Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Muslim group banned in many countries, recently held a seminar here to denounce the "savage massacre" of Muslims in Fallujah, Iraq, by U.S. forces. In a demonstration in October, it called for the establishment of a caliphate, or Islamic state, in Pakistan and other Muslim countries. That message turned up in Egypt, where three British men were imprisoned in Cairo for trying revive the local outlawed Hizb ut-Tahrir chapter. Despite the arrest this year of Britain's best-known Islamic radical and police raids that have driven groups such as al-Muhajiroun underground, moderate Muslims are worried that the Iraq war is making it easier than ever for extremists to recruit this country's disillusioned Muslims youths. "At university, Muslims searching for the truth go to talks about the crises in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Kashmir," said Nazir Ahmed, a legislator in the House of Lords and one of Britain's best known Muslim moderates. "In poor areas, Muslim youths often believe they are second-class citizens and victims of Islamaphobia. They can be easy for extremists to ignite on issues such as the U.S. offensive in Fallujah, and its civilian death toll," Ahmed said.
Britain has as many as 2 million Muslims, many of them immigrants or descendants of immigrants, from countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Turkey. A government report said working-age people from ethnic minorities are twice as likely to be unemployed as the overall population. Ahmed and Brighton-area imam Abduljalil Sajid believe those hardships make Muslim youths vulnerable to recruitment by groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir. They also said Hizb ut-Tahrir is thriving in England by capitalizing on widespread opposition among Britons, including its Muslim minority, to the Iraq war. In addition, Britain's lenient asylum laws and strong free-speech protections have long made it a center for Islamic activist groups and Arab publications. Years ago, many of Osama bin Laden's fatwas, or religious edicts, were first publicized in London, earning it the nickname Londonistan. There are no reliable figures on the number of Muslims who have been recruited by radical groups in Britain. But in April, two young British Muslims allegedly conducted a suicide bombing at a bar in Tel Aviv, Israel, that killed three customers and wounded 50.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is trying to root out the extremists. Last week, it announced plans to introduce national identity cards for the first time since World War II. British authorities have arrested hundreds of suspects, sometimes in widespread raids. Abu Hamza al-Masri, the radical Muslim cleric and famous London street preacher, was jailed and will be tried for allegedly urging followers to kill non-Muslims.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2004 1:41:10 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 14:10 Comments ||
Top||
#2
They can be easy for extremists to ignite on issues such as the U.S. offensive in Fallujah, and its civilian death toll," Ahmed said.
Isn't it about time to dampen the extremist's powder by carefully explaining how the civilian death toll in Fallujah does not even remotely approach the total loss of life for similar periods under Saddam's regime? An honest breakdown of the casualties' age and gender would also be pretty useful in showing just who the participants are.
There also needs to be a careful distinction regarding those who are merely dissatisfied about the Iraqi insurgents getting their collective clocks cleaned versus others with more legitimate concerns. If the insurgency's death toll is their only gripe, then such people should be placed on a watch list immediately. They are nobody's friend exept the terrorists'.
By all statistics the Iraqi war has done nothing but save lives. Anyone who is less than pleased with such a notion needs monitoring.
#3
Zen, the question is not Iraqi lives. It's that Muslims get to kill infidels for any reason or none and infidels don't get to fight back. To defend oneself against a Muslim is an outrage and a violation of said Muslim's civil rights, and a crime against Allah, the penalty for which is death.
Thus, you may save a thousand Muslim lives by killing one Muslim, and, if you are an infidel, you have insulted the faith, are battling against Muslims, and must, with your extended family, die.
Haven't you figured this out, yet?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
11/28/2004 19:39 Comments ||
Top||
#4
It's that Muslims get to kill infidels for any reason or none and infidels don't get to fight back. To defend oneself against a Muslim is an outrage and a violation of said Muslim's civil rights, and a crime against Allah, the penalty for which is death.
#6
The point is, Zen, that "carefully explaining" isn't going to solve anything. How anybody can think people can look at what is going on and not understand because they lack somebody's careful explanation is unbelievable.
The point is not the matter of getting the facts. The point is the worldview.
BTW, in the second to the last sentence in my earlier post, substitute "inconvenience" for "killing".
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
11/28/2004 21:59 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The point is, Zen, that "carefully explaining" isn't going to solve anything.
That's a gimmie, RA. I insist upon proper explanations only so that we will know that we have done our best. Not, so much, out of any obligation to anyone else. It would be nice if Islam took such gestures seriously. That they do not is merely one more reason to be done with them sooner than later. If there were such a thing as negative infinity, that would be the reading on my sympathy meter.
If Islam wants to survive, they can start acting like it. If they do not, no change is necessary.
#8
If you're lookin' for a rematch, Zen, remember what happened to the last bunch that bit off too much at a time in that area. Not to mention wooing the wrong allies.
Unlikely to happen this time, but it pays to be careful. Even an old dog sometimes has one bite left.
#9
It's pointless to view this as a "struggle for [muslim] hearts and minds." The enemy is not Islam, or "radical Islam", or "extremists," but a new and highly virulent strain of fascism. We know how fascists behave, and how they think, the essence of which is the attachment to suicidal violence for its own sake.
The signal we must send is, deomestically, zero tolerance for any kind of support for fascism, period, and internationally an uncompromising, instinting war that can only result in the complete annihilation of fascist warriors on battlefields of our choosing. The West's muslim "moderates" have a very simple choice to make: align with democracy and liberal western values, or be crushed along with the fascists.
#10
We should make it clear that a core value of democracy is pluralism and respect for religion. That said, we should avoid all overtures that smack of carving out a special, corporatist role in western society for muslims. This dodges the issue and will satisfy no one, neither the non-muslim majority nor the muslims themselves. The best reachout program is the simple one: zero tolerance for hate, for incitement to violence, for support for terror, for fascist rallying of any sort. No dialogue's necessary. Jail the fascists where possible, or deport them where necessary.
President Bush was targeted for assassination by Colombia's biggest Marxist rebel group last week when he visited the Caribbean port city of Cartagena, a top Colombian official said yesterday. "According to informants and various sources, we had information indicating that various members of the FARC had been instructed by their leaders to make an attempt against President Bush," Defense Secretary Jorge Alberto Uribe told reporters. He would not reveal details of the threat.
The Secret Service, which protects the president, said it "does not comment or release information regarding our protective intelligence and protective methods." White House spokesman Jim Morrell also declined to comment on the plot but said: "We have full confidence in the fine work of the Secret Service and their work with the security officials on the ground when the president travels." There was heavy security in Cartagena when Mr. Bush visited the city on Monday on his way back from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Chile. Military helicopters packed with armed soldiers flew over Mr. Bush's motorcade while naval vessels kept watch offshore. Many shops were shuttered.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 3:37:09 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Kinda makes me wonder about the attempt to cut Bush away from his security detail.
#6
Emily, I'm not sure most of the bad boyz can add 1+1 and get 2. They might also think that life under Cheney couldn't be any worse, and that killing Bush would win their cause (whatever it is) enough bennie points around the world to make it worth it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/28/2004 20:54 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Seafarious and Steve are forgetting that the Electoral College doesn't actually vote for the president until December 13. Were Bush to be assassinated between now and then, a new nominee would have to found and agreed upon to be elected by the Republican elector slates. Cheney would become president until January 20th, but not necessarily after then. This might be a reason for someone to attempt an assassination now to through the electoral process into chaos.
Posted by: Ian F ||
11/28/2004 22:34 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Sounds like the assassins are getting advice from Larry O'Donnell Esq.
The head of a parliamentary commission investigating the September hostage seizure at a school in southern Russia said there was evidence pointing to involvement by a foreign intelligence agency, the Interfax news agency reported. The statement was the latest of several in which Russian officials and politicians have alleged that foreigners were involved in the September 1-3 attack on a school in the southern town of Beslan, which ended in bloody chaos and left more than 330 people dead, many of them children. "For the moment, the evidence that we have of this involvement is indirect, so I consider it premature to name exactly which special service it is," Interfax quoted commission head Alexander Torshin as saying.
Russians refer to intelligence and security agencies as special services. "When we gather enough convincing evidence, we won't hide it," Torshin, deputy speaker of the Federation Council, Russia's upper parliament house, said. Russian officials initially said the attackers killed at the school included nine or 10 Arabs, but they never provided any proof of that. Shamil Basayev, a Chechen warlord who claimed responsibility for the raid, said his militants who seized the school included two Arabs.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 4:19:26 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
hint: Shamil Basayev, said his militants who seized the school included two Arabs.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 12:26 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Frank, 2 candidates: ISI and IIS (Pakistan and Iran). There were also cell calls from the school going to KSA, but would that princeling Naif be so stupid as to let his undelings get involved?
#9
Well, raptor, whatever enemy Russki would pick, I am sure that enough evidence could be found.
Perhaps Putin reads RB and can make your wish come true! LOL
#10
"When we gather enough convincing evidence, we wonât hide it," Torshin, deputy speaker of the Federation Council, Russiaâs upper parliament house, said.
But will they act upon it? Russia's continued support of Iran's nuclear aspirations betray all of the tough talk coming out of Moscow. Whichever foreign intelligence service gets fingered had better experience some drastic paybacks for RasPutin to have any future credibility. So far, I see little hope for any sort of visible retribution. Just like the White House, the Kremlin appears to love commerce more than it loathes it's most obvious enemy. I'd really enjoy being proven wrong on this one.
#11
Just a thought, and please keep in mind my relative ignorance and naivite' when you shoot it down: if the Russians installed Iran's nuclear refinement equipment, and presumably trained the Iranian technicians, doesn't it follow that the Russians know exactly where said equipment is? And Putin can share that information with Bush? Sort of profiting from both sides, as it were.
A foreign intelligence agency may have been involved in the Beslan school massacre, a Russian official has said. The revelation was made by Alexander Torshin, the head of a parliamentary commission investigating the killings. He said it would be premature to name the foreign government suspected of assisting the terrorists. But he added: "When we gather enough convincing evidence, we won't hide it." Russian officials initially said the attackers killed at the school included nine or 10 Arabs, but they never provided any proof of that. Shamil Basayev, a Chechen warlord who claimed responsibility for the raid, said the militants involved included two Arabs.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
11/28/2004 6:38:44 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Ooo. Got a bad feeling about that one. I wonder who the lucky named country will be?
Posted by: Matt K. ||
11/28/2004 15:43 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Doesn't make much sense, Matt. Unless there's been a silent revolution under our noses there, the Turkish security services remain determinedly secular. I fail to see what possible game they could be playing by fomenting jihad in the Caucasus.
#6
Seems kind of nuts for Turkey to do something like this. The western Europeans didn't want to do jack to defend Turkey from Iraq (remember those requests for air defense units that the French and other's turned down), what makes the Turks think that anybody in NATO (the US included) would back them up if they've had a hand in killing Russian school kids?
