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Boom Kills 9 Children, 1 Adult in Afghan School
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Casualty Assistance Officers...
From my email this morning...
Fred, I got this touching story from one of my OCS buddies and thought you may be interested. I found the following link to the author's bio. (No mention of his stint at Little Creek. Can't say I blame him.) You can decide if some of the old salts and jarhead would wish to receive it.

BC

PS. I don't like to pass things along until I've checked them out for authenticity. Neither 'Urban Legends' nor 'Break the Chain' have anything on it. That, plus finding the bio on Col Goodson puts it in the "OK to Pass on" in MHO.


Burial at Sea
by LtCol George Goodson, USMC (Ret)

In my 76th year, the events of my life appear to me, from time to time, as a series of vignettes. Some were significant; most were trivial.

War is the seminal event in the life of everyone that has endured it. Though I fought in Korea and the Dominican Republic - and was wounded there - Vietnam was my war.

Now 37 years have passed and, thankfully, I rarely think of those days in Cambodia, Laos, and the panhandle of North Vietnam where small teams of Americans and Montangards fought much larger elements of the North Vietnamese Army. Instead I see vignettes: some exotic, some mundane.
*The smell of Nuoc Mam.
*The heat, dust, and humidity.
*The blue exhaust of cyclos clogging the streets.
*Elephants moving silently through the tall grass.
*Hard eyes behind the servile smiles of the villagers.
*Standing on a mountain in Laos and hearing a tiger roar.
*A young girl squeezing my hand as my medic delivered her baby.
*The flowing Ao Dais of the young women biking down Tran Hung Dao.
*My two years as Casualty Notification Officer in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland.
It was late 1967. I had just returned after 18 months in Vietnam. Casualties were increasing. I moved my family from Indianapolis to Norfolk, rented a house, enrolled my children in their fifth or sixth new school, and bought a second car.

A week later, I put on my uniform and drove 10 miles to Little Creek, Virginia. I hesitated before entering my new office. Appearance is important to career Marines. I was no longer, if ever, a poster Marine. I had returned from my third tour in Vietnam only 30 days before. At 5'9", I now weighed 128 pounds 37 pounds below my normal weight. My uniforms fit ludicrously, my skin was yellow from malaria medication, and I think I had a twitch or two.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2004 10:46:48 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  shit, Fred. Now you've got me crying like a pussy. What a horrible job, and what a good man.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 11:19 Comments || Top||

#2  This touches close to home for me on a couple levels. The colonel and I share a lot of memories, and I'd have put the smell of nuoc mam at the top of my list, too. The country smells of it, and it's definitely a distinctive odor, like no other. When I came home I was also somewhere between the shade of a lemon and an orange, and there was considerably less of me to love than there is now -- and less than there had been when I arrived in country.

My current job is with the Army, at the Joint Personal Effects Depot. When someone is killed or seriously wounded, his or her effects are shipped back to Aberdeen for forwarding to the family. I'm writing the database that tracks the process, cutting the paper and allowing the Army to make sure that everything's done right and on time.

It's a joint services operation, handling Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force and civilians. The personal effects are sorted, cleaned, and photographed, with government equipment being returned to the supply system or destroyed -- last week our building was evacuated when three M40 rounds were found in a ruck sack. Each case is under the supervision of a Summary Court Martial Officer, who signs off on the disposition. The bulk of the manning for the depot is by a Puerto Rico National Guard mortuary affairs unit. They're some of the most pleasant men and women I've ever worked with.

The Casualty Notification Officers are called Casualty Assistance Officers by the Army now, Casualty Assistance Calls Officers by the Marines. They make the initial calls, and they provide a point of contact for the family for anything they need, through the funeral and for the next six months. It's not a job I'd want, by any means.
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2004 11:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Fred, thank you. I was only a child during that war -- emotionally 9/11 marked the start of "my war". And then, thanks be to all the gods, I found your site. But anyway, thank you for what you did, and for what you now do. And a special thanks to those brave men and women who do, what to any person with a soul must be, the most difficult job in our armed forces.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/29/2004 11:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Fred, there was a story a day or two back about 3 Marines delivering the news.... :(
Would these have been local reservists? Some kinda training (sure, that's easy) would be appropiate, is there any?.... then again maybe the locals are more in touch.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 12:44 Comments || Top||

#5  I seem to recall hearing that Recruiters and Guardsmen will occasionally get the call to do notifications. Not really a distinct memory, but I recall my wife saying that her First Sgt got a call to do a notification in Northern KY. Her is a NG unit in Frankfort.
Posted by: Jame Retief || 08/29/2004 13:35 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm not sure whether I should thank you for posting this or not - I had a terrible time reading it through all the tears. My God, these men are made of steel.

Thank you too, Fred, for what you do on your job. It's absolutely necessary, but must be almost as heartbreaking as the notifications.

Thanks to you, the Colonel, the young Marine who just spent a few days visiting me, and all the rest of our military and military support.

Every day I'm grateful my great-however-many grandparents got on those ships from Europe. Even with all the dangers and problems we face, we are the most incredibly fortunate nation on earth. And the good and brave people in our military are one of the reasons why.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 08/29/2004 13:51 Comments || Top||

#7  ...During Desert Shield/Storm, USAF set it up so that the Recruiting squadron commanders would be the notification authority, backed up by USAF/ANG chaplains and the recruiter who handled the zone where the casualties' next of kin was. We had no USAF casualties in my zone, tho we did have two Marines - and I think they would have sooner faced the Iraqis themselves, naked and carrying a stick, than do that again.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 08/29/2004 14:59 Comments || Top||

#8  Fred---I appreciate the task that you do. It must take its toll, but if anyone knows how to do this job well, it would be you.

My great uncle (who I was named after) Paul Fox flew P-38s during WW2 in N Africa and Italy. In 1944 he was on a mission from Lecci, Italy to Vienna. He ran into mechanical problems 20 min into the mission and turned around. They never heard from him again, nor found any wreckage. Nothing. Probably went into the drink. I have all of Grandma Fox's letters and telegrams from the War Department. They kept up correspondence, even after the war. They related that other troops coming behind the assault troops always searched for evidence of soldiers and airmen, and their dispostion. I even have Paul's airman's logbooks, with the last entry showing him departing Lecci, but no other entries on a return or flight data.

The point I want to make is that people in the military took the time to communicate with the next of kin, and secured and sent the missing airman's personal effects safely home to the next of kin. That gave me the chance to share the heritage of my relative with my children and friends to help to preserve the memory and legacy of Lt. Paul Fox, airman.

Again, Fred, thanks for your valuable service.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/29/2004 16:03 Comments || Top||

#9  He certainly does sounds like a great uncle.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 17:04 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudi says it aborted terror attacks
Saudi newspapers reported Sunday government officials said they have recently aborted major terrorist attacks planned in the oil-rich kingdom. The papers quoted Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz as saying, "We have foiled many planned operations that we will reveal later," adding the attacks would have been "much worse" than those that were carried out. Nayef said the publicized crackdowns on suspected terrorists linked to al-Qaida "constitute only five to six percent of those killed and what was aborted." He vowed the government would continue its campaign to fight terrorism "until the kingdom is free of all sources of evil and harm."
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 08/29/2004 7:15:17 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  oppps this should have been the headline:

Saudi says it aborted terror attacks
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 08/29/2004 19:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Abu Rink A Dink Dink is on the job.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 19:25 Comments || Top||

#3  A whole new meaning for "surround sound".
Posted by: GK || 08/29/2004 19:36 Comments || Top||

#4  "We have foiled many planned operations that we will reveal later"...as soon as we get our stories straight.It's hard making stuff up and getting everybody to agree on the details-just ask John Kerry.
Posted by: Stephen || 08/29/2004 19:39 Comments || Top||

#5  "until the kingdom is free of all sources of evil and harm."

