They were the decisive days of the Second World War and the Nazis faced defeat. Allied troops were on French soil and Hitler, desperate to prevent an invasion of Germany, hatched a final extraordinary plan: infiltrate the US army and take Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, dead or alive. The German leader entrusted Operation Greif to the Austrian SS Obersturmbahnfuhrer Otto Skorzeny, who had rescued Mussolini from imprisonment by the Italian government in 1943, flying him off a mountaintop in a tiny aircraft. Skorzeny assembled a "crack unit" which would pose as GIs to launch their attack on Eisenhower at Fontainebleu, the Allied headquarters near Paris.
Yet, as one of the missionâs survivors has now revealed, Operation Greif rapidly descended into farce. Of the 600 men who were to masquerade as Americans, only 10 could speak fluent English. Scores were caught by the Americans, exposed as Germans, and shot. According to Fritz Christ, then a 21-year-old Luftwaffe lance-corporal, many of his comrades were hopelessly ill-equipped. "Those with no English were instructed to exclaim, âSorryâ, if they were approached by Americans, and then to open their trousers and hurry off feigning an attack of diarrhoea," he told The Sunday Telegraph last week.
Mr Christ was transformed into "Lieutenant Charles Smith" from Detroit. The troops were trained to salute, shoot and even smoke like GIs, but there were fatal gaps in their coaching. Many turned up at US army supply depots and asked for "petrol" instead of "gas". They mistakenly rode four to a Jeep instead of two, as was standard US army practice.
"Without prior notice, we were turned into suicide commandos," said Mr Christ, who decided to speak out to mark the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings. "At the last minute, when there was no going back, we were given cigarette lighters stuffed with cyanide capsules. It became clear that we were being sent to face terrible danger." Mr Christ says that in October 1944 he was duped into taking part in Operation Greif. Two plainclothed SS men turned up at his Luftwaffe barracks near Hamburg, asking for fluent English or French speakers. Mr Christ, who had been trained as an English translator, immediately volunteered. "I thought, âWonderful! I am going to interrogate American prisoners of war and be well away from the fightingâ," he said.
The following eight weeks surpassed his wildest expectations. At an SS training camp, the men were equipped with fake US army documents, dressed in captured US uniforms and coached to fire their US army-issue machineguns from the hip, American-style. "We had to watch American films which showed us how the GIs saluted, and even how they smoked cigarettes - never right down to the butt - and put them out. We were even given daily lessons in American slang," Mr Christ said. "We were accompanied by a fanatical SS officer who told us that our mission was to take Eisenhower dead or alive. We had detailed maps of French back roads leading to the generalâs headquarters at Fontainebleu."
The operation was considered so dangerous, however, that Hitler forbade Skorzeny himself from taking part. Skorzeny surrendered to the Allies in May 1945 and escaped from a prison camp in 1948. He settled in Fascist Spain and died in Madrid in 1975.
Nazi high command documents suggested that Operation Greif involved 3,000 men equipped with 20 US Sherman tanks and 30 captured US reconnaissance vehicles. Yet in reality the mission was equipped with only two captured Shermans and a number of Jeeps. But though the raiders failed to achieve their goal, they did cause havoc within the US army ranks for several weeks.
L/Cpl Christ survived only because he was attacked by his own side. His lorry, marked with white US army stars, was strafed by Luftwaffe fighter planes shortly after it set out from Belgium towards American army lines on December 16, 1944. "I jumped off the lorry and hid in a ditch before the vehicle exploded in a ball of fire," Mr Christ said. "Nobody had told the Luftwaffe what was going on."
Posted by: Bulldog ||
05/02/2004 6:13:35 AM ||
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#1
Q. Who's buried in Grants Tomb?
A. Brooklyn Dodgers!
#2
...All of which goes to show you the kind of thinking that can be expected from lunatic madmen hiding from the rest of the world when they know their time is running out. Any resemblance to today is, of course, purely coincidental.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/02/2004 10:15 Comments ||
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Telegraph just went down in my ranking in a big way.
Anyone that know II WWar and more precisely the Battle of the Bulge knows that was only a gossip that spread in german troops and Otto Skorzeny seeying the value boost for morale let go, also if one of them was captured. The objectif was only making a mess of US reinforcements and dont let US explode the bridges over Meuse river and others. To more info research "Operation Griffen" / 150th Panzer Brigade /Otto Skorzeny
Btw that german guy was lucky most of their camrades were executed by fire squad on the spot because were wearing US uniforms and according Genebra convention can be convicted as spies.
#5
I seemed to recall that Operation Greif (Griffin)was a part of the German offensive known as the Von Rundstedt's Ardennes Offensive or Battle of the Bulge. A Google search turned up a detailed account of the SS 1st Panzer Divisions Activities in this offensive as well as the mission of Skorzeny's Operation Greif http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_11.htm (Scroll down to page 270.) This document treated the Eisenhower assassination phase of Greif plan as a rumor.
