Five months after the release of the 21 surviving South Korean hostages who had been captured by the Taliban in July, Afghan insurgents are claiming that Seoul paid a hefty ransom for the Christian missionaries' freedom. In an interview in this week's edition of Afaq, a Pashtu-language magazine published in neighboring Pakistan, senior Taliban leader Ustad Yasir confirmed that a large ransom indeed had been paid. "If we were going to free them without any payment, [the hostage taking] would not have been worth it," he said. "The best way to release them was with a ransom payment." Two hostages were executed before the others were released.
Another senior Taliban commander, who would only speak on condition of anonymity for security purposes, tells NEWSWEEK that the South Korean government paid at least $4 million for the missionaries' release and that it delivered the cash to the insurgents in the Pakistani frontier city of Quetta. The commander said the Taliban were aware that U.S. and Afghan intelligence were closely watching the hostage negotiations that were taking place between South Korean and Taliban officials inside the compound of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Ghazni province and decided to outsmart them. "It was funny," said the Taliban official, "the intelligence agencies were watching for a transfer of money to us in a Red Cross car in the province." So the Taliban arranged for the secret payoff in Quetta.
Another Taliban official in Ghazni, who asked for anonymity for similar reasons, tells NEWSWEEK that 35 percent of the money went to fund local insurgent operations in the province and that the rest went to the ruling Taliban council presided over by Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. During the tense negotiations the Taliban had demanded the release of some of their senior jailed commanders. But Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government refused to consider releasing them after it ran into heavy international flak for having freed five senior Taliban leaders, including Yasir, in exchange for the release of an Italian journalist last March.
After the successful conclusion of the negotiations, South Korea only admitted that it had promised to withdraw the 200 noncombatant troops it had stationed in the war-torn country and neither confirmed nor denied that a ransom had been paid. On Wednesday, a South Korean presidential secretary told NEWSWEEK, "We aren't aware of any new developments in the case. Our government position is we didn't pay any ransom for the hostages."
Posted by: john frum ||
02/10/2008 10:53 ||
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Sorks are lying. They paid. Lots of similarities between Sorks and Euros, mainly because both have been able to hide behind Uncle Sam for approximately six decades. Both would much rather pay the Danegeld than fight the Dane.
#3
Not a shocker. Kidnapping and hostages are a business across Asia. They treated this like any other kidnapping and paid. Sad truth is every nation pays cash to get hostages free.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/10/2008 12:14 Comments ||
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Marked money using RFID's with signal emitters would make it all worth it....
#6
Assuming it's true, it's a damn shame, and proof that South Korea's headed down the path of appeasement and mindless pacifism at a faster rate than even the Europeans. When the hostages first got kidnapped and two were murdered, I briefly figured that might be the proverbial bridge too far, and that the SKor response would be something involving a large contingent of ROK Marines and very loose rules of engagement. Sigh...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
02/10/2008 22:28 Comments ||
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Four million is chump change for a Nation, what's wrong with paying, then blowing them to hell, or better following the Exxon course and siezing whaever assets the Afgans have laying about? (Call it a bill for harboring thugs, returnable upon receipt of the thugs themselves, or their bodies, and proof they're the right thugs, not some poor shmuck/scapegoat(s) just for money return)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/10/2008 23:04 Comments ||
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Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates issued a stark warning Sunday to the people of Europe, saying that their safety from terrorist attack by Islamic extremists is directly linked to NATOs success in stabilizing Afghanistan.
After weeks of calling on alliance governments to send more combat troops and trainers to Afghanistan, Mr. Gates made his case directly to populations across the continent in a keynote address to the Munich Conference on Security Policy, an international security conference. Mr. Gates summoned the memory of Sept. 11, 2001, to say that Europe is at risk of becoming victim to attacks of the same enormity.
"I am concerned that many people on this continent may not comprehend the magnitude of the direct threat to European security... The threat posed by violent Islamic extremism is real and it is not going to go away."
I am concerned that many people on this continent may not comprehend the magnitude of the direct threat to European security, Mr. Gates said. For the United States, Sept. 11 was a galvanizing event, one that opened the American publics eyes to dangers from distant lands.
In a hall filled with government officials, legislators and policy analysts from around the world, Mr. Gates added: So now I would like to add my voice to those of many allied leaders on the continent and speak directly to the people of Europe. The threat posed by violent Islamic extremism is real and it is not going to go away.
Mr. Gates cited terrorist attacks in Madrid, London, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Paris and Glasgow, and said that other attacks, some complex, had been disrupted before they could be carried out in Belgium, Germany and Denmark and in airliners over the Atlantic. Just in the last few weeks, Spanish authorities arrested 14 Islamic extremists in Barcelona suspected of planning suicide attacks against public transport systems in Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, and Britain, he said.
I am not indulging in scare tactics, Mr. Gates stated. Nor am I exaggerating either the threat or inflating the consequences of a victory for the extremists. Nor am I saying that the extremists are 10 feet tall.
He said the task facing Europe, the United States and allies around the world is to fracture and destroy this movement in its infancy to permanently reduce its ability to strike globally and catastrophically, while deflating its ideology.
The best opportunity as an alliance to do this, he stated, is in Afghanistan.
Mr. Gates said that some terrorist cells in Europe are funded and receive inspiration from abroad. Many who have been arrested have had direct connections to Al Qaeda, he said. Some have met with top leaders or attended training camps abroad. Some are connected to Al Qaeda in Iraq.
He said that the Barcelona terrorist cell appeared to have links with a terrorist network commanded by extremists in Pakistan who are thought to be affiliated with the Taliban and Al Qaeda and have been blamed for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
While many NATO governments appreciate the importance of the Afghan mission, European public support for it is weak, Mr. Gates said. Many Europeans question the relevance of our actions and doubt whether the mission is worth the lives of their sons and daughters.
But they forget at our peril that the ambition of Islamic extremists is limited only by opportunity, he added.
Mr. Gates said that in Afghanistan, the really hard question the alliance faces is whether the whole of our effort is adding up to less than the sum of its parts.
In specific policy initiatives, Mr. Gates called for a common set of training standards for every soldier and civilian deployed to Afghanistan, and for the appointment of a high-level European to serve as civilian administrator to coordinate international assistance.
Echoing U.S. lessons from the exhausting effort to suppress insurgents and terrorists in Iraq after the swift invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Mr. Gates said NATO must better coordinate military operations and civilian reconstruction and put aside any theology that attempts clearly to divide civilian and military operations. It is unrealistic.
During a lively question-and-answer period after the speech, a member of the Russian Parliament, Alexey Ostrovskiy, asked Mr. Gates whether the blame for Al Qaeda did not lie at the feet of the U.S. intelligence community for funding the mujahedeen in Afghanistan who resisted the Soviet occupation during the 1980s. Many of those anti-Soviet fighters went on to become Islamic extremists and members of the Taliban or Al Qaeda. After that, when the Soviet troops left, for all intents and purposes, people who were created by you were idle, said Mr. Ostrovskiy.
If we bear a particular responsibility for the role of the mujahedeen and Al Qaeda growing up in Afghanistan, it has more to do with our abandonment of the country in 1989 than our assistance of it in 1979, Mr. Gates answered.
#3
COUNTERTERRORISM BLOG > MICHAEL CHERTOFF'S BIGGEST FEAR - TERRORISTS ENTERING THE US FROM CANADA. More from Canada than Mahico.
Giving Putin = Russia the reason to save Canada by nuking it [Tacnuke? Strategic?] vv RUSS NEW ANTI-NUKE/WMD TERROR DOCTRINE = "conventional aggression"???
BERLIN- The German government is planning to expand the number of soldiers it can send to Afghanistan by 1,000 to 4,500 and broaden their base of operation from the north to the west, Der Spiegel weekly reported on Saturday.
Without citing its sources, Der Spiegel said German Chancellor Angela Merkel planned to make the proposal at a NATO summit in April. The magazine said the measure was designed to deflect pressure from the United States to send German forces to the more dangerous south.
Check's in the mail. Honest.
Asked about the report, a spokesman for the German Defence Ministry noted that a parliamentary mandate, which puts an upper limit of German forces at 3,500, was valid until mid-October.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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How much fighting will they do? Not so very much, I think...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/10/2008 8:23 Comments ||
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Wonder what Gates said when the mikes were turned off.