Wow. So you are going to:

1) Kick the Klepto-House of Saud out?
2) Jail the Wahabis?
3) Let Women Drive and Dress like Females?
4) Treat Foreign Workers as Human Beings?
5) No Longer Sponsor Terrorists?
6) No Longer Claim that Jews bake Blood Bread?
7) Allow Churches and Synagogues?

Yeah, thought so.
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/29/2004 20:18 Comments || Top||

#6  ...the government would continue its campaign to fight terrorism "until the kingdom is free of all sources of evil and harm."


"(sotto voce)...by giving them all free transportation to Iraq, Canada, and France."
Posted by: Pappy || 08/29/2004 20:29 Comments || Top||


Yemeni Militants Convicted of Terrorism
A chaotic three-month trial ended Saturday with 15 militants convicted for roles in terror attacks on a French oil tanker and a helicopter carrying U.S. oil workers, as well as plots to kill the American ambassador and Yemeni security officials. The court sentenced one man — convicted of killing a Yemeni police officer — to death and the others from three to 10 years in jail. One man was tried in absentia. "There is no God but God, America is the enemy of God, Osama is beloved by God," the defendants chanted from their court cells, referring to Osama bin Laden. Some of the men are believed to be linked to bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network. "They want us to nullify our pact with Osama, by God, that will never happen," Fawaz al-Rabeiee, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, cried before a courtroom packed with defendants' relatives, journalists and security.
Hopefully, they just want to hang you now...
Outside, sharpshooters were posted on nearby rooftops. Several armored vehicles and machine gun-mounted military jeeps surrounded the court and blocked streets. The trial, which began May 29, centered on the October 2002 bombing of the French oil tanker Limburg off the Yemeni coast. Two suicide bombers rammed an explosive-laden boat into the vessel, killing a Bulgarian crew member and spilling 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden — an operation very similar to the attack of the coast of Yemen on the American destroyer USS Cole two years earlier. Since the trial began, the defendants have accused authorities of not following proper procedures and undermining their rights. Often, lawyers and prosecutors hurled insults at each other and the defense team repeatedly walked out of the courtroom in protest.
Bet that helped their cases a lot...

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2004 12:14:49 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
5,000 AK-47 Bullets Filled With Cyanide Seized In Colombia
... The discovery was made during the routine search of a vehicle at a police checkpoint in Magdalena Medio in Santander Department. The driver was arrested & placed in custody of the Colombian Justice Department. A government spokesman said,"The ammunition contains a lethal substance which is cyanide."

According to the authority's report the cargo's final destination was to an unknown illegal armed group in Medellín, but the report didn't state which armed group. On June 7th the Colombian Police seized 5,000 bullets that contained cyanide which came into the country on a truck from Ecuador. They supposedly belonged to the left-wing F.A.R.C. (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) guerrillas.
Posted by: Kentucky Beef || 08/29/2004 3:06:42 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They also contain another lethal element, known as "lead".
Posted by: gromky || 08/29/2004 21:37 Comments || Top||

#2  so if you got shot with, like 12 shots, you might die?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 23:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Frank---If you get shot with 12 shots, well you're FARCed...thats all.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/29/2004 23:46 Comments || Top||

#4  The name of the driver better not start with Al-...
Posted by: Anonymous6134 || 08/29/2004 23:59 Comments || Top||


Europe
France responds to hostage crisis
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier is heading to the Middle East to co-ordinate efforts to secure the release of two journalists being held in Iraq. The move was announced by President Jacques Chirac after senior French politicians held emergency meetings to discuss their response to the crisis. Arabic TV station al-Jazeera broadcast film of the two Frenchmen on Saturday. It said the group holding them was demanding that France drop its ban on Muslim headscarves in state schools.

The BBC's Angus Roxburgh in Paris says the French government is unlikely to accede to the demand. He adds that there is consternation in France that its citizens have been targeted by Iraqi militants, as the country has been a vocal opponent of the US-led war in Iraq. Mr Chirac said Mr Barnier would "leave immediately for the region to develop the necessary contacts there and co-ordinate the efforts of our representatives on the scene".

The French president called for the release of Radio France Internationale correspondent Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot of Le Figaro newspaper. "Everything's been done and everything will be done in the hours and days to come to make sure that happens," he added. The two journalists disappeared nine days ago. They were reported to have been heading from Baghdad to Najaf. Al-Jazeera reported that it had received footage saying a group calling itself "The Islamic Army in Iraq" - the same group which reportedly killed kidnapped Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni last week - is holding them. The TV station said the group described the French law banning religious apparel in public schools as "an attack on the Islamic religion and personal freedoms". It said the kidnappers wanted France to reverse the ban within 48 hours.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 08/29/2004 7:26:11 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...there is consternation in France that its citizens have been targeted by Iraqi militants, as the country has been a vocal opponent of the US-led war in Iraq."

Them's the wages of weaseling. Life's a bitch, ain't it?
Posted by: Dave D. || 08/29/2004 19:47 Comments || Top||

#2  It's just another challenge for the genius that is superior French diplomacy and nuanced realpolitik.

Those poor journos haven't got a chance.
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/29/2004 19:57 Comments || Top||

#3  You act like total spineless wimps in the face of terrorism and genocide and wonder why the people responsible for it then push you around and attack your citizens?

There is a river in Egypt it called d' Nile.
Dominique de Villepin the suckboy for islamo-facisim gets on his knees again.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/29/2004 19:59 Comments || Top||

#4  "the wages of weaseling"
In this particular instance, I don't think that's true. Here's the reason for the kidnapping:
The TV station said the group described the French law banning religious apparel in public schools as "an attack on the Islamic religion and personal freedoms". It said the kidnappers wanted France to reverse the ban within 48 hours.

Actually Chirac's government has taken a bold stand with the headscarf ban to keep the country officially secular. Shortly after his government announced the legislation, as I recall Chirac was receiving death threats from Iranians. The Muslim community in France has been outraged, but Chirac has been steadfast.

Our own government has done the opposite. Not too long ago, Ashcroft's Justice Dept. fought on behalf of a Muslim girl to allow her the right to wear the headscarf/burka thingie to a taxpayer-supported public school. Go figure.
Posted by: rex || 08/29/2004 20:22 Comments || Top||

#5  French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier is heading to the Middle East to co-ordinate efforts to secure the release of two journalists being held in Iraq.

What's the matter, guys? Don't believe in your principles enough to be willing to take a clear stand on them?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 08/29/2004 20:32 Comments || Top||

#6  What? The north men are attacking Paris even though we paid them all that tribute? You'd think that the French would learn after 500 years of appeasment never working.
Posted by: The anti-frog || 08/29/2004 20:39 Comments || Top||

#7  rex.Think there was a case of a muslim woman in Florida refusing to uncover her face for a drivers license photo.Believe she lost.
Posted by: crazyhorse || 08/29/2004 21:00 Comments || Top||

#8  The case I recall from first hearing about it on Michael Savage's show was different from the Florida driver's license case. In fact, tje federal Justice department would not have been able to get into that case because issuing licenses is a state responsibility.