I'm still surprised by Fritz Christ's account because the main trust of the operation was around Malmedy in support of the Ardennes offensive. However, it is plausable that couple of tanks and several jeeps and men were split from main body to Fontainebleu. But why?
#6
But how!
Check Fontainebleu in a map. It's near Paris!!
Only in dreams they could travel that distance without any logistical support and assuming they dont get discovered.
And where the spies? supposedelly to have any hint of success Eisenhower must be tracked.
The german soldier is adding points to the story but more probably was SS propaganda machine supporting the soldiers morale, killing the enemy commander is always a boost .
#7
It sounds mad, but so what? The German position at the time was hopeless, yet still they fought on. If you try to argue rationally that such an effort was madness, you're applying logic to a situation where logic had long since failed to apply.
Saturday, May 1, 2004 Posted: 8:54 PM EDT (0054 GMT)
DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- Tiny, energy rich Qatar unveiled an ambitious $15 billion plan Saturday to reinvent itself into a premier tourist destination attracting more than 1 million visitors a year by 2010. At $3,000 per visitor they should just pay people to visit.
At first glance, the vision appears overambitious: Sweltering heat and humidity make outdoors impossible in summer, the Gulf waters that lap Qatarâs unattractive beaches are too warm for comfort on hot days, and out of its 800,000 inhabitants, only 25 percent are citizens. The other 75% form an "international community" of desirable (read "wanted") individuals.
But Qatar is hoping for a transformation similar to that of Dubai in the nearby United Arab Emirates, which has grown from a desert backwater into the Gulfâs commercial hub and prime tourist destination. Itâs the alcohol, stupid.
Qatar "will be investing $15 billion into new tourism infrastructure, in what represents one of the largest investments in tourism facilities in this region," said Akbar Al Baker, head of the Qatar Tourism Authority and Qatar Airways. Donât forget the alcohol.
"We expect tourism growth to more than double in the next six years from the 400,000 visitors that presently visit Qatar, to more than 1 million tourists in 2010," Al Baker said as he unveiled the plan at the two-day Global Travel and Tourism Summit that opened Saturday in Doha.
He said most funding will come from the government of Qatar, which is fabulously wealthy. Qataris, who number less than 300,000 and are served by an army of expatriate workers twice that size, have the highest gross domestic product per capita in the world.
Qatarâs relatively small oil reserves of about 5 billion barrels are expected to last only 10-15 years. But gas reserves are the worldâs third-largest, the equivalent of about 85 billion barrels of oil and enough to guarantee future prosperity.
According to the master plan, new, self-contained "lifestyle cities" with names like Pearl of the Gulf and complete with hotels, villas and shopping malls will be ready for occupancy in September 2006.
New beach and island resorts, eight new four and five-star hotels, sports facilities, theme parks, an Education City and a new $5 billion airport being built by U.S. giant Bechtel in time for the for the 2006 Asian games are part of the plan.
Dubai, which has a population of about 1 million, most of them expatriates, is looking to attract some 15 million tourists a year by 2010, three times the current number.
Dubai has overcome many obstacles to develop its tourism industry into one of the most successful in the Middle East.
A few years ago, Dubai began granting visas on arrival to U.S. and citizens of most European nations. It built self-contained glitzy, air-conditioned shopping malls where shoppers can spend hours in comfort and was heavily promoted as a winter destination. It also began building beaches on reclaimed land far from shore where the waters are cooler and cleaner.
Like Dubai, Qatar also eased visa restrictions for Westerners and is more open to a Western lifestyle than other countries in the region, allowing women in swimsuits on the beaches and with few restrictions on consuming alcohol, which is forbidden by Islam. Okay, swimsuits and alcohol. Dear, oh dear, what will the mullahs think? Iâm thinking Qatarâs tourist "boom" may well be accompanied by other significantly more audible booms when things finally get rolling.
#1
I bet they can pull it off. Picture the brochures - cheap airfare, beautiful beaches, lavish but (cheap) hotels, good food, beautiful belly dancers, persian carpets, camel rides,etc. Oh sure, it's hot, they just won't mention that in the pretty brochures.
Besides, the heat doesn't seem to hurt Las Vegas much.
Posted by: b ||
05/02/2004 20:57 Comments ||
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#3
You have to bear in mind that for many north Europeans, hotter equals better. Anyone who lives in a hot climate goes to great lengths to stay cool and stay out of the sun. Whereas people who are not used to it become completly irrational when it is hot. I can go to any large hotel in Singapore and find people sunbathing in the middle of the day and I guarantee to you everyone of them comes from northern Europe.
Posted by: Phil B ||
05/02/2004 21:46 Comments ||
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Opposition leaders in Venezuela have sharply criticised controversial new reforms to the Supreme Court. The new law, passed by parliament after a 16-hour session, increases the number of Supreme Court judges from 20 to 32. The opposition says the move will allow President Hugo Chavez to appoint more sympathetic judges and, in effect, dominate the judiciary. It comes as the Supreme Court is considering an opposition bid for a referendum on Mr Chavez's presidency. Critics of the reform include the governor of Miranda state, Enrique Mendoza, who called it "one more act of abuse that defines the totalitarian and centrist vision of this tin-hat dictatorship regime".
