Chuck Sobietti was a seventeen-year veteran of the U.S. military. Hed seen it all - Gulf War I, Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan - but nothing in his experience could prepare him for one fateful day in Iraq and its aftermath.
Part political thriller, part war story, and part classic action comic book, Matamoros follows one of Americas heroes in the Long War - an ordinary guy who discovers that only extraordinary situations exist when the enemy is a protean entity which refuses to adhere to the laws of war or the laws of civilized nations.
Written by Sleet and Darius LaMonica, and illustrated by John Cox of the Cox & Forkum political cartoon team, Matamoros is the first comic book focusing on the U.S. militarys fight against radical Islamists.
There's also an interview with author Darius LaMonica at FrontPage Magazine.
Posted by: Mike ||
03/06/2008 07:04 ||
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#1
author Darius LaMonica good to see he found gainful employment after leaving the Oakland Raiders
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/06/2008 17:44 Comments ||
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(Xinhua) -- Taliban militants fighting Afghan government and international troops stationed in Afghanistan vowed Wednesday to continue fighting until the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. In a statement read out to media outlets in south Afghanistan through cellular phone, outfit's purported spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi stressed that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (former name of the outfit's ousted hierarchy) would continue war against the United States and its allies in the post-Taliban nation.
Brave Lad, that Qari, read it out over a cell phone, such machismo ...
It also termed the U.S. forces as an occupation one and called on Afghans to join the militants in fight against the United States and allies in Afghanistan.
In the statement, the outfit also called on NATO to pull out its troops from Afghanistan.
Why don't you make us leave?
It also stressed that Taliban wants to have friendly relations with all countries of the world.
The ones they don't kill, anyways ...
In the statement, the militants also condemned the recently adopted UN Security Council resolution against Iran and Israel's attacks against Palestine in Gaza stripe.
Cheez, who wrote this, Noam Chomsky?
The fundamentalist outfit also denounced the publication of the cartoon of Islam prophet Mohammad (PBUH) by a Danish newspaper and making film on the prophet by a Dutch company and called on the Muslims of the world to strongly condemn it.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"Taliban wants to have friendly relations with all countries"
Of course Israel is not a country. It's not even on their maps. (Do they have maps?)
The military commandant of the Tuareg rebels in Mali, Lieutenant Colonel Hassan Fagaga has threatened eliminating elements belonging to Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, GSPC activating in the Sahara, in case attempting approaching areas being controlled by the rebels adjacent to Algeria's southern borders. Lieutenant Colonel Fagaga told El Khabar in a phone call yesterday, the rebels have managed intercepting movements of GSPC elements, now known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, inside Mali and Kidal region, the nearest Malian province to the Algerian borders.
Hassan Fagaga has further denied the presence in the rebels controlled areas of any elements belonging to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb since Yahia Djouadi, alias Yahia Abu Amar, has succeeded Mokhtar Belmokhtar as the Emir of the ninth region a year ago.
Mokhtar was pushed aside because he didn't want to be an al-Qaeda, reportedly. When last heard from he was in negotiations for amnesty from the government, which would mean his former comrades were trying to kill him.
He further made allusion to armed clashes took place with Belmokhtar fellows two years ago as being the last time Al-Qaeda elements had attempted penetrating to areas controlled by the rebels.
The Tuaregs are a touchy lot. They live in the Sahara, so it's hard to get more austere than they are, so they're not real impressed by Salafism.
However, Lieutenant Colonel Fagaga has not denied the presence of GSPC elements on the Malian territories, saying: we do acquire information disclosing the infiltration of some of them to villages near Kidal region in the north. Fagaga has further reiterated the will of his Movement continuing chasing off Al-Qaeda elements from its areas, saying we have already told them and we still do telling them go away from our territories and do what you want.
"And don't let us catch you sniffin' around our wimmin, dammit!"
This article starring:
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
Mokhtar Belmokhtar
al-Qaeda in North Africa
Yahia Abu Amar
al-Qaeda in North Africa
Yahia Djouadi
al-Qaeda in North Africa
Posted by: Fred ||
03/06/2008 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
#1
Al-Qaeda seems to have a brand recognition problem.
Troops at RAF Wittering in Peterborough have been told to keep a low profile after taking advice from RAF police.
The move - which has come to light after a Birmingham man was jailed for planning to kidnap and behead a British Army soldier - was described as a "sad day for the city" by mayor Marion Todd. She said: "I honestly think it's despicable. It's a sad day for the city and for the country when the RAF can't wear their uniforms, particularly when they hold the Freedom of the City honour.
"A small minority of people shouldn't be able to dictate to us, particularly at the moment when we are so proud of what [the forces] are doing, serving Queen and country."
Cllr Todd, whose great-nephew, James Goldthorpe, is serving in Afghanistan with the Army, added: "The vast majority of people are right behind them and know that they are just doing their jobs. This is a slight against them and the many families with young people out there."
RAF Wittering, one of the oldest flying stations in the RAF, imposed the uniform ban in the city after incidents stretching back over about seven months.
The Cambridgeshire base has enjoyed friendly ties with its civilian neighbours ever since it was established in 1916 as Stamford airfield. It has undergone a number of changes in succeeding decades. It became the "Home of the Harrier" in 1968 until 2006 when its main role changed to be home of the RAF's Logistics Hub.
Base spokesman Squadron Leader Tony Walsh said a number of personnel who lived in the city and its outskirts had suffered abuse when openly wearing their uniforms. The verbal attacks had come from a "cross-section" of the community, he added, and were believed to be linked to the RAF's current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He stressed that the decision to prohibit uniforms in the city was a local one made by station commander Group Captain Atherton after she took advice from RAF police. It ran counter to the general policy of allowing uniforms to be worn more widely, which followed the easing of tensions in Northern Ireland.
Sqn Ldr Walsh said: "We have tried to encourage it more since the ending of the terrorist campaign, and want the local population to see us in our uniforms, as many people don't know what they look like."
Leader of the city council councillor John Peach, said: "It's a sad development.
No - it's not 'sad'. It's pathetic. Do something about it instead of whinging.
"We have always had a good relationship with RAF Wittering."
The uniform ban was imposed after Parviz Khan, from Birmingham, was jailed after he was recorded planning to kidnap and kill a British Army soldier.
Good Dhimmis!!!
Currently, 150 men from RAF Wittering are serving in the conflict in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/06/2008 18:53 Comments ||
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#4
I think I just spotted part of the problem. No balls
Not necessarily. I know plenty of female commanders in the US army and USAF who wouldn't have issued that order - and a number of British male officers who would.
#6
Multi-culti is now paying off. The small vocal Islamofacists are holding the general populace hostage, and they are handing them the gun (multi-culti politics, and a fear of offending others) to do it.
