November 18, 2005: In Britain, MI5, the domestic intelligence agency, is trying to hire 800 more field agents, or âspiesâ, to help keep an eye on the Islamic terrorist threat. This means hiring men and women from Moslem communities (especially Pakistanis and Arabs.) This is part of an NI5 expansion that will double the size of the agency, from 2,000 personnel, to 4,000, by 2009. Before the Islamic terrorist threat appeared, MI5 played a major role in combating terrorism by the IRA (Irish Republican Army.) The agents that infiltrated and largely demolished the IRA would not be nearly as effective infiltrating Islamic radical groups. However, these veterans of IRA operations do have field and tradecraft experience they can impart to new recruits with Pakistani and Arab backgrounds. Recruiting is not expected to be a problem, as many in the Moslem community have taken advantage of educational and employment opportunities in Britain, and feel an obligation to protect their adopted country. But, as their mentors, from the IRA operations, will tell them, it can be a wrenching experience to âtake down your own,â even if it is in the course of preventing horrific terror attacks. Like British Moslems, Irish Catholics have long suffered from discrimination and abuse because of their ethnicity and religion. But Britain was accommodating enough to assimilate a large portion of the Irish Catholic, and Moslem communities. Itâs those who were not assimilated, however, who provided a support network for the terrorists.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 09:53 ||
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November 18, 2005: Operations in Chechnya have become fairly routine, with 5-10 raids and security sweeps a week, in addition to heavy security (checkpoints, patrols), in key areas (government, military and economic facilities). The Islamic terrorists have made themselves unpopular in Chechnya, partly because they kill lots of Chechens, and partly because, after years of violence, nothing has been accomplished.
That's pretty much their history wherever they set up shop
Chechens are also mindful of their own history. As tough and resourceful as Chechens are, they have been consistently beaten by tougher and more resourceful Russians over the past two centuries. That pattern has apparently not changed, and most Chechens are apparently resigned to peace, under Russian rule, until the next uprising (in a generation or so, if past patterns persist.) The Islamic terrorist groups, however, appear ready to go on fighting until all members are killed or captured. Russian counter-terror forces appear determined to track down and kill or capture all the Islamic terrorists, many of whom have fled Chechnya because of the large number of Russian police in the area, and the many Chechens who have become hostile to Islamic terrorism.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 09:35 ||
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#1
Putin owes the Dumas a date for troop withdrawl from Grozny.
Posted by: john ||
11/18/2005 11:08 Comments ||
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#2
wow a short, sweet piece that says it pretty much the way it is. Common sense??? By Whom?
#5
IIRC Russia is experiencing rapid depopulation through very low natality, high abortion and high mortality. In the long run,it may be hard for the shrinking ethnic russians to hold on a Caucasus with high population growth.
US President George Bush will press ahead on Friday with his strategy for bolstering allied unity against North Korea's nuclear weapons programme when he meets Russian President Vladimir Putin. Their talks come a day after Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun vowed a nuclear-armed North Korea will not be tolerated and agreed talks should be held on a North-South peace treaty, a show of harmony that played down tactical differences.
Bush and Roh just have different definitions of "will not be tolerated."
Bush is eager for unity among the five nations engaged in negotiations with North Korea - the United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China - to try to convince Pyongyang to agree to dismantle its nuclear arms programmes. Aides said Bush, in his fifth meeting with Putin this year, would also discuss Iran's nuclear programme, Russia's effort to gain membership in the World Trade Organisation and Russia's internal situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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Made you look GIANT American strategic bombers will practise long-range raids on Australia under an agreement enabling the US to "project power" into the region. The bombers will hit the Delamere bombing range in the Northern Territory under an agreement signed yesterday at the Australia-United States ministerial summit in Adelaide.
While demonstrators outside the tightly guarded Adelaide City Hall chanted for an end to involvement in Iraq, Defence Minister Robert Hill and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer signed a deal with US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and US Deputy Secretary of State Bob Zoellick on closer defence and security ties. They also revealed they were looking for ways to link Australia's Jindalee Over-The-Horizon radar network into the proposed US anti-ballistic missile system. And the Shoalwater Bay training area in Queensland will be upgraded for joint exercises.
Senator Hill said Australia had not provided support for US strategic bombers for some time. He said the US was going through a transformation in the region, "which means it does not necessarily have to have the current mass up front but be able to project power from further afield". Training will start in the new year and involve bombers travelling a considerable distance to use the ranges and flying home without landing. Others would land and use facilities at Darwin.
Likely these will be flying out of Guam and Diego Garcia, as well as a few very long range missions from the States.
The Australian ministers also said they had not received from Iraq any official indication the Government wanted Australia to withdraw its troops from the southern al-Muthanna province. A spokesman for Iraq's Prime Minister, Ibrahim al Jaafari, said this week Australians were no longer needed in al-Muthanna. There are 450 Australian soldiers there protecting Japanese engineers involved in reconstruction and training Iraqi troops.
Mr Downer suggested that when that work was done the Australians might take on another role in Iraq. And Prime Minister John Howard also refused to rule out redeploying the troops to another region of Iraq.
But he said it was too early to judge whether the province could be managed by fledgling Iraqi security forces. Australia's formal commitment of troops to the region was still scheduled to last until May.
"I am not going to rule anything out ⊠we will stay there while it is in the interests of achieving our goals, and that is a more secure Iraq where democracy is emerging," he said before the APEC leaders' summit in Busan, South Korea. "If we were asked to go by the Iraqi Government, we would obviously go. But we have not been asked to go . . and I did not interpret the comments made by his spokesman ⊠as a request from the Iraqi Government to go," Mr Howard said.
Meanwhile, Mr Rumsfeld said Australian terror suspect David Hicks was receiving excellent treatment at Guantanamo Bay. He dismissed allegations of mistreatment of prisoners at the US naval base in Cuba.
Hicks, 30, has been held at Guantanamo Bay since his capture with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in late 2001 after the September 11 attacks in the United States.
In an affidavit released last year, the Adelaide-born Muslim convert said prisoners were beaten while blindfolded and handcuffed, terrorised by dogs and forced to take drugs. He also alleged he was sexually abused during two 10-hour beatings on a US warship. But Mr Rumsfeld said there was no mistreatment of detainees and this view was supported by the Red Cross. Hicks was to be the first of nine detainees to face trial by special military commissions. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit war crimes, attempted murder by an unprivileged belligerent and aiding the enemy.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 14:01 ||
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#1
Pounding desert is so boring, seems like some human shields might turn up for more interesting target practice.
Playing an Internet video one evening last year, an Egyptian radical living in Milan reveled as the head of an American, Nicholas Berg, was sawed off by his Iraqi captors. "Go to hell, enemy of God!" shouted the man, Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed, as Mr. Berg's screams were broadcast. "Kill him! Kill him! Yes, like that! Cut his throat properly. Cut his head off! If I had been there, I would have burned him to make him already feel what hell was like. Cut off his head! God is great! God is great!"
Yahia Ragheh, the Egyptian would-be suicide bomber sitting by Mr. Ahmed's side, clearly felt uncomfortable. "Isn't it a sin?" he asked.
"Who said that?" Mr. Ahmed shot back. "It is never a sin!" He added: "We hope that even their parents will come to the same end. Dogs, all of them, all of them. You simply need to be convinced when you make the decision."
Unconvinced, Mr. Ragheh replied: "I think that it is a sin. I simply think it is a sin."
The blunt exchange is contained in an 182-page official Italian police report that has not been made public, but is widely available in court circles and frames the judicial case against the two men. "The Madrid attack was my project, and those who died as martyrs were my dearest friends," Mr. Ahmed boasted in one intercepted conversation.
A onetime house painter who was able to take on new identities, hopscotch across Europe and dodge the police who had him on their watch lists, Mr. Ahmed is believed to have links to radicals in France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Saudi Arabia. The police report calls him a recruiter of suicide bombers for Iraq and at least one other terrorist operation, probably in Europe. For the Italians, Mr. Ahmed is emblematic of the new enemy in their midst. A Spanish prosecutor is still investigating Mr. Ahmed's alleged role in the Madrid bombings. He cannot be prosecuted in Italy for a terrorist attack that took place in another country.
Substantial information about Mr. Ahmed surfaced after preliminary transcripts of some wiretaps and telephone conversations were disclosed last year, first in the Milan daily Corriere della Sera. But the police report offers a richer and more dramatic portrait of both Mr. Ahmed and the process of Islamic radicalization in the heart of Europe. The detailed transcripts form the heart of the prosecutors' case; the prosecutors concede that there is minimal physical evidence.
Both defendants deny involvement in any terrorist plot. They are challenging the evidence, which is largely gathered from conversations translated from Arabic. All conversations monitored by the Italian police must be retranslated by special court interpreters, but they are more likely to speak classical Arabic rather than the Arabic of the streets. "It's an important case but it's a difficult case," said Armando Spataro, a deputy chief prosecutor and head of the antiterrorism investigative unit in Milan. "There are no bombs. There was no attack in Italy. The case is based in large part on conversations, not on material proof."
At a preliminary court hearing last May, Mr. Ahmed himself accused the police who prepared the intercepts of twisting his words. He denied ever saying he had a role in the Madrid bombings, explaining that the authorities "interpret this in their own way, at their convenience." His voice, he added, "could have been copied, through the computer." Mr. Ragheh's lawyer, Roberta Ligotti, said some of the tapes were unintelligible.
Mr. Ahmed's defense is complicated by the fact that he fired his court-appointed lawyer in October, and her replacement is still familiarizing himself with the case. Both men have also been questioned by the F.B.I. and the United States Attorney's Office in New York for potential terrorist links in the United States. Mr. Ahmed spoke in the intercepted conversations of plans for a chemical attack against American interests, and was questioned by American officials in Milan last summer. On Nov. 9, three American officials questioned Mr. Ragheh. "It was all very speculative questioning," Ms. Ligotti said. "I don't know what they're investigating him for in the United States, if he's been charged with something or just a witness."
Egyptian-born and educated, Mr. Ahmed was attached to an explosives brigade during his military service in Egypt, was linked to radical groups and spent time in a maximum security prison there for people involved in extremist activities, Egyptian officials told Italian investigators.
At the height of the nearly three-month investigation, the Italian police said they had a six-way monitoring system for Mr. Ahmed. They installed devices on both his telephone and home computer, planted an in-house wiretap and video cameras in both his apartment and outside the building and trailed him round the clock. The cameras even recorded him praying. When Mr. Ahmed suddenly changed apartments, the police had to start over. At one point, 40 police officers a day were assigned to the case.
One of the most chilling aspects of the police report is that Mr. Ahmed apparently found the Internet more exhilarating than any drug. He used a fictitious e-mail address in which he listed the month and the day of the Madrid attacks as his birthday and his place of birth as Centerville, Va. The files he is charged with downloading range from the "complete story" compiled by a Saudi opposition group of the 1996 terrorist attack on the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that left 19 Americans in the armed services dead to plaintive recitations by children to their fathers imprisoned in places like Guantánamo, Cuba, and Pakistan. With his vast online library, Mr. Ahmed fought a virtual war for hours on end, sometimes throughout the night, educating himself and others. "He used the Internet at all hours like a drug," Mr. Spataro said. "It's a much-needed link to the outside world for people like him."
Among the dozen files Mr. Ahmed apparently monitored in one predawn session in March 2004, for example, were video of battles in Chechnya and speeches by Osama bin Laden. One audio file attacked Jews and Christians and all who collaborate with them, another invited followers to wage holy war against infidels who follow the "laws of the devil." A young girl on a third audio file asked if she could have a kamikaze belt so that she could "blow up" her body; a man on a fourth declared, "One day's resistance for the holy war is worth 1,000 years of life." Among the "poems for jihadists" was one that repeated over and over, "I am a terrorist; I am a terrorist."
The attraction to death was a constant feature. One evening, Mr. Ahmed opened a file named, "Allah has said that each person has tasted death," with links to subjects like "death is easy" and "the tomb." A song Mr. Ahmed listened to one weekend went: "We are terrorists, we want to make it known to the world, from West to East that we are terrorists, because terrorism, as a verse of the Koran says, is a thing approved by God." The sites are filled not only with calls for the destruction of Israel but also raw anti-Semitism. In one question-and-answer session with a Saudi sheik who is asked what suicide operations against Jews are allowed under Islamic law, the sheik responds that Jews are "vile and despicable beings, full of defects and wickedness." God, he added, "has ordered us to wage war against them."
Mr. Ahmed installed and demonstrated a computer program that allowed the simultaneous setting of alarms on multiple cellphones, the report said. The system masks the country of origin of the caller, underscoring the borderless nature of communications. "You must know," Mr. Ahmed said, "that in today's world everything is linked by a wire."
He erased potentially incriminating files, including 11 photographs and diagrams of explosive suitcases to be triggered by a cellphone and vests modified for suicide attacks. The Italian police recovered them. There were cassette tapes and CD's to help rid Mr. Ragheh of fear as he trained for a suicide mission. "These are very special cassettes that show the path of the martyr and they will make everything easier when you feel them enter your body," Mr. Ahmed told Mr. Ragheh in one conversation. "But you must listen to them continuously." One cassette in particular, he explained, "enters into your veins." "In Spain they learned this by heart," he added. "And it gives you security and tranquillity. It takes the fear away."
Mr. Ragheh was entranced, saying, "Come on, come on, give one to me so that I may learn it."
Mr. Ahmed also said he would use his computer to create an appropriate martyr's portrait of Mr. Ragheh, "with the light behind you, with your angelic face. And you have the green background behind you and the moon above you." He promised to send the image by computer to Mr. Ragheh's family and to other young martyrs. There would also be a martyrs' video that would be taped the night before an attack.
The Italians began monitoring Mr. Ahmed shortly after the Madrid attacks, after the Spanish police found his cellphone number in the address book of two of the men suspected of involvement in the plot. A witness identified him as having visited the safe house near Madrid where the bombs were made just days before the attacks.
The Italian authorities had hoped to watch Mr. Ahmed much longer but felt compelled to arrest him after hearing particularly troubling phone conversations. On May 24, 2004, Mr. Ahmed discussed an "operation" that had started four days before with a would-be suicide bomber living in Belgium named Mourad Chabarou. Mr. Chabarou said he would be "completely ready" in 25 days, and the two men planned to meet in Paris.
