#4
"The courts have closed cinemas accused of showing immoral films and made celebrating New Year a capital offence"
I wonder if Snuff films are still allowed. Crazy people. They had a problem with criminals and people are enjoying themselves, so Sharia is the answer. Where's the logic?
This religion seems to thrive on poverty and pain. If there isn't, create it and use religion to solve it.
#5
Editorial comment at the beginning of the article. Note that the editor states US backing as a fact: The man who drove US-backed warlords out of Mogadishu says he has no desire for an Islamic state
From the body of the article. US backing is presumed but not confirmed. Washington is widely believed to have been backing the warlords to check the spread of the Sharia courts and the alleged influence of al-Qaeda.
This must be one of those checks and balances that the MSM is always talking about. The editor checked the story, it didn't match his prejudices, so he balanced it with his own personal viewpoint.
This is the money quote: Please forgive my lateness, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed says politely. He has spent the morning accepting donations of rice, sugar and cooking oil from local businessmen.
I wonder how many goons accompanied the esteemed Sheikh during his rounds? While at first glance, staple foodstuffs might seem pretty mundane, remember that people are starving in Somalia. Food is a weapon, too.
#12
At Mogadishus Peace Hotel weddings used to finish with hundreds of people dancing in the car park, but no longer. The Islamic courts have told us there can be no pop music, says a waiter. Its very sad. We all hope that things are not going to be like Afghanistan.
Guess what? Ya idjits. You're lucky if your African warlords et al don't come up with something that makes the Taleban look like drooling libertines. Remember that recent polio outbreak? Remember those murderous riots over that swimsuit competition? You're just a safety switch away from insanity.
Personally, I no longer care how many African people die so long as the warlords finally die with them. Like much of the Middle East, these cultures will have to shed the mantle of tribalism before they'll ever be able to step upon the world stage. Keep the tribalism and they will remain the backwater sh!tholes they've always been. I hope that AIDS kills enough of these infidelitous macho-meathead African males to where either their women or more enlightened surviving males will finally be able to estabish some sort of viable society.
#13
Ummm, maybe I should comment that AIDS kills women too.
And further comment that if you want to exterminate any species you need only concentrate on eliminating the species females and leave the males to die out when no mates can be found.
Harsh? Yes,
Truthful? Yes,
Gonna happen? Hell no.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/13/2006 21:52 Comments ||
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Sudan is to be fronted before the United Nations (UN) Security Council by President Idriss Deby Itno of Chad for backing rebels trying to overthrow Chadian Government. Ahmat Allami, Chad's foreign minister assured members of the council that Chad intended lodging a complaint about Sudanese aggression. According to Allami the move "follows the powerlessness of the African Union to mediate".
"Even if this is not clearly confirmed by Security Council members, we think that Chad's cause must be heard and understood," he said. Diplomatic relations with Khartoum was broken by N'Djamena in April after a coup attempt by a rebel group which it accused Sudan of backing. Clashes have followed between Chadian army forces and rebels.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Typhoid no doubt to follow. And if I recall correctly, both have about a 25% death rate if untreated. Damn the government bastards and their pet Janjaweed bullyboys and all their enablers to the most uncomfortable levels of Hell.
The Somali law makers in Baidoa in southwest Somalia have delayed on Monday voting on the government proposal of deploying African peace keeping troops in Somalia, as the curfew on Baidoa town 240km of the capital enters its third day with most of the people turned deaf ear to the blackout.
Today's parliamentary session was attended by 165 MPs who debated the motion of foreign troops deployment. 15 months ago, the members of Somalia parliament split over the proposal of foreign forces in which the MPs beat themselves with chairs and sticks in Nairobi Abdifitah Ibrahim Rashid, member of parliament, who was talking to the reporters in Baidoa said it was not clear the statement of the proposal submitted by the government, noting that it is needed to explain the number of the troops deploying in Somalia, the countries they are from and the duration of their presence in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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The Islamist leader whose Islamic Courts Union militia seized control of this lawless east African capital last week after fierce fighting with U.S.-backed warlords said Monday that he seeks "an understanding" with the United States and denied that his group is sheltering al-Qaida terrorists.
Hmmm... Smarter than Mullah Omar — and most Pak pols...
But in his first face-to-face interview with an American journalist since his forces' triumph, Sheikh Sherif Sheikh Ahmed told Knight Ridder that he doesn't plan full ties with the United States, and he dodged questions about his views on al-Qaida.
"We think it's a good thing, but we don't want to be clobbered..."
"The Americans were getting wrong information from the warlords, and since that strategy failed, the Americans have a good opportunity," Ahmed said. "They can help us with offers of humanitarian assistance.
"They can give us money, nothing else."
"We cannot say there will be full cooperation, but we can foresee an understanding between the United States and Somalia."
I can maybe see a temporary "understanding," but I can't see us tolerating another Islamic state. But since he seems to be a smart boy, it's entirely likely we'll see a Turabi-style government eventually forming, keeping just this side of intolerable.
He also said he would never agree to a call for international peacekeepers by Somalia's nearly powerless transitional government, based 150 miles away in the city of Baidoa. "They only brought destruction and killing when they were here," he said. "There is no reason for the request for foreign troops. The cruel warlords were totally eliminated by the uprising."
To be replaced by cruel Islamists.
Ahmed has been the focus of international speculation about whether he plans to create a Taliban-style state that would shelter al-Qaida in this strategic Horn of Africa country. But Ahmed offered no clear political agenda during the interview, which was conducted in his heavily fortified office on a leafy residential street in the capital. Ahmed said he believes "the world is truly governed by God," but that his religious courts will reach out to intellectuals, secular politicians and clan elders as the Islamists craft a plan for the city. "Our people have been freed from the warlords. Now, we want all Somali people to decide their future," he said.
Too smart by half. He's going to be a problem.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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This is a time-honored tactic known as "playing to the crowd." To the extent that Sheikh Ahmed and his cronies care about the Western press, it's to the extent that they can dissimulate to it in order to retain just enough public ambiguity to prevent the US off their backs. Keep in mind that Mullah Omar was already too well known as having been in tight with al-Qaeda to be able to back away from it, yet now we have people claiming that one of the people running their camps in Afghanistan (Zarqawi) was somehow irrevocably opposed to their agenda.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 0:09 Comments ||
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#2
What's with this "US-backed warlord" crap? EVERY article on Somalia has that phrase. Did the US actually back (with money, materiel) the warlords or merely prefer them to the islamists? Dan, anyone know?
CAIRO - The leader of Egypts Muslim Brotherhood said in an interview that tourists could drink alcohol inside their hotels and people should decide for themselves whether to accept bank interest.
That pranged the surprise meter. Guess they're trying to make themselves more acceptable. Being the official opposition brings responsibilities ...
General Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef was speaking in a television interview broadcast on Sunday on Egypts Dream satellite channel. A transcript appeared in the independent newspaper Al Masry Al Youm on Monday. Akef told Reuters that his comments were in keeping with Islam and did not reflect a new position by the Islamist opposition group.
A Koranic text bans the consumption of alcohol and a majority of Islamic jurists have prohibited bank interest.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The leader of Egypts Muslim Brotherhood said in an interview that tourists could drink alcohol inside their hotels
Rantburg Translation Service: It's OK for tourists to drink alcohol and it's also OK for us to kill them.
#2
Translation: Many of us 'brothers' are making money of liquor sales and tourism. Besides, if nobody comes, because nobody can drink, where will we get fresh targets?
Theyd still make it illegal for muslim egyptians to drink. Theyre just trying to make it clear they dont want to kill one of Egypts few viable industries.
Question - would they allow native Egytian Christians (Copts) to drink?
#5
Remember also that Egyptians like to think of themselves as the most cosmopolitan of Moslems.
Doing things like this is a big reason that the MB hasn't been labeled a terrorist org itself, despite having official cred for having spun off a dozen or more clearly terrorist orgs.
They still understand the importance of making a deal, doing business, and the value of now and then taking a more liberal view of Koranic scripture.