I figured it would be Iran when I first read this. Or the Saudis.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
11/28/2004 16:20 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Sauds wd be my guess. The Chechens were first infiltrated years ago by wahhabis from Saudi.
#13
It doesn't matter whether a nation would be stupid enough to do something like this, the only thing that matters is which nation will be most useful for Russia to *accuse* of so doing it.
So Georgia I'm guessing, or perhaps Azerbaijan, depending on which nation Russia will find most useful to conquer. Given how its on the verge of losing Ukraine, Russia feels the need to gain some territorial gains elsewhere.
I would say they have a different modus operandi--they do things smarter, as they see it. They've been happily exporting their jihad indoctrination centers--madrassas--for half a century, like true moderates they are, bidding their time. Mullahs are juvenile hotheads from their POV (beside that them being shi'ite and thus worse than kufars).
#15
One way or another, it'll lead back to America and Washington - the Clintons and their cabal may covertly be for Communism, OWG, and anti-Americanism, but Left-beloved dialecticism, alternatism, alteriorism, and equalism premises/claims it doesn't matter! That one is a former POTUS, and his spouse a wannabe POTUS and current US Senator from a major US State, belies-affirms USG andor establishment involvement, no matter how surreal or aesthetic!
#16
Lex - wrong address, your comment should be forwarded to the Cypriote minister of justice, Mr. Doros Theodourou.
PS. By the way - it's makes sense more than you think - there is a large Chechen community in Turkey...
Posted by: Matt K. ||
11/28/2004 21:27 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Have to agree with Aris. I think Georgia is the winner of this dubious honor whether or not they had anything to do with it. Since it looks like Ukraine may slip away, Georgia is the next most desirable morsel on the Black Sea for reabsorption into Greater Russia. However, Georgia is only 11% muslim whereas Azerbaijan is 93% muslim.
A leading European cardinal claimed that Islam could not integrate into Europe unless it makes a clear break between religion and state as Roman Catholicism went through after the French revolution.
Belgium's Cardinal Godfried Danneels is one of a few Catholic churchmen tipped as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II.
Danneels said in an interview with Reuters that Muslims should be ready to show more flexibility to interpret the Noble Qur'an.
"I think, I hope that it is possible to create a European Islam which has gone through its own French Revolution. It can already be found here or there," he said in the interview, published by the Express India newspaper.
Muslim scholars say Islam sees no separation between religion and life, believing that religion should be the common denominator in all the activities of daily life.
"Islam requires that we live our whole life, every aspect of life in obedience to Allah. We are not part-time servants of Allah," said Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, the former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).
"Our religion (Islam) is not against common sense rules and it recognizes that people of other religions and cultures also have a lot of good things and we can share with them those common values and cooperate with them," he said.
"No Contradiction"
Danneels argued though that Muslim communities in Europe should see the contradiction between following tenets of Islam and integration into western societies.
"I think Islam should do that. Christianity did it, especially under the influence of the French Revolution. Apart from its negative aspects, there were also good things, like the separation of church and state," he said.
There have been mounting European bids to allegedly reinterpret Islam on claims to help step up Muslim integration in the west.
Major Swiss Christian groups have called for establishing a government-supervised institute to educate Muslim imams on the "liberal" lifestyle in western societies.
Releasing a 20-point strategy to step up the Muslim integration into society, German integration minister Marieluise Beck said Tuesday, November23 , imams coming to Germany should have a knowledge of the German language and society.
"Moderate" Islam
Danneels, the archbishop for the Brussels-Mechelen region, also called on Muslims to adopt what he termed a "moderate" Islam that does not cover all social and economic aspects of life.
"This is fundamental. It is very difficult to talk to a monolithic Islam, because that comes down to 'take it or leave it' and the accomplishments of European history, culture and social order are not really integrated in that," he said.
He claimed that Islam should allow more flexible interpretation of its scriptures.
"That is fundamental, the willingness of Islam to interpret its texts, the Qur'an in particular," Danneels said.
Crusade Memory
The prominent European archbishop suggested both Muslims and westerners overcome their past differences and thrash out new ideas on furthering understanding between both sides.
"There are a lot of things which got stuck in the memory, for example of the Muslim communities -- even the memory of the Crusades is still very much alive," Danneels said.
He warned against confusing religion and fundamentalism, which he called "a pathology of religion".
"Whoever commits violence in the name of God... actually commits violence against God," he said.
"Whoever hates in the name of God, actually hates God himself."
Pope John Paul II on January17 , exhorted Christians, Muslims and Jews to bury the hatchet and work in tandem to rid the world of never-ending wars.
However, in May 2004 a German newspaper reported that the Vatican has been pumping huge amounts of funds into a very influential institution of the Catholic Church to halt the spread of Islam across the world.
Command Sgt. Maj. James R. Jordan asked to stay in the Army for a year beyond his mandatory retirement date so he could complete a deployment to Iraq with the 35th Signal Brigade.
''We are currently at war,'' Jordan said. ''We are doing things, and it requires leaders to do certain things. That's what I am, a leader.''
Command Sgt. Maj. James R. Jordan will complete a deployment with the 35th Signal Brigade before retiring.
Like his younger brother, retired basketball star Michael Jordan, James Jordan loves his job, believes in helping his team, expects maximum effort from those around him, and will leave on his own terms.
The sergeant major stands 5-foot-7. His brother is about 6-foot-6. At Fort Bragg, the older brother has kept a low profile and avoided calling attention to his family connection.
Command Sgt. Maj. Jordan and about 500 soldiers of the brigade are scheduled to depart today for a year in Iraq.
Under normal conditions, the 47-year-old Jordan, who entered basic training in June 1975 and had three assignments in Korea, would start winding down his Army career in the spring as he approached the 30-year mark.
His colonel promised to support whatever decision he made, but Jordan had no intention of getting on an airplane April 29, flying home and leaving his brigade.
''That's not the way you want to end a 30-year career,'' Jordan said.
''People ask, 'Why?''' said Col. Bryan Ellis, the brigade commander. ''The answer is, he is completely selfless. We all want to see it go well.''
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 4:40:40 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Enlisted soldiers who attain the distinction of being selected by the Department of the Army for participation in the command sergeants major program are the epitome of success in their chosen field, in this profession of arms. There is no higher grade of rank, except Sergeant Major of the Army, for enlisted soldiers and there is no greater honor.
The head of a California-based Muslim organization accused of being soft on terrorism dismisses his critics and says Muslim Americans should be nurtured as a key intelligence asset capable of fingering potential terrorists in their midst. "We need the Muslim community, especially the immigrant community, to help us get that tip that would prevent the next terrorist attack," said Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). A relationship should be established with law-enforcement authorities in which Muslims "don't fear any repercussions when they come forward," he said in a recent interview with The Washington Times.
MPAC is promoting its National Grassroots Campaign to Fight Terrorism. While it calls for more positive interaction between police and Muslims, Mr. al-Marayati says another of the campaign's priorities is to amplify Islam's criticism of terrorism. Despite his remarks, Mr. al-Marayati often is criticized by some pro-Israel organizations and terrorism analysts who say he publicly condones terrorist acts and promotes too radical a view of Islam. The Zionist Organization of America calls him an "extremist" who has attempted to "blame Israel for the September 11 attacks." Another outspoken critic is Steven Emerson, author of "American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us," who calls MPAC "a militant group masquerading as a civil rights or moderate group."
"They're not moderate at all," said Mr. Emerson, who appears regularly on NBC as a terrorism analyst. MPAC has traded insults with Mr. Emerson and dismissed him as a critic who "brings to mind the most paranoid anti-communists of the 1950s." In January, MPAC accused Mr. Emerson of using "out-of-context quotes" and "his own heavily biased editorial slant" to label MPAC an "Islamist" organization. During his meeting with The Times, Mr. al-Marayati described MPAC as part of the emerging landscape of "moderate" Muslim groups and said his comments often are taken out of context. Asked about his views on suicide bombing and terrorism, he aggressively condemned both. He also defined a moderate Muslim as someone who, among other things, "rejects terrorism as an instrument of change." Further, Mr. al-Marayati says al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden "is not practicing Islam if he believes that killing children and civilians is legitimate Islamic action."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 3:34:50 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
sounds like someone to be handled very carefully. see if the MPAC deeds follow the new party line words
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 12:51 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Do they mean like the State Department Muslims who had a party and celebrated the 9/11 cold blooded murder of about 3000 innocent civilians?
#3
Why do I get the feeling this is a pile o' turds in a paper bag, set alight, the wanker's rung the doorbell, and now he wants to be thanked for it?
Mebbe I'm missing come crucial point, but...
Nahhhh, hang on there, Mobubba. I get the feeling some sort of unAmerican quid pro quo is the other shoe... No access, no funds, no special notice, no nothing. You live in America, and your cooperation is your obligation. If you're not part of the problem, it's your safety at stake, too. If you're not worried about that, lol, well then, meet: Mr Patriot Act, Mr Immigration Court, Mr Deportation Order, and Mr Third World...
#4
Well, righty-ho then, Mr.al-Marayati.We may expect your associates to begin narking out the extremists, the recruiters, the jihadi-oriented amongst the Moslem community? Any day now, I am sure.
"Asked about his views on suicide bombing and terrorism, he aggressively condemned both. He also defined a moderate Muslim as someone who, among other things, "rejects terrorism as an instrument of change."
I like that, but at this point, I'm not sure if I'd even believe in the veracity even of Moslem public denouncements of Islamic terrorism. In my book, they waited too long. I'm not against "moderate" Moslems, but it makes me nervous that part of the Islamic political package is that it's okay to lie to infidels to accomplish goals of jihad. They should be watched carefully for follow-through--and they should stop griping about their "rights".
And, uh-hem--still waiting for that national Moslem memorial service to honor and apologize for 9/11 . . . . waiting . . . . still waiting . . . . crickets chirping . . . .
#7
Islam as a religion is very loosely organized. I have no idea who the Leader of Islam in the United States is, or whether there is one. Who is the leader of Protestantism in the U. S.?
And wouldn't any moderate who tried to asume the mantle become a target for Islamic wackos? That this guy is willing to label himself as such indicates he is an agent or the real deal. We should be able to determine which.
Let's look at what has happened domesticly in the WOT. The few cells in the U. S. have been rolled us, apparently with tips from the loyal Muslim community.
Plenty of Muslims are serving loyally in the military with only one known bad apple, maybe two but the prosecution was botched at best.
We've had no strikes since 9/11 and no van Gogh type violence.
While I wouldn't suggest the FBI stop surveillance of suspecious characters and I wouldn't object to racial profiling, I'd also listen to what this guy has to say very carefully.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 16:15 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Burden's on MPAC to show where their sympathies lie. Extremely difficult to tell who's really a "moderate" muslim, and we've been burned again and again by faux moderates. Deliver the goods on some jihadists in your midst, and then we'll talk.
#9
Except for the fact that being an informer is exactly the sort of position a good agent would try for. He gets to finger his enemies, and gets paid for it to boot.