A radical Muslim preacher has been filmed talking about fraudulently claiming benefits and giving advice on how to cheat the Government. Self-proclaimed extremist Abu Waleed was speaking at the London School of Shariah event in preparation for Ramadan, during which he also made jokes about Muslims taking backpacks on to the Underground.
Obviously when you have the incapacity benefit, you want to make sure you walk with a limp when you leave the house just in case there's someone taking pictures.
The British-born radical retold fables from the koran before encouraging his audience to hoodwink the Government. After a story about a wealthy man, he said: "There was one man, he had a lot of money - just like us, we have a lot of money today from the income support and the incapacity benefit.
Obviously when you have the incapacity benefit, you want to make sure you walk with a limp when you leave the house just in case there's someone taking pictures.
"Obviously you don't need to tell them that, the Department of Work and Pensions."
Waleed has links through the London School of Shariah, in Bethnal Green, which hosts guest speakers such as jailed fanatic Abu Hamza and radical British Islamist Anjem Choudary. The three all have links to exiled cleric Omar Bakri.
In the video, Waleed says: "[God] will come to you if you praying ... maybe I left the toaster on ... or maybe I left the rucksack on the Underground - maybe they found some powder in there or something like that - but don't leave a rucksack on the Underground, they'll do you for terrorism."
Talking about the video, Mr Waleed said: "My comments about the backpacks were not meant to glorify the attacks of 7/7 in any way. They were not meant to cause offence, the bombings were a horrendous act of terrorism, no one can deny that."
Anyway, God didn't come to me that time, it was the kids I urged on who left the rucksacks.
#2
How much is the incapacity benefit in the UK? If it's anything like here in the states it isn't worth faking a limp for. You could make more at Taco Bell than what they get here in KY.
#3
Cleaerly the London School of Shariah needs to be shut down, and all non-citizen employees sent back to whence they came, along with their non-citizen dependents.
Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe said he'll seek charges at an international tribunal against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez for sponsoring terrorism.
"I'll present to the International Criminal Court charges against Hugo Chavez for financing and sponsoring genocide," said Uribe, on Caracol Radio, after a meeting with a former rebel-held hostage in Bogota. What genocide? Is there some kind of genocide going on that I don't know about already?
Uribe also called on Colombia's neighbors to show solidarity with the country in its long-running conflict with the drug-funded guerrillas. The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, was created in 2002 and both Colombia and Venezuela are signatories to it. Give it up. They're on the take.
Colombia yesterday said it uncovered evidence on the laptop of slain rebel leader Raul Reyes showing Venezuela had funneled at least $300 million to the FARC, as the rebel group is known. Oughta be a serious paper trail on that one. How 'bout we come in and rifle through your finances, Hoogo? Correa? Anybody? Or are you too much of a sovereign nation?
The laptop was seized Saturday when Colombia's military crossed into Ecuador to kill Reyes, its biggest military triumph in four decades of guerrilla warfare. "Lies! All lies!"
General Oscar Naranjo, Colombia's police chief, said the computer files also indicated Ecuadorean Security Minister Gustavo Larrea had been in contact with Reyes in a bid to get President Rafael Correa involved in the release of hostages held by the rebels to boost his political standing. Whatever happened to getting involved simply to help secure their release?
Chavez and Correa denied the allegations and in turn accused Uribe's government of acting on the orders of the U.S. Ah yes. That old ploy ought to get everyone's manly goat. Even Chavez's and Correa's.
The Organization of American States will hold an emergency session today in Washington to discuss Colombia's violation of Ecuador's sovereignty. And if Ecuador and/or Venezuela acts like a responsible sovereign nation then I'll pay attention.
#2
Actually, I think that this is a good idea, and the US suggested to Uribe that he should do it.
To start with, it sets up the slimy institution of the ICC in a red-on-red battle with Chavez. Either he tells them to go to hell, and they have to sanction him; or they lose all enforcement credibility and become another toothless bureaucracy. They also become a joke if they refuse to punish him for supporting FARC.
Sounds like a win-win to me. The US has been itching to punish the ICC for all the hassle it has caused the US, and this looks like a fine way to do it.
Venezuela and Colombia are both members of the ICC:
http://www.amicc.org/icc_ratifications.html
Hopefully Chavez will not only tell them to go to hell, but pull Venezuela out of the ICC.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday called a Colombian raid that killed two dozen rebels in Ecuador a "war crime," and joined Ecuador's president in demanding international condemnation of the cross-border attack. Poor, innocent terrorists.
In a bid to ease the diplomatic crisis, the Organization of American States approved a resolution earlier Wednesday that called the Colombian military raid a violation of Ecuadorean sovereignty. But President Rafael Correa said the resolution was not enough. It's not a diplomatic crisis. They're floating trial balloons to see if they can attack Columbia or get something out of them.
"The OAS resolution pleases us. We are pleased, but not satisfied," Correa said, standing beside Chavez in Caracas. "This isn't going to cool down until the aggressor is condemned." Wouldn't terrorist-supporting nations qualify as being the aggressors?
The watered-down resolution approved by the OAS in Washington declared the attack a violation of Ecuador's sovereignty and called for the OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza to lead a delegation to both countries to ease tensions, but stopped short of explicitly condemning the assault.
The United States was the only OAS nation offering Colombia unqualified support. Probably because nobody in the US is in on the action.
"We are using all the peaceful and diplomatic channels available for the international community to play along with the charade condemn the aggressor," Ecuador's president said.
"We've cut relations with a government that can't be believed, a treacherous government," Correa said. "We can't have relations ... with that sort of government." The sort that kills terrorists? If my neighbor killed a terrorist in my back yard, I'd personally thank him and invite him to keep up the good work. Of course, I'm assuming I'm not benefitting from the terrorist somehow, which is where my analogy breaks down.
Colombia accused both Chavez and Correa of having deepening ties with the leftist rebels, and said that was shown by documents found on a laptop seized at the bombed rebel camp. Uh oh. That may help cool the situation a bit.
President Alvaro Uribe, whose decision to attack the rebels reflected his frustration over the ability of guerrillas to find refuge across Colombia's borders in Venezuela and Ecuador, said he would not mobilize troops or allow his nation to be drawn into war with his neighbors. Smart dude. I don't know anything about him but I'm starting to like him. I wonder what Chavez and Correa are thinking about him not reacting to their bluff manly bravado.
Chavez and Correa made a series of accusations and insults against Colombia's U.S.-allied government. Chavez called Colombia a "genocidal government," accused Uribe of backing illegal right-wing paramilitary groups, questioned his sanity and blasted Saturday's cross-border raid. Genocidal. There's that word again! Well, at least things haven't devolved to the point that they are insulting each others' moustaches. Those who can grow them, anyway.
"We demand condemnation of the Colombian government for killing our beloved terrorists this aberrant act," Chavez said. Why? So you can get back to business as usual and not worry about it?
