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Today: 73 articles and 288 comments as of 2:55.
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Dems blink: House Approves War-Funding Bill
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
VIDEO: Royal Marine Shot: Keeps Fighting
A British Royal Marine in Afghanistan with a helmet camera gets shot or hit by shrapnel. Intense footage.
Posted by: Jumble Omairt7473 || 05/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Bomb attack kills Mog cop
(SomaliNet) A bomb was thrown at a police station in north of Somalia capital Mogadishu overnight killing one soldier, local official confirmed on Thursday – the attack came as north part of the capital still under curfew.

The attack happened in Huriwaa neighborhood in north of Mogadishu where unknown gunman attacked the police station with a hand grenade bomb apparently causing the death of one police officer and wounding others. “It was heavy explosion that rocked the area, sending a thick smoke cloud in the sky but we could not come out because of insecurity,” local resident told Somalinet. The attacker escaped unharmed.

Soon after the bomb blast the police opened fire on the attacker killing one civilian and wounding five others. The civilian person was killed by stray bullets fired by the police in response to the attack. The security forces searched the area of the blast arresting 20 people linking with the bomb attack.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/25/2007 01:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Explosion kills a soldier in southern Somalia
(SomaliNet) One soldier on Thursday was confirmed dead and two others were wounded when a big explosion rocked Bulo-Gadud village on the suburb of the Somalia southern port city of Kismayu, 500km of the capital. Witnesses told Somalinet that the explosion was caused by a rocket propelled grenade that accidentally exploded inside the army compound.

Bulo-gadud, some miles away of Kismayu is a base of clan based government soldiers who involved in the recent clashes in the city and it is feared that these soldiers might again launch an attack to recapture the port city.
Sucks to live in a failed state, huh?
Local residents in Bulo-Gadud grew more concern over the insecurity in their village following the clashes of rival clan militias within the government. Killing, raping and robbing are rampant in the Somali’s southern region of lower Juba after the withdrawal of the Ethiopian forces from the region. Rival clans are challenging for the control of Kismayu, the provincial capital.
Boy howdy those AU peacekeepers are doing a great job.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/25/2007 01:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Spanish court upholds ruling against three US soldiers
A Spanish court on Thursday upheld an indictment against three U.S. soldiers in the death of a Spanish journalist in Iraq, rejecting an appeal filed by national prosecutors. Spain's National Court had filed the indictment in April, charging the three American soldiers with homicide and a crime against the international community - defined under Spanish law as an indiscriminate or excessive attack against civilians during war time.

The national prosecutors' office challenged the indictment last week, arguing that the firing of a tank shell that killed TV cameraman Jose Couso in April 2003 had not been a crime, but rather an accident of war. Judge Santiago Pedraz - the same judge who issued the April 27 indictment - threw out the appeal on Thursday. In Spain it is investigative magistrates, rather than prosecutors, who file criminal charges. In Thursday's ruling, Pedraz said the three Americans had used indiscriminate and excessive force when they opened fire from their tank at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel, where many journalists including Couso were staying.

Pedraz said there was no evidence of a sniper or a spotter at the hotel, and that even if there had been a spotter, the firing of a 120-millimeter caliber tank shell would have been a devastating and disproportionate response. "The collateral damage that would be produced was predictable, that is the death and injury of those staying at the hotel," Pedraz said. Pedraz has issued several arrests warrants against the three soldiers, but the United States has said it would not hand them over. The soldiers still run the risk of arrest under a Spanish-issued international warrant should they travel to any country that has an extradition accord with Spain.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bomb Spain. Seriously.
Posted by: Iblis || 05/25/2007 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  FU Spaniard turncoats. These guys should have a medal for eliminating journos from the battlespace. I keep waiting for a video posting of a JDAM direct hit on an Al-Jiz transmission van with the warbler on the mike standing out front taking the shock wave before everything fades to black.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 || 05/25/2007 0:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Pandering to the anti-US crowd. In the end this pointless since those three sodies will enver step foot on Spanish soil.
Posted by: Charles || 05/25/2007 2:09 Comments || Top||

#4  This is mind-boggling, a justice court arguing about a "disproportionate" response in wartime. So, to kill a sniper and or a spotter, you must use a rifle, presumably of the same caliber? And perhaps read him his right before? Fire warning shots? Incredible. And completely futile : empty gestures and moral posturing.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/25/2007 7:13 Comments || Top||

#5  On Sunday tehre will be regional elections in Spain and thsee are seen as an important test of support to Zapatero. Just a coincidence.
Posted by: JFM || 05/25/2007 10:33 Comments || Top||

#6  If we had a legislature or administration, there could be some fitting response: harsh meeting with the Spanish ambassador, suspension of joint training and exchanges, cancellation of any port calls, suspension of visa waiver for Spanish nationals - and I'd tell State I want four more high-profile measures as options, so identify them. A civil suit against the agency employing the deceased photographer would be good (basis? since when did the court system in the US operate on the basis of reality or common sense?)

