Thank you everyone I was in dire straits,been dealing with this thing fo 2 months now.
Ended-up going to the emergency room last night.Problem is I got an infection(one of those resistance strains)in my little finger.The infection did not get in the bone,but down to the bone.ER Doc said same thing,dump my GP,Er doc prescribed Percoset and augmenton.
Thanks Dr.Steve I understand about the net/long distance treatment thing.Will be seeing a specislist thursday,He has been on vacation for the last 3 weeks.
Once agin thank you all.Sorry for waisting you band width Fred.
Posted by: Raptor ||
06/16/2004 11:46:45 AM ||
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Raptor, I'm glad you got some help. Hope you're feeling better soon!
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/16/2004 12:36 Comments ||
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Good luck Raptor, type a little gentler next time. A keyboard can be a dangerous tool and not to be taken for granted, but of course you know that now, but the rest of you Burgermiesters take note!
AN Indian mystic who vowed to spend a weekend buried underground to show his desire for world peace has died of suffocation. Police said 22-year-old Ananda Swami had performed the ritual twice before, but overzealous followers this time packed the soil more tightly atop his two-metre, brick-lined pit. Entering the trench on Saturday, Swami told supporters he was performing penance to seek world peace and to bring rain to the drought-hit southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. But when the crowd returned Monday to the pit in Kondayampatti village, 385km south of Madras, Swami failed to rise.
Dontcha hate it when that happens?
A post-mortem found Swami likely died within four or five hours of burial, and that his body had already begun to decompose. His face bore scars indicating he may have tried to push through the wooden plank on top of him as he ran out of air, the post-mortem found. Police said during the previous two burials Swami had kept the wood panel open wide enough to allow in air, but this time soil firmly covered all outlets for oxygen. Followers also lit a bonfire next to the pit, believing Swami had sent them a sign that this was what he wanted, and the smoke may have made it even more difficult for him to breathe, police said.
Ohfergawdsake.
Hindu mystics often seek to demonstrate their devotion by undergoing trials of endurance, such as spending long periods of time in uncomfortable positions.
Posted by: tipper ||
06/16/2004 11:13:47 AM ||
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Tanzanian police have vowed to act after a villager laced with poison his wifeâs remains to catch a killer lion. Police told the BBC they will wipe out the rogue lions that are terrorising villages in the southern Lindi area. When Selemani Ngongwechile found his wifeâs half-eaten body, he calmly poisoned it, knowing the lion would return for the rest of its "meal". His plan worked, killing the lion, but the police say they will use more orthodox methods. Lindi local police chief Simon Dau told the BBC that "a few" lions remained in the area and warned villagers to stay inside after dark. Well, just what do you do with a dead wife?
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/16/2004 12:22 Comments ||
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The only thing that was weird to me was that he "calmly poisoned" his wife's half-eaten body. But maybe it was his way of getting back at the lion--in which case it may have been a very difficult and brave for him to do, and the apparent "calmness" was actually grief and determination.
We keep hearing these stories about rogue animals in Africa. I don't fault the animals. Their territories are shrinking so much that they cannot be supported, and subsequently, food sources are drying up too, due to human encroachment. Eco-systems are actually a lot more fragile than most human beings realize, and animals have a survival instinct that they have no choice but to obey. Animals prefer to keep distance from humans, but if they come to see humans as a food source, big problems arise--becasue unsuspecting humans are pretty easy targets for the larger predators. Same thing happens in the Rocky Mountains, with cougars and bears .
Another BIG reason to fight Islamicism: They don't give a shit about wildlife or the environment. For Islamics, it's all about them and their religious/political agendas. They are an incredibly short-sighted, selfish lot, as far as humans go (and that's putting it mildly). And they'd just as soon see our American natural landscapes destroyed, and all our magnificent wild species obliterated--FOREVER. Even this stupid fight in the Middle East--which THEY started more than twenty years ago--serves to take people's minds off the important natural resources America should be guarding.
About 30 years ago, a conservative wildlife biologist (my step-dad!) was instrumental in stopping the use of DDT in this country, which was endangering the American Bald Eagle--the symbol of our country. I doubt that many still remember how close the Bald Eagle came to extinction. Here's the question: does anyone think Islamotwerps care anything about the sacredness of the land, the importance of conservation, responsible mangagement of natural resources, and so forth? Heck, with all the (legitimate) concerns over the bombing of shopping malls and our own safety and security, it's hard for people to even give environmental issues a second thought (thanks to the Islamic terrorist idiots). Not only that, but they keep people worried over silly things like whether or not to allow their brainwashed, oppressed females to wear hajibs to school. If we had been dealing with these monsters during the DDT battle, our national symbol would have been nothing more than a memory--only displayed in cages at zoos here and there.
The IslamoFascists will only destroy what they can get ahold of, and they have no respect for accumulated. knowledge, science, progress, peace. Organizations like the ones listed above, have absolutely NO value to them, whatsoever.
The benefits of stalwart environmental conservation (clean water, clean air, natural lands. healthy, abundant wildlife), currently under threat by the IslamoFascism (and by many of our own misinformed politicians), is the birthright and the privilege of every American, and shouldn't be handed over to such horrible creatures as those who ascribe to Islam.
A young Indonesian maid drank a glass of detergent and was dead on arrival in hospital early this week, the sixth Indonesian domestic help to commit suicide this year. Djoko Santosa, a spokesman of the Indonesian Embassy, said yesterday that attempts to save the womanâs life failed because the solution had caused irreparable damage to her organs. The body remains in police custody while an investigation is under way. âA total of 32 deaths of Indonesian workers, mainly maids, were reported to the Indonesian Embassy so far this year. This also includes nearly six suicide cases involving housemaids,â Santosa said.
The growing number of suicides among Indonesian maids has raised an alarm among local workers and government agencies in Jakarta, sparking calls to ensure greater protection for Indonesian migrant workers. He said the embassy and consulates prioritized compensation claims in cooperation with the Saudi government and employers. Jakarta is also working to set up support groups in Saudi Arabia to provide more assistance to domestic workers. âIndonesia will set up some 18 support groups in the Kingdom to safeguard the interests of its workers and monitor cases of harassment,â a recent Indonesian government report said.
Which will do what, exactly?
The support groups will collect information about the workers and defend them within the framework of the local laws and regulations.
Yeah, that'll do a lot of good.
A number of Indonesian non-government agencies criticized a tide of reported abuses of maids and called for a halt to export of labor to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Malaysia. Indonesian missions in the Kingdom receive daily requests for assistance from maids, at the rate of 10 a day at the embassy and five to seven a day at each of the consulates. My dream is to have enough money to fund a newspaper where news like the above would be printed every single day. Believe me, it will never run out of stories!
Leftist, appeasers, self-loathing Americans and Westeners have to be fed a 24 hour diet of news on the treatment of minorities (specially the labor hand) by Middle Easterners and muslims in general. Notice, that the maids are from Indonesia, therefore are muslims. Although, they are considered second class muslims, they are still muslims and consequently treated a little bit better than non-muslim maids. Imagine how they will treat the latter!