When the 35-nation board of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna voted to refer Iran's energy case to the United Nations Security Council earlier this month, there were three notable "no" votes. One was from Syria, a predictable supporter of Iran. The other two were from Cuba and Venezuela, two leftist and anti-American regimes that Iran has shown special interest in cultivating. A third nation in Latin America that has attracted the attention of Iran is Bolivia, which recently installed a leftist president, Evo Morales.
These efforts are presumably part of an Iranian campaign to strengthen its relationships with developing nations that might rally to Iran's side as it fends off American and European efforts to halt its nuclear development program.
Cuba's President Fidel Castro and Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say they want a halt to the proliferation of nuclear weapons but have affirmed each country's right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The US and European nations believe that a peaceful nuclear program is a cover for the pursuit of nuclear weapons by Iran.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 01:11 ||
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Unconfirmed reports from the Clinton '90's said that becuz of the generally poor quality of Cuban oil imports/supplies, Fidel was himself looking to dev nuclear energy + weapons. Wid Venezuela's resources indicated as potens running out in 20+years time, as also denoted by officials for IRAN = RUSSIA, nuclear technology-transfers is the apple of every Lefty despot's eye, the DIVINE RIGHT OF ABSOLUTISTS-TYRANTS.
#4
Can pebble-bed nuclear reactors be used to make weapons?
Assuming the answer is no the US should come up with a policy to work with South Africa to build pebble-bed reactors throughout the Americas (in particular the USA) to start releaving the oil demand and start to cut off Chavez at the knees.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced on Sunday that he will visit Iran and North Korea, two nations at odds with Washington over nuclear development, at a time when Chavez is seeking to distance Venezuela from the United States.
Chavez, who has promised a socialist revolution to end poverty in the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, has drawn fire from the US State Department for building alliances with US foes like Cuba and Iran. "We will soon be in North Korea, we will soon be in Tehran, deepening our ... strategic alliances" Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast.
He said the tour will also include stops in China and Russia, where Venezuela will sign military cooperation agreements with the Russian government, following US moves to block Chavez's arms purchases from other countries. He did not provide dates for the trip, which he said will include a stop in "North Vietnam".
#2
Not at all. The world knows that the US will take no action against the worst incitement, slander and demonisation that the propagandists can come up with. Even when it is so vile it gets our people killed. The US is a safe target.
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2006 1:05 Comments ||
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#3
Dubya has IRAN, SYRIA, NORTH KOREA and TAIWAN, i.e. where the WMDS are andor where the risk of geopol confrontation between the US-West vs Russia-China is greatest. Chavez and Morales, i.e. where the WMDS-Conflict is NOT, in all likelihood will be left to Dubya's GOP-DEM POTUS.
NOT EVEN DUBYA CAN RESOLVE EVERYTHING - PRAY DUBYA'S SUCCESSOR IS ANOTHER REPUB-CONSERVATIVE.
#5
Chavez' interior minister admitted they "lost" 20,000 blank passports a while back. Nice and clean and official and ready to have pictures and print added by .... whomever.
While he's a pompous jerk, don't underestimate the danger of having him openly supporting and privately facilitating Islamacist terror camps based in Latin America.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2006 10:13 Comments ||
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#9
Sad to see someone so desperate for attention.
PJ O'Rourke once said (I'm paraphrasing from memory) that the US is like the hot cool chick in high school and everyone wants her attention even if they have to act like a damn fool or tease her to get it.
That pretty much fits Hugo "notice me, notice me" Chavez.
Japan's parliament has passed a bill calling for economic sanctions against North Korea unless a dispute over kidnapped Japanese citizens is solved. The North Korea Human Rights Bill calls for sanctions to be imposed if no progress is made on the abduction and other human rights issues. It could be enacted by Friday, as both ruling and opposition parties back it. But the bill does not specify how progress would be assessed or set a deadline for imposing sanctions.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been cautious on the issue of imposing sanctions against North Korea in the past, analysts say. "The government will take into consideration international trends comprehensively," the bill said. The sanctions would include money transfers from North Koreans in Japan, an important source of funds for the North.
The bill was passed just hours after North Korea warned Japan against continuing to bring up the abduction issue. A spokesman from the North Korean Foreign Ministry said that relations between the two nations were at "the worst phase in history". The spokesman said the blame lay with Japan for its attempts to internationalise the abduction issue, state news agency KCNA reported.
Pyongyang has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s and used them to train its agents. Five of the 13 abductees were allowed to return to Japan in October 2002, but North Korea said that the other 8 people had died. It says the issue has now been resolved. "As already clarified by the DPRK more than once, the 'abduction issue' had been completely settled thanks to its sincere efforts," the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
But Japan believes North Korea is not being completely honest about whether the abductees are still alive and how many of its citizens it abducted. The issue has sparked public anger in Japan and has dogged relations between the two countries for years.
The NKorks are just dumb enough to launch their long range missile across Japan to protest these sanctions
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2006 08:40 ||
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Yeah, Kimmi just keep provoking the Japanese and see what happens. US does not need to worry about Kimbo. Mood is up to low boil in Japan now. Memories must be fading in N. Kor, or the ones who did remember are long gone.
The trial of Italian author and veteran journalist Oriana Fallaci, accused of defaming Islam in a 2004 book, opened Monday in northern Italy and was quickly adjourned, a lawyer said.
Fallaci, who lives in New York, did not attend the hearing in Bergamo, northern Italy.
Monday's hearing was largely devoted to technicalities, and the proceedings were adjourned to June 26, said Matteo Nicoli, a lawyer for the Muslim activist who brought the lawsuit against Fallaci.
Islamic activist Adel Smith, who also was not in court, charged that some passages in Fallaci's book, "The Strength of Reason," were offensive to Islam. His lawyer cited a phrase from the book that refers to Islam as "a pool . . . that never purifies."
Last year, a judge ordered Fallaci to stand trial on charges of violating an Italian law that prohibits "outrage" to religion. He cited a passage that reads: "To be under the illusion that there is a good Islam and a bad Islam or not to understand that Islam is only one . . . is against reason."
Fallaci told The Associated Press last year that "I have expressed my opinion through the written word through my books, that is all." The offense with which she is charged carries a fine of up to $7,500.
A former war correspondent, Fallaci has often stirred controversy with her blunt publications and provocative stances. Her most recent books have drawn accusations she incites hatred against Muslims.
A group in France unsuccessfully sought to stop distribution of her best-selling essay "The Rage and the Pride," written as a response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
In "The Strength of Reason," Fallaci accuses Europe of having sold its soul to what she describes as an Islamic invasion.
Smith is also known for taking radical positions. He gained attention in Italy in 2003 when he sought unsuccessfully to have the crucifix removed from the public elementary school his sons attended. As head of the small Muslim Union of Italy, he has launched numerous legal battles, causing several Islamic organizations to distance themselves.
#1
This trial marks the death of freedom of thought, freedom of speech in Western countries other than the US.
It's the same in Australia, just a matter of time.
You SHOULD be able to defame a religion with impunity because it is a set of ideas that should be open to criticism and debate.
What is this the dark ages?
It is time people drew a line distinguishing race and racism from religion and culture and realise though you cannot vilify people fairly for physical characteristics over which they have no control (skin colour, race) it is not only fair but mandatory we have the freedom to criticise people for their ideas.
Because some religions have whacked out ideas that SHOULD be held up to ridicule. Regardless of whether the religion is big with many adherents or just a tiny cult.
Still ruffled by the furore over the Prophet Mohammed cartoons, the European Union is refining a communication strategy in an effort to help stop disenchanted Muslim youths turning to terrorism.
How is the word Islamist understood in Muslim countries? What does the term jihad really mean? These are just some of the questions the EU is trying to answer with its dictionary on issues sensitive among civilisations.
Yet even before the row over the cartoons, first published in Denmark last year and which triggered Muslim protests, the 25-member grouping was trying to define a common vocabulary for talking about radical Islam.
#5
There is only one islam. What is so hard about that. Ask a muslim. There is only one kind. All this hair splitting is nonsense but it's the EU after all.
#12
How is the word Islamist understood in Muslim countries? What does the term jihad really mean? These are just some of the questions the EU is trying to answer with its dictionary on issues sensitive among civilisations.
Europe's obsession with nuance will find the day where a minuscule minority of residual European words will populate the Arabic dictionaries used in their schools.