What, you say that this would unfairly punish a country that is not hostile to us, or damage our relations even when the national govt. is trying to quash this outrage? Hmmm. No sale. Anyone with a brain in Spain knows the merits in this case, and raising the price for the arrogant and outrageous behavior of this despicable "judge" will only reinforce the lesson.

But, alas, we have no congress or administration at the moment, so ....
Posted by: Verlaine || 05/25/2007 10:51 Comments || Top||

#7  In the end this pointless since those three sodies will enver step foot on Spanish soil.

They won't be going to Spain, that's true. However, there is still a danger if they were reassigned or transit any EU country.

The soldiers still run the risk of arrest under a Spanish-issued international warrant should they travel to any country that has an extradition accord with Spain.

I think that's any EU nation, correct?
Posted by: Steve || 05/25/2007 11:01 Comments || Top||

#8  "...and raising the price for the arrogant and outrageous behavior of this despicable "judge" will only reinforce the lesson."

Alas, this country doesn't seem to have much stomach for making anybody pay a price for anything anymore-- whether an idiot Spanish judge laying bogus criminal charges on our soldiers, or Mookie and his band of orcs, or the Mad Mullahs, or the lying Leftist propagandists in the media, or Democrats bent on fucking up the war, the Casper Milquetoast in the White House gives them a pass.

This is what Bush 41's "kinder, gentler America" has reaped.

Posted by: Dave D. || 05/25/2007 11:22 Comments || Top||

#9  The US could put an end to this in 30 seconds - just say that due to Spain's "unprecedented" behavior, the US will withdraw from NATO in 30 days, and remove all US Forces from Germany, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, and Portugal, unless unilateral reciprocal treaties replace the NATO treaty. The US has several active military installations in Spain. Withdrawing from them would be difficult, but not impossible. Relocate those bases to the Portuguese Azores Islands and Eastern Europe, where we would be welcome. Pull that $3-$4 Billion the US spends in Spain every year, and spend it somewhere with fewer stupid people.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/25/2007 13:45 Comments || Top||

#10  Coll a bit please. Judge Pedraz is Spanish equivalent of 9th circuit. He is nuts and every one knows it. And on last resoprt he depends on the executicve to have his rulings enforced...
Posted by: JFM || 05/25/2007 13:52 Comments || Top||

#11  Pedraz has shown he has no judgement - the Spaniards should demand his removal. Barring that, hardball politics. We demand removal of Spanish embassies and ambassadors. Recall our own. Time to rethink any military/political exchanges
Posted by: Frank G || 05/25/2007 15:13 Comments || Top||

#12  Pedraz said the three Americans had used indiscriminate and excessive force

So they come to Spain for ... what? A show trial? The judge has already said they're guilty. So get on with the sentencing, dildo-breath! Quit posturing, unless you want to run for Congress.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/25/2007 17:01 Comments || Top||

#13  We can play Bullshit too.
Make up some charge against the judge and present the warrant to the Spanish Ambassador on TV.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/25/2007 22:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Pakistani student in US convicted on jihad gun charges
HOUSTON: A Pakistani student was convicted on Thursday of federal firearms charges after he was arrested for taking part in exercises that prosecutors said were held to train Muslim men to fight US troops overseas.

Syed Maaz Shah, a 20-year-old engineering student at the University of Texas at Dallas, was arrested for firing weapons during two camping trips last year. Shah was indicted on two counts of possession of a firearm by an alien and two counts of alien in possession of a firearm affecting interstate commerce. Shah faces up to 10 years in prison for each of the two counts when he is sentenced on September 14.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  two counts of possession of a firearm by an alien and two counts of alien in possession of a firearm

Possibly also some counts of firearm's alien posession and alien firearm possession.
Posted by: twobyfour || 05/25/2007 0:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Just like the crew in NJ, who also had weapons and engaged in target practice. How long will it be before 3 or 3 of these doofusses go into a shopping mall and cut down 100 women and children ?
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 || 05/25/2007 1:12 Comments || Top||

#3  You mean like that Albanian in Utah. Oh, I forgot. The FBI sez he wasn't a terrorist.
Posted by: Steve || 05/25/2007 11:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Or the Iranian in North Carolina, or the Somali in Columbus, or...
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/25/2007 11:06 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Mehdi army leader in Basra killed
Get out your violins!
BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi special forces killed the leader of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Friday after he tried to resist arrest, the British military said. Spokesman Major David Gell said Abu Qader and at least one aide were shot shortly after leaving Sadr's offices in the centre of the city, the hub of Iraq's main oilfields. He said the operation was authorised by the Iraqi government.

A senior member of Sadr's political movement said their response to the killing would be limited to "political resistance".
"Please don't kill us too!"
Gell said British forces were braced for any violent backlash. He described Abu Qader as the leader of the Mehdi Army in Basra and said he was suspected of involvement in planting roadside bombs, weapons trafficking, assassinations and planning and participating in attacks against British troops.

