Brazilâs Petrobras will need to revise contractual agreements in the very near future once Iranian oil is under ânew managementâ.
Brazilâs government-controlled oil giant Petrobras is planning to invest $34 million in initial oil exploration activities in Iran, a top company director said Monday. "Iâm flying to Iran next week to sign the service contract," Petrobras international director Nestor Cervero told reporters on the sidelines of an energy conference. The executive said the investments will be made over a period of three to four years.
Wonder if he'll land at the new airport?
Last year, the Brazilian oil company won a license to explore oil in one of eight giant offshore blocks offered by the Middle Eastern nation in its first offshore licensing round. The block, known as Tulsan, covers an area of about 3,200 square miles in the Persian Gulf. Petrobras will sign a service contract with the National Iranian Co., or NICO.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 10:41:18 PM ||
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Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres!
Birds of same feathers flock together!
The FBI plans to train Saudi intelligence in an effort to bolster its capabilities in the kingdom's war against Al Qaida.
Oh, this should work well...
An FBI team has been reviewing the requirements of Saudi intelligence and security agencies, U.S. officials said.
Lemme see, here... We've got all supervisors and no analysts...
The team has been touring several Saudi facilities and assessing the strengths of the kingdom's security and intelligence community.
... except for the Sri Lankans and Paks they hired...
Over the next year, officials said, the FBI would host an unspecified number of members of the Saudi intelligence community.
Three out of four of the Pak analysts are investigating either their cousins or themselves...
They said the Saudis would be invited as part of a U.S. effort to improve the law enforcement effort of Islamic allies of the United States.
... and the Sri Lankans are so busy fending off efforts to convert them they never get any work done...
"We need to bring people from other countries to work with us here jointly, whether it be from Indonesia or Pakistan or Saudi Arabia or elsewhere," FBI director Robert Mueller told the Council on Foreign Relations on June 22.
Six out of ten of the Soddy supervisors are being investigated by the Paks and Sri Lankans because they're on the other side...
"U.S. law enforcement will have to be aligned with our counterparts overseas, much like our military forces are aligned with their counterparts overseas."
... and two of the remaining four are from the wrong tribe, so they're not allowed to do anything of substance. The other two are planning their weekend in Abu Dhabi, so don't bother them.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:07:05 PM ||
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"We need to bring people from other countries to work with us here jointly, whether it be from Indonesia or Pakistan or Saudi Arabia or elsewhere," FBI director Robert Mueller told the Council on Foreign Relations on June 22.
This is pure madness!
With U.S. tax dollars ? Training Wahhabis? Wonderful! Let it fall and fall hard!
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 22:25 Comments ||
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I agree w/Mark E., this sounds like a pretty f*cking stupid idea. *Unless*, this is a guise to get U.S. spooks on the ground and get going on Al-Q cell breaking there.
#4
Isn't the FBI stepping on the State Department's toes by jumping into bed with the Saudis?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/05/2004 23:22 Comments ||
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I agree with Mark and Jarhead. What a waste of taxpayer $! On the bright side, the FBI training the Saudi's intelligence might inadvertedly confuse,befuddle, and dumb-ify the mole jihadists in the Saudi intelligence ranks. It is the FBI we are talking about-the gang that can't shoot straight...no personal offense intended if any RB's are FBI agents...
Posted by: rex ||
07/05/2004 23:54 Comments ||
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None taken; I've been recently disenchanted with the FBI and the CIA myself.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
07/06/2004 0:14 Comments ||
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Adds a little detail to the previous story... Sheikh Abdullah Aydha Al-razami, Al-huthiâs second- in- command, was killed today morning in a crossfire with the government troops, which were tracking him down a couple of days ago, quasi-reliable sources reported, but would not elaborate. Military sources in Maran, where heavy fighting is still flaring up, reported that government troops today have laid a siege at a village where Al-huthi is likely hiding. The troops seized a full control of Maran environs, including Al-Amir, Al-Thabet, where Al-huthi and his loyalists were dug up, they added. They pointed out the 15th infantry Brigade has seized Maranâs mountain peak, which was under Al-huthiâs followersâ control since the start of the battling. Saâada Sheikhs yesterday proclaimed solidarity with the government in the fight against Al-huthiâs insurgency, which they described as âdisturbing security and spreading terrorâ in the northern province of Saâada, some 240 kms north of Sanaâa. â The meeting held yesterday afternoon in Saâada was aiming to condemn Al-huthiâs acts, and to announce our refusal of what he is doing,â Hussein Maqeet, a Saâada senior sheikh told Al-sahwa net.
You're on your own, Houthi! ("We never liked him... We never joined the Party...")
On the other hand, Al-sahwa net has learned the government troops along with Saâada tribesâ sheikhs and the local authorities there struck a deal to quell Al-huthiâs rebellion and bar him from fleeing . In the meantime, over 300 tribesmen in Maran neighborhoods, where Al-hethi loyalists stationed, offered their cooperation with the government troops.
It's a tribal lashkar! Don't do it!
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 6:09:09 PM ||
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I hope they aren't trying to update their org chart by hand. There are plenty of good software programs out their that would be helpful for this type of administraitve task in an ever-shrinking terrorist group. The Saudis have taken the idea of downsizing to heart. Neutron Jack Welch must have given a lecture.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/05/2004 23:54 Comments ||
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Government forces closed in Monday on an extremist Yemeni preacher and his supporters holed up in a mountainous northern region, killing 35 insurgents, including their field commander, military sources said. Another 60 rebels were wounded in the latest fierce clashes with the army that broke out late Sunday, the sources said. The rebelsâ field commander, Emireddin Abdul Majid al-Hamzi, alias Abdul Muttaleb, was among those killed in the latest round, they said.
The new deaths raised to at least 166 the number of people killed in the fighting between supporters of cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi and government forces that broke out on June 18 in Saada province, near the Saudi border. The latest fatalities included 41 soldiers. That number was expected to rise following the overnight clashes, according to the military sources at the scene. Battles were still raging at midday Monday in Maran, where the noose was tightening around Huthi and his supporters, said the sources, reached by telephone from Sanaa. Army troops seized three outposts in Jaria, Harban and Malhat, isolating the insurgents in Jumeima in Maranâs rugged mountains, the sources said. "The troops are one kilometer (less than a mile) from Jumeima," one source said. Army and police forces deployed reinforcements around the stronghold of the self-styled "Emir al-Mumineen", or Prince of Believers, after the failure on June 28 of a mediation bid initiated by authorities to secure his surrender.
In remarks published Sunday, President Ali Abdullah Saleh called on Huthi to turn himself in, promising him a fair trial. "I call on you to surrender and I guarantee a fair process in the accusations against you," Saleh was quoted by local media as saying during a meeting with religious officials, who he said could appoint "a lawyer to defend Huthi." The president said he wanted to bring an end to the bloodshed. Security sources said on Sunday that more than 200 extremists had been captured. Dozens of Huthiâs supporters, accompanied by tribal leaders of regions bordering Maran, turned themselves in early Sunday after violent fighting at dawn, local officials said. Officials also said that dozens of people who had infiltrated Maranâs rugged mountains to join Huthiâs rebellion were arrested on Saturday. Huthi, who served as an MP in Yemenâs parliament from 1993 to 1997, enjoys the support of up to 3,000 armed rebels, according to activists close to the preacher. According to Saleh, the Zaidi preacher heads the extremist "Faithful Youth" organization, formed in 1997 as a breakaway from the Islamist opposition movement Al-Haq. Interior Minister Rashad al-Alimi said the group was initially formed in Saada without authorization and spread to other provinces before becoming a secret armed movement with some of its members earning 200 dollars a month. Saleh said the campaign was not targeting the Zaidi sect but only Huthi and his supporters. However, one lawmaker involved in unsuccessful mediation efforts accused elements of the army of undermining efforts to resolve the crisis peacefully.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/05/2004 1:44:40 PM ||
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Yemeni security forces besieging an anti-US rebel cleric have killed his deputy and 11 other supporters in the last two days, bringing the death toll in two weeks of clashes to 130, official sources said yesterday. One source told Reuters government forces had killed 11 followers of Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi in the last 48 hours and that 185 of his supporters had also surrendered peacefully over the last few days. The newspaper September 26 separately said Houthiâs deputy Mohammad Ali Muslih had also been killed. Muslih had replaced Zaid bin Ali Al-Houthi who was killed on Tuesday.
Yemen appears to be willing and able to clean out these ratholes when they feel like it...
The government accuses Houthi of setting up unlicensed religious centers in Saada and other provinces and forming what it described as an underground armed group called the âBelieving Youthâ, which has staged violent protests against the United States and Israel. President Ali Abdullah Saleh urged Houthi on Saturday to turn himself in and end the fighting which has claimed the lives of 98 rebels and 32 government troops in Saada province, 240 km north of the capital Sanaa. Saleh told Muslim scholars he had only sent forces to besiege Houthi in the mountainous region after he refused to be taken into custody and stand trial for âharming Yemenâs stability and interestsâ. The president said Houthiâs group had attacked mosques, urged Yemenis to arm themselves against possible attacks by the United States and that the cleric had said in his lectures that democracy would bring a Jewish leader to power in Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:24:24 AM ||
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These guys really get lathered up and frothing over the Joooooos. It is just inbelievable. These countries will never make any real human progress toward coming out of the 7th century until they drop the Jew hating and projecting everything wrong with themselves on the Jews.
It will just have to be economic and political hard times in their faces to make them change. And that will take some big events.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/05/2004 14:14 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:07 ||
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"King" Hamad and PM Khalid, who have made every effort to undo everything the Little Emir accomplished over 50 years, will have lots of available housing soon - to put their 'Slamists in, I guess. I'm sure their merchant community will prolly thank them profusely for ridding them of the annoying Expats and their filthy American money, too. More kumbahya.
#3
One of the first things the new "king" did was to give amnesty to all of the Islamist exiles that the Emir had rooted out and tossed. They've come home, now, and have taken up where they left off - trying to turn Bahrain into a Shari'a State. Recall the demonstrations that began within months of the "king" being enshrined? Bingo.
I miss the Emir - he was an interesting, tough, and pragmatic guy.
#4
Off Topic, but what has happened to the formatting on RB???? It is all over the map. It looked like someone spilled 5 gallons of hilite paint all over this section...
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/05/2004 17:07 Comments ||
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#5
Hey! Learn to embrace change AP! Think of it as moving a beloved runway 30 degrees.
Posted by: The Rev Dr Shipman ||
07/05/2004 17:22 Comments ||
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If any of the Editors show up, all they need to do is delete comment #1 under this story:
http://www.rantburg.com/Default.asp?D=7/5/2004&C=-Short Attention Span Theater-#37225
And all will be well. Broken HTML. No big deal, really.
Use Page 2 as your "home" and it looks wonderful again.
An MP today called on the Home Secretary David Blunkett to ban the forthcoming arrival in Britain of a Muslim cleric who is spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood organisation. Louise Ellman, Labour member for Liverpool, Riverside, has told Mr Blunkett in a letter that it would be "an outrage" to allow Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi into this country to speak at a conference in London on July 12 on Muslim women's dress. Mrs Ellman said that al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian based in Doha, Qatar, had praised Palestine suicide bombers and had been banned, since 1999, from entering the United States. She claimed that he encouraged women and children suicide bombers, sought the destruction of Israel, believed that husbands should be allowed to beat "disobedient" wives, was a major shareholder in a bank alleged to be part of al Qaeda's fundraising network, and was spiritual leader "of the largest and oldest Islamist extremist movement". Mrs Ellman said: "It would be an outrage if someone with such close links to these movements were allowed to come here. It would create enormous security problems at a very sensitive time." She added that al-Qaradawi was due in Britain "over the next few days", adding: "It would be quite wrong to allow this man on our shores."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:30:45 PM ||
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Worse yet, he could claim asylum and then you'd really regret the VISA.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/05/2004 23:15 Comments ||
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"It would be an outrage if someone with such close links to these movements were allowed to come here...."
Why Blunket will allow him to come and will give him a pile of spending cash to.
A Moroccan terror suspect will appear in court next week accused of plotting the September 11 atrocities. Farid Hilali, 35, was due to appear at Bow Street magistrates court in London, but prison officials failed to deliver him to court. It was understood to have been an oversight.
Hilali was detained in the capital last week under a European arrest warrant from Spain. In April this year Spanish investigative judge Baltasar Garzon identified him as a 9/11 co-conspirator of Osama bin Laden. It is understood Hilali is not being accused by the Spanish authorities of involvement in the more recent Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people in March. The Spanish case is that he was linked to an al Qaida cell in Madrid which helped plan the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon.
Mohamad Atta, the lead suicide hijacker, and fellow suspect Ramzi Binalshibh, are alleged to have used Spain as a base during their final preparations.
Voice experts have studied wire taps and now believe Hilali was the mystery caller who telephoned Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, the alleged head of the Madrid al Qaida cell, on August 27, 2001, two weeks before the hijackings. The caller is alleged to have telephoned from London and claimed to have "entered the field of aviation" and to have talked of "cutting the birdâs throat", an apparent reference to the American eagle.
Until April this year the caller had only been known to the Spanish authorities by the codename "Shakur", but Judge Garzon now believes he was Hilali. Hilali is believed to have first moved to Britain as long ago as 1987 and to have spent time since then in Germany and Afghanistan. He was already in custody in the UK after being arrested last year by Scotland Yard. British police did not charge him but he was being held on immigration offences when the Spanish extradition request arrived. He will appear via video link from Belmarsh jail in south east London for a remand hearing at Bow Street. A full extradition hearing, when details of the Spanish case against him are expected to be given, is scheduled for July 15.
"Basil, be a good fellow and hand me the number 3 truncheon."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 11:24:52 AM ||
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Thank you Ananova for refering to the atrocities as atrocities.
Hundreds of residents from this bean- and chile-growing town gathered around a small church on Sunday to mourn a Mexican-American who became a U.S. Marine and died in Iraq. Lance Cpl. Juan Lopez was one of four U.S. Marines killed in an ambush in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, on June 21. His death left residents here grappling with how to best honor the 22-year-old who gave his life in a conflict most Mexicans don't believe in. U.S. Marines, five of whom served with Lopez in Iraq, loaded his gray coffin onto a hearse, as a swell of people filled the street. Relatives, carrying a framed picture of Lopez in uniform, locked hands and marched behind the hearse past shabby brick homes. A mariachi band wearing green sang: "Goodbye forever, goodbye." The music never stopped during a somber 45-minute march across town. Initial arrangements asked for a 21-gun salute, but Mexico's Secretary of Defense rejected that, saying the salute would violate constitutional measures preventing foreign soldiers from bearing arms on Mexican soil.
Then why didn't the Mexican military provide an honor guard?
Mexican soldiers apparently objected to the ceremonial arms carried by two of the Marine pallbearers, U.S. officials said. Four Mexican soldiers had blocked the pallbearers path, asking the Marines and six others who had served as pallbearers to return to a Chevy Suburban that had brought them to the funeral. More than a dozen Mexican soldiers blocked it from leaving for about 45 minutes, before finally allowing the Marines to go.
Idiotic machismo. The Marines were there to honor the young man, not invade the country.
During the service, about 300 people who could not fit into the church listened over loudspeakers and sang along. Born in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, Lopez migrated as a teenager to be with his father, three brothers and sister in Dalton, Ga. His mother and other relatives stayed in Mexico. In Dalton, Juan met his wife, Sandra Torres; they married in December. Oscar E. Lujan, of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, arrived Sunday to present Lopez's citizenship to his widow, making her eligible for benefits. Family members said they were proud that Lopez became a Marine though they were grief-stricken by his death. Juan served in Iraq for two months at the start of the war and was supposed to be completing his last trip there before the end of his tour of duty in December. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Marine Division and based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2004 12:28:54 AM ||
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the 22-year-old who gave his life in a conflict most Mexicans don't believe in.
Like the reporter took a pole. And most believe as the reporter does, of course.
Trash his service pricks. Of course it wasn't worth it, peace is cool. Cool is cool.
