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Arabia
UAE Enacts Anti-Terror Legislation
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) yesterday enacted an anti-terror law which lays down capital punishment or a life term in jail for setting up or heading a terrorist organization. The legislation, decreed by President Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al-Nahayan, also stipulates a life sentence or lesser jail terms for members or bankrollers of terrorist groups, the official WAM news agency reported. Anyone who carries out a fatal terror attack stands to be sentenced to death. People convicted of undergoing military training with a terrorist organization are liable to life sentences or jail terms of at least 10 years. The UAE, from where most of the cash spent by terrorists on the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States was reportedly transferred, has launched a crackdown on suspect money. The Emirati central bank said in April it had frozen $3.1 million in funds linked to terrorism.
Posted by: Fred || 07/28/2004 9:55:21 PM || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


Soddies, Iraq Set to Restore Diplomatic Relations
Saudi Arabia and Iraq yesterday agreed to restore diplomatic relations broken off 13 years ago, as US Secretary of State Colin Powell began talks with Saudi leaders here on Iraq, terrorism and the Palestinian issue and was due to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, also visiting the Kingdom. Allawi told reporters that the two countries would reopen their land border, closed in 1990. "We have agreed to open up embassies between Saudi Arabia and Iraq," Allawi told reporters. Asked how soon the embassies would open, Allawi said "from today", but did not elaborate. Powell, on a Middle East and European tour, met with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah shortly after his arrival. He was greeted after flying in from Cairo by Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
Posted by: Fred || 07/28/2004 9:48:41 PM || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:


9/11 report good but incomplete
In establishing how the government failed to prevent the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the 9/11 Commission Report is excellent. Its grasp of some details, however, is less than reassuring - particularly details about Saudi Arabia, which it calls, in a gross understatement, "a problematic ally in combating Islamic extremism." Perhaps even more startling is the report's conclusion that the panel has "found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually" helped to finance Al Qaeda.
"No, no! The Emperor's not nekkid! The fabric's just too fine for the common folks to make out!"
It does say that unnamed wealthy Saudi sympathizers, and leading Saudi charities, sent money to the terror group. But the report fails to mine any of the widely available reporting and research that establishes the degree to which many of the suspect charities cited by the United States are controlled directly by the Saudi government or some of its ministers. The 9/11 panel misses an opportunity, for example, to more fully explore an intelligence coup in 2002, when American agents in Bosnia retrieved computer files of the so-called Golden Chain, a group of Osama bin Laden's early financial supporters.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 07/28/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hell Dan, whats left to be said? They have no gov. They have a thingy!
Posted by: Lucky || 07/28/2004 1:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Dan, where's your take on the report? After your dissection of the interim staff thingie, I'm very curious.
Posted by: someone || 07/28/2004 3:03 Comments || Top||

#3  I spent most of last weekend reading the Commission report, and am now about a third of the way through it. I am not impressed: while there are a lot of details I didn't know before, some of them interesting, so far I haven't encountered ANYTHING of major importance that I didn't already know.

Right now I'm wondering whether the remainder of the report will be worth my time.
Posted by: Dave D. || 07/28/2004 6:47 Comments || Top||

#4  The 9/11 report is little more than warmed up intelligence stew. Where did the commissioners and their staff gather their information from? The same intel community that they know castigate.
Posted by: Capt America || 07/28/2004 10:46 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Why Mexico Is No Longer America's Ally
(Author's Note: The following article contains information that will brand me a racist by most, if not all, lib/dem/soc/commie girlie men. Proceed at the risk of your own quivering sensitivities, if you're one of ''those'' kind of people...)

For quite a while, I've been more than a bit perturbed at our neighbor to the South. Granted, our neighbor to the North is no picnic either, but they're not nearly as annoying or contentious. Canada is, as Robin Williams so adeptly put it, '''like a loft apartment over a really great party.''' Sadly, though, Mexico has become more and more like a backed-up sewer line. We keep catching Mexico's crap as it backs up into America's ground floor.

I've written about the need for America to speak American (as opposed to English which, trust me, is an entirely different language!). I've begged our president not to provide amnesty to illegal aliens, which he may do in order to court the Hispanic vote. I've even gone so far as to phone the Department of Homeland Security's Illegal Alien Hotline (1-866-347-2423) when I've noted a large number of workers speaking only Spanish for low wages far from the border.

However, what happened on July 4th really honked me off. You may not have heard this story before. I didn't find out about it until later. When I did, you could hear the breaking of that camel's vertebrae all the way Guadala-freaking-hara.

Lance Corporal Juan Lopez was a United States Marine, who was born in Mexico, but immigrated to the United States when he was a teenager. He joined up, wanting to serve his adopted homeland--a laudable and honorable goal. And serve he did. He served in the cause of freedom. Sadly, he made the ultimate sacrifice, and died in Iraq on June 21.

When he returned home, his family wanted to bury him in the town of his birth. San Luis de la Paz, I think the place is called. I've no problem with that; his ties are to two nations, and that's something I respect and understand. His family, his wife, and children, went ''down Mexico way'' to attend the services. L/Cpl. Lopez was to be buried with full military honors, as he was fully entitled to receive considering his service and sacrifice.

However, Mexico officials seemed to disagree with this. They first objected to the Marine honor guard providing L/Cpl. Lopez with a gun salute, which is part of the standard funeral service. The rifle is a part of the formal honor guards, and part of their uniform. For some reason, unfortunately, Mexico seemed to be concerned about having ''foreign troops'' armed on their soil. They were positively French about the whole thing.

Not wishing to cause a disturbance at the solemn occasion, the Marine honor guards said they'd forego the salute. They proceeded to carry the casket to the grave, with two Marines accompanying with their ceremonial rifles (not for firing, just for show) when members of the Mexican military apparently became upset again with this threat to their sovereignty. They blocked the path to the grave, holding up the ceremony.

Let me say that again so you understand. They blocked the path to the grave.

It was only when the music for the funeral ceremony began that they let the pallbearers and their fallen comrade proceed to the gravesite. The services proceeded, albeit with a note of increased anguish for the family. When it was over, the Mexican military persons AGAIN intervened, surrounding the car carrying the Marine honor guards and preventing their departure.

Here was a man, born of their country, whose life had been extinguished in the service of freedom. A man who had laid down his life not only for America, not only for the Iraqi people, but for the security of the world. For the security of the country of his birth.

For that service, for that sacrifice, Mexico repaid one of its sons by disrupting and dishonoring his burial service. Oh, they gave a wimpy apology after the fact, but still had the unmitigated chutzpah to defend their actions!

America has been more than accommodating to Mexico for a number of decades. For that courtesy, Mexico has been a rotten neighbor. It allows, nay encourages, its citizens to commit felonies and come to this country so these lawbreakers can send back money to prop up their economy. It's an economy that could be solvent if there weren't so much corruption in the government and business hierarchies. Mexico demands that we provide its citizens with heath care, Social Security, educational benefits, and a host of other ''entitlements'' to which these scofflaws are not entitled.

Mexico is a leech on America's behind.

It's time to pull off that leech, once and for all.

President Bush, I urge you to take action on this issue. No more pussyfooting around with diplomatic letters that say nothing, either. Hit these ingrates where it hurts. Their wallets.

I urge our nation's leaders to break off ties with Mexico — diplomatic and economic. I urge that we boot its ambassador and embassy staff out of here post haste. I urge the ending of trade with Mexico. Yes, I know that means that a lot of stuff made from low-priced labor will increase some of our costs. Fine. We'll hire Americans to do the work, and they'll do it far better. I urge that people stop going to Mexico for vacations. If you want dysentery, there are far cheaper ways to achieve it....

In addition, I urge that America take immediate action to round up and deport sall illegal aliens and send them to Mexico City. Not just the illegals from Mexico, but China, Thailand, Iran, Nigeria, Russia and the rest. Let THEM deal with the crap we've had to deal with for decades, and see how much THEY like it.

No, strike that last part about urging. I'm demanding that illegals be booted. We have enough law enforcement and military personnel to handle this. We know where a lot of them are. Moreover, for those who happen to be hiding from the cops, there are 280 million Americans who have phones and can call that Illegal Alien Hotline to smoke the buggers out. As to the women who came across the border to give birth, deport them and their kids out. When they're 18 and can prove they're gainfully employed, they'll be welcomed back. Into the Marines.

Folks, I hope you will write letters to President Bush, your congressional representative, your senators, and to President Vicenté Fox. Tell them what you think of our not-so-neighborly neighbors.
Posted by: tipper || 07/28/2004 10:08:30 PM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I sure would appreciate somebody explaining to me when Mexico and the U. S. were allies. Perhaps during WWII like we were allies with Stalin, but aside from that, we've never ben allies.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 22:19 Comments || Top||

#2  When has Mexico ever been an ally, vs hostile enemy and economic opportunist?
Posted by: ed || 07/28/2004 22:22 Comments || Top||

#3  Mexico has never really been an ally or an enemy. They have just sort of been just there. Being mediocre and blaming the Yankees for all of their self-made problems.
Posted by: Yank || 07/28/2004 23:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Being mediocre and blaming the Yankees for all of their self-made problems.

That perfectly describes 95% of the world.
Posted by: Rafael || 07/29/2004 0:03 Comments || Top||

#5  hostile enemy

I was thinking of the 1840's when active shooting was going on. Also late 1830's-1840's when there were military clashes between a new Texas and Mexico. Anyone forget the Pancho Villa raids?
Posted by: ed || 07/29/2004 0:20 Comments || Top||

#6  As a 3rd-gen hispanic, I think this article is jingoistic, nationalistic and RIGHT ON THE FUCKING MONEY.

I can't stand mexicans. Neither the rich ones that come over and act like they're god's gift to our economy, nor the poor ones that hitch up to the wagon and ride her for all they're worth.

You want in?
You pendejos get in like my great-grandparents and you work your ass off.
Posted by: Anon-wetback || 07/29/2004 0:34 Comments || Top||


Castro responds to Bush's prostitution charges
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You can only cringe when you see President Bush say something like this. Sigh...statements that are just blantaly wrong or false...well, it give steel to other matters he is accused of being less than truthful on. I don't know why Bush does something like this...even the Cubans in Miami know, as well as the people on the island, of the repeated and strong crack-downs on all forms of prostitution that Castro has ordered.

Castro's toughness on prostitution has been the talk on the Green Sheet, (a Cuban BBS), for years now. Everyone knows about it...

Bush does himself no good in...well...lying like this. Sorry, but that's the truth of it.
Posted by: Traveller || 07/28/2004 6:28 Comments || Top||

#2  So you don't believe Bush? How about your friend, Fidel: Castro made the comment in a 1992 address to the Cuban National Assembly, when he spoke about the country's need for tourism and acknowledged the presence of prostitutes in Cuba, even though prostitution is illegal. His actual words, according to a transcript prepared by the U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service, were: "We can say that they are highly educated hookers and quite healthy, because we are the country with the lowest number of AIDS cases.''
Posted by: Steve || 07/28/2004 8:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Traveller - there have been shows such as 60 minutes which discuss the high level of prostitution, particularly teens, in Cuba and that Cuba is a top destination for underage action. So I doubt Bush is making this up.
Posted by: AWW || 07/28/2004 8:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Traveller:
It's pretty much an open secret in southern Florida that Cuba is the place to go if young hookers purchased in bulk are your thing. Crack-down on prostitution? You must be kidding.
Posted by: Secret Master || 07/28/2004 11:46 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm sure that Castro wants to jail prostitutes but he needs the ... I just can't make a "hard currency" joke here.

Besides he can't jail the prostitutes as the jails are full of journalists.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 13:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Besides he can't jail the prostitutes as the jails are full of journalists.

Here in the US you can't tell them apart.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 07/28/2004 13:26 Comments || Top||

#7  The true knock on Castro should be human rights abuses. It is my understand that the police simply do sweeps along the Macon' water front, picking up anyone they can find. They then hold them, almost as if in a communist re-education camp, for extended periods of time without access to a lawyer or even their families. These women have simply disappeared. As almost an inevitability, innocents are also swept up in these raids.

This would be the honest criticism of Castro.
Posted by: Traveller || 07/28/2004 14:48 Comments || Top||

#8  The true knock on Castro should be human rights abuses
Yep.

The pross sweeps are only done "as needed" like Boston say....
Remits from familyTourismPross... where the hard currency comes from.... and often the last two are the same.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/28/2004 18:11 Comments || Top||

#9  Way quicker, cheaper and easier for the European tourists to go to Cuba to get their kiddie action than it is to go to South East Asia.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 07/28/2004 20:01 Comments || Top||

#10  Dear C_L:

I just don't think that's true, you'd be in a shit world of trouble messing with a kid in Castro's Cuba, (providing you got caught, of course). More importantly, the Eastern European countries of the former soviet block are much closer, and a much more tolerance for this kind of stuff.

No, if you were bent that way, I am fairly sure Cuba is Not the place to be.
Posted by: Traveller || 07/28/2004 20:18 Comments || Top||

#11  Ok Traveller, I'll take your word on that. Potential sex trade issues aside, I do wonder about the appeal of Cuba to the Europeans and Canadians that flock there. Seems to be more than just the fact it's cheap. Do they get a bit of frisson (pardon my french) from vacationing in a spot where Americans can't?
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 07/28/2004 20:34 Comments || Top||

#12  Traveller, I don't know where your getting your "information," but it doesn't sound right.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and lately, the EU donations, Cuba has been pretty dependent on sex tourism for revenue.
And from what I've read, the younger the better!
Not only will you not get in trouble for "messing with a kid in Castro's Cuba" but it's actively encouraged!
I can't remember the name of the Sex Resort outside of Havana, but it's about the only reason people go to Cuba these days.
There's some sex trade in Eastern Europe, I'm sure, but they have lots of other opportunities Cuban children, pre-teens and teens don't.
Posted by: GreatestJeneration || 07/28/2004 20:48 Comments || Top||

#13  Considering that this is such a flamable subject, I would like to thank everyone for being a little decent with me on this.

But I what I would really like to leave people with is the thought that sex-tourism, in the long term, really doesn't pay for the host country. Oh it can be wild and woolly for a while, but once a destination gets some infastructure up to speed, the authorites clam down on this pretty hard. This was true for Cuba from 1996 through maybe 1999, it was true for the NorthEast of Brazil, (where I know this from ties to the Government there), and I have even recently heard that the go-go bars in Bankok have been ordered to shut down by midnight. I'ver never been there, or at least not since the Vietnam war, but the howls of outrage at this closing order have been extreme from single men...lol. But the government doesn't care, they want a different kind of tourist...really.

Is there prostitution in Cuba, certainly there is. Will there continue to be prostitution in Bangcok, for sure, and in Brazil also. But the authorites are taking a very dim view of it and are taking steps to stamp it out...insofar as the oldest profession can be stamped out.

My humble view.

Best Wishes,
Posted by: Traveller || 07/28/2004 22:06 Comments || Top||

#14  @ greatest generation. what have you been reading"the younger the better"?
Posted by: smokeysinse || 07/28/2004 22:12 Comments || Top||

#15  "...sex-tourism, in the long term, really doesn't pay for the host country."

Same goes for socialism.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 07/28/2004 22:19 Comments || Top||

#16  Dear C_L:

Well you're certainly right on Socialism..lol. Why do Europeans go to Cuba? It's a damn pretty country, everything is cheap, you are pampered to the Nth degree for very little money.

I haven't been to Cuba...it is illegal after all, and being caught could have unhappy consequences for myself, so I've avoided it like the plague.

But there are sooooooo many great reasons to hate Castro, Jesus, I can't even begin to list them...I just want us to topple him for the right reasons, that's all.

And the sooner the better.