He said the operation had been Iraqi-led with British troops acting as advisers. "During the arrest operation the targeted individual was killed ... after he resisted arrest," he said.
Almost like a .. cross-fire.
The senior member in Sadr's movement blamed British troops for Abu Qader's death. He said the militant leader had just left Friday prayers when British forces ambushed and killed him with two other Mehdi Army members. British troops have stepped up operations against Shi'ite militias in the city in recent weeks as they prepare to hand it over to Iraqi security forces.
This article starring:
Abu Qader
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/25/2007 11:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I really hope it was the Iraqi Special Forces that killed this bastard. It's pretty obvious that these c*nts won't give up until they get start f*cked by other Iraqis whom they know won't be leaving. Benchmark for when this war is won: the main media focus becomes "human rights abuses" of the Iraqi security forces. When this is the story, our troops can start coming home.
Posted by: Apostate || 05/25/2007 11:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Deliver his body to Tater, "courtesy of the red, white, and blue"
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/25/2007 11:52 Comments || Top||

#3  From 15,000 feet, I mean.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/25/2007 12:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Newspaper this a.m. said "tater" was back in Iraq.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/25/2007 12:08 Comments || Top||

#5  The enemy is never gonna cave if we continue to allow a guy like tater to thumb his nose at us. I'll be a lot happier when I see the tater cell-phone hanging video.
Posted by: Intrinsicpilot || 05/25/2007 12:38 Comments || Top||

#6  He's supporting insurrection against the Iraqi government. It's about time they found the balls to throw him in a dungeon.
Posted by: Apostate || 05/25/2007 13:19 Comments || Top||

#7  I suspect that this bird was an Iranian tool, and the rest of the Mahdi army are damn glad he is no longer in the picture. In fact, they probably ratted him out as a tool, on the assurance that the government wouldn't try too damn hard to take him alive.

Like they say in Mafia movies, "It's nothing personal, just business."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/25/2007 13:27 Comments || Top||

#8  It's about time they found the balls to throw him in a dungeon.

al-Sadr needs to have a "work accident". Anything else would just make him a martyr. A work accident just reaffirms the belief that he's stupid.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/25/2007 13:51 Comments || Top||


Car bomber kills 27 at funeral in Iraq
FALLUJA, Iraq - At least 27 people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday when a suicide bomber in a car packed with explosives drove into a crowd of mourners at a funeral in Falluja, west of Baghdad, police said. The bomber targeted mourners in a funeral procession for Allawi Al Isawi, a local contractor in Falluja, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, who was killed earlier on Thursday, police officer Jamal Anfous said.

As mourners walked down a main street holding aloft Isawi’s coffin, the bomber drove into the crowd and blew himself up. A doctor at a local hospital, Ahmed Al Ani, said 27 were killed and more than 30 wounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack..
Posted by: Steve White || 05/25/2007 01:13 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While the funeral was for a Sunni leader who had fought Al Qaeda's presence, his being a Muslim in general makes it rather difficult for me to do more than fart in their general direction.
Posted by: Zenster || 05/25/2007 22:54 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza: 3 killed in IDF airstrike
IAF plane hits car traveling in Gaza city, killing three and wounding five people. Hamas says fluffy bunnies its members were driving vehicle

An Israeli airstrike hit a car traveling in Gaza City, killing three and wounding at least five, Palestinian security and medical officials said.

The IDF confirmed the attack. Army sources said that the car attacked belonged to a cell which has been involved in Qassam attacks in the past, and was apparently on its way to launch rockets at Israel.

The sources added that the vehicle contained explosives that were detonated following the strike. The IDF stressed that it would continue attacking terror operatives linked to the Qassam fire.

An earlier airstrike had hit a Hamas training center south of Gaza City, destroying the compound and lightly injuring at least three, witnesses said.

The strike in Sajaiya came against the backdrop of intensive negotiations between the factions on a ceasefire with Israel. Ynet has learned that one of the options discussed was a unilateral declaration by one of the factions on a truce. However, in light of the recent attack, this proposal may not come into effect.

The Qassam fire continued Friday, and two rockets were launched at Sderot in the evening. One of the rockets fell near a house, lightly injuring four people. Ten other people suffered from shock.

The other Qassam hit a warehouse in the town's industrial zone.

Ali Waked and Shmulik Hadad contributed to the report
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/25/2007 14:40 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  time to order delievery instead of take-out, idiots, lol
Posted by: Frank G || 05/25/2007 17:08 Comments || Top||

#2  This is usually a helizap™ from an Apache.
Posted by: Ahnuld || 05/25/2007 17:18 Comments || Top||

#3  It's a start....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/25/2007 23:48 Comments || Top||


"Hey, Izzy! Duck!!!"
Israel carried out an air strike near the Gaza residence of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Friday, but insisted he was not the target.
"We weren't targeting Izzy. Just someone who looked a whole lot like him."
"Haniyeh's home definitely was not the target," an Israeli army spokeswoman said. "There was an air strike on a structure used by the Hamas terrorist organisation in Shati refugee camp." Residents said a missile hit a caravan used by Hamas men guarding a street leading to Haniyeh's home in Gaza, wounding one person.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "heads up!"
Posted by: Frank G || 05/25/2007 8:33 Comments || Top||

#2 
"Haniyeh's home definitely was not the target," an Israeli army spokeswoman said.