Posted by: Anonymous4617 ||
06/16/2004 7:42:45 AM ||
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My dream is to have enough money to fund a newspaper
Fund a newspaper? That's old media. The blogosphere is new media. All we need to do is get more people to read Rantburg:)
#4
Good point - In this case the 'holier' Arab muslims are doing it to less 'holy' Indonease Muslims. Just like in Sudan where you are the 'holier' arab muslims killing/raping/murdering their less-holy African/Black 'muslim brother and sisters' while the world (particulary the UN) watches.
#5
In my total of 22+ months of service in the Persian Gulf, (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, U.A.E.,etc.) I have read numerous reports in the local newspapers of expat workers taking their own lives. The most popular way of doing it is usually poison, although I have read of a few hangings. It appears that the suicides are usually out of desperation due to sexual abuse, maltreatment, etc. The law of the underworld is definatly a part of the Arab culture, and TCN's (Third Country Nationals) are often treated like Children of a lesser God by their employers. Muslim or not, TCN's are usually shat on by not only their bosses, but the entire indigenous population. Guess what Rantburgers, Kuwait(TM)is only 40 something % native Kuwaitis, all the rest being from Egypt, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Bangledesh, etc. Money has been the major catalyst, along with the Arab-wide state of Mass insecurity and dominance.
#6
Spot,
"All we need to do is get more people to read Rantburg:"
Believe me, I do that, too. I have e-mailed this link to people in a South American country that shall remain nameless, the US and here, in Saudi Arabia. I know that the blogosphere is what most readers will turn to for news in the future but, we are not there yet. The truth about the treatment of minorities by muslims needs to be publize now and in a big way. I guarantee that this will change the mind of a lot of those wishy-washy Westerners, who still think that muslims are just like them...maybe a little bit different given that they come from a different culture.
#10
The guy I worked for the first time I was in SA had a male housekeeper - because he was not a Saudi. The Saudi 'neighbor' across the street had a female housekeeper. Both were Sri Lankans. He described coming home one day to find them standing on the curb talking to each other - across the street. He didn't mind, of course, but warned his guy that this might cause problems if the Saudi found out.
What harm could there be in these two lonely homesick people talking to each other, you ask? None, of course.
Well, the Saudi neighbor did 'catch' them, eventually, and my boss told me she ended up in the hospital from the beating and then summarily deported by this well-connected Aramco Saudi asswipe. This is a common-place story.
#6
Deacon Blues - any good web sites you could recommend on making home brew?
Posted by: Dan ||
06/16/2004 11:52 Comments ||
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Deacon Blues -
ANY establishment named after a Steely Dan song is worth visiting. I'd like a table for two at 7 near the window, and how is the BBQ?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/16/2004 11:53 Comments ||
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Mojo: I LIKE IT!
Dan: I have a couple of books but never thought to serf the net for beer recipes.
Mike: We have outdoor seating but you have to sho the ducks, cats, and dogs away yourself. The smoked pork loins with bourbon bbq sauce are very good as is the tequila-lime chicken. Top it off with a home-brewed stout of oatmeal porter, with an avocado/crab salad for appetizer. Grill roasted corn on the cob and smokes asparagus on the side. I'm glad it's dinnertime.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/16/2004 12:08 Comments ||
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Everyone in Trinidad is too stoned to notice the beer shortage.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/16/2004 12:23 Comments ||
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#9 Everyone in Trinidad is too stoned to notice the beer shortage.
But, but, but ... wouldn't that just make them even thirstier?
#13
I think the President of Trinidad carries a football not unlike the nuclear football we have in the US. Well... unlike in the sense that Trinidad's contains the secret formula for Angostura bitters.
#1
Bernard Thibault, the CGT's general secretary said: "This plan was not acceptable yesterday, it is not acceptable today and will not be tomorrow. A decision of this nature, of this importance, cannot be taken when it provokes so much controversy."
Yup, that's the strategy.
It drives people like him nuts when people like Bush don't give in just because of controversy .... heh.
If you werenât able to catch their press conference on CSPAN-2 a month or so ago--it was not reported in the press at all, the AP correspondent *refusing* to report on it--it is now available at the Swift Boat Veterans website. These are the angriest veterans I have ever seen, and this video may be too intense for some. Windows WMV format.
Yet another log thrown onto the "Medial Hates Reagan" bonfire. The usual rehashed plethora of Decade of GreedTM, âjust an actorâ, liar, deceiver, Christmas Grinch, Beelzebub, whack pop icon references, not worthy of fisking.
(2004-06-15) -- Democrat presidential hopeful John Forbes Kerry, who is also a U.S. Senator, today laid out his blueprint for increasing the size of the middle class by boosting taxes on the wealthy.
In a speech to union members in New Jersey, Mr. Kerry answered critics who claim he has offered no coherent vision for America, and he slammed President Bush for "squeezing the middle class."
"I believe in building up our great middle class--expanding it," said Mr. Kerry. "Now, to increase the size of the middle class you can do one of two things--either help poor people escape from poverty and dependency on government programs, or take some money away from rich people so that they become middle class. Now, which one of those sounds easier to you? Itâs a no brainer."
Mr. Kerry said that the Bush administration "doesnât want you to be middle class. They want you to be like their rich cronies from Halliburton. But they donât tell you the dirty little secret...if you become wealthy, most of your money will go to pay taxes. Whereâs the compassion in their conservatism?"
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/16/2004 16:22 Comments ||
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It seems to me that by taxing the people who have a lot of money to invest harder than anyone else the people will have less to invest and hence, less money to expand businesses and therefore, fewrer jobs will be created. Am I just stupid or is Mr. Kerry ( I call him Mr. Kerry because he is absent from the Senate about 70% of the time) some kind of wizzard?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/16/2004 18:39 Comments ||
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Deacon Blues----You are not stupid. You are just plagued with a logical mind and common sense. Learn to live with the disease. Kerry is talking redistribution of wealth through taxation. Old game. I am sure that his wealth is insulated from the taxation game. Old socialist trick, you betcha....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/16/2004 19:06 Comments ||
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Scrappleface Alert, Boyz!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2004 19:09 Comments ||
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Actually, when you increase taxes on the highest brackets you tend to hammer small businessmen and inheritors. Most really rich people pay very little in the way of taxes; look at what Arianna Huffington doesn't pay, for instance. Do you really think that John Kerry plans to tax himself?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/16/2004 23:02 Comments ||
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I propose a tax on wealthy Democrats who are politically active, so it applies to all those "actors" who dabble. First, they must pay all money, holdings, investments, etc in taxes. Then they we shall tax them by using them for spare parts. You know, recycling them. If we all vote for that, it's democracy and what the voters want.
#10
Clearly, not everything is useful. The people in dire need of hearts, kidneys, livers, lungs, cornea's, etc will be happy to get them. As for brains, a little packaging and spices, I'm sure we can sell them to the French.
But referred by the Professor; long article on torture, some surprising insights.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2004 11:11:13 AM ||
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"They were trying to humiliate us, break our pride. We are men. It's OK if they beat me. Beatings don't hurt us, it's just a blow. But no one would want their manhood to be shattered," he said. "They wanted us to feel as though we were women, the way women feel and this is the worst insult, to feel like a woman."
The braver women in that world would probably agree that the shaming and mistreatment they suffer simply because they are women does exceed physical torture.