Then came a conversation that struck closer to home. "Rome, we are entering Rome, Rome, if God wishes we are entering, even entering Rome," Mr. Ahmed told Mr. Ragheh, the other potential suicide bomber, as if in a trance. "Rome, Rome, we are opening Rome with those from Holland. Rome, Rome, if God wishes, Rome is opening. It will be. It will be." Italy, like Spain, had troops as part of the American-led coalition in Iraq, and after the Madrid bombings, the Italian authorities thought their country might be the next target. They also believed that Mr. Ahmed was about to flee, probably for Paris. On June 7, 2004, Mr. Ahmed and Mr. Ragheh were arrested.
Mr. Ahmed knows that the contents of his conversations as well as of his computer will be used against him in the trial. Even as Mr. Ahmed sat in custody, the police were listening to him. In a holding cell shortly after his arrest, he worried aloud to Mr. Ragheh that the police "will find the pages I downloaded." He displayed none of the serenity he tried to impose on his disciples. He cursed whoever betrayed him to the police and predicted he would spend at least 30 years in prison. "Things here are strange, they are strange, strange," he confided to a friend. "I do not understand a thing."
The friend tried to comfort him, saying: "Why do you torture yourself in this way? Leave everything in the hands of God." But Mr. Ahmed seemed inconsolable, adding later in the conversation, "Believe me, I swear to you, I've had this feeling before and I haven't heard the voice of God."
In mid-October the two suspects, bearded and in jeans, were taken handcuffed under heavy guard to a Milan courtroom for what was supposed to have been the start of their trial. They chatted and joked with their lawyers from inside a large metal cage. The trial was delayed for three months to give the judge, Luigi Domenico Cerqua, who has been ill, time to recover. The judge ruled in a case last May that Italy's terrorism law was written so narrowly that conviction was extremely difficult, adding to the prosecution's anxiety about the chances for a conviction, which could bring a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
In various interrogations, Mr. Ahmed has even denied knowing anything about computers and the Internet. "I am weak in the language of the computer, even just to switch on the computer," he said. At another point he said that because he was from Egypt, "How can I learn the computer or the Internet?" He added, "It is not a sin not to know computers."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/18/2005 13:43 ||
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Stories like this are not background, but the real front lines of the GWOT. History will show were it not for collaborators like the French, we would have made much more progress much more quickly.
So far, the only top figure to have acknowledged that he was offered such oil allocations was Rolf Ekeus, the former head of the UN inspection team that uncovered some of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction in the 1990s. Mr Ekeus, a famously strait-laced Swede, laughed off the offer.
Instead, the Frenchman said he decided to go into business "on his own behalf". Lower than a snake
He added: "Tariq Aziz recognised the interest I had taken in Iraq, and the advice I had given him." The ambassador said the French authorities had known of his every move. Did they ask for a cut, too?
Just enough to wet their beak
France has been gravely embarrassed by oil-for-food allegations against senior figures, including Charles Pasqua, the former interior minister. He has denied receiving any benefit from the oil allocations issued in his name. Inquiries have also found that French firms benefited disproportionately from oil-for-food contracts as part of an Iraqi policy to influence French votes on the UN Security Council. Supporters of President George W Bush accuse France of putting its foreign policy up for sale and opposing the invasion of Iraq for commercial reasons. That has been fiercely denied in Paris. I's accuse them of being collaborators. But we already knew that about them. All the frog elite needs is to sense a whiff of fascism and they fall to their knees. I should not be surprised to see them elect one in 2007 who will promptly crack down on Car-B-Ques while concurrently cutting a deal with the MM in Tehran.
#2
Who didn't know that? France and Germany were bitching the loudest when we invaded Iraq. Now we know why. I wouldn't doubt it a bit if they found a few more marks in Germany to go after.
November 18, 2005: The recent Moslem riots in Europe are making life harder for Islamic terrorists. Europeans have a tendency to deal with a growing problem by leaving it alone, trusting, as with many health problems, the problem will resolve itself. This has led to many parts of Europe becoming safe zones for Islamic terrorists. And many European intelligence and police agencies knew it. But as long as the terrorists did nothing in the country they were operating in, the authorities pretended nothing was going on. This played a part in the recent riots, by young Moslem men, in France and other European nations. The Moslem neighborhoods had become areas ignored by the police. The attitude was that it wasnât worth the hassle, and risk, to try and police them. This is nothing unique to Europe. All over the world, and for centuries, some neighborhoods, or even regions, were left alone by the police, because the risk did not seem worth the benefit.
In the case of European Moslem neighborhoods, some of the more radical Islamic clerics were even demanding the right to run these areas according to Islamic law (sharia). This was never given serious consideration by any government, but the clerics kept demanding it, and in many cases, were doing it anyway. Women, in particular, were abused, and even killed, without any reaction from the police, for resisting demands from Moslem men that they act in an âIslamic wayâ (cover up when outside, always obey the males in their family, and especially marry who their father wants them to.) This treatment of women would sometimes become an issue, especially when girls were murdered for disobeying. But there was never an effort to get to the root of the problem; those old country attitudes including sympathy, and some support, for Islamic terrorism, and the terrorists. Since September 11, 2001, European police have been investigating the terrorist aspect, and were appalled at what they found. Only a minority of European Moslems were supporting the terrorists, and even fewer were joining terrorist groups. But with over twenty million Moslems in Europe, a few percent of them being terrorist supporters adds up to a large number (hundreds of thousands.)
Worse, the recent riots and vandalism did not include any hard core Islamic terrorists. These guys just wanted to stay out of sight so they could get on with their plans. Actually, the Islamic terrorists did not particularly care for the rioting, as it brought lots of police closer to their hiding places. Now there is talk of keeping the police in these Moslem neighborhoods. Not good for Islamic terrorists, good for the potential victims.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 09:37 ||
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the sad part was that the term "Moslem Europe" didn't even make me flinch.......until I thought about the fact that it didn't make me flinch and that did make me flinch.
Key Leakgate witness, Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper, said earlier this week that the recent Washington Post report that outed secret CIA-run terrorist prisons was based on "a good leak."
"Leaks that damage CIA agents fighting terrorists - good"
Of course, that contrasts with the White House leak about Valerie Plame's job, which, according to most of the press, was the crime of the century.
"Leaks that damage CIA agents fighting Bush - bad"
In quotes picked up by the Washington Times, however, Cooper told an audience at Princeton University that the "good leak" prison story was "clearly in the public interest." He lamented the fact that "we're seeing the call for another leak investigation" despite the public service performed by the CIA prison leaker.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 10:19 ||
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..Cooper told an audience at Princeton University that the "good leak" prison story was "clearly in the public interest."
#4
Yeah a good Treasonist Leak. All leaks and I mean all should be procecuted to the fullest as treason. Rokefeller giving Syria a heads up, leaking about our stealth satalite because he disagreed about it and lost the vote. This leak here about prisons, the leak about the cell phone taps, the leak about the CIA secret air force, leaks about this and that. All should be procecuted and the book should be broken off over the guilty parties freekin heads PERIOD no question asked.
#7
A virtuous citizen could insert a Plumbum lozenge in his head too.
Since our government refuses to arrest an prosecute treason and sedition the task could fall to the citizens. The citizens are the government, they have the right to act if the elected officals and employees of teh government refuse to do so. That is just a bit of thought exercise, not an incitement. The government needs to wake up.
Plug your nose, RBers, Jane waxes down memory hole
Three searing films about US atrocities in Vietnam are suddenly back in demand. Jane Fonda relives the role she played in the making of one
When Michael Moore used his Oscar acceptance speech to attack George Bush just days before the outbreak of war in Iraq, it was not the first time the Academy Awards had witnessed a controversial anti-war protest from one of its winners. Close to three decades prior, producer Bert Schneider's outspoken response to receiving an Oscar for the searing Vietnam documentary Hearts and Minds (1974) so infuriated co-hosts Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra that they immediately cobbled together a disclaimer denying any responsibility for the evening's "political references".
The Bush administration's failure to pull themselves out of their current military quagmire has apparently sparked renewed interest in the films that documented the conflict in Vietnam. Hearts and Minds - arguably one of the greatest documentaries ever made, composed largely of interviews with US soldiers and Vietnamese citizens - has been re-released in the UK after revisiting screens in the States. Likewise, Winter Soldier (1972) has hit US cinemas again after more than 30 years. Based on the three-day gathering of war veterans in 1971 that I helped fund, it was a film intended to document American war crimes in the conflict. A third film, Sir! No Sir!, details how GIs were converted to leading members of the peace movement and has recently won plaudits at several film festivals.
Watching Hearts and Minds again after so many years, the parallels between the two conflicts seem quite remarkable. The dubious initial premise for war, the polarised society back home of hawks versus doves, and of course Lyndon B Johnson's promise that "the ultimate victory will depend on the hearts and minds of the people who actually live out there" - from which the film takes its name - all still stick in the throat.
It may not have been the first feature film to attack American policy in the conflict (Emile de Antonio's In the Year of the Pig arrived in 1968), but it shook the country like no other. While the film received mixed reviews from critics of the time (ranging from "a cinematic lie" to "brave and brilliant"), Hearts and Minds succeeded in cementing in the US psyche the horrific image of a naked girl running from a US napalm attack, as well as the point-blank execution of a prisoner by a South Vietnamese official.
Director Peter Davis's film gave a voice to Vietnamese citizens who up until that point had been painted by the national media only in primary colours. He turned the two-dimensional stereotypes into complex human beings - interviewing a coffin-maker about his child-size boxes, an entrepreneur hoping to make a fortune from building a prosthetic limb factory, and showing a grieving family at a funeral - swiftly juxtaposed with a clip of General Westmoreland's infamous comment that "the oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does the westerner". As well as traumatised veterans, he finds draft-card burners, hundreds on peace marches and a returned navy veteran who, when asked by a child what Vietnam looks like, replies: "If it wasn't for the people, it [would be] very pretty."
However, it was the focus on the Vietnamese families and the suffering of ordinary individuals that had the biggest effect on Americans in 1974. This was the year after troops had been officially withdrawn from the country, but still a year before the south fell to the National Liberation Front. Inflation, unemployment and the Watergate scandal caused Americans to retreat inward in an attempt to forget about the conflict. Paul Zimmerman in Newsweek described the film at the time as "a thoroughly committed, brilliantly executed and profoundly moving document . . . Unlike our leaders who encourage us to put Vietnam behind us, Davis wants us to confront our feelings about it first and to understand the experience before we bury it. We turn away from this portrait of ourselves at our peril."
Posted by: Captain America ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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WW1 was "Wilson's War", WW2 was "FDR/Roosevelt's War", Korea was "MacArthur's War" or "Truman's War", and Vietnam was "Kennedy's War" and "Johnson's War", and ultimately for some weird and mysterious reason Nixon's and only "Nixon's War" after his elex as POTUS in 1968. The film is just more Lefty dribble, full of sound and fury, i.e. feelings. WHOSE BURDEN IS UNILATERALLY, UNCONDITIONALLY, WHOLLY AND SOLELY ON THE AMERICANS AND ITS ALLIES IN THE NAME OF PEACE BUT NEVER ON THE WAR-MAKING, WAR-SUPP NORTH VIETNAMESE, CHINA, OR THE USSR FOR THE SAME. YOU DON'T FIGHT A WAR, ANY WAR(S), BASED ON FEELINGS ANDOR CURRENT POLLING NUMBERS - NO NATION, GOVT. OR SOCIETY IN HISTORY, GOOD OR EVIL, HAS DONE SO. "WAR" for the USA has become so PC, politicized and absurd that iff the WOT was WW2 America would be held responsible for PEARL HARBOR being both attacked and for attacking its own base. America's covert despicable agents attacked and sank our own BattleLine, and killed our own men. The USA is responsible for the 1100+/1 dead on board the USS ARIZONA because the Japanese torpedo and bomber pilots were in reality OSS-CIA-FBI agents while similar covert US agents simul planted bombs aboard the ARIZONA in order to cause it to explode in order for FDR to blame innocent Japan and Germany. The USS WARD caused WW2 by unilat firing on a Japanese midget sub in Japanese-alleged international waters - the fact that the sub was on its way to attack US warships inside Pearl was no excuse for the WARD to fire upon a foreign warship owned by a sovereign nation. LAWYERS/LEGALISTS SAY AMERICA AND ONLY AMERICA IS THUS PER SE AND UNILAT RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING COMPENSATION TO THE JAPANESE FOR BOTH ITS LOST MIDGET SUB(S), ATTACK AIRCRAFT, AND WARSHIP THRU THE WHOLE OF THE "FAKE PEARL HARBOR ATTACK" AND BY EXTENS THE WQHOLE OF "ROOSEVELT'S [ILLEGAL]WAR" AGS JAPAN AND GERMANY. NO MATTER WHAT, AMERICA AND ONLY AMERICA MUST MAKE PAY OUT ANDOR MAKE CONCESSIONS FOR ITS "CRIMES" AGAINST EVERYONE AND ANYONE, ANY EACH ALL EVERY AND ANY SIDE(S), JOINTLY AND SEVERALLY.
#2
Plug your nose, RBers, Jane waxes down memory hole thanks for the warning
they got jane..
BUT WE GOT JOE 2008
/and they can keep the biotch forever
Posted by: Red Dog ||
11/18/2005 2:29 Comments ||
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#3
Jane, Jane, Jane. Guess that 'apology' you issued to Viet Nam veterans came with stings, huh?
Jane Fonda is so over the top with this propoganda, it is unreal. Unbelievable that they would drag out Winter Soldier and display the 'testimony' as factual, when it had been proven to be false.
#5
Unbelievable that they would drag out Winter Soldier and display the 'testimony' as factual, when it had been proven to be false.
The evidence against Winter Soldier has never been able to penetrate the leftist fantasy world. They believe Winter Soldier -- they must believe it, or their self-righteousness collapses -- so any contrary evidence cannot exist.
Look at John F'n Kerry. Is there any verifiable evidence of his war record? Hell no -- he's never let anyone but lapdogs see his military record. But every claim he makes is believed by the left. Contrast that with Bush -- he has released every record he can get his hands on, and let reporters get looks even at his medical records, and yet nothing about his service is believed.