#3
There is a dynamic at play in Germany of which I really not aware until recently. It seems the German left and MSM quickly jump on any polizei or government action involving East Euros, Turks, or gypsies, nearly any incident at all and label it police brutality, discrimintion, or re-emerging Nazi militarism. Some, obviously not all, of the anti-militarism and past reluctance to participate in the GWOT comes from this sector.
NDJAMENA - Chads rebels said on Saturday they controlled the centre of the landlocked country and would hold their position in an effort to lure government troops from the capital into an open battle in the desert. Ali Ordjo Hemchi, a spokesman for the coalition of three rebel groups which launched a failed assault on NDjamena a week ago, said the rebels occupied the towns of Mongo and Bitkine in rugged central Chad, some 500 km (290 miles) from the capital.
Our forces are in contact with other army garrisons which are interested in deserting, Hemchi told Reuters, adding the rebels, based in the Darfur region of western Sudan, had received reinforcements and now had several columns inside Chad. We expect soon to seize control of other towns, he said.
Humanitarian sources confirmed the rebels were in control of Mongo but it was not immediately possible to confirm the status of Bitkine.
President Idriss Debys government says it routed the rebel column which entered NDjamena last week using tanks and helicopters in two days of confused street fighting, but the insurgents insist they withdrew to regroup. Aid workers say at least 160 civilians were killed in the assault, the second by the rebel coalition on the capital in less than two years.
Our objective remains to topple the regime in NDjamena but we want to avoid fighting inside towns, said Hemchi. We want to make the army leave the capital so we can repeat our victory of last week.
One of the three factions in the rebel coalition, the Assembly of Forces for Change, is headed by Debys nephews Tom and Timane Erdimi and is made up largely of Zaghawa fighters.
After initially remaining neutral over the weekend, French President Nicholas Sarkozy has thrown his full backing behind Deby this week, tabling a non-binding UN Security-Council statement urging member states to support Chads government. Analysts have expressed concern that Frances support for Deby could jeopardise the neutrality of a 3,700-strong European Union peacekeeping force to protect civilians and aid workers in eastern Chad, which is due to deploy next week.
The force is mandated to protect roughly half a million Sudanese refugees and displaced Chadians fleeing the rebellion in Chad and the five-year ethnic conflict in Sudans western Darfur region, which has killed more than 200,000 people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Well. That's a change. Rebels want a straight fight for once? Obviously, they feel the odds are stacked in their favor.
Apologies to the original poster. I seemed to have deleted this amidst a bunch of duplicate posts. I think this is the same article...
A government minister has warned that inbreeding among immigrants is causing a surge in birth defects - comments likely to spark a new row over the place of Muslims in British society. Phil Woolas, an environment minister, said the culture of arranged marriages between first cousins was the elephant in the room. Woolas, a former race relations minister, said: If you have a child with your cousin the likelihood is therell be a genetic problem.
The minister, whose views were supported by medical experts this weekend, said: The issue we need to debate is first cousin marriages, whereby a lot of arranged marriages are with first cousins, and that produces lots of genetic problems in terms of disability [in children].
Woolas emphasised the practice did not extend to all Muslim communities but was confined mainly to families originating from rural Pakistan. However, up to half of all marriages within these communities are estimated to involve first cousins.
Medical research suggests that while British Pakistanis are responsible for 3% of all births, they account for one in three British children born with genetic illnesses.
Woolas, who represents the ethnically mixed seat of Oldham East and Saddleworth, has previously warned that Muslim women who wear headscarves could provoke fear and resentment. Yesterday, he was similarly outspoken. If you talk to any primary care worker they will tell you that levels of disability among the . . . Pakistani population are higher than the general population. And everybody knows its caused by first cousin marriage.
Thats a cultural thing rather than a religious thing. It is not illegal in this country.
The problem is that many of the parents themselves and many of the public spokespeople are themselves products of first cousin marriages. Its very difficult for people to say you cant do that because its a very sensitive, human thing.
He added that the issue is not talked about. The health authorities look into it. Most health workers and primary care trusts in areas like mine are very aware of it. But its a very sensitive issue. Thats why its not even a debate and people outside of these areas dont really know it exists.
Woolas was supported by Ann Cryer, Labour MP for Keighley, who called for the NHS to do more to warn parents of the dangers of inbreeding. This is to do with a medieval culture where you keep wealth within the family, she said. If you go into a paediatric ward in Bradford or Keighley you will find more than half of the kids there are from the Asian community. Since Asians only represent 20%-30% of the population, you can see that they are over represented.
I have encountered cases of blindness and deafness. There was one poor girl who had to have an oxygen tank on her back and breathe from a hole in the front of her neck.
The parents were warned they should not have any more children. But when the husband returned again from Pakistan, within months they had another child with exactly the same condition.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/10/2008 07:41 ||
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new row over the place of Muslims in British society
#2
The dirtiest little secret of islam. Marrying within the tribe usually means marrying your uncles daughter. The march of the cross-eyed, hemophiliac snipers...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/10/2008 8:21 Comments ||
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#3
self cloning barbarians
A cell, group of cells, or organism that is descended from and genetically identical to a single common ancestor, such as a bacterial barbarian colony whose members arose from a single original cell of barbarians.
#10
Is cousin marriage illegal in Britain? Annul such marriages and deport both parties to Pakistan for violating British law. Problem solved.
Posted by: ed ||
02/10/2008 17:57 Comments ||
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#11
I can't imagine that cousin marriage is illegal in Britain - the classic literature is full of it, and goodness knows the aristocracy is pretty thoroughly related to itself. Remember Queen Victoria's children bringing hemophelia to most of the royal families of Europe a few generations ago?
The Archbishop of Canterbury continues to face calls for his resignation despite attempts to defuse the row over his Islamic Sharia law comments. Dr Rowan Williams has been condemned from inside and outside his church for saying the adoption of parts of the law was "unavoidable" in Britain. At least two General Synod members have called for him to quit and he has been heckled as he left a church service.
But supporters say his comments have been misinterpreted.
The old "taken out of context" wheeze, eh?
The archbishop is said to be shocked and hurt by the hostility his comments have provoked, and on his website he said he "certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law".
"Everybody thought they heard me say it, but that ain't really what I said. What I really said was 'Sangria is inevitable.' And I stand by that statement. We're all gonna end up drinking Spanish wine with fruit in it. It's the wave of the future!"
However the criticism mounted as his predecessor Lord George Carey accused Dr Williams of overstating the case for accommodating Islamic legal codes.
"How about the part where you said we're all gonna wear turbans?"
"No, no! I said we're increasingly urban! Really. Just put it down to the lousy accoustics."
'Brilliant scholar'
Writing in the News of the World, Lord Carey warned: "His acceptance of some Muslim laws within British law would be disastrous for the nation." But he said Dr Williams should not be forced to quit over his remarks, adding: "He is a great leader in the Anglican tradition and he has a very important role to play in the Church."
The Anglican tradition would seem to have something to do with turning over the keys to the church to somebody in Mecca. The Christian tradition, I suppose, will have to accomodate both Thomas a Becket and Rowan Willians on the list of Archbishops of Canterbury, which somehow doesn't seem right.
Members of the Synod - the Church of England's national assembly - will have the opportunity of tabling a motion to discuss the issue at the body's biannual meeting, starting on Monday.
"Mr Chairman, I propose that the Archbishop be shot."
"Second that motion."
"All in favor?"
[Chorus of 'ayes']
"The motion is carried."
[BANG!]
Dr Williams was offered support by the Right Reverend George Cassidy, Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, who branded the reaction "hysterical" and said the archbishop was simply trying to take forward a serious public debate.
"Yasss. Merely taking forward some serious public debate. In the process he stepped it it. But we all do that sometimes, don't we?"
"My shoes are clean!"
"So're mine!"
"And mine!"
"Get a rope!"
Meanwhile, the Very Reverend Colin Slee, Dean of Southwark Cathedral, said the archbishop's advisors were not up to the job.
"Liars and thieves, the lot of 'em!"
Biblical leadership
"I have said to him on many occasions that his staff actually aren't up to the job and he needs a bigger staff and more expert advice," he said.
"I think he should hire some Christians, myself."
"Maybe even Englishmen."
"Hear, hear!"
Col Edward Armitstead, a Synod member from the diocese of Bath and Wells, was among those calling for Dr Williams to step down, telling the Daily Telegraph: "I don't think he is the man for the job."
