deadly to use. This has terrorized the Iraqis, which is exactly what it is intended to do. The army and marine snipers particularly like to work at night, when their night vision and thermal imaging equipment enables them to shoot accurately in the darkness. This further reduces the chance of civilian losses, and increases the terror.
The men who go through the sniper school receive lots of training on how to choose a good shooting position, get to it unseen and remain unseen for as long at is takes to get the shot, or shots, available. These professional snipers also learn to use larger caliber 7.62mm and 12.7mm (.50 caliber) sniper rifles. These are single shot weapons that are designed and built for accuracy at very long ranges (over a thousand meters for the 12.7mm rifle.) The âsharpshootersâ are mainly excellent shots at shorter ranges, and have whatever training they can pick up on how to find the best shooting position. Army and marine officers have learned how to use snipers more frequently in the past two decades. Instead of regarding the snipers as just a specialized weapon, for special occasions, combat unit commanders now see snipers as a standard type of trooper, to be used immediately in any combat situation, just as they would mix and match riflemen, machinegunners, grenadiers (with 40mm grenade launchers) and other weapons available to infantry companies and battalions.
The emphasis on greater accuracy in the use of weapons now applies to all weapons. Better trained troops can carry out complex battlefield maneuvers automatically, even when (especially when) under fire. While some of the anti-government gunmen in Iraq have demonstrated evidence of some military training, it has proved far inferior to that of the American troops they face. In combat, the side that is better trained wins, and takes fewer casualties doing so.
Posted by: Phil_B ||
04/28/2004 3:20:13 AM ||
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There was a facinating program on the History Channel, called "Dangerous Missions: Snipers" that I just watched a couple days ago.
Without getting too technical, I learned that:
* The term sniper comes from the American Revolution, because the guns used by colonists for sniping were used to hunt "snipes," game birds.
* The German snipers during WWI were so accurate that putting your head above a trench was certain death. The Germans constructed fake tree stumps in no-mans-land, and shields that they could use to creep up on Allies positions.
* The duel of Vasily Zeitzev in Stalingrad against a German sniper portrayed in "Enemy at the Gates" was covered in full. I didn't know that there was a similar duel between a marine sniper and a VietCong sniper in the '60s. The Vietcong had bounties out on our snipers starting in the late '60s. One U.S. sniper took out 16 targets in 2 minutes in one engagement, and lived to tell the tale.
* The U.S. military dispanded their sniper schools after WWI, II, and Korea, and had to be reconstituted. Sounds like they've corrected that error.
If the documentary comes on again, it's well worth it.
Posted by: Baltic Blog ||
04/28/2004 4:16 Comments ||
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That Stalingrad duel was amazing wasn't it? The sun gave the German away.
Posted by: Rafael ||
04/28/2004 4:33 Comments ||
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"Enemy at the Gates"was made from the book"War of the Rats"excelent book I highly recomend it.
#4
What I've heard is that the term "sniper" came from the British, not the American colonists, and from their troops serving in India.
Posted by: Dar ||
04/28/2004 8:30 Comments ||
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a Snipe Hunt huh? Thought that involved a bag, flashlights and naive cityslickers
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/28/2004 8:47 Comments ||
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I thought that the "Enemy at the Gates"/"War of the Rats" sniper duel was just Soviet wartime propaganda that somehow slipped through as a real event in the history books.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
04/28/2004 9:04 Comments ||
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From a website posting:
From Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, The fateful siege : 1942 - 1943.
The telescopic sight of his prey's rifle, allegedly Zaitsev's most treasured trophy, is still exhibited in the Moscow armed forces museum, but this dramatic story remains essentially unconvincing. It is worth noting that there is absolutely no mention of it in any reports.*
*Indeed, the whole story of the sniper duel is fiction. There is absolutely no trace in the German military archives or SS records of SS officer Heinz Thorwald.
Also there is absolutely no report of the duel in the Red Army files which concentrated on sniper activities (the daily reports of the Political Department of Stalingrad Front to Moscow).
This great story can be classified as Soviet propaganda.
#8
ZF wrote: "There is absolutely no trace in the German military archives or SS records of SS officer Heinz Thorwald."
Wasn't Heinz Thorwald the villain in "Rear Window"? Oh, that was Lars Thorwald.
Baltic wrote: "I didn't know that there was a similar duel between a marine sniper and a VietCong sniper in the '60s."