Real Best Wishes,
Posted by: Traveller || 07/28/2004 23:27 Comments || Top||

#17  smokey, these sex perverts like 'em young and of course, some of them want children or even toddlers as sex partners.
The book I read about Cuba--which wasn't political, BTW--said that prostitutes were certainly below 18.
Posted by: GreatestJeneration || 07/29/2004 0:00 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
GSDF holds ceremony to mark formation of Iraq-bound unit
AOMORI, Japan — The 9th Division of the Ground Self-Defense Force held a ceremony Wednesday to mark the formation of a unit that will be deployed to Iraq next month to participate in reconstruction work to be led by a multinational force. The unit, which contains about 490 GSDF troops drawn from garrisons in Aomori, Iwate and Akita prefectures, is the GSDF's third contingent to be deployed to Iraq. It held the ceremony at the Aomori garrison in the city of Aomori where the 9th Division is based. (Kyodo News)
Thank you
Posted by: Steve || 07/28/2004 2:40:17 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any serious sewing going on?
Posted by: Shipman || 07/28/2004 20:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Just a few headbands, nothing to worry about, really.
Posted by: Steve || 07/28/2004 21:21 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australia continues to call out Spanish/Philippine surrender monkeys
I'll let Mr. Downer speak for himself.
Brushing aside the furious response to earlier comments pointing the finger at Madrid, Alexander Downer, the foreign minister, said he would not apologize. He said Spain and the Philippines needed "to face up to the truth" that by withdrawing their contingents from Iraq they had allowed themselves to be exploited by terrorists. "There is no point in trying to scurry away from the truth," Mr.Downer said. "I am sensitive about the fact that terrorists use the examples of Spain and the Philippines to put pressure on Australia. If you accede to the demands of terrorists, they will exploit the acceding to their demand . . . We are not going to apologize. We shall let bygones be bygones."
Tell it, brother.
Mr. Downer rejected suggestions that he had provoked a diplomatic crisis and implicitly accused others of immaturity. "Australia is a mature country," he said. "We do not have to worry too much when other countries criticize us occasionally."
"Sticks and stones..."
Posted by: someone || 07/28/2004 6:45:06 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh FFS, you'd think Spain and the Philippines would know when to shut up and run off crying.
Posted by: Bulldog || 07/28/2004 18:54 Comments || Top||

#2  I suggest that the Aussies have grapefruits for nughas, and Spain and Philippines sing in the upper register (counter-tenor) in the choir due to pre-adolecent surgery.
Posted by: BigEd || 07/28/2004 19:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Would be great if we could get Downer on loan to the State Department for awhile.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 07/28/2004 19:50 Comments || Top||

#4  And if you cry, we shall taunt you a second time.
Posted by: ed || 07/28/2004 21:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Hey, Filipinas, remember what it took for us to surrender at Bataan and Corregidor?

In case you've forgotten, it was a lot more than one life.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 07/28/2004 22:52 Comments || Top||


Europe
Europe will have a Islamic majority at the end of this century...
Europe will have a Islamic majority at the end of this century US Middle East Specialist Bernard Lewis of Princeton university said in the German newspaper "Die Welt" today. Bernard Lewis based his comments on demographic and migrating patterns developing in Europe.....
Posted by: Dutchgeek || 07/28/2004 12:31:00 PM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seems like they already have a working majority in France and Germany.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 13:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Seriously, Innocents Abroad has a post from a BC Report on the specific situation in France.

The BBC reports that a recent study commissioned by the French government shows that France’s suburbs are increasingly turning into Arab ghettoes where anti-Western and anti-Jewish sentiment are becoming the norm.

As the article notes, this isn’t entirely unexpected, but it is worrisome. France’s Muslim problem – and it is a problem with Islamic fundamentalism – is the worst in Europe. While many European nations are having difficulties integrating the children of Muslim immigrants into their societies, France stands out as by far the most troubling case.

(snip)

But if the problem of increasingly ghettoized suburbs is primarily a French problem, it is still something that should worry the rest of Europe for a number of reasons. France, like the rest of Europe, is aging. Its elderly population is growing while its birthrate is falling. Except, that is, among Muslim immigrants. From an economic and social point of view, an aging population itself is a worry as it increases stresses on an already overburdened health and social security system. But when we add to that a poorly educated, alienated sub-class of angry Muslim youth, it’s nothing less than a recipe for social breakdown.

Of course, this has to worry the rest of Europe because France is one of the largest nations in the European Union. Social and economic tensions in France will inevitably affect the rest of Europe and in many ways both obvious and more hidden. One of the less evident effects, but one also potentially dangerous, is that France, unable to modernize its economy due to heavy social welfare burdens, will attempt to resolve its problems on the backs of other European nations. Indeed, it could be argued, and some French economists have made this point, that the French government used the Euro currency in order to piggyback on the German economy in order to avoid reforming the shambles which is French finances. Of course, the Germany economy has had its own troubles. But if the rest of Europe begins to see French social breakdown as affecting their own quality of life, the tensions within the EU could reach the breaking point.

Other more evident effects would simply be the disastrous impact on the rest of Europe with an almost civil war-like state in France [Couldn't happen to a more deserving group of dhimmis] . This sort of domestic upheaval would inevitably pull in the rest of Europe and could even inflame similar tensions in neighboring countries.

The picture in France is not too bright at present. Anti-Jewish and anti-Western sentiment among the non-integrated Muslim population is growing, and the French government seems unable, both morally and intellectually, to deal with the issue. It’s a danger that could have enormous implications for France and for Europe.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 13:20 Comments || Top||

#3  easy way to keep France, Spain, Italy predominantly Catholic - open up to Latin American immigrants. Spain has quite a few - do any other Euro countries?
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 14:29 Comments || Top||

#4  LH

Excellent idea! We could send all the Hatians and Quebecois back to France. Solve three problems with one stone and raise the French IQ by 15-20 points.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 14:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Thx for info & links, Mr Davis!

[mini rant]
Re: Europe & Muslims -- They don't actually need a majority - their unity and block actions (marching orders issued every Friday) give them more impact than their numbers. Besides, they scare the hell out of the locals, no? Europe will either get its head out of its ass regards immigration & guest worker programs, absurd benefits programs, silly-assed unproductive short work weeks, socialism, communism, maosim, weenieism, non-assimilation societies, an utterly unarmed & unprotected populace, complete wussification of same, barely-armed & under-manned police, idiotic legal sentencing, super-sensitivity to every whining sub-group, Moslem pandering & appeasement, etc. or be swallowed up. Whole.

Looking at the obvious situation down the road... How long will it be before we see either falling Govts or open civil war - of the Muslim vs Everyone Else variety? Too many seem damned slow on the up-take... and thanks to their absurdly PCized social systems, in some places there won't even be a whimper. So unsuspecting, unarmed, unprepared, and unprotected they just disappeared under the wave - but boy oh boy did they have some super-duper PC laws, elitist intelligentsia coffee / book shops, perfected anti-American social / educational indoctrination, and powdered-wig civility, eh? So superior to the simplisme' American cowboys... Life is hard. It's a lot harder if you're stupid.

Darwin 101. Remember him?
[/mini rant]
Posted by: .com || 07/28/2004 14:54 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm to the point now where I'm not sure who I despise more. I say f*ck 'em.
Posted by: BH || 07/28/2004 14:59 Comments || Top||

#7  France has the Bomb. Just what we need. Wonder how long it will be before Isreal thinks about nuking them?
The Moose Limb religion is the threat. It's time we stamp out this ideology which is a clear and present threat to our way of living and liberty.
Posted by: FlameBait93268 || 07/28/2004 19:08 Comments || Top||

#8  This is well-know but not well-publicized statistics. I fact, some countries like France will have the majority much earlier (2020). There is both a public and government denial that will not help anyone. Mubarak said it: "it's a demographic war".
Posted by: Anonymous6406 || 09/12/2004 9:03 Comments || Top||

#9  I believe there will be a backlash against Moooslimbs after a major attack in the EU and they'll do a mass retribution, forcing many to go back home.
Posted by: Frank G || 09/12/2004 10:16 Comments || Top||


How Europe Became Eurabia
By Bat Ye'or
Last Tuesday, the 25 nations of the European Union (EU) voted unanimously to support a United Nations Resolution condemning Israel's defensive fence (ignoring that this barrier was constructed to keep jihadist murderers from entering the nation via Judea and Samaria). The EU's craven, morally bankrupt stance was sadly consistent with Eurabian policies evident now for three decades. In fact, the EU has been completing a slow metamorphasis into the "Christian" arm of the Pan-Arab world, different in religious observation (or lack of same) but united in its views of Israel and America.

The European Community (EC), and later the EU, has been aligned with Arab policy regarding Israel and the United States since its June 1977 declaration. Disruption of the Western alliance by separating Europe from America, and the piecemeal destruction of Israel were the pillars of the Euro-Arab alliance that gave birth to Eurabia. The formation of this tactical alliance can be traced clearly to a document issued 24 years ago. Prompted by fears of Khomeini's Shi'ite theocracy in Iran, international Arab terrorism and the rise of oil prices, the EC adopted the 1980 Venice Declaration. This declaration made clear that the EC, under French leadership, had adopted Pan-Arab conditions regarding Israel without qualification, including: the 1949 armistice as Israel's legitimate borders; Arab sovereignty over East Jerusalem; an Arab Palestinian state; the recognition of the PLO as the sole representative of the Palestinians, as well as its participation in all negotiations, and the obligation of Israel to negotiate with Arafat, exclusively; and the refusal to recognize a separate peace between Israel and any Arab country, for the resolution of the "Palestinian problem."

By adopting all those conditions (which contradicted UN Resolution 242) Europeans could in turn justify their ahistorical designation of Judea and Samaria as occupied Arab land. Ultimately, the entire European effort to delegitimize and vilify Israel hinges upon this inaccurate, disingenuous formulation. In the 1970s and 80s, the Communist bloc and the burgeoning Euro-Arab alliance granted international legitimacy to the denial of Israel's rights by the PLO. France, and to a lesser extent Germany, directed the entire European Community foreign policy in accord with Arab-Islamic sentiments. A careful reading of the Venice Declaration (1980), the Fez Islamic Conference (1980), the Amman Arab Summit (1980), and the Taif-Mecca Islamic Summit (1981) reveals the similarities between the European and Arab positions in relation to Israel. Europe's modified wording is just a fig-leaf.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper || 07/28/2004 1:55:57 AM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This seems to be a counterexample of Darwinian evolution -- a population who strive for their own extinction.
Posted by: virginian || 07/28/2004 8:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Immigration does help keep the pension coffers full in the face of a declining native population.
Posted by: eLarson || 07/28/2004 10:39 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Unfit for Command (via.. Drudge)
A bombshell new book written by the man who took over John Kerry's Swift Boat charges: Kerry reenacted combat scenes for film while in Vietnam!
We here at Rantburg knew about Kerry's home movies.
The footage is at the center of a growing controversy in Boston. The official convention video introducing Kerry is directed by Steven Spielberg protégé James Moll.
Will they actually show Kerry's re-enactment of his heroism in chasing down and killing a wounded, fleeing enemy soldier? Somehow I dont think so....
Moll was given hours of Kerry's homemade 8 millimeter film to incorporate into the convention short, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. "Kerry carried a home movie camera to record his exploits for later viewing," charges a naval officer in the upcoming book UNFIT FOR COMMAND. "Kerry would revisit ambush locations for reenacting combat scenes where he would portray the hero, catching it all on film. Kerry would take movies of himself walking around in combat gear, sometimes dressed as an infantryman walking resolutely through the terrain. He even filmed mock interviews of himself narrating his exploits.
Kerry's version of PT-109....
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/28/2004 3:28:43 PM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If this isn't the creme del la creme definition of vanity and self-importance, nothing is.
Posted by: Raj || 07/28/2004 15:50 Comments || Top||

#2  If this isn't the creme del la creme definition of vanity and self-importance, nothing is.

Except Teresa giving her speech last night.

At first I thought wow, maybe I just misjudged this woman. Nope. Had it right the first time. Let her talk long enough and no one needs Sominex.
Posted by: jules 187 || 07/28/2004 16:10 Comments || Top||

#3  I had a feeling he went to Vietnam so he could return to protest and start a political career.
Posted by: Crikey || 07/28/2004 17:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Theresa Mozambiqui.

Space - No new frontier to her.

Galileo! Cassini! Hubble! BigBang! God?

Queue original Star Trek theme (1960s)

Oh, this was about Cecil B deKerry, and his epic, "Fleeing Viet-Kong : U Die Twice!"
Posted by: BigEd || 07/28/2004 17:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Right on #2. Looks like Teresa had some Botox help in addition to hubbie, not to mention that someone finally told her to comb her hair instead of appearing with her usual rumpled out of bed look. When Teresa started giving salutations in numerous languages[granted she knows several languages, though she still struggles with proper English] I thought I'd vomit. What a grand stander. Think of Teresa replacing Laura Bush as First Lady and that image should keep you sleepless for many nights to come.
Posted by: rex || 07/28/2004 18:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Isn’t this against the Geneva Convention - to kill wounded (fleeing?) enemy soldiers? No in fact you want them in retreat and disarray so that you can exploit the situation (kill them). But I doubt many boat crews wanted to beach their craft and chase the enemy on foot?
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 07/28/2004 18:09 Comments || Top||

#7  The scene where he is hit by egg shell fragments is particularly disturbing touching.
Posted by: ed || 07/28/2004 21:04 Comments || Top||


Hunter S. Thompson's Odd Musings about Football Season and the Election
Sometimes I wonder how life can seem so drastically different to different people ... EFL, from ESPN.com's Page2 ...
What would this country be without football in October? That is a dangerous question, so I try not to worry. Only an imbecile would alienate every football freak in the country at a time like this.

What would we do without Brett Favre and NFL football this fall? It would be political suicide. Would the President do a thing like that?

Who knows for sure? He is already muttering about "postponing" the whole election, and that is almost as ugly as canceling a football season.

These rumors are dark and disturbing, especially for a football addict in July...

Where is Richard Nixon, now that we need him? He was crooked in every way and his hands were covered with blood -- but he was a rabid, high-rolling football fan with a sly taste for gin; and on some nights, he could be good company. Ah, but we live in a new century now, and the president is not a football fan. The first real game of the season will be a huge event for most of us; but for young George Bush, it will mean nothing. He will feel no relief, no escape from the same sense of doom that fell on his father, only 12 years ago. The old man failed when he tried to get re-elected, and so will his son. They both peaked too soon, about six months before football season; and after that, they sank like punctured fish.
This is Hunter's brain on drugs. Any questions?
Posted by: ExtremeModerate || 07/28/2004 3:09:31 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  HST is alive?
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/28/2004 15:29 Comments || Top||

#2  He's like Keith Richards.You'll need to use nukes to take him out.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/28/2004 15:34 Comments || Top||

#3  Ah, but we live in a new century now, and the president is not a football fan.

I'd hope the President would have more important things to do, being engaged in a war and all that. Except that no one brought up cancelling the fotball season besides Hunter.

I caught a blurb of a Hunter Thompson on ESPN's SportsCenter last night, and my impression is: he's an addled nitwit whose best years are far, far behind him. Him and Imus are brain dead; they just haven't buried them yet.
Posted by: Raj || 07/28/2004 15:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Hmmmm...

So, it works like this:

Bush doesn't care for football - Not in touch with America. Unfit to be President.

Bush does care for football - Doesn't he know there's a war on? Unfit to be President.

And that, kids, is sophistication.
Posted by: dreadnought || 07/28/2004 16:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Say what ya will, but HST could write once.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/28/2004 18:06 Comments || Top||

#6  You realize the day after the election's happened, and we're dealing with the aftermath of terrorist attacks during the election, and have incomplete results from some areas as a result, they're going to be the FIRST ONES complaining that we need to redo the election, or else it's stolen...

But if someone in government plans for the possibility ahead of time, it's because the republicans are planning to steal the election.