We have a large portion of our population living in a fantasy land. Their self-images are so wrapped up in their fantasies that they'll fight to defend them. It's gonna get ugly.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/18/2005 7:55 Comments ||
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#6
Wonder if the cinimas are up to an old style double feature. First Jane's then the The Killing Fields. Nice bookends.
#9
"Director Peter Davis's film gave a voice to Vietnamese citizens who up until that point had been painted by the national media only in primary colours."
Huh? What the hell is this? Maybe one reason we "didn't get to know them" was the fact that they lived in a totalitarian system that strongly discouraged free expression.
Jane Fonda? Shouldn't she be dead from natural causes by now? She's what, eighty?
Vows to kick young conservatives off campus HERNDON, VA â Warren Community College English professor, John Daly, said that âReal freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors.â Rebecca Beach, a freshman at Warren Community College in Washington, New Jersey, received this unexpected reply to a recent email she sent the faculty at her school announcing the appearance of decorated Iraq war hero, Lt. Col. Scott Rutter, on Thursday, November 17 to discuss Americaâs accomplishments in Iraq.
In the email, Daly told Rebecca that he will ask students in his English and writing classes to boycott the event and also vowed âto expose [her] right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like [Rebeccaâs] wonât dare show their face on a college campus.â Dalyâs mean spirited and hateful comments were directed at Rebecca for organizing Lt. Col. Scott Rutter and for hanging up fliers contrasting the number of people killed under communism to those liberated under Ronald Reagan.
Since Professor John Daly has created a hostile learning environment for Rebecca, she is demanding that Warren Community College President William Austin institute seminars on free speech and sensitivity to teach intolerant leftists, such as Daly, to be respectful of differing opinion
Dalyâs insane email to Rebecca also claimed that âCAPTIALISM (sic) has killed many moreâ people than communism [emphasis his] and that the âpoor and working class peopleâ are recruited to âfight and die for EXXON and other corporations.â
âJohn Daly was hired to teach English, not to verbally attack students and lead leftist protests,â said Jason Mattera, spokesman for Young Americaâs Foundation
The full unedited text of Professor Dalyâs email follows.
November 13, 2005
Dear Rebecca:
I am asking my students to boycott your event. I am also going to ask others to boycott it. Your literature and signs in the entrance lobby look like fascist propaganda and is extremely offensive. Your main poster "Communism killed 100,000,000" is not only untrue, but ignores the fact that CAPITALISM has killed many more and the evidence for that can be seen in the daily news papers. The U.S. government can fly to dominate the people of Iraq in 12 hours, yet it took them five days to assist the people devastated by huricane Katrina. Racism and profits were key to their priorities. Exxon, by the way, made $9 Billion in profits this last quarter--their highest proft margin ever. Thanks to the students of WCCC and other poor and working class people who are recruited to fight and die for EXXON and other corporations who earning megaprofits from their imperialist plunders. If you want to count the number of deaths based on political systems, you can begin with the more than a million children who have died in Iraq from U.S.-imposed sanctions and war. Or the million African American people who died from lack of access to healthcare in the US over the last 10 years.
I will continue to expose your right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like your won't dare show their face on a college campus. Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors and fight for just causes and for people's needs--such freedom fighters can be counted throughout American history and they certainly will be counted again.
Prof. John Daly
Given that any leftist professo-liar feels superior to any soldier, even soldiers who are also professors(like, er, someone I know), we can draw the obvious conclusion.
#1
Your literature and signs in the entrance lobby look like fascist propaganda and is extremely offensive.
Since "literature and signs" is plural, shouldn't that be "are extremely offensive"? If an English professor can't handle subject/verb agreement, it's no wonder he is failing history, economics and logic too. Simply beyond parody.
They also impose a political litmus test where if a student expresses opinions outside the the 'social norm' (such as discussing hunting and being against gun control) can get you dismissed:
Meanwhile, across the country, Washington State Universityâs treatment of Swan was providing a chilling example of why âdispositionsâ concerned Professor Johnson. When one professor specifically invited him to âwrite what you really feelâ and âfeel comfortable in class,â Swan did so. He noted, for example, that he is a âconservative Christian,â believes that âwhite privilege and male privilege do not exist,â and opposes gun control. Swan then received negative evaluations on âdispositionsâ commanding him to be âsensitive to community and cultural norms,â âappreciate[e] and valu[e] human diversity,â and âsho[w] respect for othersâ varied talents and perspectivesââexpressly because of his beliefs.
These poor evaluations led Washington State to subject Swan to diversity training and order him to sign an agreement to abide by all the âdispositionsâ to his professorsâ satisfaction, under penalty of dismissal. After FIRE informed Washington State President V. Lane Rawlins that this agreement represented an unconstitutional loyalty oathâin this case, loyalty to the universityâs approved political viewpointsâWashington State quickly agreed to rescind the requirement. It also later agreed not to use âdispositionsâ theory in an unconstitutional manner.
#10
Somebody know somebody at Warrren Community College? Because as soon as you open their webpage, this is what you get:
Press Release
November 17, 2005
Warren County Community College is a "students first" college where learning without limits is always the main goal. We maintain a mission of building a community of learners through accessible, quality learning opportunities designed to meet personal aspirations for all students.
It has been brought to the administration's attention that a part-time instructor, Mr. John Daly, speaking for himself and using his personal email, sent a message to a student representing the Young Americans for Freedom in response to a personal email from her requesting him to announce an upcoming event on the campus. Mr Daly responded to her alone, and expressed his own personal views regarding his beliefs about this group.
The viewpoints of this professor in no way depict the views of Warren County Community College, its administration, or the Board of Trustees. The College does however support the constitution, the first amendment, and the right to free speech.
Additionally, Mr. Daly's message was sent as a one-to-one message, via e-mail, to one person, and not to the college community. Finally, the College is viewing this message as a personnel issue and will be addressing it according to the policies and procedures of the College.
Dr. Austin, college president stated, "I firmly believe every employee and student has first amendment rights, no matter how repugnant I personally find Mr. Daly's statements. Our attorneys have advised us of our obligation to follow state laws, board policies, and college due process in regards to any personnel matter. We are now investigating this matter further."
#11
That is sedition, plain and clear. It is long past time that real consequences be tagged to the act. When anyone tries to argue that sedition is protected free speech, you know the line was cross too long ago. Time to start now, not just with a clear declaration that such acts will be prosecuted, but each and every act by the courts to rationalize such behavior will be met by actions of both the legislative and executive branch to insure that the judiciary understands that it will not be tolerated.
#12
The left's mantra of "Free speech for me, but not for thee" is alive and well I see. I have an idea professor, let me turn my guns on you. Freedom is slavery after all in your mind.
#15
The response from the School Administration is especially alarming. They donât see it as a big deal because: âMr. Daly's message was sent as a one-to-one message, via e-mail, to one person, and not to the college community.â So I guess itâs ok to bash students as long as they are conservative? What a moronic view and this teacher need to be canned. If he had displayed a similar disposition with a protected class he would be collecting unemployment. It's funny that they have the cajones to call conservative Nazis, this episode sounds just like the Nazi in Germany.
"Hey, we gotta get rid of this guy, he's a loose cannon. But we have to do it on the q-t and make it look like we're going thru channels, we don't wanna rile the rabid lefties."
No insult intentded to the good perfesser, but English at a community college? He's catering to two sets of students: those taking remedial high school English, and those who want an associate (sub-university) degree in Liberal Arts. For the most part, the first group is going to struggle with his material and the pace of the class; of the second group, a portion will never complete the program, and the remainder will have a really useless piece of paper. Two-year schools are good for the technical and business subjects, and foreign languages -- anything substantive-- and much less expensive than the universities, but I suspect the good perfesser is not at the top of his profession, ability-wise.
Shut the Fuck Up, you conservative, war-mongering Technocrat Bitch.
Don't you know that we run the joint now?
Daly's speech is protected just like mine, and no matter what Nazis like you try to do to us, you're all to weak and stupid to do anything about it.
Just slink away and cower like the rest of your kind, because in the end, you'd rather look the other way than actually confront those of us who are fucking your country in the ass, right in front of your faces (damn it's fun to watch all you pussie flay yourselves about my rights as I undermine everything you jellyfish believe in).
#24
John Daly's on the phone right now cementing his new book deal. They are running into a few glitches, since, as an English Professor, it's understood that he can't write.
#26
Thanks SR-71. But tar and feathers don't cut it.
Ridicule and mock the Churchills and Dalys? Of Course. But the Churchill's and Daly's are a dime a dozen. They have always been around, and will never go away; after all, they're just doing what their angst-ridden pea brains tell them to do.
Everybody needs to go after the Administrators who are turning have turned our Universities into Leftist and Neo-Anarchist cesspools by hiring, promoting, and protecting these parsites.
#28
The CC'es website response is a cop out. This asshole is a professor and, as such, has 'WARREN COMMUNITY COLLEGE' embazioned on his chest - particulary while he is teaching, on campus, and is asking students to boycott.... As a Tenured professor HE REPRESENTS THE COLLEGE.
The fact that he is overtly acting against her in the classroom.
I will continue to expose your right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like your won't dare show their face on a college campus.
#30
John Daly????? I hope he plays golf better than this. Seriously this is merely another example of those on the left who feel that they have the right to silence anybody they do not agree with. Plus the aging '60s radicals are having one last swan song on the way to the grave or the old folks home.
#32
Found this asshole's letter in support of Lenny Pelletier: http://sundial.csun.edu/sun/97f/97f/102297op02.htm
-I am a student here at CSUN and I am writing this letter to let the CSUN community know about a very important event. All over California, students are mobilizing to free Leonard Peltier. Speak-outs, teach-ins, film showings and house meetings are being organized to build for a mass rally in San Francisco to demand that Native American activist, Leonard Peltier, be released from prison - 21 years after he was framed by the FBI...blah blah blah...Fight for jobs and education! Say no to prisons and racism! Free Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal!
This September marks the 150th anniversary of the U.S. military executions of the San Patricios -- 68 mostly-Irish immigrants who, in a tremendous act of solidarity, deserted the U.S. Army and fought in five major battles on the side of the Mexicans...blah blah blah...Today big business plunders the entire globe in the hunt for super-profits. Those who wish to resist this global piracy can look to the San Patricios for an example of how the very troops that uphold imperialist domination can turn against it..
(Reprinted from the October 2, 1997 issue of Workers World newspaper
The prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation offered a compromise that might give the news media access to some of the evidence against former White House aide I. Lewis Libby before his trial. In a court filing late Thursday, Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald backed away from a blanket protective order which he had sought earlier this week which would have kept secret all materials turned over to Libby's defense team.
Fitzgerald also said that because he plans to submit evidence in his on-going probe to a new grand jury, he will need the court's protection to keep the testimony secret. The term expired last month for the grand jury that indicted Vice President Cheney's former top aide, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby.
You know, a person with a suspious mind might think one of the reasons he was going before another grand jury was just to keep the evidence secret.
The prosecutor's latest filing said that he is 'mindful that as much of the conduct of pretrial litigation and the trial itself should be conducted in open court with publicly filed documents.' The compromise would restrict the defense's disclosure to the media of grand jury transcripts and personal information about witnesses such as phone numbers and addresses.
Courts have 'recognized that there is no First Amendment right to access to grand jury proceedings,' Fitzgerald wrote. 'The need to preserve the confidentiality of grand jury proceedings is of course most acute, as here, the grand jury's investigation is ongoing,' the prosecutor added.
Dow Jones & Co. and The Associated Press went to court to fight an earlier proposal by Fitzgerald that would have barred Libby and his legal team from publicly disclosing 'all materials produced by the government.' The compromise deals with information in the case that is not classified.
Fitzgerald said he will pursue a separate protective order covering classified information, which is expected to inundate the case. Regarding unclassified material, Fitzgerald said he wants to keep some records out of public view because they include calendars, e-mails and telephone logs of witnesses and other people containing communications from relatives, doctors and other personal contacts. 'The protection of the personal privacy rights of witnesses is a legitimate basis on which to restrict disclosure and use of discovery materials,' Fitzgerald said.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 13:55 ||
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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra wants to declassify millions of pages of untranslated documents from Iraq collected by the U.S. government over more than a decade.
The Michigan Republican says it's a way to learn what's inside more than 35,000 boxes that haven't been translated because the government doesn't have enough Arabic linguists with security clearances.
"Most people have acknowledged that we are never going to get through them," he said of the boxes. He's hoping to work with the new Iraqi government to put the documents online so journalists, academics and other researchers can sift through them.
Hoekstra has discussed the proposal with senior intelligence officials and on Friday will call on the intelligence community to issue the sweeping declassification.
Most of the documents were grabbed during the 2003 Iraq invasion and quickly classified, even though they were not a product of the U.S. government. Some date back to the first Persian Gulf War in 1991.
It would be unprecedented to declassify volumes of information without first scrubbing them for secrets the U.S. may not want revealed.
"There are always excuses not to do this, but I think the benefits of going through all of these documents far outweigh any risks," Hoekstra said in an interview.
He said one document came to his attention with information about the fallen regime's links to terror groups and chemical and biological weapons, although he doesn't know if the document is authentic.
Such claims have largely been rejected, and the Bush administration has come under fire for leading the nation to war with flawed intelligence about the threat posed by then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"I am not asserting that this will prove one thing or another," Hoekstra said. "One thing it will surely do is give us a much clearer insight into what was going on in the former Iraqi regime than we have today."
The documents, now located in Qatar, were gathered from a number of Iraqi sources, including the military, health ministries, political organizations and Saddam's personal collection.
Hoekstra said those from the intelligence agency weren't likely to be released because they may contain sensitive information, such as the names of agents working for the former Iraqi regime.
Hoekstra was making his request in a letter to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, the former U.S. ambassador to Iraq who became the nation's spy chief in April.
Through his intelligence panel, Hoekstra is leading a congressional inquiry into the leaking of classified information. Yet he has stressed his belief that too much government information is needlessly classified - a trend he wants to reverse.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/18/2005 13:42 ||
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#1
I listened to him on FoxNews. I think its a great idea. More than just scanning them in.... put them in Project Gutenberg. Free to everybody on the planet.