"Most anyone else is, but not him. The man's a loon. Totally divorced from the rest of the country. He lacks an understanding of the difference beween England and Arabia. And he's not real clear on the Christianity thing. That's why he's always running around dressed up like a Druid or Rosicrucian or one of those other chaps who're fond of funny hats."
He said: "One wants to be charitable, but I sense that he would be far happier in a university where he can kick around these sorts of ideas."
"Perhaps a nice position can be found for him as dean of the food service staff."
Alison Ruoff, a Synod member from London, said: "Many people, huge numbers of people, would be greatly relieved [if he resigned] because he sits on the fence over all sorts of things and we need strong, Christian, biblical leadership right now, as opposed to somebody who huffs and puffs around and vacillates from one thing to another. He's a very able, a brilliant scholar as a man but in terms of being a leader of the Christian community I think he's actually at the moment a disaster."
"Oh, come now! A disaster?"
"Yasss. A total loss. No insurance."
"Yep. That pretty well describes him."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Yup, "Those tape rcorders LIE"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/10/2008 0:44 Comments ||
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Methinks it's past time the Queen summoned the ArchDruid to the palace for a slap upside the head - with an ax little chat....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/10/2008 0:50 Comments ||
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#3
Archbishop under pressure to quit
chain him to and inside a busy bathhouse for highly active AIDS Patients.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/10/2008 2:08 Comments ||
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#5
"I think he should hire some Christians, myself."
"Maybe even Englishmen."
So what have you got against his main adviser, Tariq Ramadan? Isn't he supposed to be multicultural and a professor as well?
Me, I think if they gave him a hat like Charlie has, he would be happy and go off and play jihad and infidels or maybe he wants to have four wives like all his jihad playmates have.
#6
Or they could consider turning the whole lot over to an actual olde tyme archdruid. They had some inventive ideas on how to deal with disorder in the community. A wicker man in Bradford might have the effect of concentrating the mind.
#8
I think the Archbishop long ago sealed his fate in several ways. First by also becoming a Druid high priest; second by trying to keep the Anglican communion united, but with an extremist minority in charge; and finally this intolerable effort at Dhimmi ecumenism.
In Anglicanism, the only possibility for ecumenism is with the Roman Catholic church. While friendly, non-denominational relations are acceptable with other Protestant churches, there has never been any possibility of unification with them. And the only route to other Christian Orthodox churches would be through Rome.
The Archbishop reminds me of the post-Vatican II cartoon in the New Yorker, of two RC Cardinals glaring at a devil walking through a Vatican gate, one saying to the other, "I think this ecumenism stuff has gone far enough."
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
02/10/2008 19:20 Comments ||
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#11
From a comment on the belmontclub: Sharia is based upon the ahadith.
The ahadith is based upon the Qur'an. The Qur'an is based upon random gibberish (you can interpret whatever you want from it).
The whole system boils down to the precivilized notion of the strong exploiting the weak, i.e. If I'm stronger than you then what you have belongs to me.
It's no wonder the Islamic world is stuck in the middle ages.
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.
If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, were going to harm you, Chavez said. Do you know how? We arent going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger.
Exxon Mobil has gone after the assets of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts as it challenges the nationalization of a multibillion dollar oil project by Chavezs government. Just keep thwacking that beehive Oogo...
He'd have to invade Colombia or Guyana to get us off the dime. Which wouldn't be far-fetched ...
#1
You really think we'll stop you from cutting your own throat?
NO. Go right ahead, your successor may have more brains.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/10/2008 17:48 Comments ||
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#2
it doesn't matter that much whether Venezuela ships its oil to the USA assuming it ships it somewhere else.
Oil sells at a discount to the official price. The discount being the cost of shipping the oil to its destination. So Venezuela will get less money for its oil because it will have to be shipped further.
#3
IIRC, Hugo's oil is heavy high-sulfur tarry crap - not every (or many) refinery can crack it. Good luck Hugo!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/10/2008 19:04 Comments ||
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And, most of the refineries that can handle it are, uh, here in the US. Smooth move coca chewing monkey boy...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/10/2008 19:26 Comments ||
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#5
Nice assessment at Lou Minatti's blog (found via - who else? - Instapundit ).
My favorite part:
"In parallel with this lack of flexibility Venezuela is facing a decline in its international monetary reserves since Chavez keeps raiding them. These monetary reserves only represent some six to seven months of imports at the current level since Venezuela is now importing close to $40 billion per year, mostly in food. Therefore, an interruption of oil income derived from the cut off of oil supplies to the United States would most probably cause the Chavezs regime to collapse in less than a year as the result of internal protests, no outside intervention required."
I love a happy ending! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/10/2008 19:26 Comments ||
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#6
If he cut's us off, cut him off and place an embargo.
#7
Venezuela is now importing close to $40 billion per year, mostly in food
That's $1000 or so person in food. Does Venezuela produce any food at all?
Posted by: ed ||
02/10/2008 21:10 Comments ||
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#8
person = per person.
Posted by: ed ||
02/10/2008 21:11 Comments ||
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Oh, dear. What a pity oil is fungible. And various courts around the world have locked up US$12 billion of Venezuelan oil company assets. The more they try to export, the more gets taken away from them and placed in escrow pending award to the plaintiff Exxon, right?
#10
This is just Chavez getting into his Don Quixote persona again. Give him a few days and the manic phase will pass and he will be on a downer and all quiet again.
#11
Tipper, compared to Yugo, Don Qwix-oat was downright sane.
But then, so's just about everybody....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/10/2008 21:43 Comments ||
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His crude is not fungible, at least not on his side. Our refineries can take his low crade sulphur loaded stuff, but not many other places can. On the other hand, its easier for us to refine the sweet crude out of Libya, for instance.
Hey siezes the assets and Exxon takes him to court to get them back and he whines?
The European public needs convincing that Nato's mission in Afghanistan is part of a wider fight against global terror, the US defence secretary says. Robert Gates warned that the future of Nato was at risk if it became a "two-tiered alliance" of countries which fought, and those that did not.
Mr Gates was speaking on the last day of a security conference in Munich. The summit is also set to consider a threatened diplomatic crisis with Russia over Kosovan independence plans.
Mr Gates said it was incumbent upon Nato leaders to "recapitulate to the people of Europe the importance of the Afghanistan mission and its relationship to the wider terrorist threat".
"On a conceptual level, I believe it falls squarely within the traditional bounds of the alliance's core purpose: to defend the security interests and values of the trans-Atlantic community," he told the gathering of the world's top defence officials. "We must not - we cannot - become a two-tiered alliance of those who are willing to fight and those who are not," he added.
"Such a development, with all its implications for collective security, would effectively destroy the alliance."
Earlier - in an interview with the BBC - a senior British diplomat defended Nato's operation in Afghanistan, saying the overall strategy was working despite some problems on the ground. Stewart Eldon, the UK's permanent representative to Nato, said it was a "mistake" to say Afghanistan would make or break Nato.
The BBC's Jonathan Marcus, at the conference, says the issue of Kosovo was also likely to make waves on the final day of the talks.
Russia's first deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov was addressing delegates on Sunday. Ahead of his speech, a Russian spokesman told the BBC that a declaration of independence by Kosovo and its subsequent recognition by the United States and many European Union countries would create an international state of emergency. That, the spokesman said, could jeopardise the whole standing of the United Nations.
#1
It is not a question of NATO becoming a two-tiered alliance, it is a question of underlining the blindingly obvious fact NATO is a two-tiered alliance. Most Europeans could care less about their own security let alone shedding a tear - much less a drop of blood - for the security of anyone else.
#2
Gates came as close to threatening to leave NATO as any American official ever has and, I think, could without making the threat explicit.
The timing of this could make continued membership in Nato a campaign issue. And once it becomes a topic of public debate in the U. S. the Euros will find that their support here is a mile wide and an inch deep. I cannot imagine either candidate coming out in support of Nato membership if the other launches a well researched and presented attack on it.
Gates is growing in office, and I never thought I'd be saying that.
#4
Gates really does seem to be the man we need at the moment. I'd hope that if Sen. McCain wins in November that he'd keep Gates on for a while.
As to NATO, as much as I like many individual Europeans, I'm getting awfully tired of being responsible for the defense of a continent full of people who won't defend themselves. No doubt that will get me a lecture on how important Europe is. I just wish the Euros would realize that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2008 13:15 Comments ||
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#5
Whats funny is the the French are willing to fight and the Germans are a bunch of pussies.