This may be controversial to say, but the shaming men experienced at Abu Ghraib could usher in badly needed change in the Islamic world, in the long run. This man hasn't confronted his prejudice yet; maybe after a few years' haunting memories of the humiliation, he can take what he has experienced and recognize the parallel between his (momentary) humiliation and Muslim women's (lifelong) humiliation and use that knowledge to improve the estimation of women in Islam.
#2
I sometimes wonder if the quickest way to end this war would be to parade the next big shot we catch (OBL, Zawahiri, or Zarqawi come to mind) down the middle of the street, naked, on all fours, and on a leash. His escorts would be a squad of female MP's who when not jerking the leash, would spit on him and revile him in Arabic. Arabs are big on symbolism, so I hear.
WSJ - EFL
From the woman who has kicked UN ass like no other, Claudia Rosset. Turtle Bayâs Latest Coverup The U.N. investigates itself--again.
BY CLAUDIA ROSETT
Wednesday, June 16, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT In a stunning development that even the United Nationsâ fiercest critics will surely hail as a turn for the better, Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced yesterday that he is "entirely disgusted" with the way the U.N. investigates itself. "Itâs a way of deflecting criticism, not solving problems," said Mr. Annan, adding that "The U.N. Secretariat has become a secret society, swathed in privilege and shielded by immunities. As secretary-general, tasked with upholding the integrity, values and moral authority of the United Nations, I am authorizing a new policy of complete transparency, financial and otherwise, in the workings of the Secretariat, starting with full disclosure of all internal debates, correspondence, memos, audits, expense accounts and cafeteria subsidies. Oh, and by the way, I apologize for presiding over the biggest swindle in the history of humanitarian relief, the Oil-for-Food program in Iraq."
Just kidding. This is raw fantasy; Mr. Annan never said any such thing. In the real world, in the best tradition of setting bureaucratic backfires, the U.N. has now labored mightily, in collaboration with Deloitte Consulting LLP, to add one more item to the recent series of U.N. self-investigations--this one an inquiry into the U.N. Secretariatâs perception of its own integrity. The resulting public document, which runs to 90 pages but somehow omits what were reportedly some lurid individual responses, was posted recently on Mr. Annanâs U.N. web page under the title "United Nations Organizational Integrity Survey 2004."
Though readers must slog through such U.N.-speak as "The U.N. wanted to operationalize integrity," this report has its intriguing moments. Somewhere under it simmers a certain candor. The findings are based on responses from 6,086 of the 18,035 U.N. Secretariat employees to whom the survey questionnaire on U.N. integrity was sent--meaning about one-third of the staff weighed in, which is enough to be significant. The results, summed up in a cover letter by Mr. Annan, suggest that the Secretariatâs own employees believe they inhabit a snake pit. Highlights, as Mr. Annan cites them, include such failings as: "integrity and ethical behavior are not taken sufficiently into account in selection, promotion and assessment processes" and "staff believe that not enough action is taken to investigate and address instances of unethical behavior, and that those who expose such breaches may put themselves at risk of reprisal."
More directly to the point, the report itself, on page 11, notes that "staff members feel unprotected from reprisals for reporting violations of the codes of conduct. This is not a perception confined to a few staff in remote locales and/or dangerous circumstances. Forty-six percent (46%) gave unfavourable response to this item, while only 12% gave favourable responses."
...more...
Rosset rocks. Typically well-constructed fact-filled authoritative piece delivered with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Me love Claudia, heh.
Posted by: .com ||
06/16/2004 5:57:48 AM ||
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This combined with the news about Dileep Nair (from NY Post: the undersecretary general in charge of the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight, has been accused of demanding kickbacks and sexual favors in return for promotions inside his office. Nair...also has been accused of attempting to thwart the probe into the Iraq oil-for-food scandal). Now if we can just pull a couple more bricks out of the foundation......CRASH!
#2
Thwart the probe? I wouldn't put it past those folks to have already destroyed most of the incriminating evidence in the oil-for-food scandal. These UN people are starting to look more clownish and twisted than Zhirnovsky.
#3
Getting a response rate of about 35% by itself implies an organization with severe morale problems. Typically, the non responders are beaten down and too demoralized to respond or else are hoping to lay low until they retire or are too lazy to respond or too distrustful of the organization to respond or maybe too stupid to figure out how to respond.
via Wash Times / UPI
SEREMBAN, Malaysia, Jun. 15 (UPI) -- A male soccer fan in Malayasia was beaten with a television remote control by his wife for watching Euro 2004 soccer. I bet my remoteâs bigger than yours...
The Malayasian Star reported Tuesday the man, who only wanted to be identified by the name of Yap, said his wife requires him to go to be early so he can get their two children to school in the morning. Only Yap. I wouldnât want more ân that printed either, lol!
"She refused to allow me to watch the game, although I promised not oversleep or shun my responsibility of sending the children to school," he said. Okay, weâre talkinâ Malaysia here - whaddya think: Do you figure she works - or not?
But at 2:00 a.m. he snuck out of bed to watch the telecast. However, his cry of disappointment when England, his favorite team, was crushed by France awoke his wife who proceeded to whack him on his head with the remote control unit. She then removed the smart card from the satellite decoder to keep him from watching future live telecasts. If heâd just stifled himself ala Archie Bunker. Does "Stick a sock in it" mean anything in Malaysia?
The soccer fan had to enlist the help of MCA Public Complaints bureau chief, Khoo Seng Hock, who after much persuasion got the wife to relent and allow her husband to watch soccer. This guy needs some serious help.
Posted by: .com ||
06/16/2004 7:19:57 AM ||
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TiVo and don't read the paper or listen to the radio.
#2
However, his cry of disappointment when England, his favorite team, was crushed by France
Hardly 'crushed' when we led the game for 85 minutes. Poor son of a bitch - sounds like reasonable grounds for a divorce, or, if muslim, a few lashes from the cat o' nine tails for wifey.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/16/2004 7:53 Comments ||
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"a few lashes from the cat o' nine tails for wifey."
heh, don't need to be a crazy muzzy for that.. should see/hear the stuff one of my roomates does with his gf.. only bad part is the blood they leave in the shower in the morning, I keep a lot of bleach handy ;p
TEHRAN (IRNA) â- The chairman of Tehran Hotel Owners Association said here Sunday the recent earthquake that jolted Tehran has had a 40 percent and 50 percent reduction in the number of domestic and foreign tourists, respectively. Mohammad Forugh-Mehr told IRNA the problem lies in the overblown reactions by the officials and some section of the domestic media to the tremors causing the adverse psychological effects to be more pronounced than the damage inflicted by the quake itself.
Last week, the media dedicated extensive coverage to the likelihood of a looming quake to hit the area in the next several days. "This caused a perceptible reduction in the number of tourists that visit the capital city on a regular basis in this period," he added. Over the past years many tourists, notably form the Persian Gulf states, have visited the country in the summer season and specially the Caspian sea coastal cities, Forugh-Mehr said adding, "but the rumors of an impending earthquake has kept the tourists away this year." He said the resolution of the issue hinges on the prudent manner of information dissemination by officials and media. "The latter did have less than satisfactory coverage of a natural disaster which is impossible to predict."
#4
Actually, the regular Iranians are exceptionally courteous, extremely friendly, and endlessly curious and inquisitive toward American tourists, in particular. A good friend of mine in Saudi went there with his son on vacation just before I left - visiting many places up and down the length of the country. His enthusiastic and detailed recounting of the trip and the reception strongly confirmed the many pre-Iraq War press stories about the modern and progressive attitude of everyone in Iran not connected to the "Gov't" - and their incredible oppression and frustration.