This case involved a Muslim girl attending a public school in Oklahoma, and it annoyed me that the feds would even stick their noses into this case, much less take the pro-headscarf side. Read this and weep about how your tax dollars were mispent.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/30/us.school.headscarves/index.html

"U.S. to defend Muslim girl wearing scarf in school: Federal position will oppose Oklahoma school district policy" March 31, 2004
...The Justice Department announced Tuesday the government's civil rights lawyers have jumped into a legal case to support a Muslim girl's right to wear a head scarf in a public school.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Alex Acosta said government lawyers would support 11-year-old Nashala Hearn, a sixth-grade student who has sued the Muskogee, Oklahoma, Public School District for ordering her to remove her head scarf, or hijab, because it violated the dress code of the Benjamin Franklin Science Academy, which she attended.

The girl continued to wear her hijab to school and was subsequently suspended twice for doing so. The family appealed the suspensions, which were upheld by a district administrative hearing committee.

Her parents filed suit against the Muskogee School District last October.

On Tuesday the federal government filed a motion in a federal court in Muskogee to intervene in support of Nashala's position.

"No student should be forced to choose between following her faith and enjoying the benefits of a public education," Acosta said in a statement accompanying the government's court filing.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations -- which has often been critical of the Bush administration's policies -- praised the government's support in the case...

Posted by: rex || 08/29/2004 21:25 Comments || Top||

#9  Arroyo of the Philippines should watch this carefully. This is her future -- It has already started...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/29/2004 22:20 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
8 Targets: ALL OF GOTHAM IN CROSS HAIRS
Two men charged with plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station were also planning a "holy war" rampage against seven other crucial targets around the city — including at least two other stations, three police precincts and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, officials said yesterday. "They had the intention to cause damage, to kill people," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. But "they did not immediately have the means to do it."
No doubt they'd have found it eventually...
Shahawar Matin Siraj, 21, a "loose cannon" from Pakistan, and James El Shafay, 19, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen from Staten Island, were charged with conspiracy. Cops say they plotted to use backpack bombs to blow up the 34th Street-Herald Square subway station. It's just a block from Madison Square Garden, where the Republican National Convention kicks off tomorrow. "Last week, they actually went to the station and drew a map," said Kelly. "We had them under surveillance, but we couldn't guarantee [they wouldn't act]. Their motive, basically, was hatred for the system."
I wonder what their imam has to say about that...
The two men were picked up by the FBI on Friday after authorities tape-recorded several conversations with an NYPD informant in which the two men asked for help building a bomb. The feds first got wind of the plot last September, when an NYPD informant said he spoke to one of the men about bombs. But things picked up steam earlier this year when the suspects grew angry after seeing photos of the infamous abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
"Ahah! See that, James? I knew we had something to seethe about!"
"We must have Dire Revenge™!"

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 08/29/2004 7:29:40 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Details About Two Stupid Young Moslems Who Wanted to Bomb Subway
From The New York Times
.... The men, who were identified in court papers as Shahawar Matin Siraj, 22, of Queens, and James Elshafay, 19, of Staten Island, 19, twice conducted surveillance of the station, including once last week, drawing diagrams of the entrances and exits. ....

Last September, a paid police informant began having conversations with the two men, and about eight months later, Mr. Siraj began talking to the informant about setting off bombs in the New York City area and "doing harm to United States military personnel and law enforcement officers," according to a complaint filed yesterday by federal prosecutors. It provided no details about the informant or how he met the men. The complaint did say that the informant, at the instruction of law enforcement officials, told the two men he was a member of an Islamic "brotherhood" that had approved their mission. The brotherhood, according to the complaint, did not exist.

During some conversations, the men "at times stated that they wanted to cause economic harm and disruption but that they wanted to avoid killing anyone." But in tape-recorded conversations with the informant this month, both men can be heard repeatedly discussing plans to plant bombs on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and in subway stations, according to the complaint, and Mr. Elshafay had drawn a map of the bridges and police precincts on Staten Island.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/29/2004 8:40:27 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Have we heard from 63 since this story broke?
Posted by: RJB in JC MO || 08/29/2004 8:57 Comments || Top||

#2  check the sinktrap?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 9:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Gracious! General Greene is in the sink trap! It's insatiable! I fear the sink trap is becoming sentinent.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 12:57 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
10 dead in MILF clash
At least 10 people had been confirmed dead and 13 others were reported injured in a fresh clashes yesterday between government forces and fighters of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern island of Mindanao, the military and separatist group said. Eight of those killed were army soldiers and militiamen and two were MILF fighters. Three of the injured were also MILF members and the rest were either military, police or Cafgus (militiamen)," Arab News learned.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 08/29/2004 12:52:07 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


MILF fighters attack Filippino military, or vice versa
Clashes erupted between soldiers and Muslim separatist rebels in the southern Philippines, with both sides accusing the other of violating a truce ahead of peace talks.
He said...
Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) attacked a military detachment near the town of Mamasapano in Maguindanao province at dawn, forcing soldiers to retaliate, army spokesman in the area Lieutenant Franklin del Prado said. "Rebel snipers harassed our position in Linantangan village and soldiers are now clearing the area. We are still awaiting military reports. We don't know yet if there are casualties on both sides," he told reporters.
She said...
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu however said the fighting was triggered when soldiers and government militias conducted a surprise raid on the homes of civilian Muslims and members of the rebel organisation. "The soldiers and militias raided the houses occupied by MILF rebels. They searched houses and harassed many civilians and attacked MILF members without provocation, and this triggered the fighting. The MILF is still investigating this incident," Kabalu said.
They said...
Members of the government negotiating panel were not immediately available for comment.
"We'll get back to you on that, k?"
Posted by: Dan Darling || 08/29/2004 12:50:52 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Paleo Civil War outsourced to Ain al-Hellhole
Three people were killed and several others wounded Sunday when unknown gunmen attacked members of a Palestinian faction in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, witnesses said. They said a military official of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's faction was among those killed in an ambush near one of the group's offices in the Ain al-Hilweh camp near the southern port city of Sidon. A second member of the group was also killed in the fighting, as was a 14-year-old girl hit by a stray bullet that smashed into a hospital several hundred yards from the fringes of the camp, hospital officials said.

I'm all for goons killing goons, but "stray bullet" and "14-year-old girl" never belong in the same sentence. Rest in peace, little girl. No more monsters for you anymore.