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
05/02/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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#1
As a Venezuelan, I say we're fucked!
The only way to take Chavez out is feet-first but we are still playing the democratic game. There are 2 countries in the world that I care about- Venezuela and the US. The pseudo-comunists are destroying Venezuela and muslims are destroying the other one. Both countries want to reason with unreasonable people indoctrinated by an illogical idealogy/religion and I am afraid that they (countries) both will lose. I hope I am wrong!
#2
There is a long tradition of neutering a pesky court by packing it. Franklin Roosevelt tried to do it when the Supreme Court pointed out that much of the New Deal was unconstitutional. The real issue is that the Venezuelans have a communist dictator that is going to give up power only when the people take it from his cold dead hand. Somebody needs to introduce Hugo to a 12.7mm round right between the eyes. It might improve the chances for democracy in Venezuela.
Posted by: Random thoughts ||
05/02/2004 2:11 Comments ||
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An employee at a Beijing laboratory has become the latest person confirmed to be suffering from Sars in China, the countryâs health ministry has revealed. The new case takes Red Chinaâs number of confirmed Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome cases to six in the latest outbreak that began in March. One of the victims died on Friday. Another three patients are hospitalised as suspected Sars cases. All the cases can be traced back to the same Beijing laboratory. The laboratory has since been shut down while investigations are carried out. Hundreds of people have been put in isolation in Beijing and Anhui since the first case was reported. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) - which is helping investigate the latest outbreak - has said there is no threat to the public.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
"We are reassured that we havenât seen this pop up in other regions of the country who don't work in a laboratory which are not linked to these people," a WHO spokesman said. Travellers at Chinese railway stations and airports were being screened for Sars symptoms to ensure the disease remained contained, as millions left major cities for the May Day holiday. Airports and train stations across the country installed thermal scanners to check passengers for fever - a telltale Sars symptom. An outbreak of Sars last year, which killed nearly 800 people worldwide, led the government to cancel the May Day holiday. But this year Chinese officials are confident that Beijing will be safe over the holiday week. "Beijing is now a safe enclave, where millions of local residents and tourists from both home and overseas will have a very joyous and safe holiday," Communist controlled Xinhua news agency quoted the deputy director of Beijingâs health bureau as saying.
"Everything's hunky-dory! C'mon down for the festitivies! You, sir with the pro-democracy sign -- stop right there!"
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
05/02/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Prime Minister Leszek Miller stepped down Sunday after helping lead Poland into the European Union, his government weakened by unresolved economic problems, corruption allegations and a split in the governing party. After receiving Miller's resignation, President Aleksander Kwasniewski was to appoint former finance minister Marek Belka as new prime minister in a ceremony at the presidential palace. Miller said he was proud to have attained EU membership, the most important target he set for his administration. "That goal has been attained," Miller told Belka, Kwasniewski and other leaders in a large elegant room adorned with chandeliers and green marble columns. "I am proud to have headed a government which has achieved what seemed impossible," Miller said.
Belka's appointment is not expected to affect Poland's continued leadership of a multinational force of around 9,000 troops in Iraq. Several key ministers will remain in their posts, including Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski. Their continued presence, along with that of Kwasniewski, are expected to provide continuity. Belka has also said that he would continue Kwasniewski and Miller's policy of remaining in Iraq until the situation there stabilizes.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/02/2004 2:16:03 PM ||
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Posted by: J Ford ||
05/02/2004 20:47 Comments ||
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#4
That's a G as in I still got my Gonads, unlike you Botox boy.
Posted by: G Ford ||
05/02/2004 20:49 Comments ||
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#5
:-) and so it begins....
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/02/2004 21:04 Comments ||
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#6
I wonder if Leno, Letterman and the other late night comedians are donating to the Kerry campaign. They could write it off as an investment. With this buffoon in the oval office, they'd never run short of material.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/02/2004 22:19 Comments ||
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#10
Face it: the guy's a putz and a klutz!
Posted by: Jen ||
05/02/2004 22:21 Comments ||
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#11
So Kerry falls off his bike near Concord and we're supposed to think it was an accident? Minutemen, I'd say, firing from behind stone walls. "The rich jerk is coming, the rich jerk is coming!"
Posted by: Matt ||
05/02/2004 23:03 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
05/02/2004 12:40 ||
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#1
I'm siding with President Bush's testimony. I think Billy~boi was much more concerned about his library and legacy during that transition period.
Since Clinton had already determined(incorrectly) that Terrorism is a 'crime' and relegated it to Janet Reno's ludicrous, Keystone Kops DoJ.
Why would Bill even want to broach the topic?