#6
OldSpook: Whats funny is the the French are willing to fight and the Germans are a bunch of pussies.
Not so fast, OS... The French are still out there defending the Greater French Co-Prosperity Sphere, if the Germans had any ex-colonial possessions to exploit they would be in the game. Self interest can make anyone braver --- even give French Politicians a spine implant (their soldiers have always been brave enough).
#2
Working from Robinson's research, the CSP discovered that on average, 15 percent-23% of US state employee pension funds were invested in companies that do business with state sponsors of terrorism. In 2004, the estimated total value of those investments was $188 billion. Some $70b. was invested in companies that did business with Iran, Syria and North Korea.
Apparently AIPAC is and even Glick can't figure out why.
And I'd rather imagine Glick teaming with me. Or Malkin. Or both.
followup to yesterday's article
They were gone but not forgotten.
A day after Mayor Carty Finkbeiner ordered 200 Marine Corps Reservists out of downtown Toledo, residents here and elsewhere expressed disappointment, disbelief, and even outrage. and embarrassment?
His last-minute call Friday resulted in the unit canceling its planned training exercises and returning to Grand Rapids, Mich. And by yesterday afternoon, the mayor's reaction had become a national news story picked up by Internet blogs along with the popular Web site, Rantburg The Drudge Report. Media phone lines and e-mail boxes kept busy as keyboard-tapping critics sounded their opinions on what some have billed the "Carty vs. Marines" controversy.
Some compared the flap to the one Mr. Finkbeiner set off during his first term in 1994, with his proposal that the city move its deaf population to land near Toledo Express Airport. another smart move
"It makes Toledo look like a national disgrace," said Steve Baxter, 47, of Columbus, who learned of the ordeal through a national political blog. "And it reflects poorly on your mayor." yep
Former Marine Brian Thompson, 40, of West Toledo said he was in disbelief when he first picked up the newspaper. Soon his feelings turned to anger. "My perception now is that Carty feels it is OK for Marines to die in Iraq, but just don't come to Toledo," said the 13-year Marine Corps veteran. "The better trained the men and women are, the better chances that they'll come home alive."
In response to his critics, Mayor Finkbeiner declared his absolute support for the Marines Corps as well as all of the nation's armed forces - yet still defended his decision to send the Marines packing. "absolute" as in.....not
"No matter how much I respect, love, and appreciate the military, there are better places to conduct military planning and staging sessions than the central business district," Mayor Finkbeiner told The Blade. "I think the military brass would understand and appreciate that."
Obviously they don't; they wanted to train in the abandoned building in your town. What's your problem? Besides the obvious, I mean.
On Friday, a five-bus convoy carrying about 200 members of Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines of Grand Rapids, was just minutes from Toledo. A city employee informed a unit leader that the mayor opposed their plans for another three-day urban patrol exercise on downtown streets, working from the Madison Building, a mostly vacant structure that is city-owned. along with other vacant buildings, Carty?
Some Toledo police officials had been aware of the Marines' training plans for weeks. The mayor said that he did not learn of them until reading a news item in Friday's Blade. keeping in touch, huh?
Mayor Finkbeiner, a Democrat, said yesterday that he ordered the Marines out because he did not want a repeat of the last time the Marines' battalion trained downtown in May, 2006. "I saw the military with guns drawn emulating warfare, and I observed the expressions of citizens who happened to just be coming down the sidewalk that particular Saturday noon in wonderment, asking, 'What have I found myself in the middle of?'" the mayor said. "There was a look of wonderment on some people's faces, and there was a look of fear on other people's faces."
While glancing about a downtown nearly empty of people yesterday afternoon, Douglas Finch, Sr., 55, of West Toledo, said he found the mayor's concerns unbelievable. Mr. Finch recalled witnessing the camouflaged and rifle-bearing Marines in downtown two years ago. He said the sight was attention-grabbing, not scary. "We have enough empty buildings here, so why not let them train in one?" he asked.
At VFW Post 2510 in East Toledo, men and women gathered around glasses of beer as they discussed whether their mayor acted appropriately. Their verdict was a unanimous no.
Dwight Griffin, 68, a former Army National Guardsmen, said the Marines became the unwitting scapegoat for whomever failed to keep Mayor Finkbeiner informed. "Somebody dropped a memo and the Marines got caught in the middle," Mr. Griffin said.
City Councilman Frank Szollosi said he was "dismayed" by the mayor's actions. He said he would support organizing a council-led apology next week to the Marines on behalf of the city. Mr. Szollosi likened Toledo's present image to that of Berkeley, Calif., where City Council passed a measure urging Marine recruiters to leave a downtown office, citing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
"This might be a situation where the City Council has to apologize for the mayor's actions," said Mr. Szollosi, a Democrat. "I would certainly hope that the city of Toledo's federal funding is not put in jeopardy."
Among the few office workers downtown yesterday was Bob Gardner, an owner of the Miller, Gardner and Co. accounting firm, 500 Madison Avenue. Mr. Gardner said he and other employees witnessed the Marines 2006 visit, and recalled seeing camouflaged figures firing blank ammunition rounds. "It scared the heck out of us, until we knew what was going on," Mr. Gardner said.
Mr. Gardner, however, said he doesn't oppose the Marines returning downtown. Prior notice is good for residents who would be caught in their mock crossfire. This year we were aware of [the exercise], and it wouldn't have bothered me one way or the other," he said.
Mayor Finkbeiner said if there is one major regret of this ordeal, it is the lack of communication to his office. The mayor said if he had known of the Marines plans ahead of time, he could have arranged for the city to open the vacant North Towne Square mall or the former Jones Junior High School for their training. lotta vacant buildings there. You'd think a Democrat Mayor would notice that?
It's the federal gummints fault that those buildings are vacant. Hillary will fix all that. Honest. And she'll keep those pesky Marines out of the way. She's like that.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/10/2008 12:26 ||
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Yesterday, I e-mailed Hizzoner at - mayor.toledo@toledo.oh.gov - but when I went looking for the website a minute ago, it seems to have disappeared!
Can't have too much free speech, yahknow!
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/10/2008 12:48 Comments ||
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Marines are such meek and biddable sorts, you know.
#3
Berkeley, now Toledo, what city is next?
These bojo's need to be straightened out.
Who's side are they on anyways? I think I know the answer to that and it's frightening.
Posted by: Jan ||
02/10/2008 13:35 Comments ||
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lol, that's boZo's
not enough coffee yet
Posted by: Jan ||
02/10/2008 13:36 Comments ||
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#6
I can't post what I want to say. I'd get sink trapped. And I'd deserve it. There truly are days that I pray CWII starts and the feelings that these vermin like Toledo's mayer generate can be vented through chainsaws, belt sanders and meat hooks.
#7
Saturday night in Toledo, Ohio is like being nowhere at all.
All through the day how the hours rush by, you sit in the park and you watch the grass die.
Ah, but after the sunset, the dusk and the twilight, when shadows of night start to fall.
They roll back the sidewalk precisely at ten and people who live there are not seen again.
Just two lonely truckers from Great Falls, Montana and a salesman from places unknown
all huddled together in downtown, Toledo to spend their big night all alone.
You ask how I know of Toledo, Ohio? Well I spent a week there one day.
They've got entertainment to dazzle your eyes: go visit the bakery and watch the buns rise.
Ah, but let's not forget that the folks of Toledo unselfishly gave us the scale.
No springs, honest weight, that's the promise they made,
so smile and be thankful next time you get weighed.
And "wive and wet wive", let this be our motto, let's let the sleeping dogs lie.
And here's to the dogs of Toledo, Ohio, ladies, we bid you goodbye.
/John Denver
Yahoo Mail will now let people register usernames that include the word "allah," after a ban designed to thwart prejudice went astray.
The policy reversal, announced Wednesday, came too late for Linda Callahan of Ashfield, Mass., who set up a Google Gmail account after being rejected by Yahoo Mail because of the presence of "allah" in her name, said her son, Ed Callahan. "She was disgusted by (Yahoo's policy) and saddened," he said. "It was discriminatory. They disallowed 'allah' but allowed 'jesus' and 'god,' and I don't think there is a rational explanation for that."