IDF Roach Control, scare the bastards back into their holes.
Posted by: RD || 05/25/2007 9:17 Comments || Top||

#3  "Haniyeh's home definitely was not the target,"

"Trust us, if it was the target, it would be gone now."
Posted by: Steve || 05/25/2007 11:05 Comments || Top||

#4  mods: NSFW possibly,

ein höllischer Platz

Gaza approx May 15th

Hamass Paleo is capped by a Fatah Paleo and left to Bleed Out.

When the ubiquitous Paleo-Wagon [Ambulance] arrives the driver is told to make sure that the Hamass "lion pussy" dies! video
Posted by: RD || 05/25/2007 12:28 Comments || Top||


Olde Tyme Religion
Scholarly papers solicited on Islamic Messianism (Mahdism)
The Third International Conference on Mahdism Doctrine (Islamic messianism)

Call for Paper

".. are cordially invited [by the Bright Future Institute (BFI)
P.O.Box 371185-471 No 5 - 23rd Alley Safaieye St.
Qom Iran]
to share with us their explicatory suppositions and deductions regarding the mores of Mahdism and its benefits, through their analytical articles."

...The institute shall undertake to pay for expenses (i.e. ticket and accommodation) relating to journey to Iran for those whose articles are accepted. We do not pay visa fees.


Posted by: mhw || 05/25/2007 11:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I will submit the archives of Rantburg inclusive from September 12, 2001 to this post.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/25/2007 12:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Dear BFI
He's in the well. He went to Hell. Get over it.
Posted by: Mad Eye Tholuns6145 || 05/25/2007 14:21 Comments || Top||

#3  The Bright Future Institute?
Someday soon, it may be brighter then you think. Maybe even blinding.
But not for long...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/25/2007 14:28 Comments || Top||

#4  "...see the light/ 10,000 times brighter than the day/ Oh Lord the pride of man/ broken in the dust again..."

For the Dar ul Islam, it is going to be the ghost dance all over again before this is finished. I hope my grand children will be able to handle the guilt.
Posted by: N guard || 05/25/2007 17:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Scholarly papers solicited on Islamic Messianism (Madism)

There, fixed that for ya.
Posted by: Zenster || 05/25/2007 22:39 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Jihadis murder two teenagers in southern Thailand
Insurgents shot dead two Muslim teenagers in Yala's Muang district on Friday morning, police said. Doromae Tohtayong, 17, and Nuradin Malaheng, 16, were found dead on a roadside with their red motorcycle next to their bodies. Police said two insurgents began chasing them while they were driving the motorcycle. The insurgents opened fire on them, until they fell off the vehicle. They walked up to the two youths and shot them again as they lay on the road, presumably to make sure they were dead.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/25/2007 06:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here we go folks. This is now the next front and no one is paying attention.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 05/25/2007 13:21 Comments || Top||


Jihadis kill state official in southern Thailand
Insurgents shot dead a state officer in Yala on Thursday morning, police said. Surasak Pataru, 40, deputy tambon Noen Ngam administrative organization chief executive, was killed when he was traveling to a post office in Raman district. He was also a staff at the post office.

Pol. Lt. Jirayu Phurahong, a police officer in Raman district, said he learned of the shooting shortly after 10 a.m. He said he saw Surasak's body on a roadside when he arrived at the scene. According to initial report, insurgents gunned him down when he was driving a motorcycle to work this morning.
Posted by: ryuge || 05/25/2007 00:24 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US working to sabotage Iran's Manhattan Project
Posted by: Jackal || 05/25/2007 00:25 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I certainly hope so, but it'd be better to have some Rods from God in reserve, and if that does not do the trick, some bottled alpha. beta, gamma particles too.
Posted by: twobyfour || 05/25/2007 1:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Just like MSM to spread the news. Suprised names and addresses of operatives weren't given...yeesh.
Posted by: Black Bart Ebbang5005 || 05/25/2007 1:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Not surprising at all. Look at the second half of the first sentence:

in spite of covert efforts by U.S. and other allied intelligence agencies to actively sabotage the country's nuclear program.

The message is that once again, the US and its allies are powerless and inept. Why can't we all just be friends?

I will never again hear "CBS News" without thinking "See B.S."
Posted by: Bobby || 05/25/2007 7:13 Comments || Top||

#4  CBS isn't the villain here. Well, they are, but it's irrelevant. Either there is someone inside State/CIA/whoever who is committing clear treason and should be revealed and hanged publicly, or CBS is being used as a patsy to spread stories the CIA (or whoever) wants spread for some reason. We'll probably never know which, because even if it is treason, those in authority don't have the ability/will to do the right thing about it.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/25/2007 7:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Given that this is coming out the day after ABC revealed we have a program to destabilize Dinnerjacket's regime, it might also be part of a series of authorized leaks intended to get him looking over both shoulders. You never know what you're looking at in a hall of mirrors.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/25/2007 8:05 Comments || Top||

#6  The message I take from CBS is this: "It's just not faaaaaiiirrrr that Iran can't have nuclear power and the whole rest of the world can."
(make sure you get just the right nasal whine when you say "fair".)
Posted by: eLarson || 05/25/2007 10:53 Comments || Top||

#7  This is no Manhattan project. It does not have any noble aspirations. These iranian islamists are wanting to have nukes for three reasons: to be used against the big satan (US) and allies), to be used against the little satan (Israel), and to be jingoistic in the mideast (be big cheese in islamoworld). CBS is a bunch of nutjobs if they are thinking of "fair" and Iran in the same sentence.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/25/2007 11:50 Comments || Top||

#8  Errrrm, methinks calls for public executions for treason are somewhat excessive here...