#2
Four Mexican soldiers had blocked the pallbearers path, asking the Marines and six others who had served as pallbearers to return to a Chevy Suburban that had brought them to the funeral. More than a dozen Mexican soldiers blocked it from leaving for about 45 minutes, before finally allowing the Marines to go.
Anybody up for more Immigration Service sweeps, swift deportations, and more frequently patrolled borders?
#3
How about the next time the Mexican Army is caught across the border, we return their blackened and charred teeth and let their government know that the next group crossing the border will be considered an act of war.
#5
Folks, Lance Cpl. Lopez and his native land deserve both our thanks and our respect today. Let's try to remember that Mexicans cross the border looking for a life that their homeland cannot provide them and I'm certain L.C. Lopez was no exception.
He was clearly among the best of us. May Mexico send us many more like him who not only share our ideals but value them enough to risk their lives in their defense.
#6
Sorry, #5, I don't agree with you. I think Lance Cpl. Lopez was the exception not the rule. He was a very patriotic individual and I tip my hat to his sacrifice. But nonetheless, he was not a symbol. He was a unique individual.
I think Hispanics come across the border come for a variety of reasons. Some come to better their lives through hard work. Some come for the perks of welfare, education, and superior health care.. Some come for nefarious motiveslike transporting drugs. I see no empirical evidence to suggest that the majority of Hispanics come across the border to better their lives through hardwork, and I don't see any evidence to suggest that illegal aliens are transformed into American patriots during their stay here. If I am not mistaken Hispanics, especially illegal Mexican aliens, are under represented in the military. Sorry to be the one to be the cold slap of realityspeak. Read the following article at City Journal, a neocon research institute: http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_the_illegal_alien.html
"The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave"by Heather Mac Donald
As for your question, #4, though I'm not SilentBrick, perhaps I can answer your question , nonetheless. According to a Townhall article: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/ollienorth/on20020531.shtml Now, thanks to the investigative work of Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., we've learned that since 1996 to 2002, the INS bureaucracy has been covering up cross-border incursions by armed Mexican military and law-enforcement personnel. According to Tancredo, in the last six years, at least 118 incursions have occurred across the U.S. border -- 61 by Mexican military and 57 by Mexican law-enforcement personnel.
"Last year," he told me, "there were 23 recorded incidents -- most of them transpiring in areas frequented by drug traffickers and body smugglers," the people who slip illegal aliens into the country for a fee. "And worse yet," he said, "these corrupt Mexican Federales (END ITAL) and soldiers who provide armed cover for this invasion are shooting at U.S. Forest Service, Indian Police and Border Patrol officers." He cited an incident on May 17, when a Border Patrol agent came under fire near Ajo, Ariz. The agent told Tancredo that he saw three Mexican soldiers in a HUMMV, at least 5 miles inside the U.S. border, when one of them opened fire and shot out two windows of the U.S. officer's Chevy Tahoe."This is unacceptable, it's tantamount to an act of war," said the congressman, a member of the House International Relations Committee...
Posted by: rex ||
07/05/2004 3:32 Comments ||
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#7
Thanks Rex, for digging that up to answer the question. It'd of taken me a while to find it. The Mexican Army has crossed the border, in uniform and in official vehicles. If they are not acting in an official capacity, then Mexico better handle the problem before it's done by the Texas National Guard.
Posted by: Jack Bross ||
07/05/2004 4:46 Comments ||
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"I think Lance Cpl. Lopez was the exception not the rule. He was a very patriotic individual and I tip my hat to his sacrifice. But nonetheless, he was not a symbol. He was a unique individual. I think Hispanics come across the border come for a variety of reasons. Some come to better their lives through hard work. Some come for the perks of welfare, education, and superior health care.. Some come for nefarious motiveslike transporting drugs. I see no empirical evidence to suggest that the majority of Hispanics come across the border to better their lives through hardwork, and I don't see any evidence to suggest that illegal aliens are transformed into American patriots during their stay here."
Although no a Mexican, I am Latin and what you wrote applies to a lot of us. We have been taught that the reason that we have not been able to develop successful economies and decent countries is because of US's greed and ruthlessness. It is so ingrained in our psyche, that even when enjoying a good life in the States, the first reaction is to condemn it and side with whomever is against it.
We have a number of latins here who carry American passports or are US residents, and with the exception of 2 or 3, they are all rabidy anti-American. They would not dream of moving back to their countries of origin or moving to Europe, and yet, they do not waste an oppotunity to shit on the country. In that respect, I hate to admit, we are just like muslims.
#10
We have been taught that the reason that we have not been able to develop successful economies and decent countries is because of US's greed and ruthlessness.
Heh. Where have I heard this before...oh yes, all over the freakin' world! It's not only Latin America that has this symptom.
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/05/2004 14:31 Comments ||
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#5 "Let's try to remember that Mexicans cross the border looking for a life that their homeland cannot provide them"
I live in the DFW area and you can't swing a dead cat without hitting an illegal. They burden our health care and education systems, break our laws, do not pay taxes AND take jobs from Americans and legal immigrants.
Don't take jobs you say? BS! You can't find an American tradesman hardly at all, black or white. That's because the illegals will work for much less and do not have any of the overhead associated with a legitimate business.
Oh, and let's not forget the mockery they make of those that immigrate here legally. I can't tell you the cost I've incurred and the hoops I have been forced to jump through to get my Indian wife a Green Card. And she is a highly educated University level teacher.
So, I take a VERY hard line vis-a-vis illegal immigrants, especially Mexicans!
If it is true that Mexican Army and Law Enforcement are making armed incursions across our border, then a bunch of folks need to be shot, not just the Mexicans. I feel in my heart that there is serious treachery coming down the pike.
#9 "We have been taught that the reason that we have not been able to develop successful economies and decent countries is because of US's greed and ruthlessness."
You don't have decent economies or countries because of YOUR, greedy, corrupt, incompetent and ruthless governments.
America, Love it or leave it! This is not just a fancy saying.
#12
CiT - You misread A4617's comments. She's lamenting the idiocy, not condoning it. Slow down, bro! I lived in DFW area for about 30 yrs and can confirm your assertions. :-)
#13
#12 "She's lamenting the idiocy, not condoning it. "
Sorry! Obviously this is an emotionally charged issue for me. Struggling with INS over my wife, while illegals get the Red Carpet and Kid Gloves treatment makes me...well...Crazy in Texas!
#14
If it is true that Mexican Army and Law Enforcement are making armed incursions across our border
It's true. Rep. Tom Tancredo has been interviewed on several talk shows and on FOX News about the belligerence of the Federales and Mexican police and the dangers of our easily penetrable southern border combined with the rampant corruption in Mexico.
Fyi, in November, 2002, as reported in a Rollcall article, Tancredo was told by Karl Rove "never to darken the door of the White House again" because of his criticism of GWB's soft on Hispanic illegal immigration and his truthful revelations about Mexico's disregard for our borders and border control officers by its military and its police. Subsequently, NumbersUSA actually asked readers of its immigration reform website to send letters and faxes to the WH in 12/18/02 to tell Karl Rove to back off from his nastiness to Tancredo. Apparently Rove was planning to bankroll any Republican candidate who would challenge Tancredo in the '04 primary.
Posted by: rex ||
07/05/2004 16:29 Comments ||
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CiT - No sweat, A4617's our bud! And I don't think you're Crazy at all!
Following the rules, painful in the extreme I'd guess, gives you the right to rip INS / Immigration for their lameness --- and the political asswipes who hope to find gain in promoting blanket amnesty for illegals. Those who do it by the rules must be given preference and respected for their patience and fortitude - obviously they'll make excellent citizens. Those that don't should be sent back - to wherever. My $0.02...
#16
According to this article in the Houston Chronicle, it's even worse than we thought: the Marines were carrying replicas, not real, rifles, when stopped by the Mexican soldiers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2004 18:17 Comments ||
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#17
living in San Diego, which used to be the favorite gateway, we've seen a large drop in illegals - they're all shifted east. Keep shifting them east and eventually they'll reach the Gulf
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 18:52 Comments ||
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#18
Not too fast tho - let New Mexico suffer for a little while. Maybe they'll get on board wrt immigration reform.
#20
I agree w/Rex - Tancredo is a good dude. I'd also penalize the dog sh*t (i.e. shutdown) any businesses found hiring illegals. Make it un-profitable and it will slow down. Next, we put the mil on the border to help the BP guys. Any Mexican mil interventions are meant w/hellfires and jdams.
#21
Check your statistics. Approx.40% of the current American Marines in Iraq are Mexican Americans. But do not take my word for it, check the Marine KIA rolls in Iraq since last year and you'll see Mexican American over representation in this arena. I do not hear any of you whining about Chicanos taking your places in those coffins with metal handles. Read Raul Morin's book "Among the Valiant" to get an idea of Mexican American involvement in World War II. Do a search on Sgt. Jose Lopez who during World War II, single handedly killed over 100 Germans in one firefight, winning the CMH. Approx. 500,000 Mexican Americans served in the Armed Forces in World War II. 10,000 Mexicn Americans fought in the Civil War. Mexicans won many Medal of Honors during World War II. Even an illegal alien won a Medal of Honor for America during World War II. Many Mexican American families had many stars on their home windows during World War II. Do a search on CMH winner Special Forces SGT. Roy Benavides, to get a good idea of what Mexicans contributed during the Vietnam War. He was shot many times with an AK-47, and had 37 shrapnel wounds during one firefight, but he saved the lives of several Green Beret buddies. Almost every Mexican family in California had a son in the military during the Vietnam War. Many Mexican American families had several sons in the military during the Vietnam War. I know that for a fact. I was a kid during the Vietnam War, and I watched many Mexican American friends and relatives head off to that war. I also have many Mexican American relatives and friends in the Armed Forces stationed in Iraq. Most of them are assigned to combat units, not the easy support jobs. But do not take my word for it, do a search on Hero St, Illinois to see that many Mexican communities contributed greatly to the U.S. war machine. But yet all Mexican Americans hear is the constant Caucasian whining and paranoia. How many Mexican American terrorist suicide bombers have you heard of? Mexicans come over the border not to kill you, but to do all of your menial jobs, soldiering included. You should also remember that Mexicans were here before Euro-Americans. We did not come to you, you came to us and set up your borders. Caucasians should be thankful that a radical Moslem country is not their neighbor. Where is the gratitude? Instead of the movie called "Saving Private Ryan", they should have made one called "Saving Private Jose".
North Korea's reclusive leader held a rare meeting Monday with Russia's foreign minister, who reportedly delivered a letter from President Vladimir Putin and paid "special attention" to peace efforts on the Korean peninsula.
Foreign minister met with Powell last week, Kimmie's going to Seoul, and now high-level talks with the Russers. Yep. Something's going on behind the scenes...
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who visited South Korea over the weekend, had been expected to discuss the international standoff over the North's nuclear weapons program. Lavrov said "special attention was devoted to the peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula," during his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, according to a statement from the Kremlin. He and Kim conducted talks in a "cordial atmosphere," the North's official KCNA news agency reported, adding that Lavrov delivered a "personal letter" to Kim from the Russian president. KCNA gave no details about the letter, but Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency reported that it touched "on problems of bilateral cooperation and regional security."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:04:42 AM ||
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"Dear Kimmie -
If you're expecting Russia to back your play in a nuclear standoff with the USA, think again. We have better things to do than poking a rattlesnake with a stick. Have fun.
Love & Kisses,
Vladie"
#2
Kimmie going to be playing any golf with Vladie? You know, if he's that good, he doesn't need the nuclear blackmail card; he could just enter a couple of golfing tournaments and use the money to improve his great country.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
07/05/2004 14:23 Comments ||
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AUSTRALIA has been warned it could expect direct attacks from Al-Qaeda if Jemaah Islamiyah proved incapable of striking again. A leading terrorism expert yesterday warned that Al-Qaeda would take a more active role in the region if JI failed to follow up the Bali bombing with another devastating attack.
Aldo Borgu, from the Government-funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told a Brisbane anti-terrorism conference that JI would "sooner or later" need to demonstrate its continued relevance. "Should JI prove itself to be incapable of mounting serious operations against Australia, we may well witness Al-Qaeda taking more of a direct interest in targeting Australia," he said.
Mr Borgu said authorities and analysts should not "fool themselves" that JI was the only terrorist threat Australia faced. It would be equally wrong to downplay JIâs ability to strike in the wake of the post-Bali crackdown that resulted in the arrests of 200 JI members. "While JIâs abilities to undertake relatively sophisticated operations may have been degraded, their ability to attack soft targets remains," Mr Borgu said.
He said he was concerned that, despite the apparent emphasis placed on the seriousness of the terrorist threat, Australia still did not have an overarching national counter-terrorism strategy. "We have a national anti-terrorism plan to deal with terrorist attacks after they occur, but no whole-of-government, whole-of-nation strategy to fight it on a comprehensive, ongoing and long-term basis," he said.
Mr Borgu also urged the Government to establish teams of analysts to "think and behave as terrorists". "Once we begin to think like them, then weâll be at a point of better understanding them and hence able to combat them much more effectively," he said. "One of the major problems we face is that we have little understanding of the threat or whom we are fighting."
Also at the symposium yesterday, Australian Defence Force chief General Peter Cosgrove urged stronger relationships between Australian police and military to fend off terror attacks in Australia. General Cosgrove also warned delegates the Australian public needed to be "more vigilant and more aware" of the ever-present threat of terrorism. He said the growing terrorist threat had forced civil and military forces to work together to prevent attacks and that state and territory police were Australiaâs first line of defence rather than the "sledge hammer of military force".
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/05/2004 1:34:29 PM ||
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YOUNG, hardline Muslims are moving to take control of the Sydneyâs Lakemba Mosque and depose its moderate leader, Sheik Taj el-Din Al Hilaly. Supporters of Sheik Hilaly believe a number of rival groups are organising a coup against him, including one led by Sheik Abdul Salam Mohammed Zoud, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. Sheik Zoud runs Lakembaâs Haldon St prayer hall, which has long been of interest to ASIO. He presided at the marriage last year of terror suspect Willie Brigitte to Melanie Brown. and as you may guess Sheik Zoud says he is against terrorism but doesnât define it
Posted by: mhw ||
07/05/2004 10:09:45 AM ||
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#1
So the pimple that is Sydney's Lakemba mosqkq will soon be an open sore. Puss to follow and red streaks of infection spreading in every direction.
#3
"So you feel just as good in the morning as you do in the afternoon", a Frank Senatra quote of sorts.
I did read that your thinking of taking up red wine though. From what I'm hearing, a quart of red wine (don't go for that one glass thing), omega-3 heavy fish, an aspirine a day, sex often (hetero) and live to a 100.
#4
Lol! Hey, I don't wanna live to 100 - nothing there worth the trip, IMHO!
Quoting a comedian whose name escapes me at the moment (Jonathan Katz?), after listening to a rock star and best-selling author talk about drug parties and groupies, prattling on comparing notes for 5 minutes, "I'm just glad that I've reached the age where I can get the same sensation just by standing up too quickly."
Almost 2 million French citizens are living in newly created urban ghettos in an environment characterised by anti-French feeling, racial hatred and the oppression of women, according to a French intelligence agency report leaked yesterday. The study is set to reignite the debate over Franceâs struggle to integrate its immigrant population and its inability to cope with rising unemployment, sexual inequality and growing fundamentalism in its urban sink estates.
The agency studied 630 at-risk areas in France, places selected because they had experienced some level of urban violence, to assess whether they had already degenerated into ghettos. Most of the "sensitive suburbs" are run-down housing estates built by the French government between the 50s and 70s to house immigrant workers. The intelligence body based its definition on a range of criteria encompassing high immigration levels, high levels of non-French speakers at school, the presence of anti-semitic and anti-western graffiti, growing numbers of inhabitants wearing religious or oriental dress, and a growth in Muslim religious institutions. They reported that more than 300 areas were already ghettoised. The report added that the wealthier inhabitants "usually of European descent" were moving out en masse. The agency underlines the "growing role of radical Islamic preachers", whose presence is recorded in 200 of the quartiers studied...The report concludes, according to Le Monde, that preachers are instilling in young inhabitants the idea that they are the "victims of discrimination and racism" triggering a growth of anti-French sentiment...The French interior ministry has not commented on the report, except to state that since taking the job as interior minister this year, Dominique de Villepin has been determined to work towards improving a sense of national unity...Last year the French government began to tackle this issue, launching a renovation programme for its city suburbs, pledging £21bn to improve the worst of the estates. France better have the best military, not one of the best, because Villepin throwing $ at the problem is not going to make it go away...the enemy within can be as dangerous as the enemy without...2 sides of the same coin. Another excellent article appeared in the City Journal 2 years ago re: Franceâs immigrant problem. I highly recommend you book mark the url & read it at a later date. Very worrisome that France has nukes that could fall into the wrong hands. http://www.city-journal.org/html/12_4_the_barbarians.html
"The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris" by Theodore Dalrymple
Autumn 2002 issue
Posted by: rex ||
07/05/2004 8:04:32 PM ||
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The article by Dalrymple opens with a story of some lawless Romanians.