Chavez laughed as he dismissed accusations by Uribe's government that Venezuela had sent financial support to Colombia's rebels. A rather falsetto laugh, I'll bet.
And as for some $6 billion in annual trade between Venezuela and Colombia, Chavez predicted I'm going to shoot my other foot "that's coming down."
"We aren't interested in Colombian investments here," Chavez said. "Of the Colombian businesses that are here in Venezuela, we could nationalize some." Careful, you're running out of things you can nationalize. Hmm. Is it just me, or does it seem to anyone else out there that this may have been part of Hoogo's true motivation?
He said Venezuela will search for other countries like Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina to take the place of products imported from Colombia. Noting that Colombia traditional supplies food to Venezuela, he said that now "we can't depend (on Colombia) not even for a grain of rice." I'll agree with you there. Rice can't be counted on sometimes.
Files in a laptop computer seized from the wreckage of a Colombian rebel camp in Ecuador offer new insights into Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's desire to undermine Colombia's U.S.-allied government.
If authentic, the computer files suggest Chavez has been in league with the rebels for more than a decade.
While Chavez is not one of the correspondents, his sentiments are conveyed in numerous messages exchanged by the rebels.
Venezuela contends the texts are lies and fabrications.
If so, they are expertly done.
Not only do they offer an unprecedented glimpse into the rebels' mind-set, they also reflect deepening rebel contacts with European governments and even representatives of the United States, who have tried to negotiate the release of dozens of hostages.
They are signed electronically by the most powerful men in the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the hemisphere's oldest and most potent rebel movement.
Those signing the documents include Raul Reyes, the FARC's foreign minister and public face, who was killed when Colombian commandos raided his jungle hideout in Ecuador on Saturday. His killing, along with 23 of his comrades, struck a chilling blow to the group.
Others who signed messages include Manuel Marulanda, the rebels' 77-year-old supreme leader; Jorge Briceno, their much-feared field marshal, and Ivan Marquez, the insurgents' apparent go-between with Chavez. Marquez is believed to live in Venezuela.
Copies of 13 documents were sent to reporters Tuesday by Colombia's national police chief, Gen. Oscar Naranjo. He revealed their existence Sunday as his government came under a withering diplomatic attack for violating Ecuador's territory with the raid.
They indicate that Chavez, seeking to raise the FARC's stature and relieve it of its international pariah status, shares their goal of isolating and discrediting Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe.
But do they prove that Venezuela was actually financing the FARC's bid to overthrow a democratically elected government? That's not clear.
Naranjo alleges that the number "300," also called the "dossier" in a Dec. 23 message signed by Marquez, refers to a $300 million gift from Chavez to the rebels.
In a Jan. 14 missive, Briceno discusses what to do with the "dossier."
"Who, where, when and how will we receive the dollars and store them?" he asks fellow members of the FARC's seven-man ruling secretariat.
Uribe has worked as no other Colombian president to defeat the FARC. So it's no surprise that in the Jan. 14 message, Briceno discusses a desire to undermine Uribe by making him cede a safe haven to the rebels for talks on a prisoner swap.
"Uribe will become more isolated, together with his boss from the North," the text says a clear reference to President Bush, whose government provides Colombia with some $600 million a year in military aid.
In a document dated Feb. 9, Marquez passes along Chavez's thanks for a $150,000 gift when he was imprisoned from 1992-94 for leading a failed coup and indicates Chavez's desire to smear Uribe.
In it, Marquez says Venezuela wants documentation of damage by Colombia's military to "the civilian population, also images of bombardments in the jungle and its devastation to use as a denunciation before the world."
In a Feb. 8 letter, Marquez discusses Chavez's plan to try to persuade leading Latin American nations to help get the FARC removed from lists of international terror groups.
And at least three of the documents express Chavez's deep desire to meet with Marulanda, hopefully on Venezuelan soil. Marulanda has reportedly never left Colombia.
Marquez also says Chavez is prepared to offer Venezuelan territory for the FARC's desired prisoner swap, which would be a huge embarrassment for Uribe. The FARC has proposed exchanging some 40 hostages, including three U.S. military contractors, for hundreds of rebels currently in Colombia's jails. The FARC captured the three when their surveillance plane crashed in February 2003.
In the Feb. 9 letter, Marquez also relays Chavez's concern about the 60-year U.S. prison sentence given to FARC commander Ricardo Palmera for conspiring to hold the three Americans hostage. He writes that Chavez "was disposed to hire paid lawyers," presumably for Palmera.
The messages indicate Chavez believes his rebel sympathies may have hurt him politically. One communication said Chavez told a rebel contact that this public support may have contributed to his loss of a Dec. 2 referendum that would have consolidated his power.
Chavez's ally, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, was similarly engaged with the rebels, the documents indicate.
Before Saturday's raid, Correa's official position was that he wouldn't take sides. But in a Jan. 18 message, Reyes says he received Ecuadorean Internal Security Minister Gustavo Larrea and another envoy who expressed Correa's interest "in making official relations with the FARC's leadership."
Correa's government was willing "to change officers in the security forces who have been hostile to communities and civilians" in the border area where the FARC has camps, Reyes said. Ecuador even offered to "give documentation and protection to one of ours," he wrote.
Larrea has acknowledged the meeting but said it was only to press for the hostages' release.
The rebels have released six hostages all Colombian politicians since Uribe tried to end Chavez's mediation role with the FARC in November, accusing the Venezuelan president of overstepping his mandate. The most recent to be freed said last week that hostage Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate who also holds French citizenship, is extremely ill.
Betancourt has become a cause celebre in France. French contacts with Reyes are mentioned in several documents, including a request that the French envoy, identified only as "Noe," be granted a meeting with Marulanda.
References to U.S. diplomatic overtures are scintillating, if vague.
In a Dec. 11 message to the secretariat, Marquez writes: "If you are in agreement, I can receive Jim and Tucker to hear the proposal of the gringos."
Writing two days before his death, Reyes tells his comrades that "the gringos," working through Ecuador's government, are interested "in talking to us on various issues."
"They say the new president of their country will be (Barack) Obama," he writes, saying Obama rejects both the Bush administration's free trade agreement with Colombia and the current military aid program.
Reyes writes that his response to the Americans was that the United States would have to publicly express these positions.
#2
Those traitors at State are backstabbing the US Government again.
References to U.S. diplomatic overtures are scintillating, if vague.
In a Dec. 11 message to the secretariat, Marquez writes: "If you are in agreement, I can receive Jim and Tucker to hear the proposal of the gringos."
Writing two days before his death, Reyes tells his comrades that "the gringos," working through Ecuador's government, are interested "in talking to us on various issues."
"They say the new president of their country will be (Barack) Obama," he writes, saying Obama rejects both the Bush administration's free trade agreement with Colombia and the current military aid program.
I am SERIOUSLY pissed at this. Someone needs to GUT the frikken state department.