Breaking the article down

1) Iranians are paranoid as hell about sabotage anyway.

2) This paranoia is helping us to slow them down in any case.


As for me, I have to say that I find this whole strategy highly dodgy. The rumours are that much of their tech is based on flawed blueprints leaked by the CIA, (Democrat haters will be glad to know that you can blame Clinton for this one) where the flaws were found and corrected. My guess is that it was probably disgruntled Russian tech that fixed it, probably in revenge for Ronny's trans-Siberian pipe coup.

Not even going to mention the non-defective stuff that gets made in the West. Admittedly clamped down on since AQ khan, but still happens and you cant blame it all on Eu-ROP...
Posted by: Admiral Allan Ackbar || 05/25/2007 12:08 Comments || Top||

#9  Crainial Bull Shit is nothing more than a den of liberal, America and Bush hating nutjobs.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/25/2007 13:42 Comments || Top||

#10  This strikes me as a plant. In intelligence work, your biggest successes are created by really thinking things through first. It was described to me like this:

Write up 'plan A'", then when you have finished that, write up every possible reason you can think of why 'plan A' might not work. Then write up 'plan B', 'plan C', and so on, for the same mission, the same way. Let me know when you get to 'plan Z'.

"Why is that?"

So you can start work on 'plan AA'.

Now, the next guy, when he finishes his 'plan A', he should give it to you. Your job is to write up every flaw you can find in that plan.

Then pass 'plan A' to the third guy. His job will be to figure out, as if he was a bad guy, what he could do to screw up or neutralize the plan. Assume both that he stumbles on part of the plan, and that he discovers the entire plan.

Now, the fourth guy...
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/25/2007 13:45 Comments || Top||

#11  If they're following AQ Kahn's plans, their bombs probably will work about as well as little Kimmie's. I'm not even sure that pakiland's nukes would work if they were fired. Nukes are VERY fickle little beasties. I think it's unfair that we haven't shown them how they REALLY work - by dropping one on Qom.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/25/2007 13:57 Comments || Top||

#12  Aw, come on - the current administration isn't exactly known for being competent on intelligence issues. I say it's info being leaked by traitors. It's a much simpler explanation than Bush has plans within plans.
Posted by: gromky || 05/25/2007 14:57 Comments || Top||

#13  Sources in several countries involved told CBS News that the intelligence operatives involved include former Russian nuclear scientists and Iranians living abroad. Operatives have sold Iran components with flaws that are difficult to detect, making them unstable or unusable.

However unreliable Russians may be, you can always rely upon being able to buy them. We really need to give Iran a "delivery" of highly unstable isotopes. Preferrably well-confined and at critical mass.

According to diplomats, getting the Iranians to believe that components may have been tampered with can be as effective in delaying the program as the real thing. But the diplomats also warn that with enough money and time, Iran's nuclear ambitions cannot be derailed by sabotage alone.

Yet, can these "diplomats" possibly bring themselves to recommend military action against Iran?

But, nooooooooooooooooooo! [/Belushi]

Given that this is coming out the day after ABC revealed we have a program to destabilize Dinnerjacket's regime, it might also be part of a series of authorized leaks intended to get him looking over both shoulders. You never know what you're looking at in a hall of mirrors.

Everything considered, this is probably a good thing. The more paranoid Iran becomes, the more their forward progress is interfered with. Spending time cross-checking plans and testing equipment is a real time dump. Now, magnify this by a huge factor because most Iranians don't know their ass from a hot rock isotope. Even if they have Russians helping them validate the plans and gear, how do they know whether those individuals are reliable? A "hall of mirrors", indeed.

All of this reminds me very little of the Soviet's space shuttle, "Buran". According to legend, in the 1980’s the Russians came to town with the intent of getting all documentation on America’s space shuttle. NASA being a civilian agency, many of the plans are available through the GAO. Of course, critical plans for the propulsion, avonics and guidance are all classified, but that didn’t stop the Russians. The story has it that the Soviets were fed intentionally altered plans bearing slight changes in wing dihedrals and other such vital but extremely difficult to verify properties.

Please note how Buran was an almost carbon copy scaled-down replica of our space shuttle. Also note how all its only mission was a single release during atmospheric flight for a dry landing. Given Russia’s history of disinformation, it was supremely ironic to see them spend billions of sorely needed rubles on a program that had no hope of succeeding.