The U.S. sniper was Carlos Hathcock. He and a VC sniper stalked each other for days, and as the legend goes, he shot the VC sniper through the tube of the VC's scope, having been just slightly qicker with the shot.
Posted by: Tibor ||
04/28/2004 11:06 Comments ||
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The army and marine snipers particularly like to work at night, when their night vision and thermal imaging equipment enables them to shoot accurately in the darkness. This further reduces the chance of civilian losses, and increases the terror.
Return some of the horrific fear as payback for the people who knew they were going to die trapped in the towers on 9/11.
Has there been a TOTAL body count of the enemy in Fallujah? I know they don't talk about sniper deaths, but I was wondering about if the commanders released the total we've bagged of the 2000 the military think are there.
PAKISTANâS ongoing military campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in South Waziristan, one of the countryâs seven semi-autonomous federally administered tribal areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan, has a twofold objective. It is an attempt to "pay back" the United States for turning a blind eye to the revered atomic scientist A.Q. Khanâs confession in February on the proliferation of nuclear equipment and secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, for which he was swiftly pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf. But more crucially, the assault is an effort to extend Islamabadâs control over the turbulent, rugged and mountainous tribal region. Populated by over six million warring Pathans, FATA has remained fiercely independent for centuries but is currently simmering with discontent. Musharraf admitted as much in a current affairs programme on state-run television recently. He said that while the hunt for Al Qaeda was important, Islamabadâs basic intention was to "integrate" the tribal areas into Pakistan.
Security sources claim that Musharrafâs bold but dangerous gamble of mobilising thousands of soldiers, backed by artillery and helicopter gunships for the assault in South Waziristan is intended not only to deliver a "high value" Al Qaeda leader to the U.S. in an election year, but also to initiate the process of militarily controlling the 1,000-km-long FATA belt, with a view to demarcating eventually Islamabadâs nebulous frontier with Afghanistan. Dominating the FATA, were it ever to become possible given its violent history and seeming invincibility, would help Musharrafâs besieged military regime prevent the re-emergence of the long-standing demand for Pakhtunistan, an independent Pathan homeland. This territory is broadly envisaged as consisting of the seven tribal territories, the adjoining Pathan-dominated region in Afghanistan to the north and Pakistanâs North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and portions of neighbouring Baluchistan to the south and southeast. Pakistani military officials declared recently that around 70,000 troops have been deployed in and around the FATA, the NWFP and Baluchistan with the ostensible aim of combating Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
But the Durand Line, the unformulated demarcation between Pakistan and Afghanistan drawn arbitrarily in 1893 by Colonel Durand and casually agreed to by Afghanistanâs ruler Amir Abdur Rehman, has kept alive the Pushtunistan issue which, if ignited, could become a veritable nightmare for the region. This "line in the sand" merely satisfied the colonial bureaucratic craving to define the boundaries of the British Empire so that the tribal areas formed the buffer between the "settled" British territories of the NWFP and adjoining Punjab State and Afghanistan should Tsarist Russia move on Kabul. But the tenuous border failed to divide the Pathans or stifle their desire for independence, which, despite frequent intra-tribal feuds, has survived until today. Belonging to over 80 tribes, the Pathans are a semi-nomadic people with over 15 million of them living in Pakistan, including the tribal areas, and around 11 million in Afghanistan. And though Pathan tribes and sub-clans are forever in conflict with one another, they invariably unite when faced with a larger threat like the one posed at present by Musharrafâs forces. Being Afghanistanâs majority community, the Pathans had dominated their country for centuries until after the Talibanâs ouster following the 9/11 attacks. Thereafter, their role and power were eclipsed by the northern Tajiks, further fuelling Pashtun resentment, much to Pakistanâs chagrin.
Musharraf is also concerned about the deteriorating relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan and with Indiaâs burgeoning political, economic, strategic and diplomatic profile in Afghanistan. Kabul blames Islamabad not only for foisting the Taliban upon it in the late 1990s but also for encouraging its interference once again in Afghan affairs. Security analysts feel that this long-running antagonism makes Kabul unwilling to give up its leverage in Pakistanâs tribal areas and move towards defining its borders with Pakistan. India, on the other hand, has long aimed at squeezing Pakistan by supporting Afghanistan and was one of the few countries not to have condemned the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1979.