The existence of the ban made a bit of a splash on the Web after it was reported in The Daily Hampshire Gazette on Friday and picked up by The Register and Slashdot this week. Known about this for years, finally someone in the Media got it
It seems the situation has been a problem since at least June 2005, judging from a Web page (which includes profanity) created by someone named "Kallahar," who said Yahoo barred him from registering his name. Apparently, "allah" was not banned by Yahoo until after 2000, the site says. Mark one up for the good guys
"working hard to earn your disrespect!" Actually, I'm convinced she and Harry are working hard to see if negative approval ratings are possible
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said twice Sunday that Iraq is a failure, adding that President Bushs troop surge has not produced the desired effect. "which is the retreat and withdrawal of our troops in defeat"
The purpose of the surge was to create a secure time for the government of Iraq to make the political change to bring reconciliation to Iraq, Pelosi said on CNNs Late Edition. They have not done that.
The speaker hastened to add: The troops have succeeded, God bless them. "oops! Of course I support them! Just get out of Berkeley!"
Pelosis harsh verdict is a reminder of the dilemma for Democrats as they head into this falls presidential and congressional elections: They need to make the case that the country needs to depart from the direction set by Bush. Yet they dont want to look like naysayers at a time when Iraq has become more stable, albeit still violent. like DC
Republican strategists say one of their few chances to avoid a blowout in November is to paint Democrats as defeatists.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sparked a furious response from the right last year when he said the Iraq war is lost.
Bush announced in September that the surge policy of additional troops would allow a gradual reduction in forces as a return on success. Improvements in Iraq helped revive the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), now the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
Shortly after Pelosi spoke on Sunday with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in Iraq, a suicide bomber killed more than 20 civilians at a checkpoint north of Baghdad, the U.S. military reported. "timed to perfection, Achmed!" Pelosis comment came during a discussion of her call for the redeployment of our troops out of Iraq. Anchor Wolf Blitzer asked: Are you not worried, though, that all the gains that have been achieved over the past year might be lost?
There haven't been gains, Wolf, the speaker replied. The gains have not produced the desired effect, which is the reconciliation of Iraq. This is a failure. This is a failure. The troops have succeeded, God bless them. We owe them the greatest debt of gratitude for their sacrifice, their patriotism, and for their courage and to their families as well.
But they deserve better than the policy of a war without end, a war that could be 20 years or longer. And Secretary Gates just testified in the last 24 hours to Congress that this next year in Iraq and Afghanistan are going to cost $170 billion.
Afghanistan is not settled because the president took his eye off the ball and took the full attention that should have been in Afghanistan, and shifted some of that to Iraq, a war without end, without a plan, without a reason to go in, without a plan to win, without a strategy to leave. This is a disaster we cannot perpetuate.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/10/2008 17:22 ||
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There is nothing under the sun that Democrats won't say or deny to get power, and nothing that Republicans can do that won't be criticised in some fashion. This woman is living proof of the worthlessness of McCain reaching across the aisle. She woukld sacrifice American resolve and reputation in the world in a second for advantage, and she has no idea how to actually deal with the barbarians that surround us. Like most of her ilk, she thinks they are just like her, just charmingly different in only superficial ways. When confronted with repeated proofs that they are not, she simply fails to comprehend......
#4
But they deserve better than the policy of a war without end, a war that could be 20 years or longer. And Secretary Gates just testified in the last 24 hours to Congress that this next year in Iraq and Afghanistan are going to cost $170 billion.
This is the critical comment. She is conceding Osama's point that America is a paper tiger that can be defeated by simply out waiting it. Pelosi does not have the will to victory.
The American people have to have the alternatives and the choice made explicit. Victory with McCain, whenever, however or defeat with Obama/Clinton/Pelosi/Reid now and a new attack on America sooner or later. That is how McCain will have to frame the issue to win the election. If he does, it will go a long way to winning the war.
His failure to frame the war appropriately is one of Bush's great failings and one reason he has so little domestic support.
#6
But they deserve better than the policy of a war without end, a war that could be 20 years or longer.
Nancy, you missed the history class about the US expansion across the continent that resulted in one or more conflicts with the insurgents natives that lasted nearly a century?
Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Mohammad Sadiq dismissed on Saturday a senior US officials assertion that Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders were operating from Pakistans Tribal Areas, AFP reported. The US official had told a media briefing in Washington on Friday that there was no question that the iconic leaders of Al Qaeda Zawahiri, Bin Laden ... are in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Brings to mind an old joke: Sure, we lost. Look where the "winners" are hiding...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/10/2008 8:25 Comments ||
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Too bad he had to change his name, but at least Baghdad Bob was able to find a new job in Pakistan.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq Figure Lists Woes Front-page Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Feb. 9 -- On Nov. 3, U.S. soldiers raided a safe house of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq near the northern city of Balad. Not a single combatant was captured, but inside the house they found something valuable: a diary and will written in neat Arabic script.
"I am Abu Tariq, Emir of al-Layin and al-Mashadah Sector," it began. Over 16 pages, the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader detailed the organization's demise in his sector. He once had 600 men, but now his force was down to 20 or fewer, he wrote. They had lost weapons and allies. Abu Tariq focused his anger in particular on the Sunni fighters and tribesmen who have turned against al-Qaeda in Iraq and joined the U.S.-backed Sunni Sahwa, or "Awakening," forces.
"We were mistreated, cheated and betrayed by some of our brothers," Abu Tariq wrote. "We must not have mercy on those traitors until they come back to the right side or get eliminated completely in order to achieve victory at the end."
The diary is the U.S. military's latest weapon in a concerted information campaign to undermine al-Qaeda in Iraq and its efforts to regroup and shift tactics. The movement remains strong in northern areas, and many American commanders consider it the country's most immediate security threat. In recent days, U.S. officials have released seized videos showing the Sunni insurgent group training children to kidnap and kill, as well as excerpts of a 49-page letter allegedly written by another al-Qaeda leader that describes the organization as weak and beset by low morale.
"It is important we get our story out," a U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity. "I firmly believe the information part of this conflict is as very vital as the armed element of it. . . . We don't want to lose that to al-Qaeda."
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/10/2008 13:53 ||
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"Tuesday was a low point, the Jews opens a Starbucks and my last two fighters got jobs there. I have resorted to recruiting animals. So far I have two dogs who only bite when they first gereat me and a rat that that likes to nibble on my sandles. Not sure what offensive operation are possible at this point but I pray to Allan bvery day for guidance."
Posted by: Achmed the Terror ||
02/10/2008 14:29 Comments ||
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When you-know-what-hits-the-fan is when HIDDEN IMAMS-MAHDIS and like are needed the most.
Year 2008 -2010 > WILL VALIDATE OR DESTROY WORLD ISLAM + RADICAL ISLAMISM AS "GOD-BASED" FAITHS/IDEOS [Basis for Terror] IFF NO IMAM-MAHDI APPEARS IN THE ME TO DEFEAT OR DESTROY US MILFORS = US DOMIN/ENTRENCHMENT. BY AND FOR WORLD ISLAM + RADICAL ISLAMISM! The ISLAMIC = ISLAMIST GLOBAL AGENDA WILL LIKELY ALSO BE WON OR LOST in thsi period.
E.g. UK INDEPENDENT/TOPIX > PLANS IN THE WORKS TO CONVERT UN INTO NWO + THE UN AND NEW WORLD ORDER.
MOUD & OSAMA > is OSAMA healthy enuff to lead his own desired Apocalyptic Battle, to lead in what is likely the most decisive period [2008-2010] in his personal belief system and that of WORLD Radical Islamism???
WHATEVER OSAMA'S TRUE HEALTH STATUS IS, FOR DEDIC MULLAHS ANDOR SECULAR ISLAMISTS ITS NO TIME FOR HIM TO DIE OR BE BEDRIDDEN.
#4
LUCIANNE > AL QAEDA LEADERS:"WE ARE FACING DEFEAT ...THERE IS PANIC AND FEAR".
You are where GOD + GUAM TAOTAMONAS SAID YOU WOULD BE GOING INTO 2008. That being said, OSAMA + AQ ARE NOT YET DEFEATED DESPITE THEIR SEEMING CIRCUMSTANCES.
Wearing surgical scrubs stained by the blood of amputees and others wounded by Iraqi and American bombs and bullets, Army Reserve Col. Herbert W. Percival sat in the desert and wrote home about war.