Let’s all hope that a similar situation confronts Iran today. There have already been rumors of crippling contamination in their gasification of uranium hexafluoride. This in turn fouls the centrifuges. The centrifuges themselves are balky and failure prone as well. They must be spun up in vacuo to supersonic velocities, much like an ultrafuge. Bad bearings, poor rotor balancing and other simple component issues can all cause catastrophic point failures. Having ill-educated Iranian technicians attempting to run such delicate equipment is like hiring a gorilla to be a watchmaker.

Compound all of this preparatory groundwork by a factor of 1,000 when it comes to assembling a nuclear device. Implosion lensing is a fine art, the shaping and physical density of each lens subassembly have to meet very precise tolerances and must match its siblings to near perfection. Then there are issues surrounding the exact timing of kryton switching and fast discharge capacitors required to detonate the lenses. Being a few milliseconds off in synchronization can fatally distort the implosion envelope and prevent arrival at critical mass. This may well have been responsible for North Korea’s dud test. Even with perfect lensing, slight imbalances of isotope families in the device’s core can prohibitively attenuate the resulting neutron flux and prevent proper nuclear fission.

Finally there is the issue of “one point safe”. Given the Muslim propensity for red wire – blue wire difficulties, the notion of them being able to obtain rigidly controlled and reliable fusing for a nuclear device is almost hilarious. One point safe means that anything other than an intentional and authorized triggering of the bomb’s implosion has one in a million chances of succeeding. In many respects nuclear devices in the hands of head-banging Muslims presents more of a danger to them than to us.

Unfortunately, the near-psychotic nature of Islam’s followers still makes them a danger at all times. None of the above difficulties can be relied upon to permanently obstruct Iran’s progress. It remains a towering feat of willful ignorance in how the global community is capable of persuading itself that means other than military intervention can have a deterring effect on Iran. Only catastrophic disassembly of their nuclear apparatus will do.
Posted by: Zenster || 05/25/2007 15:12 Comments || Top||

#14  Coding tags, why do they hate us?
Posted by: Zenster || 05/25/2007 15:15 Comments || Top||

#15  I think that these leaks are a way to express how we have tried everything, and they still proceed to attempt to build nuclear weapons, therefore..... and then the attacks on Iran commence.
Posted by: wxjames || 05/25/2007 15:18 Comments || Top||

#16  plant, IMHO
Posted by: Frank G || 05/25/2007 17:28 Comments || Top||

#17  hey must be spun up in vacuo to supersonic velocities, much like an ultrafuge. Bad bearings, poor rotor balancing and other simple component issues can all cause catastrophic point failures.

So an earthquake would work wonders....
Paging.. Haliburton Earthquake Division...
Posted by: 3dc || 05/25/2007 21:06 Comments || Top||

#18  So an earthquake would work wonders....

Only if the gas centrifuges are operating at the time. Fortunately, we have stealth technology on our side. We must merely be sure to launch our attack during operating hours. Good thing it's likely that the centrifuges are operated around the clock. It only remains to ensure that the mullahs are decapped after the strike on Natanz et al.
Posted by: Zenster || 05/25/2007 22:03 Comments || Top||


Fatah-Islam dyin' by the boatload
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora vowed in an address to the nation on Thursday his government would kill uproot Islamic militants battling the army in a Palestinian refugee camp. "We will work to root out and strike at terrorism, but we will embrace and protect our brothers in the camps," Saniora said in a televised speech while lying through his teeth, insisting Lebanon has no quarrel with the 400,000 Palestinian refugees who live in the country.

His address came a day after the Lebanese defense minister issued an ultimatum to the Fatah Islam militants barricaded in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp - many of whom are believed to be Arabs from other countries - to surrender or face a military assault.
Saniora said the Fatah Islam militant group holed up in the camp was "a terrorist organization that claims to be Islamic and to defend Palestine" and was "attempting to ride on the suffering and the struggle of the Palestinian people."

Saniora also said that Lebanon would never become the "playground" for international conflicts, a declaration that appeared aimed at Syria.
I wonder what Sarko told him?
Saniora spoke after a senior Lebanese military official disclosed Thursday that troops on Tuesday had sunk two small boats carrying Islamic militants who were trying to flee a besieged Palestinian refugee camp via the Mediterranean sea. The official said all militants on the boats were killed, but did not specify how many died in the incident.
Heh. Boatloads of dead jihadis. Sa-weeeet
He spoke under customary conditions of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
I can say no more!
"They were trying to flee from the coast next to the Nahr el-Bared camp," the official said. "They took advantage of a lull in the fighting Tuesday and tried to escape," he said. "There were no survivors."
Sighs contentedly.
The official said soldiers with heavy machine guns blasted the two rubber dinghies on which the militants were attempting to escape.
Never try to escape from a gunfight in a rubber boat.
Earlier Thursday, sporadic gunfire erupted inside Nahr el-Bared where Islamic militants are holed up after refusing an ultimatum by Lebanon's defense minister to surrender or face a military onslaught.
Heavy usually means a .50, one of Brown's sweetest inventions ever.
Fighters from the al-Qaida-inspired Fatah Islam militant group barricaded in the Palestinian refugee camp vowed not to give up and to fight any Lebanese assault. It was not clear what sparked the shooting, as a truce appeared to be still holding since Tuesday afternoon. Half a dozen soldiers followed by an armored car and a light vehicle headed toward a forward army position at the camp's northern entrance.