These people are undermining the security of an ally and thwarting the orders of their boss, the President.
Find them and FIRE them *and* their supervisors. Fire the FOR CAUSE - and the cause would be insubordination and being traitors.
#3
They need to be tried and shot for treason. The State, the CIA and most other government agencies are completely corrupt and only working for the dhimocrat, socialist and communists side of the fence.
#5
I'd like to see that sawed off little prick try to hock his heavy-ass crude to anybody that thinks they can refine it. See where his buddies Iran and Russia are then when he has a pipeline full of oil and nobody to sell it to.
#6
note that the State Dept, while an incompetent despicable trash heap of pompous assholes, is simply following the lead of Nancy and Harry, who snubbed Uribe on his last State visit, due to their concerns with alleged past transgressions (which, of course, outweigh the Columbian pro-America stance and anti-communist, anti-narcotraficante acts). Blame the Donks first, vote McCain in, and scream loud and hard about cleaning the State Dept Augean Stables
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/06/2008 17:49 Comments ||
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The Belgian intelligence service is filing a complaint with the judicial authorities following the leak of confidential information about one of its informers.
The Belgian secret service has its nose out of joint after the media reported that the terrorist suspect Abdelkader Belliraj was one of its paid informants.
Belliraj was arrested in Morocco and is suspected of heading a terrorist outfit linked to al-Qaeda. The Belgian of Moroccan extraction also stands accused of six murders in Belgium.
The Belgian intelligence service feels that the leak about Belliraj's informant status has discredited the entire working of the service. After the news broke questions were asked in Parliament and Justice Minister Jo Vandeurzen (Flemish Christian democrat) announced fresh reforms of the intelligence service.
The head of the secret service now intends to file a complaint with the judicial authorities tomorrow. The complaint is against "persons unknown".
Any investigation should centre on identifying who or which organisation was responsible for leaking the information. There is speculation that the leak may have been orchestrated by the intelligence service's rival: the police.
Belliraj seems to have been recruited eight years ago - around the time he was granted Belgian citizenship. It remains unclear whether the security service was aware of his alleged terrorist activities and whether or not he received protection.
#2
Yes, TW. Belgium has many ghosts, from the Conglese massacred and mutilated by King Leopold's men to the the teenaged girls raped, starved, and murdered by the Dutroux ring that was protected by the government
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/06/2008 18:48 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
03/06/2008 17:50 Comments ||
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#3
Don't be ridiculous, Frank. You can't sue somebody to keep them from enforcing Sharia. You can only sue if they are trying to enforce some old fashioned Christian or Jewish rule.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
03/06/2008 19:09 Comments ||
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#4
there's a suit there for separation of church/state, deprivation of services if Harvard's received public funds (and we know they have) - time to put the lawsuit-jihad to our purposes
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/06/2008 19:59 Comments ||
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#5
So WHAT are you educating people about, Harvard? You are a pathetic university.
Noting that no USA MSM had the balls to print even the cartoons
BRUSSELS, March 6 (Xinhua) -- No Dutch broadcaster is willing to air a film critical of Islam by right-wing Dutch lawmaker GeertWilders, Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reported Thursday. The slide continues
According to a survey conducted by the paper among public and commercial television companies in the Netherlands, Wilders' insistence that the 10- to 15-minute feature be screened in its entirety posed the biggest obstacle for the broadcast of the film. That time slot is a bitch
Some companies have expressed caution about airing something which could "encourage hatred and discrimination." As apposed to Dhimmitude
It appears that Wilders will have to launch his film, titled Fitna (Arabic for Trial or Ordeal), on the Internet later this month. Wilders has launched a website on which the film will be shown.
Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party which has nine seats in the lower house of the Dutch parliament, last week rejected calls from Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende to think about the possible consequences and reconsider the plans to release the film. Balkenende, "surrender to islam isn't that bad..."
The yet-to-be-released film has caused outrage in many Muslim countries. The Dutch government has been busy handling government protests and Dutch embassies in Muslim countries. are confronted with increasing demonstrations.
#1
The obvious solution to this is to host it on 100, 200 or more websites. Every time one is attacked, host it on two more. Encourage downloading and viral distribution. And make it very public that that is exactly what you are doing.
A rapidly formed agency with a mandate to get up and running yesterday. While workers can be quickly hired, management will have to come from elsewhere in government.
Meaning every dirtball, every mercenary, every incompetent with no chance to get promoted at their current agency, and every opportunist is gonna seek to get hired or get transferred to the TSA.
I'd say "Thanks, Congress", and they do indeed deserve the blame for the TSA. But the feeding-trough's been set up at the state(e.g. New Jersey) and local levels as well.
#4
You don't professionalize unless you Federalize.
Posted by: Tom Daschle ||
03/06/2008 13:32 Comments ||
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#5
Thats how I remember it too P2k. Bush didn't want the TSA to have civil protection (or Unions) but the democrats insisted that the Unions be involved - which means if you can last a year in a TSA job you essentially have tenure for life (as long as you pay your kickbacks union dues).
And it explains the TSA and the entire Homeland [In]Security department as a whole.
To err is human, to really f-k things up require a computer, but to achieve complete and total chaos and confusion you need a Government Agency.
#6
As part of the first set of TSA guys hired ( after the mobile implementation force) i can tell you that there was no civil service protection, but no union stuff either. there is not tenure as stated; and the management came from the FAA mindset. workers were from all aspects of life, the average numbe of dirtballs, but most were dedicated individuals, and or former military.
management did not like the military mindset, but were hip deep in bureacracy.
#8
Congress wanted to give the appearance of doing something.
But the US is too hobbled by PC to do anything effective, like profiling young Arab men. Therefore, we get to take our shoes off and watch grandma being strip-searched.
The three men accused of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers blended easily into the city's thriving Muslim community. One was a college student who helped his brother run a used-car lot. One worked at a bakery. The third was a married father of seven.They met at a tiny storefront mosque where they prayed. They shared an interest in guns.
The question a jury must decide is whether their interests went beyond that. Jury selection began yesterday for the three Middle Eastern men accused of trying to recruit and train terrorists to attack U.S. and allied troops, including military personnel in Iraq. The trial is expected to last three months.
Federal prosecutors say the three men, who all lived in the Toledo area for a time, attended a Muslim convention in Cleveland in the summer of 2004 where they talked about training in explosives, guns and sniper tactics.
The men were there with a former U.S. military man who worked undercover and helped foil the plot, said Gregg Sofer, a Justice Department attorney.
At the convention, the men discussed a five-year plan to carry out their mission, Sofer said during a bond hearing last April.
Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan Othman El-Hindi and Wassim I. Mazloum have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to kill or maim people outside the United States. Two Chicago-area cousins also are accused of taking part and are scheduled to face trial a year from now.
