Sudanese opposition military leader Abdul Aziz Khalid will be extradited by the UAE in a couple of days, a close source told Khaleej Times yesterday. "He will be handed over tomorrow or in a couple of days to the Sudanese authorities," the source said.
Shortly after which he's not gonna feel so good.
He said a high-level security delegation was expected to arrive in Abu Dhabi to finalise the extradition of Mr Khalid, a former army general who is wanted by Khartoum on charges of terrorist acts. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, ruled out speculations that Khalid might be turned over to Interpol in Damascus or Tunis from where he would be transferred to Khartoum. A decision to extradite Khalid has been issued by the UAE public prosecutor, sources said. The Sudanese former general was arrested in September upon arrival on a flight from Egypt at the Abu Dhabi International Airport on the basis of a notice issued by Interpol, based on a request by the Sudanese authorities, accusing him of committing terrorist acts in Sudan, according to UAE authorities. The source said that the Khartoum request was based on Mr Khalid's involvement in rebel operations along Sudan's eastern border. His northern opposition group Sudan Alliance Forces (SAF) was responsible for a number of attacks on oil pipelines and government forces in the 1990s and was accused of carrying out strikes against the government in the eastern front, according to Khartoum government. Khalid's lawyers in Abu Dhabi were fighting a legal battle against Khartoum to get him released. But a team of top Sudanese lawyers, including a former public prosector, visited Abu Dhabi and convinced his lawyers that Khalid's case was weak. In the meantime, a high-ranking official was believed to have interfered in the case and twisted it to a political one to convince the UAE to extradite him, the source said.
Plots within plots! Hokay Fred and Dan, is this mutt dirty or is he a victim of circumstances?
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/23/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Primarily, Korean identity is a product of ethnicity, a perceived homogeneity that binds the Korean nation. Koreans on both sides of the Demilitarized Zone believe their culture and ethnicity is sui generis , a unique product of 4,000 years of shared history. This historical connection, the "one blood, one nation" identity, has been a central tenet of political rhetoric in both Koreas for more than 50 years.
Time to tell the Skors adios then. Let Kim Chee attack and overrun the south, and the locals can defend themselves, without American help. Keeping U.S. resources on the Korean peninsula at this late stage in the game is nothing more than a huge waste of time, money, and personnel.
After weeks of reports from North Korea of defecting generals, antigovernment posters and the disappearance of portraits of the country's ruler, the leader of Japan's governing party warned Sunday of the prospects of "regime change" in North Korea. "As long as Chairman Kim Jong Il controls the government, we have to negotiate with him, but it is becoming more doubtful whether we will be able to achieve anything with this government," said Shinzo Abe, acting secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, on Fuji TV, referring to talks on North Korea's abductions of Japanese in the 1970's. "I think we should consider the possibility that a regime change will occur, and we need to start simulations of what we should do at that time..."
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
11/23/2004 9:45:23 AM ||
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Having the "Dear" stripped off your "Leader" must be very painful.
#6
Uh oh, sounds like the Japanese have picked up on Dubya's tactic of "Arafishing." Move him to the sideline and deal with others. No comments on above 2 posts, although a photoshop pic of the dear leader w/ those comments makes me laugh!
Posted by: BA ||
11/23/2004 11:19 Comments ||
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"A lateral internal sphincterotomy is usually utilized. " So thats what they call it.
#8
I believe most Americans will prefer righteous IMPLOSION to conflict - the NorKors gotta know CHIna-centric EAsian hegemony means any NorKor manifest destiny is all but a delusion, China will not tolerate any Non-Communist/Non-Communist-controlled/dominated NK Government, ala "RIGHTIST" RUSSIA, and GMD is about to make to the Communist nuclear bully stick all but absolutely obsolete. NK's future is to either be a permanent Stalinist, third-world, slave state, or further regress/devolve downwardly, i.e. be more irrelevant than they already are.