Mine away.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said in court filings that the ongoing CIA leak investigation will involve proceedings before a new grand jury, a possible sign he could seek new charges in the case. In filings obtained by Reuters on Friday, Fitzgerald said "the investigation is continuing" and that "the investigation will involve proceedings before a different grand jury than the grand jury which returned the indictment" against Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Fitzgerald did not elaborate in the document. For two years he has been investigating the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. The grand jury that indicted Libby expired after the charges were filed late last month. President George W. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not indicted along with Libby. But lawyers involved in the case said Rove remained under investigation and may still be charged. Earlier this week Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward disclosed that he testified under oath to Fitzgerald that a senior Bush administration official had casually told him in mid-June 2003 about CIA operative Valerie Plame's position at the agency.
Fitzgerald's comments about bringing proceedings before a different grand jury were contained in court filings in which he backed off seeking a blanket order to keep all documents in the CIA leak case secret.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 13:00 ||
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#1
Drop dead, Fitz. No, really, drop dead.
You never know who the media whores are until they are in the limelight. Prosecutions based upon secondary or tertiary acts or omissions, completely unrelated to the original task - the bogus "outting" a frickin' analyst who was about as covert as, well, as someone who would do a cover shot for fucking Vanity Fair.
Drop dead, Fitz. That's my tax money you're pissing away on nothing.
#2
Drop dead, Fitz. That's my tax money you're pissing away on nothing.
dittos...
assuming Fitzgerald is just a garden variety beltway lawyer (fame/status seeker)..is he smart enough to recognize that All roads lead back to Plame, hubby and the coup cronies. so far he's acted like he's one of the marks....a directed tool.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
11/18/2005 16:13 Comments ||
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#3
Ronnie Earle, Patrick Fitzgerald? Are these guys are criminalizing politics?
#4
I'd say yes - Earle's pandering to his base - which is screaming moonbat Austin, home of about 40,000 college weenies - and a couple of thousand hardcore socialist teachers and profs filling them with the swill. Earle would do anything to get camera face time. A whole career based on that one fact. He's safe, too, as long as nobody goes after his Law License. I used to live in Dallas - and knew him from waay back. I haven't been in TX since '98, but nothing's changed.
A pro-military Democrat who once voted to back the war now says it is time to bring the troops home. "Our troops have become the primary target of the insurgency," Rep. John Murtha said Thursday.
Iraqi civilians have become the primary targets of the Iraqi insurgency. The Iraqi insurgency is the secondary target of American troops. Their primary target is the Zarqawi international terror network.
"They are united against U.S. forces and we have become a catalyst for violence. The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion."
Those are statements of opinion, presented as fact. If they're "united" against U.S. forces, why are many joining the Iraqi government forces? Exactly who is "united"? That doesn't seem to include the Kurds, who are mostly pro-American. It doesn't seem to include a large â my guess would be a majority â segment of the Shiites, who're joining up to fight against the bad guyz. What he seems to be referring to is the Sunnis, who are approximately 20 percent of the Iraqi population and close to 100 percent of the domestic insurgency. We're a "catalyst" for violence in the sense that we're an excuse. If we were to withdraw tomorrow, the violence would continue, probably resulting in the Kurds "withdrawing" as well; the Sunni areas would probably come to resemble Somalia, with the tribal primitives fighting the international terror network for control and the opportunity to impose themselves on the Shiites. The Shia areas would likely split, as well, with parts aligning with Iran and parts attempting to retain their Iraqi identity. So what Neville's proposing is a recipe for anarchy. That's what I'd call "a flawed policy, wrapped in an illusion." But I don't think Neville has any illusions; I think his remarks are for domestic consumption, and that he doesn't give a rat's patou whether they aid and/or abet the bad guyz in Iraq.
As a Vietnam veteran and top Democrat on the House Appropriations defense subcommittee with close ties to many military officers, the 30-year Pennsylvania lawmaker carries more credibility with his colleagues on the issue than a number of other Democrats who have opposed the war from the start.
Yet there are any number of other Vietnam, or other veterans for that matter, many of them with close ties to military officers, who don't share his opinions. One doesn't have to be a veteran to recognize the facts on the Iraq war. All one has to do is pay a minimum of attention.
"Our military has accomplished its mission and done its duty," Murtha told reporters at news conference with a half-dozen American flags arrayed behind him.
All those American flags are a nice touch. I consider myself to be pretty patriotic, but I have an abiding suspicion of ostentatious flag displays. But then, I've never called a news conference, either, and I never lived in Washington for 30 years receiving a congressional salary, either. I've never had the opportunity to play politix with the military, never jockeyed for position. I don't have the political skills for glad-handing, and I have enough contempt for the Democrat antiwar caucus not to want to be identified with them any any way.
The Dems took great umbrage at the "mission accomplished" banner behind President Bush when he made his speech thanking our troops for their efforts two years ago. The mission, they charged, was far from accomplished. They were either dissimulating at the time, or they had already ceased paying attention, since that immediate mission â tossing Sammy from the Seat of all Power in Baghdad had, in fact, been accomplished. But as I wrote here in the runup to the war, once we had taken Iraq, Iran and Syria and the Soddies would try to snatch the bone away from us. Anyone with a 3-digit IQ had to realize that would happen, whether they envisioned it happening in the form it's taking or not. Personally, I was expecting something a lot more subtle.
"It's time to bring them home," he said.
If we're fighting a War on Terror, which Neville's obviously not, that statement simply makes no sense. Sammy and his Elite Repulican Guard⢠and his 7-million strong Quds Army, and his vicious Fedayeen can be dismissed as speed bumps on the road to the real enemy, which is Zark and his Minions of Evil. Ansar al-Islam, tucked away in an obscure corner of Kurdistan, was only a tiny part of Zark's operation, which at the time the war began was primarily the al-Tawhid organization, which was even then active in Europe. We're now grappling with them, up close and personal, and we've beaten the snot out of them in Fallujah, in Ramadi, and Qaim. There's a continuous flow of recruits, and whenever they concentrate in one place we beat them up.
Hand in hand with the military operations on the ground are the diplomatic and political operations in the area. Iraq represented the weakest link in the Middle East's stagnant pool of "stability." Syria's the next weakest link, and we're putting pressure on them using a wide variety of tools, to include military pressure from Abar along the border. We're putting pressure on them as well from the UN, where even the Frenchies are working generally toward the same ends we are. The stupidity of Syria's leadership helps, and they misstepped horribly with the Hariri bombing, which got them tossed from Lebanon, which was another domino. Leb has its own problems, given its Byzantine internal politix, but I can see Hezbollah becoming more isolated as the puppet mask comes off further. Neville's somehow missed that all these events, and no doubt lots more that we haven't noticed, are interconnected. Removing the U.S. troop presence in Iraq removes one of the weapons in our arsenal.
Probably the greatest mistake Neville and his fellows in the antiwar caucus are making is to assume the U.S. is taking a passive, reactive position, that events are beyond our control. In fact, we're the drivers in the Middle East at the moment. The beast is hard to control, the enemy is vicious, tenacious, and intelligent (often in an Islamic or Arab sort of way), but as long as we're concentrating we're in tenuous control. It triggers my gag reflex that our domestic politicians either can't see it or don't want it.
Referring to President Bush, Murtha said, "I resent the fact, on Veterans Day, he criticized Democrats for criticizing them."
The criticism is quite justified from our point of view, be it on Veterans' Day or any other day of the year. For years, We the People have tolerated this kind of carping, not only un-patriotic, but anti-patriotic, through good times and bad. The national interest is dismissed with contempt. Doing the right thing is dismissed with contempt. Having Learned the Lessons of Vietnamâ¢, these hacks publicly "support our troops" but never their objectives, while their supporters suggest the troops kill their officers and reenact some sort of Battleship Potemkin uprising.
"Congressman Murtha is a respected veteran and politician who has a record of supporting a strong America," said White House press secretary Scott McClellan, with Bush in South Korea for a meeting with Asian leaders. "So it is baffling that he is endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party."
I don't find it baffling at all. He's decided there's more political capital available on that side. His vision ends at the boundaries of his district.
Murtha estimated that all U.S. troops could be pulled out within six months. He introduced a resolution Thursday that would force the president to call back the military, but it was unclear when, or if, either GOP-run chamber of Congress would vote on it.
I'd call that political grandstanding. But it doesn't matter when the troops are pulled out. It could probably be done in a month if the planning started tomorrow. What matters to Neville and the antiwar caucus is that it's done, and done under pressure. If we stay in Iraq ten years, and we kill every turban in sight, cleaning the Augean stables squeaky clean, and then start planning for withdrawal, people like Neville will be standing up in Congress and hollering and introducing resolutions demanding it be speeded up. And when the troops are home they'll take "credit" for pulling them out.
On the Senate floor Thursday, Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called on Bush and the White House to stop what he called an orchestrated attack campaign. "It's a weak, spineless display of politics at a time of war," said Reid, who spoke while Bush was in Asia.
My breath's taken away by the pure dishonesty of that remark. Bush is reacting to a continuing series of weak, spineless displays of politix in a time of war by the antiwar caucus, of which Reid is a proud member. I'd like to see Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and Rice and all the other leading lights of the administration beat them up each and every day. As I've remarked on a number of occasions, the biggest mistake Bush has made from day one has been not to remind the American people day in and day out exactly what kind of enemy we're fighting and why. Instead, the national attention span's been allowed to wander from Afghanistan back to Britney's bosom. Short of another major boom within our borders, it's doubtful it will wander back. The result is that people don't realize the extent of the Islamist threat, to the point where fellow travelers have begun referring to it as "fictitious." That's a really bad sign.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 10:41 ||
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#1
The Generals in Iraq, are now implementing a steel curton at the edges of Iraq, meaning, they have driven the thugs out of whole cities that they controlled and are now closing the door on them at the borders, as new Iraqi forces back fill.
John Kerry had all kinds of old and retired carreer officers, including generals campaigning for him against Bush, the latest general is just another one of them.
Someone said the following on a blog, my replies in bold:
General Murtha did...
1. Fight in the Korean war. Ended in a Stalemate.
2. Voluntarily fight in the Vietnam war. Cut and Ran and LOST
3. Earn two purple hearts and a bronze star. 55,000 DIED in Vietnam For Nothing. Time to do the Same in Iraq AGAIN! Cut and Run!
4. Retire from the Marines after 37 years. A career of never winning a conflict, unless in Desert Storm
5. Be called a whore for disagreeing with the wimp that ducked and ran. Actions Speak Louder than Words.
Murtha is now one of the John Kerry type of generals.
#4
Murtha .. introduced a resolution Thursday that would force the president to call back the military,
Oh please! Oh please! If the Republicans had any spine at all they'd let him go through with this. I can think of nothing I would enjoy watching more than the Dems being forced to take a public stand on this, rather than just being allowed to throw peanuts from the peahead gallery.
#6
I can think of nothing I would enjoy watching more than the Dems being forced to take a public stand on this
I think you will reap a summer of enjoyment next year. Bush is going to put the donks' feet to the fire just in time for the election. The only question in my mind is whether he will get help from the MM or Pencilneck.
And yes, no shit, I'd vote for you for any public office, preferably in the House or Senate (plz?), lol!
Beautiful smack-down of another lying disingenuous anti-patriotic (perfect description) asshole Dhimmidonk high on partisan BS in a time a war. The Reid remark is, indeed, breathtakingly hypocritical. He has come completely unhinged since he took over for Daschle - and I'll work against him every chance I get.
#11
I agree with .com. Absolute masterpiece Fred. Murtha's statement is so obviously wrong that it borders on treason. And you just have to laugh at Reid's statement. This is all farce. Will the Republicans have the strength to show it for what it is? That is the question.
#13
Personal attacks on Murtha are a mistake. Murtha has no strategic argument - all he has is his personal record. Attacking him personally is falling into the trap. To see the best way to respond, look at Kristol and Kagan's piece in the Daily Standard.
#14
lh - Good grief. Nobody made him stand up and play partisan demagogue. He's certainly old enough and, after almost 4 decades (37 yrs, IIRC) in Congress, is aware there are ramifications for flapping gums. So of course he is responsible for his grandstand stunt, just like anyone else.
He makes it personal because he plays upon his service, portrays it as if it gives him unimpeachable authority, then calls for the one thing any military guy will tell you is both asinine strategy and demeaning to those who sacrificed.
#15
I am left totally pissed off at the Democrats and spineless Republicans from seeing the events of the last two days. I've lost friends in Iraq and have had a friend come home to an empty house and be embroiled in legal battles with his ex-wife. He asked me last night, "What did I go there for? Why did I lose my family and wind up penniless if we are going to pull out now before the mission is accomplished? Why did I have to watch my Buddy Col Reed die? Theese assholes in Washington are throwing it all away." I told him to contact Senator Frist's office as well as all the other Congressmen that represent us and lay it on the line. I already have. I lost the best buddy I will probably ever have in Vietnam. William Clyde Northington was my closest friend growing up near Pratville, Alabama in the 50's and 60's. He was a couple of years older than me and it was pretty hard to see him go off to the Marines in 1967. He was eventually promoted to Lance Corporal and was killed in March, 1969 in the A Shau Valley. His life was wasted and these sons of bitches are going to do it all over again! May they all rot in hell.
http://www.pressie.org/ClydeCitation.JPG
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/18/2005 16:31 Comments ||
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#16
Nice work, Fred.
And Harry Reid should have his balls repossessed...
#18
In the 70's some folks attacked the funding of efforts to resist the spread of communism. I think it is reasonable to conclude that they were for the spread of communism/socialism. I don't get what the kooks expect to get out of our disengagement from the Middleast in 6 months. If mid-term elections go badly, Murtha mightbe able to cut funding for our continued presence in Iraq. The result would benefit Iran, Syria, Bathists, Islamists, terrorists and anyone who wants to see a bunch of Kurds die in excruciating fashion. I just finished reading First They Killed My Father about how the KhmerRouge capitalized on our lack of resolve. We have already paid a blood price for Iraqis to be free.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
11/18/2005 19:56 Comments ||
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#21
When I got to Reid's tripe, I just had to dash this off to him, via e-mail:
Senator: May I quote you?
"It's a weak, spineless display of politics at a time of war," said Reid, who spoke while Bush was in Asia.
Talking about Rep. Murtha, were you?
Senator, my son is in the Marines and has already served one tour of duty over there. I am terrified your remarks will make his next trip there more hazardous. You MUST know what is at stake in this war!