Meanwhile, the growing Pathan discontent in the NWFP, the FATA and the Pashtun-majority parts of northern Baluchistan, was cleverly defused in the late 1970s by the astute Pakistani military dictator Gen. Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq. He inducted Pathans, including those from the tribal regions, into the political mainstream, the military and the civil service, giving them a stake in the power structure that they had lacked earlier. Fortuitously for Zia, the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan in 1979 and overnight the FATA, especially South Waziristan, and its ever-restive Pathans, who even Alexander the Great could not subdue, became the front line for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-backed and Pakistan-managed decade-long guerilla war, which ended with Moscowâs withdrawal from Kabul in 1989. During the 1980s, the border territories were the main transit point for the supply of weaponry worth nearly $5 billion to the mujahideen (Islamic warriors). Many of these weapons filtered through to the local people and are being employed against the Pakistani Army in the current stand-off in which dozens of soldiers and civilians have died. But arms smuggling, fighting the Soviet Army and the large sums of CIA money that were distributed amongst them appeased the tribal people who continued to produce heroin from opium harvested in the region and smuggle it out with help from the Pakistani military. For the moment Pathan aspirations, which had changed little over centuries, had been met.
After the Soviet Unionâs departure from Kabul, the Pakistani military and the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISID), which jointly managed the "unholy" Afghan campaign, began pursuing a `forwardâ policy in Afghanistan that further underlined Pathan importance. Pakistan planned to gain "control" of war-torn Afghanistan with the aim of providing itself the `strategic depthâ it lacked against India. Zia and his Islamist generals were the architects of this bold strategy, which the U.S. tacitly endorsed by "sub-contracting" Afghanistan to Pakistan after it left the region in 1989. But neither side had the prescience of how future events would unfold. "Securing" Kabul also had the added strategic benefit of allowing Pakistan to shift the bulk of its military eastwards to the Kashmir frontier to allow the ISI to launch armed lashkars or militants in order to fuel the insurgency raging in the disputed province. To "control" Kabul, Pakistan began nurturing the Taliban in the early 1990s in hundreds of madrassas (Islamic seminaries) across the country, which preached a militant brand of fundamentalism. Alongside, the ISI and the Pakistani Army-trained talibs (students), mostly Pathans, to form a militia. In 1996 Pakistan helped the Taliban seize Kabul through a combination of Trojan horse tactics and bribery - common to all Afghan campaigns - and limited military engagements. Under sustained U.S. bombing after 9/11, conducted with overt Pakistani support, the Taliban was ousted by end 2001. This enraged the Pathans, who have close tribal and clan loyalties to the Taliban, besides business links that revolved around smuggling heroin, commercial and consumer goods, electronic items and hawala, the untraceable but highly efficient transfer of money around the world without using banks. Pathan resentment mounted, making it incumbent for Musharraf to try and secure his western flank, a move security officials said was akin to "stirring up a hornetâs nest" from which even the colonial administration had walked away, accepting the reality that it was impossible to either subjugate, quell or even pacify the untamed region.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/28/2004 2:24:55 AM ||
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from which even the colonial administration had walked away, accepting the reality that it was impossible to either subjugate, quell or even pacify the untamed region.
I don't know..I didn't put a whole lot of time into this, but I don't think this conclusion matches the rest of the article. From what I read, they've been manipulating these people to do their bidding for quite sometime.
and I really liked this line: And though Pathan tribes and sub-clans are forever in conflict with one another, they invariably unite when faced with a larger threat like the one posed at present by Musharrafâs forces
yeah..ok..but they invariably divide again just as easily.
Posted by: B ||
04/28/2004 20:49 Comments ||
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Two tear-shaped drops of blood remained on the living-room floor, days after Muslim fanatics shot their way into a home and executed two children because the family is Christian. Now, some Iraqi Chaldean Christians say they fear that militants will attack churches in Baghdad on Easter Sunday. .... "They say, âYou have to be a Muslim, or else we will kill you.â"
Late last month, the family of the two murdered children received a note warning that they would be killed and "doomed to hell." The next day, the gunman came and killed the two children, each with an AK-47 rifle shot to the head that left blood flowing across the living room. Their mother and several other children in the house were allowed to live, presumably to tell others. Some blood remains on the floor and wall, where a framed picture of the Virgin Mary with a golden halo looks out over the room.
Two uncles have since moved in to protect the family. One of the men, disheveled after another sleepless night spent clutching his own AK-47, pleaded with a visiting reporter for help as his eyes filled with tears."How can you guarantee we wonât be killed? We canât sleep. We canât go out to work. Weâre so scared that we are carrying our guns all the time. It all happened in less than 10 seconds," the uncle said. The mother, rail thin beneath her black mourning dress, sat quietly with
her surviving children.
