Quick note, folks, concerning the flame wars in the comments yesterday. They were multiple, long and really unnecessary. It tends to discourage others from visiting here. Rantburg has had solid growth over the past two years, and I don't want to spoil that. Moreover and more important, the flame wars eat Fred's bandwidth. And that ain't free.
Jen, Mike, Badanov, Aris, Robert, Fred, Steve, me, .com, ALL of us, have a lot more in common than different in what we stand for.
So as the immortal Frank Burns said, let's be nice to the nice. Save the anger for Lumpy.
But if you insist on flaming, hit Fred's tipjar to pay for the bandwidth.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2004 12:32:12 AM ||
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#1
Well I'd like to take umbridge, Er Humbridge(?)Not sure which but dude your treading a fine line!
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
06/28/2004 8:16 Comments ||
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#8
Dang--go away for a weekend and I miss all the fun! Sounds like the fireworks are a week early.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/28/2004 11:49 Comments ||
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#9
seesm like theres some confusio about whether RB is "a VRWC website" or a site for discussion of military and intelligence matters, albeit one with "attitude". Fred has been pretty clear about this in the past, but some folks cant get past their own obsessions to see it.
#10
Steve, I've already hit the tip jar and I take no responsibility for the querrelous and verbose arguing of the Leftist trolls that come here and post reams of disinformaton.
If you don't like my input, I have other things to do than post here.
Posted by: Jen ||
06/28/2004 12:51 Comments ||
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#11
And Steve, I don't appreciate being named "first" as one of the biggest abusers.
I try to keep my answers as short and as necessary as possible.
Some thanks I get for my (paid-for) input.
Posted by: Jen ||
06/28/2004 12:55 Comments ||
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#12
I'm sorry I missed it; weeds will do that to you. Interesting read, though; I wish I could have jumped in . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
06/28/2004 13:06 Comments ||
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#19
Actually, the thread rose to quite a high intellecutal plane -- concluding with a discussion of various thoughts of the English philosopher G. K. Chesterton (a liberal, but objectively on the side of the conservatives).
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
06/28/2004 14:45 Comments ||
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#20
It was kinda hard to read through all the thrown pies, though...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2004 16:13 Comments ||
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#21
Yep, the great Flame Wars of Ought Four. Remember them well. Yessir, yessir. Almost had to get out the blunderbuss.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 21:14 Comments ||
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#24
I like the heated and intense discussions and debates. I have never liked the personal attacks. It gets us too far into the storm drain below the gutter.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/28/2004 23:06 Comments ||
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#25
I am guilty....should and will be more nice to Rantburger's. Aris I am sorry I keep calling you goat fucker, I will no longer stoop to that level no matter how good it feels at the time.
Fred, I love this sight. I will maintain some sort of civilance from now on.
#28
Aris, why don't you take a break from Rantburg?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/29/2004 9:29 Comments ||
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#29
Robert> Because I'm not the one who called people "cunts".
Or to put it in another way, because I don't want to do so enough that it would suffice to keep me away, the knowledge I would no longer be so annoyed at ignorance, frustrated at stupidity, or aggravated at insult.
#35
docob> Not sure if you could count it as a "promise", or merely as a statement of what I intended to do. After all it wasn't done to satisfy any of your pleas, it had been my own desire to leave.
When I had said it, I had meant it. I regretted it, because as I said I found I could not keep away -- Rantburg's too informative for that. Nor could I stay silent in the face of stupidity.
#39
Orson> Yeah, when people's ONLY available retort is to call me "goatfucker" and "cunt", that's a sign of truly ASTOUNDING portions of intelligence.
They certainly succeed in revealing my own stupidity.
Their other remaining tactic is to accuse me of instigating flamewars and "hijacking threads". Which is only true in the sense that you can't have antisemetism without jews, you can't have fire with air, you can't have pain without life. Drive away everyone who disagrees with the majority opinion, and you won't have flamewars either.
Then again you could also choose not to have flamewars if you did away with the insults.
The most senior member of al Qaeda so far has turned himself in to Saudi authorities, Saudi sources say. Othman Al-Omari, number 19 on Saudi Arabiaâs most wanted list of 26, accepted the kingâs offer of amnesty, which was made last week, according to Saudi sources Monday. Al-Omari, who turned himself in on Sunday night, was a business partner of Shaban Al Shihri -- the first al Qaeda member to accept the amnesty when he turned himself in Friday. Al-Omari and Al Shihri shared a vegetable stall in a market in Medina. Al Shihri, according to sources, was in part responsible for persuading Al Omari to turn himself in. Sources said the most wanted list of 26 was not arranged in order of importance.
"We are announcing for the last time that we are opening the door to repentance and for those to return to righteousness," Crown Prince Abdullah said in a televised address last Wednesday. "To everyone who has gone out of the righteous way and has committed a crime in the name of religion and to everyone who belongs to that group that has done itself a disservice, everyone who has been captured in terror acts is given the chance to come back to God if they want to save their lives, their souls," Abdullah said. "If they give themselves up without force within one month maximum from the date of this speech, we can promise them that they are going to be safe." Abdullah said all such people would be dealt with fairly, in accordance with Islamic law. "If they are wise and they accept it, then they are saved. And if they snub it, then God is not going to forbid us from hitting them with our force, which we get from our dependence on God."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 8:59:00 AM ||
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"Al-Omari and Al Shihri shared a vegetable stall in a market in Medina."
The number 19 on the wanted list was a grocer? Come on, people, you're not even trying to make this look good, are you?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/28/2004 9:07 Comments ||
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#14 is a pizza delivery guy.
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
06/28/2004 12:20 Comments ||
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When did they share the vegetable stall in Medina? If it was recently, how is it that he was not capture before? He was working at a vegetable souk for God's sake! The photos of these most wanted terrorists are in every office all over the country. No a single customer recognized him?
EFL
Following the death of Abdul Aziz al-Muqrin, considered the mastermind of the recent kidnapping and beheading of American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr, Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula is reported to have designated Saleh Mohammed al-Oufi as the head of the organisation. Al-Oufi, who is 38, is not only a Saudi national, but has also nurtured a wide network of contacts in the Saudi security establishment which he had built up during his service as a prison guard with the rank of Sergeant before taking to jihadi terrorism. There are conflicting reports on his career before he became a prison guard. Some reports describe him as having served in the Army after undergoing a training course in the Saudi national security defence training school, but others say he was actually a junior police officer. Al-Oufi is not one of the Arabs who had fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet troops in the 1980s. He proceeded to Pakistan after he was dismissed from the prison department in 1992 on a charge of indiscipline and came into contact with Ramzi Yousef, one of the accused in the New York World Trade Centre bombing case of February,1993, now in jail in the US, and helped him in running a company for the import of holy water from Saudi Arabia and its sale in Pakistan. During his stay in Pakistan, he joined the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM), the Pakistani jihadi organisation which was then known as the Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA), underwent a training course in one of its training camps in the Afghan territory and was selected as a member of a jihadi contingent which was sent by Lt.Gen. (retd) Hamid Gul, former Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to Bosnia to participate in the jihad there. From Bosnia, he gravitated to Chechnya where he was injured in a clash with the Russian security forces.
He returned to Saudi Arabia thereafter and, after undergoing medical treatment, started a shop for the sale of second-hand automobiles and spare parts near Medina. He came into contact with Prof. Hafeez Mohammad Sayeed, the Amir of the Markaz Dawa Al-Irshad (now known as the Jamaat-ud-Dawa JUD), which is the political wing of the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET), when the latter came to Saudi Arabia on one of his periodic visits and joined the LET. Sayeed nominated him to the shura of the LET set-up in Saudi Arabia and, in that capacity, Al-Oufi used to attend the annual sessions of the LET at Muridke, near Lahore. When the LET started sending its volunteers to Iraq last year to wage jihad against the US troops there, it made him responsible for their infiltration into Iraq via Saudi Arabia. With the help of his contacts in the Saudi security establishment, he successfully helped in the infiltration of a number of jihadis from the LET, the HUM and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LEJ) into Iraq. His first reported contacts with Osama bin Laden were after the latter returned to Afghanistan from Khartoum in the Sudan in 1996.In the post-1996 period, he was reported to have met him in Afghanistan at least twice, the second time just before the terrorist strikes of 9/11 in the US. While it is not known whether he was aware of the plans for 9/11, Saudi sources describe him as a cousin of Majed Moqed, one of the five hijackers aboard the American Airlines plane that crashed into the Pentagon on September 11 2001.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the resumption of the offensive by his Security Forces against the Chechen terrorists in the wake of their raid into Dagestan in 1999, Al-Oufi was in the forefront of those in Saudi Arabia, who, with the knowledge, if not the approval, of the Saudi authorities collected and sent funds for the Chechen jihad. He also helped in the recruitment of local volunteers, their training and despatch to Chechnya for participation in the jihad in the Caucasus as members of the Arab brigade. This brigade was initially headed by Omar Ibn Al Khattab, and, after his death at the hands of the Russian security forces in 2002, by Abu Al-Walid Al-Ghamdi. Al-Oufi and Al-Walid had served together, along with about 300 veterans of the Afghan war, in the Bosnian Armyâs 7th Battalion under the command of Abu âAbd al-Aziz âBarbarosâ, described as an Indian Muslim from Saudi Arabia, who had fought in Afghanistan and Jammu & Kashmir. Abd al-Aziz Barbaros became a legendary jihadi figure during the Bosnian war and used to attend the annual LET conventions at Muridke along with Al-Oufi. Sayeed used to introduce the Indian Muslim to the convention as the hero of the Bosnian jihad, but it has not been possible so far to establish his real identity and present whereabouts.
The Saudi elements fighting in Chechnya including Al-Walid himself and his No.2 (Deputy Amir) Sheikh Abu âOmar Al-Seif, were reported to have been unhappy over the actions of the Al Qaeda set-up in Saudi Arabia in provoking a confrontation with the Saudi security forces by indulging in acts of terrorism in Saudi territory. They reportedly felt that all jihadis should concentrate for the present on defeating the US troops in Iraq and bringing about their withdrawal from there. They felt that for achieving this task, they would need safe sanctuaries in Saudi Arabia and Jordan and that if they engaged in an armed confrontation with the Saudi security forces, their ability to wage an effective jihad against the American troops in Iraq would be weakened. The late Al-Muqrin did not agree with this point of view. He wanted the jihad against the Saudi ruling family in Saudi territory and the jihad against the Americans in Iraq to be waged simultaneously, with the one complementing and sustaining the other. Till now, Al-Oufi has gone along with this view. It remains to be seen whether he would continue to do so now that he has taken over as the head of Al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/28/2004 12:45:13 AM ||
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British non-government organization "Islamic Human Rights Commission" named the three biggest Islamophobes of 2004. (What a great list)
It is easy to guess who were the first two politicians named on the list: US President George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Bush became the "Islamophobe of the year" for the overall war against terrorism and the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq in particular (Iraqi war became the crusade against Islam, the Commission believes). Sharon was "awarded" the title for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Head of Israeli government shared the "success" in the nomination of "the most Islamophobic politician" with French President Jacques Chirac who promoted the bill on the ban for wearing religious attributes in state schools. Not only French Moslems, but also their coreligionists all over the world opposed this bill.
According to the Islamic Human Rights Commission, many people can be called Islamophobes, and there is no sign that the situation will change for the better next year. IHRC Chair Massoud Shadjareh said that "demonizing" Moslems can be compared with the persecution of Jews on the eve of the World War II. Massoud Shadjareh called the "Islamophobia Awards" a comedy event aimed at highlighting prevailing prejudices and subverting them using humor. However, the Head of the Commission on Racial Tolerance funded by British government Trevor Phillips named the "Islamophobia Awards" the important step in fighting discrimination of Moslems.
We have to think. In the last 2-3 years the public opinion in Western Europe, USA and Russia started linking the idea of "terrorism" and Islam. Of course, nobody says publicly that all Moslems are potential terrorists, but this idea can be traced in the press articles and the statements of experts saying that radical Islamic groups pose the biggest threat nowadays. Getting rid of the formed stereotype can be hard. The Islamic world also has stereotypes about the West. The biggest one is that the USA and its allies started the Crusade against Moslems, they do not undersand Islamic traditions and do not want to understand them and made destroying Islam their goal. The majority of Moslems have this opinion, and not all of them support bin Laden. "Islamophobia Awards" is one more step increasing the anti-Western outlook of Moslems. (No kidding Jack)
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/28/2004 12:56:49 AM ||
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What? Our own Fred and LGF's Charles Johnson not even mentioned? This is an outrage! We was robbed!
#3
PBMcL, you have to put an extra-large resistor in the main circuit.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/28/2004 1:21 Comments ||
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Unsurprisingly, Jacques Chirac was a double winner with the "Most Likely to Bend Over and Take One from Big Daddy Mohammed" award.
Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2004 1:29 Comments ||
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In the last 2-3 years the public opinion in Western Europe, USA and Russia started linking the idea of "terrorism" and Islam.
Yeah.... I noticed that myself! Kinda puzzling, really....
Of course, nobody says publicly that all Moslems are potential terrorists....
Um.... okay.... but what's the connection between that and "linking the idea of "terrorism" and Islam"? Aren't they obviously different propositions? But wait....
.... this idea can be traced in the press articles and the statements of experts saying that radical Islamic groups pose the biggest threat nowadays.
Got it! It's all those pesky news stories linking Islam to "terrorism", from Thailand clear 360 degrees around the globe to Indonesia.
Getting rid of the formed stereotype can be hard.
No, not all. All you have to do is place your hands firmly over your ears and your eyes-- easy!
And I'm pretty sure it'll work, since I'm pretty sure it explains why "The Islamic world also has stereotypes about the West."
You see, we in the West must learn the Path of Ignorance from our Islamic cousins.... just that simple!
#8
Damn! The Islamophobe Awards, what an honor roll they have (inadvertantly) created. I only hope that I can earn one someday. All it needs is a catchy name, as in "Grammy", "Oscar", etc.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 9:41 Comments ||
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nobody says publicly that all Moslems are potential terrorists
Practically all terrorists are Moslems.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
06/28/2004 10:17 Comments ||
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Definition for the ages:
Islamophobia...fear of Islamic fundamentalism. I suppose Middle Eastern psychiatrists will be telling us soon that this is an irrational fear unsubstantiated by the facts on the ground...like beheadings, suicide car bombings, honor killings...hmmm, funny how everything associated with Islamicists involves death. I think these Islamic zombies will have a hard time justifying to Allan why they thought they could take his place, killing the lives he created.
#13
I am kind of disappointed because I worked hard this year to make the list and nada! Must be some Moslem conspiracy against Catholics. Maybe Chirac and Bush can tutor me this year and I can finally break onto the list.
#16
We've had a rise in Methodist terrorism lately. And the damn Jehovah's Witnesses keep highjacking planes. I can't imagine why people want to link Islam to terrorism.
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
06/28/2004 12:24 Comments ||
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AC, I'd suspect that Rantburg isn't exactly kosher with the Middle East; no doubt it's somehow blocked, or else Fred would be up there on the list for next year.
Once again, however, they've missed the point. This is not humor that's going to reduce tension. This is simply another way of saying things that they've been saying all along. For humor to work, people have to be willing to laugh at themselves. Make fun of mullahs, or Arafat, or the Saudi Royals, along with Western figures. One of the many problems with Islam, at least the most vocal version right now, is that it sucks all the joy out of life in the name of "piety." This is just another example of that, as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
06/28/2004 13:12 Comments ||
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Those damn Mormons on bycicles showing up during the Sox-Cubs game to discuss my salvation are a terror threat yet addressed in Bushes so called War on Terror...
Why hasn't the cabel linked Salt Lake City to the Axis of Evil???
#21
Capsu78, you should be careful offending Mormons. Their death squads might come after you, dressed in all black, wearing black watch caps and bellowing "I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!"
#22
Forget about the Mormons, Silentbrick. It's the Jehovah's Witnesses I'm worried about, always coming to the door . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
06/28/2004 21:29 Comments ||
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they'll be the only survivors in a big Quake - always in the doorways
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 21:31 Comments ||
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To be an Islamophobe, don't you have to fear Islam? I don't think either Sharon or Bush qualify.
As for the Islamic Human Rights Commission - never heard of them. Hope they start work on honor killings, though, as I don't think NOW has much interest in women that die for the honor of punks - they don't seem to care much for the Afghan women who immolate themselves rather than marry their uncles. If it doesn't involve somebody's reproductive rights, NOW is LATER.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/28/2004 22:16 Comments ||
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The Mormons did their share of terror back in the day, but, like the Ismali Muslims, they learned that it's an idiot's game.
Posted by: Ernest Brown ||
06/29/2004 0:06 Comments ||
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Typical reptile paper of the Japanese ultra-right conservative forces Sankei Shimbun again spread misinformation to tarnish the international image of the DPRK.
You don't need misinformation to do that, the truth does just fine.
Recently it reported that a six-member Iranian technical delegation comprising physicists and computer experts entered north Korea in May and they are expected to conduct a joint test of detonating devices for nuclear bombs involving the examination of neutron by using nuclear facilities in north Korea for six months starting from July.
Hummmm, I must have missed this one. Makes perfect sense.
According to information available from a relevant institution, there had been no deal in the field of nuclear technology between the DPRK and Iran and no delegation on such mission came here, either.
Without Khan's network to act as a middleman....., but of course, there was no deal there either. Lies, all lies!
However, Sankei Shimbun told such a whopping lie. It was nothing but a cynical ploy to galvanize the world public opinion and put pressure upon the DPRK, taking advantage of the U.S. moves to charge the DPRK with the nuclear proliferation. Recently the U.S. has increased its pressure upon Iran to open to public the "nuclear activities including its secret nuclear weapons program" while putting in motion some Western countries and the IAEA. It is now foolishly attempting to deliberately link the DPRK to it.
Methinks they doth protest too much.
In February the U.S. met strong public criticism for having faked up the story about the "transfer of technology for the development of nuclear weapons" to the DPRK by a Pakistani nuclear scientist.
That's right, Khan faked his confession. It was all a plot to besmirch the good name of the DPRK.