Some conspiracy theorists; they'll believe in anything but the existance of salafist conspiracies. It seems important to them, somehow, to actively disbelieve in them.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 07/28/2004 21:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Ship> I lmao everytime I see "fear & loathing in LV". "...........there was strong evidence of drug use."
Posted by: Jarhead || 07/28/2004 21:16 Comments || Top||

#8  Maybe we could ask the Hell's Angels to beat the crap out of him again...
Posted by: Pappy || 07/28/2004 21:51 Comments || Top||

#9  Jarhead-
Hunter Thompson uses DRUGS??????

Dear God...nothing is sacred...next thing you'll be telling me Doonesbury is liberal.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 07/28/2004 23:40 Comments || Top||


Democratic Muslims Unite for Kerry
EFL
As a nationwide political force, American Muslims may not yet condemed terrorism be huge, but in population they are — and Democratic Muslims Tuesday heralded their 40 delegates to the Democratic National Convention as their biggest contingent yet. "Muslims need to be involved in politics," said Zafar Tahir, 42, a Pakistani-born American who calls himself an "American first. An American leader who happens to be Muslim." Tahir is one of seven Muslim delegates from Texas at the convention this year to throw support to John Kerry. He said he has a strong message to other Muslim-Americans and new immigrants to this country.

Gathering at the Islamic Society of Boston in Cambridge on Tuesday, Muslim delegates and local leaders said the Democratic Party offers more to Muslims, particularly recent immigrants. They cite the prospect of equal treatment and justice.

Texas delegate Inayat Lalani, 65, a retired surgeon from India, ... said Republicans have squandered the headway they made with the Muslim community before Sept. 11 when they reached out on civil liberties issues, like the use of secret evidence against Muslim immigrants in federal prosecutions by the Clinton administration. Much of that goodwill was lost, he claimed, after Christian conservatives like Pat Robertson, who are close to the Bush administration, made comments calling the Muslim faith violent.
Posted by: Dragon Fly || 07/28/2004 7:10:34 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Democratic Muslims Unite for Kerry

Of course they do, he'll call the dogs off.

btw Mr. Texas Delegate, FU and your goodwill lost. The Muslim faith violent? who would ever suspect what with beheadings, hacking off of limbs, treating women like shit and wanting to kill, hell being dictated by a friggin moongod to kill non-believers. Yeah, real enlightened. Jam it up your ass. This is exactly the sort of crap that Muslims and thier apologists have been spouting for the last 2 1/2 years. Squandered goodwill, Bah, tell that to the sailors on the Cole or those poor bastards in the African embassies, or the people you killed in the first trade center attack.
I'm finding it increasingly hard to differentiate between Islamists and Muslims - and I'm no so sure that it bothers me.
Posted by: JerseyMike || 07/28/2004 8:05 Comments || Top||

#2  What sort of take does The Nation of Islam have on the WoT?? - (the ones who look like The Harlem Globetrotters in nice suits). Are they also viewed as the enemy within?
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/28/2004 8:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Howard UK...start here.
Posted by: Dragon Fly || 07/28/2004 8:30 Comments || Top||

#4  DF: Many thanks. He seems to be saying more or less what was said by 'British' Imams at the time - but in a much more verbose & careful manner - 'the poor and the abject will provide a warning to the rich' and 'the Paleostinians have suffered too'. Don't buy any of it for a minute, mind you. Thanks again - will read thoroughly later.
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/28/2004 8:44 Comments || Top||

#5  ...at the Islamic Society of Boston in Cambridge on Tuesday, Muslim delegates and local leaders said the Democratic Party offers more to Muslims...They cite the prospect of equal treatment and justice.

And people would consider Muslims as experts in those areas because...?
Posted by: jules 187 || 07/28/2004 9:44 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Johnelle Bryant's Yarn About Mohamed Atta's Agriculture Loan Application
Following up yesterday's thread, some of which discussed an ABC interview with Johnelle Bryant on June 6, 2002.

From Xymphora, June 9, 2002
Mohamed Atta apparently visited a U. S. government office (Department of Agriculture) to apply for a $650,000 loan to buy a cropdusting airplane. An interesting point is that he is supposed to have visited the office in the spring of 2000, about 17 months before September 11, 2001, i. e., the end of April (or perhaps May), but he is officially supposed to have arrived in the United States in June 2000! While discussing this doomed mission with the loan officer who turned him down because it did not make sense, Atta made many odd statements, all of which are an obvious attempt to leave the impression that he was really and truly a crazed fundamentalist Islamic terrorist. He lays it on so thick, I don't know how he managed to keep from laughing:

* He almost refused to deal with her, because she is a woman.

* He admired a picture of Washington, D. C. that she had hanging on the wall of her office to a ridiculous degree, pointing specifically to the White House and the Pentagon, and then offered to buy it with theatrical flourish by throwing a wad of money down on the desk. When she refused to sell it to him she recounts: "I believe he said, 'How would America like it if another country destroyed that city and some of the monuments in it' like the cities in his country had been destroyed?" This is very weird, as Atta is supposed to come from Egypt, where cities haven't been destroyed for a long time.

* He gave her evil, terrorist looks with his 'very scary' black eyes.

* She said he referred to a safe in her office and she recounts: "He asked me what would prevent him from going behind my desk and cutting my throat and making off with the millions of dollars in that safe."

* He talked of the massive size of the chemical tank he wanted to install, filling the whole inside of the plane except for the pilot's seat.

* He became 'very agitated' when he found out that there was an application process and she presumably wouldn't just hand him $650,000 in cash there and then.

* He asked her about security at the World Trade Center and what she knew of Phoenix, Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles, and was particularly interested in open-topped Texas Stadium.

* He mentioned Osama bin Laden, who she had never heard of, and said that bin Laden "would someday be known as the world's greatest leader."

Of course, seeing as he was in the United States on a student visa, how he ever thought he would be entitled to such a loan is beyond belief. He knew he wasn't allowed to stay to ever be able to use the airplane for any plausibly legitimate purpose. Even if he mistakenly thought he could get away with this, what was his reasoning for sending three other terrorists to the same office on the much the same mission? In one case, he put on glasses as a disguise and pretended to be the accountant of one of the other hijacker-applicants, another obvious attempt to draw attention to himself.

The whole thing must have sounded like a Monty Python sketch (it reminds me of the Dead Parrot sketch when Michael Palin puts on the fake mustache). The ridiculous overacting left the bureaucrat completely unsuspicious. I imagine if he had asked her if it would be OK for him to fill the plane full of explosives and fly it into the World Trade Center, she would have replied that she would strongly object to that as blowing up the collateral would be a breach of one of the terms of his loan agreement. ....

--------------
From Antiwar.com, from an article titled "The Age of Malarkey," dated June 12, 2002

The news that Mohamed Atta and friends paid a visit to the Department of Agriculture in order to apply for a government loan — after all, terrorism on the scale he imagined didn't come cheap — goes waaaay beyond bizarre, all the way to phantasmagoric. How else can we describe Johnelle Bryant's story of her close encounter with Atta, in which the terrorist mastermind walked in demanding a $650,000 government loan to fulfill his "immigrant's dream" and start a crop-dusting business?

He wanted to finance a twin-engine six-passenger aircraft 
 and remove the seats. He said he was an engineer, and he wanted to build a chemical tank that would fit inside the aircraft and take up every available square inch of the aircraft except for where the pilot would be sitting.

According to Bryant, a 16-year veteran of the department, her weird run-in with Atta occurred "sometime between the end of April and the middle of May 2000," and there were several aspects of the interview that made it, uh, memorable — although it's only now that she decided to report it. Bryant tells us that, initially, Atta refused to even speak with her, disdaining her as "but a female." After she assured him that she was, indeed, in charge, he relented, but still kept insulting her. But that didn't stop the ever-helpful Bryant from trying to help him in any way possible. After he explained his "immigrant's dream," Bryant told him about the application process, and he became "very agitated." It seems that Atta, the devilishly clever ringleader of the most successful terrorist plot in modern times, "thought the loan would be in cash, and that he would have no trouble obtaining it to purchase an aircraft." If this expectation seems slightly puzzling, then Atta's crazed behavior during the interview seems calculated to draw attention to himself as a dangerous nutball. At one point, he noted that the building seemed to lack security. Bryant says he pointed at the safe behind her desk, and

He asked me what would prevent him from going behind my desk and cutting my throat and making off with the millions of dollars in that safe.

As to why Bryant didn't call security — such as it was — then and there is beyond me. Instead, she explained that the safe contained no money, the Department of Agriculture is not a bank — oh, and by the way, I'm "trained in karate." After this little dust-up, however, all was forgiven, apparently, and they got back down to business. Bryant tells us he asked questions about how he could get training, and whether his travel plans — "I think he said he needed to go to Madrid, and somewhere in Germany, and then there was a third country" — would interfere with the application process. Bryant turned down Atta's application — not because he said scary things, or because he had "scary eyes," black and intense, but on the grounds that, as a foreign national, he "didn't meet the basic eligibility requirements." Which just goes to show that you can appear to be a homicidal maniac, and still get a government grant, provided you're a citizen of this great country. Isn't America wonderful? Don't let anybody tell you different.

Oh, but here's my favorite part of this ABC News "exclusive":

Being turned down for the loan altered the hijackers' plans. According to law enforcement officials, packing twin-engine planes with explosive chemicals, making it a flying bomb, had been the terrorists' plan since the mid-1990s. When Atta reported to his group that he could not get a loan to buy smaller planes, the plan was switched to hijacking passenger jets, according to what Abu Zabaydah, a top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, has told American interrogators since his capture.

So in the fall of 2000, the hijackers who had been learning to fly small planes began to seek simulator training in the large jets they would fly into the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Get outta here! So now they're telling us that the fabulously wealthy Osama bin Laden, with all the resources of a worldwide terrorist empire at his disposal, was too cheap to put up a mere $650 thousand? Given all the long-range planning and additional resources he poured into the preparations for the 9/11 attacks, this hardly seems possible. Even more unbelievable is the idea that the hijackers had been counting on that government loan to finance their plans, and, when they didn't get it, had to radically shift course. What a load of malarkey! If true, that would have to mean that, on 9/11, myriad agencies of the US government were outfoxed by terrorists who are total retards.

While we're on the subject of total retards — Bryant also tells us how, before leaving, Atta became "fixated" on a photo of Washington, D.C., as seen from the air, hanging on the wall:

'He pulled out a wad of cash,' she said, 'and started throwing money on my desk. He wanted that picture really bad.'

Bryant indicated that the picture was not for sale, and he threw more money down.

'His look on his face became very bitter at that point,' Bryant remembers. 'I believe he said, 'How would America like it if another country destroyed that city and some of the monuments in it,' like the cities in his country had been destroyed?'

Oh, and which country is that? There is considerable controversy over Atta's nationality, and the mystery has yet to be cleared up as far as I can tell, but most speculation places him somewhere in North Africa: possibly Egyptian, or Algerian. We know he studied architecture in Cairo. Only one North African country has had its capital city "attacked" by the US, and that is Libya, in 1986, when Tripoli was bombed — but the city was hardly "destroyed." Atta's exit speech is the kind of extravagant touch one might expect in a cheap paperback thriller: indeed, this whole narrative has a pulp-novelistic feel to it, like bad art imitating life. Conveniently, Atta also launched into a rant about Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, and "boasted about the role they would play one day." Of the latter, according to Bryant, "he said this man would someday be known as the world's greatest leader."

It's stories like this that make one wonder if the Office of Strategic Influence — remember them? — really disbanded after all. Or was that just their way of strategically influencing us? The only believable aspect of this tall tale is Bryant's claim of complete ignorance:

I didn't know who Osama bin Laden was 
 He could have been a character on Star Wars for all I knew.

That I believe. As for the rest of it
.

-------------

From EdwardJayEpstein.com, an article titled Fictoid 11: The Terror Crop Dusters

On September 23, 2001, at the request of Attorney General John Ashcroft, the government grounded all the crop-dusters in America — over 5,000 planes that ordinarily spray pesticides on crops. The FBI then issued an ominous nationwide alert citing the possibility of a terrorist crop-duster attacks. The next day, before the House Committee on the Judiciary, Ashcroft testified that he had ordered these actions based on information the FBI received that these crop-dusting aircraft could be used "to distribute chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction." .... As it turned out, all these news stories, as well as Ashcroft's information about Atta, were based on the recollections of two people — Johnell Bryant and James Lester.

Johnell Bryant, a loan manager in the Department of Agriculture's Florida Farm Service Office, recalled after September 11th that Atta came to her office to get a $650,000 cash loan to finance a twin-engine, six-passenger airplane (not a crop-duster.) She said that the man had told her that he intended to build a tank in the passenger plane so he could also use it for crop-dusting. She said that the meeting had occurred in 2000, between "the third week of April to the third week of May of 2000." She was able to fix the date because the Far Service subsequently moved their office to Florida City. While no doubt some Arab-looking man made an inquiry about getting a loan during this period, Mohamed Atta was in Germany during that time period, applying for his visa to come to the United States. He did not arrive in the United States until June 3rd 2000. If so, the person who came into Bryant's office to get a loan to buy a passenger plane in April or May 2000 could not have been Mohamed Atta. ...

When these conflicts in dates became apparent after the FBI re- interviewed the two witnesses, the Department of Justice decided to drop the terror crop-dusters from its case. On June 25 2002, it replaced the previous indictment with a new one that omitted the claim that "Mohammed Atta made inquiries regarding starting a crop dusting company," any other references to"crop dusting" encounters by anyone alleged to be part of the conspiracy. The terror crop-dusting planes, a fictoid initially of Ashcroft and the Justice Department, is now only a fictoid of the media.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 07/28/2004 10:19:59 PM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How insensitive and western-centric for Ms. Bryant to force Mr. Atta to undergo the humiliation of actually looking at her uncovered face. A truly compassionate government would have given Mr. Atta at least $1,000,000 in small unmarked bills so he can make his American dream come true.
Posted by: ed || 07/28/2004 23:14 Comments || Top||


Possible Terrorists released because there wasn’t enough jail space.
Middle Easterners with possible terrorist ties have been detained after entering the country from Mexico but released for lack of jail space, said U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness. "It is true. It is very reliable information, from the horse's mouth, and it's happening all over the place," Ortiz, D-Texas, told The Herald on Thursday. "It's very, very scary, and members (of Congress) know about this. We have contacted several agencies, and I have talked to some people, but I can't say who."
The famous "unknown" source.
Ortiz's comments come amid Thursday's release of the 9/11 panel's report into events leading to the deadliest attack on U.S. soil and as the House Appropriations Committee passed an amendment to the Transportation-Treasury Bill to stop the use of Mexican identification cards in this country.
Coincidence? Read on.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Anonymous4021 || 07/28/2004 11:30:35 AM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is news? This has been happening and has been known for *years* now.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/28/2004 12:50 Comments || Top||

#2  “… It seems to me that this is just against Mexicans,” Ortiz said,

So what if it's "against Mexicans"? It's a Mexican government program that's subject to being used to circumvent U.S. security protocols, and as such, deserves appropriate attention. If this guy is insinuating that Mexicans are victims in all this, well, that's too damn bad. Maybe if the Mexican government stopped trying to meddle in American affairs, and if Mexican nationals stopped trying to constantly cross the border illegally, there wouldn't be any damn problems.

Note to Ortiz: Lose the ethnic-based whining routine. Jesse's not going very far with it these days, and you won't either.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/28/2004 12:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Thanks for cleaning it up for me, Mr. Green.