Posted by: Jack Deth ||
05/02/2004 13:40 Comments ||
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#2
President Bush says Clinton placed little emphasis on terrorism
Well, duh! Anyone sober and conscious during the 1990's saw that first-hand.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/02/2004 15:39 Comments ||
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#3
Anyone else know how many visits Clinton paid to the site of the 1993 WTC attack?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/03/2004 8:25 Comments ||
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According to Ted Koppel, dragging his gravitas like a ball and chain, "The most important thing a journalist can do is remind people of the cost of war"...
What happened to the idea of reporting the facts?
[T]he cost of war is a tragedy for the families of the American, British and other coalition forces whoâve died in the last year. But we owe it to the dead, always, every day, to measure their sacrifice against the mission, its aims, its successes, its setbacks. And, if the cause is still just, then you honor the fallen by pressing on to victory -- and then reading the roll call of the dead.
If that doesnât quite have the sweeps-month ratings appeal "Nightline" is looking for, since Ted has now established himself as a $6 million list reader he might like to remind people of the comparative costs of war. At two seconds per name, to read out the combat deaths of the War of 1812 heâd have to persuade ABC to extend the show to an hour and a quarter. To read out the combat deaths of the Korean War, heâd need a 19-hour show. For World War II, heâd have to get ABC to let him read out names of the dead 24/7 for an entire week. If he wants to, Iâd be happy to fly him to London so he can go on the BBC and read out the names of the 3,097,392 British combat deaths in World War I, which would take him the best part of three months, without taking bathroom breaks, or indeed pausing for breath. Iâll vote for that part.
Hereâs where itâs worth considering the cost of Ted Koppel in the broader sense. Our enemies [including the LLL and most of the Democratic Party, in lockstep with the terrorists who would destroy us - and them]
have made a bet -- that the West in general and America in particular are soft and decadent and have no attention span; that the "sleeping giant" Admiral Yamamoto feared heâd wakened at Pearl Harbor can no longer be roused... The cost of war is the cost of losing it measured against the cost of winning it. We can reach our own conclusions about which the coalitionâs dead would opt for.
[Emphasis added.] As usual, Steyn sums up the LLL and their fellow-traveler media types to a T.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/02/2004 11:22:19 AM ||
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#1
Among other things, the fact that this was done in the middle of the war and was bound to be incomplete at the time of reading, shows Koppel's statements to be completely bogus.
As the man said :you honor the fallen by pressing on to victory -- and then reading the roll call of the dead
#2
Koppel portrayed these warriors as victims, just as they would a 9/11 reading of the dead, or OK City bombing. These fine Americans went for a purpose, and Koppel would do better if he noted that. Fox News Sunday said they will do something similar next Sunday, but instead of reading the names of the US dead, they will read a list of the achievements these brave Americans died for
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/02/2004 12:23 Comments ||
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#3
I have to believe MANY -- if not most -- of the names the ABC fecesmonger read were killed due to the ABCNBCCBS NETWORK, NYT, WASHPOST and the DEMOCRAT PARTY talkingorifices including DeanKennedyKerry gave aid and comfort to the enemy with their propaganda and defeatist rhetoric -- leading the enemy to believe BLOODSHED would demoralize Americans, result in RETREAT and lead to a victory for the enemy. Koppel and its ILK are TRAITORS; and in a just America would be treated accordingly by officers of the federal government acting within the bounds of the US Constitution.
#5
we are at war but the media want the public to think otherwise. this is why they are victims and not heroes in their eyes.
it is the same reason the media why the media never showed the trully horific pictures of 9-11..the ones where people are jumping/falling from the top floors..the people sticking thier bodies out of windows while flames are behind them..these images whould of enraged the public and the media did not want that.
we are at war it is time the media accepts this and gets behind the president and the american people.
bush should declare war on iran and syria and trully mobilize this countries resources to that effect.. the media would have to get on board or trully shine as enemies of the american people....
Posted by: Dan ||
05/02/2004 13:57 Comments ||
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#6
For World War II, heâd have to get ABC to let him read out names of the dead 24/7 for an entire week.
Actually more insight about World War II than Koppel could give us would be to put on TV the recently discovered 100+ year old parrot that belonged to Churchill in the 1940s, and to this day still shouts out "F*** Hitler, F*** the Nazis". (It would have to be cable, the FCC would get a tad pissed if the bird would editorialize like that over the commercial airwaves.)
Posted by: ed ||
05/02/2004 15:36 Comments ||
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#9
Ever since Clitor - - I mean Clinton showed a total lack of balls in 1993 and pulled our troops out of Somalia after he changed their mission and saw them burned and their bodies dragged thru the streets, the Arabs have taken for granted that if they can repeat that the Americans will just fold up and run home to mommie. Koppel and his girlfriends in CNN, CBS, etc., are trying their damndest to make that come true. If Fonda Kerry would just STFD and STFU and pay attention to Pres. Bush, maybe he's learn something.