#12
If MPAC has declared a change and has been open and vocal, I think we should give them a chance. If they follow-through, then I'd say "Welcome". If not, mark them as a potential enemy.
#13
In Czech, there are two terms for a loose woman. One -- bĕhna, a radical -- goes through amants like through panties. The other -- moderate coura -- takes it slowly.
#14
Interesting - we have similar terms : "Kobe Accuser" goes through men frequently - panties...less so
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 17:12 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Public denouncements of terrorism are all fine and dandy. However, actions speak louder than words. What really counts are the goings-on behind closed doors and drawn curtains at home or in the mosque.
On 9-11 America's Muslim people underwent a collective loss of innocence, right alongside the entire U.S. population. The burden of proof is now upon American Moslems to actively demonstrate their opposition to international terrorism. Merely proclaiming such aloud is insufficient. Far too many of the overseas Islamic governments and religious figures dissemble way too often for words alone to carry weight any longer.
If Islam in America wants to shed its suspicious aura, it will need to agressively expose and expell the militant jihadis within their ranks. Anything less is both unacceptable and just as liable to wind up tainting all American Muslims with the sins of their radical brethern. Those who refuse to accept how the hyper-violence of militant jihad has forever disqualified it as a worthy tool of change must needs be identified as sympathizers and treated accordingly.
#16
Zenster, Is there any evidence that there remain any militant jihadis in the ranks of American Muslims, known to be such to American Muslims? How do you expect them to prove this negative?
Do you know that no Muslim provided assistance in the investigation of the Lackawana 5 (or however many there were).
If they had information would you prefer they turn it over to the Washington Times or the FBI? If you were the FBI would you release the information that you had a source within the Muslim community that was providing evidence?
Yeah, let's watch these guys, but let's hold off on blanket condemnations.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 17:26 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Mrs D - What's your position on making fun of (what are in American English) funny names? If I poke fun at, say, Jherk Al Meoff on RB, do you think this could doom the WoT and cause us to lose those millions of Mythical Moderate Muslims to The Dark Side?
#18
Yeah, let's watch these guys, but let's hold off on blanket condemnations.
Mrs. Davis, I think you misread my words. Do you honestly think that nowhere in America, at not one single mosque, violent jihad is still being preached?
Quite simply, I find this nearly impossible to believe. America's way of life, its equality for women, entertainment content, distribution of pornography and mingling of the sexes represent too much of an affront to the basic tenets of Islam.
It goes beyond comprehension that there still does not exist factions or groups within America's borders that remain supportive of violent jihad. Such groups have spiritual leaders and those leaders operate out of mosques.
Until American Muslims take it upon themselves to begin attending other mosques and reviewing their teachings on a regular basis, I will find it difficult to accept their protestations against terrorism. Progress will only come when Islam in America undergoes a thorough scrutiny by its own adherents. I do not see that yet.
Nowhere do I advocate guilt by association, but such glaring facts as the thundering silence of Islam as a whole regarding Beslan, Bali, Madrid and 9-11 still rings in my ears. Were I a devout believer, any tainting of my faith in such a vile manner would evoke the most vociferous outbursts and vigorous measures being taken to ensure that no such besmirching would ever occur again. This I do not see and it leaves me entirely skeptical. I would think that any other sane person should remain suspicious as well. If that offends other Muslims in America, quite frankly, tough shit.
#20
I hope I have not misread your words, Zenster.
Is violent jihad being preached? I don't know. I expect that our domestic security agencies have recordings of every mullah, imam, etc. in America for voice print purposes. I expect that they have divided them into groups that have no evil intent, groups that have evil intent but no capability, groups that have evil capability and groups that can be prosecuted. If anyone were calling for the violent overthrow of the U. S. on a regular basis, I would expect that person to be under substantial surveillance.
That we have had no repetition of 9/11 in the U. S. may be an indication of luck or success. I suspect success and I bet some of it is attributable to quiet cooperation from Muslims.
You say you are not advocating guilt by association, but what you are saying sounds awfully like guilt by silence. While I, too, might be more outspoken than have been American Muslims, I cannot hold their silence as evidence of their complicity or support for violent jihad absent some affirmative evidence.
I also remain suspicious.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 18:33 Comments ||
Top||
#21
If I poke fun at, say, Jherk Al Meoff on RB, do you think this could doom the WoT and cause us to lose those millions of Mythical Moderate Muslims to The Dark Side?
Yes. That's why I only make fun of the names of Europeans. Although already on the Dark Side, their actions have no deleterious effect.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 18:48 Comments ||
Top||
#22
I'm much looser in my restrictions......
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 18:56 Comments ||
Top||
#23
Making fun of names is so very cheap.
Posted by: Abdullah of the One Name Only Clan ||
11/28/2004 19:13 Comments ||
Top||
#24
Mrs D - What, no smilie? Methinks you're too serious. Close brushes with Fuckwits of the Third Kind will do that.
Abbie3 - I know you. I know you well. It's your turn to pay for dinner, in fact, heh.
#25
While I, too, might be more outspoken than have been American Muslims, I cannot hold their silence as evidence of their complicity or support for violent jihad absent some affirmative evidence.
I can see only one possible reason for all Islam not more vocally condemning terrorism. They simply must not realize how much their entire faith's continuing existence is riding upon the outcome.
I view the Belmont Club's "The Three Conjectures" article to be a highly accurate and cogent assessment of what Islam faces as of now. This is, indeed, their "Golden Hour" and they all act like it's no big deal. It is precisely this lack of enthusiastic reformation that leaves me so wanting for any faith in Islam's good intentions.
Pure self-preservation demands this of me. That Muslims everywhere do not seem to understand how my own stance regarding this resembles one that is spreading rapidly throughout much of the non-Muslim world stands as stark testimony with respect to how dire the situation actually is.
This type of willful blindness can no longer be explained away by innocence or naivety. There is either some sort of profoundly misplaced confidence in how Islam will transcend these potentially lethal threats or a complete and total disregard for the pronouncements of external agencies.
Either one of these postures indicates a fatal lack of seriousness in how the problem of internally cleansing Islam of violent jihadis and instituting authentic reform in general are being addressed. It is precisely this lackadaisical attitude that causes me to be so suspicious.
Inaction, be it from misplaced confidence or an unspoken attitude of presumed theological invulnerability both constitute a real and genuine threat to everybody outside of such an imbalanced equation. I refuse to pay out any more slack in the face of such complaisence.
Either Islam sets about some truly determined housecleaning, and I'm talking about reformation that goes well beyond whispering suspicions to any of our government's agencies, in order to genuinely combat the threat of militant jihadism, or else the entire faith must be brought to its knees for the destruction they have wrought.
Were their only trespass terrorism, I (only perhaps) might be of a different mind. As it stands, Islam embodies a laundry list of exactly what needs changing most in this world's day-to-day goings on.
*) Violence against women and children
*) Totalitarianism and theocratic governance
*) Intolernace of secular cultures
*) Abusive forms of capital punishment
*) Virulent anti-Semitism
*) Selective and favorable interpretation of doctrine
*) Intransigent fundamentalism
Need I go on? Yes, indeed, some of the above issues also manifest in modern Christian and Catholic doctrine as well. This in no way allays or justifies their manifestation in Islam or any other religion. Such hidebound interpretive theology has NO PLACE in a modern and pluralistic world.
And this is where we approach the nub of all preceeding arguments. Islam continues to act as though this world is NOT pluralistic, merely unacquainted with the joy that is Islam. So long as this mindset is conveyed by the Muslim faith, it can go straight to Hell, do not collect $200, do not pass Go.
In closing, I remain glad that you too, Mrs. Davis, also remain suspicious as well.
#26
.com, looks like Zenster wants to be serious, so I'll only observe that it's better to use text and leave the wondering than to use smilies and remove all doubt.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 19:30 Comments ||
Top||
#27
ROFL! I could play the troll and say that resorting to quotes (or paraphrasing) or images indicates weakness, blah blah blah, but since your logic is unassailable, I'll desist.
So. Zen. Fair to say you're a tad disdainful, and straddling pissed off, huh? Yep, me too.
:-)
#28
Zenster, that was not at all how I was reading your previous messages. I do not equate the War on Terror with a War of Islam. Our enemy in the War on Terror has taken advantage of weaknesses in Islam and Middle Eastern cultures to the detriment of both. The fate of Islam is a matter of indifference to me.
I am only concerned about the security of the United States. As you point out, Muslims have handled their PR challenge in the west horrendously. The shortcomings of Islamic behaviour have become evident to the rest of the world. To me the resolution of this problem is of far less consequence than how many Americans die in the process and the financial cost.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 19:40 Comments ||
Top||
#29
it's better to use text and leave the wondering than to use smilies and remove all doubt.
I'll file this under Twain's:
"Be nice. It will astonish your friends and confuse your enemies."
---------------------
So. Zen. Fair to say you're a tad disdainful, and straddling pissed off, huh?
#30
To be honest, .com. I am struggling, perhaps not-so-valiantly, with your own well known "fry-em-up" attitude.
In short, our world has so many other fish to "fry" like hunger, illiteracy, disease and violence against women, that the diversion of funds which international terrorism represents is tantamount to perfect justification for the use of nuclear arms. Fewer people would die in the long run and our world's progress would be less impeded. Somehow, I'm just not at the point of such a nihilistic mindset. Must have something to do with my mother surviving the Nazi occupation of Denmark. On a more ominous note, there's always room for change.
#31
If you do ever find a use for it, please correct the to them. Your listeners may not be a perceptive as Rantburg's readers.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 20:06 Comments ||
Top||
#32
It seems to me the crux of Islam is No one is responsible for their actions. If a hostage is taken, it's "Allah's will". If the hostage is killed, it's Allah's will". It's Allah's will that Muslims kill anyone who disagrees with or "defiles" the Quoran. This attitude absolves all Muslims of personal responsibility, unlike Christianity or even, to an extant, Judaism. When Muslims kill, they have no control, it's Allah's will. They either will not or cannot look at their religion and say, "something's wrong here". This goes for their treatment of women and children as well. It's Allah's will. Their lack of education and the prohibition of aquiring knowledege only serves to enforce their view of everything.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/28/2004 20:08 Comments ||
Top||
#33
DB - Just imagine having your idiot teen son crash your brand-new Mercedes on an unauthorized joy ride and explain it as the car being defective and Allah's will, lol! An acquaintance in SA had that happen. The boy blew it off because he knew Daddy would not be able to nail him - he'd used the gambit all his own life, after all. He told me about it at lunch one day, bemoaning how the dealership's owner was from a better-connected Clan - so he had precisely zero chance of getting any break there, lol. It was sad - he couldn't go forward and he couldn't go backward. His society's blame game had trapped him and stuck him with the $70K loss. He was driving an almost-new Ford Crown Vic last I saw of him.
#34
.com, have you been following things at the MEP post? It's getting pretty serious and I don't see no smilies!