Isoh Barnsavm, an officer in the Bethnahrain Patriotic Union, one of several political parties that represent segments of Iraqâs million-strong Christian minority, said: "There have been hundreds of attacks. Every day we hear of a new attack." He estimated that up to 200 Iraqi Christians have been killed by Muslim extremists since the war began last year. Many have been killed while working as interpreters for the coalition, in attacks that had no apparent religious motive. But Mr. Barnsavm says he is especially worried about incidents in which people are targeted simply because they are Christian.
In the killing of the two children, the warning was written on a computer, printed and reproduced on a photocopier. It was signed Ansar al-Islam. It accused the family of selling "narcotic liquid," an apparent euphemism for alcoholic beverages. In Iraq, only Christians are permitted to buy or sell alcohol.
A public information officer said the case of the murdered children was a matter for the Iraqi Interior Ministry to take up as a "police case, such as breaking and entering or murder." An officer at the U.S. Consulate, asked by e-mail for information on how a family would go about applying for political asylum, said she was not authorized to talk to the press. Members of the Bethnahrain party say they have no access to anyone in the coalition."They wonât even allow me into the CPA building because I have no badge," said one senior party official, who asked not to be named.
Chaldean Christians are said to number about 600,000 in Iraq, with at least twice that many having emigrated to the United States, Western Europe and Australia over the years. A large Chaldean community thrives in Southfield, Mich.
"We have one family who has been threatened with a note: âIf you visit a church, we will kill you,â" said the senior Bethnahrain party official, who is also a history professor and well-known writer. In Iraq, the Chaldeans are particularly upset because they are not represented on the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, which was appointed by the chief U.S. administrator, L. Paul Bremer.
The one non-Muslim member of the council, Yonadam Kanna, represents Assyrian Christians, the smallest of three main Christian groups. A third group, Syriac Christians, is divided into Catholics loyal to Rome and Orthodox members with a patriarch. Iraqâs interim constitution was accepted by the Iraqi Governing Council.
But 12 of 25 members did so under protest and demanded there be changes after June 30, when the document takes effect.
The constitution proclaims Islam the state religion. Elsewhere, it mentions Turkmen and Chaldo-Assyrians as examples of minorities whose rights are to be protected....
Mr. Barnsavm said a religious war is already under way in Iraq. He sometimes uses the terms "clash of cultures" and "clash of civilizations" terms that U.S. officials avoid."On one side thereâs globalization, the borderless world, the concept of democracy, culture that flows across borders. Now the central power against this new system comes from the Middle East, from the Islamic fanatics and a tribal culture.
"This is not just the Muslims against Christians. Itâs the fanatical Islamists striking the West. The Kurds near the Iranian border are being attacked by Ansar al-Islam, which says they are not real Muslims."But the fanatics see us as part of the West, so we become the first target inside the country," Mr. Barnsavm said. Saddam Husseinâs government gave a measure of protection to Christians and other religious minorities. None among dozens of Christians interviewed in the past month suggested they miss him.
"We are quite happy that Saddam is gone, to end the rule of such a dictator," Mr. Barnsavm said. "The attacks that are happening to us are the price we pay for a new system, ending a dictatorship and building a new system."We paid for these kinds of changes throughout history with our blood, every time in history there was a conflict between East and West."....
After the war, we have documented 49 kidnappings, killings and rapes against Mandeans in different parts of Iraq," said Karam Majeed, who is creating an organization to preserve Mandean culture. Shortly after the war, a senior Muslim cleric based in southern Iraq published a fatwa, or religious edict, on his Web site: "When we consider Mandeans, we donât know much about their religion, but they are unclean." Said Mr. Majeed: "This is a very dangerous order because it means a Muslim cannot have contact with a Mandean. It also means that Muslims have the right to attack Mandeans. They donât consider it a crime to attack someone who is âunclean.â"
He read from a dossier of attacks during the past year: In Sadr City, a vast Shiâite slum that houses more than half of Baghdadâs 5 million people, gunshots were fired into shops owned by Mandeans and the words "your day is coming" were written on a wall. A woman in Baghdad was handed a note that read: "You are a Mandean, so you must pay 1 million Iraqi dinars , or we will kill your three daughters."