My son is more important than your politics, Senator.
Respectfully, (My real name)
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/18/2005 21:33 Comments ||
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#22
It was quite a pissing match. Convoluted, disingenuous beyond belief.
It was only interesting, in the entertaining vein, when the Dhimmidicks were apoplectically screeching that Murtha had been slandered and how that was unacceptable and reprehensible - and then reminded that they have been slandering President Bush to a far greater degree for a couple of years and, BTW, no one has actually slandered Murtha, just disagreed with his idiot twit ideas and grandstanding stunt.
Their wild-eyed objections and screeching about this "stunt" is equally hilarious, since they pulled one of their own a week ago. Cheap political ploy, indeed, lol. The Kool Aid is strong with the zoomers, tonight.
Wank-o-matic blather. I can't imagine anyone in their right mind would want such a job. What a pathetic duplicitous Byzantine maze of meandering drivel.
And now we have the great General Murtha himself coming up. Oh boy.
More details coming outFort Riley, Kan.- The hearing against a Twinsburg soldier charged with ordering two murders in Iraq ended Thursday following surprise testimony from a key prosecution witness that undercut the case.
It could take up to three weeks before hearing officer Maj. James Ball decides whether to recommend dismissal of charges or a full court-martial for Erick Anderson. Anderson has been charged with two counts each of murder, conspiracy and making false reports in the so-called "mercy killing" of Qassim Hassan, 16, and the shooting of another unidentified wounded Iraqi man in separate incidents in August 2004. Defense attorney Neil Puckett said he almost fell out of his chair Thursday when Sgt. Michael Williams testified that Anderson had nothing to do with the killing of the unidentified Iraqi man. Puckett said the prosecution had no case and that Anderson was "unconvictable."
Williams was facing life in prison for his role in one of the deaths but his sentence was reduced to 25 years after he agreed to testify against Anderson. But Thursday, Williams said the Iraqi man had pulled a gun on him. Williams said he shot the man twice in the chest in self-defense and a third time in the head to make sure he was dead. He said he lied in previous statements and told investigators what he believed they wanted to hear. He said he thought the Army was "out to get" Anderson and he wanted to cooperate to get a reduced sentence. Williams said he was angry that Anderson refused to testify on his behalf when Williams faced his court-martial. It was the second major setback for the prosecution in two days.
Former Sgt. Johnny Horne, who previously said Anderson ordered him to kill a badly wounded Iraqi boy, refused to testify Wednesday without proof of immunity. Prosecuting attorneys asked the court to consider previous statements from both Horne and Williams that implicated Anderson in the killings. "Williams has a motive for lying in the courtroom today," said Capt. Chuck Neill. "He is going for an appeal, so he is now claiming that he killed the man in self-defense. Since Horne did not testify, we ask that the judge accept his previous statements."
Horne and Williams were the only soldiers who could say they were ordered by Anderson to kill the wounded Iraqis. Several soldiers testified that Anderson could not have given the orders because he was not near the scenes at the time. Several witnesses, including Battalion Commander Lt. Col. David Batchelder, questioned Williams' mental state.
"Williams is not at all credible," Batchelder said. "I'm not sure if he is completely stable."
Other witnesses said there was a rogue element in Anderson's 36-man platoon, a clique of men - including Horne and Sgt. Cardenas Alban - that flouted the rules and had little respect for authority. Anderson and his superior officers had tried to remove the men to correct the situation. Horne and Alban were convicted of killing Qassim. Horne was sentenced to three years in prison and dishonorably discharged. Alban was sentenced to one year and received a bad conduct discharge.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 11:15 ||
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THE CIA hadestablished joint facilities in more than two dozen countries where US and foreign intelligence agents work together to hunt suspected terrorists, The Washington Post reported today.
Citing present and former American and foreign intelligence officials, the newspaper said the CIA had operated the joint intelligence centres in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
The Americans and their counterparts at the secret Counter-terrorist Intelligence Centres, known as CTICs, make daily decisions on when and how to capture suspects, interrogations and detentions and how to disrupt al-Qaeda support.
The CTICs are separate from the covert CIA prisons known as "black sites" that the CIA has run in eight countries, The Washington Post said.
It said the CIA would not comment for the article.
The newspaper said the CTICs were "part of a fundamental, continuing shift in the CIA's mission that began shortly after the 2001 attacks" and was orchestrated by former CIA director George Tenet.
It said the CIA told a congressional committee in a closed-door session this year that the joint intelligence centres accounted for bulk of the agency's anti-terror successes since the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Yes, that's a link to Counterpunch, sorry. But it's useful to see what the other side is saying. Excerpt:
Al-Arian's thoughts on the cause of his prosecution - or persecution - were tops on my agenda. And, had he lied to me and others about his involvement with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad?
"I didn't tell you and others everything," he said. "I said I was part of a movement. Some parts of the movement went one way, some another. That was true. But I didn't tell you other things, but I promise you someday I will."
[My notes from several interviews show that when I asked Al-Arian if he was a member of the PIJ, he responded, "No." However, he always expanded that answer by saying he was part of a broad intellectual movement, in which some of the people became violent and others didn't.]
"Here on the ground, our job is not done," said Col. James Brown, commander of the 56th Brigade Combat Team, when asked about Murtha's comments during a weekly briefing that American field commanders routinely give to Pentagon reporters.
Being very careful about his words, Murtha Wormtongue being a sitting US Senator and all
Speaking from a U.S. logistics base at Balad, north of Baghdad, two days before his scheduled return to Texas, Brown said: "We have to finish the job that we began here. It's important for the security of this nation." Unlike Korea or Vietnam, time for our generals on the ground to be listened too, like they did in WWII
Don't you know only the words of ex-generals who disaprove of Bush's war count today?
#2
"I won't stand for the swift-boating of Jack Murtha," Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, responded Friday.
Then please, Your Royal Heinzess Seared in my Massive Forehead Senator Lurch, remain sitting on Old Glory. Just remember to keep lifting your left cheek as you do, perhaps Big Oil can tap that gas. Heating homes is gonna be quite expensive for us folks who aren't married into our mansions and yachts, so every little bit helps.
Posted by: Evil Elvis ||
11/18/2005 14:41 Comments ||
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#3
IOW, the Lefties want Dubya and the GOP to bring back the Draft and Draft-supp, deficit-busting, Fed and only Fed-driven "war budgets", aka KATRINA-STYLE ANTI-FEDERALISM, which they will publicly criticize Dubya for doing so while silently supp the move, so that America's brand new, expanded, formerly volunteer, milfors can defeat Radical Islam by NOT attacking andor defeating it, but by "policing" and expanding it unto eternity. Sub-IOW, pragmatically the WOT is prolonged and America ends up saving Radical Islam for the Radics, i.e. America becomes its own self-justification for both Dem/MSM-alleged American-specific "IMPERIALISM/BELLICOSITY" and for new nuclear 9-11's ags America. IFF THIS WAS WW2, PEOPLE ARE TO RUN TOWARDS THE GERMAN ARMY, RATHER THAN AWAY FROM SAME, TO SAVE THEM WHILE OLE HITLER SECRETLY DEVS NUKES TO NUKE HIS OWN BERLIN AND OTHER GERMAN CITIES SO STALIN CAN DEFEAT GERMANY WITHOUT HAVING TO LOSE 2/3's-PLUS OF THE SOVIET ARMY, as honest injun as the USN sank the USS ARIZONA and other BB's during Pearl Harbor in supp of "FDR's/Roosevelt's War" ags Japan-Germany. * The pragmatic reality is electing Hillary as POTUS, and any surreal all-female National Admin., IS LIKELY THE DE FACTO "LAST HURRAH" FOR THE DEMS AS A PARTY BEFORE THEY HEAD OUT INTO THE SUNSET/TWILIGHT OF HISTORY. Jefferson thru LBJ is dead - long live the COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE USSA/USR, a weak anti-sovereign Socialist minion of SOWG = Mackinder's World Island , aka "OOOOOPPPPPPSSSSS, HILLARY DID IT AGAIN" COMMUNIST ASIA, sub-aka Russia-China.
November 18, 2005: The enemy in Iraq is generally poorly trained, sloppy and led by unimaginative men. In other words, the Iraqi terrorists and anti-government fighters are exactly what you would expect them to be, the same people who kept Saddam in power for decades. But these guys have other qualities as well. They are persistent, and they can be brave. The bravery sometimes needs help, as autopsies often reveal the presence of drugs. But when properly motivated (often by fear for what will happen to their families), the enemy will make daring (and often suicidal) attacks.
The Iraqis are not stupid, and they have generally acknowledged that taking on American troops in a head-on battle is not a good idea. Thus the steady shift to the use of roadside bombs, rocket and mortar attacks on base camps, and lots of terrorism against Iraqi civilians.
The big problem with the enemy is getting their fighters motivated. For the last two years, the Sunni Arab leadership has used a combination of money, and promises of a return to the âgood old daysâ (with Sunni Arabs in control of the oil money) once the Americans are driven out. While thousands of Sunni Arabs were willing to fight for free, most of these quickly got themselves killed. American troops, two years ago, often mentioned the sloppy ambushes, and the ability of U.S. troops to quickly turn the tables and slaughter the ambushers. There were American casualties, but not enough to encourage Sunni Arabs to continue this form of personal combat. So roadside bombs grew in importance, and the more capable people who ran these operations tended to get paid. You could still rope in kids to work for free as lookouts, but most adults wanted cash for their services. Since the Sunni Arabs had monopolized so many of the government jobs when Saddam was in charge, the highest unemployment was now among the Sunni Arabs. Income from building or planting bombs could support a family.
However, the last two years has been a time of constant defeat. Now, with American and Iraqi troops moving through the Sunni Arab heartland at will, and aggressively seeking terrorists, many more Sunni Arabs have given up. In other words, recruiting for terrorist groups is getting more difficult with each passing month. Some of the terrorist leaders have tried to establish themselves as warlords, demanding cash, and other support, from the local Sunni Arabs that he âprotects.â But everyone knows that the protection is a sham, and that if American or, or even Iraqi, troops roll into the area, the newly minted warlord either has to get out of town, or die in place.
The Baath Party big shots who are still in Iraq, have to burn through a lot of cash to keep the attacks going, and themselves protected. Between the cash rewards, and all those cell phones (that Iraqis use to turn in terrorists), itâs getting harder for terrorist leaders to stay out of jail. But these fellows have an excellent incentive to stay free. If they are captured, they are likely to face execution, or life in an unpleasant prison. They can maintain the loyalty of some of their troops by letting it be known that, if the boss goes down, he has the goods on lots of his troops, who will be prosecuted as well for killing Iraqis with bombs and bullets. The terrorists are turning on their own.
How much longer the Sunni Arabs will be able to use cash, coercion and revenge to keep their people killing, remains to be seen. But they canât keep it up forever, and the trends are moving against the terrorist groups.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 09:45 ||
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#1
And thus the propaganda war should take hold with the remaining. Old tactic but it works.
#3
ARMYGUY, we could use that propaganda war over here. :P Here's my take: "No news is good news," BUT there's two ways to read MSM news trends on Iraq:
#1 "good news is no news" (sensationalism)
#2 "US military forces' success is so much the norm as to be un-newsworthy"
Twistedly, the latter kinda correlates with operations "so secret that successes never come to light, only failures." Does this rationale for the imbalance of news make sense, however perverse?
Oh, and StrategyPage already discussed the de facto limit of the American people for wars as being about 3 years.
P.S. Wonder if public "amnesty for the low-level wonks" if followed through (read: not rescinded once in custody) could be part of the propaganda war, break the connection between the big shot who "has the goods on lots of his troops" and them... sever THAT motivation to remain loyal.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
11/18/2005 12:38 Comments ||
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November 18, 2005: In Iraq and Afghanistan, the troops have been finding that, when it comes to bullets, bigger is better. The .50 caliber (12.7mm) machine-gun, and the single shot 12.7mm Barrett sniper rifle, have been very useful. Both are very accurate weapons (in the hands of trained and experienced troops), and the heavy .50 caliber bullet will stop most threats (especially suicide car bombers.) At checkpoints, there are lots, probably hundreds, of suicide car bomb attempts you never hear about, because a .50 caliber machine-gun, or sniper rifle, took out the bomber. Even though the suicide car drivers have taken to wearing protective vests, and even armoring parts of their cars, that doesnât stop those .50 caliber bullets. The M2 (âMa Deuceâ) machine-guns are often equipped with night sights, for many suicide car bombing attempts are made at night. Ma Deuce with a night sight and an attentive gunner is usually the worst possible news for a suicide car bomber.
Interestingly, the Iraqis never seem to learn about the effectiveness of the .50 caliber weapons. The .50 caliber sniper rifles regularly hit targets, with just one shot, 2,000 meters away. Iraqi terrorists planning can often be quite thorough and meticulous. But the long range and hard hitting power of the weapon continues to surprise terrorists moving about, believing they are out of range.
"Reach out, reach out and touch someone"
Even the 7.62mm snipers have continued to catch surprised targets (at up to 800 meters.) The Iraqi idea of a âsniper killâ is usually at ranges of less than 200 meters. The concept of longer range shots has not yet become accepted among them.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 09:41 ||
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#1
"...regularly hit targets, with just one shot, 2,000 meters away."
Sorry guys, they're good, but not that good.
#3
The concept of longer range shots has not yet become accepted among them.
There are many stories of a terrorist sniper shooting at soldiers, but not hitting anything farther than 200m. Our snipers will come out at 230m, set up in the middle of the road and take out the terrorist. The whole neighborhood goes quiet after that. Kills terrorists and good phyops.
#5
The concept of longer range shots has not yet become accepted among them.
Probally just think Ahman was hit by a stray celebration bullet from across town. Don't realize it's intentional.
#6
I'd like to take this opportunity to nominate Ronnie Barrett for the position of Minor Deity in the Gun World...just below John Moses Browning and Samuel Colt.
#10
psychohilbilly: I second! Any discussion on the motion? All in favor, say "aye!"