:)
Posted by: Anonymous4021 || 07/28/2004 18:11 Comments || Top||


Kerry Iraq Documentary
Posted by: Dragon Fly || 07/28/2004 12:07 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, and hat tip to Instapundit.com
Posted by: Dragon Fly || 07/28/2004 12:13 Comments || Top||


Cheney to Americans: Weakness Invites Terror
EFL - I changed the title from "Cheney to Democrats"
... "Terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength. They are invited by the perception of weakness," Cheney said at Camp Pendleton on the Southern California coast... "Having seen the devastation caused by 19 men armed with knives, box cutters and boarding passes, we awakened to a possibility even more lethal. President Bush is determined to remove threats before they arrive instead of simply awaiting for another attack on our country. So America acted to end the regime of Saddam Hussein." Despite violence in Iraq and the threat of new al Qaeda attacks in the United States, Cheney told the 2,500 Marines and sailors: "Sixteen months ago, Iraq was a gathering threat to the United States and the civilized world. Now it is a rising democracy, an ally in the war on terror and the American people are safer for it."
As an American, I felt much safer before the War in Iraq, because I could never have dreamed how close AQ Khan had brought us all to a world where every deranged dictator has his own nukes to sling about.
Before the war I felt real safe. Now I wonder what other surprises were being shoved down Sandy's pants.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 3:31:57 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Imagine yourself back on September 12, 2001. Would you have bet, on that day, that there would not be another major terrorist attack inside the US by today?

We are winning. Iraq, no matter what else happens, has been flypaper for terrorists. If terrorists are dedicated to attacking Americans isn't better that they armed, dangerous, soldiers over there, than unarmed civilians in the US?

You can not trust defense against terrorism. The defender has to be 100% successful and the terrorist just needs to get through once. The way to fight terrorism is to go their bases and keep them moving.

I just don't see Kerry being aggressive enough. He'll declare victory and bring the soldiers home and we'll be fighting off more attacks waiting for the one that gets through.
Posted by: Formerly Dan || 07/28/2004 12:36 Comments || Top||


Usual Suspects sue to stop random MBTA bag searches
EFL
A federal judge took under advisement a lawsuit filed by two civil rights groups hoping to stop the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority from inspecting passengers' bags. The National Lawyers Guild and American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee argued that the searches are an unconstitutional violation of personal privacy. They sued to stop all bag searches on buses and trains. But Tuesday's hearing involved only the searches on buses driving the sections of I-93 that are closed during the Democratic National Convention and the Orange line at the Haymarket and Community College stops, before trains pass under the FleetCenter.

Michael Avery, president of the National Lawyers Guild, told the court that the searches are ''very intrusive'' and violate the Fourth Amendment, because they don't require information that the person searched is suspected of criminal activity. ''This is not a wand, not a metal detector that people pass through,'' Avery said. ''This is MBTA officers coming on the train and opening bags and personal possessions. The circumstances are very intimidating and involves physical exposure of somebody's personal possessions in their handbag.'' He also complained that passengers who refused to be searched would be asked to leave the bus or train, potentially leaving them stranded in the middle of their journey.
Might I suggest a taxi.

MBTA lawyer Rudolph Pierce said the agency had to balance passengers' safety and protection of their civil rights. He cited the recent subway terrorist attack in Madrid as evidence that not just airports and courtrooms could be terrorist targets. ''The last thing the MBTA wants to be thought of is as going out of its way interfering with civil liberties,'' Pierce said. ''We've tried to come up with measures that are both moderate and, hopefully, enough to deter anybody from doing something that none of us want to happen.''
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 3:20:08 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


International-UN-NGOs
Arabs working to Kill UN vote on antisemitism
EFL
Arabs shock Europeans, refuse to condemn anti-Semitism
By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent
Yeah, but what'd they do to shock the Euros?
Arab states at the United Nations are trying to foil a proposal to raise a vote condemning anti-Semitism in the General Assembly this September. At a closed meeting held recently in New York, UN ambassadors from Arab and EU countries met and the Arab [ambassadors]s made clear that they do not accept the initiative for the UN General Assembly to condemn anti-Semitism. The blunt language used by the Arabs describing their opposition
[I wonder if they used their version of the f word]
and their plans to use diplomatic means to prevent the resolution from reaching a vote, shocked the Europeans,
[well it wouldn't shock most sentient persons but that says something about the Euros]
said a UN source.
Posted by: || 07/28/2004 3:03:09 PM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why are the Europeans balking? I thought the Europeans signed on to be anti-Semites in 1980. Wasn't that what the Venice Declaration was about? MIFTAH seems to think so.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 22:58 Comments || Top||

#2  The EU won't be happy until it sees the last Jewish corpse incenerated.
Posted by: FlameBait93268 || 07/28/2004 23:52 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
In Indonesia, Islam and democracy mix
Cynics in the West argue that Islam and democracy don't mix. Democracy can't work in a Muslim country like Afghanistan, they say, because of the dictatorial grip of the warlords. It won't work in Iraq because the country is in chaos. It won't work in Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, or the rest of the Arab world because of autocratic rulers and Muslim extremists. Such critics in the US conveniently dismiss the presence of some 4 million to 7 million Muslims in their land who remain true to their religion but thrive under democracy and revere it. But even in predominantly Muslim nations there are examples of burgeoning democracy. One such nation - the largest Muslim country in the world - is Indonesia. Its 216 million people have survived colonialism under the Dutch, a slide toward communism under Sukarno, an abortive coup attempt that led to a nationwide bloodletting, years of corrupt dictatorship under Suharto, violent separatist upheavals and religious tensions, and a flurry of Al Qaeda-style terrorism.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 07/28/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is the satire section, right?
Posted by: Asedwich || 07/28/2004 1:12 Comments || Top||

#2  This is the satire section, right?

Not necessarily. In Iran for instance, you can choose to vote for Mullah #1, or Mullah #2, or Mullah #3. Or... Warlord #1, Warlord #2... etc etc.
Posted by: Rafael || 07/28/2004 1:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Indonesia is a good example of democracy in the early stages. Can you really say that they are doing worse than we [the US] did in our first 50 years -- say up to about 1830? I, for one, am impressed at how the Rule of Law has prevailed in how the terrorism cases are being handled. They are getting the job done, without bowing to international pressure, or violating due process and constitutional principles.
Posted by: cingold || 07/28/2004 7:25 Comments || Top||

#4  What was wrong with the first 50 years?
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 8:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Other than the Whiskey Rebellion, the burning of the White House in the War of 1812, the Alien and Sedition Acts, "Hang John Jay," and the Second National Bank? Nothing much...
Posted by: Fred || 07/28/2004 8:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Hey I lost a lot of family in the Whiskey Rebellion. Or was that the moonshine war... hmmm.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/28/2004 10:46 Comments || Top||

#7  I know about the others, but what was "Hang John Jay"?
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 07/28/2004 11:25 Comments || Top||

#8  Indonesia was basically a bloody dictatorship from ~1965 to 1988; Americans didn't kill half a million of their own for being communists even at the height of the Cold War. The years since 1988 have been fairly bumpy as well.

I'm going to hold off praising Indonesia as a miracle of Islamic democracy until it's clearly not a gigantic burp in the typical islamic way of doing things.
Posted by: Asedwich || 07/28/2004 11:30 Comments || Top||

#9  So pick another 50 years that went better. 1837-1887? Dred Scott, Civil War, Suspension of habeus corpus, Income tax, Paper money 1887-1937? Spanish American War, World War I, A. Mitchell Palmer raids, Sacco-Vanzetti, First Depression 1937-1987? Second Depression, World War 2 Cold War, Mc Caran Act, Mc Carthyism, Alger His, Jimmy Carter-that would have been the time to burn the White House.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 12:20 Comments || Top||

#10  Paper Money? You mean debt instruments from the federal reserve, aka Haliburton's bank?
Posted by: A L Chappeau || 07/28/2004 14:16 Comments || Top||

#11  indonesian has been a democracy since 1998, and six years is way too long to really judge anything - but its going better than some would have expected, and its VERY important that radical Islamists are not doing well electorally.

Similarly we have seen democratic politics in Albania. And in Mali, a muslim state in subsaharan Africa.

But what do Indonesia, Mali, and Albania all have in common - they are NOT in the core muslim cultural belt of the Middle east - the arab countries, and Iran (which was conquered early by Islam, and is arguably more culturally arabized than is Indonesia) Establishing democracy at the HEART of the muslim world may prove more difficult - the jury is still out.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 14:24 Comments || Top||

#12  did i really type "way too long" - oops, shoulda been "way too short"

Need - more - coffee!
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 14:32 Comments || Top||

#13  Haliburton's Bank? Or the Illuminati? OR, IS THIS ANOTHER THREAD OF THE MASSIVE BUSHITLER EFFORT TO ENSLAVE THE WORLD MAKING WEAPONS OF WAS TO USE AGAINST THE POOR?

Oh, never mind.
Posted by: Emily Latella || 07/28/2004 14:32 Comments || Top||

#14  CSM: Its 216 million people have survived colonialism under the Dutch

Survived colonialism under the Dutch? What are these guys talking about? Indonesia exists as a country because it used to be the Dutch empire in the Far East. Without Dutch colonialism, Indonesia would be a few dozen independent countries. Not to mention that Dutch rule brought Western technology and methods of government to the benighted natives.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 07/28/2004 15:44 Comments || Top||

#15  LH: But what do Indonesia, Mali, and Albania all have in common - they are NOT in the core muslim cultural belt of the Middle east - the arab countries, and Iran (which was conquered early by Islam, and is arguably more culturally arabized than is Indonesia)

The interesting thing is that the post-Suharto years have led to a significant increase in the Arabization of Indonesia. Radical priests who had previously fled the country to avoid being "disappeared" have returned. Extremist Islamic groups are now targeting other religious groups. Where practically no women wore the head covering before, it is now common everywhere.

Bill Clinton's policy of destabilizing friendly governments in East Asia instead of helping them during the Asian crisis is now coming home to roost. And then there was Clinton's support for Timorese independence, which has wrought incalculable consequences for Indonesian attitudes towards the US, without necessarily improving the lot of the Timorese. Make no mistake about it - where Indonesians used to be friendly, in recognition for US help in fighting Communism, it is now outright hostile. Punishing friends and rewarding enemies can only go on for so long, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 07/28/2004 15:55 Comments || Top||

#16  Jimmy Carter was in Indonesia during its recent elections. That's why the publicity now.

As has been said before, Indonesia is a work in progress and as polypundit notes, not all the signs are good.

However, the UAE may also soon move toward the democracy side of the coin. Even Libya, yes Libya, could go that way soon.
Posted by: mhw || 07/28/2004 16:05 Comments || Top||

#17  well of course Islamism is more visible now in Indon - it was invisible under Suharto. Doesnt mean it wasnt there, festering. Now its out in the open, and NOT winning elections. Contrast Egypt.

I note a recent study (dont have the link) said the strongest indicator of what country a muslim terrorist would come from was NOT that countrys income, ethnicity, etc - it was the country's degree of democracy.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 16:07 Comments || Top||

#18  Under Suharto, Islamism wasn't invisible - it didn't exist. The mullah who is now under indictment came back from abroad after Suharto was toppled. The openly-radical Islamists who carried out the Bali bombing would have been imprisoned back during Suharto's tenure. Suharto's chief of intelligence, Benny Murdani, was a Catholic - there were no massacres of Christians on his watch. The weakness of the Indonesian state since Suharto was toppled actually mirrors the weakness of the Filipino state under democratic rule.

I think the reason democracy hasn't worked in some East Asian countries is the quality of the ruling class - the leaders in those countries look out exclusively for number one. Marcos and Suharto had an incentive to limit the amount of theft, given that they had lifetime tenures and would want to extract whatever they needed slowly, while keeping the economy as strong as possible. Democratic rule simply means additional sets of hands out for graft, in as short a period of time as possible, given that political fortunes change.

The Philippines was poor under Marcos, but it is now the basket case of East Asia, with both crime and terrorism rampant. Acquaintances in East Asia used to think nothing of visiting the Philippines for a holiday. Today, you'd have to pay them to do it, given the danger from Communist terrorists, Islamic terrorists and kidnap gangs. What a waste - this is definitely one of Paul Wolfowitz's biggest failures - he had Reagan urge Marcos to leave when the right thing to do would have been a hands-off approach.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 07/28/2004 16:40 Comments || Top||

#19  IIUC Phillipines has been growing rapidly economically since fall of Marcos.

Indonesia has largely recovered economically since the 1998 slump.

Yes some exiles came back after 1998 - but the society they reentered, that they find support in, was the society that 30 years of Suhartos rule made possible. It will take democracy some time to build a civil society.

Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 16:46 Comments || Top||

#20  this from jubilee UK

In the first 20 years or so of his rule, President Soeharto gave patronage and privilege to many Christians whilst at the same time often repressing many Islamic movement. However, from 1990 he usually gave his patronage and privileged treatment to Muslims. The change of policy may have been related to the growing unpopularity of Soeharto, particularly from within the armed forces, such that he needed to enlist Muslim political support (Vatikiotis, 1994; Schwarz, 1994). This tactic of dividing and ruling caused the Muslim majority in Indonesia to fear losing their privileged position. Such sentiment was then exploited by Muslim extremists.


Increased patronage to Muslims was signified by the formation of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) spear-headed by the then Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie. Because Habibie spent so many years studying and working in Germany, he did not have a broad political support base in Indonesia. Subsequently Habibie used ICMI as his power-base.


The rise of Islam in Indonesian politics was also marked by the rise of the pro-Muslim faction in the military and police (note that until recently the police force is part of the armed forces, often known by its initial ABRI). This created major division within ABRI, between the Islamist Officers and Nationalist ones. The nationalists are in favour of secularism while the Islamists support the Islamicising, or at the very least a much greater role for Islam in the political, social and military life in Indonesia. The nationalist camp is often known as ABRI-Red and White (after the national flag of Indonesia) and is led by the current Head of Armed Forces General Wiranto. The Islamist camp is often known as ABRI-Green and was led by among others, Lt. Gen. Prabowo (son in law of ex-President Soeharto), Gen. Hartono and Gen. Feisal Tanjung. The current leader of this camp is unclear, but there appears to be much indication that Major General Zacky Anwar Makarim is at the very least an influential person in this camp. Note that Gen. Makarim has also been implicated in master-minding the destruction and atrocities in East Timor after the referendum on the future of that territory.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 16:49 Comments || Top||

#21  Where practically no women wore the head covering before, it is now common everywhere.

This, added to some other misogynistic aspects of southeastern Asia, as well as the presence of Islamofascist radicals, has me taking this article with a grain of salt. Democracy for some is how it seems for now, at best.
Posted by: jules 187 || 07/28/2004 16:52 Comments || Top||

#22  Not one of the top five candidates in the July 5 voting favored the introduction of sharia, Islamic law.

vs
Where practically no women wore the head covering before, it is now common everywhere

Possibilities
1. something being common everywhere is not inconsistent with its being numerically rare. Nader bumper stickers are common everywhere, but i dont expect him to get more than 2% of the vote. What does "common everywhere" mean? 5% of all women? 10%? 40%?

2. Maybe, just maybe, not everyone who wears an Islamist headcovering votes for a candidate favoring the introduction of Sharia law.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 16:59 Comments || Top||

#23  LH: What does "common everywhere" mean? 5% of all women? 10%? 40%?

From 0% to 20% in a few short years. And this is in the city, where Indonesians are much more secular.

LH: Maybe, just maybe, not everyone who wears an Islamist headcovering votes for a candidate favoring the introduction of Sharia law.

The headcovering isn't just a fashion accessory - it's a political statement. This is why the Singaporean authorities, who have had four decades of experience dealing with Islamic extremists, recently banned the headcovering from its schools - it was spreading like wildfire.

I think liberals think that anything that's repressed tends to get stronger. Not so. Most of the time, repression leads to extinction. Just ask the Buddhist 'stans of Central Asia. What? You mean they're Muslims these days? Yes, thanks to Arab armies that went as far as to defeat a Chinese army at the Battle of Talas River in 751 AD.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 07/28/2004 17:38 Comments || Top||

#24  Maybe, just maybe, not everyone who wears an Islamist headcovering votes for a candidate favoring the introduction of Sharia law.