The rampant anti-American press bias has apparently caused the agenda-driven outlets to effectively cease publishing such stories - it undermines their screed. You will only find such information in the documentary business, these days.
The US has accused Iran of bullying foreign diplomats, in an escalating row over Tehranâs nuclear ambitions. US diplomat Kenneth Brill said Iranâs president was using "intimidation" by saying Tehran might resume its uranium enrichment programme. more ...
Not much news here, folks. An ill-tempered ten year-old with a slingshot could "bully the UN." Move along ...
#1
As the Zenster noted,this probably means nothing.Buuuut,one of US diplomatic themes before Iraq War was Saddam was defying the UN and US would have to intervene to keep UN from becoming irrelevant.(Said with a straight face too,no doubling over w/laughter.)
Posted by: Stephen ||
06/16/2004 15:57 Comments ||
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There is a report today in al-Sharq al-Awsat that Iran is massing 4 battalions at the Iraqi border. Iran denying these reports, though Iâm not exactly sure why - 4 battalions is hardly a massive horde and Iran already has an entire army corps (3 divisions) stationed along the Iraqi border, which is much larger than the several thousand troops that 4 battalions are likely to consist of...A more ominous explanation would be that this is the suicide army that the IRGC formally established at a conference on June 2. The obvious tactical use of a suicide Brigade would be to infiltrate them into Iraq as pilgrims, assuming sufficient individual munitions are available for them in country or could be smuggled in. However, the "Hail Mary" alternative would be that they are waiting for the departure of one or two US divisions, then plan a NUCLEAR attack on the remaining one, followed by an immediate grab for the entire country, or at least the southern Shiite regions--probably under threat of using a second nuke against the Saudi oilfields.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
06/16/2004 11:59:03 AM ||
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i have pondered this, the notion that the mad mulla's would use what few nukes they may have...i am afraid this is a very real possiblity...and we could very well lose 20k troops or more..and our only option would be a massive retalitory strike on the iranian military (including the revolutionary gurards). it really makes no sense for iran to do this given our long history in regards to use of nukes...this would be just the type of scenario that would cause us to use nukes...
as for the oil fields also a very real possiblity - our govt should give a clear warning any strike on the saudi oil fields will cause immedaite destruction of Tehran. we really must drop all diplomatic pretenses in this area.
Posted by: Dan ||
06/16/2004 13:27 Comments ||
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Debka is now posting that iranian troops on border - same data as yesterday's post
Posted by: Dan ||
06/16/2004 14:15 Comments ||
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Under that scenario, they have to think we'd let them kill thousands of our soldiers with nuclear weapons and then we'd go away?
That's some serious crazy there.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/16/2004 14:30 Comments ||
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#4
it really makes no sense for iran to do this given our long history in regards to use of nukes...this would be just the type of scenario that would cause us to use nukes...
You're assuming they believe we would respond in kind. I won't bet on them believing it.
Hell, I'm not so sure about it myself.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/16/2004 14:42 Comments ||
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#4 I have to assume this because this a very real possiblity..and if we do not have the stomach for this level we have lost and should pack up now...
Posted by: Dan ||
06/16/2004 15:15 Comments ||
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#6
not concerned about it - its saber rattling to the UN nuke hunters
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
06/16/2004 15:16 Comments ||
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#7
However, the "Hail Mary" alternative would be that they are waiting for the departure of one or two US divisions, then plan a NUCLEAR attack on the remaining one, followed by an immediate grab for the entire country, or at least the southern Shiite regions--probably under threat of using a second nuke against the Saudi oilfields.
Iranians, even crazy Iranians have to know that attacking any element of any US military installation is suicide and will yield little in the form of positive benefits.
I think that if they are trying to infiltrate suicide units into Iran to attack US units, this has to be diversionary operations, to mask other movement within the Iraq.
It makes far more sense that if Iran wants to do damage to the US in Iraq, getting US field commanders to change their operations to trying to play whack-a-mole against suicide units, forcing the US to redeploy to the east to stop Iranian infiltrations, when in fact re-infiltratioin of Iraqi WMDs from the west may be the real plan.
It is also possible that Sadr's play was to enable infiltration of units into Iraq, and this move is to mask further movement west to Israel.
I just don't know: this is all, after all, speculation. But that would be my best guess. They can't defeat us militarily, not even assimetrically, but they can expend resources to move WMDs to where they want them to be.
#8
Still think the regular army battalions are being deployed to protect terrorist training camps(or as Iranians are/will be calling them-Iraqi Liberation Army)from US attack.Thinking being Bush could not stand political fallout from attacking another country,while attacking a purely terrorist run camp might be acceptable.As to doubt raised yesterday that US would attack to show Iran is secretely supporting terrorists,what secret?Leading member of Iranian regime boasted to press about training terrorists.
Heard an interesting opinion on Iran nuke program while flipping last night(don't remember show).Iran was setting up a program not to build a few bombs now,but to be able to rapidly assemble a bunch in near future.Would be very smart,which is why I think the Mad Mullahs wouldn't do it.If they did have capability to rapidly make/assemble a number of nukes,but didn't have any on hand,it would give Iran several benefits.1)Wouldn't have to guard bombs,especially against coup,rebels.2)Diplomatic brilliance-you nice Euros can go right on trading w/us,we don't have any nasty nukes,not us...but if you're not nice we know where to get some real quick.
Posted by: Stephen ||
06/16/2004 15:49 Comments ||
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#9
i have pondered this, the notion that the mad mulla's would use what few nukes they may have...i am afraid this is a very real possiblity....
Probably accurate but, while the mullahs may be mad, I doubt they're suicidal. Remember the game (in the eyes of the Muslim faithful): the moment of Islam's triumph is at hand, the hated west and its evil freedoms are about to be defeated once and for all and the restoration of the Caliphate is imminent. Given those "facts", someone has to be left to rule, no? And who should that be? The heathens in Saudi Arabia? Hardly. The nominally pro-western heathens in Afghanistan and/or Iraq? Even worse! The lax apostates that dominate east Asian Muslim nations? Blasphemy! No, clearly (to an Iranian mullah), the only choice to lead the coming Islamic superstate is themselves. Thus I'd expect self-preservation to be among their highest instincts. Worry when they start disappearing and we don't find the bodies, as long as they're in Tehran yapping to the press they're not going to do anything utterly stupid.
The recent bellicosity of the Iranian government is probably nothing more than their slavish adherence to what they see as a hugely successful political strategy. Namely the Kim Jong Mentally Ill strategy which calls for insane rants, continuous threats, and just enough overt acts to keep the west off one's back and outside one's borders. Remember, these are mullahs in a closed Islamic society we're talking about, they're not trained to think strategically and they're not likely to do much more than ape those strategies they recognize as having been successful elsewhere. The presumpion is probably that we don't know if they have a nuclear weapon but we know they're close. Thus they likely believe they can forestall action against their regime via their bellicosity until such a time as they have nuclear weapons ala the NorKs. Small fly in the ointment: they don't have launch vehicles capable of hitting the US so they're a classic paper tiger.