The Euro eliteists can take their bloody nuance and stick it where the sun don't shine. They are doing more to spread Islam than the Muslims themselves.
#13
For the European Commission, the EUs executive body, the common vocabularys only aim is to be a tool to all those -- whether they be an official or a bureaucrat -- who have no special knowledge of Islamic culture. Its not a question of being politically correct but rather a small tool among many others for reducing incitement to radicalisation, said the commissions justice affairs spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing.
OTTAWA The federal government is considering changes to the Anti-Terrorism Act to make it clear police and security agents do not engage in racial or religious profiling.
Justice Minister Vic Toews said last night he is troubled by the ATA's definition of terrorism as an offence motivated in whole or in part for a "political, religious or ideological purpose."
Why else do people fly planes in to buildings? For fun?
#1
The motivation is irrelevant. It is the intentional premeditated killing of indeterminate and uninvolved innocents that constitutes terrorism. Its purpose is to create terror to compel a third party to take some action it would not otheerwise take.
#2
True enough, the premeditated killing of uninvolved persons is terrifying. However, to engage in that act, to change the 3d party's course, without providing an alternative solution to the status quo (the political, religious, or ideological bent) is pointless. That would make terrorism as we know it a power issue rather than a political issue, especially if the definition of power is the ability to make someone do a thing they would not do normally (i.e. the Federal Government's power over the population by requiring payment of taxes.) This would relegate the phenomenon of terrorism to anarchists and spree killers without consideration of the long-term goals of groups like al Qaeda.
#3
It has nothing to do with profiling, it's about sucessfully applying the law when it fits. As it is worded now, the activity has to have "the intention of intimidating the public" /security/economy/etc. AND be "for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause".
The "and" part is the problem. It requires that motive must be proven and it is hard to prove motive beyond reasonable doubt. The rest of the Act is defanged if you can't.
AS THE DETAILS of the foiled Canadian terrorist plot continue to emerge, much is still unknown. Fifteen suspects were arrested in the Toronto area on June 2 and 3 in a police sting operation as they attempted to take possession of what they believed to be three tons of ammonium nitrate, roughly triple the amount used in the Oklahoma City bombing. Initially, many media reports said nothing about these suspects--and 2 others already in custody--beyond the fact that all are Canadian residents and most are Canadian citizens. Yet it soon emerged that the 12 adults and 5 teenagers are Muslims of Somali, Egyptian, Jamaican, and Trinidadian origin.
Media reports have named the Peace Tower in the Canadian Parliament, the CN Tower complex, and the Toronto Stock Exchange as possible targets for the plot, but what is reasonably clear is that the participants intended to inflict mass casualties. According to Luc Portelance, assistant operations director of the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, the suspects had "become adherents to a violent ideology inspired by al Qaeda."
Despite all the uncertainties, a number of media outlets and terrorism analysts, taking a cue from Canadian police, rushed to declare the entire affair the work of homegrown terrorists operating independently of any broader network or organization. Typical of this interpretation were the comments of former White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who told ABC News following the arrests, "This is leaderless terrorism, . . . cells that are not connected to anything. . . . There's nothing in their communications that would indicate this is terrorist communication. The calls are domestic. They're not going back to Afghanistan. And what's probably being said is the equivalent of, 'Let's all get together at Joe's house.'"
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 00:56 ||
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It should be noted that lots of Canadians go to Buffalo. Clothing is much cheaper than in Toronto, for instance, if somewhat less fashionable, and my Canadian friends know the malls I used to shop in better than I do. Also, last I heard, Canadians could buy beer in Buffalo bars at par using Canadian money -- at least a 25% discount, with real Buffalo chicken wings to soak up some of the alcohol. Buffalo's way of thanking Canada for sheltering our people in Iran in 1979.
#4
We're sorry too, John.
We're sorry evil Sadaam is no longer throwing whole people into industrial shredders.
We're sorry his hellspawn kids are no longer using Iraq as their personal S&M Disneyland.
We're sorry people in Afghanistan can fly kites and listen to music
We're sorry some 50 million people are no longer living under tyranny and can join the modern world.
We're sorry some guy gave you that stupid-ass hat.
We're sorry you never found Marlon Brando up around the Cambodian border.
We're sorry you keep showing up telling us just how John 'effing Sorry you are.
At the moment, we're kinda sorta busy with the whole WOT thing, so if you are not going to help, at least stay out of the way.
The Central Intelligence Agency cannot be reformed if its supporters and detractors continue to substitute partisan bickering for a genuine examination of the agencys problems.
In the last year-and-a-half, more than 300 years of experience has either been pushed out or walked out the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) door in frustration. This has left the agency in free-fall. I have visited these brave and committed women and men in nearly every corner of the globe and urge the new director do so. They deserve maximum support and a clear vision of where their agency is headed.
Quite unintentionally, this press release from Representative Jane Harman (D-Calif.) on the resignation of CIA director Porter Goss is a decent guide to the debilitating problems afflicting the agencys clandestine service. Although the operations directorate has certainly been in free-fall, this condition has very little to do with Mr. Gosss tenure. The CIA is a dispirited organization. It should be: the end of the Cold War removed a sustaining sense of purpose and the broad indulgence of the agencys unenviable record of clandestine-intelligence collection, counterespionage, and analytical forecasting.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 01:04 ||
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Saying by F86 SABRE fighter pilots during the [first?]KOREAN WAR > "NOT THE FASTEST BUT THE OLDEST".
#2
A good man is a good man regardless of age - only those men whom knew andor fought wid Osama and the heirarchy of Radical Islam know their various hiding places and networks. UNTIL OSAMA IS CAPTURED OR VERIFIED TO BE DEAD, THE THREAT TO THE USA FROM HIM WILL NEVER END.
#3
Donks have given in to the angry left. Harmon must knuckle under or be replaced.
Politics and power is more important to donks than intelligence.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/13/2006 10:41 Comments ||
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#4
Dan,
Sures there was plenty of rot in the CIA, and some high level folks who did need to be pushed out. But Goss did it in about the worst way, and probably made things worse. Harman may not be completely on the mark, but shes not as far off as this author (Gerecht?) says. AFAICT Hayden is making the right moves now.
#5
the real question is Steve Kappes, isnt it? Hayden and Negroponte think hes competent, and can strengthen operations. Are we better off with Kappes than with Goss and his pals?
#8
yea, Hastings is up if the donks win in November.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/13/2006 19:28 Comments ||
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#9
NewsMax had an article on Hayden yesterday where she said the US had to leave Iraq "as soon as possible". Just another Quisling in the John Murtha mold, with less experience.
I've worked with the CIA (technical folks, never the spooks) on several occasions. They're usually pretty good people, but not very innovative. I've also worked in DC with the imagery folks. There, it's mostly black and white, but still you get a few "senior heads" who are far too political, and don't want to see the forest for the trees. There, at least, the Army, DIA, and State keep them close to the truth, with unfiltered reports - or reports filtered in a different way.
We need something like the CIA was supposed to be - a follow-on to the wartime OSS. Instead, it's become just another political haven for sloppy workers. It needs a good flush. Unfortunately for US, I don't think it's going to happen.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/13/2006 20:56 Comments ||
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President Bush gathered top aides at Camp David here on Monday to calibrate the best way forward in Iraq during what the administration described as a critical juncture, following the death last week of the most-wanted terrorist in Iraq and the final formation of a unity government there.
The meeting was as much a media event as it was a high-level strategy session, devised to send a message that this is "an important break point for the Iraqi people and for our mission in Iraq from the standpoint of the American people," in the words of the White House counselor, Dan Bartlett.
It came as Republicans began a new effort to use last week's events to turn the war to their political advantage after months of anxiety, and to sharpen attacks against Democrats. On Monday night, the president's top political strategist, Karl Rove, told supporters in New Hampshire that if the Democrats had their way, Iraq would fall to terrorists and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would not have been killed.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 00:05 ||
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"post-Zarqawi Iraq strategy"
Hows about kill the rest of the murdering MFs?