There is a Croatian 20mm sniper rifle. It has the same basic problem as the later WWII antitank rifles--arm-wrenching, shoulder-breaking recoil. The Croats tried to solve the problem with a gas operated "counter-recoil" system--which seems to give it a firing signature like an old recoilless rifle.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/18/2005 13:21 Comments ||
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#11
C-Low, I think Carlos (white feather) would smile. Hathcock, Hancock, what's a coupla letters among professionals, heh. Yeah, he'd smile and wish him well. :-)
#12
As for the Canuck holding a record with a 2400 yd shot, if you read the Hathcock book, his spotter claimed Carlos had a kill over 2500 yds - on a moving target - a VC on a bicycle packed with ammo and food, IIRC. :-)
#14
C-Low, if your source for that rumor is that "Marine's assessment of small arms" E-mail, then disregard it; that thing is bogus, contradicted by actual military personnel I've spoken with (Navy SEAL, Marine, Army), and just laden with "red meat" feeding memes like "MSM sucks" in hopes we'll gobble them up enough to ignore the inaccuracies, like a sort of 'reverse troll'.
WANNA BET???????
ARMYGUY, while we can't bet it with anything, certainly I "wanna bet" that as Glenmore said, "they're good but not that good."
The article clearly states that the OPFOR tried hard ("planning can often be quite thorough and meticulous"), but unless declassified 'kill demographics' are released, I wonder if it's the 7.62mm and 5.56mm gunners that are getting more of the "stops," as this would explain why the Army is buying up millions of AP rounds in both calibers.
mmurray821, source on those stories?
I'm getting tired of this "5.56mm sucks / 7.62mm rules" claptrap...
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
11/18/2005 16:49 Comments ||
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#15
Re sniper versions of 20mm and 25mmm -
Broken shoulders and strained backs ?
I did not mean to emply that it needed to be a shoulder fired weapon. Perhaps on a tripod or wheeled carraige with some sort of recoil mechanism to bring it back into battery and really good sighting capability
#16
Edward Yee; I agree that the "Chevy vs Ford", "5.56 vs 7.62 vs ..." etc stuff is pretty much bullshit as espoused by most. BUT, it is a fact that the 7.62 carries farther, with more effective retained energy, than a 5.56. Make no mistake; I loved my M-16. I also loved the M-1 that I scrounged up(.30-06 and not 7.62, admittedly) and later my XM-21 (a nicely prepped M-14 in 7.62 with mainly a good trigger and a damned fine scope). It's all about carry and retained energy. And the accuracy of the shooter. Don't let the BS get to you As well, don't ignore basic facts. Opinion: I think 25mm sniper rifles are in the loop.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
11/18/2005 18:21 Comments ||
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#17
Whiskey Mike, 25mm rifle? That's over 1 inch diameter, isn't it? What is the kick on that going to be? Sounds like a free trip to the orthopedic surgeon to me.
#18
Actually, there is a functional 12 gauge fully automatic weapon that is being used by SOCOM and evaluated by the Marines. The recoil is controlled via a patented recoil system involving springs and a compensator. All reports on that weapon says that the recoil is mild enough for multi-shot bursts using a single hand to control the weapon. So, a bit more development and really big explosive sniper rounds like 25mm become practical.
#21
I killed an elk at 290 yards one time - the only shot I got the entire day. Hit him in the shoulder with a Winchester 30-30, broke the shoulder bone and punctured his lungs. Finished him off with a .22 at 4 feet. I do ok, but I'm not sniper quality. I saw some German snipers practicing on a range one day - the target was at 500M, and they were hitting 4 out of 5 in a 25mm circle from a prone position with a bipod and a tiny scope I could hardly see through. I wouldn't put anything past the Marine snipers with adequate weaponry.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/18/2005 23:41 Comments ||
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Iraqi court officials denied Thursday that two court employees attacked Saddam Hussein and punched him several times after he cursed two Shiite Islam saints. Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Mousawi said "no one in the court attacked Saddam or punished him and we will never allow anyone in the court to harm any of the defendants, whether it is Saddam or someone else."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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The high-top sneakers cost $215 at a San Diego boutique, but the designer is giving them away to illegal migrants before they cross to this side of the U.S.-Mexico border.
These are no ordinary shoes. A compass and flashlight dangle from one shoelace. The pocket in the tongue is for money or pain relievers. A rough map of the border region is printed on a removable insole. They are red, white and green, the colors of the Mexican flag. On the back ankle, a drawing of Mexico's patron saint of migrants.
On this side of the border, the shoes sit in art collections or the closets of well-heeled sneaker collectors. On the other side, in Tijuana, it's a utilitarian affair: Illegal Immigrants-to-be are happy to have the sturdy, light-weight shoes for the hike or dash into the United States.
Their designer is Judi Werthein, an Argentine artist who moved to New York in 1997 legally, she notes.
On recent evening in Tijuana, after giving away 50 pairs at an illegal migrant shelter, Werthein waved the insole and pointed to Interstate 8, the main road between San Diego and Phoenix.
"This blue line is where you want to go," Werthein, 38, said in Spanish.
"Good luck! You're all very courageous," she told the cheering crowd of about 50 men huddled in a recreation room after dinner.
"God bless you!" several cried back.
Werthein has concluded that shoes are a border crosser's most important garment. "The main problem that people have when they're crossing is their feet," Werthein. "If people are going to cross anyway, at least this will make it safer and easier so that more of them will try it."
Only 1,000 pairs of the "Brinco" sneakers (it means "Jump" in Spanish) have been made in China, for $17 each. The shoes were introduced in August at inSite, an art exhibition in San Diego and Tijuana whose sponsors include nonprofit foundations and private collectors.
Benefactors put up $40,000 for the project; Werthein gets a $5,000 stipend, plus expenses.
The shoes have kicked up a mini-controversy in art circles. A San Diego surgeon correctly told Werthein that she was encouraging illegal immigration; a charge she rejects, saying people will cross with or without her shoes. The surgeon's wife sided with her, Werthein said, and bought the shoes.
Across the border, several curious illegal migrants waiting for sunset along a cement river basin approached Werthein as she emptied a sport utility vehicle of white shoe boxes. One man already wore a dirty pair of Brincos. Another, Felipe de Jesus Olivar Canto, slipped into a size 11 and said he would use them instead of his black leather shoes.
"These are much more comfortable for hiking," according to Olivar Canto, who said he was heading for $6.75-an-hour work installing doors and windows in Santa Ana, about 90 miles north of the border. "The ones I have are more dressy." All law-enforcement agencies in Orange County: please note the name Felipe de Jesus Olivar Canto
Jose Garcia, 30, eased into a size 10, which he said he would wear to cross the California desert on his way to Las Vegas or Phoenix. Please record this name, too.
"I wouldn't wear them, and I wouldn't want my husband to wear them," said Blends browser Antonieta LaRussa, 28. "But the cause is awesome. There's so much opposition to illegal immigration. She's looking at it from the other side of the law fence and asking why not aid and abet criminals."
#3
Their designer is Judi Werthein, an Argentine artist who moved to New York in 1997 legally, she notes.
But can be pulled for intent to violate federal laws. To paraphrase a SCOTUS ruling, if you're going to be a lightning rod, don't be surprised if you're hit by lightning. Bye bye Consuela!
The joke is that they're probably made in China or elsewhere in South East Asia cause xenophobic neo-socialista business laws in Mexico makes it too expensive to manufacture 'in-house'.
#5
Since botique girl wants to do her part how about every hospital in San Diego sends her all those unpaid emergency room bills these folks rack up that are forcing them to go under? Selling $215 sneakers to beautiful people gringos must mean she has some extra scratch laying around.
Press release from yesterday. EFL.
PACIFIC MISSILE RANGE FACILITY, KAUAI, Hawaii, Nov. 17, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A Raytheon Company-produced Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) destroyed a ballistic missile target outside the earth's atmosphere during a Missile Defense Agency / Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Program flight test over the Pacific Ocean. It was the sixth successful intercept for the Aegis BMD program using the SM-3.
The Nov. 17 mission was the first test against a separating ballistic missile target. The SM-3 Block I initial deployment round used in the test was an operational missile delivered by Raytheon last year for testing and availability for emergency deployment. Since the test was successful, MSM attention will be short-lived.
#1
yeah you definatly won't be seeing this bit of good news on the 6'oclock news tonight, this ABM thing is begining to look like the makings of a spectaclular success. great news
Posted by: Shep UK ||
11/18/2005 5:04 Comments ||
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#2
After reading Newt Gingrich's speech about Iran yesterday, I hope we put some of these BMD-enhanced Aegis cruisers off our coasts to defend against missiles launched from freighters.
Posted by: jolly roger ||
11/18/2005 5:53 Comments ||
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#3
Hadn't heard, JR. What did Newt say (or give a link to Newt's speech)?
Posted by: BA ||
11/18/2005 7:58 Comments ||
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The fatwa or religious edict issued by Indonesia's Islamic organisations on Thursday, to disseminate the teachings of "true jihad" among Muslims across Indonesia and impart how it differs from the sin of terrorism, is a step in the right direction towards combatting the deadly phenomenon, according to religious commentators interviewed by Adnkronos International (AKI).
"I think it will have an effect. The fatwa says that terrorism is anti-Islamic and this might make those who associate with Jihad think about it," said Ahmad Najib Burhani, a lecturer in theology and philosophy at the Syarif Hidayatullah State University (UIN).
Indonesia's Ulema Council (MUI)'s decision to issue a fatwa agaist terrorism was reached during a meeting in Jakarta on Tuesday and confirmed during an encounter between representatives of the MUI and Indonesian vice-president Joseph Kalla in Jakarta on Thursday.
The two largest Muslim organisations in Indonesia - the Nahdatul Ulama (NU) and the Muhammadiya organisation - indicated support for the fatwa, which is non-binding on Muslims. The MUI will also approach other Islamic groups previously sidelined for their alleged linkes to radical Islam, such as the al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, Central Java - founded by Islamist terror network Jemaah Islamiyah's alleged spiritual leader, the cleric Abu Bakar Bahshir, currently serving a jail sentence for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed over 200 people.
"The MUI is only one of the religious authorities in the country. It needs the others' support," said Burani. "I think Muhammadiyah will support it, but they will need to add that terrorism is not just born out of a distorted ideology but is also a consequence of the American behaviour in Iraq and Afghanistan and the treatment of the Palestinians," he added. Burhaini is also a member of Permudea Muhammadiyah, the organisation's youth wing.
Masdar Farid Massudi, a member of the NU's board of directors, share Burani's view. "I hope and believe that will help but we must work together. We must talk and convince the ulema they are the ones who talk to the people," he said.
"If a boy thinks his life is worthless and his death is worth more, and then blows himself up, the problem is one of deprivation and ignorance, and not only a religious issue. The problem is not limited to the Muslim community. It is also a social problem for society at large," he added.
The NU has instructed all of its boarding schools (pesantren) and preachers, as well as its affiliated groups, to explain to the public that terrorism is not a legitimate form of Jihad, because "the enemy and the victims are too random," the Indonesian English-language daily Jakarta Post quoted one of the leaders, Ahmad Bagja as saying on Friday.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/18/2005 14:13 ||
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#1
One of my favorite songs: "Duelling Fatwas" [cue the banjos].
#4
The NU has instructed all of its boarding schools (pesantren) and preachers, as well as its affiliated groups, to explain to the public that terrorism is not a legitimate form of Jihad, because "the enemy and the victims are too random,"
This is just a way of saying "sometimes you kill Muslims, and that's bad". I don't see it rejecting violence in the name of Islam AT ALL.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
11/18/2005 14:59 Comments ||
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#5
This fatwa is useless and will happily be ignored.
This is popular myth gets repeated here uncritically.
".. a consequence of the American behaviour in Iraq and Afghanistan and the treatment of the Palestinians,"
Islamic aggression predated the existence of the US and Israel by centuries. You can't gloss over historical facts an blame the US and Israel for a single bit of Islamic agression.
November 18, 2005: The recent death of terrorist leader, Azahari bin Husin, in his home, left police in possession of 30 bombs and much other evidence of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) operations. There are apparently only three other leaders of JI on the loose, and one of those (Malaysian Noordin Mohammad Top) may be hiding out in Indonesia, or Malaysia, and the other two in the southern Philippines. The evidence collected from the Husin raid, and follow up raids made on the basis of leads found at the Husin house, indicate that JI is a rather small organization. In fact, JI may be down to a handful of active members.
At the moment, JI is more the creature of media imagination than an active organization. Nearly all Islamic clergy have condemned JI, and few Indonesians openly support it. The Islamic terrorists have been the authors of their own destruction, mainly because of their terror attacks that kill more Moslems than non-Moslems. The remaining JI members are apparently aware of their desperate situation, but did not appear to be planning anything different, just more attacks. While JI talks about killing non-Moslems, counter-terror operations make this difficult, so they just go ahead and attack whatever they can, which usually means more dead Moslems, and more bad publicity of Islamic terrorism.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 09:25 ||
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#2
So what should this be taken as, the inevitable result of Zarqawi's group's modus operandi?
(Read: At a more advanced state of PR degradation; anti-terror forces prevent them from being able to hit the politically best targets, so they have to make a PR-disaster attack just to stay viable as a group able to carry out attacks at all.)
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
11/18/2005 12:28 Comments ||
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#3
mainly because of their terror attacks that kill more Moslems than non-Moslems
That's not true of JI. It's victims have been overwhelmingly Westerners and Hindus.
One of Southeast Asia's top terror suspects was buried by crowds of weeping relatives and childhood friends at a traditional Muslim funeral Thursday in a Malaysian village, a week after he was killed by police in Indonesia. Azahari bin Husin's body was brought to his home village in southern Malacca state, where 200 people gathered at night in drizzling rain to witness his burial near his mother's grave in a small cemetery. His corpse was earlier flown to Malaysia from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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BEIRUT - Detlev Mehlis, the head of the United Nations team probing the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, will meet a senior Syrian official in Spain to agree on a venue for questioning six Syrian suspects, a Syrian source confirmed Friday. Mehlis will meet Raid Daudi, legal counsellor at a branch of the Syrian Foreign Ministry in Barcelona, Spain, later Friday.
According to the Syrian source contacted from Beirut, the two men are scheduled to examine a Syrian proposal to conduct an interrogation at the headquarters of a U.N. observer force in the Golan Heights. "Besides the U.N. headquarters, Syria is for holding the questioning in the German city of Cologne or in Turkey," the source said.