If irrefutable evidence turns up that Iran has nuclear weapons I look for a large immediate conventional strike by the US. After all, what're they going to do, nuke Paris? Heh. Hand a nuke to terrorists? They'll do that anyway. Can anybody think of a real reason we wouldn't go after them? (Elections & politics aside).
#10
Iran's been doing a lot of saber-rattling lately. The nuke program, the recent boasts and claims, the assembly of that suicide brigade . . . my gut tells me they're up to something. Given the left's howls over the preemptive strike on Iraq, I don't know that Bush could actually afford to go into Iran . . . but should we let them make the first move, given that that *may* involve nukes? On the other hand, once they make a move, we can take them out, no problem. It's only what they do first that scares me.
All this makes me wonder just how thin the mullahs' ice is. Historically, war has been a great means of getting a population behind a leader, and no doubt the religious rhetoric of the mullahs would double that effect. Just a thought. Technically, anyway.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
06/16/2004 16:18 Comments ||
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#11
Interesting points, AzCat; you posted while I was working out my own thoughts. You may very well be right that they see Kimmie's strategy as a "success," but then again, there's Saddam's counterexample . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
06/16/2004 16:20 Comments ||
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#12
True enough Doc. I suggest that they may be engaging in the NorK gambit partly based on the fact that they're playing Saddam's stonewalling tactics to the hilt with the IAEA (to the point of disassembling and moving entire facilities and claiming they were never there when inspectors return to find only lawns and gardens). Both are directly applicable to their goal of obtaining WMD and both are proven, at least after a fashion.
On a political level, one can differentiate Iran and Iraq by the lack of a trail of sanctions / resolutions imposed against Iran and the fact that there's no open state of war to pick up and resume as there was with Iraq. Iraq was far more an international pariah than is Iran and I'd imagine that the mullahs are (correctly) betting that they can keep the international community at large long enough to develop an acknowledged nuclear weapons capability.
Assume the prior paragraph is indeed what it happening in Iran today. The NorK gambit is the next obvious step in the ploy because the NorKs have seemingly guaranteed their territorial integrity via the acquisition of a small number of nuclear weapons.
So far, so good, if I were an Iranian mullah with indigenous uranium mines, an operable enrichment program, and a significant enough technical base (low threshold) to assemble the weapons, that's exactly the path I'd be on today. Though the counter-argument can be made, the massive political difficulty in acting militarily against Iraq despite years of sanctions/resolutions/open warfare tends (in my mind anyway) to reinforce the idea that there's a window in which Iran can more-or-less do as they please. It's a risk to be sure, but a calculated one and one that appears likely to pay off in the near term.
History as it were, is careening towards an inflection point and the singularity upon which history's course will turn and speed off in a new direction is Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons. One can almost see the mullahs trudging along in the best traditions of Islam slavishly adhering to what they believe are the established rules. Unfortunately for them said rules have likely been obviated by their very entry into the game and that's the wildcard I doubt they've accounted for completely. IMHO the US will likely act to prevent a nuclear Iran even if we must do so over the loud objections of every other nation on the planet. And if we don't, the Israelis will.
#13
Iran and Iraq fought to a draw after 8 years of WWI attrition style warfare. Iran at the end was reduced to throwing 12 year old boys and religious fanatics into the fray in human wave attacks. Iran claimed they lost 200,000. Iraq claimed they killed 800,000. The real answer is somewhere in the middle. That war ended in 1988 but the Iranian military never really recovered from the double blow of this war and the purges of the revolution. The point is that Iran might be able to conquer Iraq in its present reduced circumstances if the war were fought in a vacuum. Any attack on US military forces would provoke a response that would result in the annihilation of the attacking Iranian forces and the dissolution of the Iranian theocracy. Not a result that the Iranians would seek out.
#14
RWV, no rational man would seek that kind of thing. But I think we can safely say that the mullahs aren't exactly rational. They believe they have Allah on their side, and they think that the nuclear capability may give them some sort of "trump card." "If you attack our forces, we'll drown you in a sea of Allah's Wrath!" or some such nonsense. They don't care what they do, they don't care about human lives. And I think AzCat's right; the Israelis will be on this (and if they aren't, they should!). It will be interesting, to say the least . . . though I'd kinda prefer that the fate of the free world didn't hang in the balance, know what I mean?
Posted by: The Doctor ||
06/16/2004 22:58 Comments ||
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Iran has the highest proportion of heroin addicts in the world and a growing Aids problem. In a country where discussing sex, drugs and Aids is taboo, two doctors tackle the stigma and help those who are suffering.
Maryam is just 21, from a small town outside Kermanshah in north western Iran. Since contracting HIV from her husband - a heroin addict who recently died - her world has fallen apart. "It was really difficult for me. I went through so many miseries and after everything I got infected with HIV. I never had any joy in my marriage and now I have this illness. It was not my fault. It was his fault, my husband. He had the pleasure and the sin, and I didnât know anything about it." Maryamâs chances of finding another husband to care for her and her young daughter seem slim. That is where Dr Kamiar Alaei comes in.
Along with his brother Arash, who is also a doctor, Kamiar is on a personal mission to help the growing number of HIV/Aids patients in Iran. The doctors have become counsellors and confidants to patients like Maryam, in a country where discussing sexually transmitted diseases is still taboo. They have taken their roles to extremes and have even begun attempting to match-make HIV positive patients. Arash Alaei says: "When you are HIV positive, it is incredibly difficult to meet a new partner. Imagine what it is like to try to tell someone that you have feelings for, that you are infected. It tends to stop you even getting close to people. I see this kind of pastoral care as every bit as important as the medical side."
Dr Arash Alaei runs a clinic in Tehran, where he caters for the growing number of drug addicts and prostitutes who are infected with the virus. It takes him to parts of Iran which are never seen in the west, where junkies sprawl on streets littered with needles. Much of his work is done for free, and it has been recognised in the US, Thailand and throughout Europe. Institutions such as the World Health Organisation and UNAids have praised him for bringing to light a largely hidden problem.
The Alaei brothers, both in their mid-30s, come from a well-off family in Kermanshah. They are acutely conscious that their privileged upbringing, and training as doctors, brings social responsibilities. "We doctors take the Hippocratic oath when we graduate, to serve people. We have to share what we have with others in society," says Arash. He continues: "Iâm not saying that we have to suffer and crucify ourselves for people. But if we have enough to lead a normal life we should share the extras with people who have less."
There are plenty of people who need their help. Iran has the highest proportion of hard drug users of any country in the world. Cheap opium and increasingly refined heroin flood over the border from Afghanistan. Some estimates put the number of users as high as three million - one in 20 of the population. In such a rigid society in which public dancing and music were - until recently - illegal, drugs have become a common form of recreation. Junkies are a common site on the streets of the major cities. Prostitution, too, is commonplace. These are not images commonly associated with the worldâs largest Islamic republic.
Mohammed, one of Arashâs patients, says: "The number of heroin addicts increased after the revolution. We never had many junkies before that. Itâs just because of boredom. Young people donât have anything to do for fun and that is why they get into drugs. In a way they just want to fill their empty lives with drugs." Mohammad has been clean of heroin for three years. He attends regular Narcotics Anonymous meetings and is trying to build a new life, living with HIV.