#13
#9: life is not as simple as you might like it to be. Under your reasoning, Ronald Reagan would be a far better target for being 'on watch' when 241 Marines were killed in Lebanon, and for the subsequent pullout of U.S. forces from that theatre.
#14
One point of fact - I don't know where Steyn got his British WWI combat death figure from, but I think it's out by a factor of 3. Total casualties for the British Empire forces were about 3 million; deaths just under 1 million.
First lady Laura Bush thanked servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan for their dedication, telling nearly 150 soldiers recently returned from fighting that they have the nation's support. Speaking at a rally before about 5,000 central Florida residents, Bush said the troops are the face of American compassion abroad. "You will have more impact on people than you can ever know," said Bush, who was joined by her brother-in-law, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/02/2004 12:36:31 AM ||
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#1
If there were a National Medal for Class, Laura Bush would have won it with clusters by now.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/02/2004 15:21 Comments ||
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An Iraq war veteran expressed disappointment with President Bush on Saturday, saying the nation's leaders refuse to acknowledge the seriousness of continuing violence in Iraq. "I don't expect our leaders to be free of mistakes. I expect our leaders to own up to them," said Army National Guard 1st Lt. Paul Rieckhoff. In his weekly radio address, meanwhile, Bush said the United States will successfully pursue its work in Iraq in the face of a violent insurgency that seeks to undermine a peaceful transfer of power to Iraqis on June 30. "Despite many challenges, life for the Iraqi people is a world away from the cruelty and corruption of Saddam's regime" and "we will finish our work," Bush said.
Rieckhoff's comments, distributed by Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign, were the Democratic response to the president's weekly radio address. Usually, a public official gives the response. "Our troops are still waiting for more body armor. They are still waiting for better equipment. They are still waiting for a policy that brings in the rest of the world and relieves their burden," said Rieckhoff, who was a platoon leader in Iraq. Rieckhoff called his comrades in Iraq "men and women of extraordinary courage and incredible capability. But it's time we had leadership in Washington to match that courage and match that capability."
Son, don't you know that you're not supposed to do this?
In advance of Rieckhoff's remarks, Republicans circulated televised comments he made last year in Iraq in which he gave a brighter picture of U.S. prospects. "I think we've made incredible strides," Rieckhoff said in a CBS "60 Minutes II" segment broadcast last October. In a brief interview Saturday with The Associated Press, Rieckhoff said he had not been free to speak out in the TV interview because he had been on active duty. Rieckhoff said he is not working for the Kerry campaign or for the Democratic Party. He contacted Kerry staffers who deal with veterans issues when he returned from Iraq three months ago, and they "provided me with the forum. I wrote every word."
Ah huh. Sure.
Rieckhoff is an Amherst College graduate who spent two years on Wall Street as an investment banking analyst before joining the National Guard. He said he plans now to return to university.
Thanks for your service, and be gone.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/02/2004 12:31:52 AM ||
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#2
Here's JFnKerry(D) on his perception of the National Guard implying criticism of Bush:
ââIâve never made any judgments about any choice somebody made about avoiding the draft, about going to Canada, going to jail, being a conscientious objector, going into the National Guard.â -- JFnKerry(D)
This implies an association of National Guardsmen with being a CO, with draft dodging flight to Canada or jail... as if the choice to volunteer is 'Not' serving your country.
I bring this up because out of the 1/4 million Americans who've served in Iraq the (D)'s are trotting out one... a single... one individual National Guard Lieutenant who's service in a nation of tens of thousands of square miles probably allowed him to see tens of square miles... in a nation of 25 million people his service probably allowed him to meet at least 25... who as a junior officer was outranked by thousands of leaders...
Yet with this complete lack of any possible perspective, any possible authority or responsibility, in spite of previous disparagement of the National Guard by JFnKerry(D)... the NewsMedia tramples themselves to give this obscure exception a chance to pontificate on issues he could know nothing about.
Why is this transparent misrepresentation easily demonstrated to reveal the biased lies of the NewsMedia.
Because the thousands of officers with supportive views of the Liberation of Iraq are ignored... while this exception is paraded.
#4
"Our troops are still waiting for more body armor. They are still waiting for better equipment. They are still waiting for a policy that brings in the rest of the world and relieves their burden," said Rieckhoff, who was a platoon leader in Iraq.
Who says that the U.S. is doing everything?? And who are these that he's supposed to be speaking for? As far as I'm concerned, the guy's complaints are his own. If he's speaking for others, let them stand up and be counted.
The fact that he contacted Kerry's people tells me all I need to know. Like qno, I think this will backfire. Particularly if some of the other people from his unit weigh in. He sounds like a professional whiner.
The fact that he's returning to the university (presumably to teach) gives me a hint he's part of the LLL. Probably joined the NG for college money and got pissed when they actually expected him, as a member of the Army, to go to war.