It would be interesting to have Dalrymple do another article. If the Romanians have been assimilated and the Moslems have not, then...
In his apartment, police found packages of iron perchlorate and other chemicals which, when mixed together, can make a powerful explosive. They also seized two empty propane canisters, $5,000 in cash, fake passports and a computer with coded instructions. During a second search two days later, they found timers and detonators hidden in a washing machine. Police also arrested Ben-Ahmed's wife and two accomplices, identified as Mohamed Merbah and Ahmed Belhoud.
But it was the discovery of a military-issue nuclear-biological-chemical (NBC) protection suit and bottles of toxic chemicals that most alarmed investigators, leading to speculation that Ben-Ahmed and his network were planning a chemical attack or had gained access to nuclear waste and were hoping to make a "dirty bomb" that would irradiate the greater-Paris area. Fears that al-Qaeda terrorists were planning to detonate a dirty bomb in the Washington area kept NEST (Nuclear Emergency Search Team) busy for months, as Insight revealed last year [see "A State of High Alert," Nov. 26, 2001], a problem that remains current [see "Searching for 'Dirty Bombs'" in this issue]. Although most experts agree that a single "dirty nuke" would cause little actual damage beyond that of the conventional explosive used to detonate it, the psychological impact of a radioactive cloud rising above a major city could create panic, making it a terrorist's weapon of choice...
Posted by: rex ||
07/05/2004 21:48 Comments ||
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#5
This shouldn't be a problem; the Phrench have already said they're ready to take care of it.
Oh, wait....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2004 23:10 Comments ||
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Three aircraft carriers and their escort ships and submarines are sailing in Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic waters this summer as part of the Navy quick-response exercise Summer Pulse â04. As you might remember, it was reported that SEVEN ACGs were headed to the Pacific for this same exercise. http://tinyurl.com/37r46 . Is this a total of 10 groups being deployed or 3 of the 7? If it is 10, red flags will be going up all over the place.
#3
The list of the 7 groups taking part in Summer Pulse '04 is on the sidebar of your link. The three called out are listed in the sidebar already, hence it's still 7 & not 10.
#5
It's more than a little comforting to consider how America will now have afloat more functional arms and delivery vehicles than most countries can rally from their complete inventory. I like that.
#6
It's more than a little comforting to consider how America will now have afloat more functional arms and delivery vehicles than most countries can rally from their complete inventory. I like that.
It just gives us a nice warm feeling, all over, doesn't it?
George Galloway, the MP for Glasgow Kelvin, intervened on behalf of Saddam Hussein yesterday to condemn the deposed dictator's trial, claiming it was being staged by American "stooges". Mr Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party last year after making allegations against President George W Bush and Tony Blair, described the new Iraqi government as "puppets of the military occupiers". He described Saddam as a war criminal "just like George Bush and Tony Blair". He said: "I think they are all war criminals."
"Liars and thieves, the lot of 'em!"
He also accused the United States of being intent on seeing Saddam hanged. Earlier this week the Iraqi government announced it would reintroduce the death penalty ahead of the trial, expected to start next year. The process was being run by America, Mr Galloway said. "It is not the Iraqis that are doing it, it is the Americans," he told Sky News. "Iraq is not a free country. There is a government that has been put in power in Baghdad by the Americans, hand-picked by the American occupiers." Mr Galloway, who now leads the anti-war Respect party, added: "It is their trial, it is their court, they are holding Saddam Hussein, they are drawing up the charges and they'll hang him. The Iraqis that are doing this are a puppet government. They are stooges, collaborators, hand-picked by the military occupation of Iraq." Mr Galloway was a frequent visitor to Baghdad before the war, but rejects suggestions that he is an apologist for the regime. He denies allegations that he benefited financially from his links with Saddam.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:15:04 PM ||
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Who gives a rat's ass what George "I-can-tell-he's-lying-his-lips-are-moving" Galloway thinks?
The only words I'm interested in hearing from him are "I confess." (Notice I'm not holding my breath.)
STFU, Georgie-porgie. And FOAD. Asshole.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2004 22:41 Comments ||
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#2
why isn't Britain prosecuting the asshole for bribery/extortion?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 23:01 Comments ||
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#3
George should be smarter and realize that most Americans don't care whether Sadaam is hanged, shot or receives death by "bunda." We are free-thinkers and would prefer for the Iraqis demonstrate that they are not our lacky's by offing Sadaam with some ethnic flair. Demanding a hanging would be "cultural imperialism."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/05/2004 23:20 Comments ||
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#4
Well, one good thing about Georgie - once he is bought, he stays bought.
Syria has turned down a request from the Maher Arar inquiry for assistance in unravelling the circumstances of the Ottawa man's arrest and deportation. The decision could make it tougher to get to the bottom of how and why Ottawa resident Arar wound up in a Syrian prison as a terrorism suspect. In its refusal to provide information, Syria cited the lack of an overall agreement with Canada with respect to legal co-operation, said Paul Cavalluzzo, commission counsel for the inquiry. "We were certainly hoping that the Syrian government would co-operate," he told reporters Monday. "My own view is that they could co-operate, with or without an agreement."
If their view is that they won't, you're up the creek, aren't you?
The Foreign Affairs Department also said the absence of a treaty should not preclude sharing of information with the inquiry. Syria's decision came as parties to the investigation tussled at hearings Monday over ground rules for deciding how much information about Arar's case will be disclosed publicly. Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, was detained in New York on suspicions of terrorism in September 2002. The telecommunications engineer, travelling on a Canadian passport, was subsequently deported to Syria by U.S. authorities after a stop in Jordan. Arar says he was tortured for months by Syrian officials before being released. He denies any involvement in terrorism.
Earlier this year, the federal government appointed Justice Dennis O'Connor to lead an inquiry into the case. The inquiry had asked Syria, Jordan and the United States to help the commission piece together details of the affair. Formal letters were sent to the three countries by diplomatic pouch last month via Foreign Affairs. Cavalluzzo said the inquiry will work on its own to corroborate statements made about Arar by Syrian officials. "We'll have to do that through other means, and we will." Officials at the Syrian Embassy in Ottawa were not immediately available.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:39:29 PM ||
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My supposition is that we were pretty sure that this guy was a terrorist. Deporting a terrorist to Canada is Akin to playing with a jet black boomerang on a football field at 2 am on an overcast night.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/05/2004 23:13 Comments ||
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From what I've read on this case, the Canadian intelligence department [CSIS] provided the US with the "goods" on this guy-the RCMP had been monitoring him for quite some time. The RCMP and CSIS in Canada did not want the US to return Arar to Canada, because they knew he'd get his walking papers if he was returned to Canada. So because Arar was a dual citizen-Arar had never renounced his Syrian citizenship[interesting], the US sent him back to Syria to be put in the deep freeze for a while. Actually I don't think Syria was a "bad guy" in this scenario-they just threw him in the slammer because neither Canada not the US wanted him back and they didn't want a suspected loose cannon on their streets. Then Arar's family got the Muslim community beating the PM's door down, and Paul Martin, as Chretien had done before him, pretended that this was done without the PMO's knowledge, initially blaming it on the USA, but then a journalist with the National Post came across some secret dossierres that demonstrated that both PM's had been kept in the loop all along and had approved the CSIS and RCMP decision. The Liberal Party of Canada counts heavily on the Muslim vote, so Paul Martin was very nervous about his office being linked to approving Arar being deported to Syria. I'll bet Paul Martin is very happy that Syria is refusing to co-operate with Canada's investigation hearing.
Posted by: rex ||
07/05/2004 23:43 Comments ||
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#3
wow - this'll be pretty hard to hang on the Joooos; Although I'm sure they'll give it the ol' Arab try....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/06/2004 0:07 Comments ||
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The federal authorities, concerned about a terror attack during this summerâs national political conventions, have begun a new effort to identify potential extremists inside the United States, including conducting interviews in communities where terrorists might seek refuge, government officials said.
The fears about an incident during the conventions or later in the year have also led state and local officials to impose extraordinary security precautions. Persistent if indistinct intelligence reports, based on electronic intercepts and live sources, indicate that Al Qaeda is determined to strike in the United States some time this year, the officials said in interviews last week.
Almost half the budgets in each convention city will be spent on security, local officials said. The Democratic National Convention will be held in Boston at the Fleet Center from July 26 to 29. The Republican National Convention will be held in New York at Madison Square Garden from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.
New York is regarded as a higher risk than Boston by counterterrorism officials because President Bush is a Republican and because of consistent intelligence.
"Al Qaeda has unambiguous plans to hit the homeland again," James L. Pavitt, the C.I.A.âs outgoing head of clandestine operations, said in a speech in New York last week, "and New York City, I am certain, remains a prime target."
Pasquale J. DâAmuro, the head of the New York F.B.I. office, said in an interview that nearly all of the more than 1,100 agents in the office, the bureauâs largest field division, will be involved in collecting intelligence and other security tasks before the convention.
Convention planners expanded their security requirements, at the urging of federal officials, after the March 11 commuter train attacks in Madrid that killed 191 people.
While the intelligence is not yet clear or specific enough to justify increasing the countryâs color-coded alert level, the officials said, there are signs of rising concern in the government. On Friday, cabinet members were briefed on the latest intelligence, which, administration officials said, indicates Al Qaedaâs intention to strike in the United States, but does not suggest when or where an attack might occur or who might be behind it.
Recent intelligence reports have hinted that an attack might involve relatively crude materials in an uncomplicated operation, the officials said, suggesting the possibility of a car or truck bomb rather than a plot relying on sophisticated weapons or training like the commercial aviation studies undertaken by the hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Some of the information has indicated that potential attackers might not be young Arab men, but religious extremists from other countries, possibly in Africa. For that reason investigators have begun to more closely examine visa holders already in the United States from countries like Somalia, Kenya and Nigeria.
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation are also starting to conduct interviews in communities where potential terrorists might seek to blend in with local populations. The officials said that the interviews were based on intelligence about who might pose a threat, but would also be patterned on the informational interviews conducted in Arab-American neighborhoods after the Sept. 11 attacks and in Iraqi-American communities at the start of the American-led invasion in 2003.
"We think we know the targets that might have great economic impact or cause large loss of life," said James K. Kallstrom, a senior terrorism adviser to Mr. Pataki. "But we know terrorists might not be in proximity to those targets, so we have put a series of tripwires in place throughout New England."
In New York, the cost of security is expected to exceed $75 million, of the total convention cost of about $166 million, as concerns have broadened to include not only the week of the convention, but also the weeks before and after it.
The Police Department will increase uniformed and plainclothes patrols in many parts of the city, focusing on landmarks, tourist sites, sites related to the convention, bridges and tunnels, airports and simply places where people gather. Much of the focus will be on the subway system.
For Boston, the security bill is now estimated to reach $50 million, twice the original estimate and more than half the roughly $95 million overall convention cost.
The Secret Service has ordered some 40 miles of roads closed around the Fleet Center, where the Democrats will meet, including Interstate 93, a section of which runs above ground just 40 feet from the arena. The shutdown of major roads near the convention site is the central and most controversial part of a complex security plan. The plan involves multiple police agencies and includes random checks of handbags and packages on buses and subways by police and bomb-sniffing dogs, as well as closed security zones.
New York is considered to be a more likely target, but security planners in Boston said that area had many potential targets of its own, including a complex infrastructure, prestigious universities and, perhaps most of all, symbolic sites.
"This is the seat of liberty," said Carlo A. Boccia, the cityâs director of homeland security, gesturing from the window of his City Hall office toward Faneuil Hall and the Old State House. "You attack that, itâs the very heart of America."
The Boston Police Department estimated that the security measures ordered by the Secret Service added about $9.5 million in police, firefighter and medical worker overtime for a total of $32.5 million, the largest portion of the security cost.
But Madison Square Garden is not the only concern. Because any attack in the city would probably cause the disruption sought by extremists, Mr. Kelly said, the department will also focus on other events that week, including the U.S. Open tennis tournament and New York Yankees and Mets games.
Mr. DâAmuro, of the F.B.I., also expressed concern about the periods before and after the convention.
"We know one of the things that Al Qaeda looks at is security measures in place and whether they think they could be successful in carrying out an attack," he said. "And if they donât believe they will, theyâll postpone it, theyâll put it off to another time."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/05/2004 1:50:26 PM ||
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More on the Ordoñez arrest...
Soldiers have arrested two senior commanders of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group in two separate incidents, government officials said on Monday. Ibno Alih Ordoñez, alias Ibno Abbas Abdil, is wanted for murder and several counts of kidnapping, including the abductions of more than 50 Christian students and teachers from the Tumahubong Elementary School in Basilan on March 20, 2001. Several hostages were killed in that incident, including a Catholic priest who was tortured and shot in the head by the gunmen.
"They were tough. They were mean. They shot nuns."
A joint team of soldiers and policemen from the governmentâs antiterrorism task force arrested Ordoñez on Thursday near a school on Bayani Road, Fort Bonifacio, Makati City. Ordoñez did not resist arrest, authorities said.
Heroically surrendered, did he? Was he hiding at the bottom of an outdoor toilet?
Citing investigators, Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita told reporters that Ordoñez operated a bus service for an exclusive school in Makati. Ermita said Ordoñez had lived in Western Bicutan since 2001. âWe are looking closely into circumstances of how Ordoñez managed to operate a school-bus service for an exclusive private school,â he said.
Yeah. I think I'd have a pretty close look at that myself...
Ordoñez is listed as the seventh most wanted Abu Sayyaf leader with a price of P1 million on his head. He was formerly a guard at the Basilan provincial jail and was believed to have scouted for potential victims for the Abu Sayyaf. In the early seventies he was a member of the Moro National Liberation Front.
But not now. No, no! Certainly not!
âAs a jail guard, he was believed to have doubled as a spy for Muslim rebel leaders with the principal assignment of monitoring the movements of military and police forces,â Ermita said. In 1998 military intelligence units in Mindanao monitored Ordoñez to have held several meetings with known Abu Sayyaf leaders, including his cousin, Abu Sabaya, the Abu Sayyafâs notorious spokesman who was killed in a gun battle with US-assisted Filipino commandos in 2002.
He's now The Late...
On Sunday troops nabbed an aide of the Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani outside an Islamic library on the southern island of Jolo, the head of an antiterror task force said.
"How could you tell it was an Islamic library?"
"There was only the one book."
"Stick 'em up, Joselito!"
"You'll never take me alive, coppers!"
"Hokay."
"No! Wait! I've changed my mind..."
He was taken to Zamboanga City and now has underwear on his head and a plantain up his butt is under interrogation about possible links to the Jemaah Islamiah regional extremist group, Habacon said without elaborating.
"Arturo! These are not my pliers! These are vice grips!"
"I'm sorry, Commandante! Narcisso borrowed them to interrogate Ordoñez and didn't bring them back!"
"[Sigh!] I guess I'll have to make due."
"But the plantains are nice and fresh!"