What do you want to do, LH, wait til the threshold is 40% 60%? Look how many have commented on how wearing a head covering isn't a choice in Mulsim communities-it's intimidated by politically, religiously powerful people. The more intimidation, the higher the percentage. What is your threshhold for getting concerned about it?

A little less indifference about what societally enforced head covering means to 50% of the population is in order, not flippancy.
Posted by: jules 187 || 07/28/2004 17:59 Comments || Top||

#25  Liberalhawk, we had a go at this mythical success story re: Indonesia once before awhile back...sigh...but here I go again trying to take off your rose colored liberal glasses...sigh

A. Phillipines has been growing rapidly economically since fall of Marcos
Hot off the presses an article in IHT dated July 26, 2004
http://www.iht.com/articles/531135.html

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo promised on Monday to implement sweeping reforms during her new six-year term as the president of the Philippines, from fixing the chronic budget deficit to making the corrupt and inefficient Philippine bureaucracy "lean and mean."...The Philippines has one of the highest unemployment rates in Southeast Asia and its economy has been among the worst performers in the region....

B. As for Indonesia being a successful Muslim democracy...yuck, yuck...let's be honest about Indonesia the "democracy"...In fact, without the iron fist of a strong military presence [which kind of challenges the term "democracy" as in free and open society without armed military patrolling the streets]and heavy duty American taxpayer funded aide, Indonesia would be another Third World Muslim hellhole. And from the sounds of it, the iron military fist's influence may just get stronger. Here's a July 28, 2004 article from the Asia Times entitled "Power-hungry military overshadows Indonesia"
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/FG28Ae06.html

JAKARTA - Indonesia's fledging democracy has come under threat as the country's power-hungry military is seeking to regain its old powers lost to reform movements since 1998.

In the Indonesian military bill submitted to the House of Representatives (DPR) for deliberations recently, the military (known as the TNI) seeks to revive its territorial command, reintroduce its dual functions and limit the president's authority over the institution to approving troop deployment for war and civic services only.

The DPR is planning to start deliberating on the bill early next week and has promised to endorse it on September 30, just one day before the new members of the DPR elected in the April 5 legislative elections are to take their oaths of office. This means the DPR will have only 45 days to deliberate on the bill, which, if passed, will seriously undermine civilian supremacy and jeopardize the country's young and fragile democracy. That the DPR insists on deliberating on and endorsing the bill now suggests that the military is out to fight for what it wants...The military, which undoubtedly remains the country's strongest political entity, earned praise and respect in the April 5 legislative elections and the July 5 presidential elections as its personnel stayed largely neutral throughout the democratic process, despite the fact that three retired army generals contested in the presidential poll.

But the military's attempts to revive territorial command and to reintroduce its dual functions have put into serious question its commitment to reforms as well as the democratization process in the world's largest Muslim country...In addition to its requests for the return of old powers, the TNI bill also aims to limit the authority of the president over the military to approving troop deployment for war, leaving deployment for other purposes, including quelling social unrest and secessionist movements, under the authority of the military chief. Under its original version released last year, the military was even authorized to declare a state of emergency in certain areas and deploy troops there without necessarily asking for approval from the president. This clearly contradicts prevailing laws that position the president as the supreme commander of the country's military force. During a presidential debate held before the July 5 elections, front-runners Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Megawati Sukarnoputri gave no clear answers to questions related to the military's future political roles. Given the fact that Yudhoyono is a retired army general and Megawati has turned a blind eye to the draft, the two are likely to offer political concessions to the military, especially if the compromises will help them win the September 20 runoff elections...
Posted by: rex || 07/28/2004 18:38 Comments || Top||

#26  Thanks, rex. I was going to go look for the numbers I had previously seen, but you've saved me the trouble.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 07/28/2004 18:46 Comments || Top||

#27  rex and Zhang Fei: I understand your concerns, but I think your assessments are too dour. I'd go with the opinions expressed in:
"Interpreting the Indonesian Election Results"
Sidney Jones in The Asian Wall Street Journal
EFL
There are three wrong ways to read the July 5 presidential elections in Indonesia: As a guide to who will win in the September 20 run-off, as a clue to what the next president's policies will be and as definitive proof that democracy in Indonesia is secure.
* * *
But here is the main reason for the unpredictability this year. Everything is up to the voters, not the party hacks. Backroom deals worked out by the candidates have not swayed voters. They surprised the pundits during the April parliamentary elections and they surprised us again recently. They will almost certainly surprise us again in September.
* * *
Finally, what does the July 5 election have to say about Indonesian democracy? The signs are all good: an 80% turnout, generally high enthusiasm and a generally fair vote. The way that the electoral process has strengthened political institutions is also heartening: not only has it helped guarantee the legitimacy of the new president and parliament, but it has given new weight to political parties and other institutions, including the new Constitutional Court, tasked with adjudicating any claim of electoral fraud.
Posted by: cingold || 07/28/2004 20:11 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Ebadi Accuses Top Officials of Murder Cover-Up
Iran's Nobel laureate and human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi yesterday renewed her accusation that top officials in Iran's hard-line judiciary had covered up the murder in custody of Canadian-Iranian photographer Zahra Kazemi. A statement from the Nobel Peace Prize-winner and her team of lawyers who are representing Kazemi's enraged family also urged the head of the Islamic republic's judiciary to allow an independent probe into the controversial case.

The statement came after the judiciary claimed Kazemi's death last July may have been an accident and not due to a beating. "We are insisting that the head of the judiciary appoint a special independent inquirer who is outside the supervision of the prosecution," it said. "There is proof, including the statements of a number of witnesses present at the scene, saying a high-ranking official in Evin prison gave Zahra Kazemi a very strong punch to the left side of her head, breaking her skull," it added. "Why did the judiciary not welcome this suggestion? What we want to know is why some people want to cover it up," demanded Ebadi and her team. "Why was the identity of the interrogator from 22:30 on 23 June to 0230 on June 24 concealed?" it asked. "Based on the papers in the case, the interrogation was conducted in the presence of Tehran's public prosecutor and one of his deputies," it added.
Posted by: Fred || 07/28/2004 9:57:37 PM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Has she been doing this all the time or just since she won the Nobel Prize?
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 22:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Be careful, lest she fall and hit her head.
Posted by: ed || 07/28/2004 22:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Ed, she is bullet-proof. Even the Iranians understand that with respect to the EU a Nobelist has been corronated. If they touch her than, the EU might look bad to their own leftist journalists when they did nothing.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/29/2004 3:21 Comments || Top||


Iran seeks nuclear bomb boosters
Move along people, nothing to see here ...
Iranian agents are negotiating with a Russian company to buy a substance that can boost nuclear explosions in atomic weapons, according to an intelligence agency report being circulated by diplomats. The two-page report cited "knowledgeable Russian sources" for the information, which Washington will likely point to as more proof that Tehran wants to acquire nuclear weaponry. "Iranian middlemen ... are in the advanced stages of negotiations in Russia to buy deuterium gas," the report said.

Iran denies wanting atomic arms and says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. Deuterium is used as a tracer molecule in medicine and biochemistry and is used in heavy water reactors of the type Iran is building. But it can also be combined with tritium and used as a "booster" in nuclear fusion bombs of the implosion type. Envoys linked to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said buying deuterium alone was not evidence of intent to acquire a weapons capability. They cautioned that the report appeared designed to persuade nations who are not convinced Iran wants the bomb. The United States and others are pushing the IAEA to report Iran to the Security Council for possible punishment with economic sanctions for allegedly seeking nuclear weapons in defiance of its treaty obligations. "Iran needs to know that they will suffer deeply if they get nuclear weapons," said the diplomat who provided the report.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 07/28/2004 2:29:02 PM || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder if it will work as well as the Russian GPS jammers did.
Posted by: eLarson || 07/28/2004 16:22 Comments || Top||

#2  LOL. Love it. Sell 'em more and show them the deadly Egress.
Posted by: PT Barnum || 07/28/2004 18:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Oops... I missed this one: "I am puzzled. All shipments of sensitive and dangerous gases like deuterium must be carried out with a proper licence."

I mean, surely no one would do something as illegal as that. I mean, come on! It's Russia. (/tongue) (/cheek)
Posted by: eLarson || 07/28/2004 18:35 Comments || Top||

#4  I almost have to figure that the Russians are going to booby trap the stuff to sell to the Iranians. It just doesn't make sense for them to be arming the Iranians, who are just to the south of Azerbaijian. Then again, it doesn't make sense for them to be arming the Chinese either. (Of course, the long run view is that they may be able to booby trap some of this stuff, and it's better if they're the only source of equipment for the Chinese if the Chinese start acting up against them).
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 07/28/2004 22:29 Comments || Top||


UPDATE: Fall Killed Canadian Journalist !
EFL
Iran's judiciary claimed Wednesday that an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist died in custody from a push fall after her blood pressure dropped during a beeting hunger strike, a sharp blow to the head shift in position on a case that has strained relations between the two countries. The hard-line judiciary also denounced President Mohammad Khatami's reformist administration, which offered Monday to help identify the murderer of Zahra Kazemi, accusing it of providing fuel for a "spiteful" foreign media.
A fall, low blood pressure, murder. All the lines seemed to be blured.
"The death of Mrs. Zahra Kazemi was an accident," according to a judiciary statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
"She was walking in the hallway and all of a sudden Mohammad hit over the head with a blunt object she tripped and banged her head. That's all. See! It was an accident. Did I mention we aren't builing a nuclear reactor?"
Posted by: Dragon Fly || 07/28/2004 8:01:39 AM || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah...a fall...that's the ticket. I was just discussing this with my...wife...Morgan Fairchild...
Posted by: Tommy Flanagan || 07/28/2004 9:56 Comments || Top||

#2  I figured she ran into a door.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/28/2004 11:01 Comments || Top||

#3  I thought that she attacked a club with her head.

Repeatedly.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. || 07/28/2004 11:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Iran’s judiciary claimed Wednesday that an Iranian-Canadian photojournalist died in custody from a fall after her blood pressure dropped during..

And Yasser Arafart really does want to live in peace with Israel.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/28/2004 11:50 Comments || Top||

#5  I guess the physical evidence of raping was actually caused by an attempt to resucitate her.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 13:19 Comments || Top||

#6  From Memri:


THE IRANIAN CONSERVATIVE DAILY JOMHOUR-YE ESLAMI CALLED FOR EXPELLING THE CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO IRAN AND BRINGING IRAN'S AMBASSADOR TO CANADA HOME FOR WHAT IT CALLED CANADA'S INTERFERENCE IN IRAN'S INTERNAL AFFAIRS (I.E. CRITICIZING THE TRIAL OF THE MURDER OF CANADIAN JOURNALIST ZAHRA KAZEMI). (JOMHOUR-YE ESLAMI, IRAN, 7/28/04)

How DARE you criticize Iranian justice?!
Posted by: Mercutio || 07/28/2004 15:38 Comments || Top||

#7  How DARE you criticize Iranian justice?!

Like the BLUES BROTHERS - They are on a mission from GOD!
Posted by: BigEd || 07/28/2004 18:02 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Islamic Militants Claim Hacking Attack on U.S. Army Computer System
Posted by: Dutchgeek || 07/28/2004 15:05 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  oh my, all is lost. They can hack XP!
Posted by: spiffo || 07/28/2004 15:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Who can't?
Posted by: Raj || 07/28/2004 15:54 Comments || Top||

#3  ProRat How appropriate for the name of a program used by terrorists.
Posted by: BigEd || 07/28/2004 16:06 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaeda propagandizes online
One Al Qaeda website offers chilling details on how to conduct private and public kidnappings. It points out the number of cells essential to target and and hide victims. It details how to handle hostages - force them to taste the food first, for instance. It gives advice on negotiating tactics (gradually kill the hostages if "the enemy" stalls) and on releasing captives (be alert to tracking devices planted in the ransom money). The Al Qaeda site, called Al Battar, which means The Sword, is posted on the Internet twice a month. It's one of several websites that the terrorist group and its supporters built after the US successfully routed them from Afghanistan in late 2001. And it is one of some 4,000 websites that, experts say, now exist to carry on a "virtual" terror war - and plan actual attacks.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 07/28/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If we just could see a list of them maybe some kiddiots would use it to DDOS their pathetic asses off the internet.
Posted by: FlameBait93268 || 07/28/2004 1:59 Comments || Top||

#2  l33t h4xorz , need i say more hehe .
Posted by: MacNails || 07/28/2004 4:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't worry, the kiddiots who can do DDOS can manage to find these characters on their own. Everybody needs deniability when the sheriff is in town.
Posted by: goyisherebbe || 07/28/2004 9:02 Comments || Top||

#4  FB,

If memory serves me correctly, the US intel services have actually asked that folks not DDOS them. They like to keep them on-line to have a listen to the delusional murmurings of the wanna-be jihadis.
Posted by: dreadnought || 07/28/2004 14:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Well the guberment usually ask the country to just lay there and take it. We did and we got 9/11.
I say screw the guberment on this one and let the kiddiots do something constructive for once. Some dafecements with photoshopped pictures of Osma getting it up the rear by a dog or pig would go a long way in my book. Making the sites useless and logging all the IPs accessing them and getting them signed up for tons and tons of pr0n spam so the "religous authorites" come and rape them with a broom handle might be nice.
Potential acts of vengance against the Islamo-NAZIs are numerous fully justified. Go to it haxors.
Posted by: FlameBait93268 || 07/28/2004 18:20 Comments || Top||

#6  hmm... maybe Ill trade in some free time and take some programming courses. Then wage my own electronic WoT. Make a hobby out of it.
Posted by: ignorantly yours || 07/28/2004 18:28 Comments || Top||


Africa: Horn
Sudanese Govt, SPLA Adjourn Talks Without Deal on Truce
Sudan's government and the main southern rebel group yesterday adjourned peace talks in Kenya without agreeing on a cease-fire deal crucial to ending Africa's longest war, mediators said. "The talks have adjourned, but consultations with both sides will continue," Lazaro Sumbeiywo, the Kenyan retired army general in charge of mediating the peace talks, told AFP. An official in the mediation, who did not want to be named, said the ceasefire negotiations adjourned "without a deal, but mediators will continue shuttling between the Sudan's government and Sudan People's Liberation Army for consultations and to fix the date of resumption."