Begone, fool. I don't even care if the chains of the Democratic party set lightly upon you or not.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/02/2004 3:20 Comments ||
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#6
Rieckhoff was on Fox yesterday and the guy interviewing (can't remember who) point blank asked him if, like Kerry did when he came back from Nam, he had political ambitions. He answers "I don't have enough money to be in politics." Maybe he thinks he will have a backer now.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
05/02/2004 8:45 Comments ||
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#7
..I saw LT Rieckhoff on FNC yesterday - struck me as a thoroughly arrogant little pr**k. He's gonna be real popular at the next drill.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/02/2004 10:09 Comments ||
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#8
This is the political equivalent of getting some mental defective to wear a bomb belt. When I served, disrespect of the President could cost you your commission. In fact you had to annually actively reaffirm your support of the chain of command. Perhaps this beknighted opportunist is looking for an early out from the Guard. I kept my mouth shut under Carter and God knows the dental problems caused by clenched jaws under the Clintons. Only a fool or someone with naked political ambition would do something like this.
OPEC may lift its controversial price target of $22-$28 a barrel to take account of the weakening US dollar and inflation over the past four years. President Purnomo Yusgiantoro said some members had asked the oil cartel to study whether it should raise the band, which tracks seven crude prices. "Opec doesnât think an increase in price band will hurt the world economy," he said. "Opec thinks oil at $32-$34 a barrel is safe to grab a bigger slice of the pie for them." Members will debate a new target in June, with a band of $25-$32 likely.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
05/02/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Posted by: Steve White ||
05/02/2004 12:12:11 AM ||
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[Troll droppings deleted]
Posted by: Man Bites Dog TROLL ||
05/02/2004 4:18 Comments ||
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#2
Thank God you're not President, Man Bites Dog...or should I say Zenster?
Our man GWB ("Shrub" to you) is and he's not an irrational hothead like you are.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/02/2004 6:06 Comments ||
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#3
ima heard name callin not good debate someawhere ima gonna sit quitely with my new bong name boron which in the cats name for legal and tax purposes
#4
HE - might wanna put the bong down for a couple weeks....and back away from the twinkies, ever so slowly.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/02/2004 12:35 Comments ||
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#5
i think you right frank problem is on advice from my friend mucki i incorporated a carb on the bong ima grafted a holley 750 cfm on to the bottom end needless to say it is bad grass hog sound like a f16 coming in over the tree after 8 hit ima nap now
JERUSALEM (AP) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger paid tribute Sunday to the millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust and helped dedicate a planned museum of tolerance during a whirlwind visit to Jerusalem. In an emotional speech at the museum site, Schwarzenegger said that in a world of violence and suicide attacks, the museum would stand as a "candle to guide us."
"The world should know we are not building a bunker. We're building something that breathes with life, just as God breathed life into us," Schwarzenegger said. "We look past the suicide bombers, the terrorists, past the blood. ... We look ahead to the time people can live side by side."
Schwarzenegger, wearing a yarmulke, later laid a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, a ceremony in which he also rekindled the memorial's symbolic eternal flame. The governor bowed his head and stood in silence for several minutes in the vault-like chamber, which has the ashes of Holocaust victims buried beneath its marble floor.
Israelis, many of whom feel isolated after 3 1/2 years of violence with the Palestinians, were thrilled with Schwarzenegger's visit. He was cheered at every stop in his busy day, whether by office workers in government buildings or the crowd at the museum ceremony.
Responding to criticism from Arab-Americans back home that he was not spending time with Palestinians on this trip, the governor said he planned to stop in Jordan on Monday and have lunch with King Abdullah II, a personal friend who has visited the governor at his home in Los Angeles.
The tolerance museum, scheduled to open in 2007, is being built by the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, a human rights advocacy group to which Schwarzenegger has contributed $1 million over the years. It will be a sister museum to the Wiesenthal Center's Southern California Museum of Tolerance.
During the groundbreaking ceremony, Schwarzenegger recalled his home country of Austria, where "intolerance and ignorance led to atrocities and heartaches." "I want to do whatever I can to promote tolerance around the world," he said.
Speakers at the ceremony praised Schwarzenegger. Vice Premier Ehud Olmert called him "a great friend of the Jewish people."
The governor got one of his loudest cheers when he ended his speech with the Hebrew saying, "Am Yisrael chai" - the nation of Israel lives - gave the crowd a thumbs up, and added his signature movie line, "I'll be back."
The governor has also met with Israeli business leaders. On Saturday he announced five agreements with Israeli companies to expand or create business in California. After his stop in Jordan, Schwarzenegger plans to travel to Germany to visit U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq.
Arnie might be the best natural politican in the Republican party since Ronnie Reagan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/02/2004 2:39:48 AM ||
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Let's stay open minded about this so called Holocaust. I'm sure AntiWar has a few thoughts this.