The five allegedly sought recruits and sites for training in firearms, hand-to-hand combat and the use of explosives, according to a federal indictment. They also are accused of agreeing to raise funds for training and of downloading Internet information on improvised explosive devices.
The U.S. veteran, a Muslim identified in court documents only as "the trainer," taught the three others how to shoot guns and assemble explosives, the government says.
The men face a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
Attorneys for the men declined to comment. They have said that the informant overreached and instigated the investigation. They also have argued that the men can't get a fair trial because of publicity the case has received.
The three also are charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Amawi was charged with verbally threatening the president and unlawful distribution of a video about suicide bomber vests. Amawi and El-Hindi also are charged with distributing information about explosive chemicals downloaded from the Internet.
(Xinhua) -- The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is expected to announce its candidate for post of the Prime Minister after a meeting of Parliamentary Party on Thursday, the official Associated Press of Pakistan reported Wednesday. All the newly-elected members of the National Assembly including those elected on the reserved seats for women and minorities and the independent members of National Assembly who have joined the PPP would attend the meeting convened by the co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, said the report.
The APP quoted sources as saying that the senior PPP Vice Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim was likely to be nominated as the party's candidate for PM in the meeting. "Most of the party members and leaders during the deliberation process have supported Makhdoom Amin Fahim," the sources said. .
The PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar had also said on Monday that Makhdoom Amin Fahim was still the front runner for the slot of prime minister but a decision would be made by the party's Central Executive Committee. Zardari has also held final meetings with senior party colleagues till late Wednesday night. Amin Fahim was the parliamentary leader of PPP's parliamentarians and was also fielded as presidential candidate in October last year.
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A peace jirga held in Swat on Wednesday blamed the countrys intelligence agencies for the prevailing terrorist threat in the region, alleging that Maulana Fazlullah was a mere tool that must surrender to the authorities.
The government [should] hold talks with the intelligence agencies instead of the local Taliban, as the agencies and Maulana Fazlullah are one and the same in the Swat conflict, while the government is their opponent, the peace jirga alleged. Addressing a press conference following the jirga, tribal elders Mukhtar Yusafzai, Sher Shah Khan, Khurshid Kaka Jee, Al-Haj Zahid Khan, Fazal Maula Khan and Adalat Khan announced a movement to restore peace to Swat and other parts of the region.n.
Maulana Fazlullah is a criminal and must repent the sins he committed at the behest of the intelligence agencies, the elders said. They said Fazlullahs hands were painted with the blood of innocent people. They said they would continue their struggle for peace until the wave of terror caused by militants had been brought to a halt. The government is patronising terrorists and extremists. We demand the government stop patronising them, they said.
Rejecting all government-sponsored jirgas as fraudulent, the elders said they were prepared to sacrifice their lives for the restoration of peace and harmony. We are not scared of [the] Taliban or the intelligence agencies. We are not frightened of being killed or beheaded, they added. The elders demanded the government restrict its military operation to fighting only terrorists and not target innocent residents of the valley. They also demanded the government give Rs 500,000 as compensation to those martyred in the military operation and Rs 300,000 to the injured.
Also on Wednesday, police defused two bombs near a petrol pump in the Chiryal area of Matta tehsil. Separately, gunship helicopters bombed the hideouts of suspected militants in Ghut Piyochar. However, there were no reports of any casualties in the incident. In the Namal area of Matta, a few militants surrendered themselves to the security forces.
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After a lull during the general elections, militants have reasserted themselves with a string of deadly suicide blasts that have killed more than 80 people, including an army general and tribal leaders fed up with the violence.
This crisis is something that they have to respond to. I dont think they can just sit pretty and think things are normal once they have control of the government, said political analyst Nasim Zehra.
The February 18 elections went off without a major terrorist attack, allowing the secular, pro-Western Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), to savor their victory.
But militants have since lashed out with a series of grim suicide attacks on security forces and community leaders who will be central to any new push by the new government.
Benazir s PPP and Nawazs PML-N insist they are committed to fighting extremism.
Dialogue offer: Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for the PPP, said it would not bow to suicide attacks that were a deliberate attempt to destabilise and discourage the democratic government that will soon be taking over. They are trying to nullify the results of the election.
He reiterated his partys offer of dialogue with the militants -but only to those who renounced violence.
For those who have taken up arms against the state, there is no negotiations with them ... the use of force is not ruled out, Babar said.
But he acknowledged that the parties expected to form the new government have yet to discuss the matter.
Redefining: Nawaz has called for the war on terror to be redefined to dispel the perception of many Pakistanis that it is being waged only at Americas behest.
However, he has yet to detail how, if at all, his approach differs from that of the current government.
Under Musharraf, the country launched a series of large-scale military operations against militant strongholds near the Afghan border. But it also struck peace accords that US officials complain allowed Taliban and Al Qaeda to regroup.
Pakistani and US officials are now working on delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in development aid to the border region in a bid to build support for the government.
Naseem Zehra says Musharrafs counterinsurgency policy contained many of the right elements, but had appeared to be driven by short-term American concerns, leaving the public confused and increasingly cynical.
She said the PPP and the PML-N would be more sensitive to public opinion and forecast that once in office they would try to quickly draw up a more effective approach, also because of international concern about Pakistans stability
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(KUNA) -- The American Army declared on Wednesday that it would hand over to the Iraqi Government the notorious convict, Ali Hassan Al-Majid, also widely known as "Chemical Ali" for spearheading massacres against Iraqi kurds with chemical agents.
The official spokesman of the Multi-National Force said at a news conference that the Iraqi Government has not requested the handover of the convict for execution, in line with a recent approval of the presidency of a court death sentence. On March 1, Iraqi Vice-President Tareq al-Hashimi said the Iraqi Presidency had unanimously approved the execution of Ali Hassan Al-Majid, better known as Chemical Ali. But it has decided to delay the hanging of other defendants Sultan Hashim and Hussein Rashid, al-Hahimi Office said in a release. Chemical Ali was condemned to death for genocide charges for killing 100, 000 people during the 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds in northern Iraq.
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Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip has created the worst humanitarian crisis since the Israeli occupation began in 1967, aid and rights groups said on Thursday.
Food shortages, crumbling health services and a water and sewage system close to collapse are all part of the daily misery facing 1.5 million Palestinians in Hamas-controlled Gaza, a report by a coalition of British relief groups said. Didn't all those fat, sweaty Gazans blow international funding for an improved sewage system?
"As we speak, sewage is literally pouring into the streets," said Geoffrey Dennis, head of CARE International, one of the eight non-governmental organizations behind the report. "Over the past three weeks we've only been able to send in food and medicine and the aid dependency is rising." It's a cultural thing. They'll take everything you have to offer until you figure it out. This "crisis" is merely an enabling vehicle, nothing more. They could stop shooting Kassams any moment they so choose.