The cease-fire talks, which opened on June 21, are mediated by East Africa's regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Rebel spokesman Samson Kwaje told AFP that the two sides had agreed on "about 70 percent" of the whole cease-fire deal, but were stalled on funding of the two armies and positioning of the integrated forces after a final peace deal is signed. "What is remaining is around 30 percent, and it is because we disagreed on details of funding the two armies, the SPLA and government's, and whether or not the joint forces will be in eastern Sudan," which lies in the north, Kwaje told AFP. An earlier agreement on security arrangements in September 2003 broadly outlined how Khartoum would withdraw regular soldiers from southern Sudan and how troops from both sides would be integrated into a new army.
Posted by: Fred || 07/28/2004 9:56:25 PM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fred, why does my wallet feel lighter?
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 22:21 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Saddam Suffered Stroke
SADDAM HUSSEIN has suffered a minor stroke, his lawyers claimed today.
Damn! It coulda been the big one.
And they said the former Iraqi dictator could die before he stands trial.
Pulling a Milosovic.
The multi-national legal team is still waiting for permission to see Saddam, but said they had information from the Red Cross that his health had deteriorated.
But not as much as it is going to.
Earlier this month, Saddam appeared in an Iraqi courtroom, when he was read seven charges against him that may lead to a formal indictment for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Aha, that's what did it. No more court rom time, just leave him at his undisclosed location.
Jordanian lawyer Mohammed al-Rashdan has written to Salem Chalebi, head of the Iraqi prosecuting authorities, on behalf of the defence team, demanding access to their client. He said: "Our information is he's in very poor heath. We understand our client has had a brain scan to discover how badly he has been affected by the stroke. We believe he could die because of his health problems." Mr al-Rashdan said the lawyers' attempts to see Saddam had so far been blocked. And he speculated Saddam's health could get much worse if a trial was not held soon. "We believe any trial could be months, if not years, away," he said.
Wouldn't do to have him die without viewing the plastic shredder at work one more time.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 3:52:53 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  is it:
I'VE FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP...
or
HIS GUARDS ARE SAYING INTERESTING THINGS TO HIM
Posted by: BigEd || 07/28/2004 16:02 Comments || Top||

#2  The minor stroke was several days, or even weeks ago. They have done a CT-scan on his brain. Nothing important.
Posted by: mike || 07/28/2004 16:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Why don't they stick a screwdriver in his ear a couple of hundred times and see if they can fix it.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/28/2004 16:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Damn! Hope the dirtbag doesn't stroke out before they can hang him!
Justice denied, that would be.
Posted by: GreatestJeneration || 07/28/2004 16:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Why don't they stick a screwdriver in his ear a couple of hundred times and see if they can fix it.
He, he, good one. You win the prize today, #3, for "most imaginative" comment. He, he...
Posted by: rex || 07/28/2004 16:32 Comments || Top||

#6  AMEN JEN! Rush that boy into the courtroom ASAP, Convict him, and then swing him from the those twin swords on the parade ground. After a couple of weeks cremate the body and have the ashes dumped in a pig sty. A fitting end to that waste of a human being.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 07/28/2004 16:51 Comments || Top||

#7  the sooner he gets to hell the better
Posted by: B || 07/28/2004 17:24 Comments || Top||

#8  Instead of plugging him into health monitoring equipment, they should plug his ass into a wall socket and hasten the onset of a more dire health condition.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/28/2004 17:42 Comments || Top||

#9  BAR - Sizzling thought!
Posted by: BigEd || 07/28/2004 17:49 Comments || Top||

#10  Put him in an electric chair and turn it on trickle charge.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/28/2004 19:58 Comments || Top||

#11  For stroke victims, I hear that an icepack wrapped in a ladies undergarment is quite soothing if applied to the forehead. Or was it an icepick?
Posted by: john || 07/28/2004 20:43 Comments || Top||

#12  I'd sand paper his ass then pour kerosene on it.
Posted by: Jarhead || 07/28/2004 20:55 Comments || Top||

#13  Another good thing that came out of the Iraq war. If it is true, couldn't happen to a nicer person.
Posted by: Ol_Dirty_American || 07/28/2004 21:19 Comments || Top||

#14  Let the celebratory gunfire begin.
Posted by: ed || 07/28/2004 21:45 Comments || Top||

#15  How do you spell ulalating - lulululululu.
Posted by: JP || 07/28/2004 22:34 Comments || Top||

#16  Saddam Suffered Stroke

So, maybe he'll f%&king finally stroke off for once! This is far better than he deserves. Let's hope it isn't another Suharto sham. Saddam needs to die veeeeeeeery slowly.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/28/2004 22:41 Comments || Top||


Africa: Horn
Sudanese government sez intervention in Darfur will be met with force
SUDAN warned yesterday it would use force against any attempt at outside military intervention in crisis-torn Darfur. Australia and New Zealand are considering a UN request for military personnel to join a mission there and Britain has said it could send 5000 troops.
I don't think that's something Omar really wants to do...
Ibrahim Ahmed Omar, secretary-general of the ruling National Congress Party, warned that force would be met by force. "Anybody who contemplates imposing his opinion by force will be confronted by force," he said. "Any power that intervenes in Darfur will be a loser."
Not as big a loser as Khartoum, even if the power was the Phrench. Brits, Aussies, Merkins — hang it up. Go sit in your mosques and knit boom belts...
Also yesterday, a group calling itself Mohammed's army called on Muslims to prepare to fight Western forces. "We call upon you to speedily head towards Darfur and dig deep into the ground mass graves prepared for the crusader army," the previously unknown group said. But a Darfur rebel movement in opposition to the Government called for a rapid deployment of international troops. The US Congress unanimously passed a resolution last week describing the atrocities committed in Darfur as genocide.
Didn't defer to Kofi's opinion that it's... ummm... something else, huh?
It called on the White House to lead international efforts to intervene. An official quoted Mr Omar as saying Sudan was capable of solving its own problems: "The National Congress firmly rejects any foreign threats targeting Sudan and its people and is opposed to any foreign intervention."
"We have the right to kill as many of our citizens as we like, in whatever manner we please!"
Khartoum has brushed off criticism it is not doing enough for Darfur people and pledged to improve the access of international aid agencies. But Abdel Wahed Mohammed Nur, spokesman for the rebel Sudan Liberation Army said: "We are asking the United States, the United Nations Secretary-General, the European Union and the African Union for the urgent deployment of troops in the coming days to ensure the delivery of food aid to millions of refugees."
Posted by: Dan Darling || 07/28/2004 11:27:34 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Any power that intervenes in Darfur will be a loser."

Yes, Sudan's reputation as a superpower is richly deserved.

/sarcasm
Posted by: BH || 07/28/2004 14:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, Bush should be careful or he may have the 'Mother of all Battles'(tm) on his hands!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/28/2004 15:05 Comments || Top||

#3  agreed BH

if the US armed and trained 10.000 Darfur and provided even modest air cover, they would wipe the Sudanese army's butt.
Posted by: Anonymous5922 || 07/28/2004 15:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Gasp! Not the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch - anything but the Holy Hand Grenada of Antioch.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 07/28/2004 15:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Met with force...we can only hope and pray those Islamo-pigs meet the 101st Airborne in force. Maybe the idiot thinks he is dealing with unarmed, starving women and children.
Posted by: anymouse || 07/28/2004 15:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Met with force? Man, and there I was, hoping that it would be met with hugs, kisses and dancing girls.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 07/28/2004 16:05 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
iraqi poet is have stroke
SADDAM HUSSEIN has suffered a minor stroke, his lawyers claimed today. And they said the former Iraqi dictator could die before he stands trial.
Is it a minor stroke or is he in danger of croaking?
The multi-national legal team is still waiting for permission to see Saddam, but said they had information from the Red Cross that his health had deteriorated. Earlier this month, Saddam appeared in an Iraqi courtroom, when he was read seven charges against him that may lead to a formal indictment for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Isn't that always the way? Genocidal, megalomanical dictator goes on for decades wrecking people and countries, picture of health, swims the Tigris, impeccably tailored, and then -- WHAM -- he's caught, and a matter of months he's a drooling, slovenly vegetable. See Slobodan for details.
Jordanian lawyer Mohammed al-Rashdan has written to Salem Chalebi, head of the Iraqi prosecuting authorities, on behalf of the defence team, demanding access to their client. He said: "Our information is he's in very poor heath. We understand our client has had a brain scan to discover how badly he has been affected by the stroke. We believe he could die because of his health problems."
Now where did I put that violin?
Mr al-Rashdan said the lawyers' attempts to see Saddam had so far been blocked. And he speculated Saddam's health could get much worse if a trial was not held soon. "We believe any trial could be months, if not years, away," he said.
Posted by: muck4doo || 07/28/2004 1:13:36 PM || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And they said the former Iraqi dictator could die before he stands trial.

And that's bad, because... ?
Posted by: Raj || 07/28/2004 13:48 Comments || Top||

#2  ima just he in get him pomes book out before that.
Posted by: muck4doo || 07/28/2004 14:09 Comments || Top||

#3  its bad because the Iraqi people deserve a chance to lay out Saddams crimes to the world, and then to execute him.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 14:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Gosh, I hoped he'd die of lead poisoning or perhaps an overdose of hemp [rope].
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 07/28/2004 14:18 Comments || Top||

#5  It's the big one! I'm coming, Uday!
Posted by: BH || 07/28/2004 14:21 Comments || Top||

#6  iraqi poet is have stroke

I had a suspicion.....that was confirmed when I saw the entire entry.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/28/2004 14:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Sorry, lh, I 'forgot' the sarcasm tag...
Posted by: Raj || 07/28/2004 15:54 Comments || Top||

#8  YYou should post your poem, Muck. It's great!
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/28/2004 16:11 Comments || Top||

#9  thanks deacon but i am post it here yesterday :)
Posted by: muck4doo || 07/28/2004 19:28 Comments || Top||

#10  For Whom the Cowbell Tolls
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 07/28/2004 19:50 Comments || Top||

#11  A predict that a signed copy of his doggerel will increase in value after his timely demise. Has he published yet? Is anything available on E-bay... not that I'm a speculator or anything.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/29/2004 1:23 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Tech
Megafortress, anyone?
U.S. Air Force officials are working to introduce an electronic-warfare (EW) version of the B-52 bomber as soon as possible. Service officials are reworking current budgets to accelerate the development and fielding of an under-wing electronics pod that can precisely jam enemy radars over long distances. An initial purchase of 12 pods, along with modifying 16 B-52s to carry them, would take place in the 2005 budget, with a follow-on request the following year to buy an additional 24 pods and modify another 60 aircraft. Only the B-52 can carry a pod big enough to pack in the electronics gear necessary to complete the mission. B-52s will have to be extensively modified to put out enough power through a wing pylon to do the job. A larger pod also has an advantage, since designers can build larger antennas to more effectively perform jamming and other tasks rather than trying to cram them into a smaller space for a pod designed to be carried by a fighter. Fighters don't have excess electronic power to spare, either. With four crew positions, the B-52 also carries enough people to effectively manage electronic warfare attacks against advanced air defense missile systems being sold and deployed by Russia.
Plus, they were paid for a long time ago.
Since the B-52 presents one of the largest radar returns of any U.S. military aircraft in service, putting high-powered jamming equipment on the plane is a logical step. The B-1B and B-2 were designed from the ground up with lower radar cross-sections for enhanced survivability and they would be much larger targets with external EW pods. The new EW pod would be able to deceive enemy radars in several ways, including altering radar return signals to change a penetrating aircraft's speed, range, and location. It would be able to produce false targets and actively generate signals to partially or completely cancel out radar returns. EB-52s would also be capable of carrying cruise missiles with high-power microwave (HPM) warheads to scramble surface to air missile system computers. Initially, the aircraft would use HPM versions of the newer, stealthy JASSM missile and the older, battle-tested Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM). Later, the EB-52 would carry a number of smaller-sized MALD missiles carrying HPM warheads. The baseline MALD missile is roughly 90 inches long, 6 inches in diameter, with a wingspan of 25 inches and weighs in at 89 pounds at launch. Using a miniature turbojet engine, MALD can fly more than 460 kilometers and costs around $30,000 per missile. For comparison, the JASSM missile is 168 inches long, weighs in at 2250 pounds, and costs around $400,000 per unit. It was designed to carry a 1,000 lb warhead to a range of of at least 320 kilometers — Doug Mohney
Posted by: Steve || 07/28/2004 12:54:05 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whoa! A B-52 Screech!
Speaking of passive counter-measures.....
I wonder how much tin-foil one of them suckers could haul.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/28/2004 14:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder how much air-borne LASER or CPB they could haul? Think about it. What beats a laser?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/28/2004 14:12 Comments || Top||

#3  A mirror
Posted by: Michael || 07/28/2004 14:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Anonymoose: three kings

The B-52 is the battleship of the air. Keep them flying! Hey, how about bringing back the battleships? Nothing says navel power like a 16 inch shell in the morning...
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 07/28/2004 14:16 Comments || Top||

#5  In the Air Force we had a name for slow flying aircraft that eminated lots of EW gear....TARGETS! Dumb idea, retire the airframe, and move on. We already have the EF-111 and the EC-130 that do a fine job of eletronic warfare. they work with an ECM package (F-15E armed with HARM missiles). I will miss the BUFF, but I think it's time to send it to DM on a final flight.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 07/28/2004 15:42 Comments || Top||

#6  When was the last B-52 put into service? How old are some of the ones still flying? They can't be the same ones from the 50s and 60s are they?
Posted by: Anonymous5902 || 07/28/2004 15:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Sorry Cyber Sarge, the EF-111's beat the B-52 to the boneyard: The last squadron of EF-111s remaining in service, at Cannon AFB, NM, peformed the Suppression of Enemy Air Defense [SEAD] mission. DOD decided to retire the EF-111A jammer and replace it with a new Air Force system, the high speed anti-radiation missile (HARM) targeting system on the F-16C, and the existing Navy electronic warfare aircraft, the EA-6B. Recognizing that too few EA-6B aircraft may be available to meet both Air Force and Navy needs, DOD retained these 12 EF-111s in the active inventory through 1998, when additional upgraded EA-6Bs became available. The Raven's replacement, the Prowler, is a four-seat derivative of the highly successful A-6 Intruder. It features an upgraded version of the same tactical jamming system employed by the Raven.
Trouble is the EA-6Bs are almost as old as the 111 and there are not enough of them. I think the EB-52 is a gap filler till they can get a unmanned EW drone.
Posted by: Steve || 07/28/2004 16:02 Comments || Top||

#8  A5902 - IIRC (History Channel show from 2 months ago) they're all the original ones from the 50's & 60's, as you mentioned. I believe they were designed for 30 years of service, of course they're well past that by now.
Posted by: Raj || 07/28/2004 16:02 Comments || Top||

#9  October 26, 1962 Same date as the B-58 Hustler (No it was not named for Clinton.)
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 16:08 Comments || Top||

#10  A total of 744 B-52s were built with the last, a B-52H, delivered in October 1962. Only the H model is still in the Air Force inventory and all are assigned to Air Combat Command. The first of 102 B-52H's was delivered to Strategic Air Command in May 1961. The H model can carry up to 20 air launched cruise missiles. In addition, it can carry the conventional cruise missile which was launched from B-52G models during Desert Storm. Today, 94 B-52H's are all that remain of 744 Stratofortresses built in the '50s and '60s.

Report on their estimated service life here. They are going to try to keep them flying until 2025!
Posted by: Steve || 07/28/2004 16:12 Comments || Top||

#11  (note to self - let Steve field these question in the future...)
Posted by: Raj || 07/28/2004 16:58 Comments || Top||

#12  Thanks Raj, Steve. Amazing that the air frames can take it!
Posted by: Anonymous5902 || 07/28/2004 17:06 Comments || Top||

#13  Steve, We still have other airframes to provide tactical SEAD packages. The Buff looks menacing when its all by itself or in a group, but looks like a juicy steak to SAM crews and Fighters. My bust on the EF-111 but he EC-130 (Compass Call) is very much in use. The CC is a juicy target too and usually hangs well back of the battle and the BUFF would have the same problem (just less people on board). There are F-16, F-15, and F-18 variants that carry an ESM pod (and HARMs) that is used on SEAD packages. Radar directed missiles are ususally not a problem because the enemy is too scared to turn them on (lest they become a HARM target). Let the BUFF retire with dignity, before they start to fall from the sky and taint their career.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 07/28/2004 17:19 Comments || Top||

#14  It's just one of those classic designs; a gift which keeps on giving...on, and on, and on...
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 07/28/2004 17:37 Comments || Top||

#15  Retire the Buff but keep the A-6 sure... why not.
I know it's different now.... but I used to run a typesetter that had the same S-300 Bus has the A-6.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/28/2004 17:42 Comments || Top||

#16  If they are going to keep the Buff they need to give them new engines. Those planes should be using 4 turbofans instead of 8 turbojets.
Posted by: remote man || 07/28/2004 19:56 Comments || Top||

#17  My point is a basic military axiom: why have a passive device when you can have (another) weapon?