And yeah, I'm sure Yasser's all broken up over it too.
Posted by: Another Dan || 08/29/2004 6:22:13 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of course the lefties will proclaim that all this pent-up anger & concommitant violence is a result of Zionist depredations. It scares me when I can start thinking like an idiotarion!
Posted by: borgboy || 08/29/2004 13:40 Comments || Top||

#2  And it seems like just yesterday that Gentle was telling us Muslims can't point weapony-things at each other. Oh wait, that was yesterday. How things change, eh?! Blimey.
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/29/2004 13:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Let the Dire Revenge commence.
Posted by: ed || 08/29/2004 14:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Where's the car swarm?
Posted by: Stephen || 08/29/2004 17:18 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Talaban Terror Attack in Kabul
An explosion outside a U.S.-based security firm that has been providing security for President Hamid Karzai tore through the building in downtown Kabul, killing at least seven people, the president's office said. "Two Americans, three Nepalese and two Afghan nationals, including a child, have been confirmed dead," Karzai's office said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. The blast occurred at 5:35 p.m. and appeared to have targeted the offices of DynCorp. It may have been caused by a remote-controlled bomb in a vehicle. Windows in nearby buildings were blown out by the force of the blast. DynCorp has a police-training facility in the Shar-e-Naw district of Kabul, where the explosion occurred. "It's quite clear in my mind that they were targeted," said Nick Downie of the Afghanistan NGO Security Office, which advises aid workers on security. The Arabic-language television channel Al-Jazeera reported that Taliban officials claimed responsibility for the attack.
"Yeah! We dunnit! Heroic of us, wasn't it? Wanna touch my turban?"
"We received two phone calls from two Taliban spokespersons -- Mulla Janan and Mulla Hakim -- who claimed the movement's responsibility for the blast and regretted the injuries inflicted on some Afghan people who were accidentally passing by the area," said Al-Jazeera's Kabul correspondent, Mazin Aman Allah.
"Yeah. We din't mean to hurt nobody but infidels. Sorry for the corpses..."
Local radio said a Pakistan-based militant group claimed responsibility for the blast, calling it an attempt to undermine the nation's first post-Taliban presidential election, scheduled to take place October 9.
I'd describe the Taliban as a "Pakistan-based militant group"...

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 08/29/2004 7:53:22 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus
Man Blows Self Up In Grozny During Key Vote
An unidentified man was killed Sunday when he blew himself up outside a polling station here during critical presidential elections in Chechnya, local authorities said. A spokesman for the Chechen electoral commission said the man was carrying a suspect package outside the voting station in the Zavodskoi district of the Chechen capital when he was stopped by police for a routine security check. "The security services wanted to check on what he had in the package, but he started to run away from them and then blew himself up," the spokesman, Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov said. "He died. That's all. There was no panic and the voting continues," Arsakhanov said. His version was confirmed by other local officials, and Russian television broadcast video of the site of the attack showing a large pool of blood on a street outside the voting station. No other casualties were reported. The incident occurred around three hours after polling stations throughout the war-torn Muslim republic opened for the start of a vote that was expected to crown a Kremlin-backed candidate as the new Chechen leader. The vote was called to elect a successor for Akhmad Kadyrov, the former pro-Moscow Chechen leader who was slain in a bomb attack in Grozny last May.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 08/29/2004 1:32:14 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope the Dims don't see this and get ideas......
Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian || 08/29/2004 13:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Final act of an "undecided voter".
Posted by: borgboy || 08/29/2004 14:35 Comments || Top||

#3  That's not funny BB that's sick. LOL!
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 14:46 Comments || Top||

#4  When ever the public is about to vote the insane ones begin a rash of suicide terror bombings.

Let's hope we can get through the convention without problems from the leftwing nuts or their comrades, the jihadists.
Posted by: Mark Espinola || 08/29/2004 18:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Was this the Palm Beach Precinct of Grozny?
Posted by: BigEd || 08/29/2004 19:23 Comments || Top||

#6  couldn't PB. The IQ of the boomer was greater tna 50.
Posted by: anymouse || 08/29/2004 23:10 Comments || Top||

#7  "He died. That’s all. There was no panic and the voting continues..."

Concise and to the point. I like that statement.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/29/2004 23:45 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Bomb Attack Kills 9 Children, 1 Adult in Afghan School
In Afghanistan, a powerful bomb explosion has killed at least nine children and injured 15 others. A separate attack on election workers has caused the United Nations to suspend its operations temporarily in the eastern part of the country. Afghan officials and the U.S.-led military coalition say the children were killed Saturday evening when an explosion ripped through a school in the town of Zormat, in the southeastern Afghan province of Paktia. A U.S. military statement says that coalition personnel provided immediate emergency medical treatment to the injured. It condemned the attack on civilians and said the coalition is assisting local authorities in the investigation. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Afghanistan's south and southeastern provinces are still considered strongholds of fugitive members of the ousted Taleban government. In another development, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva told reporters in Kabul that a U.N. vehicle came under bomb attack in the eastern province of Nangarhar. He said the occupants escaped injuries, but U.N. operations there have temporarily been halted. "[The] preliminary report is that this improvised explosive device had a remote-controlled system. The U.N. has suspended road missions to Rodat district temporarily until we have a clear understanding of what actually happened," he said.
Posted by: TS(vice girl) || 08/29/2004 11:28:28 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  excellent work by the Islamic Heroes™! Another school destroyed, children killed, and aid workers terrorized! The Religion of Peace strikes again
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 11:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Congratulations Great Taleban Warriors! You have taught those children a great lesson. I am sure your mullahs are very proud of you.

Unfortunately, the last sentence is not meant to be sarcastic.
Posted by: ed || 08/29/2004 13:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Hope one day Afghans will open their eyes about Islam and shariah as instruments of foreign domination.

Some already have, we need more of them
Posted by: JFM || 08/29/2004 13:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Allan be praised for these brave bombers of the Allan!! Another fine of example of why Allan-worship is a mental disesae.
Posted by: anymouse || 08/29/2004 14:21 Comments || Top||

#5  Do the words:
"No one has claimed responsibility for the attack"
mean anything to you?!
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 14:24 Comments || Top||

#6  Of course not. Must have been some of those human blood filled Jewish bread exploding.

Does RESPONSIBILITY mean anything to you?
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/29/2004 14:29 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm with Gentle, this sounds like a kitchen accident.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 14:44 Comments || Top||

#8  I didn't mean it was jews.
I would not accuse anyone of such a horrible crime.
I dislike Israel, not Jews.
BIG diffrence.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 14:44 Comments || Top||

#9  right - that's why you posted the "blood libel", yesterday, because it was about Israel, not Jews....oh, wait, it wasn't, was it?
That makes you a liar, a bigot, and an idiot - 3 for 3!
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 14:58 Comments || Top||

#10  I can't remember you saying that ISRAEL was baking those special breads, Gentle?
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/29/2004 14:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Frank you beat me by 33 secs..LOL
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/29/2004 15:00 Comments || Top||

#12  great minds....
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 15:01 Comments || Top||

#13  That was because the article said it.
I wrote my reasons yesterday.
Pay attention, why don't you?
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 15:03 Comments || Top||

#14  a liar, a bigot, and an idiot
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 15:06 Comments || Top||

#15  Are you really, Frank?
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 15:07 Comments || Top||

#16  Frank G: a liar, a bigot, and an idiot

Frank, you shouldn't insult liars, bigots and idiots. Gentle's a Muslim. That requires no further elaboration.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/29/2004 15:20 Comments || Top||

#17  Bourka man is getting all the air.
I will cease and desist.