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 9:41:06 PM ||
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#1
Closer, and closer, air strike by air stike.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 22:11 Comments ||
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#2
squeeze him for intel, then let the most aggressive have his ass in prison....raisins don't matter if you have to wear Depends in the afterlife
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 22:23 Comments ||
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Millions of Indonesians across the worldâs largest archipelago voted Monday in their first direct presidential election, with ex-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono confident of winning most votes but not enough to avoid a second-round runoff. "Three cheers for democracy," enthused a Jakarta post editorial as electors ranging from illiterate tribesmen in Papua province to Javanese rice farmers and Jakarta yuppies seized their historic opportunity. "God willing, I am confident I can go into the second round," said Yudhoyono, a former security minister who led the fight against terrorism after the Bali bombings and other attacks by Al Qaeda-linked Islamic militants. A survey last week gave him 43.5 percent support, more than his four rivals combined. He needs more than 50 percent to avoid a runoff between the top two candidates on September 20.
After three years at the head of the worldâs largest Muslim-populated nation, incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri is struggling to make it to the likely runoff. The survey by the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) gave another ex-general, Wiranto, 14.2 percent support and Megawati 11.7 percent. Wiranto predicted that, "God willing," he would make the second round. National assembly speaker Amien Rais came fourth in the survey with 10.9 percent while current Vice President Hamzah Haz had just 2.4.
I don't think that God wills he make it to the second round...
Polls closed at 1 p.m. (0600 GMT). Hank Valentino of IFES, speaking around one hour earlier, estimated turnout in Jakarta at over 80 percent. Official results are expected over the next two weeks. Results of an unofficial "quick count" were to be released late Monday or Tuesday. Results from 17 polling stations in Bali and nine in the Jakarta area showed Yudhoyono top at all but one. Rais was performing unexpectedly well in several regions. Ballots are counted at each of the 575,000 polling stations and counts are forwarded to district centers for tabulation. The process slowed down when the national election chief ordered a nationwide recount to include millions of ballot papers, which inadvertently became invalid. Voters used a nail to punch a box corresponding to their choice. Because ballot papers were folded in half, many punched two holes -- making the vote invalid until the commissionâs ruling.
Indonesia's version of the butterfly ballot.
Megawati has disappointed the hopes of millions of "reformasi" (reform) supporters who voted her party top of the polls in a 1999 legislative election. Legislators that year denied her the presidency and she took over in 2001.
I still think it's a great thing. I wouldn't have been bent out of shape had she won, but the test of a democracy isn't with the first time it holds elections, but the second. No state of emergency, no forced constitutional amendments to keep her in power, and Hamzah Haz got creamed. I wish Yudhoyono luck.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/05/2004 1:38:33 PM ||
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#1
I read these SE Asia stories, but have no real experience or relevant knowledge of IndoMalay to contribute, so I don't. Passing through KL's new airport doesn't count, heh.
But the following editorial comment is truly profound: "the test of a democracy isn't with the first time it holds elections, but the second"
Indonesia thus turns a corner. Next we'll see if being a little nervous about a General becoming President is unfounded... I, too, wish Yudhoyono luck.
BTW, Haz's choice to wear the Suharto hat always bothered me. I don't trust people who wear hats. Google image searching shows he's never without it - whereas, Yudhoyono never wears a hat. Heh.
#2
Thanks for reminding me: I added Hamzah's comments on Indonesian terrorism (10/18/2002) to the Classix.
Never get old. You forget things. It's a sign your mind's going. I think. Who're you? Have we been introduced? Is this Pittsburgh? I like Pittsburgh...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 21:14 Comments ||
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#3
You don't wear a hat, do you? Just checking... Pittsburgh? With the 'h', huh? Lol! Is that for 'h'at? If you take it off, your IQ jumps 25 points and you'll remember everything!
#4
PD - could you send me that Cash FU pic? Fsmokey@cox.net....I have particular love for JC, should've saved it, but blew it. BTW any Cash fans should invest in the Cash Unearthed 5- CD set
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 21:27 Comments ||
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Troops have arrested a senior commander of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang in Manila, Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Monday. Ibno Alih Ordonez is wanted for murder and several counts of kidnapping, including the abductions of more than 50 Christian students and teachers in the southern island of Basilan in 2001. Several hostages were killed in that incident, including a Catholic priest who was tortured and shot in the head by the gunmen.
Peaceful, God-fearing priest was just too tempting a victim, wasn't he?
Ordonez was arrested last Thursday in the financial center of Makati, where according to investigation he operates a bus service for an exclusive school, Ermita said. Ordonez is listed as the seventh most wanted Abu Sayyaf leader with a bounty of one million pesos (18,000 dollars). He was formerly a guard at the Basilan provincial jail and was believed to have scouted for potential victims for the Abu Sayyaf. The suspect is also a cousin of Abu Sabaya, the Abu Sayyafâs notorious spokesman killed in a gunbattle with US-assisted Filipino commandos in 2002.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/05/2004 1:46:33 PM ||
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In comments directed at the United States, Iran's supreme leader warned Monday that his country can harm the interests of any invader, state-run Tehran television reported.
I don't think he's talking about duking it out with the Marines...
"The United States says that we have endangered their interests," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a crowd of thousands on a visit to the city of Hamedan in western Iran. "If anyone invades our nation, we will jeopardize their interests around the world," Khamenei warned.
"Even as we're folding at home..."
The United States has accused Iran of aiding an anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq, but there has been no explicit threat of an invasion or attack against Tehran. Washington also has warned that Iran is hiding a secret nuclear weapons program, an accusation denied by Tehran. Last month, U.S. President George W. Bush criticized Iran's Islamic autocracy, saying hard-line rulers must be defeated for trying to hold back the democratic will of a rising generation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 8:45:47 PM ||
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"Hey,if we're going down,we're gonna take the Saudi oil fields with us."
Posted by: Stephen ||
07/05/2004 20:59 Comments ||
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#2
We are soooooooo scared!
'The Last Days of MullahMania', coming soon to a headline near you.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 21:00 Comments ||
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Don't worry, assholes. You won't see us when we come to get you.
It will even be relatively painless for you. Unfortunately.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2004 22:46 Comments ||
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#8
Are they going to drown our forces in their own blood the way the Iraqi's did? And the Taliban? Sounds like the usual Arabic blather. It's like when you were five and threatening to beat up your favorite uncle, you know, the one that's six four, who can stomp you like a bug.
#9
Khamenei fails to comprehend that the beautiful innovation of the "guidance system" will allow us to cripple Iran without invading. We can probably just brodcast a radio signal to the effect that, "we will stop blowing up your trains once someone has taken the heads of the entire Guardian Council to the nearest bowling alley for mounting in clear acrylic by a certified AMF professional." I loved that part of Mystery Men.
Does the dinkus really think that the we don't have a guidance system that will home on the noise produced by the operation of a highspeed gas centrifuge?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/05/2004 23:40 Comments ||
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Amid accusations by US and Iraqi leaders that Syria and Iran were behind political incitement and terrorist acts aimed at destabilizing the new Iraqi government, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday ended a two-day surprise visit to Iran. The tow countries have been united in their opposition to the presence of US troops in Iraq. Assad met with top officials including leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mohammad Khatami. He was accompanied by Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara and other Syrian officials. "There is no ambiguity between us and Syria where Iraq is concerned. The solution is the quick end to the occupation, the installation of a government comprising all elements of the Iraqi people and the cooperation of the international community to bring stability and reconstruction," Khatami said. The US and Iraq have accused insurgents of actively smuggles weapons, fighters and money into Iraq from Syria and Jordan. According to the British Sunday Telegraph, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said his government had gathered information from intelligence services showing support for the insurgents from some neighboring countries.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 1:44:26 PM ||
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I wish his name translated as Asswad - it would slide off the tongue better.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 0:19 Comments ||
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Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 12:44 ||
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#1
One more in along line of reasons we need to get our economies in the West off of petroleum so these asshats don't get anymore of our money with which to cause even more mischief
#3
With a 100% free market oil industry effort, Iraq could indeed match or even overtake Iran & maybe Saudis in the future. (If the situation inside Arabia continues to deterierate that will not be hard task to acomplish. In terms of Iran's mullahs, nothing lasts forever.)
Right now Iran is making sure Iraqi crude oil does not flow to importing customers/oil companies through ongoing pre-planned acts of pin-pointed petrol-related sabotage, which in turn makes commodity futures/option oil trader nervious when a huge amount of global oil is removed from the market, in a geographic region of extrme instability, i.e. the Persian Gulf.
The effect of Iraqi crude not being exported is benefiting Iran in two ways. First off Iran earns even more oil profits when the world bench price is driven up, caused by trader fear about locking in future prices. Second, the additional profits Iran earns through market 'bullishness' based on the 'fear factor' allows Iran's radical jihadic minded ruling mullahs to expand on increasing monitary support to further inflict harm on Iraq and spread additional acts of Shi'ite rooted terrorism around the globe.
Every cent American based crude oil futures rise, and or falls, equals $10.00 per contract, thus if NY crude oil increses $2.00 in 5 trading sessions, that is 200 cents times $10.00 per each cent...it's a lot of money per contract. If a heavy hitters are trading 1000 to 5000+ oil contracts ....do the math. Traded natural gas contracts earn the same on the NY-oil futures market
In addition to exporting their own crude oil, Iran, as all OPEC and other major producers of crude oil & natural gas, including energy related companies, trade the energy futures/options markets. Vast amounts of money can be made from bullish or bearish markets contingent on how one is positioned in any given month's energy contract
Iran is earning a massive amount of money in the short term, and the longer the higher oil prices remain more innocent people are being blown up, through Iranian oil for terrorism. The Saudis are playing the same deadly game, except their branch of radical Islam is the cult of Wahhabism.
Iran and Saudi Arabia are taking us for a ride in many respects, and making a fortune doing it. Both are laughing at us all the way to the bank!
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 20:42 Comments ||
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Comes as a surprise, doesn't it?
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and his visiting Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, both called yesterday for the rapid departure of foreign troops from Iraq. âThis crisis was predictable, and its source was the aggression and occupation of Iraq by the United States,â Khatami told reporters after he greeted Assad, who arrived here earlier for a two-day visit. âThere is no ambiguity between us and Syria where Iraq is concerned. The solution is the quick end to the occupation, the installation of a government comprising all elements of the Iraqi people and the cooperation of the international community to bring stability and reconstruction.â
I'd say the crisis was definitely predictable. In fact, we predicted that Iran and Syria would try and snatch Iraq after we'd beaten up Sammy, which they were impotent to do...
For his part, Assad said âIraq is on the top of our list of preoccupationsâ although he said the two would also discuss âPalestine and the halt in the peace processâ.
Ain't that a coincidence? Syria's somewhere near the top of our list, too...
âRegarding Iraq, we have always been in agreement with Iran on the need for Iraqâs territorial integrity, a representative government and the departure of the occupying forces,â he added. Both Syria and Iran have been accused by the United States of supporting anti-coalition insurgents inside Iraq. And according to a British newspaper report yesterday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said his government had gathered information from intelligence services showing support for the insurgents from some neighboring countries. Zebari did not name the foreign powers, but the Sunday Telegraph quoted âsenior Iraqi officialsâ as indicating âthat Iran and Syria were the worst offendersâ.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:27:14 AM ||
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#1
Silly us... we keep getting our instructions confused... Ok, I remember we were supposed to head north from Kuwait to Baghdad but then was it a left to Damascus or a right to Tehran?
Iran, Syria Want Rapid Departure of Iraq Occupiers
So pull your terrorist boyz you sent out of Iraq, already. We're not stopping you.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2004 12:51 Comments ||
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#6
The beautiful serendipity of having such transparent and openly disingenuos enemies as the Mad Mullahs is beyond measure. It seems they are determined to make, as publicly as they can, the cassis belli for actions against them.
Only one fly in the ointment: the press. Will they report it. Report it all?
If they do, then the Mullahs will commit suicide by press release. Gotta love it, heh.
#7
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and his visiting Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, both called yesterday for the rapid departure of foreign troops from Iraq.
Do these creeps actually believe that someone actually gives a rat's ass what they think or want?
#8
When attempting to secure the truth, or something close to truthful intentions from these human lice, simply reverse the official statements on terrorism, nukes, oil, etc.
Iran-Syria know the clock is ticking from both rouge states, thus they will try and pour more slithering jihadists into Iraq in the hope, the focus of the Coalition will remain on Iraq.
Brother are these mullah mooks dumb! and Syria's ASSad ..that beenpole crumb should have remained a medial student in London for health concerns.
A US Navy fleet is on the way!
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 21:14 Comments ||
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Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 12:11:46 AM ||
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Can someone please tell me which is more merciful: frying someone in an electric chair (Texas style) or Beheading with a sword (Saudi Style)? If there is anybody who went through this experience, please share your knowledge with us.
#2
Texas puts murderers down like dogs, if I recall correctly. It's more humane than the electric chair.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 8:21 Comments ||
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#3
Why is "frying" someone considered "Texas style"? The electric chair was neither invented in Texas by Texans, nor was Texas last to use the electric chair as a form of execution.
In fact, the last time the electric chair was used in Texas was 1964. Forty years ago. Grow up. Learn to google.
#4
The interesting things here are:
1. that Muslims pretend that beheading isn't in the Quran or isn't an Islamic tradition
2. that the Jihadis behead people who came to Iraq to help Iraqis (as opposed to in Texas where people convicted of murder 1 are executed).
3. that all through the Islamic world there are groups who celebrate beheadings with joy
#7
i live in texas,and we dont fry people here!,and further more i have a some serving in iraq!! if you would like to know the differance ask the victims families!oh! yes i did take offence to that comment!!!
#9
Hello A6584 at RB we honor all those who serve, and all those civilians overseas working to make Iraq a better place. We are horrified at the actions of the despicable Zarqawi and I took offense at that comment as well.
#10
'Beheading' doesn't fully describe what happened. (Sorry to be blunt, but let's not let this argument get too muddled here.) Jihadis beheading westerners is more like "sawing people's heads off" (indicating a razoring action, extreme pain, and slow death).
God provide comfort to good people taken from us by subhumans.
The spokesman for militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr tempered threats to continue fighting Monday, saying his movement only planned to wage "peaceful resistance" against the interim government.
"Y'mean I could get hurt? Like, personally? Maybe we don't want to fight to the last drop of blood..."
Al-Sadr issued a statement Sunday from his office in the Shiite holy city of Najaf calling the new interim Iraqi government "illegitimate" and pledging "to continue resisting oppression and occupation to our last drop of blood." But Sadr's spokesman in Baghdad, Mahmoud al-Soudani, called a news conference Monday to clarify that the statement was not a call to arms. He said that many of al-Sadr's supporters in Baghdad had begun taking up arms again and he needed to correct their misperceptions. "We are still committed to the cease-fire," al-Soudani said.
"I mean, we want to avoid that Fallujah helizap thing..."
Before Sunday, al-Sadr had made conciliatory statements to the government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, a fellow Shiite, and members of his movement had suggested they might transform his al-Mahdi militia into a political party. Al-Sadr has made contradictory statements in the past.
Loons often do that...
His al-Mahdi militia battled American troops for nearly eight weeks leaving hundreds of people dead in the Shiite heartland until a cease-fire was reached last month. Sadr said Sunday that "there is no truce with the occupier and those who cooperate with it." Al-Mahdi fighters accepted cease-fires in most Shiite areas including the Baghdad district of Sadr City after suffering huge losses at the hands of the Americans. But al-Soudani said the militia can only be disbanded with the approval of its religious leaders or if all foreign troops leave the country. Allawi had announced that all militias should disband by the end of 2005 Al-Soudani did reiterate Sadr's statement that "the interim government is illegitimate."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 7:20:39 PM ||
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Tater need to learn when to STFU - he's going to nunace himself into a jail cell.
Rhetorical question: when will Sistani return to planet Earth? Oh, my bad, perhaps he was never here...
The African Union is preparing to send hundreds of troops to Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region where more than a million people have been uprooted by conflict, a senior AU official said on Monday. "The protection force will be deployed as soon as possible ... Forces from Rwanda and Nigeria are on standby. They are ready go to," AU Director of Peace and Security Sam Ibok told a news conference.
Wonder how the janjaweed will do against actual guys with guns? Assuming the AU troops bring their guns, of course...
The Darfur mission, announced on the eve of the annual summit of African leaders in Addis Ababa, will mark the organisation's only joint military deployment since it sent peacekeepers to Burundi in 2003. The AU has deployed unarmed observers to Darfur and had said if all parties agreed it was necessary, it would send armed troops to protect the monitors. Ibok said he was certain Sudan would not object. "We are confident that they will accept. It has been difficult, but we are talking to them," Ibok said.