In a serious war, a B-52 is ineffective as a bomber. But as (one of the few) airships that *could* carry a *devastating* air-to-air or air-to-ground weapon like a laser or CPB, making it absolutely a king of battle, it could guarantee air superiority for anything else we fly.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/28/2004 22:01 Comments || Top||

#18  Back in the day when we were worried about the Sovs streaming Backfires down the UK-I-G gap to shoot up convoys I always wondered why the BUFF could not of been fitter with the radar from a F-14 and a bomb bay and wing pylons full of missles.
Posted by: cheaderhead || 07/28/2004 23:28 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
WARPLANES: US Army Gets It's Air Force Back, Without the Pesky Pilots
The U.S. Army is completely sold on the usefulness of UAVs, and is rushing to buy as many of them as possible. Currently, the army mainly uses three models; the Raven, the Shadow 200, and Hunter. The most numerous one if the four pound Raven. By the end of the year, every combat division will have at least 25 Ravens. The Raven only stays in the air for an hour at a time, but with a range of about 15 kilometers and day and night cameras, it is very popular with combat commanders. One man can carry an entire Raven "unit" (two or three aircraft, a laptop PC with the control software and radio gear). The 1600 pound Hunters, which stay in the air 18 hours at a time are used by divisions and higher headquarters. The 330 pound Shadow 200 is used by brigades, and can stay in the air for six hours at a time. All of these systems are getting a workout in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that experience is being used to build the next generation of UAVs, which will begin to appear in a few years. In the meantime, the current ones are constantly upgraded to make them more capable and reliable. It was something as simple as cheap, reliable and high resolution digital video cameras that made all the difference, as well as effective ways to transmit the video to the aircraft controller, who could see the view on a laptop computer screen. Simple, effective, and combat commanders can't get enough of it. The U.S. Air Force, which has a monopoly on fixed wing aircraft (courtesy of a deal made with the army half a century ago), has not tried to stop the proliferation of army UAVs, even though these unmanned aircraft are doing work that, for years, air force aircraft did (or, as the army sees it, increasingly doesn't do.)
Posted by: tipper || 07/28/2004 12:39:17 PM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And we are one step closer one day reading in the news, "The Pentagon today refused to comment on the news that the first Bolos of the Dinochrome Brigade have reached the combat zone..."
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 07/28/2004 12:53 Comments || Top||

#2  I recall a while back seeing something here about D-9's being rigged for remote operation...

LoR, we're closer than you think.
I for one welcome our new mchanical overlords .
Posted by: N Guard || 07/28/2004 14:02 Comments || Top||

#3  "Bolos May Be Destroyed...

But They Never Surrender."
Posted by: Steve || 07/28/2004 14:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Wait till the AF finds out about the USMC ICBM program. (Only used as a substitute for shore bombrdment of course)
Posted by: Shipman || 07/28/2004 14:13 Comments || Top||

#5  It makes sense to have the Army controlling its own recon assets--shortens the path between the gatherer of information and its consumers.
Posted by: Mike || 07/28/2004 14:22 Comments || Top||

#6  How about putting a bomb in one, and flying it into a group of terrorists?
Posted by: gromky || 07/28/2004 15:22 Comments || Top||

#7  The Raven is very cool. I've seen it in action and it is both hard to see and hear. There is only going to be more of this, both in the air and on the ground.
Posted by: remote man || 07/28/2004 15:29 Comments || Top||

#8  How about building one around a GAU-8 and calling it the UAV-10 and sending it on a tour of the Middle East?
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 15:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Mr. Davis, that would be pure evil to have a swarm of those things coming your way. How many for the price of an A-10? Send in a squadron piloted by our best Nintendo nerds. :}
Posted by: Trub || 07/28/2004 15:45 Comments || Top||

#10  This years XBOX World Championships to be held in and around scenic Tehran! Get signed up now, kids!
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats || 07/28/2004 17:22 Comments || Top||


U.S. Finds No Evidence of Gulf War Pilot in Iraq
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 03:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't we already have Hussein in our clutches? Sounds to me like Saddam needs to be squeezed a bit harder; if Speicher was indeed captured, Hussein would undoubtedly know about it, and would know what subsequently happened.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/28/2004 11:15 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Tech
US (and everybody else) vulnerable to EMP attack
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 03:35 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good article posting on the threat of Electrical Magnet Pulsing. I immediately thought about the the havoc created by last summer's electrical black outs occuring in just 3 cities-NYC, Toronto, and London. Consider what would happen if greater numbers of cities were involved...
Several potential adversaries, such as China, are capable of launching a crippling EMP strike against the US with a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile, and others, such as North Korea or even terrorist groups, could have the capability by 2015, the panel said in its findings that it unveiled to US legislators at a hearing on 22 July. Panel members said this type of attack may be an appealing option, especially for an unsophisticated opponent. One possible scenario is a 'Scud' missile, with a modified nuclear warhead to maximise the EMP effect, launched from a barge off the US coast...An EMP attack, for example, could place the nation's electrical grid "in danger of fundamental collapse", said commission chairman William Graham, who served as scientific advisor to US President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. The overall effects could be long lasting and difficult to recover from, he added. An EMP strike would also be likely to knock out non-hardened satellites in low-Earth orbit "within days or weeks", he said, noting that commercial satellites are especially vulnerable.
Posted by: rex || 07/28/2004 16:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Most Americans vulnerable to fireball effect too.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/28/2004 18:22 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Pakistan and 9/11
The author was formerly an Indian intel agent..
In an article on the interrogation of Omar Sheikh, one of the accused in the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl, the American journalist belonging to the "Wall Street Journal", written on March 13, 2002, I had stated as follows:

"When the Karachi Police took custody of Omar from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on February 12, he started talking to them freely and voluntarily about his activities since he was released by India in the last week of December, 1999, to terminate the hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane to Kandahar by the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM). He said that:

* "He had since then been functioning from Lahore with the knowledge and permission of the ISI. At Lahore, he was in regular touch with Gen.Mohammad Aziz Khan, who was a Corps Commander there, till his appointment as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee on October 8, 2001.

* "He was frequently travelling to Kandahar to meet Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Amir of the Taliban, and Osama bin Laden and to Dubai.

* "He had personally met Mohammad Atta, the mastermind of the September 11 terrorist strikes on the World Trade Centre in New York, during one of his visits to Kandahar and knew of the plans for the September 11 strikes. He had told Lt.Gen. Ehsanul-Haq, the present DG of the ISI, who was then a Corps Commander at Peshawar, and Gen. Aziz Khan about it."

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 07/28/2004 1:39:51 AM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Quagmire: Iraq announces conference of delegates to pick assembly
EFL
Iraq announced that a national conference for 1,000 delegates to choose an interim assembly would begin Saturday -- a vital step toward democracy.
Bias alert. The writer cannot contain himself. Read and take note of the "bad news" that is peppered throughout.
Posted by: Dragon Fly || 07/28/2004 7:36:08 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The page seems to have gone missing since you posted. Who was on the byline?
Posted by: eLarson || 07/28/2004 15:04 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Kiss of the Camel: Arafat and premier kiss and make up
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 07/28/2004 04:20 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Great! Another mental picture I don't need . . . .
Posted by: Mike || 07/28/2004 8:40 Comments || Top||


Africa: Subsaharan
Arabs rally to Sudan as world condemns it
Arabs have rallied to the Sudanese government, denying it is responsible for what the US Congress has called a campaign of genocide against Africans in the western region of Darfur. Even those who criticise Sudan's authoritarian regime say the West is mishandling the Darfur issue at a time when Arabs are fearful that the United States plans to follow its invasion of Iraq with an attempt to remake the region. Amid the international outcry over the killing of up to 30,000 people and displacement of an estimated 2.2 million in Darfur over the past 15 months, the Arab League has remained largely silent. The main regional group traditionally does not criticise one of its own. Sudan is among the league's 22 members.

"The Arab League doesn't accept the imposition of sanctions, especially in Sudan, because it will serve no purpose. On the contrary, it will complicated the situation," league spokesman Hossam Zaki told The Associated Press yesterday. "More time must be given to Sudanese government to carry out its promises and it must be given the chance." Arab heavyweight Egypt also has criticised talk of sanctions and called on the world to give Sudan more time and help to restore peace in Darfur. In Jordan, the Muslim Brotherhood has speculated rightwing Christians in the United States are trying to use the Darfur issue to justify the division of Sudan, leading to the "fragmentation" of the Arab and Muslim world.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 07/28/2004 1:42:10 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The a-rab world must be "SEETHING"!
Posted by: anymouse || 07/28/2004 1:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Arab heavyweight Egypt
???? Huh ???? If Egypt is as good as it gets for the Arab World in terms of flexing its collective muscle, mano a mano, all I can say is...he, he, he...give me a friggin' break...heavyweight my foot...were it not for US and EU dole, Egyptians would be starving in the streets if left to their own "resourcefulness"...
Posted by: rex || 07/28/2004 2:10 Comments || Top||

#3  "Arabs rally to Sudan as world condemns it"

Well of course they do! They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity!

Someday, as rex alludes, we'll cut off the money and I'll add that we'll take their terror-funding oil sands away from them as they just can't figure out this "play nice" shit. Then, in a seething, then starving heap, the whole fucking lot will implode. I'll save a tear. Just one.
Posted by: .com || 07/28/2004 2:57 Comments || Top||

#4  The Arab world is enveloped in pure hate for anything non-Islamic making them the world's most dangerous threat since the Nazis.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 07/28/2004 3:49 Comments || Top||

#5  May I just add, as an apoplectic Brit, that we had the Head of The Muslim Council of Britain (Iqbal Sakrani??) on the wireless the other day - saying that the West had no right to interfere in Darfur - he conceded that what was happening was 'a tragedy' but that it was the responsibility of the Arab/Muslim world to intervene and provide a resolution. [I will try to dig out the link to the radio programme]. I couldn't believe what I was hearing from a man who has been so vociferous in his protests concerning Islamophobiain the UK/ Guantanamo - I hope he continues in this rich vein of form because he's managing to destroy the reputation of all Muslims in the UK.
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/28/2004 4:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Howard (UK) - Do you see any hope of the UK realizing the threat, short of a mass killing? Will one be enough there? I see the denial here - and we were hit 15x harder than Madrid and in the most symbolic way imaginable, yet look at this election...
Posted by: .com || 07/28/2004 5:09 Comments || Top||

#7  I am largely ridiculed amongst friends for thinking that a thirld world war fought along cultural divisions is under way. Sadly, i don't think we'll wake up until we're scraping the remains of our relatives off the pavement and into plastic bags. Too many PC types are yet to have their minds changed - but I do think a change will ultimately come due to the ludicrous logic of Sakrani et al., the official representatives of Islam in the UK - and then we'll be faced with the problem of mass repatriation.
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/28/2004 5:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Howard don't you think the PC types will insist nothing be done and the U.K. should just lay there and take it for "the past sins of the empire?"
I go to the BBC online everyday and get BBC world news on my satelite. If the BBC is a refelection of PC in the U.K. your screwed no matter how many folks get killed. Many other online publications out of the U.K. reflect this same mind set as well.
Posted by: FlameBait93268 || 07/28/2004 5:54 Comments || Top||

#9  *grinding teeth*

I fear you're (both) right. Same goes for the US - especially if Kerry wins. If Howard loses, as well -- wow.
Posted by: .com || 07/28/2004 6:06 Comments || Top||

#10  One problem in the UK is that there's no mainstream political voice to represent the Brits who are fed-up with PC and the multicultural agenda. As soon as a party expresses such views it is lynched by the leftist press. Both Tories and Labour are forced to maintain the multi-culti status quo. Things WILL change however, if minorities keep pushing their luck.
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/28/2004 6:26 Comments || Top||

#11  "Things WILL change however, if minorities keep pushing their luck. "

Howard UK: So the Brits do have a line somewhere in the sand?
Posted by: ex-lib || 07/28/2004 6:53 Comments || Top||

#12  Also: this is why you can't trust the Islamofacist Arabs. It would be one thing if they'd actually go in and DO something about the problems in Sudan, but they're just wanting the US and the Christian West (or post-Christian West-- which is just as good to them, in fact, better) OUT of the situation, so they can carry on business "as usual." They are quite emboldened, of late (compared with 5 years ago), and it only points to a perception of "Arab victory" after the Towers, Madrid, Fallujah, etc. They believe they can win, over the long-haul.

I hate to say it, but Howard's right about WWIII looming on the horizon. The time to act is now. The Arab threat must be eliminated as soon as possible. Bush and Blair seem to be the only ones with the balls to take them on. Things will get very strange if they're not around.
Posted by: ex-lib || 07/28/2004 7:01 Comments || Top||

#13  Ex-Lib - check the Bradford riots (pre-9/11). We're not all woolly headed liberals - neither are we all National Front thugs, but we do know when an immigrant community is taking the piss.
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/28/2004 7:30 Comments || Top||

#14  We have to have a real Pearl Harbor or invasion of Poland to get the Anglo Anerican juices flowing so that we can do what we do better than anyone else...conquer. If we could produce that fervor at will the rest of the world would not stand for us. But since we are so reluctant to let the blood rise, they are more tolerant of our actions when it does. The Islamofascists will rue the day they started this war.
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 8:01 Comments || Top||

#15  The Islamofascists will rue the day they started this war.

And so will all the supposedly well-adjusted western muslims who express ambivalence ('Well if it wasn't for the Palestinian problem none of this would have happened...') over 9/11, Madrid, Bali (and Darfur). Bastards.
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/28/2004 8:09 Comments || Top||

#16  ...Y'know, I've noticed lately that 'rightwing Christians' have been joining Zionists in Islamofascist rantings. Wondering if the Izzoids ever read Revelations...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 07/28/2004 9:21 Comments || Top||

#17  Y'know, I've noticed lately that 'rightwing Christians' have been joining Zionists in Islamofascist rantings. Wondering if the Izzoids ever read Revelations...


No, they're just playing up to the Left.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 07/28/2004 9:23 Comments || Top||

#18  And pagans.
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/28/2004 9:23 Comments || Top||

#19  #4 The Arab world is enveloped in pure hate for anything non-Islamic...

Not only that, but incredibly racist against fellow Muslims with dark skin. When liberals complain about how racist America is, I chuckle and think, you better travel a bit more, mate. You have no IDEA how racist the rest of the world STILL is. A nice vacation in a place like Darfur, where they can run into corpses that have been burnt alive because they are BLACK Muslims, would be quite a learning experience.
Posted by: jules 187 || 07/28/2004 9:30 Comments || Top||

#20  The Arabs were big slave traders in Africa as were the English. Wonder why there's so many blacks in the US and so few in Arab lands?
Posted by: Mr. Davis || 07/28/2004 10:58 Comments || Top||

#21  Africa has been mentioned numerous times as one of the future conflict areas in the war on terror. The US and allies should make a big deal out of the racial aspects of the conflict in Sudan and use it to build up credibility for our side.

Personally I'd like to see the US send a check to Executive Outcomes, and have them go in and protect Dafur from the militias and allow food in until the UN can come up with a plan. Kenyan UN peacekeepers can replace the Mercs once the actual dangerous part of the mission is over.

It would give the mercs some good press for a change, would show the Western World won't sit by and allow genocide. It can be done without risking American or European troops. Its a model for the future.
Posted by: yank || 07/28/2004 11:12 Comments || Top||

#22  hold on to your seats,
this could be better then
the Iraq vs Iran bout.
pass the popcorn . . . . .
Posted by: Anonymous5075 || 07/28/2004 11:17 Comments || Top||

#23  Yank, I like the idea of going to Sudan and driving the bullies north. They are scumbags and deserve all the death and destruction we can lay on them. I also think the Black muslims can be turned, freeing a large population from that faith.