I'm surprised they'd let the "suspects" get that far away from Syrian control.
Mehlis reportedly wants to interview Syrian officials in the U.N. offices in Monteverde, east of Beirut, over Hariri's killing in a February 14 bomb blast. "The Syrian authorities are refusing Lebanon for certain security reasons," the source said.
Like they might get strung up
The six officers include the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Assef Shawkat, who is head of Syria's military intelligence. Apart from Shawkat, Mehlis also wants to question Bahjat Suleiman, former domestic intelligence chief, the former head of military intelligence in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazaleh, and his deputy Jamaa Jamaa.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 14:27 ||
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Ankara, 18 Nov. (AKI) - Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gul has paid an unexpected visit to Syria, during which he urged the country's president, Basher al-Assad, to cooperate with a United Nations investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. Gul arrived in Damascus on Thursday for a three-hour stay, the Turkish internet site Dunya online, reported.
"The goal of my visit is full implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions. I believe that my visit was beneficial. I had a frank meeting with President Assad. We passed on our views, and I hope it will be helpful in solving the regionâs problems," Gul told a press conference at Ankara's Esenboga Airport after he returned home.
According to diplomatic sources, cited by Dunya, Gul urged Assad to cooperate with the inquiry into the Hariri assassination and also asked him to make a "persuasive gesture" to show that Syria is cooperating fully with the UN.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 10:38 ||
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Iran obtained detailed instructions on how to set up the complicated process of enriching uranium, which can used to make nuclear arms, from the black market network run by a Pakistani scientist, the U.N. atomic monitoring agency said Friday.
"Khaaaaaaaaannnnn!"
In a confidential report, the International Atomic Energy Agency also said Iran was not giving inspectors access to a sensitive site that could be used to store equipment indicating whether the military is running a secret nuclear program.
The five-page report seen by The Associated Press was prepared for Thursday's meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation board, which could decide to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions for violating an international nuclear arms control treaty. Most board nations are concerned that Iran has resumed uranium conversion - a precursor to enrichment - and has refused to meet all IAEA requests about a nuclear program that was clandestine for nearly 20 years until discovered three years ago.
The report said Iran had handed over documents revealing detailed instructions on setting up uranium enrichment that it obtained from the black market network of Abdul Qadeer Khan. The scientist, considered the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, has acknowledged selling secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. The designs obtained from the black market show how to cast enriched, natural and depleted uranium metal into a spherical form, the agency said. Diplomats accredited to the agency said that could indicate a design for the core of a nuclear weapon.
Genius!
Agency officials refused to comment on the implications of the finding. The report said Iran insisted it had not asked for the designs but was given them anyway by members of the nuclear network - something an official close to the agency said the IAEA was still investigating.
"No, really, we don't want plans for a nuclear weapon. Well, OK, if you insist."
The diplomats and officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The IAEA report also said more transparency by Tehran was "indispensable and overdue" as agency inspectors try to determine if Iran's military secretly ran its own nuclear program parallel to a civilian one. Inspectors needed access both to more details on Iran's enrichment activities and a site where it is believed to be warehousing equipment that could be used in a weapons program, the document said.
"There still remain issues to be resolved" in connection with whether the military was supplied with centrifuge technology in the mid-1990s and then conducted secret enrichment activities between 1995 and 2002, it said.
The report said the key outstanding issues concerning Iran's nuclear program include whether the military was involved in enrichment, access to the military site where the "dual use" equipment was believed held and greater access to individuals involved in the enrichment program.
"Transparency measures should include the provision of information and documentation related to the procurement of dual-use equipment and permitting visits to relevant military-owned workshops and R&D locations thought run by the military," the report said.
The agency is "still awaiting additional visits," both to the military site at Lavisan-Shian, just outside Tehran, and to Parchin, which IAEA inspectors visited for the second time a few weeks ago. "These should include interviews on the acquisition of certain dual-use materials and equipment, and the taking of environmental samples from the above locations," the IAEA said.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 09:07 ||
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#1
I certainly hope that in the United States that our leaders have just accepted as fact that strategy to keep nuclear arms from bad guys is about as useful as keeping molotov's from rioters. While the Euro's are busy talking - I hope we are building missle defense.
#5
I read somewhere that Khan DID give the blueprints out gratis becuse he felt the Muslims had been humiliated by the West. Could have been the TIME article "Merchant of Menace" on Khan.
#6
There were two bomb making entities in Pakistan - AQK labs and PAEC.
Both were provided with Chinese designs - for Uranium and Plutonium bombs respectively.
Both have proliferated.
AQK ran the larger operation but PAEC is no slouch, working with North Korea as well.
Two PAEC scientists went to Afghan to meet Osama Bin Laden and advise him on nuclear weapons.
They are now hiding in Burma.
Posted by: john ||
11/18/2005 18:14 Comments ||
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Via JihadWatch His call for the destruction of Israel may have grabbed headlines abroad, but it is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's devotion to a mystical religious figure that is arousing greater interest inside Iran. In a keynote speech on Wednesday to senior clerics, Ahmadinejad spoke of his strong belief in the second coming of Shi'ite Muslims' "hidden" 12th Imam.
According to Shi'ite Muslim teaching, Abul-Qassem Mohammad, the 12th leader whom Shi'ites consider descended from the Prophet Mohammed, disappeared in 941 but will return at the end of time to lead an era of Islamic justice. "Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi," Ahmadinejad said in the speech to Friday Prayers leaders from across the country.
...
But what really has tongues wagging is the possibility that Ahmadinejad's belief in the 12th Imam's return may be linked to the supposed growing influence of a secretive society devoted to the Mahdi which was banned in the early 1980s. Founded in 1953 and used by the Shah of Iran to try to eradicate followers of the Bahai faith, the Hojjatieh Society is governed by the conviction that the 12th Imam's return will be hastened by the creation of chaos on earth. S.P.E.C.T.R.E.? Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2005 09:14 ||
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#1
Little does he suspect that George Bush is the Mahdi. George does have a knack for swatting hornets' nests with a baseball bat.
A senior US official is to meet EU negotiators involved in talks with Iran over its nuclear programme. The meeting in London follows reports that Iran has begun to process a new batch of uranium at its Isfahan plant. Washington called the move "unwelcome" - a week before the UN's atomic watchdog meets to decide whether to refer Iran to the Security Council. The US suspects Tehran of wanting to develop nuclear weapons - something Tehran has repeatedly denied. Monty Nicholas Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, will hold talks with officials from France, UK and Germany.
We're sending Mr. Burns to hold nuclear talks? Is Smithers going with him?
US state department spokesman Adam Ereli said Tehran's decision to resume processing was "one we view with concern". "It is the latest in a series of moves by Iran that, frankly, go against what they themselves have committed themselves to and what the international community has asked of them," he said. Mr Burns and his counterparts will "consider again ... how together we can all act to accomplish our common goal," Mr Ereli said.
The EU Three - Britain, France and Germany - have been in negotiation with Tehran over concerns about its nuclear programme. The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is finalising a report on Iran's nuclear programme ahead of a meeting next Thursday in Vienna. The agency's 35-nation board of governors will consider whether to refer Iran to the Security Council for possible sanctions.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/18/2005 08:59 ||
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#1
Why bother to repeat the same non-process and inaction? Withdraw US troops, weapons and trade from western Europe and let them defend themselves or come to accomodation. If the rapidly colonized Europeans want to live next to "chaos on earth will bring back to Mahdi" Iranians, then more dhimmitude to them.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2005 9:40 Comments ||
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An informed Iranian source with first-hand knowledge of all the main political and clerical figures in the country said: "Ahmadinejad is defying everybody. He does whatever he wants and considers it to be right. This is not how things are done in Iran."
The upheaval at the highest government levels in Tehran follows the dismissal of four senior ambassadors and has raised questions about Iran's ability to conclude negotiations on its nuclear programme which are due to come to a head at a UN meeting in Vienna next week.
Growing resistance inside Iran to Mr Ahmadinejad, who was unexpectedly elected in June, is coming from several senior figures and sections of the media. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who was runner-up in the election, denounced the purge and, in comments reported by Iranian news agencies, suggested the president should be reined in.
"A tendency in Iran is trying to banish competent officials and it is harming the country like a plague," Mr Rafsanjani said. "Our society has been divided into two poles and some people are behaving aggressively." Hassan Rohani, sacked as Iran's senior nuclear negotiator, told Tehran newspapers that the negotiations with the west were being mishandled. The former president Mohammad Khatami also voiced concern that Mr Ahmadinejad was exceeding his powers.
In a sign of divisions at the top of the clerical establishment, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has until now supported Mr Ahmadinejad, said "irregularities" in the government's behaviour would not be tolerated.
Iranian sources said opinion in the conservative-controlled majlis [parliament], which initially welcomed the president's election, was becoming uneasy. There has been a series of rows about Mr Ahmadinejad's nominees to top ministry jobs, including in the oil ministry. The stock market has fallen 30% since the new president took office, and there is growing criticism of his failure to deliver on promises to create jobs and raise living standards. "There is a very tense situation. Ahmadinejad has made a very bad start and needs to get attuned to political realities," the Iranian source said, suggesting that Mr Ahmadinejad could face impeachment proceedings in the majlis if he continued to pack the government with his appointees.
But the source said western threats of economic sanctions or military action against Iran were strengthening Mr Ahmadinejad at the expense of moderate conservatives, liberals and reformers.
Yassss, if only we'd roll over the moderates would get the upper hand.
Paralysis at the top of the Iranian government could pose serious problems for the west as it struggles to resolve the nuclear stand-off. Iran began processing a fresh batch of uranium yesterday in spite of compromise proposals. Next week's UN meeting will debate whether to refer Iran to the security council for possible action.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/18/2005 00:15 ||
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#1
Mr Ahmadinejad, just keep thwacking that hornets nest... Just like the Shah.
I'll enjoy the video of you air dancing at the end of a rope from a lamp-post in Tehran, mullahs at your side.
#2
Hmmm. So this is based on quotes from the guy who lost the election and a sacked official. Imagine if the NYT ran an article based solely on quotes from John Kerry and Colin Powell ... what, they already have?
#4
I see two possibilities here. The apparent one is that this guy is building up to a Reichstag fire, to eliminate the mullahs from government and become an absolute dictator.
What is more likely is that he recognizes that Iran has too many competing interests fighting it out in their government, so he is trying to purge the less-powerful entrenched factions.
The difference between the two is that, in the first case, he is doing it for himself and his single faction; in the second, he is getting rid of deadwood whose factions are weaker than the power they wield.
He has demonstrated some finesse when he had to, such as withdrawing the nomination of an oil minister who was loyal, but knew nothing about oil, after the majlis put its foot down. An egomaniac would have wasted capital trying to force him through, anyway. So he at least defers to the majlis, at least for the time being.
This is "local politics", so they don't say much about what his other intentions are. If he steps on too many toes, someone will try and assassinate him. Personally, I would enjoy it immensely if he puts a hit on Khamenei and the whole Guardian Council.
That whole bleeding country is heading for some kind of disaster.
#7
ha! Did I not predict a month ago that the purges would begin. Ok..so it wasn't rocket science. He's planning Mr Rafsanjani's destruction as I write.
#8
What's the beef? Everything is within Allah's plan, right? So those in Iran who are questioning events are against Allah, and therefore should be, um, saved...
#9
I'm imagining the guyz and galz over at the State Department dancing their little jigs and sending out their I-told-you-so emails to the kids over at CIA.
"See, we'll get our revolution. The moderates will overthrow this one for sure. We can foster an Iranian revolution. Really guys, this is it, this is it!Red team go, red team go."
My bet is that they'll reign little mahmoud in soon enough after he's done his little power grab.
#10
The stock market has fallen 30% since the new president took office, and there is growing criticism of his failure to deliver on promises to create jobs and raise living standards.
Ol' Mahmoud ain't a bad guy. Really. Just wants to help the average Eyeranian make a buck here n there. Trust me on this. Would ah lie to you?
Posted by: William Jefferson Clinton ||
11/18/2005 12:30 Comments ||
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Russia's growing anger at Iran's reluctance to compromise on its nuclear activities could help the United States and other nations seeking to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council, diplomats said Thursday. Along with China, Russia is a key Iran ally and veto-wielding member of the Security Council that has opposed referring the Islamic state to the world body. But frustration in Moscow could swing the Russians closer to the U.S.-European position — and indirectly pressure Beijing to join the mainstream, one diplomat told The Associated Press.
Russia has been increasingly active in recent weeks in efforts to bridge differences between Tehran and the West only to face Iranian intransigence, said the diplomats, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Most recently, they said, Iranian officials told the Russians on Wednesday they would not resume uranium conversion _ only to do so a few hours later. So far, Russia has been influential in getting Iran back to negotiations on uranium enrichment. The Americans and Europeans recently agreed to abandon demands that Iran renounce enrichment and related activities and instead endorsed a plan allowing Iran to convert uranium but move the enrichment process to Russia.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
But frustration in Moscow could swing the Russians closer to the U.S.-European position
As in any sort of anger regarding terrorist involvement with the Beslan massacre?
Oops, thought not. Must have something to do with hard currency instead of human life. My bad.
#2
A few million to Putin's retirement fund will take care of any bruised feelings. Kiss Stalingrad Volgograd goodbye in a few years.
Posted by: ed ||
11/18/2005 0:57 Comments ||
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#3
It's not nice to deceive Putty Poot. W can see into his craven heart.
Incidentially, the "compromise" proposal was a stroke of genius, putting the squeeze on the Russki-Moolah relationship. It put the Ruskies' position in "play"
Posted by: Captain America ||
11/18/2005 1:03 Comments ||
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#4
Even Putin can $ee the writing on the wall.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/18/2005 1:28 Comments ||
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#5
GREAT pic, BTW! Another reason I just love RB!
Posted by: BA ||
11/18/2005 7:52 Comments ||
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#6
..Russia is a key Iran ally and veto-wielding member of the Security Council that has opposed referring the Islamic state to the world body.
#7
I'm just surprised how long it's taken Russia to see we're right, I guess they are just cautious from the Cold War. I think we've been alot more trusting of Russia, and I don't know if it's a good thing, but so be it, we could use them to cover alot of area.
#8
Russia is a national case study in split personality. Half the time they are European, the other half, Asian, in their outlook of life and things.