Bye Mr. Gentle!
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 15:22 Comments || Top||

#18  Gentle is just another Nazi Arab who tried her taqqiyah on us. It failing and her being called out, she reverted to her Arab supremacist combination of arrogance and self-pity--providing us not an occasion for sympathy, but a reminder of how close her culture is to being absolutely destroyed.
Posted by: BMN || 08/29/2004 15:49 Comments || Top||

#19  I'm done with Gentle for now...had to go shower after the last couple exchanges :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 15:56 Comments || Top||

#20  Can we really be so hard on Gentle? (Yes, but...) Think about it. The problem starts with the parents. If they raised, taught, and encouraged her in this manner is it any surprise the way she turned out?
Unfortunatley, when she starts pumping out puppies herself, the vicious cycle just starts anew.
Posted by: 98zulu || 08/29/2004 16:00 Comments || Top||

#21  I dislike Israel, not Jews.
BIG diffrence.


Only in the mind of Minolta Gentle...
Posted by: Rafael || 08/29/2004 16:13 Comments || Top||

#22  98Z,
I agree. It's better to engage her in debate and correct her when she is wrong. But it really hard not to hammer her when she spouts crap such as Jews making pastries with Muslim children's blood, though delicious as it may be.

But she's young and educable to the views outside of Arabia. If the Arabs are to have any future, people like her will have to realize others have a right to a life and religion not under the domination of Allah and Mohammed. Otherwise her people's future will be squashed under tank treads. Once she sees the light, hopefully she can impart her newfound wisdom to her acquaintances.
Posted by: ed || 08/29/2004 16:20 Comments || Top||

#23 
But she's young and educable to the views outside of Arabia.


Is she?

We have only the posts made under the name "Gentle" to establish an identity. We don't know who's really posting under that name.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/29/2004 18:00 Comments || Top||

#24  Common sense (aka "LOGIC") really is beyond your grasp isn't it Gentle?
Posted by: Valentine || 08/29/2004 20:38 Comments || Top||

#25  Otherwise her people's future will be squashed under tank treads.
Whether Gentle recognizes it or not, the intolerant, extremist side of Islam is increasingly irritating the cultures in the world that have the capability to wipe any city off the planet in a single volley from afar. I'm not suggesting that this may happen soon. I'm suggesting that she turn her attentions to the Islamic provocateurs.

Eventually American leaders will tire of using tank treads at great political cost and will turn to more expedient means. We nuked Hiroshima not because it was the only way to win but rather because we were tired of spilling American blood in the fight. If provoked enough, we can set Middle Eastern Islam back to a few tribes among the dunes in short order.

Don't mess with us, Gentle: save yourself by teaching the peaceful Islam to your Islamic fanatics.
Posted by: Tom || 08/29/2004 21:36 Comments || Top||

#26  I don't understand,wouldn't a Bloody Mary taste better than a tart?
Posted by: Brewer || 08/29/2004 23:10 Comments || Top||


Breaking: Huge Blast Rocks Kabul
A big explosion badly damaged a house in downtown Kabul Sunday, killing at least one person. The building was in flames. The blast occurred in the Shar-e Naw district of central Kabul, an area housing the offices of international organizations and guesthouses used by their staff. One building was badly damaged and was burning fiercely minutes after the blast. The body of one man lay in the street in front. He appeared to be in uniform, but it was unclear if he was a soldier or a security guard. Police and foreign security personnel — apparently American — cordoned off the street.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 10:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  crap - Fox Link
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 10:03 Comments || Top||

#2  I fixed it...
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2004 10:18 Comments || Top||

#3  I hosed the http://....thx Fred
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 10:31 Comments || Top||

#4  From Reuters: At least three American nationals involved in the training of Afghanistan's new police force were killed Sunday in a powerful blast in Kabul that also killed at least two Afghans, a defense ministry official told Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6096476
Posted by: GK || 08/29/2004 10:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Reuters: He added that the explosion was caused by explosives hidden in a car infront of the Interpol Police office.

If Afghan cops were lackadaisical about security before, they won't be, from now on. And the American trainers should have known better.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/29/2004 11:28 Comments || Top||

#6  "If Afghan cops were lackadaisical about security before, they won't be, from now on."

Inshallah.
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2004 11:53 Comments || Top||

#7  I was noticing on the radio today, WTOP, that they said something like "no break in the fighting against American interests in Kabul"

Before he said "Kabul", I thought they were referring to Iraq and I said, NO BREAK!! They are mum on our victory of getting Spud man out of the fortress, and there is "no break!". Please!!

I can't help wondering if the forces of evil, having failed to successfully disrupt the Iraqi's are now going to transfer their time and money into Afghanistan - thinking that they have a better chance for destroying democracracy there, than they do in Iraq.

At the very least, I consider this a signal that MSM is going to forgo reporting on the decrease in insurgent fighting in Iraq, and instead concentrate on Afghanistan, where they can make it look like trouble is increasing.

Or..maybe I'm reading too much into this. I'm pretty good at predicting future spin, though, So I'm looking forward to seeing if this is just one report to turn the focus away from the decline of Sadr's militia - or an entirely new trend.
Posted by: B || 08/29/2004 12:07 Comments || Top||


Anybody know where I can find...
Does anybody know where I can find a transcript of Whoopie Goldberg's remarks about her pubic area? I've heard them referred to, but never saw the actual remarks. I need them for ammunition.
Posted by: Ethel || 08/29/2004 9:22:17 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I would'nt touch that with a ........
Posted by: RJB in JC MO || 08/29/2004 9:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Ethel, get your mind out of the gutter!
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/29/2004 9:30 Comments || Top||

#3  And I suggest that all postings on this subject be moved to Page 2.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/29/2004 9:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Are you the famous Ethel, holder of Fred's pills?
Posted by: badanov || 08/29/2004 10:13 Comments || Top||

#5  If you are, after this request you oughta take some...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/29/2004 10:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Why is everyone being weird about this request? Goldberg's inappropriate comments, which were so appreciated and approved of by the Kerry camp (regardless of his fake distancing from the event), are more proof positive that Kerry and his group should be kept as far away from the Oval Office as possible. I wish I had a transcript myself--to show people how sick this group really is.

I don't understand. Is Ethel a troll, or something?

If someone has access to this--tell me, too. As far as I know, Kerry's goons have kept it hush-hush.


Posted by: ex-lib || 08/29/2004 10:54 Comments || Top||

#7  googled for transcripts and none are available, even though half the Dem party and media were there....
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 11:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Ethel is actually Mrs. Fred...
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2004 11:29 Comments || Top||

#9  Oooooops.
I blame badanov.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/29/2004 11:33 Comments || Top||

#10  note that, for once, I'm the one with a serious comment.....lol
:-)
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 11:39 Comments || Top||

#11  Well, I'd like to take time to welcome Ethel to this little enclave Fred has created.

Thank you for whatever help you've provided him with this. And thanks for keeping track of the pills.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 08/29/2004 11:54 Comments || Top||

#12  Here is a transcript.
Posted by: badanov || 08/29/2004 12:27 Comments || Top||

#13  I suggest that all posting from Ethel be first off on page one.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 12:38 Comments || Top||

#14  Nice find Badanov. Not only does Whoopi put on display her brilliance when the democrats desperately want to suppress that whole affair, but she spills the beans on the other celebrities' stupidity.

And all hail Queen Ethel, keeper of Fred's server power plug.
Posted by: ed || 08/29/2004 13:46 Comments || Top||

#15 
It's terrible to be President. Just look at their clothes. When was the last time you saw a President in Armani?
This sums up the Hollywood idiotarians precisely - they think the most important thing about the leader of the free world is whether he dresses in expensive clothes like they do.