In Falluja, the stronghold of Sunni Muslim insurgence a city now sealed off by U.S. Marines after the murder-mutilation of four Americans last week Mandean families have been forced to convert to Islam. If they refuse, they must leave Falluja or be killed. In the city of Kut, five houses owned by Mandeans were blown up, one last April and four in June.
The police are typically of little help, and little effort is made to differentiate between common crime and attacks motivated by religion. When people are kidnapped for ransom a crime that has become commonplace but was unheard of in Saddamâs time police often tell families of whatever religious faith to pay the kidnappers because there is nothing they can do. As for crimes with a clear religious motive, the situation is even worse, said Mr. Majeed. "We canât even go to the Interior Ministry. They wonât even admit there is Islamic persecution of minority religions. The only people who can do anything about this are the Americans."
The spiritual leader of the Mandeans, Satar Jabar, who has a long white beard, has written several letters to Mr. Bremer but received no response."We donât have representation in the Governing Council or any of the ministries. They didnât ask us for anything," Mr. Jabar said. As for the family of the two murdered children, an aid group took the father to Amman, Jordan, and two uncles moved in to guard the wife and children, whose shy smiles belie their recurring nightmares of the attackers coming back.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
04/28/2004 12:56:49 AM ||
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Mike S-What is the date of this article? It is my understanding the Chaldean Christians use the Julian Calendar (I may be wrong). My wife is Orthodox Christian, and both Eastern and Western Easter coincided this year.
No matter the date, however, the point of it is sobering.
#3
the religion of peace and tolerance....let more of them go to falluja and kill all of them.
Posted by: Dan ||
04/28/2004 18:48 Comments ||
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Everytime a christian or jew farts in the general direction of a muslim it is characterized in the media as a hate crime by the BBC/CNN/ABC/CBS/NBC/etc.....
that's why only those who don't really care about the news watch them anymore - they have less credibility than the blogs.
Those who care about the news read the web.
Posted by: B ||
04/28/2004 19:20 Comments ||
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Why is it that we intervened to keep christian Serbians from slaughtering muslim Bosnians, Albanians, etc., but look the other way everywhere in the world when muslims slaughter "infidels" (christians, jews, hindus, buddhists, atheists, agnostics, and anyone else in range). Well, as far as I am concerned, these rabid fucking radical muslims are barbarians that should be thoroughly eradicated. They refuse to live in peace with anyone else. The only thing you can do with animals that continually attack people is kill them.
Posted by: Random thoughts ||
04/28/2004 19:42 Comments ||
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. . . these rabid fucking radical muslims are barbarians that should be thoroughly eradicated. They refuse to live in peace with anyone else. The only thing you can do with animals that continually attack people is kill them.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The top U.N. envoy to Iraq called Tuesday for Iraq's caretaker government to be selected by the end of May and said it should reach "crystal clear understandings" on its relationship with U.S.-led coalition forces before the June 30 handover of power.
"Okay! Youze mutts do as youze are told. Izzat crystal-clear?"
In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council, Lakhdar Brahimi expanded on his initial ideas on a transitional government to assume sovereignty from the coalition and run Iraq until national elections by the end of January 2005. Even in the face of deteriorating security, Brahimi said "the job is doable" but he stressed that the plan is still a work in progress and he expects to return to Iraq for consultations.
The Security Council welcomed his "provisional ideas" and members asked many questions - to which they got few answers.
It's the UN, they're fresh out of answers.
As Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said, Brahimi couldn't answer detailed questions because "they're questions which the process in the next months" will never answer. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said "He's laid out an overall sketch of the political direction in which we're headed, but now the flesh has to be put on those bones."
Bad metaphor after Fallujah.
One of the key questions is how to choose the prime minister, president and two vice-presidents that Brahimi earlier said should form the caretaker government. But Brahimi said the Iraqi people, with help from the United Nations, should by the end of May be able to select honest, qualified people to fill top posts, giving the caretaker government a month "to prepare to assume responsibility for governing the country."
Which is more than the UN can do for itself.
Brahimi also nattered on over elaborated on his earlier proposal for a national conference in July that would bring together Iraqis from all walks of life "to engage in a genuine national dialogue with blunt instruments on the country's challenges." He said the conference should not be convened by the United Nations - as was done in Afghanistan - but by Iraqis.
So, it might work.