Israel imposed restrictions on the flow of people and goods and virtually froze economic activity last June when Hamas Islamists seized control of Gaza. It tightened the blockade in January, limiting supplies of fuel and other goods in what it described as a response to cross-border rocket fire by militants. You mean the fuel that accounts for about 10% of their power generating needs?
The report painted a picture of an enclave held hostage by the embargo, which it said had worsened poverty and unemployment, crippled education services and made 1.1 million people -- 80 percent of the population -- dependent on food aid. Try looking behind the painting. Of course if you did, there would be no pity and no need for rights groups in Israel.
It said the health system was in tatters, with hospitals facing daily power cuts lasting eight to 12 hours a day due to fuel and electricity restrictions. Talk to Hamas about that. They could give the fuel they do get to hospitals instead of using it to drive around and sow conflict.
Almost 18 percent of patients seeking emergency treatment outside Gaza last year were refused permits to leave, it said. Did they try going to Egypt?
Couldn't, ambulances were full of ammunition.
A senior U.N. official warned the dire conditions outlined in the report would be worsened by any escalation of Israeli military action in response to indiscriminate rocket attacks from Gaza. Apparently the conditions aren't "dire" enough to warrant Gazans turning in the terrorists. Squeeze harder.
"It would be devastating," John Ging, director of United Nations Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, told Reuters by telephone. It won't stop them. You watch. I'd say look deeper than the surface because this terrorism is something they do not need to be doing to survive.
"The whole infrastructure is in a state of collapse, whether it's water, sanitation or just the medical services... If there's a further military offensive it will again just add and compound an already desperate situation." Why? Are Israelis taking out the hospitals or medicine stockpiles?
Aid groups and legal experts have called Israel's blockade illegal under international law because it constitutes "collective punishment" of the entire population. You'll find legal experts on both sides of the fence. What do the courts have to say about this?
"It's grossly disproportional," Geoffry Binder, an expert on international humanitarian law in London, told Reuters. Note: Geoffry doesn't live in Israel. Nor will he ever.
"What we're dealing with here is a few rockets coming from presumably one small corner of Gaza. And the response is the blockade and the destruction of hundreds of lives and the impoverishment of the whole area." Weren't there like 40 in one day? If it's only a few criminals who represent an extreme minority, then why don't they get outed?
#1
Aid groups and legal experts have called Israel's blockade illegal under international law because it constitutes "collective punishment" of the entire population.
I wasn't aware that international law required Israel to keep writing welfare checks to the Gazans without end. If the paleos want to act like animals that's fine, but you can't expect the Israelis to stand up and cheer. Let the go to Egypt or Jordan and get what they need. The "Vile Zionist Regime" is no place to be getting your halal groceries anyway.
#5
It's grossly disproportional," Geoffry Binder, an expert on international humanitarian law in London, told Reuters.
"What we're dealing with here is a few rockets coming from presumably one small corner of Gaza. And the response is the blockade and the destruction of hundreds of lives and the impoverishment of the whole area."
Well, fuck you, Mr. International Humanitarian Law. Ask gramps about the V-2s and buzzbombs that used to hit London wayback when and Churchill's "collective punishment". Ask him if thought they were no big deal.
And it sounds like our poor suffering Gazans still have plenty of rocket building shit...
#6
I don't know, Sura seems to be quite well fed and having a grand ole time in Paris and Hamas seems to be having no problems buying ammo and guns (not to mention rockets).
And didn't Gazians elect Hamas who are firing the rockets? And don't they all celebrate each and every innocent civilian killed with flower and candy?
Gee.. even my 18 month old son is getting the idea of Cause->Effect - yet the Palieos can't seem to quite grasp it after 60 freaking years.
And most of the 'dire situation' are caused by the Gazian themselves. What ever happened to those greenhouses which Israel left behind when it *ended* the occupation?
Israeli officials said Wednesday that they are testing four buses with blast-proof windows, specialized doors and other features designed to protect passengers from suicide bombers.
The buses being tested in Jerusalem are equipped with a turnstile that allows the driver to inspect the passengers as they get on the bus and a back door designed for exit only. The buses also have crowd-control equipment for emergencies, said Ronit Eckstein, a spokeswoman for Israel Military Industries, the defense contractor that developed the buses.
No other information, such as additional security features, bus routes or cost would be made public for security reasons, she said.
Between 2001 and 2004, 77 passengers were killed in six bombings aboard Jerusalem buses, carried out by Palestinian attackers who detonated explosives they were carrying after boarding the buses. The bloodiest was Aug. 19, 2003, when 23 people were killed. In all, suicide bombers blew up 21 buses in Israel during that period, killing 208. The last bus bombing was in August 2004.
Ora Saloman, a spokeswoman for the Transport Ministry, said trial runs of the buses began on Sunday. She declined to elaborate. She said four buses are on the roads in Jerusalem, and if successful, they would be offered for export.
The special buses will be taken off the roads for further assessment after the six-week trials, she said.
Here's my proposal: A bus with a blast wall somewhere in the middle. If you look like a suicide bomber you are allowed to sit only in the back, otherwise you can sit in the front if you so wish. Anyone who has a problem with this arrangement is invited to protest by sitting in the back with Mahmoud. Who is wearing a burka or a heavy coat buttoned up to the collar. In the summer.
#1
The only blast proof bus is one which does not allow a Muzz to board. The blast is on the inside, why contain it ? The overpressure will multiply and kill more innocents. If the driver searches each one who comes aboard, it will never get anywhere. Let Muzz walk, let innocents ride. Simple.
#2
I'll bet the windows would blow out easily from an inside blast, but be resistant to bullets from the outside. And like cars, there are probably pathways for overpressure to escape, such as what happens when you close the doors.
I'm no royalist, but I thought this editorial nailed it.
Last week we heard about Prince Harrys military service in Afghanistan. The prince was sent to one of the most dangerous fronts on behalf of Her Majesty. The royal family knows that the kings blood, even if it is blue, is no different than the blood of its other subjects.
Military service at the front is part of the ancient tradition of a nation that has the Shakespearean image of Henry V entrenched in its soul. The king fights shoulder to shoulder with his subjects on the battlefield without a crown on his head. The citizens fight alongside the king, no just for him.
It is hard to ignore the history of a great nation that for hundreds of years now has been sending the sons of its elite in general, and members of the royal family in particular, to the front. In the past 1,000 years, Britain won in practice every war where it fought for its existence. The mark it left has enabled it to achieve greatness and glory.
The moment members of the royal family can be found alongside the people during times of emergency, the ruler has greater ability to take tough decisions and send the countrys finest to the battlefield, to look in their eyes, and to ask them, without cynicism, for blood, sweat and tears.
Jewish culture and Israeli mentality do not like kings too much, yet they always demanded royal conduct from their leadership. From the days of King Saul and his sons to the IDFs battle tradition, the sons of most leaders took part in war and on occasion died in battle.