Sounds like a good strategy to me.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/13/2006 22:35 Comments ||
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This article was written by Nathan Burchfiel, CNSNews.com
U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts on Tuesday told an audience at the liberal Take Back America conference that he was sorry for voting to authorize the war in Iraq, calling the entire mission "a mistake."
"We were misled, we were given evidence that was not true," Kerry said. "It was wrong, and I was wrong to vote [for it]."
Continued on Page 49
And credibility is based on reliability, honesty, honor, character, discipline, personal integrity, the respect of your superiors and subordinates, and an unwillingness to shirk duty in the face of adversity.
#12
Wait, was he wrong when he voted for it, or when he voted against it?
Yes
Posted by: John Kerry ||
06/13/2006 20:46 Comments ||
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#13
I propose the US military use life-sized cutouts of John Kerry for marksmanship practice. I'm sure the scores would go up 10-20%.
I'm always amazed at John Kerry. You think he's said the silliest thing in the world, and two days later he tops himself. This man is going to go down in history as the biggest buffoon ever elected to Congress.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/13/2006 21:01 Comments ||
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A National Security Agency program that listens in on international communications involving people in the United States is both vital to national security and permitted by the Constitution, a government lawyer told a judge here today in the first major court argument on the program. But, the lawyer went on, addressing Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of the Federal District Court, "the evidence we need to demonstrate to you that it lawful cannot be disclosed without that process itself causing grave harm to United States national security."
The only solution to this impasse, the lawyer, Anthony J. Coppolino, said, was for Judge Taylor to dismiss the lawsuit before her, an American Civil Liberties Union challenge to the eavesdropping program, under the state secrets privilege. The privilege can limit and even extinguish cases that would reveal national security information, and it is fast becoming one of the Justice Department's favorite tools in defending court challenges to its efforts to combat terrorism.
The Detroit case was filed in January on behalf of journalists, scholars, lawyers and nonprofit organizations who contended that the possibility of government eavesdropping interfered with their work. In remarks to reporters after the 90-minute argument, Anthony D. Romero, the A.C.L.U.'s executive director, called the government's invocation of the state secrets privilege "Orwellian doublespeak."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Please, Judge. Throw it out and then throw out the bums that brought it.
PESHAWAR: Senators from FATA assured the NWFP governor of their support in his efforts for peace and development in FATA and expressed hope that the new governor, being a tribesman, would resolve the problems of FATA in the traditional 'tribal way.'
Would that be walking barefoot over hot coals, cutting his wife's nose off, or merely shooting it out with heavy weapons?
Senators Hamidullah Jan Afridi, Abdul Raziq, Maulana Mohammad Hussain, Maulana Abdul Rashid, Maulana Mohammad Saleh Shah, Rashid Ahmad, Hafiz Abdul Malik and Hafiz Rasheed Ahmad called on Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai at the Governor's House on Monday. They congratulated him on becoming the new governor of NWFP, and thanked the president for appointing a tribesman as the province's governor and chief executive for FATA. They also expressed their views on the law and order situation in the tribal areas and stressed that the problems must be resolved in accordance with the tribal customs and traditions.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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The chief judge overseeing the trial of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has opened what he says will be the final day for defence witnesses to be heard. Judge Rauf Abdel Rahman urged the defence team to concentrate on witness testimony, not on "endless rhetoric". One of Saddam's seven co-defendants, his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, was barred from court, having been thrown out the day before. The former Iraqi intelligence chief had called the judge a "dictator".
Judge Abdel Rahman said at the beginning of proceedings on Tuesday: "We have decided to exclude Barzan from today's session because of his repeated violations of the court rules." Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants are being tried in Baghdad for crimes against humanity in connection with the deaths of 148 Shia villagers in the 1980s. Recent sessions have been taken up with accounts by defence witnesses, but Judge Abdel Rahman said Tuesday's testimony would be the last.
"I want to tell the defence attorneys that we are not going to listen to their endless rhetoric," he warned. "The session is to present their witnesses. They have to choose one of the options - either rhetoric or witnesses."
The defence team has complained that it has not been allowed sufficient time to prepare and present its case. US lawyer Curtis Doebbler said on Monday that the defence was "at a serious disadvantage". "We want to work for justice, but that can only happen by having a fair trial and, under the current circumstances, that doesn't seem possible," Mr Doebbler said. He added that it took the prosecution more than five months to present its case, while the defence is being "rushed" to conclude within weeks. "Our witnesses have been intimidated by the court and have been assaulted," Mr Doebbler added.
Once witness testimony is wrapped up, the defence and prosecution will make their closing statements, and then the judges will retire to consider their verdict.
"Hanging, drawn and quartered, firing squad or all of the above?"
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2006 08:56 ||
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I keep reading that there are other trials planned for Saddam after this. I hope that they just hang him after this trial and get it over with.
He needs to be taken to downtown Helebçe and turned loose, so that the women of Helebçe can do to him what the women of Silêmanî did to the Ba'athî after they were thrown off the top of their security building in that city--kill him by cutting piece by piece of his flesh.
Posted by: Azad ||
06/13/2006 13:58 Comments ||
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#5
Well, well. Lawyer Doebbler has a website. And it's got some interesting stuff in it.
Statement of Political Views
My Politics and Political Views
I am a pacifist in so far as I will not use force to achieve political ends and in principle I reject the use of force by both governmental and non-governmental actors. At the same time, I can understand the frustrations of those individuals who turn to the use of force when they or others with whom they identify are being oppressed and have no adequate means of legal recourse.
I strongly support the Social Justice Movement, which I view as the conglomeration of anti-globalists, human rights defenders, and anarchists who are striving for social change towards a world of greater equality. In this sense, I believe in a world of greater equality where no person or company can acquire such a disparity in wealth that others have less than the minimum that enables them to live meaningful lives. To this end I support actions to ensure the redistribution of wealth through governmental intervention as long as these efforts are not based on political biases and reflect the will of the majority of the people in any given country. And I support the intervention of the state to ensure education, health care, social welfare, a minimum income, and the protection of all fundamental human rights.
I ardently oppose American and more broadly western neo-imperialism which is being imposed through the exploitation of the majority of the people of the world and the economic and military dominance of the United States. I believe that all people have a right and a duty to take all necessary measures to end the United States inhumane dominance of the lives of billions of people.
I believe in the right of all people to make an informed choice about their government and to participate in their government in a meaningful way. To achieve this I believe that it is necessary for every person to be guaranteed basic education according to their abilities, the basic health care that is needed to live a meaningful and quality life, and the basic means of subsistence.
I am committed to striving through all means possible and within my capabilities to ensuring that all people, everywhere in world have their human rights respected. To this end, I will employ all my abilities to further the cause of human rights for the most vulnerable, the poorest, and those who have been disenfranchised. The human rights upon which I base my commitment are those which have been accepted by consensus by the international community either in treaties to which particular states have become parties, or, those rights found under customary international law. I believe that human rights must reflect an international consensus and that they should be periodically reviewed with input from all sectors of society and through means that allow extremely broad participation so as to ensure that international human rights law reflects the claims, demands and expectations of the overwhelming majority of the people in the world.
I believe that international law provides a basis for peaceful coexistence. This, I believe, is only the case when states respect international law. When states violate international it is necessary that all steps be taken by all people to punish violating governments and to ensure that they respect international law. This, I believe, is especially important as concerns the most powerful countries in the world.
Finally, I am committed to upholding my beliefs through action and the support of others actions. Such action is the right and responsibility of every individual in the world. It is my particularly strong pledge to assist others, anywhere in the world, who are striving to protect the human rights of the most vulnerable persons in their societies.
...and that's why he's defending Saddam.
I think he's knows Ramsey's reaching the end of the trail and wants to assume the title of America's Leading Quack Lawyer when... well, you know...
It took an F-16 fighter jet dropping two, 500-pound bombs to destroy the Jordanian-born, Iraq-based terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi at his hideout northeast of Baghdad, allowing Team Bush to gloat over its big hit and much of the rest of the world to wonder: What took so long? A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said three females and three males were also killed in the attack; one of the victims "was a girl between the ages of five and seven." Pretty sexy intro, no? Now check out the cherry-picked winners they've collected at the link.