Far from drawing a proper lesson from this precedent, the U.S. cooked up and floated the fiction about Iranian-north Korean "joint test of detonating devices for nuclear bombs" only to reveal its true colors as a centre for hatching despicable plots.
It's a pretty good "fiction", Iran has the money to fund the program, but doesn't want to draw attention by testing a bomb on their own soil. Pretty much everyone has been waiting for the Norks to test, they have been threating to do so thenselves.
The U.S. backtracked from the DPRK-U.S. Agreed Framework after fabricating the story about the DPRK's "enriched uranium program." It is now throwing a hurdle in the way of settling the nuclear issue, persistently insisting on this issue at the six-party talks, too.
They're upset we're not gonna give in.
Sankei Shimbun can never escape public condemnation for having released such a false report to join the U.S. in its smear campaign and operation to isolate and stifle the DPRK. This newspaper has not yet dropped its bad habit of seeking its own interests by sowing seeds of dissension among other countries and nations. This time, too, it openly spread sheer misinformation in a bid to fool the world public opinion and fish in troubled waters. The Japanese society and media need to deplore its wrong doing before anybody else and to be cautious about this practice of telling sheer lies to speak for the U.S. though it professes to be an influential paper in Japan.
Touchy, ain't they? Story must be true then.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/28/2004 11:59:38 AM ||
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"Typical reptile paper"? That line alone merits an 8.5.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/28/2004 12:43 Comments ||
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Fred, adopt that one as a slogan:
"Rantburg -- not just a typical reptile website of the ultra-right conservative forces!"
Posted by: Mike ||
06/28/2004 13:42 Comments ||
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This is encouraging. The KCNA is starting to show their old form just in time for a chance to medal in the Olympic spittle spewing competition. The lead paragraph (typical reptile paper) puts them in contention for the gold. Although they did lose a few points for the archaic canard (told such a whopping lie) later on.
#4
I believe "Reptile Website" is a trademark of Little Green Footballs. Better be careful, the lizardoid minions are everywhere.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/28/2004 14:25 Comments ||
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I'd be more worried if they were being visited by scientists that actually have some capability.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/28/2004 14:53 Comments ||
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The phrases "typical reptile paper," "whopping lie," "floating the fiction," "smear campaign," "openly spreading sheer misinformation to fool world public opinion" and "fishing in troubled waters" are not appropriate in Rantburger comments under my posts from the New York Times and Washington Post.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
06/28/2004 15:22 Comments ||
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Typical reptile paper of the Japanese ultra-right conservative forces Sankei Shimbun again spread misinformation to tarnish the international image of the DPRK.
My personal troupe of floor lizards said there isn't a grain of truth to this. Who are we to believe?
A large explosion was heard near a Turkish Defence Ministry building in the capital Ankara on Monday, the state-run Anatolian news agency said, but it was not immediately clear what caused the blast. The blast occurred in a building used by the Turkish Defence Ministry, including for NATO purposes, Anatolian said. Ankara police said they had no information. A series of small bombings despite unprecedented security has rocked Muslim Turkey ahead of the summit. A bomb last Thursday killed four people and Turkey's largest left-wing faction, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), claimed responsibility for that attack in a statement sent to Reuters. Violent protests have also erupted during the summit, which began on Monday and concludes on Tuesday. In Istanbul, more than 30 people were injured and dozens arrested on Monday in left-wing demonstrations held far from the venue of the alliance summit. The recent bombings have sent a shudder through Turkey which suffered four devastating suicide bomb attacks in November that killed more than 60 people and wounded hundreds more. Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network claimed responsibility for those attacks, which targeted Jewish and British sites in Istanbul.
As they say, breaking. Keep your head down, Murat.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/28/2004 4:32:04 PM ||
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In mosques and storefront Muslim charities, U.S. and European intelligence agencies are engaged in a covert conflict in postwar Bosnia, tracking up to 300 suspected Islamic militants and shutting down those financing them. Hundreds of CIA and military intelligence agents work out of a well-protected compound in the Sarajevo suburb of Butmir, leading the high-intensity effort to neutralize terrorists and their backers, European and Bosnian officials said.
"Shoot them. Shoot them both." Goon, Raiders of the Lost Ark
Col. Stephan Thomas, the commander of the German-Italian contingent of NATO-led peacekeepers, describes Bosnia as a "transit country and possible refuge" for Islamic extremists. Lt. Col. Julian Bauer, also with NATO, said, "We are vigilant, because there is a (terrorist) potential here." A senior European intelligence official stationed in Bosnia as part of the republicâs war on terror described the international undercover effort as an "invisible but real struggle with the bad guys that could ultimately stop bombings elsewhere in Europe, or the U.S."
Almost 10 years after a civil war in which hundreds of thousands of people died, Bosnia still lacks strong domestic law enforcement. But it has been spared the kind of terror that has hit Madrid and Istanbul. The reason may be the lack of attractive soft targets - U.S. and other troops here as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force are heavily armed and on high alert, and foreign embassies are fortified.
According to an AP investigation, proven or suspected links between Bosnia and worldwide terrorism include:
* Osama bin Laden associates who learned military skills helping Bosniaâs Muslims fight Serbs in the 1990s - among them Saudi al-Qaida leader Abdulaziz Issa Abdul-Mohsin al-Moqrin, killed June 18 after his group claimed responsibility for beheading American Paul M. Johnson Jr.
* About 300 Arabs or others from Islamic countries who are among 700 mujahedeen fighters in Bosnia. An intelligence official told AP that the 300 had "suspicious" backgrounds and were under investigation, but didnât elaborate. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
* Evidence that Bosnia still figures in terrorist recruiting. A videotape seen by AP includes footage of mujahedeen training camps in Bosnia, scenes of urban combat, fields strewn with Serb bodies and a radical Muslim cleric recently extolling the virtues of suicide bombers.
* Bogus Muslim charities suspected of collecting millions of dollars to finance radical causes that operate despite efforts to shut them down.
Although most Bosnian Muslims are moderate or secular, the republicâs links to Islamic radicalism precede the 2001 twin-tower attacks. Hundreds of mujahedeen fighters from Islamic countries moved on at the end of Bosniaâs war of independence from Yugoslavia to other wars in Kashmir, Chechnya and elsewhere. Testifying in May to the congressional Sept. 11 commission in Washington, George Tenet, the outgoing CIA chief, said that the Islamic fighters, financed by bin Laden, returned home as "a ready supply of manpower for terrorist operations." Others stayed, mingling with locals who adopted the fundamentalist Wahhabi strain of Islam practiced by bin Laden. They are closely watched by peacekeepers, local and international police.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 12:39:38 AM ||
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#1
This is a great place for us to work on non-military techniques to split the normal Muslim community from the Islamists. Although, from this article, it seems like we're just playing reactionary defense and Cold War era spy games. I understand the reasons for doing these particular things, but why can't we expand our horizons.
Apart from that, there seems to be a typo:
"The reason [for lack of attacks] may be the lack of attractive soft targets - U.S. and other troops here as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force are heavily armed and on high alert"
Uh, since when do non-US troops deter any violence? Especially under the aegis of peacekeeping missions.
#3
U.S. and other troops here as part of a NATO-led peacekeeping force are heavily armed and on high alert
Seems I remember a comment printed a few years back about European troops shaking their heads at their U.S. counterparts for going out into the country heavily armed/armored. Heh.
The Supreme Court on Monday etched the borders of presidential power in time of war in rulings that contained strands of both victory and defeat for the Bush administration. The nine justices ruled narrowly Monday that Congress gave President Bush the power to hold Yaser Hamdi, an American citizen, without charges or trial as an "enemy combatant," but said the detainee can challenge his treatment in court. The court also ruled that people seized as potential terrorists may file suit in American courts to challenge their captivity. The ruling affects detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The justices said they would not rule in a third case concerning the war on terrorism â that of "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla. Like Hamdi, he is a U.S. citizen who has been held in a military prison without charges or, until recently, access to a lawyer.
Posted by: Sherry ||
06/28/2004 10:47:59 AM ||
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a defeat is how it's being painted, but I don't see it. We can still hold these idjits while their cases drag through the courts for years...and in most cases we never really wanted to hold them forever. Wring em dry on intel, repatriate the hard cases back from a C-130 at 25,000 ft without a chute
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 11:03 Comments ||
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Uh-huh. And which court has jurisdiction over US military bases in Cuba?
Stick a beeper in their butts and shove 'em out the Gitmo gate. Let Fidel support 'em.
#4
This is a defeat. How is it anything but? And, no, I'm not happy that bad guys can waste my tax money dragging their frivolous cases through court on my dime. It was bad enough furnishing them with prayer rugs and 3 square vegetarian meals each day and visits with their Muslim psychiatrists. Who do you think is going to pay for the services of the likes of Lynne Stewart[and believe me there are thousands of her lawwwwyyyyyer types salivating at the thought of defending evil people on the taxpayer's dime].
It's time for the President and Congress to over ride the Supreme Court's idiotic decisions, starting with this one, and to remind these wizards in black robes of their job description and their limitations. Here's some cut and paste from a recent article by Arnold Beichman, a Hoover Institution research fellow, and who is also the author of "Anti-American Myths: Their Causes and Consequences.": http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20040522-102507-1868r.htm
...By a simple majority vote in both Houses, Congress under Article III, Section 2, can curtail the Supreme Court's appellate jurisdiction. In other words, Congress could by majority vote tell the court it may not rule, say, on abortion. This is the language of the Constitution: "The Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and to fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make." What could be clearer?
The writers of the Constitution did not intend to give the Supreme Court or the lower courts the power they have assumed almost from the beginning of the Republic. The Founding Fathers were concerned about a runaway judiciary.
In fact, in the "Federalist Papers," Alexander Hamilton wrote that the powers of Congress provide "a complete security [against] the danger of judiciary encroachments on the legislative authority." Hamilton was anticipating the Supreme Court might become another legislature with this difference: its members have life tenure.
Here is a list of other congressional powers over the Supreme Court as enacted by the Founding Fathers:
(1) Congress decides on the appropriation for the judicial branch, including salaries. If Congress says no to a requested salary increase, there is nothing the court can do about it.
(2) The president appoints the justices but they must be confirmed by the Senate.
(3) Congress has the power to define the jurisdiction of the lower federal courts because the Constitution grants Congress the right "to ordain and establish such courts."Nowhere in the Constitution, directly or implicitly, are federal judges granted the right to manage schools, hospitals, prisons and other institutions.
(4) The House may impeach and the Senate may try and remove federal judges right up to the Supreme Court. There is nothing the courts can do about it because neither the chief executive nor the Supreme Court can interfere with the impeachment powers of Congress.
(5) Congress is empowered to decide how many Supreme Court justices there shall be.
The distinguished legal scholar the late Professor Herbert Wechsler has said, "Congress has the power by enactment of a statute to strike at what it deems judicial excess." And yet Congress has rarely acted on its undoubted privilege...
Grow some backbone Republicans! Now is the time. Americans would give you a landslide victory and the Oval Office on a platter, if you took the initiative to over ride the decision giving rights to suspected terrorists. Even Democrat voters would see a Supreme Court judgement giving rights to terrorist types is absolute hogwash and would pressure the liberal politicians to vote with Republicans.
Posted by: rex ||
06/28/2004 11:42 Comments ||
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#5
If I remember right, previous cases said POWs have no right to sue in US courts. Now, the Supremes have ruled that people who don't even qualify for POW status have more rights than POWs.
Simply unbelievable.
rex: Even Democrat voters would see a Supreme Court judgement giving rights to terrorist types is absolute hogwash and would pressure the liberal politicians to vote with Republicans.
You must be smoking some powerful stuff.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/28/2004 12:11 Comments ||
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#6
RC, note this only applies to Americans who are detainees.
The way I read this, we're cool as long as we don't charge the guys with anything (ever).
Don't you love how the Leftist MSM calls a 6-3 decision "narrow?"
Posted by: Jen ||
06/28/2004 12:15 Comments ||
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#7
Agree with rex this seems like a major change in the separation of powers. It implies that any prisoner of war, legal or illegal combatant, citizen or not, can claim access to US courts. If so why is it limited to prisoners of war? Why couldn't anybody who had a grievance against the US military bring a case against it in court? Does it mean that prisoners of war can sue the military for unlawful detainment? Do we have to prove in every case that the detainment was justified? What happens if we have a war in which we capture several hundred thousand prisoners? For that matter, it implies any member of the US military should be able to appeal outside the military courts system. Does it render military courts obsolete?
#9
Look, if talk radio interviewed this Hoover Institute scholar who wrote the article I quoted in #4 post, Congress could be shamed into challenging the Supreme Court.
Even Democrats don't like their tax dollars wasted, #5. The Constitution does not give the Supreme Court any right to manage PRISONS and the Constitution gives Congress to over ride the Supreme Court but most people are not aware of this fact. So if can be put out on the air waves that Congress is just as sloppy about its job description as the Supreme Court is about its own, I think Congress may be forced to get off its butt whether it likes to or not.
Talk radio and Fox News should bring this to eveyone's attention. Gitmo terrorist suspects are not going to be very sympathetic figures to the general public, either Republicans or Democrats. The vast majority of these detainees are not citizens so who is going to want to pay the legal costs to extend their rights? Okay, maybe Al Gore and Michael Moore, but who else?
Posted by: rex ||
06/28/2004 12:43 Comments ||
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#10
Even so, virginian, what I said about never charging them still applies and as mojo points out, the killers will probably be long dead before they ever figure out which US court properly has jurisdiction.
It's called "putting them in jail and throwing away the key."
Posted by: Jen ||
06/28/2004 12:43 Comments ||
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#11
My reading (I'm no lawyer) is that these rulings have nothing to do with POWs. The rules for POWs are clear. Our use of the unlawful combatant/enemy combatant categories is new post 9/11 and the Court is trying to figure out those rules.
Remember, none of the people affected by this ruling have been charged, let alone convicted, of anything. There are good reasons not to go the criminal conviction route with some/most of them, but I don't see giving the US citizens some sort of right to habeas corpus as an unreasonable decision.
The Guatanamo situation never bothered me much, but claiming the base is completely outside anybody's law seems like a stretch.
If, having claimed jursidiction, the courts start being stupid about the actual cases (nobody is getting let go as a result of these decisions), I'll be screaming along with the rest of you. Although I'd keep the prisoners away from anywhere that the Ninth Circuit can claim jurisdiction.
#12
VAMark, it would be strange if unlawful combatants ended up with more rights than POWs. The article says detainees may file suit in court contesting their detention. If they haven't been charged with anything, it would make a case for wrongful detention more plausible, it seems to me.
#13
Our use of the unlawful combatant/enemy combatant categories is new post 9/11 and the Court is trying to figure out those rules.
No, they're trying to butt into areas they're not entitled to. In the past, unlawful combatants were dealt with quite simply -- they were shot on the battlefield. We didn't do that in this case because we wanted to get information.
Now we have the joy of watching the courts work towards the release of terrorists.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/28/2004 13:18 Comments ||
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#14
Now we have the joy of watching the courts work towards the release of terrorists.
#15
In the past, unlawful combatants were dealt with quite simply -- they were shot on the battlefield.
True. I wonder what would happen politically if the DOD announced that henceforth no illegal combatants would be taken prisoner but instead that they would all be killed on the battlefield.
#16
henceforth no illegal combatants would be taken prisoner but instead that they would all be killed on the battlefield.
That is within the letter of the Geneva Convention. They should go with it for a couple of weeks, and publish the "score." Then we can all have a big group hug and decided which the sensitive among us prefer: detainment in Gitmo or summary execution.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/28/2004 16:21 Comments ||
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#17
if you took the initiative to over ride the decision giving rights to suspected terrorists.
#19
"We will be filing hundreds of cases before the courts," said Qatari lawyer Najeeb al-Nauimi, who belongs to a committee of defense lawyers claiming to represent more than 300 detainees. "The Supreme Court reinstated our trust in the American judicial system."
I'm glad somebody still trusts it. Too bad none of them are Americans.
#20
"On further note, the Marine guards at the Cuban base were issued flamethrowers just in time to put down a prison riot. It seems that the detainees won't be needing lawyers anymore."
Prisoners cost money. Prisoners are annoying. Ground terrorist can be used to raise pigs.
#21
The one part of the decision negates the other part. The government can hold detainees, but the ACLU-types can tie up the government in the courts until hell freezes over. The LLL will use this as just another tool to destroy the US govt. The LLL just keeps probing with the dagger for a soft spot to stick it in. We will not win the WoT by having to fight with one hand behind our backs. The LLL is just as serious an enemy as Al Q, and its in the Supreme Court. The LLL's use of the Federal Court system is provoking a constitutional crisis.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/28/2004 23:34 Comments ||
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#22
Why should they be tried? They are guilty and everyone knows it. We should not be spending taxes money to hear the true story.
Muslim separatists have joined government forces in tracking down terrorists, President Gloria Arroyo said yesterday, a day after a top United States military commander expressed concern that terrorists are training at rebel camps in the Philippines. The rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the government âare teaming up to weed out terrorist cells and we need to give this effort a chanceâ, Mrs Arroyo said in a statement. She noted that the armed conflict with the MILF âis at an all-time lowâ following a ceasefire last July and that the peace process was firmly on track to end the three-decade insurgency in the southern Philippines.
Yet there had been concerns that Muslim militants from the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiah were training in MILF camps in the south. The rebels at first denied this but later agreed to verify the reports in cooperation with the government. âWe will be uncompromising against terror but we will give a chance to reasonable and feasible peace initiatives that will isolate and defeat terrorists,â Mrs Arroyo said. Philippine military officials have said they were hunting up to 40 mostly Indonesian JI members on the southern island of Mindanao. US Pacific commander Admiral Thomas Fargo told reporters in southern Zamboanga city on Sunday that Washington was concerned over the JI presence and would discuss the problem with senior Philippine military officials during meetings in Manila this week.