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 20:25 Comments ||
Top||
#35
If you do ever find a use for it, please correct the to them.
Fear not, Mrs. Davis. Your posts are always of such high calibre that the omission of an "m" was not any cause for doubt. Elsewise, I would have (undeservingly) used Twain's;
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."
#37
Ah, the Arisified thread. No, I find anything Aris wishes to nest in becomes about Aris the Grate, and thus is of no interest or value. That was the close brush I referred to above...
#39
ah well, Mrs. D - I take your latest wobbledyness as weakness. If 19 Catholics cared to attck the US, causing 300 deaths, I would expect visits and more from the FBI . The muslims of Amerioca have done squat that I can see beyond letting CAIR, et al do damage to their patriotism by bitching. Time to put up or shut up. Manzanar awaits the next attack.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 21:11 Comments ||
Top||
#40
I'd expect the same, not Manzanar, Hiroshima.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 21:14 Comments ||
Top||
#41
American Muslims are going to have to do a helluva lot more to combat terrorism and its root cause than they've done so far, before I'll consider them anything approaching an "asset" in the fight.
So far, we've gone to extreme lengths to convince the Muslim world that our fight is not with Islam, but only with terrorists and their supporters. But Muslims seem absolutely determined to turn it into a battle between us and them.
And if they don't wise up quick that's exactly what it's going to become, even though we'd rather it not. This is, indeed, Islam's last chance.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/28/2004 21:19 Comments ||
Top||
#42
The muslims of Amerioca have done squat that I can see beyond letting CAIR, et al do damage to their patriotism by bitching. Time to put up or shut up.
So, it's not just .com and me up against the world? Whew!
I almost wish that Islam had better answers, except for the niggling fact that so many of its adherents seem to relish what's about to come. So be it.
#46
I dunno. As far as make-believe allies go, I'll take Santa Claus over "moderate muslims" anyday. Oh sure, the Easter Bunny's a great guy, always quick with an egg or to light up your smoke. But Santa's got your back, and his intel is dope.
From the United Nations website, a summary of "The Spokesman's Noon Briefing" on Friday, November 26. The spokesman, Fred Eckhard, speaks for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Asked about a media report that Kojo Annan, the Secretary-General's son, had continued to receive payments from the Cotecna firm until early this year, the Spokesman confirmed that a journalist had inquired about that earlier this week. The United Nations had no knowledge of it, however, he said. Kojo Annan's confirmed that it was true that Kojo Annan received payments until February 2004, as part of an open-ended, no-compete contract with Cotecna.
The no-compete contract, he said in response to another question, is an arrangement in which a company can deal with a departing employee, who could set up a competing business, by making payments in exchange for that person agreeing not to compete with his former employer. He said it was standard practice, calling it a "well-known device in the industry," and asserted it was not fair to suggest that it was the same as having Kojo Annan on Cotecna's payroll.
Kojo Annan's lawyer added that the arrangement had been reported to the Independent Inquiry Committee headed by Paul Volcker. The Spokesman said he could not explain the discrepancy between this information and the earlier impression that the United Nations had, that the no-compete contract had ended in 1999. The matter, Eckhard said, was now in Volcker's hands.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/28/2004 11:47:55 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Truth filter on: "They're both crooks. I can say no more." Truth filter off: blah, blah, blah
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 12:39 Comments ||
Top||
#3
All the no competes I have seen are on signing an employment contract. You don't get paid once you quit. They have a set cut off date. Paying someone no to open a competing business sounds like bribery
and though legal some places I would imagine is still fishy as hell.
#4
Generally, you get a no-compete on exiting when you are party to some propriatary info and the company it belongs to doesn't want you using it to steal their customers, or selling it to a competitor. Three to five years is standard, as far as I know, depending on the volatility of the info.
From The New York Sun, an article by Claudia Rosett, a senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and an adjunct fellow with Hudson Institute.
.... investigators are now looking into new information suggesting that the younger [Kojo] Annan received far more money over a much longer period, even after his compensation from Cotecna had reportedly ended. ..... The younger Annan stopped working for Cotecna in late 1998, but it now turns out that he continued to receive money from Cotecna not only through 1999, as recently reported, but right up until February of this year. The timing coincides with the entire duration of Cotecna's work for the U.N. oil-for-food program. It now appears the payments to the younger Annan ended three months after the U.N., in November, 2003, closed out its role in oil-for-food and handed over the remains of the program to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad.
This latest bombshell involving the secretary-general's son was confirmed Wednesday by Kofi Annan's spokesman, Fred Eckhard, in response to this reporter's query, based on information obtained elsewhere. In an email, Mr. Eckhard wrote: "I was able to reach Kojo's lawyer this morning. He confirms that Kojo Annan received payments from Cotecna as recently as February 2004. The lawyer said that these payments were part of a standard non-competition agreement, under which the decision as to whether to continue the payments or not was up to Cotecna." Mr. Eckhard added that, according to Kojo Annan's lawyer, the information has "been reported" to the U.N.-authorized inquiry into oil-for-food, led by a former Federal Reserve chairman, Paul Volcker. Labeled as compensation for Kojo Annan's agreeing not to compete with Cotecna's business in West Africa, the post-employment payments were in the amount of $2,500 per month, according to another source with access to the documents. If the payments were continuous over the slightly more than five-year period involved, that would have totaled more than $150,000. .....
Cotecna earlier this year denied any wrongdoing, saying that Kojo Annan's portfolio involved West Africa, not the U.N. or Iraq. Kojo Annan's lawyer at the London-based firm Schillings said the younger Annan is cooperating with the Volcker inquiry, but would not comment to the press on his payments from Cotecna. ..... A letter ... written January 11, 1999, by Cotecna CEO Robert Massey [outlines] the terms of a $2,500 per month "compensatory indemnity" in return for Kojo Annan's agreement to "refrain from any similar consultancy or employment." ....
A previous Rantburg posting, titled A Primer About Cotecna, the Food-for-Oil Program, and Kojo Annan, pointed out that Cotecna is a company that is much older and larger than its one UN contract that it performed for the United Nations during 1998-2003. Cotecna was founded 30 years ago, in 1974. Cotecna has a workforce of about 4,000 personnel in over 100 offices and holds inspection contracts with 13 governments -- Burkina Faso,Comoros, Ivory Coast, Eduador, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, and Venezuela. Cotecna has no special relationship with the United Nations. The overwhelming majority of business is directly with individual governments.
Cotecna helps developing, still quite corrupt, countries to professionalize their customs services. In particular, in Ghana (the Annans' home country), Cotecna has a ten-year contract with the Government of the Republic of Ghana. Those two parties formed a joint venture, called Gateway Services Limited [GSL], which is 70% owned by Cotecna. When the ten-year contract expires, the business can be taken over completely by Ghanan government or the joint business can be extended with another contract. Cotecna apparently believes that its payments to Kojo Annan will make the second outcome more likely, but understandably wanted to keep such payments secret.
In 1999, Cotecna explained to the UN Under-Secretary-General for Management to his satisfaction that Kojo Annan's business activities were limited to west Africa, did not involve the UN, and played no role in Cotecna's winning the UN contract. Now Kojo Annan is trying, through his lawyer, to explain the same limitations to Claudia Rosett, but her stubborn misintpretation of the situation make her deaf and blind to all such explanations.
Since Claudia Rosett likes to traffic in reckless speculations about other people being corrupted by their own personal greed, let's do the same about her and see how she like it. A few years ago, few people would have recognized her name. She was an obscure, mid-level pundit, lost in the multitude other such would-be pundits. Now, however, she's become world-famous because of her slanders of the Annans. Now suddenly she stands at the threshhold of major punditry. She enjoys sinecures with two major, rich foundations. We can be sure that her income from writing and speaking have sky-rocketed.
A Google search for the two words Rosett and Kojo indicates that at least 1,230 websites report her speculations about him. Bizarrely and pathetically, even the normally sensible Belmont Club has begun to compile a complete list of all websites that mention Rosett's newest article.
In these circumstances, she will not entertain any explanation about Cotecna and Kojo Annan that does not incriminate Kofi Annan in personal corruption involving the Oil-for-Food Program. The enventual cost for her will be, though, that when the Volcker investigation and all the future US Congress investigations and all other investigations by objective journalists confirm again and again that this story is a groundless hoax, then maybe she will finally take her rightful place in the history of US journalism alongside Dan Rather as a fool who persistently peddled a totally wrong story in the year 2004.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/28/2004 10:27:20 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Opinion piece - move it, plz.
Mike: Something is seriously wrong with you - or your motivations are somehow mercenary. Nothing else explains your obsessive doggy with a sock in his mouth bullshit. RB is not here for your purposes. Fuck off and run your own blog. Once you were just an alternative opinion, usually worth a look. Now that's no longer true.
You've become a laughing-stock, in case you've become so blinded you can't see it. Move along, sonny, you were never an authority of note and now you're a mere bandwidth hog and RB leech.
Journalist-in-Residence
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies
Claudia Rosett writes on international affairs, drawing on 22 years experience as a journalist and editor, reporting from Asia, the former Soviet Union, Latin America and the Middle East. Currently based in New York, she writes a column, âThe Real World,â on issues of tyranny and human rights, especially as these relate to the War on Terror, for The Wall Street Journal's www.Opinionjournal.com and The Wall Street Journal Europe. She has also contributed to publications such as The New York Times, Commentary, The American Spectator and The Weekly Standard, and makes frequent guest appearances on TV and radio
Ms. Rosett has served as a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board in New York (1997-2002), and as a reporter and then bureau chief in The Wall Street Journal's Moscow Bureau, covering the former Soviet Union (1993-1996). Prior to that she covered Asia, writing both signed opinion features and unsigned editorials as editorial-page editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal (1986-1993). She has also worked as editor of the Journal's daily Bookshelf column, based in New York (1984-1986), and reported free-lance from Chile (1981-1982). More recently she has reported from Lebanon, and written on issues involving the United Nations, foreign dissidents, and tyrants who in various ways threaten the democratic world.
For her on-site coverage of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising, Ms. Rosett won an Overseas Press Club Citation for Excellence. Her work has included editorializing about global crises in emerging markets in the late 1990s; on-the-scene reporting of the 1994-1996 war in Chechnya, and the 1992 collapse of the Soviet-installed regime in Kabul; and in 1994 she broke the full story of North Korean labor camps in the Russian Far East, reporting from the camps.
Â
Ms. Rosett holds a B.A. from Yale University (1976), an M.A. in English Literature from Columbia University (1979) and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (1981).
Who is this Mike Sylwester nobody's ever heard of? An obscure, low level commenter, lost in the multitude of other commenters. Perhaps he will be world-famous from his indefatigable defence of the indefencible. Who knows?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 17:19 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Exactly. Who knows? Who cares?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 17:21 Comments ||
Top||
#5
That article about Jack Ruby is a real blast from the past. I don't even know how that got onto the web.