#1
I like the bold lettering. It makes it so much easier for the author's audience to understand the point he's making in between their morning bong hits.
We can only hope that one day Mr. Gomez will be able to pose that question face-to-face to the Task Force 145 guys. Perhaps they'll have an answer for him.
Posted by: Matt ||
06/13/2006 9:04 Comments ||
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#3
Encourage their anti-american rants, but call them on it every time. This will insure they continue to lose national elections. More people can see through the bullshit than they are willing to admit.
Edward M. Gomez, a former U.S. diplomat and staff reporter at TIME, has lived and worked in the U.S. and overseas, and speaks several languages. He has written for The New York Times, the Japan Times and the International Herald Tribune.
Shocked into action by violence on their own soil, Jordan officials months ago began an intensive campaign of spying on insurgents in neighboring Iraq, a gambit that ultimately helped lead to the death of militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Jordan's top spies said Monday.
Maj. Gen. Muhammed Dahabi, director of Jordan's General Intelligence Department, and Col. Ali Burjaq, his chief of counterterrorism, said in a rare interview Monday that a splashy video tape al-Zarqawi released earlier this spring helped Jordanian intelligence pinpoint his approximate location at the time, a key lead that ultimately led to al-Zarqawi's death in a U.S. aerial bombing attack last week.
Al-Zarqawi's need to micromanage all aspects of his al-Qaida in Iraq organization, from finances to operations, also made him vulnerable to discovery, the two intelligence officials said.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 01:07 ||
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Now, all this would change if it was found that the Jordanian GID tortured anyone.
If they did, than the bombs must be returned to their launch holds and Zarq must be allowed to return to his former self. For Gawd sake, and international justice.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/13/2006 19:35 Comments ||
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THE LAST QUESTION to General Bill Caldwell at his briefing last Thursday on the death of Abu Musab al Zarqawi came from New York Times reporter Richard Oppel, who wanted to know about Abu al-Masri, an Egyptian whom many expect to replace Zarqawi as the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.
Said Caldwell: "Yeah, al Masri, Egyptian Arab. He's not an Iraqi. Born and raised in Egypt. He was trained in Afghanistan, went through his training there. We know he has been involved with IEDs and making here in Iraq. Probably came here around 2002 into Iraq, probably actually helped establish maybe the first al Qaeda cell that existed in the Baghdad area."
Huh? Doesn't Caldwell understand that there were no al Qaeda terrorists in Iraq before the U.S. invasion of March 2003? Everyone knows that terrorists flocked to Iraq only after the war began.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 01:01 ||
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Written before the Jordanians said al-Masri was toes up, but still a good read.
WITH THE DEATH of Abu Musab Zarqawi, a great deal of attention has focused on Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born terrorist that Major General William Caldwell singled out as the "most logical" choice by al Qaeda in Iraq to replace Zarqawi. What all of this attention has missed, however, is what it means concerning U.S. pre-war claims about Iraqi collaboration with al Qaeda.
According to the information provided by the U.S. military, al-Masri traveled to Iraq in 2002 before Zarqawi and established the first al Qaeda cell in the Baghdad area. From both his nationality and connections with al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, it can be reasonably concluded that al-Masri was a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the group that al-Zawahiri headed prior to his merger with bin Laden's organization. This is significant, given the 9/11 Commission report's cryptic note that al-Zawahiri had "ties of his own" to the former Iraqi regime and al-Masri's presence in Saddam's Baghdad.
Slain Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi aimed to trigger a bloody regional Shia-Sunni conflict, state television reported Monday, as the US military prepared to reveal results of the autopsy on his corpse.
Iraqs state television Al-Iraqiya quoted the documents seized from his bombed safe house as saying Zarqawi planned to create a war between the Shias of Iraq and the Sunni Arabs in the Gulf.
It said he aimed to create divisions within the Shia community and between Shias and Americans and between Iraqi Shia politicians Ahmed Chalabi and Iyad Allawi, the former pro-Western premier of Iraq.
He also had his eyes set on igniting a conflict between powerful Iraqi Shia politician Abdel Aziz al-Hakim and fiery Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, the report said.
He also planned to infiltrate the security forces in Iraq by getting his men join the forces during recruitment camps, the report added. The documents however also acknowledged the growing might of security forces and the increased pressures the insurgents faced while operating in Iraq, the report added.
Zarqawi and five others were killed in a US air raid on a safe house near the restive city of Baquba on Wednesday.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 00:23 ||
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#1
Commies-for-Fascism-for-Communism, Secularists-for-Deism-for-Secularism, Shias-for-Sunnism-for-Shia-ism, .......... HATED DESPICABLE HITLER = BELOVED/WELL-MEANING, ERROR-PRONE HALF-A-COMRADE TO STALIN-MAO!? MASCULINE FASCIST ARROGANT SELFISH AUTHORITARIAN MALE BRUTES need to be saved = destroyed by FEMININE MOTHERLY PRAGMATIC COMMUNISM-TOTALITARIANISM [everyone = no one].
#3
"Slain Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi aimed to trigger a bloody regional Shia-Sunni conflict" - which is precisely the reason he should have been left alone to do his thing.
#4
I get the distinct impression that English is Joe's second or maybe third language.
The thought patterns are jarringly different, but if you read his posts slowly, can usualy be deciphered well enough to get the thought across the language barrier.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/13/2006 22:35 Comments ||
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Al-Qaeda apparently has its own intelligence service, though that sort of makes sense given some of the behavior we've seen to date.
Family members of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq killed by US forces last week, have begun a mourning period in his home town of al-Zarka in Jordan.
They are performing rituals that they say are not condolences but a "wedding" for Zarqawi, because he has been martyred and is going to heaven.
BAGHDAD: Slain Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi aimed to trigger a bloody regional Shia-Sunni conflict, state television reported Monday, as the US military prepared to reveal results of the autopsy on his corpse.
Iraq's state television Al-Iraqiya quoted the documents seized from his bombed safe house as saying Zarqawi planned to create a war between the Shias of Iraq and the Sunni Arabs in the Gulf. It said he aimed to create divisions within the Shia community and between "Shias and Americans and between Iraqi Shia politicians Ahmed Chalabi and Iyad Allawi," the former pro-Western premier of Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Saddam Hussein's former intelligence chief was dragged out of court and manhandled by guards after arguing with the judge Monday, and an American lawyer blasted the trial, saying unfair treatment was putting the defence at a "serious disadvantage.'' Chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman ordered Barzan Ibrahim removed after he accused the court of "terrorizing'' the defence. Iraqi guards grabbed Ibrahim by the arms and pulled him out, and when he tried to shrug them off, they held his left arm and pushed him into a wall as they tried to hustle him out the door, causing an uproar among the defence lawyers.
"This is dictatorial,'' Ibrahim shouted as he was pulled out. "You know dictatorship,'' Abdel-Rahman sneered.
"They are beating him in front of your eyes. Right at the door,'' defence lawyer Mohammed Munib shouted to the judge. "How can we ask you to protect the defendant when they beat him right in front of you?''
Abdel-Rahman banged his gavel and lectured the defence to be quiet. After the uproar, Saddam stood and sarcastically suggested the defence and defendants leave "if this will bring you calm and quiet and give you the opportunity to reach your verdicts. ... If my presence bothers you then I can withdraw and ask the defence team to withdraw as well.''
"You are before the world, which sees through this place, whether they hear from the so-called defendants or defence or the attackers,'' he said, referring to the prosecution. "People, Iraq's money is being stolen. Bloodshed is taking place every day, four times as much bloodshed in Dujail -- I mean those who were sentenced to death.''
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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I thought this was interesting:
"The prisoners' document talks about the establishment of a national unity government and I think it's a good idea. We need a new government whose head and members are independent."
An optimist might wishfully think they want to pull a Sharon and freeze out the extremists by forming the Palestinian KADIMA party.
#2
While the dispute between Abbas and Hamas more than anything resembles an Olympic class p!ssing contest, it is sort of cute to see Abu Mudhen tweak Hamas' beak solely becase he possesses some minor vestiges of elected authority. Sadly, I'm confident that the lesson regarding cooperation and coexistence is entirely lost on Hamas, but it's still great fun to see them get rogered by their own kith and kin.