Admiral Fargo, who arrived in the Philippines for Mrs Arroyoâs inauguration on Wednesday, also said that American soldiers will train Filipino troops in counterterrorism. The US military started arming and training Filipino soldiers battling Muslim extremists in the southern Philippines two years ago. The exercises were credited with helping to cripple the Abu Sayyaf, a small but violent group linked to the Al-Qaeda terror network, on Basilan island, about 880km south of Manila. The new round of combat training will be held at an army camp in Zamboanga, a bustling southern port city where US-led training sessions have been held in the past, officials said. The Philippines is one of Washingtonâs closest allies. The US has pledged at least US$30 million (S$51 million) in development programmes for MILF areas once a final peace agreement has been reached. But US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone warned last year that Washington will withhold aid unless the MILF cuts ties to terrorists and outlaws. Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said earlier that his group had asked Malaysia, which is brokering the peace talks, to help establish a joint government-MILF group to pursue terrorists and bandits.
Indonesian police Monday announced the arrest of a Muslim militant for allegedly playing a role in a string of terrorist attacks. Inspector General Dadang Garnida, deputy chief of the national police, confirmed the arrest of the man, identified only with the initial "D," but gave no further details. Dulmatin, perchance?
Garnida only said the suspect is not Azahari bin Husin or Noordin Mohammed Top -- two Malaysian bomb experts wanted for their alleged involvement in the October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and the August 2003 blast at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 9:44:15 AM ||
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The US is concerned about the presence in the Philippines of an al-Qaeda-linked militant group and will help the Philippine military in its efforts to tackle it, a US commander said yesterday. The US has promised the Philippines close to US$100 million in security help over a five-year period as part of long-term efforts to develop Manilaâs capability in fighting militancy. "We are concerned of the presence of JI in the southern Philippines," Admiral Thomas Fargo, commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command, told reporters, referring to the Jemaah Islamiah militant group. "It is a group that threatens the peace and stability of the citizens here in the Philippines and Southeast Asia," said Fargo on arrival at the Philippine militaryâs headquarters in Zamboanga City in the island of Mindanao.
Philippine security officials say up to 40 Jemaah Islamiah members are hiding in the mountains of Mindanao, helping train members of two Muslim rebel groups -- the small but radical Abu Sayyaf and the larger and more organized Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Fargo said the US recognized efforts by the Philippines and its Southeast Asian neighbors, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, to fight terrorism, but more needed to be done. Fargo said the US military would stay committed to the Philippines, which is the largest recipient of US military aid in the region. "The US military role to the Philippines continues to be to train, assist, and provide intelligence in order to strengthen their efforts against terrorism," he said. US soldiers will train Filipino troops next month in the southern Philippines as part of Washingtonâs ongoing efforts to help combat terrorism in the country, the US Pacific commander said yesterday.
Admiral Thomas Fargo, who arrived in Zamboanga yesterday, promised to continue to provide training and intelligence to aid Manilaâs fight against terrorism. "This is your fight against those that threaten your citizens and their peace and stability," Fargo told a news conference. "Weâre glad to help," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 12:32:44 AM ||
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The lawyer for Iranian dissident Hashem Aghajari says Iranâs hard-line judiciary has dropped a blasphemy charge against his client that carried the death penalty. The lawyer says Mr. Aghajari, a disabled war veteran and history lecturer, still faces sentencing on lesser charges that could bring a five-year prison sentence. Mr. Aghajari was originally sentenced to death for a speech in which he criticized the rule of clerics in the Islamic republic. But early this month, the Iranian Supreme Court revoked the death sentence handed down by a provincial court in 2002, and ordered a re-trial in a court in Tehran. That hearing began Monday.
Iran will resume building centrifuges for its nuclear program on Tuesday despite international objections, but is continuing its suspension on uranium enrichment, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Sunday. Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency and the governments of Britain, Germany and France, about its decision. âWe declared to IAEA and the three countries that we are prepared to resume work as of June 29th,â Asefi said at a press conference. However, he said Teheran will remain committed to suspension of actual uranium enrichment - injecting gas into centrifuges.
The announcement came days after the IAEA approved a European-drafted resolution that rebuked Iran for past cover-ups in its nuclear program. The United States accuses Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran maintains its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, geared toward production of nuclear energy. Iranâs top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, has said Iranâs decision to reconsider its suspension of some uranium activity was in response to failure of the three European countries to help close Iranâs nuclear dossier at last weekâs IAEA meeting. According to Rowhani, the three European powers promised in February to work toward closure by June if Iran stopped making centrifuges. It did so in April.
Asefi insisted Iranâs nuclear policy has not changed. âNothing important has happened ... Europeans failed to respect their commitments. Therefore, there is no reason for us to keep our moral promise,â he said. âWe remain committed to voluntary suspension of uranium enrichment. We had cooperation with the IAEA, we have (it) now and we will cooperate with the IAEA in the future.â Asefi said Iran wants the IAEA and the three European countries to supervise Iranian building, assembling and testing of centrifuges when the program resumes. âConcerning building and assembling centrifuges, we declared to the IAEA and Europeans that we will do that according to regulations, under IAEA supervision,â he said.
"The Euros, of course, may have a cut of the contracts.That should settle things."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/28/2004 9:36:23 PM ||
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I had a thought between beers this weekend. There were reports last week that the US had detected signs that Syria was operating centrifuges. Now, Iran is widely believed to have invested a great deal of money in building up Syria's defense industries, some say they even are in control of them. I am thinking that maybe Iran outsourced part of their nuke program to Syria to prevent loosing the whole thing in one airstrike. Maybe that site that was destroyed in Iran just moved to a underground Syrian factory.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/28/2004 8:52 Comments ||
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President Mohammad Khatami said here on Thursday that expansion of relations between Iran and Algeria would benefit both sides, the region and the world of Islam. President Khatami further told outgoing Algerian Ambassador to Tehran Abdulqader Hijaz that Iran and Algeria should expand mutual technical and economic ties in light of joint efforts. Khatami praised the Algerian envoyâs performance during his mission to Tehran and wished him further success. Hijaz for his part briefed President Khatami on different agreements reached between Tehran and Algiers to expand bilateral cooperation in various fields.
Algerians can't be this stupid.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/28/2004 12:52:40 AM ||
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IIRC, Washington is worried about Algiers going nuclear as soon as 2005, with Argentinian reactor and tech help from China (and France???).
Ex.http://www.maroc-hebdo.press.ma/MHinternet/Archives_558/html_588/alger.html (in french, use babelfish)
or
http://www.fas.org/news/algeria/fbis-tac-98-235.htm (a bit dated)
Spanish Intelligence Warns of Algerian Nuclear Potential
"Cesid warns that in two years Algeria will have the capacity to produce military plutonium"
Report by M. Gonzalez and J.M. Larraya
Madrid El Pais 23 August 1998
Madrid -- Algeria has renounced the atomic bomb by signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and accepting International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections. However it is going ahead with a nuclear program which far exceeds its civil needs and in two years' time it will have the installations necessary to produce military plutonium, a key element in the atomic bomb. This warning appears in a confidential report drafted in July by the Cesid [Higher Center for Defense Intelligence], according to which at the end of the century Algeria will be technically in a position to produce nuclear weapons if its authorities so decide. The nuclear tests carried out last May by India and Pakistan have set the alarm bells ringing in the West about the risk of atomic weapons proliferation among Third World countries. For Spain the main focus of concern is the nuclear program developed by Algeria, with the technical support of China and Argentina.
Israel finds a blunt way to answer Al-Jiz-type propaganda - EFNews
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip â Israeli tanks rolled into northern Gaza and gunships fired missiles at two buildings early Tuesday in what the military called a major drive to prevent Palestinian rocket fire from hitting Israelâs border towns.
*snip*
Shortly after midnight, Israeli helicopters fired three missiles into a 16-story building housing the Hamas-linked media center Al-Jeel, injuring two people, witnesses said.
Minutes later, helicopters also fired a missile at a building housing a metal workshop in the Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, witnesses said.
The army said Hamas used the center to release claims of responsibility and distribute inflammatory material. The workshop was used for making home-made rockets.
*snip*
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 11:12:09 PM ||
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It never ceases to amaze that Arabs are totally unable to grasp the principle of cause and effect. Of course, their lives may be so miserable that they want to keep commiting "death by Jew."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2004 23:00 ||
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Fred here is another small exchange that occurred during the State Department Daily Press Briefing that I think may well be important here soon:
QUESTION: No, can we stay on Sudan? Condoleezza Rice said over the weekend that you were working with the Libyans to try and get a third route for aid into Darfur. Can you expand on that?
MR. ERELI: This is something, I think, that we've been talking about for some time. It's a land route through Libya for the delivery of humanitarian supplies. I don't know what the latest is in terms of the logistical arrangements for delivering aid through that route but, as the National Security Advisor said, it is an issue under active discussion. I don't think that the Janjaweeds are going to be too happy with Libya helping establishing a detour around the militant toll booths for aid traffic.
It's almost like Qadaffi is more interested in helping Africans than he is in helping Arabs. If he declares Quanza a Libyan national holiday we'll know for sure that the worm has turned.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/29/2004 2:50 Comments ||
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Snipped the entire first part of this writing from his website
What a litany of distractions! Words â preemption," "unilateralism," "hegemony," â whiz by and lose all meaning. Names â "Halliburton," "Chalabi," "INC" â become little more than red meat. Vocabulary is turned upside down: "Contractors," who at great risk restore power and water to the poor, are now little more than "profiteers" and "opportunists"; killers are not even "terrorists" but mere "militants." "Neo-cons" are wild-eyed extremists; "realists" are no longer cynics â inclined to let thousands die abroad unless the chaos interrupts transit of oil or food â but rather "sober" and "circumspect," and more likely Kerry supporters.
A depressing array of transitory personalities parades before our screen, entering stage left to grab 15 minutes of notoriety for their scripted invective, only to exit on the right into oblivion. Who can remember all these one-tell-all-book, one-weekend-on-the-Sunday-news-programs personalities â a Hans Blix, Scott Ritter, Howard Dean, Paul OâNeil, Joe Wilson, Richard Clark, or Richard ben Veniste? In between their appearances on Sunday morning television or 60 Minutes, a few D.C. functionaries are carted out for periodic shouting â an unhinged Al Gore, a puffed-up Ted Kennedy, a faux-serious Bob Kerry, and occasionally a Senator Byrd or Hollings. And since the very day after 9/11 weâve gotten the Vietnam-era retreads â a Peter Arnett, Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Robert Scheer, John Dean, or Seymour Hersh â tottering out with the latest conspiracies about the old bogeymen and "higher-ups."
We are winning the military war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The terrorists are on the run. And slowly, even ineptly, we are achieving our political goals of democratic reform in once-awful places. Thirty years of genocide, vast forced transfers of whole peoples, the desecration of entire landscapes, a ruined infrastructure, and a brutalized and demoralized civilian psyche are being remedied, often under fire. All this and more has been achieved at the price of political turmoil, deep divisions in the West â here and abroad â and the emergence of a strong minority, led by mostly elites, who simply wish it all to fail.
Whether this influential, snarling minority â so prominent in the media, on campuses, in government, and in the arts â succeeds in turning victory into defeat is open to question. Right now the matter rests on the nerve of a half-dozen in Washington who are daily slandered (Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice, Wolfowitz), and with brilliant and courageous soldiers in the field. They are fighting desperately against the always-ticking clock of American impatience, and are forced to confront an Orwellian world in which their battle sacrifice is ignored or deprecated while killing a vicious enemy is tantamount to murder.
No, we â along with those brave Iraqis who have opted for freedom â could very easily still lose this war that our brave troops are somehow now winning.
Two rockets fired from Gaza into the Israeli town of Sderot landed near a kindergarten, killing two people and injuring several others Monday morning, according to an Israeli Emergency Services official. Hamas immediately claimed responsibility for the rocket attack in a leaflet delivered to CNN. Israeli officials said a 3-year-old child and a 50-year-old man died. The dead childâs mother was said to be seriously wounded. Several other people were also wounded, police said.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/28/2004 10:16 ||
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The Japanese beheaded captured US Marines during WWII. The result was the virtual annihilation of the Japanese military whenever it faced the US Marines in combat. The 2004 edition of Marines may be high-tech warriors, but they are still warriors. These terrorists will find they have created a foe that is fierce, implacable, and inexorable, a foe that will hunt them down and kill everyone of them. Godspeed to the captured Marine and good hunting to his comrades.
There continues to be conflicting reports concerning the status of specialist Matt Maupin. ABC News reports the parents of Maupin were informed that there may be a tape showing his execution. ABC News said a source described as a senior official said a tape was delivered to Al-Jazeera TV which appears to show a blindfolded Maupin in a dark room being shot. This guy grew up a few miles from where I live; thereâs a huge display of ribbons and best-wishes at the high school he attended; itâs about 1000ft from my front door. Everytime Iâve seen a TV truck in the area, I feared the worst. Sure enough -- there was a camera crew in front of the school when I went by this evening.
Iâve even written to the ICRC a few times asking what they were doing to get access to him. They never answered.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/28/2004 6:49:08 PM ||
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I mistook him for someone else in another thread on this subject; sorry about that. It's people like him who are true heroes and martyrs - although that word leaves a bad taste these days, and it's of little comfort. He'll be avenged, that's for sure. Did you know him well?
Posted by: The Doctor ||
06/28/2004 21:54 Comments ||
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#2
I didn't know him; about ten years between us in age. But (for all it's worth) he was never forgotten; half the trees in the area have yellow ribbons around them and about 3/4ths of the store signs had his name on them.
I dunno what the local reaction will be. There was already a rally for him scheduled for the 5th; I'll be out of town then, but I'll hear what happens from my parents if not from the news.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/28/2004 22:08 Comments ||
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#3
RC--Sorry to hear about your community's loss. I hope you'll keep us informed about the community's observances and remembrances--I'd trust your eyewitness accounts over the media's sensational sound bites, and I'd trust you to display the solemn respect they lack as well.
God bless SPC Maupin.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/28/2004 22:32 Comments ||
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#4
RC? Any Moskkks in the area? Maybe they should take a vacation from the call to Islam....
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 22:41 Comments ||
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#5
America and your community deserve better. Kill.Them.Now.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 22:42 Comments ||
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#6
None in the immediate area. There's likely a guard posted around the nearest one, and that's 45 minutes away.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/28/2004 22:52 Comments ||
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#7
God, Bless Matt Maupin.... God, Damn those filthy muslim animals.
Posted by: Halfass Pete ||
06/28/2004 23:45 Comments ||
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#8
still no news about the "captured" soldier matthew "keith" maupin and it's already the middle of september. what the hell are we doing to find him or his body and bring him home? why has the media forgotten about him? i think he's the only american captive soldier and we cant find him for four (4) months? let's put some pressure on the media to put him back in the news. we owe him that much. ann marcol
Posted by: ann marcol ||
09/16/2004 13:27 Comments ||
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In videotaped and written statements mailed to Aljazeera, a previously unknown Iraqi group has claimed it has executed a US soldier it captured in April. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, who was listed as captured on April 16 by the US Department of Defense (DOD) was executed because the Bush administration did not change its policies in Iraq, the statement said. The statement claimed the execution was also in revenge for atrocities committed against Muslims in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Algeria. The videotape, which was aired on the Aljazeera Satellite Channel early on Tuesday, Maupin is seen talking to the camera. He is dressed in military fatigues. Aljazeera did not broadcast the execution but said Maupin appeared in front of a freshly-dug grave with his back to the camera. He was then shot in the head.
According to a DOD statement, Maupin and Sargeant Elmer C. Krause, 40, of Greensboro, North Carolina were categorized as duty status - whereabouts unknown on 9 April. Individuals using rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire attacked their convoy. Both soldiers were assigned to the Army Reserveâs 724th Transportation Company, from Bartonville, Illinois, the statement said. 48 hour rule in effect, BUT... Itâs on, scum.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 7:26:22 PM ||
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One good thing: At least in the Al-Jazeera version of events, they didn't link it to Haliburton like a certain ASSociated Press did...
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 21:33 Comments ||
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Members of the religious extremist party Khizb ut Takhrir [Hizb ut Tahrir] intend to arrange mass anti-American and anti-constitutional rallies in Kyrgyzstan, Tokon Mamytov, deputy chairman of the national security service, announced at the governmentâs session on Monday. Extremists may try to organize rallies of women demanding to rehabilitate and release the partyâs members from prisons, like the ones held in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, Mamytov said. Besides, there can be riots of young people, among whom prohibited religious organizations conduct their propaganda with special purposefulness, he said. According to the Kyrgyz national security service, the party members have recently received an instruction from the headquarters where they were told to step up their activities among the military, servicemen of the law-enforcement structures and prisoners.
When speaking at the session, Kyrgyz Interior Minister Bakirdin Subanbekov said that the partyâs activities presented "the biggest threat to the countryâs stability." It "calls for military fight to come to power," he emphasized. Spread of extremist sentiment in the republic "has become possible due to underestimation of the real danger of religious extremism and insufficient coordination of efforts between state agencies," the minister said. He supported the decision of the security service to check the activities of the religious leaders of all the Kyrgyz mosques. According to RIA Novostiâs information, the prohibited Islamic extremist party Khizb ut Takhrir appeared in Central Asia republics in 1995. At present it numbers over 20,000 members.
One man was killed and three others injured when an explosion ripped through a cafe in Grozny, spokesman for the regional headquarters for the counter-terrorism operation in the North Caucasus Maj. Gen. Ilya Shabalkin told Interfax on Monday. The explosive device went off just outside the cafe, killing its owner and injuring three visitors. An investigating team is working at the scene, Shabalkin said.
Something for the Supreme Court to read in the Post tomorrow with their morning coffee...
Iraqi militants killed an American soldier they have held hostage for nearly three months, saying the killing was because the U.S. government did not change its policy in Iraq, Al-Jazeera television reported Tuesday. News of the killing of Spc. Keith M. Maupin, 20, of Batavia, Ohio, came hours after the United States returned sovereignty in Iraq to an interim government. The report did not say when Maupin was killed. Maupin was captured during an ambush on a convoy west of Baghdad on April 9. The Arab satellite station aired video showing a blindfolded man sitting on the ground. Al-Jazeera said that in the next scene, gunmen shoot the man in the back of the head, in front of a hole dug in the ground. It did not show the killing.