Kamiar says: "We face a huge potential HIV problem in Iran, and in order to start to confront it, we need to talk about the root causes. It is not easy to talk about sexual matters in what is still a very traditional country. Many people are still afraid to talk about it. Some people with HIV are ostracised and stigmatised, and they are often very isolated." The Iranian government has a surprisingly advanced medical programme to tackle HIV/Aids, but the problem is public awareness. Living in a traditional Muslim culture, people are reluctant to discuss a disease that is transmitted by sexual contact or sharing needles.
Posted by: tipper ||
06/16/2004 11:56:36 AM ||
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Heroin addiction is odd for a fundementalist Islamic regime. I remember taking a tour to Cairo in 1987 during which the woman tour-guide paointed out that there is no AIDS problem in Muslim countries because of Islam. I would have expected much lowere levels.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/16/2004 17:17 Comments ||
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And what will you hear from the mullahs/ayatollahs/imams, or whatever the he** you call them?
Impossible. We do not have sex outside of marriage and we do not do drugs; we seek guidance and comfort in the Quran.
How depressing. When are people going to learn that not talking about something is not the same as something not existing. Misery and premature death caused by embarrassment and social stigma...stupid.
#1
Even as the Islamic Regime of Iran accelerated the number of arrests, tortures, and death sentences it carried out, on May 29, the World Bank awarded it with two loans totaling $369 million. As justification for granting the loans, the World Bank claims they were awarded to help the people of Iran. "In many countries we have enfranchised civil societies," the Bank's president, James D. Wolfensohn said at a luncheon. "Should we stop doing that and wait until we had perfect countries before we lend?"
What the World Bank should be doing is not giving hundreds of millions of dollars to a violent terrorist regime that is scrambling to build a nuclear bomb, even while they let their citizens perish in disaster after disaster for want of timely aid and assistance.
JPost - Reg reqâd, EFL
Whatever painful concessions Prime Minister Ariel Sharon may decide to make in the quest for peace, Jerusalem will not be one of them. Jerusalem will remain the undivided, eternal capital of the Jewish people, Sharon pledged on Wednesday evening at the dedication ceremony of the capitalâs Menachem Begin Heritage Center.
Coming at a divisive period in the annals of the Likud, Sharonâs promise generated resounding applause from the huge audience of mostly hard-core Revisionists and Likud members from around the globe.
They apparently ignored remarks last week by Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Ehud Olmert, who said he envisions at least six outlying east Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods being transferred to full Palestinian control in the future. *snip*
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2004 10:41:42 PM ||
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GOOD! I hope Sharon and the Likud stick to their guns.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/16/2004 22:50 Comments ||
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Via All Things Political (hat tip: Robert Prather)
The video only lasts four minutes or so â gruesome scenes of torture from the days when Saddam Husseinâs thugs ruled Abu Ghraib prison. I couldnât bear to watch, so I walked out until it was over. Some who stayed wished they hadnât. They told of savage scenes of decapitation, fingers chopped off one by one, tongues hacked out with a razor blade â all while victims shriek in pain and the thugs chant Saddamâs praises. Saddamâs henchmen took the videos as newsreels to document their deeds in honor of their leader. But these awful images didnât show up on American TV news. In fact, just four or five reporters showed up for the screening at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, which says it got the video via the Pentagon. Fewer wrote about it. No surprise, since no newscast would air the videos of Nick Berg and Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl getting decapitated, or of U.S. contractors in Fallujah getting torn limb from limb by al Qaeda operatives. But every TV network has endlessly shown photos of the humiliation of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib. Why? Three guesses & the first two donât count.
"Because most [journalists] want Bush to lose," says AEI scholar Michael Ledeen, who helped host the screening of the Saddam video. No shit, Sherlock. Got it in one.
Former Pentagon official Richard Perle raps "faint hearts in the administration," saying theyâve bought into the idea that itâs "politically incorrect" to show the horrors of Saddamâs regime. But he also faults the media â after all, AEIâs briefings on Iraq have been standing-room-only, but the room was half empty for the screening of the Saddam torture video. But part of the issue is simply that Saddamâs tortures, like al Qaedas tactics, are so awful that theyâre unbearable to watch. If I couldnât watch them myself, Iâm hardly arguing that others should have to. Yet it raises a very complex problem in the War on Terror. Itâs worse than creating moral equivalence between Saddamâs tortures and prisoner abuse by U.S. troops. Itâs that we do far more to highlight our own wrongdoings precisely because they are less appalling. And because you hope you can bring down the Republican Administration that the empty-headed Americans stupidly elected.
In this era, a photo is everything. We highlight U.S. prisoner abuse because the photos arenât too offensive to show. We downplay Saddamâs abuse precisely because itâs far worse â so we canât use the photos. And that sets the stage for remarks like Sen. Ted Kennedyâs claim that Saddamâs torture chambers have reopened under "U.S. management." That and your silence; where was the outcry from the "press" when he spewed out that monstrous load of oral diarrhea?
Media analysts like Washington Post ombudsman Michael Getler admit it sounds "sanctimonious" to justify publishing prison abuse photos â but not al Qaeda beheading videos â in the name of showing "the reality of war." But that is just what he did. The WaPo sounding sanctimonious? Iâm shocked!
AEI spokeswoman Veronique Rodman, puzzled by the minimal interest in the Saddam torture video, is sure that if it was a video of equally horrific torture committed by U.S. troops, the press would find ways to show or report it. You bet your sweet ass they would - over and over and over....
Reporters have to face up to the fact that right now, if we highlight the wrongs that Americans commit but not â out of squeamishness â the far worse horrors committed by others, we become propaganda tools for the other side. You mean LIKE YOU ALREADY ARE?
Wonder what precipitated such a "come to Jesus" moment for that liberal rag? Wonder if theyâll follow through?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/16/2004 6:10:23 PM ||
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Oops! My bad. This is from the New York Post, not the WaPo. [Didn't click on the link - the WaPo asks nosy questions & pisses me off.]
Coming from the NY Post, this makes a LOT more sense. (Too bad - the snarky comments were good, even if I do say so myself.)
Oh, well - I'll try to do better next time.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/16/2004 21:13 Comments ||
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#2
you get an attagirl for effort tho :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2004 22:07 Comments ||
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#3
Thanks, Frank. I can start adding them up again - just wiped out my previous 1000 with this one "awshit." ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/16/2004 22:13 Comments ||
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The first-ever virus capable of spreading through cell phone networks has been uncovered. Security software developers at Russiaâs Kapersky Lab say the virus, called Cabir, appears to have been designed by an international group of virus writers. They say the groupâs goal is to prove no technology is safe from virus attacks. Cabir thrives in the Simbian operating system found in several makes of mobile phones, including millions of Nokia phones. It spreads through new Bluetooth wireless technology present in many new phones. It scans the environment for other phones using Bluetooth, and uses wireless connections to jump from phone to phone. more ...
Virus writing needs to be made an instant felony with mandatory hard time. No exceptions.
Cool! Think Iâll send a bunch of letters to a few of my old lefty professors like Marc Herold, heh.