#3
One of the ministers, Abdel Rahman Zeidan, said he discovered earlier this week that he was unable to draw cash from his account at the Cairo-Amman Bank. He added that when he asked the bank manager why, he was told that all the accounts of Hamas ministers and legislators had been frozen because of the debts of the PA government.
heh heh..hard to pay your snuffies if the damn ATM won't give you the cash
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2006 22:23 Comments ||
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According to the findings, shrapnel taken from two wounded Palestinians who were evacuated to Israeli hospitals showed that the explosives were not made in Israel, the officials said. In addition, the last Israeli shell fired toward Palestinian rocket launchers who operate in the area was at 4:51 p.m., seven minutes before the blast, and landed 250 meters (yards) away from the scene, the officials said.
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2006 08:10 ||
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From CNN: The explosion on a Gaza beach that killed seven people last Friday was caused by explosives planted there by Palestinian militants, not artillery fire from an Israeli navy gunboat, Israeli military sources said Tuesday.
However, in Gaza, the group Human Rights Watch said the evidence it has been able to gather suggests that a 155 mm artillery shell, like the type used by the Israeli military, was responsible.
The Israeli investigation concluded that the possibility any of the six artillery shells fired from the gunboat could have landed on the beach was "almost nil," the sources said.
The Israel Defense Forces report was presented to the Israeli defense minister and Israeli chief of staff Tuesday. The IDF report cites several factors that led to the conclusion that the explosion was caused by a mine planted on the beach by Palestinian militants, the sources said.
An Israeli commando unit used the beach to enter Gaza for a mission in recent weeks, prompting the militants to place the mines, the sources said. Intelligence information gathered by Israeli investigators showed that Hamas quickly removed the remaining mines from the beach after the blast, the sources said.
Investigators were able to locate where five of the six shells fired from the gunboat Friday landed and none of them were near the beach, the sources said. The sixth shell -- the first to be fired -- could not have killed the family because it was fired further north and too early, the sources said. Adding to the conclusion that it was not an Israeli shell that killed the family was an examination of photographs of the crater on the beach. The sources said experts found it was the type of crater caused by a planted explosive, not by an artillery shell landing from above. Finally, shrapnel removed from three of the injured by doctors at Israeli hospitals was not from an artillery shell, the sources said.
But Human Rights Watch said its investigation of the incident came up with opposite conclusions in almost every case. The group said most of the injuries to the dead were to the head and torso. A Human Rights Watch spokesman said that would be consistent with an incoming shell, not a bomb buried in the ground.
Human Rights Watch also said the crater was consistent with a 155 mm artillery shell.
Which proves the Israelis point. The IDF Navy ships are equipped with 76 mm, 57 mm, 30 mm and 25 mm guns. All of which are a great deal smaller than 155 mm.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2006 14:34 Comments ||
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#4
Since when has the MSM let mere facts get in the way?
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday that he hoped French President Jacques Chirac would become a partner in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
While meeting with representatives of the Jewish community in London, the prime minister said he would do all in his power to convince Chirac to support his realignment plan.
Israel Radio reported that Olmert said he noticed a more friendly and understanding attitude on the part of both France and Great Britain towards Israel.
Indonesia's spy chief said he hoped Abu Bakar Baashir will cooperate with terrorism investigators when he is released from prison on Wednesday, as hundreds of his supportersprepared to give the aging cleric a hero's welcome.
Baashir is alleged to be a key leader in the al-Qaida-linked Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. There are concerns his release may energize the region's small, radical fringe.
The stick-thin 68-year-old cleric will walk from Jakarta's Cipinang prison Wednesday after serving 26 months for giving his blessing to the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, which killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.
Baashir, who has always maintained his innocence, plans to return to the Islamic boarding school he founded, and which was attended by many convicted terrorists, and retake his position at the head of his legal hardline Islamic organization.
Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency chief Syamsir Siregar said the organization, the Council of Mujahidin for Islamic Law Enforcement, was used by Jemaah Islamiyah-linked militants as a "place for their struggle."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 00:27 ||
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"So, y'know, we don't haveta stuff him in a 55 gallon drum and drop him in the Marianas Trench."
#2
Indonesian intel chief sez he hopes Bashir will start working with authorities
Guess what, you stupid sh!ts? HE HAS BEEN WORKING WITH THE AUTHORITIES FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW. How do you think Noordin Top consistently eludes encircling police forces? Corrupt f&cks. Kill Bashir, now!
June 13, 2006: While Iran has long been castigated for supporting Islamic terrorism around the world, they also have a terrorism problem at home. This is a result of Iran still being an empire. Only about half of Iranians are ethnic Iranians (or Persians, as many Iranians still call themselves). The rest of the Iranians are ethnic and religious minorities. It's the ethnic minorities that cause the most terrorism problems. The largest minority, Azeris (Turks) are a quarter of the population. Kurds are about seven percent, one percent are Baluchis, and three percent are Arabs. Another 14 percent are various other Turkic groups, or Indo-European groups related to the Persians.
Right across the border in the northwest is the nation of Azerbaijan, which used to be part of the Soviet Union. Independent for the last fifteen years, the existence of an independent Azerbaijan, run by Azeris, has inspired some separatist sentiments among Iranian Azeris. That's unfortunate, because Azeris have done well in Iran, and for the nearly two centuries that Russians ran Azerbaijan, it was the Iranian Azeris that believed they had the better deal. Many Iranian Azeris hold prominent positions in government, academia, business and the clergy. But ethnic Iranians still look down on the Azeris, and this often comes out into the open. Part of this is resentment, as for the last five centuries, Azeris have been overrepresented in the ruling class. Because of that, most Azeris live in and around the capital. But some of the Azeris living up bear the border with Azerbaijan, are acting up. This, literally, terrifies ethnic Iranians, for the ultimate nightmare is widespread unrest by the nations largest, and most able, minority. Iran also shares a border with Turkey, which considers itself the protector and "elder brother" of all the Turkic people. Ethnic Iranians blame unrest by Azeris on "Turkish agents," but there is no proof of that. However, many educated and affluent Azeris are unhappy with the religious dictatorship that runs Iran (even though many of the senior clerics running things are Azeris.)
The Kurds, like their kinsmen in Turkey and Iraq, have been rebelling for centuries. Currently, there are several organized separatist Kurdish groups in Iran. There have been lots of gunfire and explosions in the Kurdish areas of Iran (near the border with northern Iraq, where semi-independent Iraqi Kurds live.)
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Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2006 13:26 ||
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The former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has described the Syrian economy as a promising one in his speech at the opening of the Second Syrian-Emirati Economic Forum in Damascus yesterday. He also said that the Syrian economy is taking continuous steps towards integration in the world economy.
Just as soon as they get past the sanctions, the mistrust and the worthless money problem.
Sheikh Tarek bin Faysal Al Qasimi, head of Economic development department in Sharjah, stressed in his remarks that oil has contributed in developing economies in the emirates as well as infrastructure development. Sheikh Al Qasimi stressed that economic growth rate ranges between 1 - 18 per cent especially in tourism, industry, education sectors.
Abdullah Dardari, Syrian deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said: " I cannot imagine investments in Syria without the presence of Emarati investors as well as the presence of Syria's traditional friends in Europe, especially Germany." Another proud moment in German history
Dardari said that Syria's GDP growth rate had reached more than 4.5 per cent due to the stress on macro development in its economic policies. Dardari said the government's role should be always omnipresent to create job opportunities or preparing an economic environment that would indirectly contribute to creating job opportunities, transparent working mechanisms and continuous legislative development that is compatible to modernisation and integration in world economy. Yes, all those things that Syria has done so well in the past, in other words.
As Iran weighs how to respond to an international package of incentives intended to curb its nuclear activities, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday faulted Iran for failing to provide information crucial to understanding fully the nature and intent of its nuclear program.
In prepared remarks in Vienna opening the agency's 35-country board meeting, Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general, said his agency "has not made much progress in resolving outstanding verification issues." He added, "I would continue to urge Iran to provide the cooperation needed to resolve these issues."