Maj. Willie Harris, public affairs spokesman for the Armyâs 88th Regional Readiness Command, said the videotape is being analyzed by the Department of Defense. "There is no confirmation at this time, that the tape contains footage of Matt Maupin or any other Army soldier," he said, adding that the Maupin family was briefed "as to the existence of a videotape." Al-Jazeera said a statement was issued with the video in the name of a group calling itself "The Sharp Sword against the Enemies of God and His Prophet." In the statement, the militants said they killed the soldier because the United States did not change its policies in Iraq and to avenge "martyrs" in iraq, Saudi Arabia and Algeria. Time to start creating more martyrs over there. Lots of them.
Maupin was among nine Americans, seven of them contractors, who disappeared after the April 9 attack. The bodies of four civilian employees of Kellogg Brown & Root â a subsidiary of Vice President Dick Cheneyâs former company Halliburton â were later found in a shallow grave near the site of the attack. The body of Sgt. Elmer Krause, of Greensboro, N.C. was later found. Thanks for mentioning that, as usual.
One civilian driver, Thomas Hamill of Macon, Miss, was kidnapped but escaped from his captors nearly a month later. The others are missing. Maupin was promoted in absentia on May 1 from private first class to the rank of specialist, said Maj. Mark Magalski, a spokesman for the 633rd QM Ballation, based in Cincinnati. Hope they read the pricks their Miranda rights if they catch them. Wouldnât want to piss off the Supremes.
#2
ASSociated "Press" strikes again, good catch tu. What the holy hell does Halliburton have to do with (alleged, not yet confirmed) filmed executions of US soldiers?
I hate to beat a dead horse, but this kind of cowardly, yellow, seditious, hateful, subversive and viel "journalism" would never have flown during WW2.
Yet we keep seeing examples of it every single g-ddam day.
Wherever they are, the Founders cry themselves to sleep at night. It sickens me to no end.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 21:20 Comments ||
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#3
The Marines are going to be mighty unhappy about this. And when a Marine gets unhappy in a combat situation, methinks, people tend to die.
Although if the rumors about this guy being a Muslim are true, the jihadis might have just made an even bigger mistake . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
06/28/2004 21:26 Comments ||
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#4
No, Doc, this is a different guy. They have yet to do anything with the other, more recent hostage (the Muslim Marine).
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 21:29 Comments ||
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#5
Oops. Shows what I get for not reading carefully enough. Thanks for pointing out my idiocy, Chris.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
06/28/2004 21:30 Comments ||
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#6
Um... no problem? Seriously, though, when I first saw the story, what caught my eye was that the photo of the serviceman looked nothing like the guy kidnapped the other day, so I was wondering if I missed something... turns out this guy went missing back in April.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 21:36 Comments ||
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#7
I wonder: is there anyone, after this recent display of butchery by terrorists, is still willing to wail over the actions of American personnel in the Abu Grabass affair? (hint: the Abu Grabass "victims" are still alive)
Russia on Monday excluded the possibility of participating in the peacekeeping forces in Iraq. "Weâre too busy helping Iran build their nuclear facilities to spare any other "advisers" at this time."
"I do not see any conditions for this," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Istanbul after a meeting of the NATO- Russia Council. "We prefer civilian forms of assistance to that country." Like operating Iraqâs oil fields for Saddam.
"There are no discussions under way" between Russia and Iraq on military cooperation either, Lavrov said. Something to do with Russiaâs fabulous progress in Chchnya, I suppose.
But there are talks between Moscow and Baghdad on closer economic cooperation, including on restoring Iraqâs economy, he said. "Money makes the mare go round."
He expressed concern over the lack of an agreement on the status of the multinational armed forces between the forces and the Iraqi interim government. This "may create a dangerous vacuum after the handover of sovereignty to Iraq," he said. (Read: "Our customers next door in Iran are getting squirrelly.")
"Under a UN Security Council resolution, the multinational forces are responsible for security in close cooperation with the Iraqi government, which must have a voice in deciding how these forces should act," he said. "Just sign here ..."
"It is alarming that until now this point in the latest UN Security Council resolution on Iraq had still not taken the form of the legal language of an agreement on the status of the forces," he said. With the handover of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government, this gives rise to "a certain legal vacuum, which is undesirable especially in the current conditions in Iraq." Which they have both passively and actively undermined.
Lavrov also said the situation in Iraq is becoming increasingly insecure. Those dratted Iranian neighbors troublemakers again!
"We donât believe that use of force can solve the problem," he said. "A political dialogue is needed. The organization of a comprehensive all-Iraq political dialogue with the participation of all political forces, including opposition forces as well, is the way to achieve security." Ah yes, the familiar "political dialogue" routine. Itâs working rather well in Chechnya, isnât it?
He said the Iraqi interim government is organizing a national conference next month and has sent invitations to opposition groups. "We believe that all major opposition groups should be invited," he said, adding that Russia supports the Iraqi governmentâs efforts for national unification. (Read: "We want to get our fingers back into the pie.")
He also called for "Iraqâs neighbors [to] take part in subsequent steps." Especially Iran.
#2
Lavrov also said the situation in Iraq is becoming increasingly insecure. "We donât believe that use of force can solve the problem," he said. "A political dialogue is needed. The organization of a comprehensive all-Iraq political dialogue with the participation of all political forces, including opposition forces as well, is the way to achieve security."
Good. They can try that with Chechnya then, I assume?
#3
Given their lousy combat record, it's not what I would call a big loss. Check out Diggs's (at 4 Mile Creek) account of the initial Russian charge into Grozny in 1994:
The first unit to penetrate to the city center was the 1st battalion of the 131st "Maikop" Brigade, the latter composed of some 1,000 soldiers (120 armored vehicles and 26 tanks) ... Russian forces initially met no resistance when they entered the city at noon on 31 December. They drove their vehicles straight to the city center, dismounted, and took up positions inside the train station. Other elements remained parked along a side street as a reserve force.
Sixty hours later, the unit had been wiped out. "By 3 January 1995, the brigade had lost nearly 800 men, 20 of 26 tanks, and 102 of 120 armored vehicles." It had been surrounded and despite urgent pleas for relief, been utterly destroyed. "Its commander, Colonel Ivan Savin and almost 1000 officers and men died and 74 were taken prisoners. As for the two Spetsnaz groups south of the city, they surrendered to the Chechens after having tried to survive without food for several days," one historian observed. A Russian soldier described what he saw as they approached the train station around where the "Maikop" Brigade had been.
En route to the Central Train Station, the streets are crammed with burnt and mangled hulks of "armor" and strewn with dead bodies. The bodies of our Slavic brothers, all that's left of the Mikop Brigade, the one that "spooks" burnt and wiped out on the New Year's Eve 95-96.
#4
I agree. If they accepted they might actually show up and that could be a problem.
Posted by: Michael ||
06/28/2004 16:33 Comments ||
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#5
When did Russia become a member of NATO?
Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2004 17:00 Comments ||
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#6
"I come in Peace."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/28/2004 17:01 Comments ||
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#7
I guess they don't feel the need to put in a surprise appearance like they did in Kosovo. I suspect that Russian troops would be about as welcome although not as useful as Turkish ones. Given their track record of retreat from Afghanistan and the inability to suppress the Chechens. I'm not sure what expertise they would bring to the table.
#8
I'm not sure what expertise they would bring to the table.
I'm sure they could show us more than a few rather novel "field interrogation" techniques. After a few rounds with some Russian spooks, those Iraqis would beg for a return to the panties.
#9
RWV: I'm not sure what expertise they would bring to the table.
The Russians are well-known for selling weapons to the enemy in Chechnya and for dying by the dozens in individual enemy attacks. If deployed in Iraq, they'd be known as "negative resources" - i.e. "resources" that lead to more coalition casualties.
#1
U.S. troops removed: PENDING 59yrs, and counting
Posted by: Steve ||
06/28/2004 14:05 Comments ||
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#2
What about: "defacing the memorials of American liberators?" - really that's France, though.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/28/2004 14:28 Comments ||
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#3
No wonder the Germans are pissed. End the brutal US occupation of Germany NOW!
Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2004 14:30 Comments ||
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#4
This is the final portion of the CPA report on their accomplishments, only formated better. It would be impolite to mention that we still occupy Germany.
The Werewolves were defeated in 1947 with several million occupation troops.
FYI: Yet the Allies took no chances. Between 1945 and 1949 the Western Allies alone interned 200,000 former members of the Nazi Party, its various organizations and former Nazi government officials. Over 100,000 were indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Of them over 6,000 were convicted and something over 800 death sentences were carried out. The Nazi party was crushed and outlawed and the German state ceased to exist as a national body for the four years of the occupation. The state apparatus, including the diplomatic and military leadership was dissolved and many of its leading officials were indicted and put on trial in the "successor trials" in Nuremberg between 1947 and 1949 which followed the main International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of fall 1945 to fall 1946.
See, all it took was that, and the death of 12% of the German population. Aris why do you want to kill off 12% Iraqis? What have you you got Muslims? Are you still sore about Greeks living under Muslim occupation for hundreds of years and losing the best parts of Greek lands? How many Greeks died, were massacred and ethnically cleansed during the "Great Idea"? That's what I like about Greece, such Great Thinkers just bursting with Great Ideas.
Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2004 16:44 Comments ||
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#10
QUAGMIRE!
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 16:49 Comments ||
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#11
Shipman> It took me a while to understand you were talking about the length of the main warfare, rather than about the occupation phase.
I'm talking about the latter.
jules> I had heard there was no significant insurrection in Germany -- that the Werewolf thingy was a triviality. And that's there's not a single documented case of an American killed by guerillas in Germany after its capitulation.
Nothing even approaching the level of Fallujah, Sadr or Zarqawi.
Am I wrong in this?
ed> Those many hundreds thousands of people were killed during the main military opeations thingy, not in the "occupation" phase. But my main point is to keep the thing in perspective. You can quite easily declare a government "government", issue bank notes, draft a constitution.
But AS LONG AS THE WAR CONTINUES, and the enemies of all the above still have considerable enough power that the so-called "established" Iraqi army and police can't wave them aside at will -- are the things in that table really meaningful?
#12
Aris, although I disagree with the author of this article, I do agree that the Beder Meinhoff does qualify as an insurgency on the same level and metality as Zarqawi and his Shiite Iranian friends.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/28/2004 17:07 Comments ||
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#13
Aris is ignoring the facts #9 if bringing forth. If we did in Iraq what was done in Germany, He'd be squawking a different tune, guaranteed.
Another difference between Germany and Iraq is the existence of Aris' pals: Ever since the Tet offensive was turned from a military victory to a political defeat, revolutionaries, insurgents, terrorists, and thugs knew they could count on cultural and intellectual traitors like the Democrats, liberals, the media, and europeans, to lend their voices to destroy unity and the will to victory.
#14
Aris, wars don't end until those who benefit from the regime are dead or think warfare has much greater cost than possible benefit. In the brutal Middle eastern culture, having total power over Iraq, its people, and its oil income is quite an incentive.
About 10%, or 2-3 million, of the Iraqis (mostly Sunnis) benefitted quite a bit from Saddam's rule. Are you saying that the war should not have stopped until they (2-3 million Sunnis) were dead. Who many hundreds of thousands or millions should be imprisoned in internment camps? Or do you advocate random terror, such as that practiced in Saddam's Iraq, to keep the Sunni's (and foreign jihadis) head down? What kind of monster are you?
Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2004 17:27 Comments ||
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#15
Superhose> Bader Meinhoff and the Red Brigades were, if anything, part of the Cold War conflict, not the WW2 conflict. Whole different war.
Ptah> Other than your claims of knowing what tune I'd be squawking, not to mention who my "pals" are, are you bringing anything to the debate?
ed> What kind of monster are you?
The kind of monster who's not willing to have a discussion on such a level, especially after the call to end flamewars in this forum.
Your points are well made, but they illustrate exactly the problems that the aforeseen selective table *isn't* illustrating. You are on *my* side of the argument, when you say that the war on Iraq is continuing.
Unlike the table which wants to claim that every issue has been solved (and faster than happened with WW2) with the sole exception it seems of the pending trials.
#16
does the table indicate everygthings been solved? Like most tables of this nature, its silent - it tempts you to draw such a conclusion but doesnt say so. All it says is that certain landmarks have been reached surprisingly fast. which is true. Even if security is not yet achieved.
#17
Aris would you call the insurgency, rebellion, upheaveal, angriness, football riot in Iraq a war? It's lawlessness pure and simple there is no oppostion force that can't be crushed in 98 hours.
Given that... there is an information war which has served to moderate the US response to the mayhem.
And thanks for the stadium info... I thought it was archery only.... I will pass it on.
#18
Can't hang? I understand. Til the next thread. Ta leme syntoma.
Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2004 18:07 Comments ||
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#19
It's a war, a guerrilla war, by any definition I can think of. Sure there's no opposition force that *in the open* can't be thoroughly and quickly crushed, but so what? In war you don't choose what kind of tactics your enemy will be using.
It's also meaningless to say that if you weren't restrained, you could finish it quickly with MOABS or whatever. True, if you weren't restrained you could nuke the whole of the planet while you're at it.
But military victories are meant to be a *tool* in the service of politics -- not vice versa. If something doesn't politically strengthen you in the conflict of wills against the enemy, you don't do it, regardless of whether militarily you can.
#21
History Channel is running tonight... Nazi Guerrillas... watched it. Bombs, blowing up railroads, electrical power, killing those who worked with the Allies... went on through 1948... three years after the war.
Our local newspaper, in observance of Memorial Day and the 60th Anniversary of D-Day, ran a series of war memories of the 'Greatest Generation'.
One person told how their brother, a local high school baseball star, got over to Germany in 1945 at the end of the war but in time for the Occupation.
One night in 1946, pulling guard duty, he was deliberately run into and crushed by a stolen truck driven by a bitter young anti-American German man.
The German was found guilty of murder and hung. Apparently it was pretty common in those first few years after the war.
I really donât know what to do with this; the Al Qaida-Qaddafi connection seems very unlikely given Muammarâs stance toward the organization. Good info on SA and Mugabe, though. Salt needed, I guess.
RW Johnson ponders the existence of a political triad linking Osama bin Laden and Muammar Qadaffi via Robert Mugabe.
[...]
On 25 August 1998, just eighteen days after the bombs in Kenya and Tanzania had been detonated, a pipe bomb exploded in the Planet Hollywood restaurant on Cape Townâs Waterfront, killing one and wounding 27. The police concluded from the fact that the target had sounded American and that a pipe bomb had been used that this was probably the work of Pagad. But no one was ever apprehended for the atrocity despite the fact that the ANC minister for safety and security, Sydney Mufamadi, had announced that the police were closing in and that an arrest was expected at any moment. Later Mufamadi changed tack, seeming almost to blame the US for the bomb and suggested that it was a predictable reprisal for the Cruise missile attack on Sudan.
The FBI was more successful, quickly arresting three suspects for the African bombings, Mohamed Saddeck Odeh, Rashed Daoud Al-âOuhali and Wali al-Hage, the latter having earlier served as personal secretary to Bin Laden himself. All three were flown to the US where they confessed that the kingpin of the operation, Haroun Fazil (26), had rented a villa outside Nairobi where the bomb had been constructed. Fazil had driven a white pick-up truck and guided the lorry laden with explosives, driven by his operatives, to the US Embassy. Straight after the bombing he had taken a flight to his native Comoros Islands. The FBI, finding a record of a phone call made from a Nairobi hotel to the Comoros, asked the help of the Comoros government in tracing the call but clearly Fazil was tipped off for on 22 August he fled to Dubai just as the FBI arrived in the Comoros - where they found incriminating CDs in his family home.
What this event drew attention to was the existence of a Muslim network running all the way down the East coast of Africa from the Persian Gulf to Cape Town. South Africa itself has many attractions for Muslim terrorists. Durban, after all, is home to Africaâs richest Muslim community and its International Islamic Centre was built thanks to a personal donation by Bin Laden. Moreover, large sums of money can move easily through the Durban Indian community to Mauritius, Nairobi or Cape Town - and, indeed, to its overseas branches in London, Toronto and Sydney. One could be sure of finding, within southern Africa, enough al-Qaeda sympathizers, enough money and enough ways of making sure the two connected to make this region a major front in the terrorist war. Moreover, the region boasts not one but two failed states - the DRC and Zimbabwe - ideal breeding grounds for terrorism. An ironic advantage of this situation, I discovered as I started to delve into the question of terrorist links, was that some members of Mugabeâs secret police, the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), were feeling sufficiently disaffected to talk frankly, though of course anonymously, about the subject.
Mugabeâs relationship with radical Islam goes back to 1978 when Libyaâs president Muammar Qadaffi provided arms and training for his Zanla guerrillas in Mozambique and, after Zimbabwean independence, trained 700 policemen for the new government.
... Read the rest, if you care
#1
Qaddafi had a change of heart when he viewed Sadaam being deloused, but he, Mugabe and Mbeki, Mandella and Tutu would have been perfectly willing to help facilitate anti-American activity during that time-frame.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/28/2004 14:46 Comments ||
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#2
Thanks, A 5089, time to reform the RLI? This place should have been sorted by now, precision strikes are called for and then a general culling of ZANU-PF, perhaps. Heard a Beeb radio 5 show last Sunday, about the CIO/ZANU-PF asylum scam in the UK: "Lie to the white man, tell him what he wants to hear", basically. I lived there for nearly 3 decades and it sums it up. Thing is, we knew they were lying.
#4
There's been a chain of Muslim communites along the eastern Africa coast for centuries.
Did a bit of poking around. I'd say grain of salt with the "triangle", unless the Libya-Zimbabwe-AlQ linkup was set up years ago. Sounds like Mugabe stiffed the Libyans a few months back. It wouldn't be surprising, however, to find 'Libyans' on the farms, as Johnson writes.
Re S. Africa: not a surprising attitude, given the ANC's ideology.
EFL
Insurgents threatened to behead a U.S. Marine and a Pakistani driver they had kidnapped unless the United States releases all Iraqis in "occupation jails," according to a videotape aired on Arab television. Turkey rejected demands by militants holding three Turkish hostages in a separate standoff. The family of Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun confirmed that he was the kidnapped American Marine who appeared in a videotape shown Sunday. The U.S. military said Hassoun, a Muslim of Middle Eastern origin, had been missing from his unit for nearly a week. The kidnappers claimed to have infiltrated a Marine outpost, lured Hassoun outside and abducted him.