"The bullet sneaked through a very small gap in the axillary (armpit) area of his body armor. A tiny hole," he pecked out on a Dell laptop from an Army hospital in Mosul, Iraq. "He arrived unconscious with no vital signs. Everyone tried but his blood was somewhere else A sniper shot. An unlucky shot. A cheap shot. Shot through the heart and under the flag."
The orthopedic surgeon hit send, and the tragedy was transmitted to family members and friends scattered across the United States. He wrote of boots removed from soldiers who no longer have feet. He wrote of an operating room filled with the wounded: American and Iraqi soldiers, civilians and suspected insurgents blindfolded during surgery so they couldn't identify doctors or nurses. The words formed a portal to a war that in March will be five years old. Article continues at link. The story of another patriotic soldier doing - in his precious spare time - the job professional journalists simulate.
#1
Did everyone notice the abject disregard for truth this author has in his opening paragraph?
Wearing surgical scrubs stained by the blood of amputees and others wounded by Iraqi and American bombs and bullets, Army Reserve Col. Herbert W. Percival sat in the desert and wrote home about war.
Apparently only Iraqi and American bombs cause deaths, never TERRORIST bombs. All the Iraqis are good guys, and all the maiming and dismemberment is caused by locals, never by A-Q "foreigners". I admire the colonel and his devotion to duty, but the "journalist" should be forced to be an orderly in one of those field hospitals for a couple of years to learn some FACTS. Yeah, this is a "local man a hero" story, but it's still filled with too much personal perspective. And yes, I did read the whole thing.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/10/2008 14:07 Comments ||
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You know, Old Patriot, I was so happy to see someone give some relatively positive coverage of an aspect of the war, that I completely skimmed over the way the opening paragraph is phrased. What is being said by blaming "Iraqi and American" weapons? By Iraqis, is he referring to our allies fighting for Iraq's government, or is he insinuating that our mutual enemy in the war are the real Iraqis? Either way the spin is unfair, but what else is new?
I usually just sit and listen, there's a lot to learn here. A fair amount has been from you, and often you are spot-on. But as a former military physician, I can tell you that the docs overseas bust their butts. Often doing the same work done by what you call "orderlies"--proud and highly trained enlisted surgical technicians and medics. People who are trained and willing to go out and put their lives on the line to save the wounded--my wife is one, she's somewhere real dry right now. The "ordelies", nurses, and those physicians you are casting aspersion on work their tails off, save a hell of a lot of lives, and have driven down the mortality rate of the injured to levels no one would have believed possible even ten years ago. The work they do and the knowledge gained will be used to save lives in the coming decades by advancing civilian trauma care light years beyond the current state.
Most of those docs have functioned in roles other than what you wrongly assume is an ivory tower physician job--especially Army docs. They've humped packs, jumped out of Airplanes into Panama under fire, lead pathfinder teams, and one I know even cut up a busted up Blackhawk in a little town called Mog a few years back to bring out the body of his dead comrade so it wouldn't be drug through the streets. Airborne, Rangers, SF medics, former fighter pilots and AFSOC guys were the rule where I worked. My physician colleagues held Silver Stars, DFC's, and yes Purple Hearts. So in their defense, OP, you really don't understand who you're talking about. If some orthopedist who's doing his best to save mangled limbs and lives rubs you wrong, it's certainly your right to state your opinion. But you're absolutely dead wrong, and I'll dispute that one any time.
BAGHDAD, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc has agreed to rejoin Iraq's Shi'ite-led government after key demands for returning were met, two officials from the bloc said on Saturday. "The Accordance Front has decided to return to the government. The results of the negotiations with the government have been positive," Adnan al-Dulaimi, the head of the bloc, told Reuters.
The Front pulled its six ministers out of the cabinet of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in August, plunging the government into crisis.
Did anyone really notice that they're back? Or that they left?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Whaddaya mean you're back? You were gone?
Who knew?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/10/2008 0:52 Comments ||
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Both Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal and Minister Meir Sheetrit, among others, say it's time to bomb Gaza neighborhoods, in response to the ongoing Kassam attacks.
Speaking with Army Radio on Sunday morning, Moyal said, "Defense Minister Ehud Barak arrived here this morning, I showed him the spot where the Kassam hit last night [from which a boy lost his leg and his brother is fighting for his life -ed.], and I told him, as I always do, that I'm not going to tell him what specific operations to take, or that there has to be a full-scale invasion of Gaza; but just that the residents do not believe that enough is being done to keep them safe. "
"That is why," Moyal explained, "we will continue to protest. We are not going to burn tires or anything like that, but we simply want to give the message that we want to be able to remain in our homes, in light of this totally illogical situation in which we are constantly bombarded with rockets."
Dozens of Sderot residents set out for Jerusalem this morning, where they plant to protest outside the government offices. On their way, they were joined by hundreds of Jerusalem residents, and together they are blocking traffic into the city at the Sakharov Gardens entrance.
Asked if the time has not come to talk with Hamas in order to possibly bring about a stop to the Kassams, Moyal responded sharply: "You are insulting me, the morning after a near-fatal Kassam attack. How can you talk with someone who doesn't want to talk with you?"
Army Radio interviewer Razi Barkai said, "We can possibly talk with them about a tahadiye, a short-term ceasefire... or, in addition, they claim that we are besieging them by closing off the crossings into Gaza."
Moyal answered, "To talk about a ceasefire is an insult to my intelligence; if they want to stop shooting, let them stop!. We don't fire at them because we feel like it; we shoot only because we are shot at... Regarding the siege, we owe Gaza absolutely nothing by any political standard. We left Gaza, we took those nice people whom you call settlers out of their homes and brought them here [to pre-1967 Israel - ed.], and now we need have nothing to do with Gaza; Israel owes something only to the residents of Sderot."
"What would you do if you were the Defense Minister?" Moyal was asked, and he responded emphatically, "I would kidnap [Hamas leader Ismail] Haniye, I would kidnap or kill the other leaders, I would bomb neighborhoods, etc."
Barkai: "And if you do all that and the next day are bombed with another 100 Kassams, what then?"
Moyal: "We did it in Lebanon in 2006; we wiped out a whole neighborhood, the Dachya, including tall buildings, sometimes with people in it, and - what can you do? It worked! We have had nearly two years of quiet from Lebanon since then."
Minister Chaim Ramon, formerly of Labor and now of Kadima, similarly said that there is nothing to talk about with Hamas, but neither should we invade Gaza: "That would embroil us in a quagmire that would cost many IDF casualties." Instead, he said, electricity should be cut off to Gaza in direct proportion to Kassam attacks, and that anyone involved in Kassam rocket attacks should be targeted.
Before this morning's Cabinet session, several ministers implied that their own government is not taking strong enough action to stop the Kassams, and that Hamas chief Haniye is a legitimate target. Jerusalem Affairs Minister Yaakov Edry of Kadima said, "This government cannot last for long if the Sderot problem is not solved." His party colleague Minister Ruhama Avraham said, "The situation in Gaz-- in Sderot is very difficult, and we must definitely take a stronger approach." [Avraham was a strong supporter of the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 - ed.]
Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) was explicit about what should be done: "The heads of Hamas must pay the price. Hamas doesn't understand any other language; the problem is we are talking to them in English instead of in Arabic. They only understand [the language of force]. The situation at present doesn't make sense; every other country faced with rockets on its citizens would go in and destroy the area. We should warn the [Arabs in Gaza] in advance, give them a day's notice, and then wipe out a neighborhood. We should also hit their leaders, regardless of who or what they are."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is maintaining a calm approach, however. He said, "We all share this sorrow and anger at what happened in Sderot - but it must be clear that anger is not an operative plan." He said that Israel would continue to fight the terrorists and those who dispatch them.
Israel Air Force craft attacked four Hamas targets following the latest Kassams.
#1
I wonder which of these politicians are descended from European Jews, and which from Jews expelled from Arab lands. (Te thought come to me that if the Arabs don't defeat Israel soon, they will face a country dominated by those not handicapped by Western guilt. And then they will be well and truly and very deservedly screwed.)
#4
Just make sure that the military cannot do anything "at this time" because they are too "overstretched" to stop the Israeli citizens counter-battery operations.
Dozens of furious Sderot residents took to the streets Saturday night following the Kassam attack that seriously injured two brothers, aged 8 and 19. Doctors were fighting to save the younger boy's leg, reportedly partially severed in the explosion which sent 11 others into emotional shock, including the boys 15-year-old brother and their mother. Demonstrators in Sderot burned tires, called upon Ehud Olmert to resign and demanded an IDF operation in Gaza. They then proceeded to block Sderot junction, causing a traffic slowdown in the adjoining roads.