I ran a Google search on "Mrs. Davis" and got ten hits and found this tidbit: I worked with a company that populated surface mount printed circuit boards. The Chinese drove the Mexicans out of the business because the Mexicans are high labor cost producers. Then, to add insult to injury, they'd come in after they drove the company out of business and buy the equimpent at auction to stock their next factory.
... and this tidbit: Hello, my name is Rica Davis. I graduated from Murray State University with a B.S. degree in Elementary Education. I finished my Master's degree in Instructional Design and Technology at the University of Memphis in May 2002. I taught 3rd grade one year in Paducah, Kentucky before moving to Memphis. I have been employed with Memphis City Schools for seven years. This is my fifth year teaching 3rd grade. I have two brothers and two sisters who live in Kentucky and Mississippi. I am married to Edward Davis. I have two children named Anthony and Jessica. In my spare time I enjoy reading, bowling, and shopping. I am looking forward to this school year.
Ha ha. All you Mrs. Davises are peas in a pod, but there's only one Mike Sylwester.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/28/2004 20:13 Comments ||
Top||
Iran said on Sunday that is has never allowed any terrorists to cross into Iraq from its territory and offered its help to restore security in its neighbour, including the training of police and border guards. "Iran has never permitted the transit of terrorists to Iraq or any other country from its own territory," deputy interior minister Ali-Asghar Ahmadi told reporters two days before Iran is due to host a regional meeting on Iraq.
Iran has invited the interior ministers of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, Turkey and Egypt to the meeting here on Tuesday. "No leader of al-Qaeda is in Iran," added the minister, responding to frequent allegations from the United States that Iran has supported or harboured members of the militant network. The official also condemned the actions of an Iranian group that has been present at officially organised events to enlist volunteers for suicide operations in Iraq, Israel and elsewhere. "This is not legal," he said. "If the activity of these individuals stays theoretical, that is up to them, but if they move into action, we will prevent them. We cannot accept such things in Iran. The Islamic republic of Iran has never been and is not a place of activity for terrorist groups." He insisted that Iraqi officials "have never shown proof of the crossing of terrorists from Iran. Iran is ready to help train Iraqi police and border guards and cooperate with Iraq to control the border."
For his part, foreign ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi said the themes of the conference here would be "security, stabilisation and fighting terrorism. The Iraqi government has the basic responsibility to sort out its domestic situation. It is not enough to accuse others of infiltrating its borders. The main problem lies inside Iraq. It is the Iraqi government's responsibility to fight terrorism, although the neighbours should help."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 4:48:16 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yeah, sure. And they're spinning down all of their gas centrifuges too.
Backing down before a Monday deadline, Iran apparently has given up its demand to exempt some equipment from a deal freezing uranium enrichment programs that can make nuclear weapons, diplomats said Sunday. Diplomats from the European Union and elsewhere said on condition of anonymity that the International Atomic Energy Agency received a letter from Iran containing a pledge not to test some centrifuges during the freeze it agreed to Nov. 7 during negotiations with Britain, France and Germany on behalf of the European Union. The pledge appeared to resolve a dispute that threatened to escalate into possible referral of Iran to the U.N. Security Council for defying the IAEA board. The Security Council could then impose sanctions against Iran. On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Tehran was maintaining a demand made Thursday at the start of the IAEA meeting to use the 20 centrifuges. The centrifuges spin gas into enriched uranium. Tehran had insisted the Nov. 7 deal allowed it to use those centrifuges purely for research, but the EU disagreed.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2004 1:11:16 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Where are the IAEA and E.U. offices located?
I have some 'summer vacation' property in Florida and Arizona as well as several bridges in New York and Chicago I need to sell......
Oh! And I can make them an excellent deal if they want to buy an certain, rather large, statue standing in New York harbour....
Key word: Apparently, as in; From all external appearances.
All-righty then, class, it's euphemism time ... The only way Iran will "stop enrichment" as part of making headway in their pursuit of "nuclear power weapons" is if all of their equipment is "catastrophically disassembled" for them by an "outside party." Anyone who thinks otherwise is a morondelusional.
Iran's foreign minister said Saturday that Iran had every right to keep, for research purposes, some centrifuges that could be used to enrich uranium, an indication that a standoff on the country's nuclear program may not be easily resolved. "Iran's demand to keep 20 centrifuges is not against its commitments," said the minister, Kamal Kharrazi, the IRNA news agency reported. In talks in Paris with Britain, Germany and France, Iran agreed on Nov. 15 to freeze all its nuclear activities. But this week, Iran said it wanted to retain 20 centrifuges for research purposes, stunning negotiators. The Paris accord was meant to pave the way for a resolution to be passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear monitoring body, in Vienna, to say that Iran was in compliance. On Friday, it appeared that negotiators in Vienna had worked out a compromise, under which Iran would turn off the 20 centrifuges but put them under camera surveillance rather than under seal by the I.A.E.A. Mr. Kharrazi's comments seemed to indicate otherwise. "There is no ban on research activities in the agreement," IRNA quoted him as saying.
Mr. Kharrazi pointed to the resolution drafted in Vienna by the three countries and said there were positions that were "not acceptable by Iran and were contrary to the Paris agreement." He did not specify which ones. The talks will resume on Monday. Iran has been walking a tight line in the negotiations, under great international pressure to make concessions on its nuclear program, while hard-liners at home lash out against moves they interpret as weakness on Tehran's part. An article in the daily Jomhouri Islami on Saturday said that the nuclear agency's opposition to allowing Iran to keep centrifuges for research was aimed at preventing Iran to master the cycle of nuclear fuel production. "We must not trust the Europeans who have dishonored their pledges with Iran in the past and we should develop our fuel cycle with full capacity," it said.
Last week, President Mohammad Khatami called the Paris agreement a "success," and Hossein Mousavian, a member of the negotiating team, said Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had approved the agreement. Kaveh Afrasiabi, a political scientist and adviser to the negotiating team said that Iran considered the deal a victory, "because unlike the United States that wants to dismantle Iran's nuclear program, Europe has recognized it and even promised to help Iran become one of the 18 fuel producers."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 3:46:27 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Stand-off ends 15 hours after the B-2s lift off from Whiteman.
This is actually pretty funny, IMHO. The NYT trying to characterize it as a "stand-off", lol! Implying the Mad Mullahs are a peer country contesting an issue in the international venue. Sure thing, heh.
The gauntlet is down. The E3 have their quibbling game going, as that is the only game for which they have the ante. The UN / Elbaradai are most likely feathering their nests with Mad Mullah Money, as that is what they do best.
Bush has already verbally responded to the Mullahs. The time factor will control the scope of the physical response. The Black Hats will figure it out, eventually. Hell, RWV's already delivered the punchline - literally, lol!
Pakistan army today denied that it is pulling out its troops from Wana subdivision, the headquarters of the south Waziristan tribal agency near Afghanistan where its forces were battling to flush out al Qaeda militants for several months. Contradicting reports published in the media here quoting Pakistan Army's Corps Commander Lt-Gen Safdar Hussain stating that the troops would be withdrawn from Wana sub division following assurances by local militant leaders that they would not shelter terrorists, Defence Spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said no troop withdrawal would take place. Only the checkposts in the area would be handed over to local tribesman but there was no withdrawal of troops, he told the state-run PTV.
Gen. Hussain was quoted in the media here as saying at a jirga of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe at the Governor House in Peshawar yesterday that "peace has been restored in Wana and now the military will not use force in any part of the area." He hoped the tribes men would also fulfil their responsibility to maintain peace and tranquillity in their area. Local media reports said withdrawal of troops and removal of check posts from the Wana subdivision was part of a deal reached between the government and five most wanted militants.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 4:51:33 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
From The Los Angeles Times
Authorities [in South Africa] pursuing traffickers in nuclear weapons technology recently uncovered an audacious scheme to deliver a complete uranium enrichment plant to Libya, documents and interviews show. The discovery provides fresh evidence of the reach and sophistication of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's global black market in nuclear know-how and equipment. It also exposes a previously undetected South African branch of the Khan network.
The startling dimensions of the plot began to emerge in September, when police raided a factory outside Johannesburg. They found the elements of a two-story steel processing system for the enrichment plant, packed in 11 freight containers for shipment to Libya. South African officials have disclosed only that they discovered nuclear components. The Times has learned that the massive system was designed to operate an array of 1,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium. Once assembled in Libya, the plant could have produced enough weapons-grade uranium to manufacture several nuclear bombs a year. Delivery of the plant would have greatly accelerated Libya's efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
Khan already had secretly shipped to Libya a supply of processed uranium fuel for the enrichment plant, according to later reports by international inspectors. And some of the centrifuges for the plant were shipped separately from Malaysia. The interception of that cargo by U.S. and Italian authorities in October 2003 led to the Johannesburg raid and spurred Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi to renounce efforts to develop banned weapons. .....
The discovery of a South African connection to Khan's web has led to the arrests of four business and engineering figures, including some who had been involved in the former apartheid regime's nuclear program. Leads developed in the inquiry have opened up new avenues for investigators from South Africa, other countries and the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, who are tracing the network's operations on three continents. ... The processing system found at Tradefin, an engineering and manufacturing company in Vanderbijlpark, outside Johannesburg, had been designed and built over three years. It was then tested, painstakingly dismantled and packed into 40-foot containers, factory records show. Daniel Jacobus Van Beek, director of South Africa's counter-proliferation office, participated in the raid and called the scheme "one of the most serious and extensive attempts" to breach international nuclear controls. He estimated that the 200 tons of equipment was worth about $33 million. ....
In the months before police raided Tradefin, one participant said he had pressed his alleged accomplices to "melt down" the equipment, burn the designs and destroy computer files, according to statements to police. But when investigators arrived with search warrants, the evidence was intact. .... The pumps, gauges, valves, piping and other equipment found at Tradefin were designed to control the flow of uranium hexafluoride into 1,000 centrifuges, link them and process the enriched uranium at the end of the cycle, according to interviews, drawings and court affidavits. Tradefin's owner, Johan A.M. Meyer, 53, was arrested a day after the raid and charged with trafficking in nuclear technology. He quickly struck a deal to provide evidence in exchange for dismissal of the charges. Meyer, who worked in South Africa's uranium enrichment program in the 1980s, admitted in a sworn statement that he knew the complicated system was for a nuclear plant. But he was unaware that Libya was its ultimate destination, defense attorney Heinrich Badenhorst said in an interview. In his deal with prosecutors, Meyer implicated two associates, Gerhard Wisser, 65, and Daniel Geiges, 66, according to court records. Wisser, a German, and Geiges, who is Swiss, both immigrated to South Africa in the late 1960s and became citizens. They were arrested on trafficking charges and freed on bail this month. Wisser, whom prosecutors portray as the conduit to the Khan network, has long been managing director of Krisch Engineering, a consulting firm in Randburg, a suburb of Johannesburg. Geiges has worked for him since 1978. ....