Al-Jazeera said the militants demanded the release of all Iraqis "in occupation jails" or the hostage would be killed. They identified themselves as part of "Islamic Response," the security wing of the "National Islamic Resistance â 1920 Revolution Brigades." The name refers to the uprising against the British after World War I. The group, which has claimed responsibility for previous anti-American attacks, first surfaced in an Aug. 12 statement claiming the United States was hiding its casualty tolls in Iraq to help President Bushâs election chances. Hassounâs family in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan asked people to join them in prayers. "We accept destiny with its good and bad," Hassoun family friend and spokesman Tarek Nosseir said in a brief statement Sunday to reporters. "We pray and plead for his safe release."
Death threats against hostages as well as insurgent attacks on U.S. and Iraqi security forces accelerated ahead of Iraqâs return to self-rule on Monday. The transfer of sovereignty had been scheduled for Wednesday but the U.S.-led coalition speeded up the move by two days in an apparent bid to head off any attempts at sabotage. Earlier Sunday, the Pakistani driver was shown on a tape broadcast by a different Arab television station, Al-Arabiya. The hostage displayed an identification card issued by the U.S. firm Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Vice President Dick Cheneyâs former company Halliburton.
He doesn't work there anymore, and he has nothing to do with the Bad Guys' atrocities, but somehow it was important to stick that in.
Four masked men holding assault rifles across their chests said they would behead the Pakistani within three days unless Americans freed prisoners held at Abu Ghraib and three cities of central Iraq â Balad, Dujail and Samarra. The gunmen said they captured the Pakistani near the U.S. base at Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. They did not say whether they were affiliated with any group, The hostage, who gave his name as Amjad, urged Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to close the Pakistani Embassy in Iraq and to ban Pakistanis from coming to Iraq. "Iâm also Muslim, but despite this they didnât release me," he said, bowing his head. "They are going to cut the head of any person regardless of whether he is a Muslim or not."
In Istanbul, Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul rejected demands by al-Zarqawiâs group for Turkish companies to quit doing business with U.S. troops in Iraq to spare the lives of the three Turkish hostages. "Turkey will not bow to pressure from terrorists," Gonul told the private CNN-Turk and TV8 television stations. The demand was issued as Bush and other Western leaders gathered in Turkey for a NATO summit Monday. Turkey, the only Muslim nation in NATO, was put in a difficult position trying to balance alliance solidarity with national interests. The U.S. mission in Iraq is deeply unpopular in Turkey, and it was feared that any killing of Turkish hostages could intensify anger against the United States.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
06/28/2004 11:20:18 AM ||
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#1
Hey tu3031:
Don't be afraid to fix stoopid headlines:
Militants Terrorists Threaten to Behead Iraq Hostages
And now, back to your regularly scheduled Rantburg.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 11:30 Comments ||
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#2
If they behead that Marine, the ensuing sh*tstorm will become the stuff of legend for years to come.
#3
I do not believe this Marine is a hostage. He disappeared June 21, and his background is veryyyyyyyyyy interesting. Came to the U.S. right before 9/11, left a wife and kid back in Lebanon. Supposedly, this new visitor was so "touched" by 9/11, that he immediately signed up to be a Marine. He is a muslim who regularly attends mosque each Friday. I don't believe for a minute that the terrorists "infiltrated" the marine base and took this guy. The whole story stinks....
Also, why is it that some hostages are blindfolded and others are not? Code?
Posted by: jawa ||
06/28/2004 11:56 Comments ||
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#4
chris at least tu is not call them freedom fighters.
#5
Yeah, I know. I also left in the obligatory "The hostage displayed an identification card issued by the U.S. firm Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Vice President Dick Cheneyâs former company Halliburton."
Can't have an Iraq story without that in it, right, Mucky?
#7
I wasn't trying to be a jerk or anything. Just a little fun, you see.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 12:11 Comments ||
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#8
Supposedly, this new visitor was so "touched" by 9/11, that he immediately signed up to be a Marine. kinda like the way lots of Italians, Japanese, etc signed up in WW2. theres such a thing as having something to prove.
He is a muslim who regularly attends mosque each Friday.
So?
I'll await further clarification, but this seems at first glance like a big Jihadi mistake. I assume thats what BH is getting at. This would be front and center of our case that america supports muslims, muslims support America, but the evil jihadis are the enemy of american muslims, and indeed of all moderate muslims. All evidence is that Iraqis are growing disgusted at jihadi killing of muslim Iraqis - what will be their reaction when a muslim US Marine is killed? Yes, that would be the time to move on Fallujah.
#10
More info on the Marine here:Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said the military is working under the assumption that the Marine has been kidnapped -- but he indicates that hasn't been confirmed.
Kimmitt said the Marine had gone on an "unauthorized absence" around June 21 -- and that officials suspect he may have been heading to Lebanon. The general didn't give more details.
The tape displayed a Marine identification card in the name of Wassef Ali Hassoun. The U.S. military said a corporal by that name had been missing from his unit in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force since June 21.
Some of Ali Hassoun's relatives, including his father, Ali Hassoun, and a brother, Sami, are in Tripoli, Lebanon. The relatives said contacts were under way with politicians and Muslim clerics in Lebanon and Islamic groups in Iraq to secure the Marine's release.Judy Hassoun, Wassef Ali Hassoun's former sister-in-law, said by telephone from Bacliff, Texas, that Ali Hassoun is serving his second stint in Iraq. She hadn't known he was missing and had not seen him in about five years.
She said he was born in Tripoli, educated at American schools in Lebanon and is fluent in Arabic and French. "He is a great student," she said. He is "very peaceful, but very brave, very loving."She said her former brother-in-law joined the Marines after moving to the Salt Lake City area. Her relatives, including her ex-husband, live in an upscale subdivision in West Jordan, a Salt Lake City suburb.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/28/2004 13:20 Comments ||
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#11
But how is it that of ALL the hostages these guys could have taken, they happened to grab a devout muslim?
1. As per steves article, he was going AWOL to visit his relatives - the jihadis cant get that close to a Marine base.
2. Speaking Arabic, he had more reason to go walking about himself, or was more cocky about doing so.
#12
1. As per steves article, he was going AWOL to visit his relatives..
Sounds pretty damned naive at best, stupid at worst. If it were my parents' home country that was in Iraq's position and I was a Marine stationed there, I wouldn't trust the local population any further than I could throw them. My country, fellow Marines, and countrymen come first, my ethnicity a very distant second (assuming I had to assign a value to that trait).
#14
I'd say those jihadis have got themselves in a pickle.
We will not negotiate.
Thus they must either chop his head off or let him go. Either way they loose.
Just feel really sorry for the bloke.
Posted by: Michael ||
06/28/2004 16:10 Comments ||
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#15
"Speaking Arabic, he had more reason to go walking about himself, or was more cocky about doing so"...uh, I don't think so. He would have known better than anyone not to go on a "walkabout". Sister-in-law states how bright he is. I predict this one will either "disappear" or be released. Prove himself? Naaaaaaa
Posted by: jawa ||
06/28/2004 17:24 Comments ||
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#16
Prove himself the way Italians, Japanese did during WW2. How naive can you be? You should have realized by now exactly what kind of enemy we're dealing with.
Posted by: jawa ||
06/28/2004 17:25 Comments ||
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A handcuffed and chained Saddam Hussein will be hauled in front of an Iraqi judge within days to hear his arrest warrant, Iraq's national security adviser Muwaffaq Al-Rubaie told CBS television yesterday. "We're going to have control of Saddam Hussein. We're going to have two American military MPs to hand him over to four Iraqi policemen. They will put a chain (on him) and take him to the waiting room," Rubaie told CBS anchorman Dan Rather. "The judge will call his name, Saddam Hussein Majid. And they will bring him in ... open his chain, handcuff and take him to the judge and the judge is going to give him his rights and his defense and he's going to issue an arrest warrant against Saddam Hussein. "They're going to put the handcuffs on him. Take him ... controlled by Iraqi policemen."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 9:53:01 AM ||
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Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 11:31 Comments ||
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#8
Hope they televise it.
Make me happy and drive the Left totally out of their minds.
Posted by: Michael ||
06/28/2004 11:52 Comments ||
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#9
I'd love to see the beast publically tried on TV, but I also wonder what other possible outcomes there could be if he doesn't get to trial--
1.) Some Ba'athists who escaped detection during the police screening process will (try to) help him escape.
2.) Similarly some Ba'athists may smuggle in cyanide or some such to save him the humiliation of a trial (a la Goering).
3.) On a different tack, his non-Ba'athist Iraqi custodians will beat the life out of him.
4.) Similarly, it will be revealed he was abused and tortured in Iraqi custody and the integrity and fairness of the trial and the court will taint all the proceedings.
I do hope the bastard is tried effectively and correctly and executed, in any case!
Posted by: Dar ||
06/28/2004 12:01 Comments ||
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#10
No trial - just a frenzied lynch mob!
Posted by: Deb ||
06/28/2004 12:37 Comments ||
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#11
One of my buddies observed that we should keep it simple, bring him out to an airfield and let his people string him up on the tarmac straight away. Of course he made that remark five years ago so he was a little ahead of the curve. Or maybe he was just in on the neo-con conspiracy.
The Algerian army has killed three Islamic extremists, one of them an "emir" or leader, in a raid near the capital, Algiers, newspapers reported on Monday. Army soldiers on Saturday evening killed Ali Bournani, head of a "squadron" from Algeriaâs biggest extremist group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), in the outback near Khemis El-Khechna, just southeast of Algiers, according to Le Jeune Independant newspaper. Shortly afterwards two members of the squadron led by Bournani were killed in the nearby town of Ouled Salem, reports said. All three were members of the GSPCâs Abou-Bakr Sedik squadron, which takes its name from one of the companions of the Prophet Mohammed.
The GSPC on Sunday claimed responsibility for an explosion at the Hamma power station near Algiers. "The El-Borkane (volcano) phalange (of the GSPC) placed a lorry packed with explosives against the perimeter wall of the power station, which is considered to be the countryâs most important and strategic electricity production facility," the GSPC said in a statement posted on its website. "The mujahedin tried to avoid loss of human life by reducing the explosive charge, which should have been bigger and destroyed the whole plant," said the statement, which was dated June 22 and signed by the GSPCâs "information committee".
"This operation was one of a series of acts of harassment which, even if they are not 100% successful, will give the lie to fabrications (by the authorities) about things like control of the security situation, assurances for foreign investors and residues of terrorism," the GSPC said. Shortly after the explosion, Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said the blast was "apparently accidental," but newspapers speculated it was a revenge attack for the killing on June 18 of GSPC leader Nabil Sahraoui by the army.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 9:46:46 AM ||
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No word on Count Dooku ...
Russian forces on Monday said they had killed Magomed Yevloyev, the leader of a rebel group that rampaged through the Ingushetia region bordering Chechnya last week. The rebels, many of them ethnic Ingushs allied to separatist Chechens, killed almost 100 people and seized much of Ingushetia for several hours last Tuesday in their most audacious and successful raid for years.
"Magomed Yevloyev was eliminated in a special operation in Ingushetia this morning by our forces. He was on his own," Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the Russian military command in the North Caucasus, said by telephone from Chechnya. Observers say the spread of war from Chechnya, where rebels have fought Russian rule of a decade, to other regions is a sign that President Vladimir Putinâs policies are failing.
Putin refuses to negotiate with the separatists and says they are linked to international terrorism. After the Ingushetia attack, he ordered the army to find and destroy the rebels. Chechen officials say Yevloyev, an ethnic Ingush, was ordered to attack Ingushetia by rebel leaders Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev, who have led the guerrillas in Chechnya since war first broke out in the mountainous southern region in 1994.
Shabalkin said Yevloyev had fought in Chechnya but came to Ingushetia in December to spread the Chechen rebelsâ campaign to the region, largely unscathed by fighting until this year. "He was leader of the local Wahhabites," Shabalkin said, referring to local Islamic extremists. Rebel news sources did not confirm or deny the report. News agencies quoted Russian prosecutors as saying 10 men had been detained after the attacks, and three charged. Human rights groups says police have detained dozens of people, some in swoops on camps for Chechen refugees in Ingushetia.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 9:37:36 AM ||
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#1
"Magomed Yevloyev was eliminated in a special operation in Ingushetia this morning by our forces. He was on his own,"
Two Chechens were arrested in the Iraqi city of Nasiriya Sunday by local police. The Chechens are suspected of terrorist activity in the country and connections to al Qaeda, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported, citing Iraqi papers. The Chechens were part of an armed group sent by Islamists for a diversion in Nasiriya, where a U.S. air base is located, the newspaper As-Sabah had reportedly said, citing an unidentified police source. Iraqi police say that there are about 20 Chechens on Iraqi territory that are taking part in armed uprisings against U.S.-led coalition forces. Earlier Italian media reported that as many as 300 mercenaries from Chechnya were fighting in Iraq.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 9:24:01 AM ||
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#1
Two Chechens were arrested in the Iraqi city of Nasiriya Sunday by local police.
#2
From what I understand about their complexion (more on the caucasian side), chechens are likely to stand out in Irak, sure help the locals to get a fix on them.
The U.S. military denied reports Monday that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant who Washington says is allied to Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda, had been captured in Iraq. "Itâs not true, the reports are not true," Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations for the U.S. military in Iraq, told Reuters. "Weâve heard the reports about it, but they are not true."
Earlier, reports on a U.S.-funded Iraqi radio station had suggested Zarqawi had been captured near the town of Hilla, 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad, in an area controlled by Polish troops. Iraqi officials in Hilla said a man had been captured who resembled Zarqawi and spoke with a similar accent. Polandâs PAP news agency quoted General Mieczyslaw Bieniek, head of the Polish force in Iraq, as saying: "I cannot confirm that such an operation has ended with success, it requires certain identification. A statement will be issued on this matter."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 9:19:04 AM ||
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#1
It's possible Zarqawi was captured and they don't want to release the info just yet for fear that the marine and other's captured by AQ will be moved or killed before Zarqawi spills their location to us.
I doubt it this is the case but it's certainly possible.
#2
It's also possible that the US does not want to admit they have Zarqawi because then all those feel good Geneva Convention rules of a)3 square meals,b) daily back rubs, and c)pro bono consultations with my heroes, the ACLU, will kick in.
Posted by: rex ||
06/28/2004 11:07 Comments ||
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#3
Damn straight they wouldn't want that info released. They'd need to squeeze him for time-sensitive ops intellegence first.
#7
Intersting that NPR Talk of the Nation had a guest, in Iraq, who quoted the Iraqi Interior Minister as saying, when asked about Zarqawi, "We won't talk about him today."
American special forces captured two Taliban leaders in southern Afghanistan in raids on their compounds at the weekend, the U.S. military said on Monday. Spokeswoman Master Sergeant Cindy Beam named the men as Abdul Hafiz Majid and Mohammad Daud. "Coalition Special Operations Forces raided two anti-coalition compounds and captured two top enemy leaders in missions conducted pre-dawn Saturday in southern Afghanistan," she said in a statement. "We have evidence indicating that they were supplying arms to insurgents, conducting rocket attacks on (the) military, attacking non-governmental aid organisations helping Afghanistan build a national infrastructure, funding ambushes and trafficking opium."
Beam gave no precise location for the raids. "During the mission, the enemy regional leaders surrendered as coalition SOF (special operations forces) surprised the insurgents." Abdul Latif Hakimi, who claims to speak for Afghanistanâs ousted Taliban regime, said the commanders were not senior figures within the movement, which has waged a bloody insurgency since being overthrown by U.S.-led forces in late 2001.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 9:13:20 AM ||
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Are you a suspected Taliban? Guantanamo too hot? Panties on your head? Do you know your rights? Call me at 1 800 ACLU-SUCKS. I'll make sure you get your rights. And the best news of all? The American taxpayer pays for it.
The United States has handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government two days earlier than expected, aiming to forestall guerrilla attacks with a surprise ceremony formally ending 14 months of occupation. Iraqâs outgoing U.S. governor Paul Bremer handed a letter to Iraq leaders sealing the formal transfer of powers before immediately flying out of the country. The low-key ceremony was over before it was announced and came as a surprise to ordinary Iraqis. Its hurried and furtive nature appeared to reflect fears that guerrillas could stage a spectacular attack on the scheduled date of June 30.
At a second ceremony in the afternoon -- this time broadcast live on Iraqi television -- the government was sworn in and Prime Minister Iyad Allawi urged all Iraqis to stand together against foreign militants wreaking havoc in the country. "I call on our people to stand united to expel the foreign terrorists who are killing our children and destroying our country," Allawi said, in comments broadcast around the world. At the earlier ceremony, which formally transferred sovereignty, President Ghazi Yawar hailed "a historic day, a happy day, a day that all Iraqis have been looking forward to."
U.S. and British officials say the handover is a key step on the path to democracy in Iraq, but one of the governmentâs first actions as a sovereign power is expected to be the imposition of emergency laws, including curfews, to crack down on guerrillas. U.S. officials attending a NATO summit in Istanbul admitted that thwarting a surge in attacks believed planned for the formal Wednesday handover date was a factor in the decision to advance it to Monday, which they said Allawi had requested. "We have said all along that we believed that the terrorists on the ground were going to do everything they can to literally and figuratively blow up the handover of sovereignty," one official said.
Although Allawiâs government will have "full sovereignty", according to a U.N. Security Council resolution earlier this month, there are important constraints on its powers. It is barred from making long-term policy decisions and will not have control over more than 160,000 foreign troops who will remain in Iraq. The government has the right to ask them to leave, but has made clear it has no intention of doing so. Allawi said after the handover that he was committed to holding elections in January as scheduled. Last week he was quoted as saying insecurity might force the polls to be postponed until February or March. "The Iraqi government is determined to go ahead with elections on January 2 of next year," Allawi told reporters.
As part of the handover, ousted leader Saddam Hussein will soon go before an Iraqi judge to be charged and transferred to Iraqi legal custody, but will still be physically held by U.S.-led forces, a military official said. Saddam fled when U.S. forces took Baghdad on April 9 last year, but was captured in December. "He will stand in front of an Iraqi judge and he will be handed his indictments," the coalition official said.