The rebellious Georgian region of Ajaria has blown up two bridges linking it to the rest of Georgia, amid rising tensions with the central government. The explosions occurred as the Georgian army carried out manoeuvres nearby. Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze rejects central control over his province and claims Georgia is preparing to invade. He said the destruction of the bridges - coming days after he mobilised reservists and declared a state of emergency - was an act of self-defence. Television showed a wrecked span of a bridge near the border, in the village of Kakuti, with concrete slabs in the river and several hundred armed men gathered nearby, Reuters reported. The other bridge crossed the river Choloki, on the border itself.
"According to our information, some sub-units of Georgian armed forces, participating in the current military exercises in the city of Poti, have set up their tents only 1km away from the administrative border," Mr Abashidze told the Itar-Tass news agency. "Yesterday some media agencies published a plan for the military invasion of Ajaria. The council in Ajaria decided that it was necessary to take security measures, preventative measures," he added. The blasts happened as Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was travelling to the port town of Poti, also close to the border.He has since returned to Tbilisi by helicopter to head an emergency meeting of the countryâs security council. The Georgian president has repeatedly denied he intends to use force against Ajaria, and said his government had no plans to send troops to the area. The three days of military manoeuvres, which ended on Sunday, were Georgiaâs biggest ever, but Mr Saakashvili said they were just a peaceful exercise. On Saturday, a prominent Ajarian businessman, Aleksandre Davitadze, became the latest Ajarian to switch sides and pledge his support for Mr Saakashvili.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
05/02/2004 11:50:22 AM ||
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sealed your own cage? Idiots
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/02/2004 12:34 Comments ||
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Short discussion of how the ACLU is trying to litigate the Boy Scouts into dropping their belief in God and their ban on homosexual scout masters.
Posted by: RWV ||
05/02/2004 11:28:10 AM ||
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"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Nowhere does it say that judges can.
Methinks the A-Uncivil-LU and that moonbat judge need a remedial course in the Constitition. For some reason, when they scream about First Amendment rights, they skip over this, the first part. Liberty, my ass.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/02/2004 12:08 Comments ||
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here in San Diego, along with liberal judge Napoleon Jones, they've tried to get the Scouts kicked out of leases on City property in Balboa Park and on Fiesta Island. Totally hateful actions by gay activists and their liberal fellow travellers. I vote for a backlash soon
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/02/2004 12:14 Comments ||
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I think that at one time the ACLU served a very vital function. In the spirit of Voltaire they once embodied the quote about not ageeing with what you say but defending your right to say it. But now they seem to have been hijacked in the same way Amnesty International has.
#8
In an Orwellian slip, Jordan Budd, the ACLU's legal director in San Diego, reportedly said that the Boy Scouts "could resolve the issue and stay on Fiesta Island and in Balboa Park if they changed their policy," i.e., if they abandoned their belief in God and opposition to homosexuality....
To be fair, the ACLU is not exactly demanding protection money from the scouts, but what they are saying is,
"Now see here chump, we own the lawyers and the judges in this town, see? We can rub you out if we wanted, make you go broke in endless litigation,see? Now, this doesn't have to get ugly. All you have to do is drop those crazy ideals that you were founded upon so long ago and everybody wins, yeah? You don't have to answer right away, we know how to find you when you're ready to be reasonable."
Seventeen children kidnapped from the streets of Kabul have been liberated by authorities facing what appears to be a growing problem in Afghanistan, Interior Minister Ali Ahmed Jalali said on Thursday. In the past few weeks police "have rescued more than 17 children from the grip of child-kidnappers," Jalali said, adding that police had arrested dozens of abductors. "This means that the issue of child abduction is a major problem for the security organs," the minister added. "Last year we arrested 100 people involved in the abduction of children. In the past two weeks we arrested one quarter of that number, so this means that child abduction is getting to be a more serious problem every day."
Most of the children are snatched on their way to schools, parks, videogame saloons, clubs and other areas. "They kidnap children for different reasons - for child abuse, to use them for smuggling and other crimes and... to use their body parts. The children are both boys and girls," the minister told reporters. "It is both a domestic and international problem," he added. At least 750 Afghan children were abducted and taken to Saudi Arabia last year with about 250 of them eventually returned home, the minister said. A two-day government workshop on child trafficking which ended on Thursday was preparing a national strategy on stopping the practice which has apparently increased recently but remains undocumented, a UN spokesperson said.
Posted by: TS (vice girl) ||
05/02/2004 10:41:09 AM ||
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Sounds like a death penalty case, and exposure of the Saudi end is critical - f&*kers
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/02/2004 11:00 Comments ||
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I was looking up another topic but saw this in a 1997 article: Trade in children in Saudi Arabia : Children are snatched off the streets, and sometimes right out of the arms of the mother (see Saudi Ministry of Health Emergency Bulletins of 1994) and sold into slavery, used as sex slaves, servants, OR -- used as ORGAN DONORS. In the very protected Ministry of Health documents you would find numerous records of children being kidnapped for their organs (e.g. kidneys) and *sometimes* dumped on the street where they were taken several days later, with their incisions infected, and the children close to death.
http://www.hraic.org/rape_and_islam.html
Don't know how accurate it is, but the story fits. It doesn't say if they are Saudi or foreign kids.