Sounds like the fix is in. Powell must have been in fine form...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 6:43:30 PM ||
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It will be interesting to see where the troups come from. I am betting that South Africa doesn't send a single soldier. Mbeki's idea of leadership is simular to Kofi's.
I wonder if Colin could be elected to be the president of all of non-Islamic Africa if he really campaigned. If he actually demonstrates the ability to get things done in Africa, he will be an instant legend. I bet he could take Kofi's job if he wanted it.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/05/2004 23:47 Comments ||
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EFL
Foreign Muslim militants from across the Arab world have appeared in a chilling video tape which claimed they carried out some of the bloodiest bombings in Iraq (news - web sites) since the war ended.... The U.S. military and senior Iraqi officials have said for months that foreign fighters have played a major role in bombings and shootings that have killed thousands of people and destabilized the country. [but many Iraqis are in denial on this because "how could muslims do such things"].
.... In the video, Muslim militants in headdresses clutching rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles stand in the desert late at night as one of their ranks engages in what appears to be a pre-suicide bombing ritual. He reads a statement telling his father, mother, brother and loved ones that he will miss them after he performs his duty to wage holy war. Abu Harith al-Dosari, whose accent sounded [surprize]
Saudi, then climbs up into a large fuel truck and points to a electric cord that he will use to detonate a large bomb. Footage then shows him driving to Baghdadâs Kathimiya bridge, where the truck explodes into huge balls of fire. The video shows several young Muslim militants uttering their final words before carrying out major operations such as last yearâs massive truck bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Baghdad that killed 22 people... Some footage showed explosions while other parts just showed maps or the targets. The video showed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with his face sunk in his hands after last yearâs car bombing killed 19 Italians and nine Iraqis in the city of Nassiriya. It said an Egyptian identified as Abu Fareed who had lived in Italy carried out the bombing after killing Christians in Egypt first....
Key thing here is whether more Iraqis start believing that foreiger Arabs are responsible.
Rebels in northern Chad said Monday that they have handed over two Islamic extremists from Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat to the Libyan authorities. "Libya said it captured two people after fighting at the Chad-Libya border, but this is not true. These are two people who we handed over to the Libyan authorities," Aboubakar Radjab-Dazi, spokesman for the rebel Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT), told AFP in Libreville by telephone. The MDJT has claimed since mid-March that it held members of the GSPC, captured in Chad's northern Tibesti region. According to Radjab-Dazi, Tripoli acted as an intermediary in the prisoner transfer but did not hand the two alleged GSPC members on to the third country that had asked for them. In late May, the MDJT said it was holding talks with officials in Algiers about handing over members of the GSPC, Algeria's largest extremist group.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 6:37:17 PM ||
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NWFP Governor Lt General (r) Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah has said the government was ready to allow foreigners living in Wana to stay there provided that the local tribes guarantee foreigners do not indulge in any terrorism activities. He said the foreigners must also register with the authorities. Addressing a tribal jirga in Khyber Agency, the governor said development in the area could only happen if there was stable law and order. The governor told the tribesmen to keep an eye on potential trouble-makers. He said foreign miscreants were responsible for the bloodshed in Wana. The government had offered the foreigners amnesty but they did not accept, he said, adding that the offer was still valid.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 6:06:24 PM ||
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Afghanistanâs President Hamid Karzai has signed a decree permitting the death penalty for those convicted of child smuggling to use the victimâs body parts, a spokesman said Sunday. The eight-article decree was signed Saturday before Karzai left for a brief trip to the United States in response to growing concerns about the issue, presidential spokesman Jawad Ludin told AFP. All of the articles relate to the abduction of children and the decree states that the judiciary must hold public hearings into any cases of child kidnapping, trafficking or hostage taking. According to one of the articles, if the kidnapperâs crime results in the disabling or death of the child through loss of body organs âthen the perpetrator will be given the severest of possible punishments contained within the law,â Ludin said. âIf the act leads to the death of the child kidnapped the crime will be treated as premeditated murder,â he said. The death penalty is allowable under Afghanistanâs legal systems but all executions must be approved individually by the president.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 6:05:17 PM ||
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"someone" whether you are right or wrong matters not because your sentiment requires that I bless you with a 'FUCK YOU'.....
Posted by: Dorf ||
07/05/2004 22:03 Comments ||
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#3
I saw an investigative show several weeks ago that showed a Romanian father prostituting his 10 year old son outside a trailer part in Milan - I think it was. I would like to see Dad shipped to Karzai, and the kid shipped to the US. I'm sure we can find some parents that have lost a child that would love the little waif properly. Sounds like Karzai is the man with the plan for the dad.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 0:00 Comments ||
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In a report which might alternately be termed âstunningâ or âterrifyingâ, United Nations weapons inspectors confirmed last week not merely that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but that he smuggled them out of his country, before, during and after the war. Late last week, the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) briefed the Security Council on Saddamâs lightning-fast dismantling of missile and WMD sites before and during the war. UNMOVIC executive chairman Demetrius Perricos detailed not only the export of thousands of tons of missile components, nuclear reactor vessels and fermenters for chemical and biological warheads, but also the discovery of many (but not most) of these items - with UN inspection tags still on them -- as far afield as Jordan, Turkey and even Holland.
#1
Great! This report, which vindicates the Bush and Blair adminstrations, will be the lead story on every news broadcast around the world tonight, and on the front page of every paper tomorrow morning.
Oh, wait....
I'll be surprised if it's a one-inch story on page 37 of the NYT.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2004 17:25 Comments ||
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#2
According to the report it was revealed "last week"...
Why all the silence on the part of the liberal media lie machine here in America...
#3
Frankly, I don't believe this. It is certainly possible that some chem and bio stuff was smuggled out. However, there is no way a nuclear reactor vessel could have been smuggled out. It would have been spotted.
#6
There are a lot of componants to a nuclear reactor. Some vessels, the containment vessel, are very large. There are also a whole lot of smaller vessels that could easily be transported and since most probably they were never assembled into a reactor would not be radioactive.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/05/2004 18:47 Comments ||
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#7
Sonic
I looked at the report in the link you provided (thank you).
There wasn't anything in it about a nuclear reactor vessel. In fact the report didn't really say that much about WMDs. However, it did have a lot of info about missles.
This information was known to the U.N. then and they ignored the facts in an attempt to make Bush look bad. The Dems on the Hill knew as well. The President could not come forth declaring the nations harbouring the WMD knowing the Dems would refuse to support a resolution to the problem, coupled with the fact, the time was not geostrategicaly correct for additional major military moves. It is now.
Israel has monitored every significant development since the WMD departed Iraqi soil...nuff said.
The problem today is, since that time frame in early 2003, when these WMD were 'trucked' out, the bulk of the weapons are first off aging, have been moved around numerous occasions in Lebanon & Syria whenever the eyes on the ground & sky nailed the WMD locations, plus some of Saddam weapons of mass murder made to Jordan, for the reported failed al-Qa'ida terrorist attack which could have resulted in up to between 80,000 to 100.000 people being murdered in the capitol of Amman .
The only way to resolve the issue in terms of the enemy NOT being able to utilize these chemical and biological weapons is take out the enemy, from the top downward, which means; Iran, Syria-Lebanon must have dramatic alterations of governing ruling bodies.
The Left can not be allowed to continue to influence matters of extreme national & international security, when all they really care about is not the protection of the nation's public, but regaining pure political power....at any cost!
The Islamic jihadist enemy does not differentiate between radical sell-outs and other real Americans when they butcher them in cold blood. The radical left did not learn a bloody thing in Spain after Al-Qa'ida slaughtered multi-scores of innocent train passengers and neither will the 'American' leftists, the enemy within.
The countdown to remove one of OPEC's chief promoters of jihadic terrorism has already begun. Once Iran has been removed as a state sponsored Islamic terrorist threat, Syria-Lebanon shall be insulated and much easier to deal with once and for all.
The other very significant OPEC oil funded terrorist state threat is of course Saudi Arabia. Like the jihadists have stated, The House of Saud is like a ripened grape ready to be plucked from the vine. Allowing the Saudi 'royals' to collapse from within by the very jihadist Frankenstein's they themselves created, maybe be the best solution, as long as those in the allied West, immediately fill the gap and totally crush the jihadist movement within Arabia and re-secure Saudi crude oil products completely away from the fanatical anti-western, Muslim enemy.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 19:56 Comments ||
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A Palestinian poll published on Monday revealed that 64 percent of the Palestinians support an Egyptian initiative for security in the Gaza Strip in case of an Israeli pullout.
The other 36% will become more enthusiastic after being visited by the Egyptian police.
Meanwhile, 88 percent of Palestinians encourage the Islamic resistance movement Hamas to participate in elections, according to the poll, made by the Palestinian Central for Political Studies AND published on the Jerusalem-based "Al-Quds" daily. The poll also revealed that81 percent of Palestinians agree on merging the Palestinian security apparatuses. The poll said that 87 percent of Palestinians approve on appointing a new and more active interior minister while 53 percent approve on Egyptâs intention to send Egyptian security experts to the territories. Meanwhile, the poll revealed that 60 percent agree on sending international forces to the territories in order to take over the Gaza Stripâs passages and ports.
Send in the mighty Uruguayans!
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharonâs unilateral plan was approved only by 34 percent of Palestinians while only 24 percent of them believe that Sharon was serious about the evacuation. Moreover, the poll said that 58 percent of Palestinians residing in the Gaza Strip approve on destroying the Jewish settlements, due to be evacuated by Israel as part of the unilateral evacuation plan. The poll, performed between June 24-27, targeted a random sample comprising of 1,320 Palestinians residing in different areas of the territories.
"targeted"? There's an interesting use of the word.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 11:38:11 AM ||
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Meanwhile, 88 percent of Palestinians encourage the Islamic resistance movement Hamas to participate in elections, according to the poll ...
While Hamas takes great pains to cloak its subversion with humanitarian activities, their involvement in terrorism is apparent to all. That 88% of Palestinians seek political inclusion for a known terrorist organization is an effective popular avowal of terrorism.
Palestine must now be shown the political door. Their leaders and people alike should be marginalized by all countries and their infant government strangled in the cradle. All of it is infected beyond hope of survival.
In light of the UN's barely concealed anti-Semitism, perhaps they should somehow be compelled to police the Palestinian territories. I would find it rather amusing to have these spineless dweebs put in terrorism's crossfire for a change. The notion of Hamas et al, happily blowing away those morons who de facto sanctioned the Intifada would be more than hilarious.
#2
the fact that 88% of Paleos want Hamas to be in elections also could mean that Hamas would be more trusted to maintain garbage, water, sewage and postal service than Yassir's gang.
#3
mhw - The Paleos have garbage, water, and sewage service?
It's not evident from the pictures we're always seeing.
Not sure about postal service - can they read and write? Do they use it for mailing bomb components?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2004 17:21 Comments ||
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#4
barbara
Yes. Surprizingly, the Paleo municipal services do work. They don't have 1st world efficiency (for example, the water isn't very good and I think the ISM terror enablers probably buy bottled water).
#5
'the UN's barely concealed anti-Semitism,' Bingo! Right on the money!
88% favour Hamas, that is the bottom line. A people dedicated to terrorism. 88% is an overwhelming landside in anyone's book!
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 20:08 Comments ||
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#6
Paeo utilities work, with OUR money. The locals are too busy trying to push the Jooos into teh sea to fix their treated water, sewer, power facilities. If all the money they collect went to good deeds they'd be further ahead, but then again, they wouldn't be Paleos, the losers of the Middle East
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 20:34 Comments ||
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#1
Sherry, they seem every bit as lucid an intelligent as the two killers in the movie Fargo. They should really lay off the heroin or whatever they are using for bravery juice. Maybe they can have a designated unstoned guy for the duration of each mission. They are saying he is in a safe place. I assume that to mean that he is not being kept in a safehouse in Fallujah.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 0:09 Comments ||
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Approximately 45 Royal Marines from the Kingdom of Tonga have arrived in Iraq to augment the I Marine Expeditionary Force in the Al Anbar Province, marking the first peacekeeping deployment for the Tongan Defense Service outside of the South Pacific. "The 1st Marine Division welcomes the addition of the Tongan Royal Marines to our forces," said Col. Stephen Baker, the commanding officer of Headquarters Battalion, 1st Marine Division -- the unit the Tongans will be augmenting. "We are thankful for their countryâs commitment to help us bring security and stability to the Iraqis in the Al Anbar Province and we look forward to working with them." The Royal Marines are members of a ready reaction force and will augment existing security for the 1st Marine Division Headquarters at Camp Blue Diamond Main. The duration of their deployment is unknown at this time. Tonga decided to join in the fight against global terrorism June 15.
The terrorists in Gaza already know what they are :)
The IDF has begun bombarding Gaza settlers with newspapers, reported Channel 2 news Monday. The publication, issued by the IDF, purports to tell Palestinians "The Truth" â as the publication is called â about the terrorist organizations. "These organizations are not interested in helping you, but in harming you," it says. "They have attacked the Gaza â Israeli industrial zones in order to raise the level of poverty and frustration, which is in their interest."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 1:47:25 PM ||
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If I were a a Palestinian entrepreneur, I would think about founding a start-up company in a sector that has recently come into vogue in the States - crime scene clean-up.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 0:12 Comments ||
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A network of Saddam Husseinâs cousins, operating in part from Syria and Jordan, is actively involved in the smuggling of guns, people and money into Iraq to support the anti-American insurgency, say American government officials and a prominent Iraqi. The operations involve at least three cousins from the Majid family who now live in Syria and in Europe, the American officials said. A leading figure among them is Fatiq Suleiman al-Majid, a cousin of Mr. Husseinâs and a former officer in Iraqâs Special Security Organization who fled from Iraq to Syria last spring and may still be living there. The view that the cousins are helping finance the insurgency developed fairly recently and is described in intelligence reports, the American officials say. They said the conclusion was based in part on suspicious recent movements of money and goods, including the transfer of cash into Syria, that were detected by American intelligence. Still, the military and intelligence officials have acknowledged that a significant component of the resistance, including some of its foot soldiers, comes from Iraqis without ties to Mr. Husseinâs government.
Mr. Husseinâs family has a history of intermarriage with the Majid clan; his own full name is Saddam Hussein al-Majid al-Tikriti. Under his government, the Majid family was a particularly feared branch of the ruling Tikriti tribe. Its members played prominent roles in the day-to-day operations of the countryâs state security apparatus, as bodyguards, enforcers and secret-police chiefs, and the cousins who now live outside Iraq have access to tens of millions of dollars, much of it derived from smuggling oil, military equipment and other goods in and out of Iraq under Mr. Hussein, the American officials said.
Fatiq al-Majid, said to be in his 30âs and described as "a main money man" in the operation, has been living in Syria with the knowledge of the Syrian authorities, American officials said. In addition to being Mr. Husseinâs cousin, he was a brother-in-law of Mr. Husseinâs son Qusay and is a nephew of Ali Hassan al-Majid, the general who became known as Chemical Ali for gassing thousands of Kurds in the 1980âs. The prominent Iraqi who provided information about the network aiding the insurgency, Samir Shaker Mahmoud al-Sumeidi, was a member of the Iraqi Governing Council. He served briefly this spring as interior minister and was responsible for security. He recently described another Majid, Izzadin, as "now financing a lot of the activities of the insurgents." The statement by Mr. Sumeidi, at an appearance in Washington last month, was the first public reference to the concerns about the role played by the Majid family. In response to inquiries about Mr. Sumeidiâs statement and about other information provided by former intelligence officials, American officials confirmed that intelligence reports had provided information linking Izzadin al-Majid, Fatiq al-Majid and at least one other member of the family, along with some associates, to operations in support of the Iraqi insurgency. The American officials declined to speak publicly about the information because the intelligence reports in which it is spelled out are classified.
"I am not permitted to say more!"