Dr. ElBaradei's assessment was expected. Since February, Iran has substantially reduced access to dozens of atomic sites, programs and personnel, abiding only by the minimum cooperation required under arms-control accords.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 00:11 ||
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Gone fishing
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/13/2006 19:38 Comments ||
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iranian police with batons and shields beat women's rights demonstrators in a downtown Tehran square Monday, injuring one protester and detaining 20. The protest by about 200 women was organized by a previously unknown group calling itself the Labor and Communist Party. An invitation delivered to The Associated Press on Sunday demanded equal rights for women and the nullification of a law allowing Iranian men to have four wives. "We are women, we are human, but we don't have any rights!" protesters chanted.
Sucks to live in an Islamic state, huh?
Some 100 police, including female officers, attacked the demonstrators and dispersed them about an hour after the protest began. Throughout most of the confrontation, female officers beat female protesters and male police beat male protesters there to support the women. Male police generally are not permitted to touch female suspects.
How ecumenical.
None of Iran's state-run media reported on the protest. "They won't report it (because) they don't like people who think about their quality of life," said Marzia, a 34-year-old protester who also would not give her last name.
Iran's Islamic law imposes tight restrictions on women. They need a male guardian's permission to work or travel. Women are not allowed to become judges, and a man's court testimony is considered twice as important as a woman's. Despite such restrictions, Iranian women have more rights than their counterparts in Saudi Arabia and some other conservative Muslim countries. They can drive, vote and run for office.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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When regime change is effected in Iran, there should be a pro-women bias in the hiring of the new (mixed) Iranian police force and army. And they will uphold the new laws which make domestic violence a crime.
#2
I don't know if it is just fashionable to report it now or what, but I have read a flurry of articles in the last 2 weeks about people in Iran standing up together and telling the MM's to kiss off.
Syria's former vice president Abdel-Halim Khaddam has said he was confident the US inquiry into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri would convict senior Syrian officials. "I am as sure of this as I am that the sun will continue to rise from the East," he said late on Sunday in a telephone interview from Paris, where he has been living since breaking away from President Bashar al-Assad last year. "The Syrian regime knows what it did ... and how the crime was committed. The day of truth will come."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Iran's chief negotiator said on Monday that Tehran was winning Arab sympathy in its standoff with world powers over its nuclear programme. Ali Larijani made the remark during a visit to Algeria, following a trip to Egypt on Sunday for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arab League head Amr Moussa.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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At 3.55 p.m. on October 19, 2005, a squad of anti-terrorist police rang the doorbell of a ground-floor apartment in the Bosnian capitol of Sarajevo. The door was opened by Mirsad Bektasevic, a 19-year old Bosnian native who had spent most of his life in Sweden, and who held a Swedish passport. According to an official English translation of a Bosnian indictment, the police showed Bekasevic a search warrant and their ID cards, but Bektasevic refused to move out of the doorway and allow them in. Then he started trying to push one of the officers back out the door, exclaiming: Who are you to search my house, you trash.
Police subdued Bektasevic and barged into the apartment. Inside, they found Bektasevics room-mate, a Dane of Turkish extraction named Abdulkadir Cesur, sitting on a sofa with his hand under his coat. Police moved to wrestle the coat off Cesur, at which point they discovered he had in his hand a pistol with a silencer. Cesurs finger was on the trigger and a bullet was in the chamber. Police knocked the pistol out of Cesurs hands and wrestled him to the floor. Their search of the apartment proved productive: among items discovered were a home-made suicide belt, a quantity of factory-made explosives and a Hi-8 videotape with footage demonstrating how to make a home-made bomb. The tape included this bloodcurdling voiceover: Here, the brothers are preparing for attacks These brothers are ready to attack and inshallah, they will attack al-Qufar who our killing our brothers and Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and many other countries. These weapons are going to be used against Europe, against those whose forces are in Iraq and in Afghanistan Subsequent analysis by Britains Home Office determined that the voice on the tape was more than rather likely that of the suspect Mirsad Bektasevic.
Within a day or two of the Bosnia arrests, police in Britain had staged their own, related, series of arrests. Two London men were arrested on terrorism related charges, which included allegations that they were in possession of computer images showing how to make car bombs and "martyrdom operations vests." One suspect, Younis Tsouli, was also charged with possessing computer images of "a number of places" in Washington, D.C. (A third suspect faced terror-funding charges.) Counterterrorism officials in the United States and Britain told NEWSWEEK at the time that the evidence suggested some of those connected with the U.K. suspects may have been targeting the White House and Capitol complex for attacks using homemade bombs. As we reported at the time, the British suspects were believed to have been in e-mail contact, via Hotmail accounts, with a suspected jihadist recruiter who used the Internet nom de guerre Maximus. According to the officials, Maximus was initially based in Sweden and moved to Sarajevo, where investigators believe he helped run a network recruiting European youth to go to Iraq.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 02:42 ||
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The interest and presence of global Jihad groups in Africa is not new, particularly in the eastern and northern parts of the continent. Yet, more recently, in the wake of political violence in Sudan and Somalia, it seems that Africa is becoming a viable region for Al-Qaeda. This has manifested itself through organized Jihadi radicalism, and self-radicalized sympathizers of global Jihad, which follow the strategy and doctrines of Al-Qaeda and its supportive clerics and scholars. In the past year we have witnessed a growing presence of new formed Jihadi groups in Africa , which use old and more recent violent conflicts to radicalize African Islamic elements, recruit support, and bring the African arena under the Jihadi global umbrella.
Recently, a new article published by a virtual magazine of supporters of global JihadSada al-Jihad (Echo of Jihad)has very clearly sketched the new direction of Al-Qaeda or global Jihad towards Africa. The magazine, which celebrated in June 2006 its 7th issue, appears to be an alternative to the late popular Jihadi virtual magazine Sawt al-Jihad, which was published by Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. It disappeared after the severe and successful measures taken by the Saudi authorities against the Saudi branch of Al-Qaeda.
The article in Arabic, titled Al-Qaeda is moving to Africa by Abu Azzam al-Ansari provides us with an analysis of all the possible advantages of Africa as a battlefield and greenhouse for global Jihad. Here is the translation of the full text of the article, which speaks very clearly for itself:(2)
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 01:45 ||
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North Africa to be more specific, subsaharan Africa is becoming Christian and a rapid pace these days.
The Jihad Media Battalion, a jihadist video compilation and distribution group, recently issued a 12:33 minute video addressed to the United States, titled: They Are Coming, which warns of impending mujahideen operations. Video clips of combat training and attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Philippines, Kashmir, Chechnya, Somalia, Pakistan and Indonesia populate the propaganda portion of the film, and images of wounded and maimed soldiers are interspersed throughout.
Past footage of a video speech by Abu Hager al-Muqrin, a leader of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia, and Usama bin Laden encouraging the mujahideen to attack American interests are shown, compiled with images of weeping soldiers and soldiers buried in sand. In addition, the film features a lengthy segment from John Pilgers 2003 documentary, Breaking the Silence, is displayed, showing part of an interview with William Krystal of the Weekly Standard publication talking about America as a jingoistic nation. The Jihad Media Battalion places a question over the clip: Is Bush telling the truth?
The video concludes with a series of messages aimed at the American forces and question their faith in their leaders, and coming to Muslim lands despite being warns. They states: you came to your graveyard we will end your tyranny against the world so blame no one but your selfs when they come to you.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 00:39 ||
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#1
Yeah, but still the only "good Al-Qaeda is a dead Al-Qaeda!".
#2
Oh my, they're featuring Jooos, now. Krystal is occasionally (frequently?) an asshole when he isn't acknowledged as the End All, Be All, of Political Thought, LOL. That the Alqies are reduced to using his personal sreeching is hysterical.
Nearly 10 years after Osama bin Laden declared war on the United States, America may be fighting not just one Al Qaeda, but many Al Qaedas, spread all over the globe.
The physical nodes of this network remain highly vulnerable to attack. That's shown by last week's arrest of 17 alleged home-grown jihadis in Canada, plus the death of the notorious Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a US airstrike in Iraq.