Wotta buncha maroons.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 08/29/2004 13:58 Comments || Top||

#16 
I suggest that all posting from Ethel be first off on page one.

Yes, yes. I withdraw my suggestion. What was I thinking?
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/29/2004 15:36 Comments || Top||

#17  LOL MS, situations changed!.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 17:02 Comments || Top||

#18  Laughing at yourself is important. Look at Bob Hope. Well, no, don't. He probably doesn't look too good right now (humor), but he made cracks just as bad about every president from Ike on, and they all laughed their heads off. Difference between humor and hate is very basic. Hate gets you hated back, humor makes you shake your head. Even if you didn't like any of it, some of it was funny. Hatefull? I don't think so. Play on words, sure.
Posted by: DLS || 08/29/2004 17:57 Comments || Top||

#19  yuh. Think about if Richard pryor did a bash-Bush routine. Now, that would be horrific. Whoopie's stuff is just a lame play on words.
Posted by: Anonymous6208 || 08/29/2004 18:28 Comments || Top||

#20  WOT I was looking at last years postings and admiring my early work... did everyone go to sleep earlier then? Or was local time kept on the posts?
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 19:51 Comments || Top||

#21  Richard Pryor gave up his part-time career in show business for a full-time career in twitching.
Posted by: gromky || 08/29/2004 22:32 Comments || Top||

#22  I would much rather have my president in a "Don the Magic Juan" outfit,with a chalice of pimpjuice.
Posted by: Brewer || 08/29/2004 23:03 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Clashes break out in Sadr City
For one commander in the militia loyal to Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, the trip home to Baghdad after a cease-fire was reached in Najaf was just a pit stop. It was time enough to receive dozens of well-wishers delivering congratulations for not getting killed resisting the Americans. Time enough to weep with the visitors over the damage inflicted to the sacred Imam Ali shrine in the holy city. And time enough for the commander, who gave his name only as Abu Hayder, to prepare to return to Najaf on Sunday morning and figure out how to redistribute weapons that fighters had laid aside. "It seems the truce is only in Najaf," Abu Hayder said. "Every other area is on fire."

Hundreds of Sadr's supporters recently returned from fighting in Najaf, where a calm prevailed Saturday after a three-week battle ended between the militia and U.S. and Iraqi forces. But as they arrived in Baghdad, a new round of clashes broke out in their Sadr City neighborhood between insurgents and U.S. soldiers. "It is essential that the fight continue, and it will continue until the Americans are expelled," said Sheik Raed Kadhimi, a spokesman for Sadr's office in the Kadhimiya neighborhood of Baghdad.

Shiite insurgents fired mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles at the 1st Brigade Combat Team from the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division. The U.S. forces drove through the neighborhood in Humvees, using loudspeakers to order people stay in their houses because U.S. and allied forces were "cleaning the area of armed men," the Associated Press reported. Three Iraqis were killed and 25 were wounded in the battles, according to the Health Ministry, while the U.S. forces reported no casualties. Fighters also fired a round of mortars into a neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, killing two boys who were washing cars in the street, the AP said. "It's clearly not over. This is an agreement that concerned Najaf and Kufa," a senior U.S. official said on condition of anonymity, referring to the sacred city and an adjoining town. "Moqtada Sadr has a decision to make which we'll see in actions, not words, very soon."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 08/29/2004 12:31:51 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Muhammed said that after the peace deal was brokered, he returned to Baghdad for a 24-hour visit with one priority: marriage. But he had experienced a couple of setbacks. He had spent the $1,400 he had saved for the wedding on weaponry, so he had to ask the local Sadr office for $30 to buy an engagement ring.

Muhammed will probably spend more time fighting with his wife than with the Americans.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/29/2004 9:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't put that ring on sweetie! It will turn your finger greeen.
Posted by: Craig || 08/29/2004 11:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Since Sadr City isn't one of the "holy cities", at least not yet, does this mean we can feel free to blast away and kill more of these retards?
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/29/2004 11:44 Comments || Top||

#4  LOL MS and C
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 12:58 Comments || Top||

#5  You gotta give Tater some credit. Not only does he get these mooks to fight and die for him, they get fleeced in the process.
Posted by: PBMcL || 08/29/2004 13:03 Comments || Top||

#6  So in the last few days I 've read multiple reports of the "insurgents" in Iraq using minors & women as fighters. So next time you hear about "innocent civilians" or "women & children" being killed by Americans, just remember this 47 year old female fighter & the 12-15 year old Mahdi Army fighters interviewed in Najaf.
Posted by: Kentucky Beef || 08/29/2004 13:54 Comments || Top||

#7  The money would have been better spent as a down payment for dental work.
Posted by: 98zulu || 08/29/2004 18:18 Comments || Top||


Iraqi Police Battle U.S. Troops 'By Mistake'
U.S. forces fought with an Iraqi police unit in the center of the northern city of Kirkuk Saturday, police said, putting the clash down to a "mistake." Two Iraqi policemen were badly wounded and U.S. forces arrested six of their comrades after the overnight battle, police Colonel Farhat Qader said. "The battle happened by mistake," Qader said. He declined to elaborate. U.S. forces maintain bases in Kirkuk, a center of oil production. The city's Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen populations claim historical property rights that have caused sporadic violence since Saddam Hussein was toppled last year.
Posted by: Destro || 08/29/2004 5:03:42 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This doesn't make any sense. Iraqis are armed with AK's. Americans are armed with M-4's or M-16's. There's no way the sound of one can be mistaken for the sound of the other. The Iraqis must have known that the people on the other side were Americans. But they fired anyway.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/29/2004 11:15 Comments || Top||

#2  And he proudly announced Kidneys as he pointed to his left temple.
Posted by: dorf || 08/29/2004 14:22 Comments || Top||

#3  U.S. forces fought with an Iraqi police
Two Iraqi policemen were badly wounded


So who did all the fighting?
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 14:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Zayed University must have some really low admission requirements.
Posted by: Rafael || 08/29/2004 14:35 Comments || Top||

#5  I refused 2 scholarships if it makes you feel better.
One was to the American university.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 14:42 Comments || Top||

#6  In this War Gentle it's not so important as to who did the fighting, the key question is, who whined the best? I will admit that the US is 500 years behind in screeching, whinning and mewling.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 14:49 Comments || Top||

#7  And eye rolling too, of course.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 14:50 Comments || Top||

#8  I think whinning, as hateful as it is, is much better than murdering the innocent.
I'm happy with the muslims being 500 years late on that.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 14:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Gentle: I think whinning, as hateful as it is, is much better than murdering the innocent.
I'm happy with the muslims being 500 years late on that.