Both Wisser and Geiges have maintained their innocence regarding the Libyan deal, saying they thought the equipment was for a water purification plant in an unknown country. A South African magistrate said the explanations lacked "the ring of truth," citing Wisser's experience with the nuclear industry. A fourth person associated with the South African connection, Gotthard Lerch, 61, was arrested this month by Swiss authorities on a German warrant accusing him of receiving $4.25 million to help Libya develop nuclear weapons. His office outside Zurich was raided the same day that South African police showed up at Tradefin. .... The article continues with many more details.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/28/2004 3:17:38 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
From Foreign Affairs, an interview conducted on November 22 by Bernard Gwertzman, consulting editor of the Council on Foreign Relations, with Anthony A. Cordesman, Cordesman, who holds the Arleigh A. Burke chair in strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Question: With the elections set for January 30, 2005, and the Falluja operation in the mopping-up phase, how would you describe the situation in Iraq?
I think Falluja was a distinct military success; the civilian casualties were low, and the U.S. and Iraqi casualties were low. There seems to have been a significant number of insurgent casualties, and a number of detainees were captured. The problem, however, is when we talk about military success in terms of Falluja, it is reasonably clear that a number of insurgents either left before the fighting began or escaped and were able to fade back into the population outside of Falluja. It is certainly all too clear that the insurgents successfully prepared attacks outside of Falluja: in Baghdad, Mosul, most of the Sunni Triangle, and in many other areas. So, in military terms, the success in the city is somewhat overshadowed by the fact that there has been no matching success in the country as a whole, and indeed, the insurgents were able to step up their attacks.
The political dimension is far more uncertain. Even before the fighting began, the President of Iraq, Ghazi al-Yawer, who is a Sunni, opposed it. Many of the Sunnis inside the interim government, who support the government, opposed the offensive. The leading Sunni clerical group opposed it. Most of the media and the press opposed it. Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite [cleric] opposed it as well. Since that time, the impression being given in the Arab media is that of a devastated city to which the population cannot return; one in which heroic martyrs and insurgents are fighting to the last. A marine who kills an Iraqi prisoner and virtually every other kind of negative image that they can provide is aired. So not only do we face perhaps more problems with the Sunnis than we did before the fighting began, we face very negative images in the Arab and Islamic worlds.
Question: Do you think the Sunnis will participate in the elections?
I think it is very unclear. The organized Sunnis have so far said they won't. But it is a long time, in terms of the dynamics of Iraq, between now and the end of January. The problem for any kind of boycott is that the boycott would mean, essentially, that Iraq's first National Assembly is Shiite and Kurdish, with whatever Sunnis they choose to include. That is a dangerous problem for the Sunnis unless they are absolutely confident that the insurgents can block a [Shiite electoral] victory. It makes it very hard to negotiate over the constitution, over power-sharing, and the sharing of oil revenues and money. That is not exactly the ideal strategy for any person unless it is someone who believes that somehow he can make the current insurgency the springboard to some type of lasting political and military victory.
The interview continues with the following questions:
What does the insurgency see as a realistic goal for itself?
How strong or weak is U.S. intelligence?
In your recent study, you state that the odds for U.S. success in Iraq are only about even, and may be even less. Can you explain?
What did you think about the war before it began? Did you predict this?
Your recent paper also emphasizes the Arab-Israeli peace process. Can you elaborate on your thinking in this paper?
Do you see parallels between the Iraq and other wars?
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/28/2004 2:54:44 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
the insurgents were able to step up their attacks - Car bombings and kidnapings seem to be down sharply.
Otherwise nobody mentions that the only organized military force apart from the coalition is the Kurds. If things go 'tilt', it will be very bad for the Sunnis, unless and until someone comes to their aid, and its far from obvious who that would be.
#2
The jihadis MUST show they are relevant. But, the attacks are best catagorized as 'sporadic', i.e. a number of small events are happening. And, they also happen ONLY in areas where the Sunnis are.
They are getting weaker all of the time. The rat lines are being closed. Their 'sanctuary' in Fallujah has been lost with many, many men. Their leaders are 'on the run' with no safe haven. Their leaders are even whining and blaming the turbaned class for their losses.
The main thing they have going for them is their merciless, animalistic, heinously brutal tactics which strike fear in the populace. If the people don't turn these rats in out of fear, it will continue.
#3
Tony's not to be beat when it comes to conventional military analysis, and numbingly detailed discussion of Gulf defense topics. He seems oddly of the lightweight/perfectionist/instant-gratification school, however, when it comes to Iraq. The odds clearly favor our side(s). The Sunnis are effed. A civil war against a blood-soaked minority with attitude problems of galactic dimensions needs to be harsher and more aggressive than the current one (no matter how idiotic or vehement the vapors from the Sunni elites). But there's no plausible path to victory for the enemy, given even a modicum of common sense and will on our side.
Arab-Israeli peace process? Tony emphasized this? Wow -- that's pure tinfoil-hat territory. Though it tracks with the nonsensical public rhetoric of CSIS's donors, I'd guess.
A single mobile phone interception by elite Kenyan anti-terrorism police saved the nation from what would have been one of the most devastating terrorist attacks in recent history, we can reveal today. Exactly two years after a terrorist's truck rammed into the Paradise Hotel in Mombasa, The Sunday Standard unveils a special report on terrorism and reveals insights into the activities of the East African Al Qaeda cell led by the most wanted man in Africa Fazul Abdullahi Mohammed mastermind of both the Paradise and August 7, 1998, US embassy bombings and a wanted fugitive with a $25 million (Sh2 billion) bounty on his head. His Al Qaeda cell, we can reveal, had plotted a further double bombing assault on Nairobi which, had it succeeded, would have been the most spectacular on Kenyan soil ever. We further reveal insights into the investigation into the Paradise Hotel atrocity and detail how investigators into the attack broke the case, thanks to valuable clues gleaned from the communication records of a single mobile phone number, which additionally lifted a lid on the insidious activities of the East African terror cell.
For the first time since the plot to simultaneously set off two bombs in Nairobi was scuttled by elite Kenyan police, we outline the Kenya government's efforts to transform the country's security apparatus into a modern unit with a unified prosecution, investigation and intelligence structure, capable of confronting the threat of terrorism and shielding the country from further outrages by Osama bin Laden's network of terror targeting Western interests. The plot to bomb the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and the attack on Paradise Hotel four years later all followed a similar plan, according to detailed investigations into the attacks by Kenyan and international security agencies. The attackers all appear to have begun their plans in the south of Somalia, in the Kiamboni area, which local and international intelligence sources interviewed by The Sunday Standard believe is a stronghold and training base for foreign Arabs linked to Al Qaeda.
With a few months to go before execution of their plots, the attackers then deftly moved into the ancient communities scattered around islands near the Lamu archipelago on the Kenyan coast and seamlessly gelled in. They married local girls and established themselves as devout Muslims, all the while keeping up communication with their external Al Qaeda cells in readiness for the actual attack. Last week, The Sunday Standard visited the tiny remote Island of Siyu where Fazul Abdullahi Mohammed, operating under the alias Abdul Karim, lived for close to a year while plotting attacks against Western interests in Kenya. Fazul is on the list of America's Federal Bureau of Investigation top ten most wanted men. The island, which is only about an hour's ride by speedboat from Somalia is an impoverished, remote and desolate ancient settlement of about 1,500 people, all Muslim, and provided a perfect platform for Fazul to plot his murderous campaign.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 4:00:19 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
They wore stocking masks over their faces, sunglasses, black baseball caps, gloves and baggy clothes. They could have been mistaken for the kind of terrorists who appear with increasing regularity on videotapes, issuing fearsome threats. In fact, the two men and one woman were the recipients of $1 million in reward money for a tip-off that led to the whereabouts and ultimate killing of a senior member of an al Qaeda-linked group of terrorists in the Philippines. And U.S. officials hope it will lead to more tips on the whereabouts of Islamic extremists hiding in the country's southern jungles. "People will now know that we are serious and we will be paying large amounts of money if they cooperate," said Joseph Mussomeli, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
The payout, part of the U.S. State Department's Reward for Justice program, took place last month in a tightly secured ceremony on southern Basilan island, 545 miles south of Manila. The tip had led Filipino troops to Hamsiraji Sali, a senior member of the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas. Sali, one of five rebel leaders wanted by Washington for the deaths of two American hostages, died in a shootout with soldiers in April. Under the same program, which began in 1984, a $25 million reward is being offered for information leading to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden and Jordanian-born guerrilla leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the latter believed to be the mastermind of a wave of car bombings and kidnappings in Iraq.
The aim is to "sow seeds of doubt and fear among terrorists -- that they would always be looking over their shoulders for who was going to sell them out for a million dollars," said Michael Scharf, who helped start the program as a legal adviser for the State Department's Counter-Terrorism Bureau. To date, 35,000 tips have been received and $57 million has been paid out to 43 people, according to the State Department. The lion's share of $30 million was for information that helped U.S. forces in Iraq find Saddam Hussein's sons, Odai and Qusai, who were both killed in a gunbattle last year. Other high-profile terrorists snagged through the program include Aimal Khan Kasi, who killed two people and wounded three outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., in 1993; and Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, one of the organizers of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Both were captured in Pakistan and extradited to the United States. Kasi was executed by lethal injection in 2002; Yousef is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 4:05:01 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
A top US general called on Friday for bolder international action to stop the spread of Islamic extremism, suggesting curbs were needed to prevent the Internet and other media from being used by groups like Al Qaeda. "Why is it that people have the right to get on the Internet and spread this hatred and insanity without there being some curb, some law?" said General John Abizaid, the chief of the US Central Command. "To me if we think this is some kind of freedom of speech to put on a picture of someone getting their head chopped off on the Internet and people have the right to purvey that, that's not the world I want to live in, and it just encourages this kind of behaviour," he said. "They use the media in a way that's very, very clever to develop the perception of great strength, when in fact they don't have great strength."
Gen Abizaid spoke in a lengthy interview with two reporters as he jetted back here from Afghanistan, where he spent three days talking with his field commanders about the situation there. "What makes this element so dangerous today I think is really two things that are new to the modern world," Gen Abizaid said. "Number one is the speed in which information can be transmitted, and the way it can be transmitted without regard to borders. Number two is the potential ability of a movement like this to obtain weapons of mass destruction," he said. He said Al Qaeda and other groups have moved no closer to obtaining weapons of mass destruction, but they would surely use them if they did. "It's a very, very dangerous problem for the entire international community, and that's why it is so important that people cooperate against it," he said.