Guerrillas have mounted bloody attacks this month aimed at disrupting the handover, and several foreign hostages have also been seized over the past week. On Sunday, the Arabic-language satellite channel Al Jazeera broadcast footage of a blindfolded U.S. Marine, whose captors said they would kill him unless Iraqi prisoners were released. "A Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force has been absent from his unit since June 21," a U.S. statement said. "However, Naval Criminal Investigative Services cannot confirm that Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun has been taken hostage." Militants have already seized three Turks and a Pakistani driver working as a contractor for U.S. forces this month. Fighters loyal to al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said on Saturday they were holding the Turks and would behead them within 72 hours unless Turks stopped working with U.S. forces.
The threats have cast a shadow over Bushâs visit to Turkey for the NATO summit. Turkey and Pakistan are not part of the U.S.-led occupation force in Iraq but many of their nationals work for U.S. troops. Both countries have rejected the kidnappersâ demands. The uncle of Pakistani driver Amjad Hafeez appealed for his release. "He went there for work and not for fighting," Mohammad Razzaq Khan told Reuters from Rawalpindi. "Therefore, we appeal to the captors to release him."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 9:12:06 AM ||
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#1
People will say that the early handover was done to confound the Islamoterrorists and Baathoterrorists.
Maybe, but it also has the effect of denying face time to the big egos at CNN/NBC/BBC/ALJaz, etc. who planned to go to the handover ceremony and diss it.
#3
First Iraqi blogger to comment is http://hammorabi.blogspot.com/
he says,
"The handover is a surprise for the enemies of the free and democratic Iraq. The terrorist may have been planned a major attack on the 30 July 2004. The earlier handover may have been aborted such an action.
Good luck for Iraq and the civilized people the friends of Iraq."
God bless Iraq and America and their friends and allies.
#4
The Americans are not playing fair. We were tipped to go to where the massive car bomb was supposed to go off. Now there is nothing to cover. We are going to complain to the UN!
#6
...One of the other blogs - IIRC it was Roger Simon's - said that according to rumor, Rather, Brokow, and Co. were already in Baghdad waiting for the official handover. I'm guessing that the stars are FURIOUS that their moment to pontificate on everything that was going to go wrong has been taken from them, and we're going to see that in their reporting.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/28/2004 10:53 Comments ||
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#7
yep - it was on MSNBC this AM (400AM on west coast) instead of Imus, and the two newsbabes they had on were unprepared
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 10:56 Comments ||
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#8
Not gonna help much tactically, but it was pretty damn mean spirted to leave Gunga Dan with no dance, and as such should be saluted!
#9
Sweet timing! Took away any initiative on the part of the whiners and boomers!
Posted by: Dar ||
06/28/2004 11:47 Comments ||
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#10
I'm guessing that the stars are FURIOUS that their moment to pontificate on everything that was going to go wrong has been taken from them, and we're going to see that in their reporting.
Hence the "hurried and furtive" remark by al-Reuters...
"...sovereignty was handed-over to Iraqis, in a brilliant timing that interrupted the plans of the terrorists.
I couldnât find myself but going out, taking some pictures and asking people about their feelings and anticipations regarding this great day.
Baghdad seemed quiet calm moreover this morning was even more peaceful than the last couple of days (at least till now).
Streets are void of any sign reflecting that a great and important event for Iraq and the region has just took place.
Iâve noticed that most people I met in the streets were delighted by this news and I saw a lot of optimism on their faces".
#12
President Bush, dumb as Dumb as Gomer Pile ain't he...
Well President Gomer you owe the UN, IsalmoNazi's and DNC a big ole "SURPRISE SURPRISE SURPRISE!!!"
Annan's top adviser on Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi, said the "former occupying powers" and the new government must now demonstrate to the Iraqi people that the 150,000 foreign troops in the country are there to support the government in maintaining security â and that they will be leaving.
"We are all keeping our fingers crossed," said Brahimi, who helped put together the new government.
"We hope that this is going to be a true beginning and those who are opposing occupation will now consider that opposing occupation is not necessary anymore and that both sides â the government and these people â will try and find a common ground to build Iraq," he told reporters at U.N. headquarters. Link
"helped put together the new government"? They're kidding, right?
He got sidetracked and suckered. The new government was put together IN SPITE OF his brief from Kofi.
#14
Saw CNN today for awhile. The quick handover caught the pretty faces by surprize and they had to report the news instead of opinionating it. Then they read letters from their viewers. The hatriots in the CNN staff picked only anti Bush email to read.
#15
I don't normally watch CNN, but last week while working out I could only see that TV, so I saw them reading the viewer emails. I also noticed that every single email they picked started from a left of center, "America (specifically Bush's America) is in the wrong" position. I'm really flabbergasted that anyone could watch this sort of thing and believe that their reporting is unbiased.
Posted by: Kathy L ||
06/28/2004 16:40 Comments ||
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EFL:
Pakistan is acquiring state of art high-tech front role most sophisticated JAS-Gripen plans for Pakistan Air Force (PAF) from Sweden. These plans on their induction in the PAF would help in restoring balance in air defence of South Asian skies especially between Pakistan and India. The Gripens are far superior then Mig-27, Mig-29, Mig-31 and Mairage-2000, the front role Indian fighter plans. Well placed defence sources told The News here on Monday that President General Pervez Musharraf is visiting three important Scandinavian countries next month including Sweden and it is expected that the deal for purchase of the Gripen would also come up for discussion.
Wonder were the Paks found the cash?
The President will visit to Denmark and Norway in the same trip. The sources said that Pakistan is going for JAS-39 version of Gripen plans, considered to be far more effective than US made F-16, the only front role state of art plans the PAF is relying and the mainstay of the Pakistan Air Force for any eventuality. The overhauling and maintenance technology will also be transferred to Pakistan of Gripens by Sweden once the deal is struck, the sources said.
Whereupon the overhauling and maintenance will be like everything else in Pak-land.
Pakistan has planned to buy 40 JAS-39 Gripens with most modern radars would be fitted in them. These planes will be capable to strike deep into the enemyâs territory as these plans could be refueled in the air. They will be equipped with jamming transmitters and capable of carrying any type of warhead to a distance of more than three thousand kilometre, the sources added.
I guess we all know what kind of warhead they're talking about.
And just how do the Paks plan to do in-air refueling?
The sources said that Pakistan has decided to acquire the Gripens after finding difficulties in getting US made F-16s while Pakistan has also studied French made Rafael and upcoming European plan Euro fighters. In the end it has been decided to go into a deal for the Gripens. Pakistan is expecting to induct JF-17 Thunder in the PAF in early 2007 but the Gripens would be available much before that, the sources said. The PAF is in dire need of high-tech plane. The Gripens will adequately fulfil the need, the sources said. Pakistan could not have any high-tech plan after acquiring F-16 some twenty years ago. The JF-17 Thunder is being manufactured with collaborations of Chinese technology and again it would be slightly advanced to the mid-tech plans. The JF 17 Thunder will be framed close to the F-16 while the Gripens will be Delta wing plan resembling with French made Mairage-2000 and it will be all weather capability plan with multi role of fighting, bombing and role of reconnaissance. The super sonic Gripens will be flying with mach-2plus speed, beating in speed all its contemporaries, the sources said.
So they can run away fly faster.
The single seat fighter-attacker-reconnaissance Gripen is heads up and down display that replaces normal flight instruments. Its excellence has already proven and with ECM (Electronic Counter Measures) and navigation system, the Gripen is considered to be the current centuryâs plan in true sense, the sources added. The sources said that Sweden is prepared to supply the plans according to the requirement of Pakistan. Foreign Secretary Riaz Kkhokhar visited Sweden last month and discussed with the authorities in Stockholm schedule of the visit of the President of Pakistan. Both the capitals are engaged in finalising the dates for the visit.
Thanks alot, Sweden.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/28/2004 8:56:09 AM ||
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#1
I read a long time ago that Swedish law prohibits selling arms to countries in global hotspots. True? Didn't Sweden sell a whole lot of Bofors artillery to India in the past 15 years?
Posted by: Michael ||
06/28/2004 9:32 Comments ||
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#2
I read a long time ago that Swedish law prohibits selling arms to countries in global hotspots.
To quote Capt Jack Sparrow, "They're more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules."
Posted by: Steve ||
06/28/2004 10:41 Comments ||
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#3
The Gripens are far superior then Mig-27, Mig-29, Mig-31 and Mairage-2000, the front role Indian fighter plans
Rite.
BTW when was the last time a Swedish built aircraft had an air-to-air victory? The Winter War? That's a tought little piece of trivia.
#4
I don't think the planes intended to deliver nukes 3,000 km away need to worry about refueling. The flight plans are probably similar to the deep strike sorties from Cold War days. "After the last weapon release, climb to maximum altitude and try to reach the post-strike base." Don't know what the glide ratio is on a J39, better than a brick, less than a leaf.
#5
The J39 Gripen (Griffin) has been in development a long time. Saab has rolled out one of these delta winged beauties at about 25 year intervals, starting with the J35 Drakken (Dragon) and the J37 Viggen (Thunderbolt). The problem is that the effectiveness of a fighter has more to do with the weapons carried and the systems on board than with the maneuverability of the airframe. Sweden can sell the Paks the plans and they can produce J39s by the thousands, but unless they get sophisticated modern electronics, avionics, and weapons systems to put on them, they will only be good for airshows. The good stuff still says Made in the USA. Not to say that we won't sell it to them.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 21:12 Comments ||
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#8
These bloody Americans always seem jealous whenever they see any Europen country making progress in developing high performance military or civilian aircrafts.
As far as Pakitan is concerned its air force is known as one of the best in the world. They have always beated much larger Indian air force despite numercial disparity.
The performance of Gripen will be highlighted when it will be flown by Pakistani pilots.
#11
the thing is that americans can never stand a competitor. they think that this world was made for them and they are the true masters. only they have the right to live and other humans excluding the jewish state of israel are just pieces of flesh whome they could bomb any time any where they want.
what i think it is a sense of guilt which makes them write such stupid coments like they have the best planes on jthis whole earth. wow according to latest report american F15 the most superior of its kind in service in USAF is inferior to SU 30.
#12
There is no doubt that Europeons and Russians are now making much better fighters than US. The best example is SU-30MKI. It's a pitty that even pilots of Indian Air Force are now capable to challenge USAF!
#13
The fact is fact. Whether you likt it or not. PAF performed absolutely wounderful in 1965 war. The whole world acknowledged its performance when it outclassed three times larger Indian Air Force.
In 1971 it performed even better especially if you compare the performance of a "crippled" Pakistani Air Force in West Pakistan. In 1971 half of its manpower was composed of Bengali personnels. We were unfortunate that there was a great mistrust between us. Almost all of the Bengali pilots were gronded. These circumsatance were worst for PAF.
It severely affected the PAF. But the whole world saw the performance of PAF how it fought IAF which was a well equiped, fully supported by USSR in the form of weapons, equipments and personnels during 1971 war.
These days PAF is in a poor shape. On paper IAF is far superior in terms of weapons, equipment and to some extent training as well.
Luckily, we had nuclear weapons this time. Mr. Vajpai brought whole army and airforce on the border of Pakistan but could not dare cross it.
If there had been a conventional war between India and Pakistan, IAF would have had a definite edge despite superior pilots skills of Pakistan Air Force.
The equipment they have now is second to none. Although BVR missiles are very potent weapons these days, it could have created havoc for PAF pilots in case of war. PAF's preferred arean to fight war with IAF is close in dog fight where they excell IAF to a great extent. Whereas IAF's BVR missiles have posed a real challenge for PAF.
If we are able to get gripens, it will restore the current imbalance between PAF and IAF. It will give confidence to Pakistan and chances of using nuclear weapons will grow minimal.
It is very fortunate that India and Pakistan are seriously engaged in addressing the issue of Kashmir. If they are able to resolve this problem, there will be no need to spend heavily on defence equipments.
#14
Pakistan's economy in fiscal 2003-4 demonstrated strong resilience in the face of a continuing global economic downturn. The global recession was fueled by hikes in oil prices in the wake of the Iraq war, an outbreak of SARS in the Asia-Pacific region, and the continuing sluggish performance of US markets. Despite these challenges, Pakistan managed to register a 5.1% GDP growth rate--the highest in the South Asia region and fifth highest in Asia overall--and attained significant macroeconomic stability.
The manufacturing and agricultural sectors emerged as the main engines of growth, experiencing 7.7% and 5.8% growth rates respectively over the year. Manufacturing growth was led by a sharp increase in automobile production, while the best agricultural performers were rice and wheat. In addition, a number of trends in the macroeconomy revealed positive signs of Pakistan's economic performance.
Foreign exchange reserves touched $10.5 billion; four billion dollars were added to the reserves over the last one year. They are now sufficient to finance approximately 11 months worth of imports. In addition, Pakistan secured over $800 million of foreign direct investment over the fiscal year and achieved significant debt reduction at 6.2% of total external debt.
The Karachi Stock Exchange experienced a record year, reaching an all-time high of 3,117 points, fininshing off with a 76% total increase as well as a sharp 68% growth in market capitalization. In recognition of its exceptional performance, a number of foreign sources ranked the KSE as the best-performing bourse in the world.
Perhaps most significantly in terms of broad impact, inflation rates were controlled and stabilized at 3.3%, offering susbtantial relief to consumers. Overseas Pakistanis, acting on these positive signals and taking advantage of improved banking conditions, remitted $3.3 billion over the year.
Per capita income increased by 17.4% over the fiscal year. It constitutes a significant step towards achieving a higher standard of living.
The performance of public companies and poverty reduction strategies are areas of continuing concern.
The Government understands that it is important to maintain a continuity of policy in order to sustain the economic recovery and attract greater investment in order to sustain high growth rates. It would be a necessary component of a long-term development strategy.
#15
you should read histroy more carefully ,yes paf did perform well in 1965 against an numerically superior iaf but the iaf was operating obselete aircraft like vampire,mystere.Inspite of that the iaf did well in its bombing missions and close air support for the indian army.In 1971
bengali fighter pilots were placed in east pakistan not west,inspite of that pakistan lost heavily in the air war in the west.Over these years pakistan had enjoyed qualitative advantage in weapons ,even then they had never had victory over india,a fact as india still holds the much disputed state of kashmir.Iaf pilots proved their mettle in the kargil war .So all this talk about paf being superior is just a myth>first lesson for winning a war is "never underestimate your enemy".Pakistan had already paid a price for doing that
#16
We never underestimated Indian Air Force. Indian Air Force had and still has good and experienced pilots. The reason why we consider Pakistan Air Force Superior is the degree of difficulty we have always faced in defending skies of Pakistan vis-a-vis its counterpart, the IAF. The difficulty has always been in terms of number, geographical limitations, equipment etc.
In 1965 one cannot understand the reason of poor performance of IAF which had at least one squadron of Mig-21, the cutting edge technology of that time. To understand why IAF could not perform well to justify its numerical and technological strength, one need to examine what led to the setback to IAF in 1965.
The newer and far superior Hunters were the backbone of IAF not vampires or mysteres. IAF avoids sending these air crafts on mission after suffering disaster by the hands of squadron leader Rafiqui and flight lieutenant Younis. Four vampies were shot down over Kashimer when they were engaged in providing close air support to Indian Army. It was PAF aggressive preemptive strike that led to the destruction of 80% of MIG-21 fleet at Pathankot air base and downing of five hunters by Squadron leader Alam on September 7, 1965. Although PAF preemptive strike could not achieve 100% results in terms of wiping out IAF but it was at least able to gain psychological superiority over Indian Air Force. This shock and awe paralyzed IAF high command and despite having lethal weapons and experienced pilots, they could not perform the way they should have.
Regarding 1971 war, PAF was in a very bad shape. 50% capable Bengali air and ground crew was grounded in both the wings of Pakistan. The human resource is the key asset of PAF. It was severely affected area of PAF in 1971. If our Bengali brothers were with us, the situation of air or land war of 1971 would have been much more disastrous for IAF and IA. I donât want to go into the detail of what happened in 1971, as we are sorry for our political failure in dealing with our Bengali brothers and we paid the price in the form of humiliating surrender in East Pakistan.
If our Indian friends are happy with the performance of IAF in the Kargil war, than itâs a matter of satisfaction for us that they are happy to win a war where PAF never came to challenge them due to Pakistan political stand on the status of Kargil. There came only one chance when IAF pilots came in too much inside the border of Azad Kashmir. That was where PAF pilots waiting for them because we wanted their wreckage well inside our borders. This happened during Kargil war when for IAF Mig-21s entered in Pakistani Air Space deep enough to be shot down by PAF. The two F-16s on CAP were vectored to challenge them for the combat. As soon as F-16 reached the zone, these four Mig-21s ran away in such cowardly manner that this sort of disengagement is considered as undignified retreat in combat situations. What their mission or purpose of intruding deep inside Pakistan could be well understood. They actually wanted to check the combat readiness of PAF, which we believe they understood very well at that occasion.
We believe that IAF is a good air force, having much more sophisticated equipment as compare to PAF but still their worst fear is PAF.
#17
don't listen to thesse indians, they are victums of their own propoganda policies !!!!!
making a movie ,raising a sologan to win the election is something else, and facing the facts in form of history is totally different.
EFL
Two rockets fired from Gaza into the Israeli town of Sderot landed near a kindergarten, killing two people and injuring several others Monday morning....
Posted by: mhw ||
06/28/2004 8:12:44 AM ||
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"Does your mother know what you do for a living?"
-- Jim Rockford
#16
Anon857685608569048765-
And you're apparently rooting for the murderer.
What does this say about you? That you are stupid enough to think this is a game. That you are sufficiently asinine to believe scoring an imaginary point in your pathetic political game actually means something. That you're not just morally bankrupt, you're seriously overdrawn. That you're beneath contempt.
Since you're obviously a dhimmi-in-waiting, perhaps someday you'll feel the knife at your throat. You can tell us who won your game with your last gurgle.
#17
Fox News says reports of the capture were incorrect.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 7:15 Comments ||
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#18
We are likely to see more claims like this. There may well be a lot of posturing and a lot of claims designed to build up someone's reputation.