Nah - Muslims are ahead on whining and killing the innocent. Of course, they don't think of it that way because in the Muslim mind, infidels are by definition guilty.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/29/2004 15:02 Comments || Top||

#10  No they are not.
Sorry to disappiont you.
Posted by: Gentle || 08/29/2004 15:04 Comments || Top||

#11  and they can always resort to tribal rationales if they wanna kill other muslims...or women, no reasoning necessary other than a loss of "honor" which invariably wasn't there in the first place
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 15:05 Comments || Top||

#12  Gentle,
Let me direct you to the Muslim conquest of the Hindu. More Hindu and Budhists died than existed in all of Europe and Mideast at that time, almost all of them civilians. The peaceful Budhists were nearly wiped out.

http://hinduwebsite.com/history/holocaust.htm
http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/modern/moghal_atro.html

Search of "skulls" or "Mughal" or "Timur". I understand it is one of the proudest points of Muslim history, but take a few minutes and read it from a Hindu perspective. Later, we can direct you to the more graphic accounts.
Posted by: ed || 08/29/2004 15:10 Comments || Top||

#13  Do you hear that loud sucking sound? It's gentle sucking all the intelligence out of this site! Muslims have excelled at raping, murdering and brutalizing innocents since the false prophet mohammed. Try learning about the bloody history of that pedophile you follow gentle before you critize us. Remember, your people are the barbarians at the gate. Your people are the ones murdering each other, see the 9 dead kids in Afghanistan? Muslims did that. Something for you and your ilk to be proud of I'm sure. It is Muslims, in the name of allah beheading journalists and other innocents. It is Muslims in the Sudan raping, pillaging and torturing. And it was muslims who killed 3000 mothers, fathers, sons and daughters on Sept 11. So why don't you take your lies, and your bigotry and shove them up your burka-clad ass. You, gentle, are less than monkey excrement. And this world will know peace only when muslims learn to get along with others...or when they are all gone. The allah you worship is a false god...why else would the majority of muslims the world round live in poverty even though they sit on seas of oil? Why else does he ignore your calls for the destruction of the West? Muhammed was a murder, a rapist and a pedophile. I hope he's enjoying that special section of hell that the true God set aside for him.
Posted by: AllahHateMe || 08/29/2004 15:15 Comments || Top||

#14  Gentle: No they are not. Sorry to disappiont you.

Buddhism used to be the primary religion of Central Asia. Muslim warriors massacred anyone who wouldn't convert. Zoroastrianism used to be the primary religion of Iran. Same thing happened there. Don't assume that Americans know nothing about Islam's bloody hands.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/29/2004 15:17 Comments || Top||

#15  Dammit, you're right AHM.

So Gentle who you like the the FSU Miami matchup?
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 15:20 Comments || Top||

#16  Hi gentle,
If you get done reading the above links, here is another article listing some of the events in Islam-Hindu history. It's a bit long, so consider it as a homework assignment.
http://www.hinduunity.org/articles/islamexposed/islaminaction1.html
Posted by: ed || 08/29/2004 15:48 Comments || Top||

#17  I think whinning, as hateful as it is, is much better than murdering the innocent.
I'm happy with the muslims being 500 years late on that.


The Palestinians and bin Laden clearly don't agree.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 08/29/2004 17:37 Comments || Top||

#18  Gentle hasn't figured out that we don't have to start the fight to end up the winners.
Posted by: too true || 08/29/2004 17:44 Comments || Top||

#19  A lot of folk have made that mistake... Should be a special category in the Darwin awards for it.
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/29/2004 17:53 Comments || Top||

#20  ZF -- you forgot that Christianity was the major religion of the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia Minor. Muslims massacred those who would not convert or pay jizyah.

Sometimes (like with the Turkish Armenians), they massacred the non-Muslims just for the hell of it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/29/2004 18:06 Comments || Top||

#21  Tap,tap, tap. Damn, something must be wrong with my computer. Three hours gone by and nothing back from Gentle. Or, maybe she's still reading the links that ed provided. Does she always fade away when she's bested?
Posted by: GK || 08/29/2004 18:22 Comments || Top||

#22  Does she always fade away when she's bested?

Of course. Shre reminds me of the "minders" the Scientologists have on the anti-Scientology newsgroups. They post their crap, maybe make the occasional response, but as soon as someone gets the best of them, they fade away.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/29/2004 18:54 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Al-Qaeda activists distribute pamphlets in Pakistan
Some unknown people, allegedly Mormon missionaries New England selectmen Lapp reindeer herders Al-Qaeda activists, have distributed pamphlets in the district, announcing reward for killing the police officials involved in the death of Qari Noor Mohammad in police custody on August 18, sources told Daily Times on Saturday. Sources said unidentified people who had covered their faces with red scarves left these leaflets outside the Jamia Mosque in Kutchery Bazaar during prayers. Cloth traders of the market said the pamphlets were left by two men on the mosque's terrace who fled the scene.
Brave Sir Mahmoud ran away...
However, police officials who reached the spot said the pamphlets were written in Urdu and prepared and printed on computer in Arabic script. Police sources said the pamphlets bore an opinion by Abdul Rehman Handavi, a Saudi jurist, alleging that the police officers involved in the killing of Qari Noor Mohammad were infidels and urged people to kill them. The pamphlets announced a reward of Rs 1 million for the killing of inspector Naveed Younis and Rs 0.3 million for Rana Mohabat Khan and Malik Zulfiqar. Police sources said that some religious leaders had been questioned, but they have expressed their ignorance of the incident.
"Ve know nossink!"
Posted by: Dan Darling || 08/29/2004 12:33:01 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Iran offers to repair Najaf shrine
Iran'S national heritage organisation offered today to pay for and carry out repairs to the mausoleum of Imam Ali, badly damaged during weeks of fighting in the central Iraqi city of Najaf. Quoted in the local press, the head of the body's department for religious heritage said the body was "ready to send spies, militants, agitators, and workers and meet all costs" involved in restoring one of Shiite Islam's holiest sites. Hojatoleslam Hossen Shahmoradi nevertheless condemned what he said was a "ruthless" assault on the shrine of the father of Shiism by US-led forces.
Posted by: Seafarious || 08/29/2004 1:08:57 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The shrines patrons.
Posted by: Lucky || 08/29/2004 1:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Shriners?
Posted by: Another Dan || 08/29/2004 5:37 Comments || Top||

#3  No. Shriners.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/29/2004 5:47 Comments || Top||

#4  they oughtta pay. Their tool damaged it
Posted by: Frank G || 08/29/2004 6:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe the Iraqi Shiites should respond by asking them to send brooms and ziplock bags, to help sweep up all the Iranian body parts littering the city.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/29/2004 10:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Like letting the Soviets help construct our Moscow Embassy a few years back? Better yet let the Iraqis rebuild Iran after the upcoming airstrikes/war...
Posted by: borgboy || 08/29/2004 14:37 Comments || Top||

#7  I gotta few dents in my car inflicted by various Dhimmis...can I send the repair bill to the Mad Mullahs?
Posted by: borgboy || 08/29/2004 14:38 Comments || Top||

#8  "Hojatoleslam"

Same title Sadr gave himself via murder 0f his rivals and general thuggery.

Let them pay the money to Sistani. Cash, no checks. And he will hire local labor and use local materials to do the rebuild - and help the Iraqi government guard the place by paying for police.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/29/2004 17:47 Comments || Top||

#9  I'm sure thee architects of Bam are catching up on the lastest episodes of Monster House.
Posted by: Brewer || 08/29/2004 23:32 Comments || Top||

#10  So who is going to foot the bill for all the stolen loot out of the Shrine?
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/30/2004 0:02 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
U.S., Afghan Soldiers Arrest 22 Suspects
U.S. and Afghan troops killed a Taliban commander and detained 22 suspected Taliban fighters during a major search operation after a gunbattle in a southern Afghan mountain range, officials said Saturday. Mullah Rozi Khan, a Taliban commander in Zabul province, was killed after troops surrounded a group of rebels in Ghazoi village Friday evening, said Asadullah Khan, governor of neighboring Ghazni province. "The soldiers demanded that they surrender, but instead they started shooting," Khan told The Associated Press. "Mullah Rozi Khan and another Talib has been killed and several others arrested." Rozi Khan also was suspected of involvement in kidnappings and attacks on foreign construction workers retooling the main Kabul-Kandahar highway in Zabul. U.S. military spokesman Maj. Scott Nelson confirmed the operations in Zabul and neighboring Ghazni province, and said 22 Taliban suspects had been detained. "We did have a major operation there," he said. It was unclear how many American and Afghan soldiers were taking part. None were reported injured. Zabul has seen some of the bloodiest fighting between rebels and U.S.-led forces since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001.