Although Iraq has been the scene of headline grabbing killings attributed to Islamic extremists, Gen Abizaid said their ultimate objective is Saudi Arabia. "That's why you see them fighting in Saudi Arabia now," he said. "There is not doubt that Saudi Arabia is their target, but every Muslim country is their target." Gen Abizaid said most Muslims reject the Salafist movement, and Arab governments are fighting it because it recognise the threat it poses to them. "The question is to what extent can they afford to be seen as the ally of the United States," he said. "It's a tough problem for them domestically but it's because we haven't really forced the dialogue at an international level. And that's an important component of it, really organising ourselves for the fight."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 3:51:12 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Now that Fallujah is done, the General is going on a real PR offensive. Somehow he doesn't strike me as one of those who says these things off the top of his head. It would be interesting to know who his intended audiences are.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/28/2004 17:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Abizaid is also of Arab origin, I forget which country.
#3
Among the international measures Gen Abizaid singled out as key is treating people who contribute money to the Salafist movement no differently than people who carry out beheadings, he said.
How refreshing. Someone who is willing to place the burden of responsibility upon both wrong-doer and financier alike. I can only wonder if this message will reach the ears of Saudi Arabia's royal family. Their willing accomodation of terrorism in exchange for relative domestic tranquility needs to be laid upon their doorstep once and for all. One can only imagine the mental gymnastics and verbal contortions they will go through in their attempts to disassociate the similar aims of Salafism and Wahabbism. Rest assured that Zionism will be made to take the blame somehow.
Residents of Fallujah who escaped the US assault on their city earlier this month are angry with insurgents for taking advantage of their poverty and luring them into fighting with money. A report in the London-based al-Hayat newspaper Saturday quoted two relatives from the former Sunni insurgent stronghold now in Baghdad whose houses were used by insurgents. One man, identified as Abu Seif, was angry for succumbing to an offer of 200 dollars a month worth of rent of his house to be used by insurgents. Abu Seif's house, now destroyed in US attacks, was strategically located in the Shohada neighbourhood which offered an open way to the Zawbaa area between Fallujah and Abu Ghraib for insurgents to escape. Al-Hayat said the bad economic situation in the Shohada and Jubeil neighbourhoods lured many Iraqis to cooperate with insurgents. Abu Seif said that many families also encouraged their sons to join the insurgents because of the attractive wages offered.
I don't anticipate needing a lot of cash after I've shuffled off the mortal coil...
Abu Seif and his nephew Ahmad are angry with insurgents for staging their battle in residential areas. Both said many Iraqis wanted to attack Americans at their bases outside the city. Al-Hayat also quoted Ahmad as saying that the US-Iraqi assault on the city was successful because of the deployment of "double agents" who infiltrated the insurgents and gave troops information on the location of the fighters.
I'm really hoping they continue believing that...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 4:30:08 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"I'm sorry I'm a whore"? Sounds like an Arab symptom?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 17:19 Comments ||
Top||
#2
They'd have taken your house anyway, Seif, if it was that strategic a location. At least you got some money this way, instead of a quick bullet to the back of the head for protesting to much.
Declaring that peace had been restored in part of Pakistan's restive tribal areas, Pakistani military officials have announced that their troops will abandon positions and checkpoints near the town of Wana in the South Waziristan tribal area. "Peace has been restored in Wana," Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, commander of Pakistani forces in the area, said at a meeting Friday with tribal elders. "Now the military will not apply force in any part of the area."
The move appears to signal that the Pakistani military has dropped its central demand in the tribal areas: that all foreigners agree to come forward and register with the government. Residents of Wana reported that militants continued to roam around the town, in some cases in even larger numbers. Pakistani military officials have sharply reduced their estimates of the number of militants hiding in the tribal areas. They say only 70 to 80 foreign militants remain in the area, as opposed to earlier estimates of as many as 500. Residents have said local Pakistani tribesmen who fought alongside the Taliban, as well as Uzbeks and other foreign fighters, remain in the area. The plan is a result of an agreement among the government and five wanted members of one the area's largest tribes, officials said. Three of the most wanted Pakistani militants in the tribe, who attended the meeting, recently accepted government amnesty in exchange for renouncing both their attacks and support for foreign militants. Under the deal, officials said, five wanted tribal members would give up resistance, deny shelter to foreign militants and promise good conduct. In exchange, the government granted the five clemency, agreed to pay for property damage, and pledged to release innocent prisoners.
They've done this before. Just look how well it worked with Nek Mohammad...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 4:14:12 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Thousands of Afghans blocked a key road between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Sunday to demand the release of local people arrested by U.S. forces in raids on suspected al Qaeda hideouts. The protesters blocked a five km (three mile) stretch of the main road that leads from the eastern city of Jalalabad to the border crossing with Pakistan at Torkhum, provincial police chief Hazrat Ali told Reuters. He said the protest was in the Bati Kot district of Nangarhar province, where the demonstrators complained that U.S. forces arrested a group of locals, including a woman, a week earlier. Ali estimated the number of demonstrators between 5,000 and 6,000 and said they were vowing to continue their protest until the locals were freed.
U.S.-led forces mounted raids on suspected al Qaeda hideouts in Bati Kot a week ago and said several Arab fighters were among four militants killed and others captured. The U.S. military said the raids also led to the seizure of weapons, explosives, cash and other materials, but has not identified the Arab fighters. Local officials said at the time that five people had been arrested, and identified them as a villager named Sayed Rahman and his sons.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/28/2004 3:56:41 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Find the Tribal chief, tell him this is an act of war, give him a few minutes. And also, ask him who's shipping the weapons.
From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
Rahima is a 12-year-old girl who was kidnapped on her way home from school in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz. After 18 days of detention, during which she was raped, Rahima was recently released by law-enforcement agencies. In an interview with RFE/RL, Rahima said, "At around 1230 I was leaving school, going to my home. And the man came behind me, gagged me, and put me inside a car with red cardboard [on the windows]. They were brutal and they destroyed my life." Rahima was the second girl from the same school to be kidnapped this year, while three girls were reportedly found dead in Kunduz.
In Rahima's case, Kunduz's security police commander Abdulmutaleb Baig says three people involved were arrested and the file turned over to a prosecutor. "A man kidnapped the girl in Kunduz and left her in Pulaykhumri [city] at the place of a relative. We arrested him. He confessed that he kidnapped the girl and drove her to Pulaykhumri with the help of the security officials. We investigated in accordance with the law, and arrested two other people. There are now in jail," Baig said.
In an effort to crackdown on child kidnapping, President Hamid Karzai issued a decree in June imposing the death sentence on those found guilty of killing a kidnap victim. He also increased the jail term for those guilty of injuring an abducted child. At the same time, the decree called upon the attorney-general in Kabul and related offices to investigate child-kidnapping cases speedily and forward them to the appropriate court. Afghanistan saw its first prosecution for child kidnapping in June, when three men were tried in a Kabul court. The court sentenced two of the defendants to five years in jail and the third man to four years.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/28/2004 1:01:46 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Honor killings of women are a pre-Islamic practice"...
That has been exported from Arabia with the spread of Islam.
#2
Honor killing was a pre-Islamic practice that was approved and therefore was not criticized by Mohammed.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/28/2004 9:02 Comments ||
Top||
#3
~1400 years. Now I get it: stasis.
NASA needn't have worried about those long "road" trips -- just institute Shari'a in the Astronaut corps - problem solved.
New problem: finding a reliable source of 8-14 year old femalian 'Nauts with relevant PhD's and intact hymen - for these inexplicable, yet suriously predictable, training accidents.
#5
Honor killing was a pre-Islamic practice that was approved and therefore was not criticized by Mohammed.
provide links and evidence, UN/Islam-boy
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 11:52 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Frank, try to get a grip. Others are watching.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/28/2004 14:11 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Frank G
Mike hasn't to carry the proof, it is you who has to carry the proof of Muhammad opposing a such repulsive tradition. In Jesus times, repudiation (a man-only right BTW) was admitted and Jesus opposed it. In Moses times most of the Middle East practiced human sacrifices and this was strongly opposed by Moses and his successors. If honor killings existed in Muhammad's times and he said nothing at all (while finding time for legistalting on about everything else) all we can deduce is he approved. Now google or read your nearest Coran or Haddith collection searching for Muhammad opposing honor killings
#8
Mohammed didn't rape little girls, he married them, huh? Nice...
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 14:20 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Mohammed was supposedly a prophet. If the Islkamic moon god didn't approve, he would've said so, non? JFM - you should know better
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 14:23 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Thanks, JFM.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/28/2004 14:25 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Frank G
You will notice that in addition to Coran (God's words according to Muslims) I allowed you to search into the Haddith (Muhammad's sayings). In them you will find recommendations about everything. About the need to pray five times a day, about using the Arab bow instead of the Persian one, about heirloom, about the relative weights of witnesses (a female witness doesn't equal a male one) and one telling the piss and shit of a Muslim's horse (meaning it has been well fed) will go in the balance of good actions when his soul will be judged for Paradise or Hell.
So Muhammad found time for caring about horse shit and he didn't find time for caring about honor killings? It can't be so. Now find a Haddith about it. If there isn't one it means he approved. Had he disapproved he would have talked about it instead of about horse faeces.
#12
we're at the same point - I agree he had no problem with it, it fits nicely with erest of his cult. I just disagree with Mike S's saying it preceeded Mo (I asked for evidence), therefore his OK'ing it was of no consequence. It fits part and parcel in the Islamic tenet of devalueing women
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2004 15:16 Comments ||
Top||
#13
St. Paul implicitly endorsed slavery. The Jews of the Old Testament were ordered to commit genocide against the Amalekites and other indigenous Canaanites - God withdrew from Saul right to rule because even though he killed them all he spared (for a time) their King. Moses assassinated thousands of his opponents for such crimes as believing they could pray to God themselves rather than through the intermediaries of the priesthood (which was a vast source of revenue for his brother Aaron's family). If failure to comply with contemporary moral standards is the measure of the validity of a religion, the Judeo-
Christian tradition is equally bankrupt.
Posted by: Michael E. Piston ||
11/28/2004 15:42 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Yikes! Nice Hufferlump Trap JMF! Think you got one!
In case you haven't noticed St Paul wasn't Jesus, and Christianty abolished slavery, even if it replaced it with serfdom (but a serf had many rights a slave hadn't: like not being put to death unless he had perpetrated a crime or not having his children or his wife separated from him).
About Moses. If my memory is any good the dissenters weren't praying God by themselves but returning to idolatry. And for the King of Cannaa he practiced human sacrifices.
Now if you read the Bible you will find that it is an ascension toward civilization. Even men favoured by God perform deeds who are later declared heinous sins (Lolth's nieces sleep with their father, Abraham with his sister Sarah). Judaism evolved with time and ended forbidding slavery and massacres.
Islam didn't and can't evolve: Coran is told to have existed from all eternity without a single sign changed (in reality there were several versions of it but Muslims deny it). About Muhammad, Islamists will try to imitate him in every thing, even in what they eat, even in how they dress (I remember of an Algerian mocking them because they wore clothes and shoes a la 7th century Arabia, unadequate for Algeria who is noticeably colder, and protected their eyelids against deset's sun with kohl despite iving hundreds of miles of the closest desert and the Algerian concluded "if the Prophet had put a stick in his ass, they would put a stick in their asses).