A postage stamp honoring Ronald Reagan will be issued next year, the Postal Service announced Wednesday. Postal policy is to honor prominent Americans with a stamp no sooner than 10 years after their death, except for former presidents who, the agency said, can be honored on their first birth anniversary following death. Reagan was born Feb. 6, 1911 and died June 5. In announcing the Reagan stamp, Postmaster General John E. Potter said, "The Postal Service will be proud to add a commemorative postage stamp to recognize the many honors that President Reagan, a man of diverse talents, accumulated throughout his life and beyond." The design of the stamp hasnât been completed, the agency said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2004 13:05 ||
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... damn. There's two ways to look at this:
Re: the afflicted person -- Sorry :(
Re: Mugabe -- "Divine justice is a bitch, eh?" >:D
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
06/16/2004 13:28 Comments ||
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#2
In light of how Zimbabwe has one of the highest infection rates (~25%) for adult males in the entire world, the only pity is that it's not Mugabe who is infected.
His corruption is directly responsible for the underfunding of his nation's dire medical crisis.
Leonardo DiCaprio believes in Michael Mooreâs "Fahrenheit 911" so much, the reclusive actor emerged last week for the L.A. premiere - then flew to New York to attend Mondayâs screening "I think a lot more people who are on the fence about who to vote for, after they see this film, itâs going to galvanize them. Young people didnât vote in the last election - that was the problem, and itâs going to be the main issue in the next. If youâre a young person youâve got to get as many people registered to vote, and then get them to vote for their candidate." In DiCaprioâs case, "thatâs John Kerry," he told us. Spike Lee thinks the Motion Picture Association of America wants to block young people from seeing the film by giving it an R rating. Lions Gate and IFC will release the film, in more theaters than ever for a documentary, on June 25. "Giving it that rating was slick," Spike told us. "But teens should still go to see this movie. John Turturro brought his son tonight. The ratings people were hung up on the violence. Teens see more violence in videos than in this movie. With the finances a little tight these days, I am so grateful to the hollywood elite for helping me to decide whoâs movies never to support again. Of course, at this rate, Iâll be forced to watch "Die Hard" re-runs for the rest of my life.
#8
This might not be a bad thing. With Spike Lee throwing in his two cents, it's certain that nobody will pay any attention. Keep up the good work, Spike.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/16/2004 16:20 Comments ||
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#9
It's really mindboggling to me that some people can watch a "documentary" and believe every word of it without doing a little research themselves. But then again, there are some people who will blindly follow bullshit because they cannot accept the fact that their "idols" are liers.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/16/2004 18:36 Comments ||
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#10
Spike Lee thinks the Motion Picture Association of America wants to block young people from seeing the film by giving it an R rating.
Boy, you can't slip anything past Spike, can you? Blocking young people from seeing a film is, in fact, generally the entire point of giving a film an R rating. Mind like a steel trap, that 'un.
However, the article makes it sounds as if the MPAA had some political purpose in assigning the rating. Last I heard, people young enough to be affected by an R rating are too young to vote.
#11
And I'm supposed to give a shit about these Hollywood Halfwits⢠why, exactly?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/16/2004 20:54 Comments ||
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#12
because of their geo-political expertise, Barbara. Just ask Barbra
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2004 21:45 Comments ||
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#13
their geo-political expertise
"Geo" as in geography? As in they can't find their asses with both hands and a compass? And if they could, they'd have the maid or the gardener do it instead, since they can't be bothered with mere manual labor?
Now I understand. Thanks, Frank. ;-)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/16/2004 22:54 Comments ||
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#1
So this is what happened to Google the rest the other day.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/16/2004 16:56 Comments ||
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#2
For those who would like an excellent description of exactly what a DDOS (Distributed Denial Of Service) attack is, you can read Steve Gibson's article here. When a moron can't actually 'hack' into a website (a rarity, despite the clueless press's breathless reporting), their best option is the DDOS / DRDOS approach: in essense: "If I can't bust in and screw the site up, I'll just make sure others can't access it."
BTW, you can find out how secure your PC is by trying Steve's Shields Up! test sequence and have a look at all of his other offerings here at the main page. SpinRite rocks.
From USA Today
.... the shortage of trained personnel appears to be one of the keys to what went wrong. Although exactly what led to the abuse remains murky, it is clear that the Pentagon was not ready for the demand for interrogators or prison guards in Iraq. Planners apparently did not foresee the need to control large numbers of hostile Iraqis, and the Army had for years diminished its emphasis on training guards and interrogators. That meant that at Abu Ghraib and other detention sites, commanders had to rely on a patchwork of personnel, including many with little or none of the special training that military experts say is crucial to controlling prisoners.
The Army has military police trained to manage prisons, but it doesnât have many. The Army has even tried to get out of the prison-guarding business, according to former Army secretary Tom White, who says Army officials have explored turning over management of U.S. military prisons to private contractors. Of an active-duty force of roughly 500,000 soldiers, only about 1,000 are certified for prison guard duty, and the vast majority of them are posted in stateside military prisons. These are MPs â "31 Echoes" in military jargon â who have spent four weeks at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri working in a mock prison and learning the basics: how to keep track of inmates, establish rapport with prisoners and quell a riot.
Col. George Millan, director of training and leader development at the U.S. Military Police School, says guarding prisoners is a specialized skill that requires careful training. Prospective prison guards are observed by non-commissioned officers who grade them on how they treat "prisoners" under their care and instruct them on the proper way to deal with violent inmates. But the military unit that was put in charge of running prisons in Iraq, the 800th Military Police Brigade, was an Army Reserve outfit that was not trained to run prisons. The vast majority of its troops, including its commander, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, were part-time soldiers. ... In his report of abuse at the prison, Army Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba noted that two Army MP battalions experienced in handling prisoners of war â though not trained as prison guards â were stationed in the Middle East but were assigned to duties in Kuwait and Afghanistan. ....
Meanwhile, the interrogators in charge of questioning prisoners at Abu Ghraib were a patchwork group. The 205th Military Intelligence Brigadeâs shortage of trained interrogators meant that U.S. commanders had to scramble to move interrogators in from other outfits to the 205th. They sent teams that had been questioning suspected al-Qaeda fighters at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They sent people from disparate reserve units in Connecticut, Texas and North Carolina. And they spent millions of dollars to hire interrogators from private contracting firms. .... When the war in Iraq began in March 2003, the Army had fewer than 2,000 interrogators, many of them already deployed in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo .....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
06/16/2004 8:46:11 AM ||
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Sooo...it's not working out so well, blaming it on "what Bush knew and when he knew it". So I guess now we have gone from Bush (as a Rumsfeld and Wolfy puppet) giving the orders to the idiots didn't properly plan for enough prisoners.
I can live with that. Must really disappoint the bushwackos.
Posted by: B ||
06/16/2004 10:37 Comments ||
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#2
But the military unit that was put in charge of running prisons in Iraq, the 800th Military Police Brigade, was an Army Reserve outfit that was not trained to run prisons. The vast majority of its troops, including its commander, Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, were part-time soldiers.
What? No mention that Karpinski failed to get her troops trained? No mention that some of her subordinates -- primarily those NOT under her direct supervision -- got the training for their units anyway?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/16/2004 10:53 Comments ||
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#3
USA Inadequately Planned for Prisoners in Iraq
I'll say. Those guys that are now prisoners should all have died in gunbattles instead. The only Iraqi prisoner that was worth taking alive was Saddam.