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter visited Sderot Saturday, before the brothers' injury, and said: "I found a battered town, 20 percent of whose residents have simply gotten up and left. The residents live in distress, because they say they do not see the end to the Kassams."
Dichter said after the visit that residents told him that they live "from miracle to miracle" and that there was a larger presence than usual in the town's synagogues. "When I entered Sderot I saw barren streets, empty of people, and people holed up in their homes," he added. Dichter plans to tell the government what he saw in Sunday's cabinet session.
A senior Gaza terrorist named "Abu Mujahed" used Dichter's statements to score psychological warfare points. The terrorist said "we did not need Dichter's announcement, because this is not the first time the Israelis admit this and Sderot has been almost completely empty for several months. This proves that the rockets we fire are effective and that they cause a balance of terror and deterrence with the Zionist enemy.
Government spokesman David Baker said after Saturday night's Kassam attack that the government will not allow the current situation in Sderot to continue. Israel will respond with determination to protect its citizens. The Islamic Jihads Al-Aqsa Brigades terrorist gang took responsibility for the attack.
MK Effie Eitam (NRP-NU) placed responsibility for the injuries in the Kassam attack Saturday night on the government. The fact that an entire city in Israel is in critical condition is testimony to the poor performance of the government and defense minister, he said. "Only a stable policy of tightening the economic siege of Gaza and wide-scale attacks on all of Hamas' leadership will reduce the number of Kassams and make it possible to prepare a large scale assault on Gaza, in order to crush the terror infrastructures in Gaza and bring peace and security back into the lives of the residents of Sderot and the Gaza perimeter, he added.
NRP chairman MK Zevulun Orlev called for a military operation in Gaza Saturday night. Orlev said: "The reality in Sderot proves that it is time to stop playing with the on/off switch and let the IDF fight the terror in Gaza as it is doing in Judea and Samaria. The government is avoiding a large-scale assault on Gaza so it doesn't have to admit failure in the Disengagement, but there is no choice but to mount Operation Defensive Shield II in Gaza."
MK Miki Eitan (Likud) said it was time to "change course and take the gloves off" as far as Gaza was concerned. He warned, however, against a ground operation. "The Israeli government's ministers say there is a state of war with the Hamas government. But what kind of war is this, in which enemy military commanders receive immunity? Every time a "color red" siren goes off in Sderot, electricity to Gaza should be cut off at that very second. Whenever a home is hit, the house of one of the Hamas leaders should be bombed."
"What we must not do," he added, "is to send our soldiers to a ground operation in Gaza, and play the game according to the rules which are convenient for the terrorists. The limitations which the High Court puts on IDF responses could lead us to respond by a ground assault. That kind of operation could lead to a bloodbath, in which many Israeli soldiers might get hurt, as well as many of the Palestinians which the court cares so much about."
MK Gidon Sa'ar (Likud) demanded that the Prime Minister and Defense Minister cancel their plans to go abroad this week and act immediately to stop the Kassam attacks. "Olmert and Barak's answers are not needed in Berlin and Ankara, but in Sderot, where the residents' security has gone with the wind," he said.
Minister for Religious Services Yitzchak Cohen (Shas) said that "as long as Sderot is burning, we must strangle Gaza's infrastructures, until all of the Kassam launchers lay down their weapons in broad daylight." Cohen said there was no difference between the international reaction to a 1% cut of Gaza's electricity and a 100% cut. "It seems in Gaza they do not understand warnings, and only completely cutting off Gaza will bring results," he added.
#1
Cohen said there was no difference between the international reaction to a 1% cut of Gaza's electricity and a 100% cut. "It seems in Gaza they do not understand warnings, and only completely cutting off Gaza will bring results," he added.
agreed. the bleating will be the same. Cut it off and keep it off. F*ck em
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/10/2008 10:50 Comments ||
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(AKI) - Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Palestinian leader from the Hamas political faction, has accused Europe of ignoring what he called Israeli "massacres".
"I am disappointed that Europe continues to go under the protective veil of the United States and remain silent in light of Israel's massacres [of the Palestinian people]," Haniyeh said in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI) on Friday. "There are some European countries with whom we have good relations, but I would like them to play a more important role in the Middle East crisis", said Haniyeh. "We are ready to establish dialogue with them, but they have become closer to our enemy, since we were elected in 2006, and they use the same measure of assessment as the Americans do."
The US and Israel were shocked when Hamas was elected in in parliamentary elections in January 2006 and they repeatedly stated that they would not work with a Palestinian Authority (PA) that included Hamas.
Hamas is branded as a terrorist organisation by the European Union, Israel and the US. Haniyeh is a former prime minister of the Palestinian Authority and was dismissed from office by current president Mahmoud Abbas.
Referring to the ongoing conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians, Haniyeh justified the launch of Qassam rockets against Israeli targets, calling it a response to Israeli raids in Gaza.
On Friday Palestinian militants fired at least 20 Qassam rockets to Southern Israel, mainly to the Negev desert and the city of Sderot.
The attacks came a day after Israel cut back its supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip, in response to a barrage of Qassam rockets launched by Palestinian militants.
The leader of the Islamist movement also spoke about a potential truce with Israel. "There is a big difference between a temporary truce, and a long-term truce," Haniyeh said. "For the first, we need an end to the raids and the [economic] embargo, while for the second, we need an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories and the liberation of all jailed Palestinians."
However, Haniyeh rejected a proposal from Abbas to reach a truce with Israel after the recent Gaza raids, branding it as a "provocation against the Palestinian people".
With regard to the possibility of early elections in the Palestinian territories, Haniyeh said: "We are in favour of early elections, but we think it is wrong for the PA to make it a necessary condition for dialogue with Hamas. When they [PA] do not put any conditions, they will find we are always available."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Haniyeh also forgot to blame the EU for the 'reactionary' obbing into Israel of the constant barrage of rockets at residences and schools also!!
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter will ask the cabinet during Sunday's weekly meeting to give the army the green light to step up measures designed to put a stop to the rocket attacks from Gaza. Dichter, who visited Sderot on Saturday before the Kassam attack that seriously wounded two brothers there, will brief the ministers on his tour.
Officials close to Dichter told The Jerusalem Post he would repeat his call for the political echelon to order the IDF to create a level of deterrence vis a vis Hamas in Gaza that would put an end to the daily rocket barrages. The government has been reluctant to escalate Israel's military response and has refrained from ordering either a full-scale IDF incursion or a renewal of the policy of targeting Hamas political leaders. But Saturday night's attack is likely to heighten the concern of ministers that the current combination of military strikes and limited sanctions is failing to halt the Kassam and mortar fire.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's media adviser, Mark Regev, said after the rocket attack that, "The aim of Hamas is obviously to try to kill innocent Israeli civilians, and Israel will do what needs to be done to protect our population."
Dichter came back from Sderot on Saturday after being told by residents that they felt abandoned by the government. "I found a battered town where some 20 percent of residents have simply got up and left," Dichter said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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"Don't rule out the possibility of hoards of Palestinians bursting through the borders of Israel and Jordan just like they did at the Rafah border crossing into Egypt," Hamas's deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk warned on Saturday.
I'm not sure who'd be rougher on the Paleos, the Israelis or the Jordanians.
In an interview with Qatari newspaper Ayam, Marzouk said that Hamas would carry out suicide bombings "as required," and insisted that Israel could not break the spirit of the Palestinian people.
When asked if the Palestinians were likely to mass on the Israeli and Jordanian borders, Marzouk responded, "I believe that all possibilities and options are open," adding that if left with no choice, the Palestinian people would be prepared to carry out actions like breaching the borders. Hamas's deputy leader went on to say that as far as he is concerned, by such actions, Palestinians would rid themselves of the siege imposed on them by Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I'll double my popcorn order.... :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/10/2008 0:15 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I think it's a very good place to try out those "less than lethal" audio and laser devices that our senior politicians haven't got the guts to use. And the modified ship defense guns per the green zone anti-mortar systems.
#3
"I'm not sure who'd be rougher on the Paleos, the Israelis or the Jordanians."