Posted by: ed ||
05/02/2004 16:15 Comments ||
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The battered faces of John Nichol and John Peters, the British airmen paraded on Iraqi television after their Tornado was shot down, were among the most enduring images of the first Gulf war. They were beaten and tortured during their interrogation but it has now emerged that they only narrowly escaped execution on the orders of Saddam Husseinâs son Qusay.
The intervention of one of Saddamâs senior air force officers, Georges Hormis Sada - newly appointed as senior adviser for the American-backed New Iraqi Army - changed Qusayâs mind. Last week Mr Sada, an ethnic Assyrian and one of Iraqâs leading lay Christians, revealed how Qusay paid an unexpected visit to the air forceâs emergency headquarters in a Baghdad bunker about a week after the air war started on January 17, 1991. "He was very angry," said the retired general. "He wanted a Kuwaiti pilot to be shot immediately. The others, including the Britons, were to be executed later or taken to bombing targets to be killed in Allied raids." At the time, six captured British aircrew were in Iraqi hands, as well as several Americans, two Italians and the Kuwaiti pilot, Lt Col Mohammed al-Mubarak.
As an Anglophile who trained at an RAF base near Oxford in 1967, Mr Sada was determined to save their lives. Initially, he tried - without success - to persuade Qusay, then just 24, that killing the prisoners would breach the Geneva Convention. Then he switched tack. "I told him the prisoners were more valuable to Iraq alive than dead," he recalled. "I said that our men would also be taken prisoner, and that we could swap them." The next day Qusay returned, saying that he had decided that Iraq should "benefit" from the prisoners.
Mr Sadaâs account is backed by a former senior intelligence officer who was also in the air force headquarters that night. He heard Qusay asking about the interrogation of the captives. The dictatorâs son was told that some were "co-operating", though not the Britons. "He said, âOK, bring all the pilots outside and kill one of them in front of the othersâ," the officer said. "My leg started to shake as this would have been a terrible thing. The prisoners were pilots, and we were pilots. Someone asked him which one. He said, âKill the Kuwaiti traitorâ." The intelligence officer said Mr Sada was credited with saving the pilotsâ lives.
Mr Nichol, who wrote about his experiences in his book Tornado Down, confirmed that they had been threatened with execution. Although they were initially held in the bunker, they were blindfolded and did not see the officers, including Mr Sada. By the time of Qusayâs visit, they had been moved to a military police prison on an airbase. "It is chilling to learn that someone like Qusay was intent on our death," Mr Nichol said. "It would not have surprised me if someone had carried out those executions in front of us. But nor does it surprise me that there were Iraqis who stood up for us. "The vast majority of Iraqi military and civilians were decent people, although there were clearly very evil elements too. I would love to meet Georges and shake his hand."
Mr Sada, once one of Iraqâs top fighter pilots, already had a reputation for speaking his mind. He was forced to "retire" from the air force in 1986 for refusing to join the Baâath Party, only to be recalled in August 1990 after Saddam invaded Kuwait. His intervention saved the foreign aircrew, but ended his air force career for the second time. "I was detained at the end of January and then told I was being retired a few days later," he said. "It was made clear that this was because I had stood up to Qusay."
Posted by: Bulldog ||
05/02/2004 6:04:43 AM ||
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sounds like the best of the bad guys, huh? If you need to use Iraqi military at least it seems he's got brains, morals, and a conscience
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/02/2004 10:35 Comments ||
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Supreme Court Justice David Souter suffered minor injuries when a group of young men assaulted him as he jogged on a city street, a court spokeswoman said Saturday. The attack occurred about 9 p.m. Friday, court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said. Supreme Court police took Souter, 64, to a Washington hospital, where he was examined and released about 1 a.m. Saturday, Arberg said. She did not detail his injuries except to say they were minor. Souter was not robbed, Arberg said. She gave no other details about the assault, or about any police investigation or arrests. Metropolitan Police Dept. spokesman Sgt. Joe Gentile refused to comment. A spokeswoman for Washington Hospital Center also would not talk about the incident because of privacy rules. Souter was running alone when he was attacked. He lives in a city neighborhood not far from the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill, but it was unclear whether the assault occurred near his home. Souter is among the youngest justices and is a regular jogger. Souter was named to the bench by the first President Bush in 1990.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/02/2004 12:26:17 AM ||
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I haven't checked DU, have they blamed Bush for "trying to fix the mistakes of his father" yet?
I've always liked Souter. But why is a Supreme Court Justice jogging alone in DC?
Posted by: joe ||
05/02/2004 1:07 Comments ||
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Souter (not exactly a spring chicken, or very large, for that matter) is jogging alone, is assaulted by "a group of young men," and ends up with minor injuries and not robbed.
Did a passing cop scare them off? Or did Souter lay some Kung Fu on them?
Inquiring minds are dying to know.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/02/2004 3:27 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