Not even the most orthodox Jew would endorse incest because Abraham did it or genocide because Moses did it. But orthodox Muslims will gladly declare holy any action performed by Muhammad. Like raping nine year old girls or mass murder of infidels (including non-wahabist Muslims).
Now, while we are at equally bankrupt traditions how about the Democratic party tradition who had some of its members meet the ennemy, calumniate their comrades and never repenting for being an indirect cause of the Cambodian genocide?
#16
Not even the most orthodox Jew would endorse incest because Abraham did it or genocide because Moses did it. But orthodox Muslims will gladly declare holy any action performed by Muhammad. Like raping nine year old girls or mass murder of infidels (including non-wahabist Muslims).
Now, while we are at equally bankrupt traditions how about the Democratic party tradition who had some of its members meet the ennemy, calumniate their comrades and never repenting for being an indirect cause of the Cambodian genocide?
That was so well done I thought it was worth repeating.
#17
Re: JFM - Too many points in your message to respond to except to say that the fact that some Christian successfully fought other Christians to abolish slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries, some 1500 years after Christians gained control of the West world hardly proof of that freedom loving nature of Christianity.
Also,read Numbers 16. The crime of Korah was being so audacious as to say to Moses that "And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD". For this Moses had God (supposedly) kill Korah and his supporters "two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown" and when the Hebrews protested this grievous crime, God wiped out another 14,700 of them with plague (biological warfare). I don't recall any accusations that the Amalekites engaged in human sacrific, but it wouldn't suprise me since the practice of having children "walk through fire" (be dumped into a furnance inside an idol) was apparently quite widespread at the time, but that wasn't the crime for which the Amalekites were condemned, but rather failing to give the Hebrews safe passage when entering the land of Canaan (hundreds of years in the past at that time of Saul). Still God, through Samuel, commanded Saul to "smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass" 1 Samuel 15. When he temporarily spared the King Samuel withdrew from him the right to rule Israel. There are many similar and even worse incidents of divinely directed genocide in the Old Testament, e.g. Deuteronomy 2-3, Joshua 11, Judges 2:.
As for Crusader, you seemed to be unaware that the Reagan Administration as well as the Carter Administration funded the Khmer Rouge from 1980-1986 to the tune of about $85 million, as well as imposing international sanctions on that Vietnamese because they wouldn't hand the country back over to Pol Pot's murderers.
My point is simply that of Jesus's - "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Mathew 7:1. Or, as St. Paul pointed out "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one" Roman 3:10.
Every religion and ideology falls short when measured by contemporary moral standards. Rather than focussing on how evil our opponents, perhaps we could for once actually try following our own religion (those of us who are Christians anyway) and concentrate on improving ourselves, and helping others to improve themselves with love, not hatred, ridicule and an entirely unjusitified sense of moral superiority.
#18
Crinerong Unomotch, "Rather than focussing on how evil our opponents, perhaps we could for once actually try following our own religion ... and concentrate on improving ourselves, and helping others to improve themselves with love, not hatred, ridicule and an entirely unjusitified sense of moral superiority."
Holy sanctimony!
Ya know, maybe you should go to Iraq and locate Zarqawi and discuss with him your finer points.
He is a kind of healer, you see, he can relieve you of any potential headache permanently, chanting "Alalhu Akbar" and maybe adding something akin "No pain, no gain".
#20
Rather than focussing on how evil our opponents, perhaps we could for once actually try following our own religion (those of us who are Christians anyway) and concentrate on improving ourselves, and helping others to improve themselves with love, not hatred, ridicule and an entirely unjusitified sense of moral superiority.
This is something that we do, but we still have the right to DEFEND ourselves. The "Lets all hold hands" strategy didn't work well for early Christians when they became lion food.
Posted by: Charles ||
11/28/2004 19:59 Comments ||
Top||
#21
And one stood before them all and, with a straight face, said unto them, "My shit stinketh not, so I shall cast the first un-stone. I shall make many moral equivalences in a seemingly rational pattern of carefully selected piles of poopery. I shall make it as though a fine pastry, yet it is, indeedy-do, total fucking bullshit. I shall obfuscate the now with the then and say yeah, verily, they are the same. I shall maketh you feel the queasy feeling. Then shall I hide behind the words you call your own, so you may not see through to find your way, again. With much polish and flash I blind you with the light of historical reference, for I am smooth and have pulled this off before. Amen."
And then they knew the truth of it - some people are as gullible as a fucking box of rocks.
#22
I have to commend Fred's genius reflected in the script generating these nicks. Crinerong Unomotch sounds like a wartfull toad. Add the content and it's a match! :-)
#23
Crinerong Unomotch9331, nicely self-righteous rant. You go ahead and improve yourself; I intend to do all I can as a little civilian housewife to permanently discourage the Islamofascists who are working to convert us all by sword and fire to their form of Islam. All except my daughters and me ... and my co-religionists.... because they believe, like the Nazis my parents fought against, that Jews are subhumans suitable only for killing (or did you think they were speaking rhetorically about "the descendents of pigs and monkeys"?).
I do not judge others' religions as such -- nor do most here -- but those who choose to justify their basest and most murderous impulses explicitly by their religion have thereby opened themselves to criticism, don't you think? At least insofar as they are failing to improve themselves, and in point of fact could be judged to be disimproving themselves.
God helps those who help themselves -- and I refuse to commit suicide by passively allowing those who desire to murder me to do so.... suicide being an end to all my efforts at self improvement (I wouldn't dare presume to advise others how to improve themselves), clearly the highest sin in your own hierarchy.
JFM: evidence found in digs in Egypt clarifies Abraham's use of the term "sister" when referring to his wife, Sarah. In the hierarchy of wives at the times, there were, in order from lowest to highest: slave, wife's handmaiden, concubine, wife, and "sister-wife". Unlike the senior wife, who ranked highest by stature, the "sister-wife" ranked even higher, by means of acquiring her husband's affection as well, and with the title attained certain legal rights beyond that of any other of his wives. By naming Sarah as "sister-wife", Abraham actually signified that she was completely off limits unless King Abimelech wanted to initiate a blood feud with a nomad dignitary such as Abraham had then become. While amongst the Egyptian royal class incestuous marriage between half-siblings was common, the Hebrew nomads did not generally so indulge themselves (e.g. the marriage of Isaac to his cousin Rebekkah, and Jacob to his cousins Leah and Rachel). I'm afraid I can't give you citations, but I'm sure you are better than I at finding them anyway ;-)
The Biblical exegesis of the whole Abraham/Sarah thing I find rather interesting. In Genesis 11:29, Abram takes Sarai (as they were then) to wife, but her lineage is not given, even as his brother Nahor's wife is defined as being the daughter of their other brother Haran, i.e. his own niece. In contrast, it is not until Genesis 20:12 that Abraham explains that he and Sarah are half-siblings through different wives of their father.... and I wonder if this is because the writers of the text were not aware of this earlier usage.
Michael Piston: you seem to fail to recognise the ability of religions to evolve with time. The Jews no longer allow slavery as was explicitly allowed in the Old Testament -- read the laws on the taking, freeing, and rights of slaves and their offspring. Nor do they take multiple wives, as did Abraham and King Solomon. The Christians no longer are involved in slavery, unlike, e.g. the Saudis who treat their female and black servants as they slaves they were legally as recently as the 1960s. Do all Muslims copy those aspects of Mohammed's behaviour abhorrent to the modern sensibility, such as taking child brides or attempting to kill of all those who do not practice what they consider to be the correct version of Islam? No, but enough do, across Islam-dom, to make this a matter for sensible minds to render judgement.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in a US magazine interview, said he is fully committed to his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip despite death threats from some Jews, adding he is the only person who can lead Israel through his controversial plan.
Maybe they really should leave. They've obviously been living around Paleostinians too long...
Sharon and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's possible successor, Mahmud Abbas, also told Newsweek in separate interviews that they are willing to meet each other after the Palestinian presidential elections in January. "(The so-called disengagement) is complicated and one should not do anything but help the disengagement plan go forward," Sharon said in the weekly edition coming out Monday. "I don't think that anybody will be able to do it except me," the Israeli leader said after declaring he would run for re-election. Reacting to a question about death threats from opponents, Sharon said, "I don't worry about my life. Arabs always wanted to act (against me) but now the Jews are doing this. So for me, it is a strange situation. As one who defended Jews all his life, I now have to be secured against Jews," he said. "But I am fully committed to the (disengagement) plan." In a separate interview with Newsweek, Abbas, who heads the Palestine Liberation Organization and is the leading candidate in the January Palestinian election, said Israel should stop building the controversial barrier separating Israel from the West Bank. "I believe it is uncivilized to build this separation," Abbas said.
It's uncivilized to send splodydopes across the border, too.
Abbas said Israel should stop building settlements in Palestinian territories, remove outposts and provide him with a pony release prisoners. "After the elections, I'm ready to meet at any time with Sharon," Abbas said, while Sharon told the US magazine, "When they would like to meet, we will meet.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/28/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Abbas said Israel should stop building settlements in Palestinian territories."
I didn't know Israel was building settlements in Jordan.
There's much speculation about what will happen to the houses and infrastructure of the 'settlers' if and when Israel withdraws from Gaza. The solution is simple: they should demolish the houses carefully from the roofs down to the foundations and transport every single door and window frame, roof tile, brick, plumbing fixture, light fitting, etc. to the site of their new homes. Likewise with anything else that can be removed without being destroyed. Then they should destroy what can't be removed.
Let the Paleos start from scratch to build everything up again.
#2
finish the wall, let the paleo's fight each other until they are tired and a real leader rises from the ashes. If that leader wants to go to war with Israel - then so be it. Then the Paleo's can fight with the Jews until they get tired of losing and eventually they will get behind a leader that offers them real peace.
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.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's government is trying to root out the extremists. Last week, it announced plans to introduce national identity cards for the first time since World War II. British authorities have arrested hundreds of suspects, sometimes in widespread raids. 
Iran's foreign minister said Saturday that Iran had every right to keep, for research purposes, some centrifuges that could be used to enrich uranium, an indication that a standoff on the country's nuclear program may not be easily resolved. "Iran's demand to keep 20 centrifuges is not against its commitments," said the minister, Kamal Kharrazi, the IRNA news agency reported. In talks in Paris with Britain, Germany and France, Iran agreed on Nov. 15 to freeze all its nuclear activities. But this week, Iran said it wanted to retain 20 centrifuges for research purposes, stunning negotiators. The Paris accord was meant to pave the way for a resolution to be passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations' nuclear monitoring body, in Vienna, to say that Iran was in compliance. On Friday, it appeared that negotiators in Vienna had worked out a compromise, under which Iran would turn off the 20 centrifuges but put them under camera surveillance rather than under seal by the I.A.E.A. Mr. Kharrazi's comments seemed to indicate otherwise. "There is no ban on research activities in the agreement," IRNA quoted him as saying.