It's true that Iraqis are tribal and therefore don't operate the way we do. But it's also true that the professionalism of our troops and our own national identity didn't just happen automatically. It took a conscious effort on the part of multiple generations to build the American values of assimilation without losing ethnic identity. Those of us from an ethnic background other than WASP know that our ancestors faced resistance at first, and also that they agonized in many cases over how to preserve the past identity while becoming American too.
Nor does the ethic of brotherhood in the military just happen automatically. It's inculcated intentionally, as in the commander's priorities taught to young officers:
#23
It's true that Iraqis are tribal and therefore don't operate the way we do. But it's also true that the professionalism of our troops and our own national identity didn't just happen automatically. It took a conscious effort on the part of multiple generations to build the American values of assimilation without losing ethnic identity. Those of us from an ethnic background other than WASP know that our ancestors faced resistance at first, and also that they agonized in many cases over how to preserve the past identity while becoming American too.
#26
Murat, the CIA takes care of its own. When osama, saddam, zarkawi were trained by the CIA they were given specific instruction to behave. No jumping on the bed, no running while carrying sharp objects, ect.
But they didn't listen. So the grown up thing to do is to take responsibilty for out of control children. So now you know why.
Totally off topic, but I've been thinking for some time of stealing the names of some champion Whippets (minus the kennel name) for a litter of English Cockers of my own. The breeder of xxxx kennel had a Whippet itter she named xxxx Runs With Scissors, xxxx Shows Her Panties and so on. Cute hounds.
#28
rkb, How about XXX Humps My Leg and XXX Sniffs My Crotch?
Posted by: Tibor ||
06/28/2004 17:10 Comments ||
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#29
xxx Shows Her Panties?
Are you sure she is running a dog kennel and not a cathouse?
Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2004 18:45 Comments ||
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#30
Umm, Tibor, some of us have well-behaved dogs. NONE of my dogs humps a leg. Bitches, maybe, but not a leg. Hmph.
Crotch smelling OTOH is a basic canid social behavior. Dogs can tell the age, sex, physical well being, hormonal status and dominance status of other dogs via that brief greeting ... and they invented Pee-Mail well before Al Gore. Heh.
Yes, Ed, Shows Her Panties is a cute Whippet with white markings that are eyecatching when she gaits in the show ring. LOL
#4
And Uncle Saddam will be handed over to the Iraqis in 2 weeks...he, he...I wonder if he will still get his 3 squares and daily back rubs per Red Cross requirements...alas for Uncle Sadie, Iraqis may re-institute capital punishment... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/27/iraq/main626309.shtml
Posted by: rex ||
06/28/2004 4:17 Comments ||
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#5
Yeah Humpty, cool, it might all go to hell, So funny, funky too. All the chaos, the kids, the shreaks of fright. Man, dude , your hip to the situation man. So few here are hip, man.
Does your roommate know your using his computer, Dumpty?
So this means that we will no longer have to hear these words from the LLLs:
US "occupation"
Quagmire
Bush "regime"
Us "imperialism"
Right? Heh. Asspie Dems like "humpty" are incapable of being happy or pleased in any way that what they have wished for has come true. Humpty, please piss off and take all your friends with yo. Your side LOST AGAIN and there is no amount of spin you can unleash that can diminish the greatness of this day for the Iraqis and for those of us who's confidence in US motives never wavered.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 7:13 Comments ||
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#8
And Uncle Saddam will be handed over to the Iraqis in 2 weeks
But according to Fox, he'll be indicted this week. Which basically means he'll be mobbed and killed.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/28/2004 8:18 Comments ||
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#9
Which basically means he'll be mobbed and killed
And that's a bad thing how? So long as it's Iraqi's mobbing him I'm cool with that. As a matter of fact, is there any where I can donate some stones? I've got some nice sharp ones.
Today is a good day for freedom, for liberty and for peace. Expect the trolls to be out in force. Let's all refrain from feeding them.
#10
Today is a good day for freedom, for liberty and for peace. Expect the trolls to be out in force.
It's funny 'coz it's true.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/28/2004 9:30 Comments ||
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#11
Happy news!
I was a bit nervous about the countdown to Wednesday and now we can relax (sort of).
I'm still recovering from the troll storm yesterday...LOL
They know things are going badly for the forces of Evil.
Heh heh.
Posted by: Jen ||
06/28/2004 9:37 Comments ||
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#12
Congratulations GWB and CPA...I'm a little misty this am...
#13
WaPo reports over weekend that Iraqi CIVILIANS in Baquba attacked jihadis with their personal AK47's (LH tips hat to gunlovers :) ) Things are definitely brewing over there.
Mr Bremer handed Allawi and Yawar a letter from US President George W. Bush, requesting a resumption of diplomatic relations between the countries that were frozen in 1990 after then president Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.
#17
Outstanding! The Bush doctrine of preemption continues - and it caught the jihadis and the leftists flatfooted. No doubt the media is crankin' up the ol' spin machine in an effort to catch up - that oughta be fun to watch.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/28/2004 12:25 Comments ||
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#18
So whats humpty saying? That the UK, Germany, Japan and South Korea arent soveriegn nations because large numbers of US troops are standing on their soil?
Or is he saying that Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Greece arent soveriegn because they are dependant on NATO protection? I cant tell........
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
06/28/2004 12:57 Comments ||
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#19
The memes from those who oppose the liberation of Iraq are as follows
1. The transition doesnt matter.
2. Advancing it two days is just a propaganda ploy
This follows from the standard subject changing and goal post shifting. Back in Feb, when the security situation looked good, and the political future was up in the air, all that mattered was the political future. Now that the political plan is moving forward on or ahead of schedule, its time to say it doesnt matter until security situation is resolved. To counter this it will be necessary to continue focus on successes of Iraqi forces.
Abu Shouk, Sudan, June 27 -- The Sudanese villagers in this western region of Darfur were bombed. They were raped. Their huts were burned and their grain pillaged. Now, those who fled the chaos say they are being silenced. The Sudanese government dispatched 500 men last week to this sweltering camp of 40,000 near El Fashir, capital of North Darfur state, the refugees and aid workers said. The men, some dressed in civilian clothes, others in military uniforms, warned the refugees to keep quiet about their experiences when Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan visit the region next week.
Darfur has been the scene of more than 16 months of conflict between residents of the region and Arab militiamen backed by the government. Aid workers say 30,000 people have been killed by the militia and more than 1 .2 million forced to flee their homes. "They kicked us and said, âStop talking,â " said Malki Ali Abduallah, 25, who fled the fighting six months ago with six children and a cooking pot. "I said, âNo, no, no. I am angry. I am tired. I donât want to be quiet.
"You already stole my life. What else can you take?" she recounted saying, sweating in the 115 degree midday heat as 40 people gathered around her in support, many telling similar stories. Near the crowd, however, stern-faced men wearing safari outfits, pilot sunglasses and leopard-skin slippers listened in and made calls on cell phones. The villagers and the aid workers said the men were among those dispatched by the government. The men also told the villagers that they would impersonate victims when the U.S. and U.N. delegations arrived and tell them that the government had done nothing wrong and that rebels operating against the government in the region were to blame, the villagers and aid workers said.
Sitting under the shade of plastic sheeting strung around branches, Tarni Ahmed, 35, mimicked the pose the militias make when they point their assault rifles. Then she raised her arms and turned up her palms. "They took the food from my mouth. They grabbed the clothes from my body," she said, drawing a cheering crowd whose members started to say, "yes," in Arabic. Her voice grew louder and tears streamed down her face. "These things are very bad in my heart. I wonât stop speaking. Let them shoot me." Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) visited the camp Sunday to survey the humanitarian crisis, which the United Nations and other aid agencies have said will kill hundreds of thousands from famine and disease if Sudan fails to allow greater access to the area and rein in the marauding Arab militiamen, known as Janjaweed. Four pickup trucks carrying dozens of militiamen raced around the area as the U.S. delegation toured the camp.
Powellâs visit will be the highest-level U.S. visit to Sudan since Cyrus R. Vance, Jimmy Carterâs first secretary of state, visited during a layover in 1978. Powellâs visit is meant to send a strong message to the Sudanese government and threaten U.N. sanctions. The United States is investigating whether the Sudanese government is responsible for genocide because three African tribes, the Fur, the Zaghawa and the Massaleit, have been targeted during the fighting. Annan, who is under pressure to take a firm stand after his apologies for not doing enough to stop a genocide in Rwanda in 1994, is also expected to press the Sudanese government to disarm the militia and open up access to aid groups. How the f&%k does that represent any more of a "firm stand" than the one Annan took on Rwanda?!?
Also Sunday, President Bushâs national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the administration had asked Libya for help in getting aid to Darfur, the Reuters news agency reported. "Weâre working with others, with the Libyans, to try to get a third route for supplies to get into Darfur. And weâve been putting a lot of pressure on the Sudanese government to stop the Janjaweed militia from doing the horrible things that theyâre doing in that region," she said on "Fox News Sunday." The fighting in Darfur began last year when groups of students and activists rebelled against the central government, demanding greater attention to development and more power. The Darfur rebels captured the military town of El Fashir, killing 75 soldiers and seizing weapons. The government then armed Arab militias and bombed villages.
Apart from the Darfur crisis is Sudanâs civil war. The United States pressed the government and rebels in the countryâs south to reach an agreement to end 21 years of war that killed more than 2 million people. The congressional delegation led by Wolf and Brownback met with the governor of the region, Yusuf Kibir, who blamed the Darfur rebels for the crisis. "We didnât start the shooting," he said. "It was the rebels." Wolf warned that a war crimes tribunal could be set up for Darfur. He mentioned the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, who has been indicted by the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone for crimes against humanity, and former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who is on trial in The Hague for atrocities committed during the Balkan wars. Brownback also urged an end to the violence. "Stop the killing of the innocent," he said.
Posted by: Zenster ||
06/28/2004 1:31:00 AM ||
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#1
"You already stole my life. What else can you take?" she recounted
Your consciousness. Don't let them do it, Sudanese people. Tell it all, tell it loudly.
#2
This will not end well. The US is the only place that can help these people and we are stretched too thin. The UN will just let hem die knowing that all we will do is talk.
Maybe the US doesn't need to be the sherriff of the world but who will fix these problems if we won't?
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
06/28/2004 12:38 Comments ||
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#3
Maybe the US doesn't need to be the sherriff of the world but who will fix these problems if we won't?
#4
I talked to a Nigerian man I know at work the other day to ask him what he thought of developments in Nigeria and the Sudan. He said, "Steve, you know they are crazy over there. It is the Muslims - they will slit your throat. Last year I sent polio vaccines to all my relatives." During his last trip home, he says he brought a care package of three 9mm handguns to his family. He thinks lead will stock a machete wielding Iman quite nicely.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/28/2004 15:13 Comments ||
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#6
Sharon, I used to be Steve D, but the plethora of Steve's was making my head spin. I am now a closetted Steve.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/28/2004 22:25 Comments ||
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#7
Dear sir,
We the members of Missionâproject, an International Public Relation and Security organization based in New York city, Trinida and Tobago and Ghana would like to sympatise with you on this trying and terrible period the People of Fur region of Sudan are passing through.
We would do anything we can to support your moral and life struggle to succeed as one people in Unity and Peace. We would welcome any further communication to strengthen our relation as well as give you any little assistance we can.
May God bless you all
Prince Eugene
International Relation Officer
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Saturday called for a cease-fire with Israel during the upcoming Olympic games in Greece, but Israel dismissed the offer as a flat out lie insincere. Arafat issued the call at a lighting ceremony for a symbolic Olympic torch at his headquarters in Ramallah. "On the occasion of lighting the Palestinian Olympic torch, I declare our respect and commitment for an Olympic Truce, which I signed in my besieged office," Arafat said. "We hope that the revival of the ancient and noble Greek tradition will help in creating a world that enjoys peace, justice and security for the coming generations," he said.
"Until by Allah we seize power and kill all the infidel Greeks."
A senior Israeli official dismissed Arafatâs offer, accusing the Palestinian leader of being behind the killings of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics. "Arafatâs Olympic torch is a torch of death. There is a big difference between what Arafat says and what he does," the official said. Palestinian officials said the ceremony lighting the "sport torch" symbolized a signal to initiate covert ops relations between the Palestinian and Greek people. Arafat was joined by the Greek consul general to Jerusalem, Helena Sourani, at the ceremony and Sofia Sakorafa, a former world-class javelin thrower for Greece who hopes to represent the Palestinians at the Olympics. Palestinian officials have said they plan on sending a frogman swimmer, two boomers runners and a splodydope boxer to the Olympic games.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/28/2004 10:02:45 PM ||
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So the Greeks got to Chairman arrafat. A new Jag?
#2
I just had a thought. Now that we can free up some troops from Iraq following the handover, send our troops along with the athletes to Athens. I can picture our forces marching in unexpectedly in formation, like the Elves did in The Two Towers movie...
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 7:17 Comments ||
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#3
Can't believe this ass is still alive, it will be a happy day when Israel finally shoves a hellfire up that old murderous bastard's balloon knot.
Can't happen soon enough, in fact the Paleo torch ought to be lit from the smouldering wreckage of his "besieged" office.
Nasty fishfaced asswipe.
#4
Actually what he meant was, "We won't kill Jews at the Olympics and take credit for it this time."
Al Queada can do that.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/28/2004 8:46 Comments ||
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#5
The fact that he calls for a ceasefire during the Olympics and expects it to be honored by the terrorists, suggests to me that he has (or thinks he has) the power to call this off at will - and doesn't.
This is reason enough, IMHO, to send him a Hellfire-gram.
#6
The fact that he calls for a ceasefire during the Olympics and expects it to be honored by the terrorists, suggests to me that he has (or thinks he has) the power to call this off at will - and doesn't.
It suggests to me that he thinks that there will be a attack, he knows they aren't gonna listen to him and he's doing this so he can say later; "I tried to stop it, they didn't listen to me, it was a Jooo plot, it ain't my fault, yada yada yada".
Posted by: Steve ||
06/28/2004 10:50 Comments ||
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#7
still, no reason to not send a hellfire through his Depends
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 10:58 Comments ||
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#8
I assume the Apaches are not a party to these treaty.
#9
Shipman - LOL
Given that the Paleos were responsible for the first real case of "international" terrorism with the Munich Olympics in 1972, for them to have anything to do with the Olympics is disgusting.
#10
Palestinian officials have said they plan on sending a swimmer, two runners and a boxer to the Olympic games
Did I miss something? I thought you had to be a RECOGNIZED NATION in order to participate as a nation during the olympic games.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
06/28/2004 11:42 Comments ||
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#11
I think he actually WILL stop PA terrorism at the Olympics--if only for the payoff of having the European political community come back at us with, "see he's a reasonable guy, why won't you sit down and negotiate with him"?
Song round: It's YOU, AMERICA, who makes Palestinians suffer.
#14
How can he have it both ways!? On the one hand, he says he has no control over the security in the area -- that the terror inflicted by hamas, jihad, al aqsa, etc is not his to stop. And now he offers up a cease-fire?
How can the world community not do a spit-take in the face of such an inconsistent message?
#16
Aris I'm hearing that the only sprot held in the old stadium is archery? Since it's a venue the only way in is with a ticket? Bummer. The old stadium from the first modern olympics is one of the few things I care to see sprotwise in Greece.
#17
Yasser's plan is to keep the hostages until after the closing ceremonies this time.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/28/2004 15:15 Comments ||
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#18
Shipman> This page says that the old stadium will also be used for the finish to the two Marathons (men's and women's).
I don't know about whether the only way in will be with a ticket -- last time I'd gone to see it (a couple years ago) anyone could just enter freely and walk inside it, but it's probably a safe assumption that now security measures will be tight and it won't be possible. But I'm just guessing here.
#19
Chairman Arafat will honor his pledge of a cease fire because he is a Dynamit Nobel Piece Peace Prize Wishful Thinking Recipient. /violent retching
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/29/2004 0:05 Comments ||
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Hamas spokesman Saâid Siam said in an interview over the weekend that his organization "would agree to any solution in stages, but without recognizing the Zionist presence on Palestinian soil." On the practical level, former PA official and terrorist leader Muhammad Dahlan called on the "the Authority and the Palestinian forces" to "make the Gaza experience an example that will repeat itself in the West Bank." In a conference entitled "After the Withdrawal from Gaza", sponsored last week by the PA-based Womenâs Affairs Group, PA economics expert Omar Shaâaban presented his conclusions as to what steps the PA should take to maximize the economic potential inherent in the communities to be evacuated of Jews. In Shaâabanâs view, the homes in the Jewish communities should be demolished, but the public buildings and agricultural lands should be preserved, in order to encourage Gazan development. In addition, the economist recommended maintaining the tourist sites developed by the Jews, but against letting them fall into private hands in the PA. Shaâaban expressed his opinion that the Jewish communities could serve as an engine of employment for local PA Arabs.
"David, last step before we pull out of the settlement, fire up the D9 and turn it loose."
"You got it, Avi."
Also speaking at the conference, Muhammad Dahlan expressed his objection to Shaâabanâs suggestion regarding the demolishing of the Jewsâ homes in Gush Katif. He feels that the homes should also be used for Arab needs. Dahlan criticized the PA for not seriously debating the issue. Meanwhile, Nigel Roberts, who represents the World Bank in the Palestinian Authority, said on Friday of the Jewsâ houses in Gaza, "We do not think it makes sense to see these assets transferred to a third party, they should go to the crooks and fiends in the PA."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/28/2004 1:09:02 AM ||
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On the practical level, former PA official and terrorist leader Muhammad Dahlan called on the "the Authority and the Palestinian forces" to "make the Gaza experience an example that will repeat itself in the West Bank."
Oh brother. And without any trace of irony either, I bet.
#4
...would agree to any solution in stages, but without recognizing the Zionist presence on Palestinian soil...
For Palestinians, denying Zionist presence will not negate "Zionist" presence. Enough with this international notion that anti-Zionism is a legitimate political view.