In 1995, Izzadin al-Majid, then a major in the Republican Guard, fled Iraq with a group that included his cousin Hussein Kamel al-Majid, a son-in-law of Mr. Husseinâs. Hussein Kamel and a brother who had also fled returned to Iraq in 1996, and were killed there, leaving Izzadin al-Majid in control of a large portion of the familyâs assets, the American officials said. He was granted asylum in Britain in 2000, and has since maintained a home in Leeds. His involvement after leaving Iraq in smuggling operations that involved members of Mr. Husseinâs government suggest that he maintained close ties there, a former intelligence official said.
So is he a plant or did he and Sammy work things out?
American officials say Izzadin al-Majid now travels frequently between Europe, Jordan and Iraq. In a brief telephone conversation from Europe, he dismissed the accusations of involvement in the insurgency as groundless and said he had last seen his cousin Fatiq in 1994, though he had spoken to him last year by phone.
"Lies! All lies!"
The American officials identified the third family member as Ezz al-Dain al-Majidi al-Tikriti, another cousin of Hussein Kamel, who they said owned a printing plant and had access to black-market wealth. The indication that exiles linked to the former Iraqi government are helping to finance, recruit and organize the insurgency adds a new dimension to a picture that has been sketched in recent months by a broad range of military and intelligence officers. In recent days, several senior military and diplomatic officials have said there is limited intelligence on the command and control â the "central nervous system," as some called it â of the Iraqi resistance.
According to the general understanding, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant, and his followers are now regarded as the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq, and have been blamed for most major bombings. But the larger core of the insurgency, involving as many as 5,000 fighters and responsible for many more attacks, is seen as being organized and directed by former Iraqi officials and those they can enlist to carry out attacks, who may sometimes include foreign fighters. In Congressional testimony last month, the deputy defense secretary, Paul D. Wolfowitz, described former associates of Mr. Husseinâs as "as a significant part of the enemy that weâre facing, and theyâre still out there." Among those still at large, he identified Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a former top deputy to Mr. Hussein, as someone who who is "probably funding terrorism." Untangling the question of who has been financing the insurgency has been an "extremely important" priority for American military and intelligence officials, and the indication of the exilesâ role is among several pieces of information pointing to flows of financing, manpower and weapons that begin outside Iraq, according to a senior military officer serving in Iraq. The officer said the effort to uncover that trial had already "led us to and through several countries, and several individuals, who are funding parts of the current insurgency in several organizations."
In addition to the Majid cousins, some business associates and trusted friends also appeared to be involved in the financing operation, the American officials said. Ties to Hussein Kamel appeared to be a common link. He married Mr. Husseinâs daughter Raghad in 1985, and by the mid-1990âs, was seen as the second-most-powerful figure in Iraq, having been put in charge of reconstruction after the Persian Gulf war of 1991 and of Iraqâs illicit weapons programs. After fleeing with his brother, Saddam, to Jordan in August 1995, Hussein Kamel provided the Jordanian authorities and Western intelligence services with new information about Mr. Husseinâs efforts to hide illicit weapons from United Nations inspectors. But within six months, he and Saddam were persuaded to return to Iraq; after their return, they, their children and other members of their families were killed. Neither Mr. Sumeidi or the American officials have tried to offer an explanation for why people linked to Hussein Kamel would now be working to support insurgents affiliated with other former members of Mr. Husseinâs government.
As is the case with Iran, the question of the degree to which Syria is being used as a base for the insurgency in Iraq has never been clear. But American officials described evidence last spring that Syria was being used as a transit point for militants, money and weapons being brought into Iraq for use in attacks against American forces. In addition to Fatiq al-Majid, who has never been on any public American wanted list, more prominent members of the former Iraqi government have been described by American intelligence officials as having spent time in Syria after the major combat phase of the war in Iraq ended in May 2003. Defense Department officials have said they believe that the two Hussein sons, Uday and Qusay, spent time in Syria before they returned to Iraq and were killed by American forces last July, Pentagon officials said. The American officials said new information about the activities of the Majid cousins had added to their concerns. They said Fatiq al-Majid appeared to have transferred large amounts of money into Syria to aid the insurgency, and might have been involved in buying weapons and assisting fighters who sought to enter Iraq.
Mr. Sumeidi is a highly regarded Sunni who is seen in Iraq as a rival of Ahmad Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress. Mr. Sumeidi, who was replaced by the new prime minister, Iyad Allawi, made his public remarks in a June 24 appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research organization in Washington. Mr. Sumeidi identified Izzadin al-Majid only by his first name and his biography, and he declined to identify any countries that were the source of his concern about support for the insurgency, saying that "it doesnât help to name specific countries." Still, he went on, "letâs look at the situation around Iraq." "Not every country adjacent to Iraq feels entirely happy with the demise of Saddam Hussein and the potential for building up a modern democratic system. It is understandable that some of them will feel threatened. I will not go into any more details on this."
Can we arrange for some accidents in the al-Majid family?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/05/2004 1:53:45 PM ||
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U.S. jets attacked a house in the turbulent city of Fallujah on Monday, witnesses and police said. Ambulances headed to the eastern side of the city, where U.S. airstrikes have frequently targeted safehouses used by members of Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawiâs network. Rescue workers picked up body parts, witnesses said. "U.S. jets shelled a residential house in the al-Shuhdaa neighborhood in Fallujah," said police Capt. Mekky Hussein al-Zaidan. The U.S. military had no comment on the attack. Zaidan had no word on casualties, but Reuters, citing accounts from residents, said as many as five people were killed. Al-Arabiya, the Arabic satellite news network, reported that as many as 15 people were killed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/05/2004 1:35:57 PM ||
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#1
Gotta make things a little tense over there ...
#4
SNM, if you chart the numbers of terrorists killed per whacking and the slope decreases that can be a good thing. Kind of like a Tragedy Comedy of Commons.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 0:15 Comments ||
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A terrorist threat forced the British High Commission in Pakistan to close and the US Embassy to postpone a reception marking American Independence Day, officials said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said Pakistan was giving âfull protectionâ to the diplomatic missions in the capital, Islamabad. He declined to give details of the nature of the threat.
"I will say no more!"
âSecurity around these two missions has been beefed up,â Khan told a news conference. âThereâs no cause for worry. All the precautionary steps have been taken.â He said the British mission had been temporarily closed. It was not immediately clear when it would reopen.
A US Embassy official said the threat was against the diplomatic enclave in the capital where most foreign missions are based, rather than against a particular embassy.
The official said a reception for foreign diplomats and Pakistani government officials scheduled at the US Embassyâs high-security compound was postponed today â a day after Independence Day. The embassy was closed for the holiday today.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 11:14:19 AM ||
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Monday, July 5, 2004 Posted: 12:01 PM EDT (1601 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraqâs interim government delayed indefinitely an announcement on a possible partial-amnesty deal for low-level insurgents, a spokesman for interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Monday. Smart move, guys. Give the scum a taste of bootheel first before tossing them a bone. No sense in making nice to the hardcore types without showing them what awaits further resistance.
Sunday, government spokesman George Sada told CNN that none of the "hard-core" criminals -- including those accused of murder -- would be eligible for amnesty. Only those who were "misled" by the leaders of the insurgency would qualify, he said. Gonna get some help from the Yemeni and Saudi courts to sort out these harmless types?
However, many questions about a possible amnesty remain, including who would be covered by such a deal and how strict it would be. The interim government hopes to use a limited amnesty to weaken the ties within the insurgency between the former Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein and the militants, seen as a growing alliance. As with all theories, it looks better on paper than in real life.
Iraqi official sources have told CNN that an amnesty could cover 5,000 supporters of Saddam Husseinâs former regime who are involved in the insurgency against Americans and the interim government. In exchange, they would be asked to disarm and for information leading to the capture or killing of insurgency leaders. Nudge, nuge ... ya hear that, Sadr?
It was not clear if an amnesty would cover Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shiite Muslim cleric charged by an Iraqi court in the April 2003 murder of a rival. His Mehdi Army militia has battled U.S. and other coalition troops for weeks in the southern Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala and the surrounding area. Why has it not been made clear that there is no deal for Sadr on the books. Itâs not like that would polarize things any more than they are already.
Al-Sadr on Friday denounced the interim government in Iraq as no different from the U.S. occupation. In other news, Pope and bear. Tape at 11:00. Still, a less than subtle message to the interim Iraqi government. Sadrâs thugs have cheerfully been killing Americans. If they do not see any difference, then they have effectively just threatened to begin killing Iraqi government heads. Did that come through loud and clear, Allawi?
Still, Allawi said on ABCâs "This Week" in a taped interview broadcast Sunday that al-Sadr had told the interim government through an intermediary that he wanted to participate in Iraqâs new political process. Good, make Sadrâs the second celebrity trial when Saddamâs is finished. Thatâs about all the "participation" Sadr deserves.
#1
As Yogi Berra sagaciously opined, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it!"
Perhaps Allawi recognizes the "Arab Way" is worth reconsidering. We'll see. The amnesty idea has never been fully reported - who, said what, when, why, etc. Maybe it's essentially a press thingy. And, if so, prolly an Al Jizz ploy. We shall see. Until then, pfeh.
#2
I'd like to think this whole "amnesty" concept was merely a trial balloon to test the waters for readily available converts. However, its timing was entirely wrong, as may be its intentions too. It appears as more of an appeasement than any sort of functional disarmament tool and that is the biggest problem of all.
Allawi would gain more "street cred" by going full bore against the insurgents before handing out any free passes. While he's pretty shorthanded at the moment, carefully husbanding Iraq's limited troop strength and making a good show of force in even just one select area (i.e., Fallujah) would make more sense than simply taking it laying down.
Unfortunate as it is, many Middle Eastern cultures apparently respond best to fairly ruthless application of force. While it's important for them to eventually get over such a primative modus operandi, if it remains the only way of telegraphing serious intent, then Allawi must needs be consider doing so.
Sadr's thugs display Neanderthal levels of finesse at best and don't deserve anything else in return. Flowery diplomacy seems pretty well lost on Sadr himself, so hoping that his cadres will comprehend much more than naked application of force is a lot to expect.
#3
Very mysteriouso, this Lebanese-American marine who maybe went AWOL or was kidnapped?? was beheaded or released??? and if he was released is it because he was a Muslim or because there was fear of marine retribution???
Anyways, here is a news article about the words used to describe the marine's imminent release, maybe, perhaps: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10055939%255E1702,00.html ...A US marine held hostage in Iraq has been released, according to a statement said to be from an Islamic militant group...The US marines said they had no news of Hassoun's release and were still listing him as captured.
"We're not going to comment on what al-Jazeera is saying," said Lieutenant Corporal T.V. Johnson. "When we have more information on his status, which is proven, we'll release it."
There was some confusion over the statement this morning, with one media outlet interpreting it differently. The Associated Press reported the group said it was holding Cpl Hassoun, but that he was safe at a location it did not identify. Yesterday, the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sunna group denied a statement issued in its name and posted on the Internet a day earlier saying it had executed Cpl Hassoun...
Posted by: rex ||
07/05/2004 18:36 Comments ||
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U.S. jets attacked a house in the turbulent city of Fallujah on Monday, witnesses and police said. As many as 15 people were killed in the blast, an Arab television station reported. Ambulances headed to the eastern side of the city, where U.S. airstrikes have frequently targeted safehouses used by members of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawiâs network. Rescue workers picked up body parts, witnesses said. "U.S. jets shelled a residential house in the al-Shuhdaa neighborhood in Fallujah," said police Officer KrupkeCapt. Mekky Hussein al-Zaidan. They wuz depraved cuz they wuz deprived
The U.S. military had no comment on the attack. Get that smirk off your face, Major
He had no word on casualties, but Al-Arabiya reported that as many as 15 human cockroaches people were killed. U.S. forces have hit the area with four airstrikes since June 19, killing dozens of murdering slimeballs. Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant linked to al-Qaida, is believed to be behind a series of coordinated attacks on police and security forces that killed 100 people only days before U.S. forces handed over power to an Iraqi interim government. You can run and hide, but your days are numbered.
Al-Zarqawi also is believed to be behind the beheading of two hostages, American Nicholas Berg and South Korean Kim Sun-il. He probably threw acid in his sisterâs face, too.
U.S. authorities have increased to $25 million the reward for information leading to his arrest, more than doubling the previous $10 million bounty.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 14:23 ||
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#1
Compared to Hillary Sadr is a girl scout. And it's not like Kerry has a lot of good choices. Sure, why not: Kerry-Sadr '04, We'll Flip and Flop.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
07/05/2004 19:55 Comments ||
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#2
I think that Kerry's fianl announcement will be funny. I expect that within 24 hours of Kerry's announcement Bush will name Tenet's replacement. The whooshing sound will be hard vacuum being restored to Kerry's campaign.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/06/2004 0:25 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. jets attacked a house in the turbulent city of Fallujah on Monday, witnesses and police said. As many as 15 people were killed in the blast, an Arab television station reported. Iâm waiting for the Reuters version that says they were all women and children... and then the Al-Jazeera version that claims it was a day care center.
#1
Damn I keep forgetting to say page 1 or page 2... this should be 1.
Fred, Maybe you should have an interstitial screen that asks what page, so we don't forget... or maybe instead a javascript popup that asks.... or maybe I should just pay attention next time and get the page right ;)
Colin Powell has just made a high-profile trip to Sudan to examine at first hand the abominations in Darfur, the western province that is the worldâs latest killing field.
The Secretary of Stateâs visit also throws a spotlight on another unfortunate global reality. Once again the world is calling on the U.S. to stop a horror that the United Nations and everybody else have failed to act against. The killing of black Muslim tribesmen by government-backed Arab militias has been going on since February of last year. But while the worldâs moralists are in full cry about the threat of "another Rwanda," no one sees fit to actually do something. No one, that is, except the U.S.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been raising the alarm about Darfur--and he also visited there this week--but not until two weeks ago did the Security Council call for an immediate halt to the fighting. This being the U.N., the resolution was toothless. Permanent members China and France are worried about jeopardizing their business interests in Sudan. Pakistan and Algeria, which hold temporary seats, refuse to impose sanctions on a fellow Muslim nation even as it is engaged in the mass killing of Muslims.
Rather, the event that finally caught the attention of the government in Khartoum was the Bush Administrationâs threat last month to impose serious sanctions on Sudan and refuse visas to Sudanese officials. The next day Sudanâs president went on state radio to say he had ordered a "complete mobilization" to disarm the warring parties in Darfur. Weâll see. This regime is not known for keeping its promises.
The ostensible reason for Europeâs reluctance to pressure Sudan on Darfur is fear of torpedoing a peace deal between Khartoum and the south, where government forces have been slaughtering and enslaving Christian and animist Africans. But Europeâs concern is rich with hypocrisy. That conflict, in which some two million people have died, has been going on for 21 years--while Europe watched.
Again, it was the U.S. that finally did something. The Bush Administration, under the leadership of special envoy John Danforth (soon to be ambassador to the U.N.), deserves most of the credit for brokering the deal.
A better measure of Europeâs concern about Darfur was evident at the recent European Union summit, where one has to turn to page 18 of the summit conclusions to find a small paragraph about Darfur. The most forceful language the EU could muster was "deep concern" regarding Sudanâs "humanitarian crisis," as if what is happening in Darfur is a tragic act of nature rather than a rampage by murderous, ruthless men.
If Europe wonât come to the rescue of the people of Darfur, how about their fellow Muslims? The Arab League statement at its May summit didnât mention Darfur at all. Instead, it reaffirmed "the Arab statesâ solidarity with the sisterly Republic of Sudan, and their determination to preserve its unity and territorial integrity." Kamel Labidi explains the Muslim worldâs moral failure in a related column.
Nor, alas, can the Sudanese people expect much from their fellow Africans. It was the Africa bloc at the U.N. that played a key role in the farce that resulted in Sudanâs re-appointment to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in May. Sudanâs fellow Africans also helped undermine a resolution in April designed to appoint a special human rights rapporteur for Darfur. Yes, the African Union is leading a group of observers to monitor a cease-fire that has yet to take hold. But it is sending a grand total of 120 troops--including a munificent contribution of six from Europe--to monitor a region the size of France.
The lesson of Sudan is that the world is a Hobbesian place outside the U.S. sphere of influence. Sudanâs social contract is straight out of "Leviathan"; citizens are guaranteed security only if they abide by the absolute authority of a monarch.