Yet this is not the case today. These days, there is no king in Israel, but we have a prime minister who sends his people to defend their country while his own sons do not live here and do not perform their military reserve duty. So how can a prime minister draw on the moral courage to take tough decisions, which require many other good people to risk their lives or send their sons to do so?
Even if the prime minister is patriotic, even if he is talented, and even if deep inside he knows there is no other way but to make the decision and is able to express this with impressive coherence, he loses one of the most important abilities of a leader at a time of crisis the moral fortitude to pay the required price in order to bring about victory.
On occasion, the question is raised whether our leaders must be former military commanders. I do not believe that all our leaders must be generals, but history teaches us that most great leaders served as fighters and commanders who later continued, in spirit, to play a constant part in the war on the existence of the state.
We should say this: Mr. Prime Minister, our generation is familiar with and understands the heavy price exacted by fighting. We experienced it a year and a half ago and we are ready to defend our homeland and defeat the enemy with the clear knowledge that this will always come with a price, and a heavy one at that. If you wish to lead us to the test facing us, display the courage that should be exhibited by any leader, and particularly an Israeli one, and call on your two sons to return home and join the reserve force. We will appreciate that.
The next leaders of the State of Israel must know that the challenges to face the country in the future will be greater, more complex, and crueler. Educate your children in line with the motto that in times of need, even princes find themselves among the fighters. Only this way, when we are at the front, something of you will be there with us.
If Israeli Jews could be legally expelled from their homes in Gaza, and their communities destroyed, why not Palestinian Arabs? Indeed, as the former Jewish communities of Gaza are being used as launch pads for rockets against Israel, the supporters of the 2005 "disengagement" now seek to make amends for their destruction of Jewish homes by visiting a similar punishment on Palestinians -- to stop the rocket problem that the Disengagement exacerbated.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak is seeking legal approval to evacuate thousands of residents of Gaza City and rocket launch areas in northern Gaza to locations in the south of the Strip to enable the IDF to attack terror infrastructure without harming civilians, Channel 2 reported Wednesday evening.
The report came after the Security Cabinet decided Wednesday morning to act in an "ongoing and consistent" manner to end rocket attacks and other terrorist activity from the Gaza Strip.
In the past, the language of such decisions only committed to reduce, not cease, rocket attacks and terrorist activities.
The cabinet held a special meeting to debate the response to ongoing rocket attacks on Ashkelon and the western Negev. The ministers also decided to coordinate with various parties, including Egypt, to weaken the Hamas government without creating a humanitarian crisis. It stopped short of calling for regime change although, as the recent Vanity Fair report indicated, that was and may still be, the plan of the Bush Administration and the Israeli government.
Israel, the cabinet decided, will continue to advance "peace" while maintaining operational freedom to conduct counterterrorism measures and fpublic diplomacy efforts to bolster Israel's media image even as it takes on the terrorists forcefully in Gaza,.
According to Israel Radio, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz demanded that the IDF be sent on a large-scale operation to "crumble Hamas," but was overruled by the rest of the forum.
(Xinhua) -- Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up a two-day visit to Israel and the West Bank Wednesday by receiving promises to resume Israel-PNA peace negotiations suspended after IDF offensive in Gaza.
At a joint press conference Wednesday with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Rice said that she had obtained assurances from both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to resume peace negotiations without any preconditions. "I've been informed by the parties that they intend to the resume the negotiations and that they are in contact with one another as to how to bring this about," Rice said.
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#1
As long as she pushes for negotiations, and not results, I'm ok with the fig leaf.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak is seeking legal approval to evacuate thousands of residents of Gaza City to locations in the south of the Strip to enable the IDF to attack terror infrastructure without hurting civilians, Channel 2 reported Wednesday evening.
The report came after the Security Cabinet decided Wednesday morning to act in an "ongoing and consistent" manner to end rocket attacks and other terrorist activity from the Gaza Strip. The cabinet held a special meeting to debate the response to ongoing rocket attacks on Ashkelon and the western Negev.
The ministers also decided that it would coordinate with various elements, including Egypt, in order to weaken the Hamas government without creating a humanitarian crisis.
Israel, they decided, will continue to further peace efforts while maintaining operational freedom to conduct counterterrorism measures and focusing on hasbara (public diplomacy) efforts to bolster Israel's media image.
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Israeli forces will not attack the Gaza Strip if Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups halt their cross-border rocket salvoes, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday. Speaking after his security cabinet authorised a campaign to stop rocket attacks from Gaza and undermine the territorys Islamist Hamas rulers, Olmert signalled a willingness by Israel to hold its fire. One thing should be clear. If there is no rocket fire on Israel, there will be no Israeli attack on Gaza. We do not rise in the morning and think about how to attack Gaza, Olmert told reporters. The Israeli army operations against Gaza Strip will continue as long as the rocket fire continues, a senior official quoted the premier as telling a meeting of the security cabinet on the situation in Gaza. A statement released by Olmerts office after the meeting said that the Israeli government will act continuously, systematically, and over a long period to put an end to rocket fire and other terror activities in Gaza. The Israeli statement said that while Israel would work to contain Hamas, it would also advance peace process with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. Government spokesman Mark Regev insisted that the Hamas government in Gaza bore full responsibility for the latest escalation.
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#1
Oh, well. Guess you'll have to keep killing them, Ehud...
Gaza Ma'an The military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the National Resistance Brigades, claimed responsibility for firing a homemade projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot, near the northeastern border of the Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
They said in a statement that they are exercising their natural right to retaliate against Israeli atrocities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Gaza Ma'an The Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for launching four homemade projectiles at the Israeli city of Sderot, near the northeastern border of the Gaza Strip, on Thursday.
They described the attack as part of their natural right to respond to the ongoing Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
After all, it is their "natural right". Genetic, almost...
Seven Abu Sayyaf suspects detained at the Palawan jail had been transferred to Muntinlupa after the Supreme Court upheld a local court's decision favoring the move, citing potential security threats that could arise from the suspects' continued presence in the province, the prosecutor said Wednesday.
Palawan Governor Joel Reyes had requested the Western Command here to facilitate the suspects' transfer from Palawan to Manila via a C-130 plane on Tuesday afternoon, Provincial prosecutor Allen Ross Rodriguez told the Philippine Daily Inquirer Wednesday.
Rodriguez said the Supreme Court granted the petition last January 23.
Regional Trial Court Judge Chito Meregillano endorsed the petition for transfer on Dec. 6, 2007.
The suspects, who were arrested in a series of military operations in Southern Palawan last September, had been charged with murdering a former companion, also reportedly a member of the ASG. "We have requested for a change of venue for the trial because of local security implications," Rodriguez said.
The suspects have been identified as: Abu Daizer, alias Daizer Yusof; Jemar Alfa, alias Abu Jaafar/Jemaar; Moadz Jala, alias Abu Moadz; Abdulla Abduraham, alias Abdullah; Omar Ibnu Jakarain alias Abu Mogera; and Najer Daud, alias Ben Saif Daud, and Yusop Hapipudin alias Abu Islam.