#4
When does this "reporter" get to the comparisons between this war and any other war when it comes to percentages of troops allocated to prison duty etc? When does he get to the part where he talks about the number of local Iraqis who also work in these prisons?
Oh wait. It's USA Today. Facts and honest analysis don't matter.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/16/2004 12:14 Comments ||
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via Wash Times - EFL
NYPD? Streets of San Francisco? Law & Order? Well, maybe...
By Betsy Pisik
Falah Abub has a vision of postwar Iraq, and it isnât pretty: In the months after U.S. troops disposed of Saddam Hussein, Baghdadâs power vacuum has been filled by foreign agents and desperate gangsters. The city has become a sort of Middle Eastern Wild West, where ordinary citizens are plagued by unprecedented lawlessness and banditry. Abductions abound, thievery is routine, and no one is untouched by tragedy. That image is not just ripped from this morningâs headlines, itâs also the premise for "Al Badeel" (The Alternative), Iraqâs first homegrown soap opera. Think "Deadwood," not "Arabian Nights."
"This show is a contrast for the Iraqis," said Mr. Abub, who is both producing and directing the melodrama. "We are trying to show them bad characters they have not met [on television] before." A morality play with a heavy dose of carjackings, kidnappings and murder, the series has been shooting throughout Baghdad since midspring. Weekly installments will begin airing in August. Mr. Abub and his creative partners are convinced that even the most weary Iraqis will want to tune their new satellite dishes to a grimmer version of reality. They see the production as an artful and ultimately uplifting story.
"We will show them that evil is always punished, and that law must be observed," Mr. Abub said on the set yesterday. "It is a reassuring message; it is about faith."
...more...
Itâs possible, if the showâs producers arenât lying through their teeth, that thereâs more to this than meets the eye on first blush. If they do tell morality tales - in a believable and realistic manner, the right message will slowly be absorbed. So much of what we call civilization is composed of subconsciously learned patterns of good vs. evil; right vs. wrong. The lessons need to be confirmed in reality, of course, but maybe this will help.
Posted by: .com ||
06/16/2004 7:09:16 AM ||
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The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Wednesday accused Israel of deluding the world by saying that a new stage of peace with the Palestinians is coming while continuing its military offensives all over the Palestinian territories. PNA minister of labor Ghassan Al Khatib told Voice of Palestine radio that the PNA condemns the Israeli assassinations carried out recently in the West Bank, the last of which took place earlier Wednesday.
The Israeli army assassinated two Palestinian militants in the West Bank town of Nablus on Monday and shot dead a Palestinian in Balata refugee camp on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians in Jenin and Nablus. "The Palestinian leadership is trying to earn the international communityâs support to compel Israel to stop the military actions against the Palestinians," Khatib said. "This effort is made together with Arab countries." Khatib said that the Palestinians, the Arabs and the international community "must not get cheated by the Israeli propaganda that gives an impression that a new peace era is coming while Israel insists to continue with its current position of using excessive force against the Palestinians. The statements of Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz that Israel is planning to expand settlements and move settlers from Gaza to those settlements is a clear evidence that unveiled the mask on Israelâs face."
Posted by: Phil B ||
06/16/2004 6:27:12 AM ||
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The Israeli army assassinated two Palestinian militants in the West Bank town of Nablus on Monday and shot dead a Palestinian in Balata refugee camp on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinians in Jenin and Nablus.
Good start but 52 straight is still a long ways away. Good luck.
#2
Of course it's a new era of peace - for Israel! Is it just me or has anyone else noted a reduction in terror attacks in Israel since this all started? Haven't seen much in the news or the blogosphere.
Posted by: Dave ||
06/16/2004 10:15 Comments ||
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#3
"The Palestinian leadership is trying to earn the international communityâs support to compel Israel to stop the military actions against the Palestinians."
The international community is already your sob sister, but the US won't be crying for you.
Dave-you betcha. Thankfully, Israel is stepping up to the plate and doing what needs to be done-helping terrorists get to hell unaccompanied.
I still say we need to erect a "wall of shame" plastered with the images of these mongrels. What better way to spend a weekend (besides eliminating their presence on Earth) than to pelt their photos with rotted fruit and spray their faces with the shameful truth about their crimes. Much better than paintball.
#4
Dave, between tunnel-crushing in Gaza, whack-a-mole with Hamas and IJ, and the continuing expansion of the security wall, things are looking up
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2004 11:12 Comments ||
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#5
IIRC correctly, the Wall street journal sez that the second intifada has been in all aspects won by Israel (no link, saw the article translated in french by a jewish news site), and that the israeli security has dramatically improved.
#6
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Wednesday accused Israel of deluding the world by saying that a new stage of peace with the Palestinians is coming while continuing its military offensives all over the Palestinian territories.
If not a "new stage of peace," most certainly a "new stage of unemployment." Israel's shutdown of the Erez industrial zone in preparation for their Gaza pullout was a perfect demonstration of the vision that Arafat and Hamas have for Palestine. Namely, a complete political and economic dead-end. Welcome to hell, ya idjits.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2004 10:50 Comments ||
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#3
It's hardly even fair any more to fisk Krugman, like teasing a tourettes-afflicted kid on the short bus. He's been deranged for a while
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2004 11:16 Comments ||
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#4
Man I love it when he (and others) claims that Regan had nothing to do with economic recovery. Well if he didnât point to the policy that Bill Clinton put in place to make the economy boom/bust under his administration. The more they try to denigrate Reagan, the more they boost his stature. If Krugmanâs assertions are true then Carter must have done something terrible to put the economy in the dumper. Or was there an instantaneous job loss when Reagan took office and what did Reagan do to create that? The left has that sinking feeling after a week of mourning/reflection of the GREATEST President since FDR and they are trying to rewrite history. There is a column in the SF Monocle that attempts to paint a similar vacuum sealed picture that ignores EVERY FACT about history. Has anyone ever taken this idiots class? I really would like to hear some inside stuff on him.
Israel's attorney general dropped a bribery investigation against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday, removing the most serious threat to his political standing and clearing the way for negotiations that could bring the Labor Party into his coalition government. The decision is also expected to lend new momentum to Sharon's plans to withdraw Israeli forces and settlers from the Gaza Strip, which had been slowed by factional infighting.
The attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, said in a long statement on television that he would not file any charges against Sharon or his son, Gilad, who was also under investigation. "The case against Ariel Sharon and Gilad Sharon must be closed due to the lack of sufficient evidence," Mazuz said. "The evidence in this case does not bring us even remotely close to a reasonable possibility of conviction." Sharon, who has denied wrongdoing, did not comment. Sharon still faces another long-running corruption investigation, and there was no indication when prosecutors might complete that inquiry. But for the moment, his fortunes appear to have brightened.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2004 12:36:51 AM ||
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Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2004 12:32:47 AM ||
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#1
...using machetes to hack off the hands and feet of thousands of civilians...took a plastic bag ablaze with fire and put it on my body...which was burnt on the shoulder...The Kamajors laid him on the ground and cut off his head...
Anyone in the media confused about what real torture is anymore? Do you need to see some photos so you get the difference between humiliation and torture? Oh, but then you folks seem to like that kind of coliseum entertainment...
Unlike the tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the court is based in the country where excesses occurred, indicts fewer people and draws on local and international law. (Bold my emphasis)
Does this paragraph sound worrying to anyone else?
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.