Lebanon's government appeared to be preparing in case the showdown sparks violence elsewhere in the country. In a sign of the danger, a bomb exploded Wednesday night in the Aley mountain resort overlooking Beirut, a 90-minute drive south of Nahr el-Bared. The blast, which injured 16 people, was the third in the Beirut area since Sunday.
So, the Jihadis have now hit the Druze as well as the Christians and Sunnis earlier, who just happen to all oppose Syria and Iran. Hmmmm
Police said all but two of the wounded had been released from hospital. Fatah Islam has denied unconvincingly responsibility for the bombings, but many Lebanese fear more blasts if the siege continues.
Lebanon now has balls? WTF is going on here?
Splodydopes is what the Lions of Islam™ do best -- put them in a stand-up fight and they have problems.

This article starring:
Fatah Islam
Posted by: Ahnuld || 05/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lebanon has no quarrel with the 400,000 Palestinian refugees who live in the country.

No “quarrel”, but a death match nonetheless.

"There were no survivors."

Cardiac related cockle-like objects undergoing positive thermal transition.

The official said soldiers with heavy machine guns blasted the two rubber dinghies on which the militants were attempting to escape.

Old terrorists never die, they just get blasted the fuck out of a rubber dinghy.

Heavy usually means a .50, one of Brown's sweetest inventions ever.

Had the chance to fire a .50 BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) on a Unimog black powder safari to Bodie, Nevada and beyond. It is exceptionally difficult to convey the immense satisfaction of being able to perform major landscaping functions with the twitch of a trigger.
Posted by: Zenster || 05/25/2007 2:46 Comments || Top||

#2  *giggle* But will it plant the impatiens that have been gathering -- well, dust isn't really quite the right word -- waiting impatiently for me to plant them in the designated pots in my garden?
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/25/2007 8:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Is it time for dancing in the streets?
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/25/2007 11:56 Comments || Top||

#4  But will it plant the impatiens that have been gathering -- well, dust isn't really quite the right word -- waiting impatiently for me to plant them in the designated pots in my garden?

Nope, but it'll sure loosen the soil for ya!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/25/2007 14:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Channeling Ernie from Sesame Street:

"Rubber dinghy, you’re the one,
We are fleeing and on the run,
Rubber Dinghy, we’re betting our lives on you
Bo-do-do –de-do
Rubber Dinghy, you’ve got one flaw
You can’t escape gravity’s law
You take a round and down we go
Glub-glub-glub-de-o"

Thank me later for planting that earworm.....
Posted by: USN. Ret. || 05/25/2007 14:52 Comments || Top||


Good Mid-morning
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/25/2007 10:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rowrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 05/25/2007 11:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Ditto! Wasn't Jeanne Crain married to Howard Hughes?
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/25/2007 11:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Doc, prescribe two of THOSE, and I WON'T call you in the morning. I probably won't be able to...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/25/2007 13:33 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm having very unislamic thoughts all of a sudden.
Posted by: gorb || 05/25/2007 18:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Ma'am - permit me to demonstrate my Crain technique.
Posted by: WTF || 05/25/2007 21:01 Comments || Top||


Rantburg update
You may have noticed that we're a little slow these past couple of days. We've been under heavy attack from the usual sources. The mods have been handing Fred all manner of tools at his request, and we may need to take a Turkish truncheon to the firewall.

Be patient; we'll get things set. Sorry for the inconvenience.

The Mods
Posted by: Steve White || 05/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Could we form a Rapid Action Battallion? I would love to see DoS attackers in "crossfires."
Posted by: Jackal || 05/25/2007 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  can a spam replicator be installed so the 'attackor' becomes the 'attackee' and shuts his system down? the Senate uses a filibuster, it could be called the Fredibuster.
Posted by: USN, ret. || 05/25/2007 0:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Rantburg going to War? Mmmm, I like it. And I wouldn't worry about inconveniencing us, the fact you run this site at all is a great convenience. I think every single person who posts here can agree with that.
Posted by: Charles || 05/25/2007 2:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Sorry for the inconvenience.

Do not dare to apologize. Your service to the online community is inestimable. All of us should be grateful, no matter the delays. As to the hackers, that is another matter entirely. Personally, I would recommend the Louisville Slugger barbed wire wound clue bat dipped in heavily salted 90-weight and rolled in shards of freshly broken glass.
Posted by: Zenster || 05/25/2007 2:12 Comments || Top||

#5  Could we form a Rapid Action Battallion? I would love to see DoS attackers in "crossfires."