Considering the paleos tried to kill the King of Jordan, and considering that he doesn't give a rat's ass about the whining of the Western MSM, I know which way I'd bet on that one. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/10/2008 0:45 Comments ||
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#4
The heck with less than lethal. Lethal sounds great to me.
#6
West Bank Palestinians would have to breach the Jordanian border, the PA's neck-of-the-woods. Do you think Abbas would help Hamas in this situation?
I think we're closer to having Hamas sending thousands of civilians intermixed with terrorists to Israeli crossings. I'm surprised they haven't done it yet. Civilians killed, terrorist infiltration, and world outrage directed at the Israelis.
The government plans to assassinate Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh to increase Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's popularity, MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) claimed on Saturday. Zahalka, was interviewed by news agency Quds Fares, said that Israel had assassinated "historical" Palestinian leaders in the past, adding that the Jewish state "often adhered to this method."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Rocket attacks from Gaza will stop if the IDF halts all its operations against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri was quoted as saying Saturday. In an interview with a Saudi newspaper, Zuhari said that "the ball is in Israel's court."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Bullshit, you got that exactly backwards,
Stop rocketing Israel and then they'll quit killing you.
Lying the reverse generates nothing but laughter and disgust.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/10/2008 0:48 Comments ||
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Just a talking point for Western "Progressives", RJ.
The ayatollah has a simple piece of advice for any Muslim woman abused by her husband: Hit him back. "A woman can respond to physical violence inflicted on her by a man with counter-violence as a self-defense measure," Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Lebanon's senior Shiite cleric, wrote in a fatwa late last year that shocked conservative Muslims around the world.
Fadlallah has long been considered a leader of the most radical faction of Shiite Muslims in Lebanon. He endorsed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution in Iran and was accused of ordering or at least encouraging the 1983 bombings of the U.S. Marine barracks here, a charge he and his supporters have denied. He issued fatwas, or religious edicts, calling on the faithful to resist the United States and urged Muslims to boycott American products.
But the 72-year-old cleric, who agreed to an interview recently in his South Beirut compound, has toned down his rhetoric in recent years. Instead, he espouses a more modest vision for the faithful than the ambitious agenda set forth by Iran, which considers itself the patron of Shiites worldwide and has been trying to increase its influence throughout the Muslim world.
"I don't see there is a unity in the situation of Shiites in the world," he said. He leaned forward, his piercing brown eyes becoming animated as he discussed religion, politics and international affairs. "I think the current Iranian president lacks diplomatic skills, and I think he creates problems for Iran," he said of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Fadlallah, whose black turban identifies him as a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, focuses on daily bread-and-butter issues of concern to his followers, such as parenting. "One of the general principles in raising children is that parents should not consider their child as part of their possessions," he wrote in a religious ruling translated and placed on the English section of his Web site. "Instead, they should consider him God's trust that Allah ... has put in their hands. This is done by loving the child, listening to him and respecting his mind."
Grand ayatollahs, the highest-ranked clergy in the Shiite hierarchy, have the right to interpret primary religious texts and serve as marja, or source of emulation, for their millions of followers in countries with large Shiite populations such as Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India and Bahrain. Most search for a niche. Khomeini espoused a highly politicized version of Islam, while Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Iraq advocates piety, modesty and good deeds.
Fadlallah's fatwas and statements seem more like daytime talk-show fodder. "Sistani is very popular in the Shiite world, but he's not involved in the daily lives of Shiites," said Fadlallah's aide Hani Abdullah. "This is why Fadlallah is more of a reference for modern Shiites."
On gender issues in particular, he takes positions that raise eyebrows among his conservative counterparts, such as questioning the conventional Islamic prohibition on female judges and challenging the traditional view that a woman's place is in the house and the man's in the workplace.
"The belief that it is disgraceful for the man to manage household tasks is derived from the social culture and not from Islam," he says in a statement on his Web site. "Personally, I think that no woman would be obliged to bring her social life to a standstill just because she is being occupied with her children. Knowledge is a merit for man and woman equally, and the importance of acquiring it is identical to both of them."
A statement from Fadlallah's office said he opposed a man "using any sort of violence against a woman, even in the form of insults and harsh words." He has addressed issues such as cloning and plastic surgery. "Mostly his fatwas are on the side of modernity and progress," said Fawwaz Traboulsi, a Lebanese historian and journalist. "He's very influential, and he's got a lot of money."
His most liberal rulings and attempts to distance Lebanese Shiites from Iran's policies have angered some of the Shiite clerics close to the Islamic militant group Hezbollah and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. Fadlallah was once Hezbollah's spiritual leader, but now the two camps compete for donations from wealthy Shiites, who traditionally have given more money to him. "There's a real rivalry with Nasrallah, who has become both a military and religious leader," Traboulsi said. "Many conservative Hezbollah clerics are reacting against Fadlallah's rulings."
Fadlallah appears to have eased his anti-American stances, even though he and others suspect U.S. operatives were behind an attempt on his life in 1985, apparently as retaliation in the belief that he ordered the Marine barracks attack. The huge car bomb near his home killed more than 80 people in an apartment block, but he was unhurt.
He is strongly critical of the Bush administration but takes pains to underscore that he's not anti-American. He recently answered a question about astronomy and Ramadan posed to him by a U.S. Marine, a decision criticized by other clerics. He was among the first religious leaders in the Middle East to condemn the Sept. 11 attacks. "Sayyed Fadlallah is always keen on sending positive messages to the Americans," said his aide.
But Fadlallah remains a staunch critic of Israel, once describing the Jewish state as "a conglomerate of people who come from all parts of the world to live in Palestine on the ruins of another people." During the interview, he warned that the Jewish state would pay the price if Lebanon's political stalemate over picking a president descended into civil war. "A civil war will give a chance for al-Qaida, all the Palestinian groups in Syria and Lebanon, as well as Hezbollah, to enter into a war against Israel," he said.
The secretary-general of the Arab League has extended his visit to Beirut to continue mediation between the Lebanese factions.
Earlier on Friday he had chosen to leave having failed to broker an agreement to elect a new president after four hours of talks in the parliament building. Amr Moussa's about-turn came after a second meeting with Nabih Berri, the parliament speaker, who is aligned with the country's opposition.
Distrust between the anti-Syrian ruling party and Hezbollah-led opposition is growing after a 15-month political crisis and three months with no president.
Moussa has undertaken two days of talks with political leaders, but has been unable to break the deadlock and said the "sharpness of the tension" had to be fixed.
Politicians have agreed on a compromise candidate, General Michel Suleiman, the army chief. Moussa said his selection was valid. However, the parliament must amend the constitution to allow a sitting military chief to be elected.
Moussa, on his second visit to the Lebanese capital this year, hosted the talks with Saad al-Hariri, the majority leader, Michel Aoun, the Christian opposition leader, and Amin Gemayel, a former president who is aligned with the anti-Syrian majority bloc.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
BERLIN- The German government is planning to expand the number of soldiers it can send to Afghanistan by 1,000 to 4,500 and broaden their base of operation from the north to the west, Der Spiegel weekly reported on Saturday.
NDJAMENA - Chads rebels said on Saturday they controlled the centre of the landlocked country and would hold their position in an effort to lure government troops from the capital into an open battle in the desert. Ali Ordjo Hemchi, a spokesman for the coalition of three rebel groups which launched a failed assault on NDjamena a week ago, said the rebels occupied the towns of Mongo and Bitkine in rugged central Chad, some 500 km (290 miles) from the capital.
A government minister has warned that inbreeding among immigrants is causing a surge in birth defects - comments likely to spark a new row over the place of Muslims in British society. Phil Woolas, an environment minister, said the culture of arranged marriages between first cousins was the elephant in the room. Woolas, a former race relations minister, said: If you have a child with your cousin the likelihood is therell be a genetic problem.
The Archbishop of Canterbury continues to face calls for his resignation despite attempts to defuse the row over his Islamic Sharia law comments. Dr 
Yahoo Mail will now let people register usernames that include the word "allah," after a ban designed to thwart prejudice went astray. 
Pelosis comment came during a discussion of her call for the redeployment of our troops out of Iraq. Anchor Wolf Blitzer asked: Are you not worried, though, that all the gains that have been achieved over the past year might be lost?
Both Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal and Minister Meir Sheetrit, among others, say it's time to bomb Gaza neighborhoods, in response to the ongoing Kassam attacks.
(AKI) - Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Palestinian leader from the Hamas political faction, has accused Europe of ignoring what he called Israeli "massacres".