I think this is a great place to open the new front on jihad.
Posted by: Lucky || 07/28/2004 11:56 Comments || Top||

#24  anyone have anything on the reaction of NON-arab african muslims - my sense is that Chad is supporting of efforts to stop the genocide, as are other Sahel (black, muslim) countries.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 13:34 Comments || Top||

#25  LH-My sense was the same as yours, but yesterday I saw a news article (and now of course I can't find it) that had a little snippet making it sound like Chad wasn't quite the eager helping hand we'd thought. Since I can't find it, I attached this website address which has some interesting news story links.

http://www.sudantribune.com
Posted by: jules 187 || 07/28/2004 14:58 Comments || Top||

#26  "... it was the responsibility of the Arab/Muslim world to intervene and provide a resolution."

I think the phrase he was searching for was Final Solution.
Posted by: Jackal || 07/28/2004 16:38 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Update: Tigris Drowning, "Anti-malaria drug made us do it"
Posted by: GK || 07/28/2004 01:22 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I am not saying this is why people push people off bridges, but there seems to be a pretty plausible connection to rage issues to taking the drug," Robinson said.

Creative Defenses don't play to well in Military Court.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 3:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Negligent homicide - 2 years, minimum. Still, I suspect it was a prank gone wrong. They should have rescued the kid when he went under.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 07/28/2004 14:19 Comments || Top||

#3  now they're claiming the chain of command ordered them to do it and lie about:

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap07-28-100823.asp?t=apnew&vts=72820041646

so which is it? Were you ordered to do it or was it the malaria drug?
Posted by: spiffo || 07/28/2004 20:19 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
SBS: TV for liars
Most of this is in the "continued on page 71" section, but read it all, very informative. Traveller scores again!
WE pay SBS to be "multicultural". We also expect it not to tell lies. So SBS has doubly betrayed us by showing a two-part "documentary", The World According to Bush, that is spit-flecked in its Jew-hatred and frenzied in its lying. Here's a film that accuses American President George W. Bush of being a religious crazy, controlled by "calculating" Jews yet also paid off by their Muslim enemies. He is a "liar", "political whore" and "idiot" whose grandfather was "Hitler's banker", and whose father personally installed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Bush himself now runs "an organised mafia". Has the SBS run anything more insane and shameful?
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper || 07/28/2004 12:31:36 AM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wow. The entire DUmmy litany. To buy into this requires jettisoning any and all sense - and to be "open" to the idea that a straight-jacket is high-fashion.

"So how did our SBS come to spend our money on such wicked bigotry and lies?"

Oz has some serious housecleaning to do, unless they're too far gone. If Bush and Howard both fall in elections, the world has fair odds of entering another Dark Ages period.

Wow.
Posted by: .com || 07/28/2004 1:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Again tipper digs the depths. tipper, your ready for your own blog. But if you do don't forget your Rb fans.
Posted by: Lucky || 07/28/2004 1:43 Comments || Top||

#3  I read through the Wikipedia entry on Prescott one night. He was quite a man. He was even active in Civil Rights in some measure.
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 3:49 Comments || Top||

#4  I take this is William Karel's documentary; note that this is a french documentary. It was aired on french tv a few weeks ago, and then was shown in theaters for a better exposure. It is based on Eric Laurent's two books, which contains basically the same charges and were best sellers.
Posted by: Anonymous5089 || 07/28/2004 9:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Thanks tipper I am sure this will come out in October on our version of SBS (PBS). Probably the week before the election. I am for ending ALL public $$ for PBS. It's like a sacred cow or something that no politician dare touch. That is because they started some very good (and educational) childrens programs a long time ago. Since then they have become social engineers and try to program kids to the left minded way of thinking. Talk about Orwell!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 07/28/2004 10:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Since then they have become social engineers and try to program kids to the left minded way of thinking.

How else are these idiots going to replenish their numbers as they die off?

Get 'em while they're young, impressionable, and most of all, naive.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/28/2004 12:37 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Iraq National Conference to Begin Sat.
Iraq announced that a national conference for 1,000 delegates to choose an interim assembly would begin Saturday - a vital step toward democracy in a nation struggling to deal with a persistent campaign of kidnappings and other violence. The conference, stipulated under a law enacted by the former U.S. occupation authority, was to have been concluded by the end of July, but it had to be delayed because preparations were behind schedule, conference chair Fuad Masoum said. "There was an idea put forward by the United Nations to delay the conference because of a lack of preparation, from technical and other perspectives," Masoum said. "We don't want to go ahead without the U.N."
'cause the UN is so valuable and all.
However, the United Nations wanted a much longer delay, which organizers vetoed. The conference is beset with difficulties, with some local leaders unable to agree on delegates and some important factions threatening to boycott. The gathering will help create an interim assembly intended to help prepare for elections next year that many hope will bring order to a country wracked by a persistent insurgency.
So wracked by insurgency that the economy is growing like gang-busters, people are out on the streets at night enjoying themselves, the schools and hospitals are open -- Detroit should be so wracked.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/28/2004 12:15:12 AM || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The conference is beset with difficulties, with some local leaders unable to agree on delegates and some important factions threatening to boycott."

This isn't about the DNC or Scrappleface? They haven't reached the point, yet, where they have designated demonstration areas, etc. Someday, I can picture people applying for car bomb permits and the whole nine yards.
Posted by: .com || 07/28/2004 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  To state the obvious, the UN is a road block rather than an enabler.

When has imposing a superfical bureaucracy ever helped in nation building?
Posted by: Capt America || 07/28/2004 10:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Man I'll bet the floor fights will be ummmm violent.
Posted by: Shipman || 07/28/2004 11:34 Comments || Top||

#4  to quote the obvious the UN has helped in nationbuilding in Timor, Cambodia, and (I think) elsewhere. And they would improve the conferences legitimacy with SOME Iraqis. Which is NOT to say the UN benefit is LARGE, or is worth MAJOR CONCESSIONS, or cant be dispensed with - just to bring this back to reality, a reality Mr. Masoum, the man on the ground, recognizes.

In any case this is another step forward - it may be just as well Sadrs not there - as for the Sunni clerics, it depends on WHO is representing the Sunni areas. If its nobodies, and the Sunnis are out of it, thats bad. If its Sunni professionals, budding local pols, or even tribal sheiks, and theyre MARGINALIZING the CLERICS, that very, very good.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 13:32 Comments || Top||

#5  Is either Bill Clinton or Ron Reagan Jr. speaking?
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 07/28/2004 14:19 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Palestinian Leader Retracts YoYo Resignation
EFL hattip to WND - the ought to do some comercials like Steinbrenner did with Billy Martin.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia retracted his resignation Tuesday, ending a two-week standoff with Yasser Arafat that raised profound questions the Palestinian leader's ability to rein in dissident elements of his ruling Fatah movement. Qureia resigned earlier this month in frustration at Arafat's refusal to let him restructure the security forces and deal with growing unrest in the Palestinian areas. But Arafat refused to let him step down. Hassan Abu Libdeh, general secretary of the Cabinet, said Arafat and Qureia had agreed to grant more power to officials overseeing the security forces. However, speaking to reporters, Qureia denied that. "I'm not going to bargain with the president about authority over the security branches," Qureia told a news conference in the West Bank City of Ramallah. "We have enough powers over them as it stands."

The two men emerged from a closed-door meeting, kissing each other on the cheeks and clasping and holding up their hands together. "The president refused my resignation, and I will comply," Qureia said. "This is a new step toward reform and imposing the rule of law. There will be actions on the ground." Qureia's resignation two weeks ago coincided with a wave of kidnappings, riots and calls for reform that put Arafat in one of his most difficult positions since returning to the Palestinian territories from exile a decade ago.

I am appending the comments of Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman:
MR. ERELI: I don't really have much of a comment on the political maneuverings within the Palestinian Authority. The important point for us is that concrete actions are taken that produce tangible results on the ground. The results that we want to see are real consolidation of the security services, real authority vested in the prime minister and real moves against the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian territories. That's really the basis on which we're going to make our assessments, as opposed to who's up, who's down, who's in, who's out on any given day.

QUESTION: Well, you've been demanding for a long time that Arafat turn over control of all the security -- the security apparatus to the prime minister. Does this -- does what he has done today go far enough for you guys?

MR. ERELI: I don't think we can -- we have a basis to make a conclusion from what we've seen today.
Posted by: Anonymous4828 || 07/28/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rats, I was next on the list.
Posted by: Abu Shipman || 07/28/2004 11:35 Comments || Top||

#2  qureia is too weak to outbargain Arafat. Yeah, and John Kerry served in Viet Nam, and Bill Gates is rich.

Will this satisfy the folks who are making trouble in Gaza? I very much doubt it.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 14:13 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Islamism growing among Iraqi Sunnis
Sheikh Mahdi Ahmed al-Sumaidi was detained in Abu Ghraib prison early this year after a weapons cache was found in his Ibn Taymiyyah mosque. Since released, his anti-US fervor is undiminished. "Neither the occupation forces nor the government they installed is acceptable,'' he says. "The legitimate power is the resistance." Even so, he is grateful for the US invasion. "God uses many tools,'' he says. "America's brutality has caused many to understand that Islam is the answer to our problems. The only solution is Islamic government."

Sheikh Sumaidi is one of a cadre of Sunni preachers whose star has risen sharply in the past year. No longer constrained or exiled by a repressive regime, they are preaching jihad at key mosques and pushing to make Iraq an Islamic state. They are still on the fringes of mainstream Sunni practice here. But amid almost daily firefights in the Sunni Triangle, these radical preachers are emerging as the principal Sunni rallying point. "The Islamists are growing up very quickly among the frustrated and disadvantaged,'' says Sadoun al-Dulame, who runs the Iraq Center for Research and Strategic Studies in Baghdad. "All the violence is allowing extremists to mobilize and try to monopolize political space."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 07/28/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We should not miss this golden opportunity to spread the word of Christ. People are hungry and war torn. An ideal situation to convert Muslims to Christians.
Posted by: Susan || 07/28/2004 0:53 Comments || Top||

#2  That would be a death sentence in Iraq right now Susan. Muslims need to be freed, for sure, if this conflict is to be resolved. But missionaries right now in such a war torn place would only make things stickier. But, doll, I know what you mean.
Posted by: Lucky || 07/28/2004 1:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Susan - I think your idea is bad. Now is not the time nor will it ever be for that part of the world.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 07/28/2004 10:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Actually, my sheikh friend, the Kurds and Shia are the answer to your problems. Heh. "Have a nice day".
Posted by: Verlaine || 07/28/2004 10:38 Comments || Top||

#5  ...that Islam is the answer to our problems. The only solution is Islamic government."

Yeah...that's the answer!!!! Let's mass rape women and girls, burn villagers alive, have acid throwing contests using girls as targets, pull civilization back 2 or 3 centuries and re-start the islamic slavetraders using black africans as the currency...AGAIN, and enforce a Stalinistic theocracy that would make a North Korean blush.

Everyone would knuckle under except for you and your fellow blackhats, Sheikh Mahdi Ahmed al-Sumaidi. You and and your butt-buddies will use SA as a model where you can drink and smoke and rape and "be a man" at the expense of your constituents.

Gee, that sounds a lot like Saddam, Uday and Qusay, doesn't it?
Posted by: anymouse || 07/28/2004 13:10 Comments || Top||

#6  I think we need to look closer at Susan's suggestion.

Ignoring which religion is correct, we are fighting a worldview that offers no compromise. We need allies, and must select from "Radical Islam's" enemies and pick palatable choices

Current strategy is to encourage moderate islam. This does create a buffer, but doesn't do anyting to actually reduce the extremists. It does help them by providing shelter and "unattackable" targets.

We must commit ourselves to total victory, or defeat - there is no detente mode in Islam. If we are to be victorious, we must change Islam or eradicate it.

Can Islam be changed? It seems to be based on conquest, slavery and other repugnant things, with no hope of a reformer as Muhamed was declared the last prophet. As literacy spreads in the middle east, this problem will increase, not decrease, as the way of life is in writing.

I recommend a subversive Christian conversion. We can do the conversion through NGO's, much as saudi funds terrorism. That allows us deniability, and we can take a moral stand about freedom of religion.

An excellent test bed would be Darfur, where we can leverage off Muslim violence against the native population.
Posted by: flash91 || 07/28/2004 13:20 Comments || Top||

#7  Ibn Taymiyyah mosque

Ibn Tammiyah just happens to be the name of a medieval Islamic scholar who is something of an antecedent of Wahabism. Perhaps this is a mosque that has always been Wahabist? Perhaps we're not getting a full picture?
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 07/28/2004 16:02 Comments || Top||

#8  "God uses many tools,’’ he[Sunni "preacher] says. "America’s brutality has caused many to understand that Islam is the answer to our problems. The only solution is Islamic government."
Far be it from me to say I told you so...the only trustworthy, pro American Iraqi is a Kurd...umm... let's see..."secular" Sunni Iraqis who suppressed Shiites are now teaming up with former suppressed Shiites in hate America mindset. Ummm...so now GI's are viewed as useful tools by the folks we "liberated"...very nice...I've said my peace because no doubt, this short post will provoke a fire storm of attacks from wishful RB thinkers. Let me save your breath, I know exactly what will be said:"But it's only a handful of insurgents and lots of foreign fighters. The majority of Iraqis want a free and open society. It just takes a while." Rightttt...the only Iraqis worth their salt are Kurds. Let the Sunnis and Shiites fight it out themselves... it could save our GI's ammunition.
Posted by: rex || 07/28/2004 19:14 Comments || Top||


Abu Ghraib prisoner says Karpinski witnessed his abuse
Posted by: Super Hose || 07/28/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yadda999. Sorry, SH!
Posted by: .com || 07/28/2004 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Oh, I forgot: What happened to their love-child?
Posted by: .com || 07/28/2004 1:39 Comments || Top||

#3  She is one creepy bitch of the S+M variety. Of course, we all know that it was really Rummy wearing a Karpinski mask.
Posted by: Capt America || 07/28/2004 10:59 Comments || Top||


Africa: Subsaharan
Al-Qaeda using South African passports
Al-Qaida militants and other terrorists traveling through Europe have obtained South African passports, and authorities believe they got them from crime syndicates operating inside the government agency that issues the documents. The illicit acquisition of the passports, which allow travel through many African countries and Britain without visas, sent shock waves through South Africa after one top police official said "boxes and boxes" of the documents were discovered in London.

Barry Gilder, director general of the Department of Home Affairs, told The Associated Press he has come across a number of instances in which South African passports were found in the hands of al-Qaida suspects or their associates in Europe - both in his current capacity and as a former deputy director in the National Intelligence Agency. Gilder gave no specifics, and he described these as "isolated" cases. But he said his department is moving aggressively to counter the threat, dedicating more senior officials to fight corruption and introducing identity cards and passports containing microchips with the owner's fingerprints. "We do not want our country to be used either as a staging post or haven for terrorists," Gilder told the AP.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 07/28/2004 12:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to introduce life sentences for major passport fraud...
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/28/2004 8:15 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2004-07-28
  Sammy has a stroke
Tue 2004-07-27
  Iran has broken seals on uranium enrichment centrifuges
Mon 2004-07-26
  Pak cops hold a dozen after gunfight
Sun 2004-07-25
  Sudan Bad Guyz Threaten Attacks on Western Troops
Sat 2004-07-24
  Bad GuyzTorch Paleo Cop Shoppe
Fri 2004-07-23
  Egyptian diplo kidnapped
Thu 2004-07-22
  Yemen: 'Accidental' boom kills 16
Wed 2004-07-21
  Al-Oufi maybe almost banged in Riyadh shoot-em-up
Tue 2004-07-20
  Filipinos out of Iraq; Hostage freed
Mon 2004-07-19
  Sydney man planned executions
Sun 2004-07-18
  Bad Guyz Sack, Burn Paleo Offices
Sat 2004-07-17
  Qurei Resigns Amid Shakeup
Fri 2004-07-16
  Paleos kidnap Paleo Gaza Police Chief
Thu 2004-07-15
  Canada Recalls Ambassador to Iran
Wed 2004-07-14
  Mosul governor murdered


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