Further east, suspected Taliban fired on a convoy of trucks bringing supplies to a U.S. military base in Khost province, killing a driver and injuring his assistant, said Nashin Uddin, an aide to the local Afghan National Army commander. The attack occurred on Friday as the convoy made its way to Camp Salerno, a major U.S. base close to the Pakistani border.
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2004 12:23:05 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No, no, no, no, no. I thought we had this straight. Cops arrest people. Soldiers are supposed to kill the enemy.

C'mon, guys - get with the program.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 08/29/2004 1:04 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd have been happier if they would've killed 22 fighters and arrested 1 commander!
Posted by: RJB in JC MO || 08/29/2004 7:33 Comments || Top||

#3  I think that you are right, Barbara. Cops ARREST or apprehend people; soldiers CAPTURE people. Arrest involves law enforcement, Capture involves the laws of war. The MSM has been using these terms inappropriately for a long time, probably sloppy and lazy syntax.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/29/2004 12:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Unless you are dealing the the Military Police....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/29/2004 12:04 Comments || Top||

#5  The Enemy is destroyed by judcious use of fire and maneuver.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/29/2004 12:48 Comments || Top||

#6  After gitmo and the supremes, your syntax seems the appropriate way to go, Shipman! Case closed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/29/2004 12:52 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
U.S., Shiites Fight in Baghdad; 5 Killed
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2004 00:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraqi Militants Hold 2 French Journalists
Islamic militants released a brief tape showing two French journalists kidnapped recently in Iraq and said they were holding the men to protest a French law banning headscarves in schools, according to footage aired Saturday by an Arab TV station. The station, Al-Jazeera, said the group gave the French government 48 hours to overturn the law but mentioned no ultimatum. Christian Chesnot of Radio France-Internationale, or RFI, and Georges Malbrunot of Le Figaro newspaper and RTL radio have not been in touch with their employers since Aug. 19, the French Foreign Ministry said last week. The station's news reader said the group described the French law banning religious apparel in public schools as "an aggression on the Islamic religion and personal freedoms." The tape, lasting 3-4 seconds, showed the men separately, each standing in front of a black background emblazoned in red with the group's name, the Islamic Army in Iraq, in Arabic. The tape did not give the hostages' names, but their employers in France later identified them. Chesnot appeared first, saying in poor Arabic that "we are being held by the Islamic Army in Iraq." The tape then showed Malbrunot. "First of all, I want to tell my family that all is well and we are being treated well," he says in French just before the tape cuts off.

France's Foreign Ministry issued a brief statement calling for the journalists' release. "The services of the French Embassy in Baghdad, like the French authorities, are mobilized more than ever. Once again, we call for the liberation of the two French journalists." Sheik Abdulsattar Abduljawad, from the Association of Muslim Scholars, an influential Sunni Muslim group believed to have links to insurgents, also called for their release — and for concessions by the French government. "We call the Islamic Army in Iraq to free the French hostages and ask the French government to cancel their decision forbidding the wearing of the Hijab (the head scarf)," he told Al-Jazeera early Sunday.
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2004 12:12:26 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  YAWN!!
Posted by: Jack is Back || 08/29/2004 10:10 Comments || Top||

#2  This would appear to be a stupid move by the jihadees. That fits.
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/29/2004 10:13 Comments || Top||

#3 
We call the Islamic Army in Iraq to free the French hostages and ask the French government to cancel their decision forbidding the wearing of the Hijab ...

Step 1: Terrorize the French into submitting to the mullahs' initial demands about school dress codes.

Step 2: Terrorize Moslems schoolgirls in France into dressing as the mullahs order.

Step 3: Terrorize non-Moslem schoolgirls in France into dressing as the mullahs order.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 08/29/2004 10:16 Comments || Top||

#4  I think the kidnappers aren't reaching high enough. They should demand that France make Islam the state religion. This will make de jure what was de facto the case anyway.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/29/2004 11:05 Comments || Top||

#5  This story is BIG. I cannot wait to see how it plays out...Now what are you going to do Jacques?
Posted by: Kentucky Beef || 08/29/2004 14:00 Comments || Top||

#6  He will....

1)Hope they let them go after paying them off.

2)Hope they let them go after NOT paying them
off.

3)Wait until the 2 guys are dead then blame
Bush.



Posted by: 98zulu || 08/29/2004 18:27 Comments || Top||

#7  So these guys are French. And they're "journalists".... I know I'm a bad person, but I just can't seem to work up the usual sympathy and outrage. The only thing that would make it worse is if they were Ram fans.......
Posted by: Anonymous6209 || 08/29/2004 18:36 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Hizb leader among four killed in Kashmir
Four people, including a local commander of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, were killed in Indian-held Kashmir on Saturday. Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Javed Ahmed Sheikh alias Kuka Sheikh was killed in an operation at Rajouri Kadal, Senior Superintendent of Police Syed Javid Mujtaba Geelani said. He said police killed Sheikh when they raided his hideout. One police officer was wounded in the shootout, he said.

Explosives hidden in a bag went off in a house on Saturday, killing two teenage girls. Police were investigating whether militants had hidden the explosives after taking refuge in the house in Kulgam, a village about 75 km south of Srinagar, a police officer said. In a separate raid in Sanzwotur, a village 60 km south of Srinagar, paramilitary soldiers killed a militant from Jaish-e-Mohammad, said Neeraj Sharma, a Border Security Force spokesman. One Indian border guard was injured, Sharma said.
Posted by: Fred || 08/29/2004 12:06:10 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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Sun 2004-08-29
  Boom Kills 9 Children, 1 Adult in Afghan School
Sat 2004-08-28
  437 arrested in Islamabad crackdown
Fri 2004-08-27
  Former Yemeni interior minister helped Cole mastermind
Thu 2004-08-26
  Smell of Burned Flesh, Blood Smeared on Najaf Streets
Wed 2004-08-25
  Hamas op nabbed taping Maryland bridge
Tue 2004-08-24
  Two Russ planes boomed
Mon 2004-08-23
  Former Pak MP denies role in terrorist plot
Sun 2004-08-22
  Fatah splinter calls for bumping off Yasser
Sat 2004-08-21
  Tater wants to hand over mosque. Really.
Fri 2004-08-20
  U.S. Arrests Two Suspected Hamas Members
Thu 2004-08-19
  US Begins Major Push against Defiant Sadr
Wed 2004-08-18
  Bombs found near Berlusconi's villa after Blair visit
Tue 2004-08-17
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Mon 2004-08-16
  Terror group threatens Dutch with "Islamic earthquake"
Sun 2004-08-15
  Terrorist summit was held in Waziristan in March

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