The trouble is that they really want to be French, but the French are far too effete for the Russians to enjoy for long. So after reveling in European everything for a while, they crave the Asiatic way.
The European saying for this is that "When a Russian pretends to be a European, he is trying to deceive you; but when he behaves as an Asian, he is both telling you the truth, and embarassed for letting you see his soul."
The Russian loves his fellow Oriental, because the Russian feels so superior to them, but after frolicking in the mud with them for a while, he starts to again pine for the culture of Paris.
If it's eastern Warsaw he'd probably think he made it to China.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/18/2005 12:40 Comments ||
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#11
Putin wants Russia to be an independent great power, if not a super power. Pretty hard to do, with a population of 140 million and declining, and a weak economy (albeit momentarily propped up by a high oil price) So hes gotta take allies were he can. And Iran is a good strategic match for Russia - they take the same side (anti-Pakistan, anti-Pashtun) on Afghanistan, and by extension central asia. They are both hostile to the Azeris. They are both hostile to Turkey. And they are both hostile to KSA (which is the outside power Russia connects the Jihadis to, not Iran) The problem for Putin is that as much as values the Iran connection, he has bet alot on the "axis of weasels" IE the Russian-German-French connection. And the French and Germans have gotten themselves maneuvered into a position where they have to oppose the Iranian nuclear program, at least up to a point, so that Russian support for Iran, when Iran is humiliating the Euros, pissed the Euros off. To try to hold on to his relation to the Euros, Putin has to back off on supporting the Mullahs. How far he has to back off remains to be seen.
#12
Though Russia is sorely lacking in the economic front in its attempts to be a superpower (that's where the China alliance is handy), I'd argue that Russia is already a superpower on the level of diplomatic relations, with a number of countries world-wide, from Venezuela to Syria to Greece having so good relations to it that they're almost subservient to Kremlin's whims --- and in its immediate environment the superpower-status is even more evident (even despite the huge positive turn of the Orange Revolution): there's a huge purge in favour of philo-Russian officials in Uzbekistan right now, for example -- moving this country away from the more balanced position between West and Russia of a few years ago. Though China is much more powerful in other matters, it doesn't seem to me to have attained even half the diplomatic influence that Russia has worldwide.
Liberalhawk's practical reasons for the Iran-Russia tensions may be closer to reality -- my own gut feeling (without much to back it on, admittedly) is that it may be more based on the respective opinions concerning the relations between Iran and Russia. Namely I think that Russia wants Iran to be a subservient fascist-state whose sub-imperialism would be directed according to Russia's own desires, and withdrawn when inconvenient. Iran however wants to be a dominant fascist-state that'd like to threaten and impose its wishes on its neighbours without having to get the OK from Russia (or anyone else) first.
The Lebanese military has begun DNA testing to identify 13 bodies unearthed in a military compound in Yarze, a town overlooking the capital Beirut. Twelve of the 13 bodies were in military uniform, possibly indicating they were soldiers serving under then General Michel Aoun in October 1990. The thirteenth body was burned beyond recognition.
Aoun had been engaged in a seven-month âwar of liberationâ against Syriaâs presence in Lebanon when the Syrian offensive overran his forces and he was forced to flee the presidential palace. The families of 30 Lebanese soldiers, who were listed as missing in action (MIA) during the Syrian offensive, were asked to submit to the tests by the Ministry of Defence.
The militaryâs request, however, has created controversy and division among the families of the missing, many of whom say their sons are alive in detention centres in Syria. Marlene Nakhoul, sister of a missing soldier, told Aljazeera.net her family decided to do the DNA test, but only to prove that he is not among the exhumed bodies. "My brother is still alive," she said. "We're just doing the test to prove that none of the bodies belongs to my brother and to tell the government there are still soldiers locked up in Syrian prisons," she said, adding that a former prisoner in Syria said he saw her brother in 1993. But Violette Nassif, mother of soldier Johnny Nassif, refused to take the test. "I saw my son," she said about her one-time visit to see her son in a Syrian prison in the early 1990s. "And I have kept the visiting card that proves I had visited him."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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Recently, an announcement of the beginning of a month-long campaign appeared on the Islamic Internet forums. During this campaign, an online opportunity is being offered to Muslims to sign a b'ayah, a Muslim's oath of loyalty to Muslim leaders. Until December 13, 2005, supporters can sign an oath of loyalty to Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Mullah Muhammad Omar, and Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi online.
The initiative was posted on the Alhesbah site, known to be an authentic Islamic site. The individual behind the initiative was identified only by his nickname, Al-'Aashek Liljihad ("lover of Jihad").
It should be noted that so far, the response to this initiative has been minimal; furthermore, the oath-takers are identifying themselves only by nickname. At the bottom of the oath forms appears the name of the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF).
The following are the main points of the announcement as they appear on these forms:
"I invite you to the first day of the month of the great swearing of an oath of loyalty to the commander of the Muslim armies, Sheikh Osama bin Laden, and to the commanders of the global jihad: Sheikh Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Emir of the Believers Mullah Muhammad Omar, and Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, and to all the jihad fighters.
"Oh God, you need this oath of loyalty, the oath of death for Allah that will terrorize the infidels and earn the jihad fighters in particular, and the Muslims in general, reward in the world to come...
"Moreover, for this oath of loyalty to death it is not necessary for you to die now - but in the near future, the very near future, Allah willing, we must all join this blessed convoy, particularly since we have sworn an oath of loyalty.
"This [signing of this] oath of loyalty will continue for one month, and will be posted in all the forums so that the number of oath-takers will be [as] great [as possible], and so that Osama bin Laden will have an army in Afghanistan, an army in Iraq, and a massive army in the waiting list on the Internet pages.
"This is the Internet that Allah operates in the service of jihad and of the mujahedoun, and that has become [a tool in service of] your interest - such that half the mujahedoun's battle is waged on the pages of the Internet, which is the only outlet for passing announcements to the mujahedoun.
"Anyone who has already sworn an oath of loyalty is asked not to do so again, because at the end of the month there will be a count of all those who took the oath..."
"We swear loyalty to Sheikh Osama bin Laden, may Allah preserve him, and to the commanders of the global jihad, Sheikh Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Emir of the Believers Mullah Muhammad Omar, and Sheikh Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi, and all the Jihad fighters. [This is] an oath of death for Allah.
"Signed:"________________"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/18/2005 13:59 ||
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Osama bin Laden wants the United States to convert to Islam, ditch its constitution, abolish banks, jail homosexuals, bar women from appearing in the press and sign the Kyoto climate change treaty.
The first complete collection of the Saudi's statements, published on Thursday by Verso, portrays a world in which Islam's enemies will take the first steps towards salvation by embracing the "religion of all the prophets".
Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden is billed as the first accurate compendium of the terrorist leader's words, threats and ruminations from 1994 to 2004.
Its editors have rooted out many statements which they identified as forgeries and retranslated to correct "horrendous" errors.
Bin Laden's terms for America's surrender appeared after the September 2001 suicide attacks.
Alcoholic drink and gambling would be barred and there would be an end to women's photos in newspapers or advertising.
Any woman serving "passengers, visitors and strangers" would also be out of a job.
The West must "stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you" and has become the "worst civilisation witnessed in the history of mankind".
Verso said it expected criticism for publishing the thoughts of a terrorist, but "the idea is to have an annotated, scholarly collection of bin Laden's words", Gavin Browning from Verso said.
"Until now, his words have only been available in poor translations or soundbites."
Mr Browning emphasised that publishing bin Laden's views did not imply approval of them by the publishers.
The book's introduction is written by Professor Bruce Lawrence, who teaches Islamic studies at Duke University, in North Carolina, and describes the terrorist as "one of the best prose writers in Arabic". Many past translations of the words of the head of al-Qaeda had been "horrendous" and often wrong, he said.
In the book the terrorist responsible for killing 3000 civilians in September 2001 says that killing the innocent is wrong. In bin Laden's world a global conflict is under way between the umma, or Muslim community, and unbelievers.
#1
"...statements which they identified as forgeries and retranslated to correct "horrendous" errors."
How do you correct forgeries.I know I'm just a dumb ass white boy,but isn't the basic definition of a forgaerie a lie?
#3
I am so happy to see that Duke professors are taking the time to help Bin Laden articulate his message into a more understandable readable format. Wish they could help do the same for ehh maybe their OWN F*CKING HOMELAND THE US.
#4
It is good to have the lefties see what Bin Laden really wants. He wants them dead, everything they believe in is what he's against. At some point they'll see the idiocy of their own attempts to derail the war, it'll probably be over by then though.
Sri Lanka's prime minister has taken an early lead in the islandâs closely fought presidential election, seen as a referendum on the peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels. According to incomplete and provisional results Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, who campaigned on a promise to take a take hard line on dealing with the rebels, had 2.42 million votes by early Friday. Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had 2.27 million.
Election officials said that voting in Thursdayâs election was smooth in western and southern parts of the island and overall turnout was 75%. But in the north and east - territory controlled by the Tiger rebels - grenade attacks, roadblocks and fear kept many Tamils from voting.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/18/2005 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
US President George Bush will press ahead on Friday with his strategy for bolstering allied unity against North Korea's nuclear weapons programme when he meets Russian President 
HERNDON, VA â Warren Community College English professor, John Daly, said that âReal freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors.â Rebecca Beach, a freshman at Warren Community College in Washington, New Jersey, received this unexpected reply to a recent email she sent the faculty at her school announcing the appearance of decorated Iraq war hero, Lt. Col. Scott Rutter, on Thursday, November 17 to discuss Americaâs accomplishments in Iraq. 
Those are statements of opinion, presented as fact. If they're "united" against U.S. forces, why are many joining the Iraqi government forces? Exactly who is "united"? That doesn't seem to include the Kurds, who are mostly pro-American. It doesn't seem to include a large â my guess would be a majority â segment of the Shiites, who're joining up to fight against the bad guyz. What he seems to be referring to is the Sunnis, who are approximately 20 percent of the Iraqi population and close to 100 percent of the domestic insurgency. We're a "catalyst" for violence in the sense that we're an excuse. If we were to withdraw tomorrow, the violence would continue, probably resulting in the Kurds "withdrawing" as well; the Sunni areas would probably come to resemble Somalia, with the tribal primitives fighting the international terror network for control and the opportunity to impose themselves on the Shiites. The Shia areas would likely split, as well, with parts aligning with Iran and parts attempting to retain their Iraqi identity. So what Neville's proposing is a recipe for anarchy. That's what I'd call "a flawed policy, wrapped in an illusion." But I don't think Neville has any illusions; I think his remarks are for domestic consumption, and that he doesn't give a rat's patou whether they aid and/or abet the bad guyz in Iraq.
All those American flags are a nice touch. I consider myself to be pretty patriotic, but I have an abiding suspicion of ostentatious flag displays. But then, I've never called a news conference, either, and I never lived in Washington for 30 years receiving a congressional salary, either. I've never had the opportunity to play politix with the military, never jockeyed for position. I don't have the political skills for glad-handing, and I have enough contempt for the Democrat antiwar caucus not to want to be identified with them any any way. 
If we're fighting a War on Terror, which Neville's obviously not, that statement simply makes no sense. Sammy and his Elite Repulican Guard⢠and his 7-million strong Quds Army, and his vicious Fedayeen can be dismissed as speed bumps on the road to the real enemy, which is Zark and his Minions of Evil. Ansar al-Islam, tucked away in an obscure corner of Kurdistan, was only a tiny part of Zark's operation, which at the time the war began was primarily the al-Tawhid organization, which was even then active in Europe. We're now grappling with them, up close and personal, and we've beaten the snot out of them in Fallujah, in Ramadi, and Qaim. There's a continuous flow of recruits, and whenever they concentrate in one place we beat them up. 
My breath's taken away by the pure dishonesty of that remark. Bush is reacting to a continuing series of weak, spineless displays of politix in a time of war by the antiwar caucus, of which Reid is a proud member. I'd like to see Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz and Rice and all the other leading lights of the administration beat them up each and every day. As I've remarked on a number of occasions, the biggest mistake Bush has made from day one has been not to remind the American people day in and day out exactly what kind of enemy we're fighting and why. Instead, the national attention span's been allowed to wander from Afghanistan back to Britney's bosom. Short of another major boom within our borders, it's doubtful it will wander back. The result is that people don't realize the extent of the Islamist threat, to the point where fellow travelers have begun referring to it as "fictitious." That's a really bad sign. 
One of Southeast Asia's top terror suspects was buried by crowds of weeping relatives and childhood friends at a traditional Muslim funeral Thursday in a Malaysian village, a week after he was killed by police in Indonesia. Azahari bin Husin's body was brought to his home village in southern Malacca state, where 200 people gathered at night in drizzling rain to witness his burial near his mother's grave in a small cemetery. His corpse was earlier flown to Malaysia from the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
Iran obtained detailed instructions on how to set up the complicated process of enriching uranium, which can used to make nuclear arms, from the black market network run by a Pakistani scientist, the U.N. atomic monitoring agency said Friday. 
His call for the destruction of Israel may have grabbed headlines abroad, but it is President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's devotion to a mystical religious figure that is arousing greater interest inside Iran. In a keynote speech on Wednesday to senior clerics, Ahmadinejad spoke of his strong belief in the second coming of Shi'ite Muslims' "hidden" 12th Imam.
Iran is facing political paralysis as its newly elected president purges government institutions, bringing accusations that he is undertaking a coup d'état. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's clearout of his opponents began last month but is more sweeping than previously understood and has reached almost every branch of government, the Guardian has learned. Dozens of deputy ministers have been sacked this month in several government departments, as well the heads of the state insurance and privatisation organisations. Last week, seven state bank presidents were dismissed in what an Iranian source described as "a coup d'état".
Russia's growing anger at Iran's reluctance to compromise on its nuclear activities could help the United States and other nations seeking to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council, diplomats said Thursday. Along with China, Russia is a key Iran ally and veto-wielding member of the Security Council that has opposed referring the Islamic state to the world body. But frustration in Moscow could swing the Russians closer to the U.S.-European position — and indirectly pressure Beijing to join the mainstream, one diplomat told The Associated Press.
Sri Lanka's prime minister has taken an early lead in the islandâs closely fought presidential election, seen as a referendum on the peace process with 