A preparatory committee should be established as soon as possible, he said, adding that it should be made up of "a small number of reputable and distinguished Iraqis, including prominent and respected judges, who are not seeking political office." From preliminary discussions with a wide range of Iraqis, the United Nations envisions between 1,000 and 1,500 Iraqis taking part in the conference, Brahimi said.
Thus guaranteeing that nothing gets done except posturing.
The conference should appoint a "consultative council" to provide advice to the government, debate key issues and form committees which would receive reports from ministers in the run up to national elections, slate to be held by the end of January 2005.
The UN is big on committees, ya know.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2004 12:03:06 AM ||
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#1
Saw Bernard Lewis on Charlie Rose last night. Lewis is worried that Brahimi will rebaathify the govt. US needs to make sure that the firm anti-Baathists, including the IGC people and Sistanis people are not pushed out by Brahimi/UN/Sunni arab neighbors. See above Iraqi press post.
#2
Brahimi on the loose is not the type of guy we want sticking his nose in Iraq. He a product of the Algerian revolution, loves its generals, etc. In other words, he finds comfort in the typical Arab govt. template of a strong leader over representative govt. Which brings up one thing. Why in God's name is W giving so much lee way to him? I remember what the prez said at his press conference. What gives? I know how Brahimi helped out in Afghanistan, but that wasn't Arab.
Posted by: Michael ||
04/28/2004 14:18 Comments ||
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#3
Brahimi Wants New Iraq Gov't Set Up Soon
Who gives a shit what that anti-Semitic jackass wants? Fuck him. And the camel he rode in on.
Butt out, asshole.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/28/2004 16:33 Comments ||
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"Why in God's name is W giving so much lee way to him?"
Some would say that we originally intended to count on the Shia to oppose UN influence. When our relations with Sistani deteriorated, whether you blame the CPA or Sistani, we needed to fall back on the UN.
#5
I get the feeling these yammerheads were supposed to be on the flag designing comittee, but it let out early. Send 'em back, keep 'em busy with that ultra-important task while the grown-ups decide what to do about the gomers with the guns.
#6
A positive spin on this is that the iraqis are going to be faced with a choice. Do you want the UN proposal or not. I think it highly likely it will be rejected. Which will be another nail in teh UN's coffin.
Posted by: Phil B ||
04/28/2004 21:30 Comments ||
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#7
The Security Council welcomed his "provisional ideas" and members asked many questions - to which they got few answers.
It's the UN, they're fresh out of answers
Posted by: Michael 2004-04-28 2:18:57 PM
Umm This is Bush's war. What's his plan.
Remember Bush told the UN to kiss his A$$.
Now he's in constant prayer hoping this proped up govt works long enough till Nov 2.
What Army will defend this new Govt.
Posted by: Langs ||
04/29/2004 0:01 Comments ||
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#8
Don't you even understand your DUmmy Talking Points screech well enough to formulate a rational tirade? You're a tool fool - and a lamer to boot. Go back and ask for help from an aDUlt, if you can locate one, sonny.
At least 20 people were killed and dozens of others were injured today following a clash between Christians and Muslims in Nigeriaâs central Plateau State, a witness said. The state assistant commissioner of police, Sotonye Wakama, confirmed four people were killed but said the figure could be higher. He said he was yet to get full details of the Islamist inspired terrorist mayhem violence in Bakin Chiyawa town.
Inuwa Mohammed, a resident in the town who said he witnessed the unrest, told journalists in Jos, the state capital, that he saw at least 20 dead bodies. "More than 20 people were killed. Corpses littered the area," he said. Many houses were burnt and property worth millions of naira were destroyed in the unrest, which forced many residents to flee to neighbouring Nassarawa state, said Mohammed.
That's what smart residents usually do.
Security officials last week intercepted a lorry-load of arms in Shendam city, which shares a border with Bakin Chiyawa.
Did that lead to any overtime truncheon work? Apparently not.
The state has since the return of civilian rule in 1999 been the scene of ethnic and religious unrest in which hundreds of people were killed. Wase, a largely Muslim community in the state, has in recent years been locked in conflict with the Christian villagers of nearby Tarok and Langtang. About 20 people were killed last month in violence in the area.
Wonder how many victims came from the RoP?
Posted by: TS (vice girl) ||
04/28/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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This reminds me of the story a Ibn. A young Nigerian muslim, age 8.
"I went to the holy place." Ibn said. "Where mohamas slayed the dragon. Some mean boys made fun of my plain robe, the one grandfather stole from the old Jew, the money lender, Amos".
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.