Until Palestinains agree to the legitimacy of Israel, alongside a newly created Palestine, they will get nothing, nowhere. We should do NOTHING to help them until they change that tune. All they will have until they change is more sewer divided thresholds, joblessness, family suicides, misery.
The Grand Crimes Court Sunday issued arrest warrants for three clerics in connection with killing six youths and mutilating their bodies in the city of Fallujah. Sources said that the warrants were issued for the arrest of head of the Mujahideen Front Sheikh Abdullah Al-Janabi, Sheikh Zafer Al-Dulaimi, an imam (prayers leader) of a mosque which came under U.S. shelling some two months ago after reports had it that it harbored foreign militants, and Sheikh Omar Hadid. The warrants said that the three instigated the execution and mutilation of six youths of the Al-Sadr city in Baghdad after being detained by extremists in Fallujah. The sources said that the warrants were issued by the court, while other sources said that they were issued upon orders from the American Civil Administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer. The killing of the six youths received wide-scale condemnation of tribal, political and religious leaders.
Posted by: Robert Stevens ||
06/28/2004 1:09:02 AM ||
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Killed them outright ya say? Mujahadeen guys! Islamic dudes. Pray all the time towards mefka.
#5
Yes, LH, it will be interesting to see how the new govt will handle Fallujah. Will they act immediately and forcefully, or will they pretend it's not a problem? It seems to me they should start off with a decisive military act to show that they mean business, and no more of this BS is going to be tolerated.
Duma Deputy Speaker Oleg Morozov (Unified Russia) charged that the "epaulets should be stripped from those military leaders who allowed the rebel raids on the republic" of Ingushetia on 21-22 June, "Krasnaya zvezda" reported on 24 June. Morozov speculated that the deadly operation was aimed at forcing Moscow to impose direct presidential rule in neighboring Chechnya and thus torpedo plans for a presidential election in the republic. Issa Kostoev, a member of the Federation Council from Ingushetia, expressed outrage at the "negligence and carelessness of the military." He also said he could not rule out further instability in Ingushetia because of the large number of displaced persons from neighboring Chechnya.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/28/2004 12:56:49 AM ||
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Federal Security Service (FSB) Colonel Kamil Etinbekov was shot and killed by unknown assailants near his home in the Daghestani capital Makhachkala on 24 June, RIA-Novosti and other Russian news agencies reported. Etinbekov was the territorial head of counterintelligence for the FSB and led investigations into terrorist activities for more than a year, NTV reported. Etinbekov previously participated in secret FSB missions in Chechnya, the station added.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/28/2004 12:56:49 AM ||
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Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/28/2004 12:56:49 AM ||
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#1
Well no Arab children are hungry. Oh those starving children? But they are not Arabs? Don't you understand.
Actually I do, being black makes you "less" Islamic I see. Islamicist racists? no! can't be. ( Well yes actually they are and it is. )
Oh yeah, and France really wants Iraq to succeed, Baghdad Bob is the new Iraqi president, there are no mass graves anywhere in the Muslim world, and there is no God but Allah.
#4
Distribute food to Christians and Animists directly otherwise you are putting extra money in the pockets of the homicidal punks. Let the Saudis feed the Muslims if they need it - fewer dollars to fund sploding.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/28/2004 22:10 Comments ||
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Police detained some 150 opposition activists in raids in the southern port city of Karachi in an attempt to stop a banned rally authorities say could lead to violence, police said on Sunday. Authorities have banned two key Islamic political leaders from entering Karachi to stop them from leading the rally scheduled for Sunday by a six-party religious coalition. The opposition says the gathering was called to promote peace in the violence-hit port city. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil said 150 supporters of the coalition were detained in raids on their homes Saturday night in various parts of Karachi. It was not clear what charges they might face.
"Achmed! Charge them!"
"What will the charges be, effendi?"
"Severe charges, Achmed. You know the rest!"
A senior leader of the alliance in Karachi, Meraj-ul Huda, claimed about 500 supporters had been picked up. âThis is a violation of the constitution. They are arresting our people,â said Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a lawmaker from the religious alliance. The opposition has accused the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf of strong-arm tactics, and says he is still running the country as a dictator, despite acts of overt democratic reform since he took power in a 1999 coup.
Outstanding command of the obvious.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the head of Pakistanâs largest religious terrorist group, and Maulana Fazal-ur Rahman, another religious party hack chief who is now the leader of the terrorist front opposition in parliament, were both banned in recent weeks from traveling to Karachi. Rahman flew to Karachi from Islamabad on Saturday, but was ordered to immediately get on a return flight. Ahmed was scheduled to arrive Sunday in the city for the rally. Jamil said he will be sent back. âWe will not allow anyone to violate the law,â he said.
"Git yer bony asses outta my town!"
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/28/2004 12:56:49 AM ||
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An edited Time article, minus the stuff about Abu Gharab releasees joining the fighting posted yesterday
Indeed, the nature of the insurgency in Iraq is fundamentally changing. Time reported last fall that the insurgency was being led by members of the former Baathist regime, who were using guerrilla tactics in an effort to drive out foreign occupiers and reclaim power. But a Time investigation of the insurgency todayâbased on meetings with insurgents, tribal leaders, religious clerics and U.S. intelligence officialsâreveals that the militants are turning the resistance into an international jihadist movement. Foreign fighters, once estranged from homegrown guerrilla groups, are now integrated as cells or complete units with Iraqis. Many of Saddamâs former secret police and Republican Guard officers, who two years ago were drinking and whoring, no longer dare even smoke cigarettes. They are fighting for Allah, they say, and true jihadis reject such earthly indulgences. Their goal now, say the militants interviewed, is broader than simply forcing the U.S. to leave. They want to transform Iraq into what Afghanistan was in the 1980s: a training ground for young jihadists who will form the next wave of recruits for al-Qaeda and like-minded groups.
Nearly all the new jihadist groups claim to be receiving inspiration, if not commands, from Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the suspected al-Qaeda operative who the U.S. believes has masterminded the insurgencyâs embrace of terrorism. And now the conditions are ripening for the insurgents to turn their armed struggle into a political movement that aims to exploit the upheaval and turn parts of Iraq into Taliban-style fiefdoms. A potential leader is Sheik Mahdi Ahmed al-Sumaidai, a hard-line Salafi imam recently released from Abu Ghraib prison and now based in Baghdadâs radical Ibn Taimiya Mosque. Mujahedin leaders and U.S. military and intelligence officers in Iraq say many jihadists are also rallying behind Harith al-Dhari, who leads the Association of Muslim Scholars, Iraqâs most significant Sunni organization. Al-Dhari, who operates out of the Mother of all Battles Mosque, is said to have played a key role in mobilizing fighters during Aprilâs uprising in Fallujah; during a gathering of militants there on April 9, one of his lieutenants called on Muslims outside Iraq to join the fight. As a result, al-Dhari has built support among both Iraqi and foreign insurgents, who believe he may emerge as a figure akin to Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
From what Iraqi members of jihadist groups closely affiliated with al-Zarqawiâs network describe, the Jordanian operates more as a godfather-style mafioso than a traditional military commander. Insurgent commanders told Time that al-Zarqawi does not direct day-to-day operations but guides strategy and is involved in the planning of major operations. Al-Zarqawi possesses an unmatched ability to persuade and indoctrinate. "Some of the emirs just have to sit with him and listen," says a senior Fallujah-based commander, "and they walk away committed to him." Insurgents also say al-Zarqawi may have intended last weekâs onslaught to be even more catastrophic. As militants attacked in cities like Fallujah and Baqubah, a cell of an Iraqi resistance group working with al-Zarqawi roamed Baghdad, insurgent sources told Time. Working in small teams in separate cars, the insurgents cased targets and waited for their commanders, including al-Zarqawi himself, to issue strike orders. When the cell didnât receive the call, it withdrew and waited for another opportunity to attack.
Despite al-Zarqawiâs efforts to attract Iraqi insurgent groups into his network, his inner circle of lieutenants and bodyguards is said to consist entirely of foreign fighters. No one can pinpoint how many are operating in Iraq, partly because they remain shadowy even to those who work with them. "The foreigners trust no one, not even their own clothes," says an Iraqi resistance fighter. He adds that al-Zarqawi has become an inspirational figure, like Osama bin Laden, for militants who espouse his methods and religious fervor. "Most are not members of his group in a formal sense," says the insurgent. "But everyone, especially the foreigners in Iraq who share his ideals of jihad, considers himself part of Attawhid wal Jihad."
Among those who have thrown their support behind the jihad is insurgent leader Abu Ali. A ballistic-missile specialist in Saddamâs Fedayeen militia, he fought U.S. troops during the invasion and has served as a resistance commander ever since, organizing rocket attacks on the green zone, the headquarters of the U.S. administration in Baghdad. When interviewed by Time last fall, he spoke of a vain hope that Saddam would return and re-establish a Baathist regime. But at a recent meeting near a rural mosque, he said he is fighting to rid all Muslim lands of infidels and to set up an Islamic state in Iraq. "The jihad in Iraq is more potent than it was in Afghanistan in the 1980s because the insurgents today have better weapons and are developing new ones," he says.
The insurgencyâs shift toward a religious outlook is in part driven by financial necessity: the capture of Saddam and his henchmen drained the insurgency of its former sources of funding. That forced Iraqi groups to turn to foreign financiers in places like the gulf, and they have demanded that the insurgents adopt a more radical religious identity. "After we rolled up Saddam, we hit them pretty hard, and this is what they turned to," says a senior U.S. military official. "It would appear there are not only some marriages of convenience but also some groups that have crossed over to the jihadi side." One such group, whose leaders met with Time, is the Kataib al-Jihad al-Islamiyah, or Battalions of Islamic Holy War. Founded by frontline officers from Saddamâs intelligence services and the Republican Guard who once shunned terrorist attacks that killed innocent Iraqis, the group represents a significant Iraqi wing of al-Zarqawiâs network. The groupâs leaders say they now accept mass-casualty attacks as legitimate; they claim that innocents killed in such strikes go straight to paradise. A fund-raising video made by the group and given to Time shows its members citing exhortations by bin Laden and referring to fundamentalist interpretations of the Koran. Kataib has incorporated foreign fighters into its cells. One member says the group has formed an entirely foreign unit, dubbed the Green Brigade. The groupâs commanders say their fighters joined last weekâs attacks against U.S. Marines in Fallujah and helped lead the uprising in Baqubah.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/28/2004 12:52:25 AM ||
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The cult of personality ya say. Drinking and whoreing no longer cool. A manly stance for jihad. New weapons. Islam ya say. The greater god?
Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2004 2:26 Comments ||
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Damn right ed, same ol'. But now we notice.
So, bro, what do the folks do. Is there something that needs to happen? Is Jun 30th that thing? Is there a lot more that needs to be done? Or am I missing something, a time warp thing, where in 30 years it all come to a deal, a handshake, toothy grins.
Eighty-six people have been detained in connection with last weekâs raids on Ingushetia that killed at least 98 people, Itar-Tass reported, and the head of the Ingush branch of the Federal Security Service denied that security services had acted illegally when they swept into camps housing Chechen refugees to search for participants.Itar-Tass quoted an unidentified Ingush Interior Ministry official as saying Saturday that 86 people in all had been detained in connection with the Monday night attacks, which raged for about four hours before the assailants melted away. At least 125 people were injured in the raids. The Interior Ministry official said charges were being brought against seven of them, Itar-Tass reported.
Sergei Koryakov, the chief of the Ingush FSB branch, insisted Friday that search operations for suspected participants in refugee camps "are being conducted in compliance with the law and under the supervision of the prosecution authorities," Interfax reported. He said residents of the camps are suspected both of involvement in the attacks and in rebel activities in general.
Raisa Isayeva, the administrator of the Altiyevo refugee camp in Ingushetia, said security agents had seized 36 men living at the camp on Wednesday and that their whereabouts were unknown. On Thursday, "we were surrounded again by horrible gunmen in masks, who spoke no language but obscenities," Isayeva said. "All the women were herded into the laundry building and locked in. Men were again put face-down on the ground and the gunmen were kicking them. They broke doors to our rooms, took away clothes and gold jewelry," she said.
Acting Deputy Ingush Interior Minister Musa Apiyev denied the refugees had been mistreated. He said military uniforms and clothing with traces of blood had been found.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 12:44:43 AM ||
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On Thursday, "we were surrounded again by horrible gunmen in masks, who spoke no language but obscenities," Isayeva said.
That would be Chechen.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
06/28/2004 18:08 Comments ||
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KABUL - Taleban remnants claimed responsibility for a bomb that killed two Afghan United Nations election workers yesterday in the first direct attack on efforts to prepare for the countryâs forthcoming elections.
It sure wasn't Samoans.
The device, which exploded inside a minibus carrying workers to voter registration sites in eastern Nangarhar province, also left 13 women and two children killed or injured, the United Nations said in a statement. The vehicle had left its office in the Nangarhar provincial capital Jalalabad and was on its way to Shinwar district when the blast occurred, officials said. "Preliminary information is that explosives were placed in the minibus," UN special representative in Afghanistan Jean Arnault said.
"Holmes, how do you do it?"
"Two women were killed. Three other women are in critical condition as well as a boy child accompanying his mother." Earlier, a UN spokesman said three people had died.
Brave, brave Taleban beating up on the women-folk and the kidlings again.
A man claiming to represent the Taleban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, told AFP via satellite phone that the bomb had been fixed to the underside of the bus. "We claim responsibility for the bomb blast in a minibus carrying female electoral commission workers," he said. "We will try our best to sabotage the election process and this was a sign of Talebanâs attempt to sabotage elections."
Yo, Marines, Abdul just signed his death warrant. Can you guys take care of this? Thanks in advance.
Deputy Director of the Public Health Hospital at Jalalabad, Dr Baz Mohammad Sherzad, said two dead bodies and 11 injured had been taken to the hospital. Five of these wounded who were in a critical condition had been taken to Kabul, he said. As per the UN statement and local officials, the driver of the minibus left the vehicle just before the explosion. He was caught shortly after the blast and taken in by police.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/28/2004 12:48:59 AM ||
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Let the interrogation be long, slow, painful, with lots of panties.
Posted by: ed ||
06/28/2004 1:09 Comments ||
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another victory by the Islamic Heroesâ¢
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 8:00 Comments ||
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Ten Russian servicemen were killed in rebel Chechnya over the past day and four civilians died when a Russian artillery shell hit their house, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said on Sunday. Four of the soldiers died as Russian military outposts came under rebel fire, the official said on condition of anonymity. Six others died in two incidents of military vehicles detonating mines -- one on the outskirts of the capital Grozny and the other near the town of Kurchaloi. The four civilians who died were in a house in the village of Serzhen-Yurt, the official said. It was not immediately clear if the house had been specifically targeted. Russian forces launch artillery and air strikes almost daily in an attempt to uproot rebels. Artillery assaults targeted suspected insurgent bases in a four areas of the republic, the Chechen official said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/28/2004 12:42:12 AM ||
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damn, the Russians have lost a lot of troops - is this where they send the freshest recruits for seasoning?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 11:12 Comments ||
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Illicit sales of uranium from Niger were being negotiated with five states including Iraq at least three years before the US-led invasion, senior European intelligence officials have told the Financial Times.
This is the yellow cake that the LLL and the NYT says Sammy never tried to buy.
Intelligence officers learned between 1999 and 2001 that uranium smugglers planned to sell illicitly mined Nigerien uranium ore, or refined ore called yellow cake, to Iran, Libya, China, North Korea and Iraq. These claims support the assertion made in the British government dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programme in September 2002 that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from an African country, confirmed later as Niger. George W. Bush, US president, referred to the issue in his State of the Union address in January 2003. The claim that the illicit export of uranium was under discussion was widely dismissed when letters referring to the sales - apparently sent by a Nigerien official to a senior official in Saddam Hussein's regime - were proved by the International Atomic Energy Agency to be forgeries. This embarrassed the US and led the administration to reverse its earlier claim. But European intelligence officials have for the first time confirmed that information provided by human intelligence sources during an operation mounted in Europe and Africa produced sufficient evidence for them to believe that Niger was the centre of a clandestine international trade in uranium. Officials said the fake documents, which emerged in October 2002 and have been traced to an Italian with a record for extortion and deception, added little to the picture gathered from human intelligence and were only given weight by the Bush administration.
A definite screw-up on our part.
According to a senior counter-proliferation official, meetings between Niger officials and would-be buyers from the five countries were held in several European countries, including Italy. Intelligence officers were convinced that the uranium would be smuggled from abandoned mines in Niger, thereby circumventing official export controls. "The sources were trustworthy. There were several sources, and they were reliable sources," an official involved in the European intelligence gathering operation said. The UK government used the details in its Iraq weapons dossier, which it used to justify war with Iraq after concluding that it corresponded with other information it possessed, including evidence gathered by GCHQ, the UK eavesdropping centre, of a visit to Niger by an Iraqi official. However, the European investigation suggested that it was the smugglers who were actively looking for markets, though it was unclear how far the deals had progressed and whether deliveries of uranium were made.
Posted by: ColonelC / AoS ||
06/28/2004 12:32:09 AM ||
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making the blog rounds - Instapundit et al - the MSM won't be able to ignore this. Joe Wilson's still an incompetent ass and a Democratic hack. Whoever assigned him to go to Niger should be fired
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2004 7:37 Comments ||
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Whoever assigned him to go to Niger should be fired
Yes, we never did find that out, nor why he never filed a official report when he came back.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/28/2004 8:36 Comments ||
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Illicit sales of uranium from Niger were being negotiated with five states including Iraq at least three years before the US-led invasion, senior European intelligence officials have told the Financial Times.
Where were these "senior European intelligence officials" when the Bush administration was excoriated in international media for the exaggerated/made up yellow cake intel? Why have they remained silent until now?
Europe, you owe us a big apology. Won't hold my breath, though; it's been so long since you've delivered one, I think you may have forgotten how.
#5
The anti-war conventional wisdom takes another hit. Seems like the accepted myths are dropping like flies. First the NYT (of all places) reports on additional evidence of Iraq-Al Qaeda connections (contrary to the monolithic media chant for the last 2.5 years) and now the debunked Niger-yellowcake story gets rebunked. Any bets we will round out the process and come up with new proof of wmd sometime late this summer.
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.