The real problem, as everyone knows but no one will admit, is Sudanâs murderous regime. But Mr. Annan and company canât abide regime change, and in any case the U.S. military is too preoccupied to make that happen. That means weâre left with diplomatic pressure and visits like Mr. Powellâs, which are better than nothing but donât solve the long-term problem.
It is fashionable these days to express distaste for American "unilateralism" and "hegemony." The unfolding catastrophe in Darfur offers a chilling view of what the alternative really looks like.
Posted by: tipper ||
07/05/2004 11:12:55 AM ||
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#1
Set aside humanitarianism for a minute and look at the situation with pragmatism. There are only two strong groups in the Sudan: the Arabs, and the Christians and Animists. The Moslem blacks have no power, are a hated minority, and yet are just across the border from the Congo, which can and will protect them, and to which they are fleeing.
What are the two alternatives here? That somehow the Arabs be coerced into accepting them, integrating them, giving them equal rights or limited autonomy? It isn't going to happen, any more than the Arabs would respect the South if it was weak.
The other alternative is that Sudan is comfortably split, like so many other countries, into the (Arab) Moslems, and other religions, and the (black) Moslems find a new home with those who *will* accept them, integrate with them, and give them some degree of equal rights.
So the final argument is how do the Arabs get them to leave and not come back? It will be painful, no matter what, this ethnic cleansing, but that doesn't mean that it has to be murderous. If that final point alone can be mitigated, perhaps that is the best possible outcome that reasonably could be hoped for.
#2
The article's scathing condemnation of the incredible hypocrisy of most of the world is spot-on. Who, besides the maligned-for-sport US, has actually acted to attenuate the horrific effects of the Arab / Islamic cleansing? Pfeh. Enough of the EU mewling, complicit shenanigans, and under the table dealing. Enough of the African "bloc" of thugs and whores who only awaken from their pocket-stuffing trance when there's new Aid money to steal. Enough of the UN hand-wringing prevarication, duplicity, farcical 'Human Rights' inaction, and utter grid-lock of corruption. Enough of the sick twisted jokes of the Arab League and the notion of "Muslim Gov't" and Shari'a "Law" - pure tragic theater, yet real enough to the dead victims and slaves taken.
A5545 - I see one strategic advantage to your suggestion...
Sudan has started disarming Arab militias accused of sowing death and terror in its western region of Darfur and is confident the process will proceed smoothly, Foreign Minster Mustafa Osman Ismail said yesterday. âIt is under way,â Ismail said, following his governmentâs pledge on Saturday to disarm the Arab âJanjaweedâ fighters responsible for uprooting more than one million people and creating what the United Nations has called the worldâs worst humanitarian crisis. But rebels said the operation was a cover for preparations for a new wave of ethnic cleansing. They said a large government force was being mobilized in the regional capital. Ismail said a joint commission agreed during last weekâs visit to the region by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan would verify the disarmament of the militia. âWe are making real progress,â he told Reuters.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:30:59 AM ||
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#1
...Suuuuuuuuuuuure you are, Izzy.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/05/2004 12:19 Comments ||
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...a joint commission agreed during last weekâs visit to the region by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan would verify the disarmament of the militia.
A pretty good hint where the low level UNSCAM suspects will be spending their summer...
#4
As I was trying to say when I screwed up large parts of page 1, (argh!) the militia's role has been "cleaning up" after the villagers in the Darfur are initially attacked by airplanes and helicopters.
I seriously doubt the airplanes and helicopters are run by freelance militias. In fact, I think they're only marginally affordable for Sudan's government. Which suggests to me that attacking the airplanes, helicopters, or the pipelines that pay for them might be very helpful.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
07/05/2004 16:42 Comments ||
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#5
Have you been saved from the salmon Phil?
Posted by: The Rev Dr Shipman ||
07/05/2004 17:20 Comments ||
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#6
No Rev, I just need to be saved from my own typoes. Drat.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
07/05/2004 17:35 Comments ||
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#7
Oh, things seem to be fixed now. Thanks to whoever did it.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
07/05/2004 21:07 Comments ||
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#2
My son emailed me on the morning of July 3rd that after an all day convoy he crossed the Iraq-Kuwait border at night and is packing up and waiting for transport to Germany. He fought with both the 1st AD and recently with the 2nd ACR. When he gets regular Internet access, I'll find out what really happened.
Insurgents fired rockets at a government building in southern Iraq early Monday, but instead struck nearby homes, wounding eight people, police said. The attacks that occurred shortly after midnight were directed at the province's main offices near the center of the city. The insurgents "missed and hit nearby homes instead," said Capt. Mushtaq Khaled of the Basra Police. The condition of the wounded was not immediately known.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:13:18 AM ||
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#1
Sounds like the same situation as the Captain and the recruits in Stripes.
"Fire that mortar, son, your government has spent plenty on it."
"But we are not set up yet."
"Fire it, now."
Seargent Hulka: "Incoming!!!!"
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/05/2004 14:32 Comments ||
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Iraqi officials arrested two Iranians trying to detonate a car bomb Monday in a residential neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, authorities said. Iraqi officials have blamed foreign fighters and religious extremists for a wave of vehicle bombings in recent months. The arrests Monday were the first time they actually captured any foreign fighters, according to Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, an interior ministry spokesman. Abdul-Rahman said the men had been captured in the Talbiyah neighborhood as they tried to set off a car bomb. He did not elaborate on what their target was.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 10:06:34 AM ||
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#1
More proof of whom is really behind the wave of terrorism directed at disrupting the general Iraqi economy including crude oil exports.
Iran's OPEC oil flows to customers, earning billions for continued jihad, while Iraq's pipelines are blown up, by Iranian agents.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 11:18 Comments ||
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Time for a little tit-for-tat,Seals go after the pumping terminals,F-117's for the pipe lines.
#4
Only 2? We'd better get cracking on the other 12,948.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2004 12:52 Comments ||
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The Iraqi government should rapidly place the two captured Iranian terrorist agents on Iraqi TV. A little talk show is in order, with the infiltrated Iranians spilling the beans about just how deeply Tehran's mullahs really are in fostering Iraqi domestic economic terror.
The captured Iranian terrorists should be made into a major media event exposing Iran's & Syrian promotion of deliberate sabotage of Iraq's only exported commodity, crude oil.
(To-Tell-the-Truth, injections shall be administered to Iran's terrorists agents prior to the show going on air.)
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 13:14 Comments ||
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#6
Perhaps they could borrow the Time video studio so they can do a slick production. Think Time's Baghdad Bureau would cooperate with the non-jihadis?
From a Marine officer on the Iraqi warfront with Jihadistan...
(This is an open letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, "Islamic Response," and the rest of the so-called al-Qaâida "insurgents" in Iraq and elsewhere. We donât have an e-mail address for these swine -- though we are closing in on their snail-mail address, but we are forwarding this letter to Federalist Patriots around the world in the hope you good people will forward it to as many other Patriots as possible to rally prayer and support for our fellow Marine, Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun. Should these al-Qaâida pigs spill his blood, we want them to rest assured that the contents of this letter will eventually be nailed to their foreheads. Thank you for your assistance.)
To al-Qaâida terrorists in Iraq:
I see that you have captured a U.S. Marine, and that you plan to cut off his head if your demands are not met. Big mistake. Before you carry out your threat I suggest you read up on Marine Corps history. The Japanese tried the same thing on Makin Island and in a few other places during World War Two, and came to regret it. Go ahead and read about what then happened to the mighty Imperial Army on Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. They paid full price for what they did, and you will too.
You look at America and you see a soft target, and to a large extent you are right. Our country is filled with a lot of spoiled children who drive BMWs, sip decaf lattes and watch ridiculous reality TV shows. They are for the most part decent, hard working citizens, but they are soft. When you cut off Nick Bergâs head those people gasped, and you got the media coverage you sought, and then those people went back to their lives. This time it is different. We also have a warrior culture in this country, and they are called Marines. It is a brotherhood forged in the fire of many wars, and the bond between us is stronger than blood. While it is true that this country has produced nitwits like John Kerry, Michael Moore, Howard Dean and Jane Fonda who can be easily manipulated by your gruesome tactics, we have also produced men like Jason Dunham, Brian Chontosh and Joseph Perez. If you donât recognize those names you should. They are all Marines who distinguished themselves fighting to liberate Iraq, and there will be many more just like them coming for you.
Before the current politically correct climate enveloped our culture one of the recruiting slogans of our band of brothers was "The Marine Corps Builds Men." You will soon find out just how true that is. You, on the other hand, are nothing but a bunch of women. If you were men you would show your faces, and take us on in a fair fight. Instead, you are cowards who hide behind masks and decapitate helpless victims. If you truly represented the interest of the Iraqi people you would not be ambushing those who come to your country to repair your power plants, or sabotage the oil pipelines which fuel the Iraqi economy. Your agenda is hate, plain and simple.
When you raise that sword over your head I want you to remember one thing. Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun is not alone as he kneels before you. Every Marine who has ever worn the uniform is there with him, and when you strike him you are striking all of us. If you think the Marines were tough on you when they were cleaning out Fallujah a few weeks ago you havenât seen anything yet. If you want to know what it feels like to have the Wrath of God called down upon you then go ahead and do it. We are not Turkish truck drivers, or Pakistani laborers, or independent contractors hoping to find work in your country. We are the United States Marines, and we will be coming for you.
Got this from the same cousin who sent me Running Eagle.
Posted by: Raptor ||
07/05/2004 9:09:25 AM ||
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#2
Only one problem, Bush and media will never let us take the gloves off, if 9/11 didn't get the gloves off, I don't know what will, and this may seem horrible to say,but maybe a large gathering of the media and liberals, somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 people, killed by radical islamists, might and I do mean might, get one glove off, people say it all the time, if the media we have today was around in 41 we would be a Jap or German territory......could we solve the problem in 2004, sure, but no one and I mean no one, would use WWII tactics, which worked, today. Hell, I would vote for Kerry if he promised to wage war against the islamists the way FDR fought wwII....
#3
Unfortunately the event that finally lets the gloves come off will probably result in ELF messages being sent to several Trident missile subs or similiar messages to Minuteman or Peacekeeper wings on the western plains. One day these morons will get their hands on nukes. And with the porosity of our borders getting one in should be childs play. If that day comes and I pray it nevers does the future tourists of Tehran, Damascus, Mecca, Medina, Qum and other "garden spots" in the Muddle East had better be wearing Radiation Suits
#4
If that day comes and I pray it nevers does the future tourists of Tehran, Damascus, Mecca, Medina, Qum and other "garden spots" in the Muddle East had better be wearing Radiation Suits
If this is seen as the ultimate upshot of a terrorist nuclear attack, why isn't America making this loudly known to all Islamic cultures. I propose retaliation against Islamic shrines as one of the few credible deterrents to terrorism. All wanna-be jihadis should know that the most horible price imaginable awaits further assaults.
#2Bush and media will never let us take the gloves off, if 9/11 didn't get the gloves off, I don't know what will ...
Whether anyone in America wants to admit it or not:
"THE GLOVES ARE OFF."
The terrorists took their gloves off long ago at Munich and Entebbe. The lightweight sparring that's gone on since has only made them stronger. It is time to exterminate terrorism by all means available. A steep price must be attached to every single terror attack. For each 9-11 or Madrid, perhaps a genocidal government like Sudan's should be decapitated. Some sort of crystal clear message needs to be sent. Namely, that Islam will wither and die if terrorism persists.
A suspicious fire gutted Kashmir's oldest educational institution on Monday, destroying 30,000 rare books on Islam, including one of the world's oldest copies of the Quran. The 105-year-old Islamia school, covering grades 1-12, had earned a place in the region's history as a progressive institution that turned out many of the region's most prominent and influential people. It also had architectural value with its high arched windows and ceilings of cedar logs. The loss stunned people who poured into the streets of this city to protest the demise of a treasured institution. Some were so upset they shut down their shops. The blaze began soon after dawn and quickly consumed the building, witnesses said. Some of the school's 2,500 students first learned of the fire when they showed up for classes. The school was built in 1899 and is run by Anjuman-e-Nusrat-ul Islam (Society for the Victory of Islam), a religious and educational trust headed by Umar Farooq, the chief Muslim cleric in Kashmir. The school housed one of the oldest and rarest libraries on Islam, with some 30,000 books, including one of the rarest manuscripts of the Quran, handwritten by Usman bin Affan, the third "Righteous Caliph" of Islam. "We suspect mischief. It doesn't seem to be an accident," said senior police officer Javed Ahmad.
But why would anybody burn down a national treasure?
Farooq is also a top leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a political separatist grouping in Kashmir. Farooq, a moderate, has been targeted in recent months by suspected armed Islamic groups.
Ah. That's why.
Farooq's uncle was shot while saying prayers at a mosque on May 29 and died of his wounds a week later. On the same day, Farooq's home was attacked with a grenade.
And now they burned down his school. In Islamist circles, this is known as a frank intellectual exchange...
The school was the first attempt to inculcate modern thinking in Kashmiri Muslim society that had been bogged down with dogma and superstitions. Even in the 20th century, it was among the first Muslim religious schools in Kashmir to teach in English, and offer science subjects.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 8:45:43 AM ||
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Farooq is also a top leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, a political separatist grouping in Kashmir. Farooq, a moderate, has been targeted in recent months by suspected armed Islamic groups.
Interesting group of coexisting terms....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/05/2004 14:06 Comments ||
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#2
Society for the Victory of Islam
yar! and we be the New Friggin' Crusaders and Corsairs!
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 14:11 Comments ||
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(hmmph. Where'd my cookies go?)
ANYWAY, Fred or Dan (I'm not sure about the color scheme; maybe we need a link to a style guide from the front page?) wrote:
But why would anybody burn down a national treasure?
Well, it seems obvious enough to me why the current generation of leaders of islamic militants would want to burn down a library full of old books of import to Moslems: in their opinion, believers don't need to know the Suras or the Hadiths, or the history of their faith, all they need to know is the subset of the Suras and Hadiths the Mullahs have told them to memorize.
(And given that these are Kasmiris, who don't speak Arabic as a native tongue... translations and discussions of the Koran, and of the ancient dialect of arabic the Koran is written in, would be especially important).
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
07/05/2004 15:17 Comments ||
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#4
Fred has pale yellow, Dan has bright yellow, Steve Y has green, I have salmon.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2004 16:11 Comments ||
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#5
I don't know if this'll go through, but it looks like I screwed up a link in a comment in another post; are any of the editors online right now?
(I feel stupid right now; it was another dumb mistake... my second like this in the past three months)
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
07/05/2004 16:26 Comments ||
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#6
Heh, fess-ups are good for the soul, Phil. I saw the broken HTML, but I'm not an editor (and don't wanna be), so I can't do anything about it. Must be that fancy-schmancy TypePad stuff! RB works fine when you use page 2.
#10
#4 Fred has pale yellow, Dan has bright yellow, Steve Y has green, I have salmon.
Jeeze Louise! Now we have the Rainbow Coalition.
Just kidding...just kidding...put down that pickle...
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/05/2004 17:03 Comments ||
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#11
Put me down in the writs as against this so called salmonella. Which have prayed on my
peoples thru good times, bad times, drives ins
and finger licking good times.
Protect us O! Lord from the Devil! KFC!
Posted by: The Rev Dr Shipman ||
07/05/2004 17:18 Comments ||
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Shipman, are you really a Reverend? A Southern Baptist? You know dancing has been purged from my genes!
Militant Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led an April uprising that left hundreds dead, called Iraq's new interim government "illegitimate" and pledged to resist occupation forces to the "last drop of blood."
Okay by me...
The cleric's comments apparently reversed earlier conciliatory statements he made to the government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. Members of al-Sadr's movement had also suggested they might transform their militia into a political party.
Sounds like he didn't get his way on something...
"We pledge to the Iraqi people and the world to continue resisting oppression and occupation to our last drop of blood," al-Sadr said in a statement distributed Sunday by his office in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where his al-Mahdi militia battled American troops until a cease-fire last month. "Resistance is a legitimate right and not a crime to be punished," he said. Previously, Al-Mahdi fighters accepted cease-fires in most Shiite areas after suffering huge losses at the hands of the Americans.