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On a deserted Tehran street, an ex- geologist named Reza was hawking black-market fuel from the back of a battered van -- for about four times the legal price.
``I'm a free-marketeer,'' said Reza, 48, who asked that his full name not be used for fear of arrest. ``Everything in this country works through fixers,'' he said as he poured gasoline from a 20-liter jerry can into a car, using a plastic water bottle as a funnel. ``That's because of government mismanagement.''
Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, is facing gasoline shortages, as well as youth unemployment of 21 percent and U.S. economic sanctions. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has responded by imposing gasoline rationing, boosting subsidies and raising government spending, sending inflation to its highest annual pace in eight years.
With oil at a record $104 a barrel, his approach may be affordable for now. That may change, though: Crude-oil prices are forecast to fall 20 percent from current levels by the end of the year.
``They are hemorrhaging money,'' said Michael Rubin, an Iran analyst at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. ``As long as oil prices are high, the Iranians will grab on to that lifeline rather than pursue the structural changes they need. If oil prices go down further, there will be a real crisis.'' 2008 will be an interesting year.
#1
Large unemployment of the younger class to a socialist government always leads to the same outcome, convert the fodder to some political end, reducing demands on the social system.
Hezbollah is ready for another war with Israel but it will not start one, its deputy leader said in remarks published Wednesday. In an interview with the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar daily, Naim Kassem warned that Israel will pay a high price in any future war.
His comments followed last month's threat by Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah to retaliate with an open war against Israel for the assassination of one of his top commanders, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed on February 12 in a car bomb in neighboring Syrian capital Damascus. Hezbollah and Iran, its main backer, blamed the assassination on Israel, which denied any role. "Hezbollah cannot confirm (that there will be war) because it does not want to initiate it," Al-Akhbar quoted Kassem as saying. "The Israelis know they have to pay a high price in any war," he added.
Kassem also told the paper Hezbollah is well-prepared to face an Israeli, American and international war, possibly in reference to the recent deployment of U.S. warships off Lebanon's Mediterranean coast; a move the U.S. has said was aimed at protecting its interests in the region.
In June 2006 the group seized two Israel Defense Forces troops in a cross border raid, provoking Israel to attack Lebanon. More than 1,000 Lebanese and 159 Israelis were killed in the ensuing 34-day Second Lebanon War. A 13,500-strong United Nations force and 15,000 Lebanese troops were deployed along the Lebanese-Israeli border to monitor a U.N. cease-fire after the war, which Kassem said would not hinder Hezbollah's renewed preparedness to fight Israel.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reported to the Security Council Israeli evaluations that Hezbollah is rearming and has an arsenal including 10,000 long-range rockets and 20,000 short-range rockets in southern Lebanon. While Ban's statement did not confirm Israel's claim, the UN chief reiterated his concern about Hezbollah's public statements and persistent reports pointing to breaches of UN Resolution 1701, which bans weapons transfers to the militant Shi'ite Islamic militia. Ban also expressed concern over Nasrallah's threats of open war against Israel. In a statement released late Tuesday, Hezbollah criticized Ban's report, saying it lacked objectivity.
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#1
Hezbollah is ready for another war with Israel but it will not start one
Instead, it will be the Israeli's fault when they overreact to Gazans having shot 100 a paltry few insignificant missiles at random into Ashkelon and Sderot in one day.
#3
Hezbollah is ready for another war with Israel but it will not start one
Thus rendering them apostate and subject to death.
* Strike off their [infidels] heads. Strike off their finger-tips! because they defied God and his Apostle [Muhammad]. (Sura 8:12-13)
* Make war on them [infidels] until idolatry shall cease and Gods religion shall reign supreme. (Sura 2:193)
* Seize them and put them to death wherever you find them. (Sura 4:89)
* Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. (Sura 9:123)
* When the sacred months [Ramadan] are over, slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them; besiege them; and lie in ambush everywhere for them. If they repent [convert to Islam] and take to prayer and render the alms levy, allow them to go their way. (Sura 9:5)
BANGKOK: A Russian arms dealer, accused of flouting UN embargoes and wanted by Interpol, was arrested at a five-star hotel in Bangkok last night.
Viktor Bout, dubbed the "Merchant of Death", was arrested in the heart of the city on a warrant issued by a Thai court on charges of attempted mass murder, Police Lieutenant General Pongpat Chayapan, head of the Crime Suppression Bureau, said.
"He is now in the custody of the Crime Suppression Division. We will take legal action against him here, before deporting him to face trial in another country, likely the US," he said. "We have followed him for several months. He just came back to Thailand today."
A US embassy spokesman congratulated the Thai police for the arrest but could not provide details about the role the Americans played in it.
A former Soviet air force officer, Bout is wanted by Interpol for allegedly violating UN arms embargoes to several countries in Africa. He has been accused of supplying notorious Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, Congolese rebels and Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
Bout allegedly has been trafficking weapons to Central and West Africa since the early 1990s. UN reports say he set up a network of more than 50 aircraft around the world, and trade experts have said the illicit diamond trade was likely to have been one source of funds for his smuggled arms shipments. Although Bout has been investigated by police in several countries, he has never been prosecuted for arms dealing.
His life was the inspiration for Nicolas Cage's character in the 2005 film Lord of War. People with Viktors' connections never "just get arrested". And the timing of these things are rarely by "coincidence". Most importantly these things always have "consequences".
#2
There have been some wonderful payoffs for the search for jihadis and their support networks: credit card and identity theft rings, false i'd. suppliers, people smuggling rings, major drug busts, fake currency, international money fraud... I feel safer and more confident now than I did before 9/11.
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.
(Xinhua) -- Taliban militants fighting Afghan government and international troops stationed in Afghanistan vowed Wednesday to continue fighting until the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. In a statement read out to media outlets in south Afghanistan through cellular phone, outfit's purported spokesman 
The military commandant of the Tuareg rebels in Mali, Lieutenant Colonel 
Files in a laptop computer seized from the wreckage of a Colombian rebel camp in Ecuador offer new insights into Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's desire to undermine Colombia's U.S.-allied government.
(KUNA) -- The American Army declared on Wednesday that it would hand over to the Iraqi Government the notorious convict, 
Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip has created the worst humanitarian crisis since the Israeli occupation began in 1967, aid and rights groups said on Thursday..JPG)
Hezbollah is ready for another war with Israel but it will not start one, its deputy leader said in remarks published Wednesday. In an interview with the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar daily, Naim Kassem warned that Israel will pay a high price in any future war. 
BANGKOK: A Russian arms dealer, accused of flouting UN embargoes and wanted by Interpol, was arrested at a five-star hotel in Bangkok last night.