I'm in for that.

and

What Zenster said.
Posted by: Jack Bross || 05/25/2007 6:20 Comments || Top||

#6  hey glad to get in for a cupa i waz starting to shake a bit... ¥~~-~-¥~-~-~¥

RBee RD.. copy over
Posted by: RBee RD || 05/25/2007 8:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Jackal, a counter DOS wouldn't do any good if the enemy is using zombies, which I think is standard procedure. You'd just be hassling a lot of people's home systems and some businesses with sloppy IT departments.
Posted by: James || 05/25/2007 9:48 Comments || Top||

#8  James, I wasn't talking counter-DoS. I was talking honest-to-Allah "crossfires." Of course I'm not serious. Am I?
Posted by: Jackal || 05/25/2007 10:35 Comments || Top||

#9  Don't apologize. It is what happens when the truth is told about Islam and the left. Keep up the good work and give me the coordinates of the IP. We might be able to have a missile "wander" off target....
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/25/2007 11:01 Comments || Top||

#10  nuke em all
Posted by: sinse || 05/25/2007 11:24 Comments || Top||

#11  Fred, the gubmint taught me a lot of nasty things. If you ever need anything, just ask! Hey, I even know how to build a nuke! Gettin' it to work is another thing... As for target selection, you fly the recce and I'll supply the readout.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/25/2007 13:36 Comments || Top||

#12  Turkish truncheon, as in bastinado?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastinado
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/25/2007 13:49 Comments || Top||

#13  James, I think you are referring to my post. And i really don't care if it hassles regular peoples' systems or 'sloppy I.T. departments;' it is slobs like that that allow all manner of viruses and spam to hit real honest folks.
nuke em all, i say.
Posted by: USN. Ret. || 05/25/2007 14:42 Comments || Top||

#14  I suppose you should be flattered. It means your pissing them off.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 05/25/2007 15:00 Comments || Top||

#15  Quagmire!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 05/25/2007 15:05 Comments || Top||

#16  Oaaaa, Rantburg's pissing off all the wrong right people. Must be doing something right.

Thanks for all your work, Fred and other mods. You are a treasure beyond price.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/25/2007 23:54 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Group of illegal immigrants found working for feds
IDAHO CITY -- Fourteen illegal immigrants were arrested and face deportation after being picked up at an Idaho City hotel. It happened late Tuesday night and now they're in the Ada County Jail. The men were working for a contracted employee of the U.S. Forest Service. They had been working for about 10 days, with one week left.

According to the Forest Service, the contracted employer is Cutting Edge Forestry Inc. out of Talent, Oregon. The contractor is required to turn over paperwork regarding their employees and then the Forest Service sends that paperwork to the immigration office. It’s there that officials realized the men were in the country illegally.

Fourteen of Cutting Edge's 16 employees on the job site were arrested at the Idaho City hotel for not having proper documentation. The men were planting 500 acres of the forest, a portion of the 11,000 acres that burned in the Hot Creek Fire back in July 2003.

As spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement says they are focusing efforts on contracted employees since they tend to travel from job site to job site. The Ada County Jail recently contracted with the immigration office to detain illegal immigrants while they wait for deportation.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not the first time. Earlier this year, ICE busted a group of illegals working for at least one contractor - building military housing.
Posted by: Pappy || 05/25/2007 0:56 Comments || Top||

#2  This is nothing new. They've been found working in secure areas of several military bases, fergawdsakes. They have become like fungi, they're everywhere now. Years ago, as they over ran Cali + Tejas + Arizona, the rest of the states sat by smugly and didn't give a shit. Now that everyone is inundated, people are starting to get excited. Clue: Horse has left the barn.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 || 05/25/2007 0:58 Comments || Top||

#3  seems appropriate to let em' finish their stint for the USFS, as part of a pre-deportation sentence.
Posted by: Black Bart Ebbang5005 || 05/25/2007 1:53 Comments || Top||

#4  I bet you nobody up in Oregon that's not a Mexican would DARE to plant a forest. It's beneath them.

/sarcasm.

Posted by: Charles || 05/25/2007 2:06 Comments || Top||

#5  My troop (both girl and boy) would do these replanting jobs and love getting out into the wilderness. It also taught them some good lessons unlike the youth of today that are spending their time in front of a computer watching the illegals do their work for them.
Posted by: Jan from work || 05/25/2007 11:41 Comments || Top||



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On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2007-05-25
  Dems blink: House Approves War-Funding Bill
Thu 2007-05-24
  Israel seizes Hamas leaders in West Bank
Wed 2007-05-23
  PLO backs army entry into Nahr al-Bared
Tue 2007-05-22
  Hamas threatens new wave of suicide attacks
Mon 2007-05-21
  Leb army lays siege to camp as fight continues
Sun 2007-05-20
  Leb army takes on Fatah al-Islam at Paleo camp
Sat 2007-05-19
  White House rejects Democrats' offer on war spending bill
Fri 2007-05-18
  9 dead after bomb explodes at India's oldest Mosque
Thu 2007-05-17
  IDF tanks enter Gaza Strip
Wed 2007-05-16
  Chlorine boom kills 20 in Diyala
Tue 2007-05-15
  Paleo interior minister quits
Mon 2007-05-14
  Extra troops as Karachi death toll mounts
Sun 2007-05-13
  Mullah Dadullah reported deadullah
Sat 2007-05-12
  Poirot concludes his UN report about Hariri's murder
Fri 2007-05-11
  Madrid Bombing Defendants Start Hunger Strike


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