Maybe he figures he'll do better at the hands of the Iraqis...
However, in his statement Sunday, the young cleric said, "There is no truce with the occupier and those who cooperate with it. We announce that the current government is illegitimate and illegal. It's generally following the occupation. We demand complete sovereignty and independence by holding honest elections."
"... And if we don't win, we know they're not honest!"
On June 12, al-Sadr issued a statement saying he was ready for a dialogue with the new government if it worked to end the U.S. military presence.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 8:37:46 AM ||
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It will be interesting to see if any more cannon fodder are willing to follow Muqky.
Unless he can provoke a decent sized riot, he will lose face - again.
The ROE has made a stand-up fight impossible - we don't go into ammo dumps moskkks after rats. Now that the Iraqis are in charge of their own destiny, we'll hold the checkpoints outside of the towns, and it will be up to the Iraqis do the clean-up inside as their Police & Army numbers grow. Not perfect, but that's the game available. Don't let the little turd Tater bait you into a no-win situation.
On a broader note... If the Iraqis want Rule of Law, they will eventually rise to the occasion. Between our declaration in 1776 and the actuality beginning in 1789, a lot of shit happened here, too. Patience - we will operate within reality and deal with the shit as it comes. They will make their own version - and adjust their sights as they figure it out.
#7
This is nothing more than an Iraqi version of plea barganing. Its the only "political" leverage he has that is personal. We missed our chance to ordain him into the martyrdom hall of fame and now Allawi and his ilk have to find a way to deal with him by giving him his life!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/05/2004 14:14 Comments ||
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#8
Sadr's continuing theft of oxygen is just plain criminal. Iraq's interim government should have gotten Sadr's latest message loud and clear. If Sadr refuses to distinguish between American occupying forces and Iraq's own legitimate police and military, then there has been an effective declaration of war.
If Allawi is unwilling or unable to mark out Sadr's seditious intent as the threat it is, then he will walk into the insurgents' crosshairs like he deserves. Fortunately, it appears that Allawi may have purchased a clue. The proposed get out of jail free "amnesty" has been suspended indefinitely. This shows great good sense on Allawi's part.
With hardcore scumball maggots like these, bootheel first, then the olive branch.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2004 08:41 ||
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Fred, I see our idiotrarian journalista Iman Robert al-Fisk is at it again. Evidentily, he was granted access to Saddam's arraignment by agreeing not to publish names of the jurists and other prosecutorial personnel. But trud to his colors he has published the judge's name in the Independent.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
07/05/2004 9:16 Comments ||
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Comment: Just read this over at Iraq the Model,I immediatly sent the Independant an ass remming via e-mail..
No Saddam Rallies, thatâs great. How about no more terrorism and beheading âinfidelsâ?
Islamic militants prevented a group of Saddam Hussein loyalists from holding a planned march Sunday to show solidarity for the ousted Iraqi dictator. About 20 cars filled with armed, masked guerrillas who refer to themselves as Mujahedeen, or holy warriors, forced about 100 people gathered for the rally to disperse. Islamic radicals were frequently targeted by Saddam and harbor little sympathy for the former leader, who appeared before a court last week. "God gave victory to Fallujah, because itâs a Muslim (city); because itâs applying Islamic law," one of the militants said, according to witnesses. "We donât want our victory to go to Saddam." Hardline Islamic insurgents spearheaded the resistance against U.S.-led coalition forces in the city, and their struggle has cemented their credentials in the area — even though Saddamâs support base was largely centered around Iraqâs Sunni Muslim minority.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
07/05/2004 12:18:42 AM ||
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Fallujah's citizens are reaping their "reward" for supporting both Saddam and the let's-kill-the-Americans crowd; they get to live under "Islamic law." And we all know how much fun that is.
Sure, we could clean out the jihadis there, but it's more fun to let them "run" Fallujah. It's helpful to have them gathered in one place, and it pays the Fallujans back for their murderous behavior.
ESAD, jerks.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/05/2004 0:40 Comments ||
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Forget the spin, Fallujah isn't a Baathist city. It is an al-Qaeda entity, and needs to be either carpet-bombed or nuked.
About 20 cars filled with armed, masked guerrillas......
Is a juicy target. *sigh*
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/05/2004 14:44 Comments ||
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#6
We donât want our victory to go to Saddam." What vicory would that be Achmed? The one where the Tater head uprising fizzled into nothing? Or the 5k or so dead 'Mahdi Army' members? Lesson here is taht the ONLY way to defeat these idiots is to plant them.
#2
"But in Saddam Hussein's former stronghold of Tikrit, soldiers watched fireworks light the night sky as they held a joint celebration with Iraqi National Guard soldiers on a bank overlooking the Tigris. Thousands of troops celebrated at one of Saddam's old palaces with a buffet featuring hamburgers and hot dogs and traditional Iraqi dishes."
Libyan security forces arrested members of a terror cell that planned attacks on Western interests in Africa while hiding out in the Sahara Desert, a French news report said Sunday. Several members of Algeriaâs Salafist Group for Call and Combat were caught in late June at Libyaâs border with Chad, the report in Le Journal du Dimanche said. The militants captured by Libya allegedly provided information about a Salafist base in Chadâs Tibesti region, a remote, mountainous area of the Sahara. The group used the base to plan attacks against Western interests on African soil. Militants were recruited from throughout the region and trained to use sophisticated explosives. Another Salafist leader, Amari Saifi, was captured weeks ago by a rebel group in Chad. Le Journal du Dimanche reported that his release had been secured for $246 000, without specifying who paid the ransom. However, an official with a country involved in the situation told The Associated Press that as of Saturday, a deal was believed in the works for the rebels to turn Saifi over to Libya, which in turn would hand him to Algeria, for a reported sum of $616 000.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/05/2004 12:06:35 AM ||
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President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said on Sunday Algerians must pull together to eliminate what was left of Islamic militancy in the north African country, in his first comments since a spate of daring rebel attacks. "Terrorism has been conquered but not yet completely eradicated," Bouteflika said in a speech ahead of independence celebrations on July 5. "It must be pursued without respite...until its total annihilation," he said in comments carried on official news agency APS. Algeriaâs government refers to rebels seeking to set up an Islamic state in the country as terrorists. Bouteflika called on all Algerians to help end what he called terrorism.
I'd ask what the writer would call it, but the source is Rooters, so we can guess...
He said that was a key condition for reinforcing the democratic process in the young country, which won independence from France in 1962.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/05/2004 12:06:35 AM ||
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EFL; what the hell is going on:
The militant Shiite cleric whose uprising last April left hundreds dead pledged Sunday to resist "oppression and occupation" and called the new interim Iraqi government "illegitimate." Muqtada al-Sadr made the declaration in a statement distributed by his office in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, where his al-Mahdi militia battled American troops until a cease-fire last month. "We pledge to the Iraqi people and the world to continue resisting oppression and occupation to our last drop of blood," al-Sadr said. "Resistance is a legitimate right and not a crime to be punished." Hereâs Allawiâs half of this, after the amnesty debacle ...
It was unclear what prompted his apparent reversal, though al-Sadr has made contradictory statements in the past. Earlier Sunday, Allawi told ABCâs "This Week" that he had met with al-Sadr representatives "who want to try and mediate. The position of the government is very clear. There is no room for any militias to operate inside Iraq. Anything outside law and order is not tolerated, cannot be tolerated. The rule of law should prevail. Every one of us, every individual, starting from the president downward should be answerable to the law." And hereâs that amnesty debacle ...
Allawiâs government is expected to announce a package of initiatives to combat the insurgency, including limited emergency rule and an amnesty offer. Allawiâs spokesman, Georges Sada, suggested Saturday that guerrillas who fought the Americans before the sovereignty transfer could be eligible because they had taken legitimate acts of resistance. However, the deputy prime minister for national security, Bahram Saleh, told CNNâs "Late Edition" he found the comment "very surprising to have come from a spokesman for the prime minister." Saleh confirmed the Cabinet was discussing an amnesty offer and was deliberating how to give "people an opportunity to reintegrate within society" while at the same time "remaining firm against people who have committed atrocities and have committed crimes against the people of Iraq and against the coalition forces that have come to help us overcome tyranny."
Sounds like a line that may be too fine to discern with the naked eye...
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
07/05/2004 11:13:45 PM ||
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Sheesh. Another muddle.
This is Tater's 7th or 8th reversal - he's definitely working his way up to Kerry's level of "flexibility" - but the key is his decision to claim that the Govt is illegal. He had kept his yap shut since the 28th - and now he's decided to open it again. If I follow the timeline correctly, Allawi spoke earlier - and this is Sadr's (possibly frantic) reply.
Fisnik Abrashi, the AP "reporter" needs to brush up on his English. The title of this piece should be: Iraq Militant Cleric Claims The Current Government is Illegitimate - Vows to Keep Fighting
I see one clear motive, though I'm sure there are 50 more:
Sadr's hoping to pressure Allawi into recognizing him and his B-Team Madhi Mud Hens as legitimate "occupation resisters" so he can weasel all their asses (especially his own, given the murder charge) into the amnesty thing, if such a despicable notion ever becomes reality.
It's a smart political play by ol' Tater.
Allawi was addressing him directly (he had met with al-Sadr representatives) with his statement. It doesn't get much better than this: "Every one of us, every individual, starting from the president downward should be answerable to the law."
Clearly, he is not considering Sadr for amnesty. We'll see if this amnesty thing is real and who is actually behind it. Hard to tell, right now, since all of these English stories have sequence, tense, and substance problems. "I can shout, don't hear you!"
So, unless Sistani or someone of influence jumps in to back Tater, Allawi is saying he's fully justified in making chips out of him. I'm cool with that.
#3
Mdfre12 - I'd offer that it's because the gutless little shit hides behind his "army" in moskkk's and, right or wrong, we have decided not to go into the Holy Ammo Dumps after him. If / when the Iraqi Police or Army numbers and gumption are available (actually a function of when Sistnai decides to quit being an ass), then they can go in and grab this little Iranian Agent.
Aris - Sorry, but you are factually incorrect - and one would hope you're intelligent enough to know it. No further response is warranted.
RBers - Recognizing an attempt to "arisify" a thread, in advance, should be sufficient to thwart the attempt. Nothing to see here, folks. Let's move along and post constructively instead of taking the bait.
#9
Are you telling me that the USA didn't attempt to capture Sadr
You gotta use a bigger lure Aris. This Northern Pike ain't biting.
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/05/2004 14:20 Comments ||
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#10
Go on being rude and/or amusing. You still fail to reply. WHAT EXACTLY WAS MY MISTAKE???
For me it's self-evident that the attempted capture of Sadr was a failure, evidenced by the fact that he's not captured. Where exactly did I make a mistake?
Other than being politically incorrect ofcourse, and calling a spade a spade, when people here prefer to call it a manual digging instrument.
Fine then. I had thought that the whole Sadr-insurrection thingy had started with US forces trying to capture and/or kill Sadr after a warrant for his arrest.
#14
His location was known. Had they really wanted to, I think they could have captured him.
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/05/2004 15:25 Comments ||
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#15
In the end, Aris, that started with the interim, pre-sovereignty government putting out an arrest warrant (apparently from the same judge who's trying Saddam now) -- and it was a political choice it seems to leave al-Sadr to the post-handover government, from the brass. Belmont Club had a more glowing take -- US KIA 19 and dozens wounded vs. al-Mahdi 1500+ KIA.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
07/05/2004 15:35 Comments ||
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#16
Had they really wanted to, I think they could have captured him.
And I think differently, because I think they did really want to capture him and found out they couldn't.
That this estimation may have been due to political considerations (perhaps something like "we can't capture him without totalling the whole of Najaf, thus inciting countrywide Shiite rebellion") rather than purely military ones, doesn't make this less of a failure to capture him.
#17
There was no attempt to capture him. There can't be a failure if there was no attempt. How can you fail at wanting something???
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/05/2004 16:57 Comments ||
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#18
I Aris is on Veeee Aaaaa Ceeee Aaaaa Teeeee Ieeee Ohhhhh Nnnnnn!
Posted by: Commie Francis ||
07/05/2004 17:34 Comments ||
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#19
Rafael> There were troops at it and lots of fighting and killing people and besieging cities and people saying that Sadr's slated for destruction. That was an attempt IMO to capture or kill Sadr. I think back then everyone here was seeing it as such an attempt.
#20
I think everyone here also believes that if the US forces wanted Sadr dead, then he would now be dead. Not arresting or killing him was a political decision made for whatever reason. The fighting and killing you're refering to was of Sadr's goons. Probably in hopes of sending him a message, which evidently he did not get.
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/05/2004 19:06 Comments ||
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#21
Wow - the patented Aris-Capture-The Topic⢠didn't work! Sadr dead is a martyr, Sadr alive is a fat incompetent seething shithead with no street cred. Check out his Mahdi army? F Troop, more likely
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 19:15 Comments ||
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#22
Rafael - Next time you need help with your browser or similar? Go piss up a rope.
#23
that if the US forces wanted Sadr dead, then he would now be dead
True -- and if US wanted Tehran nuked, then it would be nuked. But that kind of talk is meaningless.
Not arresting or killing him was a political decision made for whatever reason.
That a decision to retreat was made by politicians in their offices rather than generals on the field, that makes it better how exactly?
If Sadr and his Iranians allies used political/diplomatic strength rather than bullets in order to keep himself alive and free and in a position to still seek power, then how is that so much better?
And Frank, Sadr dead is Sadr dead, and Sadr alive is Sadr alive and defying the US. Bull on the "martyr" cliche. Better a dead so-called "martyr" than a live enemy. Nor have I seen Saddam's boys being made into martyrs for example.
I keep on hearing about how Sadr's "street cred" has been destroyed, but the only evidence I've seen is the disgust Iraqi bloggers have of him who had already been disgusted with him even before all this happened. Where do you get this valuable info on Sadr's supposedly diminishing "street cred" from?
#24
well, Aris, America is peculiar in a way you wouldn't get: Civilian politicians control our military
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 20:01 Comments ||
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#25
Did you read anything I wrote? Or are you just going with whatever snarky comment comes to your head, regardless of whether it fits or not?
YES, Civilian politicians control your military, and that's great, but that's also the reason that a defeat caused by politics is no less a defeat than one caused by bullets.
Did you read ANYTHING I wrote? I'm taking back, all the things I had once said about you being one of the more reasonable posters here. You are even worse than .com in that you only follow where he leads.
#27
I disgree, .com has subtlety I lack. The tone of your original post said it all: "tried, failed". You're an asshat and wish no success to the Iraqi future, just so you can crow. Grow a pair of cojones, take a chance, and wish democracy well, and I'll change my new opinion of you Aris. If you don't approve of me, given your post, I'll consider that a badge of courage
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 20:52 Comments ||
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#29
That a decision to retreat was made by politicians...
There was no decision to retreat, because there was no decision to advance (on Sadr).
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/05/2004 21:38 Comments ||
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#30
The tone of my "original post" is bitter despair. And annoyance at people thinking they can turn defeat into victory by simply proclaiming it so.
I wish no success to the Iraqi future? Why, because unlike you I don't confuse desire with reality? Because unlike you, I don't think that wishing for something badly enough will change things as they are one iota worth a difference? Because I don't think that daydreaming is better than realism? Because I call "defeat" "defeat"?
If I really were as you think of me, I'd be a much happier camper, not borderline depressed. Idiot.
#31
But Frank G won't ever get why I find the group masturbation he indulges in so meaningless. Will you ever comprehend, Frank, the idea that a citizen's complaints can be much more useful and valuable than his cheers?
#32
only if they're productive complaints - I don't see that - pass the Nivea?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2004 22:05 Comments ||
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#33
While yours are very productive cheers, is that it? I'd very much rather be the most harsh of critics than be what you are, you cheerleader.
*****
Lastly a quote, before I call it a day.
"There is no greater calamity than to underestimate the strength of your enemy.
For to underestimate the strength of your enemy is to lose your treasure.
Therefore, when opposing troops meet in battle,
victory belongs to the grieving side."
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
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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.