But the beliefs that inspired these men are far more difficult to counter. Both the Canadian cell and Mr. Zarqawi were self-motivated - not direct recruits of the bin Laden organization.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 00:16 ||
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The Emir of the Global Islamic Media Front, Salah al-Din II, issued in a recent statement a eulogy for the Emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, drawing similarities between the occasion of the death of Zarqawi and a leader from Islamic history, Hamza bin Abdul Mutalib, the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. He finds that Zarqawis tone in his visual speech from April 25, 2006, was one of calm and completeness, and that he had laid the groundwork for the establishment of the Islamic Caliphate in Iraq that was to be built by the provoked Muslim Nation in jihad and fighting for the Sake of Allah. The mujahideen, in the emirs view, walk the same path that the Prophet Muhammad had built, and Usama bin Laden and Zarqawi had lengthened.
Further, the statement addresses the Muslims in general and jihad supporters in particular, asking for patience in jihad and encouraging activity within the Global Islamic Media Front: Do not be desperate and do not expect any fruits but only with work, preparing and relying Allah. Do not forget the media jihad for it is the best support for people who are on the front lines. Do not abandon and sit. .. Let Allahs enemies fear your pens and tongues.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2006 00:15 ||
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Jeez Louieez, God and Madonna go to the trouble of sending a Hiroshima-sized meteor into Norway and nobody notices, not even Hollyweird, not even the Daycare = Seniorcare wiping out Radical Islamists. Guess when the Moon explodes circa 2030 no one will notice that either. All they want is Ollie Stone making a film in the 1960's many decades later called PLATOON, JFK and BORN ON FOURTH OF JULY, and AEROSMITH + TEXAS-SIZED ASTEROID in a movie called ARMAGEDDON, NOT starring AL Gore, Jlo, or Affleck, etal.
Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1973 leaked what came to be known as the Pentagon Papers, has called on his fellow countrymen to have the courage to face what is being done in their name in Iraq. In an opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Times, Ellsberg, who was sent to jail for making official secrets public, but whose action helped bring the Vietnam war to an end, writes that if the findings of a recent poll are correct that the majority of Iraqis believes that a US withdrawal is the best thing for them, then that is what the American people should demand.
Ellsberg refers to a joint resolution referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week by Senator Barbara Boxer, which calls for the withdrawal of all American military forces from Iraq by December 31. Boxer's "redeployment" bill cites in its preamble a January poll finding that 64 percent of Iraqis believe that crime and violent attacks will decrease if the US leaves Iraq within six months, 67 percent believe that their day-to-day security will increase if the US withdraws and 73 percent believe that factions in parliament will cooperate more if the US withdraws.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Point of fact: the Papers were leaked in 1971 and were first published (by NYT) in June of that year. 1973 would have been way too late as the Paris Peace Accords were signed on Jan. 27, 1973.
#2
Daniel Ellsberg should be enjoying his retirement years in a federal penitentiary. Not prosecuting such criminals, and those that traveled to North Vietnam to campaign against the US, was one of Nixon's greatest errors.
Even had they been acquitted, it would have still reiterated that treason is treason.
A new documentary aimed at denigrating Islam and attempting to show that it is not a religion of peace but war and conflict is due to be released in three US cities on July 7. The documentary called 'Islam: what the West needs to know' has been produced by a company with the improbable name of Quixotic Media and will be initially released in Washington, Atlanta and Chicago.
The 98-minutes film's main idea, according to the producers, is that it is not correct that those who commit violence in the name of Islam misinterpret the religion's teachings, because Islam is a "violent, expansionary ideology that seeks the destruction or subjugation of other faiths, cultures and systems of government". The documentary consists of interviews, selected citations from Islamic texts and Islamic artwork, computer-animated maps, Islamic television broadcasts and footage featuring Western leaders. The producers claim that the film's tone is "sober, methodical and compelling".
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Good news. Good timing. Hope everyone goes to see it, since the vast majority of Americans no longer seem to be able to read and comprehend. So pictures are welcome.
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.
Sudan is to be fronted before the United Nations (UN) Security Council by President Idriss Deby Itno of Chad for backing rebels trying to overthrow Chadian Government. Ahmat Allami, Chad's foreign minister assured members of the council that Chad intended lodging a complaint about Sudanese aggression. According to Allami the move "follows the powerlessness of the African Union to mediate". 
The Somali law makers in Baidoa in southwest Somalia have delayed on Monday voting on the government proposal of deploying African peace keeping troops in Somalia, as the curfew on Baidoa town 240km of the capital enters its third day with most of the people turned deaf ear to the blackout. 
The Islamist leader whose 
CAIRO - The leader of Egypts Muslim Brotherhood said in an interview that tourists could drink alcohol inside their hotels and people should decide for themselves whether to accept bank interest.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced on Sunday that he will visit Iran and North Korea, two nations at odds with Washington over nuclear development, at a time when Chavez is seeking to distance Venezuela from the United States.
This article was written by Nathan Burchfiel, CNSNews.com 
A National Security Agency program that listens in on international communications involving people in the United States is both vital to national security and permitted by the Constitution, a government lawyer told a judge here today in the first major court argument on the program. But, the lawyer went on, addressing Judge Anna Diggs Taylor of the Federal District Court, "the evidence we need to demonstrate to you that it lawful cannot be disclosed without that process itself causing grave harm to United States national security."
PESHAWAR: Senators from FATA assured the NWFP governor of their support in his efforts for peace and development in FATA and expressed hope that the new governor, being a tribesman, would resolve the problems of FATA in the traditional 'tribal way.'
The chief judge overseeing the trial of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has opened what he says will be the final day for defence witnesses to be heard. Judge Rauf Abdel Rahman urged the defence team to concentrate on witness testimony, not on "endless rhetoric". One of Saddam's seven co-defendants, his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, was barred from court, having been thrown out the day before. The former Iraqi intelligence chief had called the judge a "dictator". 
It took an F-16 fighter jet dropping two, 500-pound bombs to destroy the Jordanian-born, Iraq-based terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi at his hideout northeast of Baghdad, allowing Team Bush to gloat over its big hit and much of the rest of the world to wonder: What took so long? A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said three females and three males were also killed in the attack; one of the victims "was a girl between the ages of five and seven."
BAGHDAD: Slain Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi aimed to trigger a bloody regional Shia-Sunni conflict, state television reported Monday, as the US military prepared to reveal results of the autopsy on his corpse.
Saddam Hussein's former intelligence chief was dragged out of court and manhandled by guards after arguing with the judge Monday, and an American lawyer blasted the trial, saying unfair treatment was putting the defence at a "serious disadvantage.'' Chief judge 
The former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has described the Syrian economy as a promising one in his speech at the opening of the Second Syrian-Emirati Economic Forum in Damascus yesterday. He also said that the Syrian economy is taking continuous steps towards integration in the world economy.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iranian police with batons and shields beat women's rights demonstrators in a downtown Tehran square Monday, injuring one protester and detaining 20. The protest by about 200 women was organized by a previously unknown group calling itself the Labor and Communist Party. An invitation delivered to The Associated Press on Sunday demanded equal rights for women and the nullification of a law allowing Iranian men to have four wives. "We are women, we are human, but we don't have any rights!" protesters chanted.
Syria's former vice president Abdel-Halim Khaddam has said he was confident the US inquiry into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri would convict senior Syrian officials. "I am as sure of this as I am that the sun will continue to rise from the East," he said late on Sunday in a telephone interview from Paris, where he has been living since breaking away from President Bashar al-Assad last year. "The Syrian regime knows what it did ... and how the crime was committed. The day of truth will come."
Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1973 leaked what came to be known as the Pentagon Papers, has called on his fellow countrymen to have the courage to face what is being done in their name in Iraq. In an opinion piece published in the Los Angeles Times, Ellsberg, who was sent to jail for making official secrets public, but whose action helped bring the Vietnam war to an end, writes that if the findings of a recent poll are correct that the majority of Iraqis believes that a US withdrawal is the best thing for them, then that is what the American people should demand.
A new documentary aimed at denigrating Islam and attempting to show that it is not a religion of peace but war and conflict is due to be released in three US cities on July 7. The documentary called 'Islam: what the West needs to know' has been produced by a company with the improbable name of Quixotic Media and will be initially released in Washington, Atlanta and Chicago.