A visit by President Jacques Chirac to Libya Wednesday is the first ever by a French head of state since independence in 1951 and confirms maverick leader Moamer Kadhafi's gradual return to international respectability. For France the trip is also the chance to stake a claim for lucrative business contracts which should follow Kadhafi's promise to liberalise the oil-rich country's heavily-controlled economy. Accompanied by three ministers and a delegation of business leaders, Chirac spends Wednesday night in Tripoli before flying to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso for the biennial summit of French-speaking nations.
Talks with Kadhafi will focus on Iraq, Africa, terrorism and economic cooperation, Chirac's spokesman Jerome Bonnafont said. The fate of five Bulgarians sentenced to death for causing an outbreak of Aids will also be brought up. Chirac's visit follows meetings this year between Kadhafi and other European leaders including Britain's Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder of Germany and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, all likewise bent on encouraging Libya's rehabilitation and also pitching for economic favours.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2004 4:44:05 PM ||
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ChIraq is really going to Libya to offer Quadaffi aid in starting his nuke program again.
The rest of that bullshit is just a smokescreen.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/23/2004 17:08 Comments ||
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That pictuer. The library.
Then I told Monica, "This is how you shape your mouth..."
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/23/2004 17:33 Comments ||
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Now, how can a visit by Chiraq confirm a return to respectability for anybody?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/23/2004 17:34 Comments ||
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Mrs Davis, the same way any coalition without France, even if it involves thirty or so other countries, is "unilateral".
#5
A visit by President Jacques Chirac to Libya Wednesday is the first ever by a French head of state since independence in 1951 and confirms maverick leader Moamer Kadhafi's gradual return to international respectability.
I would not use a visit by Chiraq as an indication that Mo is gradually returning to respectability. LOL! Veddy veddy pooah exahmpoole!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/23/2004 18:00 Comments ||
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Wanted to see if those old Saddam vouchers were still any good...
#7
And, at the official state dinner, consisting of roast camel kabobs, the French President received a pair of Daffy Qadaffy Designer Shades. A very special gift.
#9
Looks like the Western world's, Europe's, and NATO's equivalent of [Anti-American] Radical Islam is still at work. What is it, Chirac - Mackinder's "World Island" aside, he has to know France has a indefinitely better chance of staying French under any futuristic/surreal US Global Empire, whether capitalist or Western DemoSocialist, than one and OWG domin by Russia-China, under Asia-Centric Communism PC disguised as Globalism, Internationalism, Realism, DemoSocialism, Fascism, RIghtism, or Capitalism!? WHAT IS IT, CHIRAC, WHAT IS IT, WHAT IN HECK COULD FRANCE, OR ANTi-USA EUROPE, POSSIBLY GAIN BY HELPING TO SUBORN/DESTROY THE USA??? He's gotta know and realize the Free World is gulag meat once America is gone!
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen yesterday said he was determined to increase efforts in schools to root out Islamic extremism following the assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a suspected Islamic radical. "Let's call the kettle black and admit that there are some young Muslims of immigrant origin who have not understood the principles on which Danish society is based. And there is something wrong when people leave school with such attitudes intact," Rasmussen said. He requested that Education Minister Ulla Tornaes look into ways of better instilling the principles of freedom of expression, democracy and women's rights in young Muslim students.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2004 4:19:11 PM ||
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Any other European leaders willing to speak so frankly? It'd sure be helpful.
Thanks also, Mr. Rasmussen, not only for fighting for your fellow countrymen (men like yourself) but for fighting for people not like yourself--the women of Denmark. That is the mark of a gentleman and a statesman, in my book.
#5
Nothing specific to Sweden. My theory is that the smaller Euro nations that are the most PC are going to have the hardest landing when their jihadists go wild.
As in Holland, vast disconnect between multi-culti rhetoric and social reality. The more PC the state is, the more the citizens will rebel when the official rhetoric is found wanting.
#9
--âLetâs call the kettle black and admit that there are some young Muslims of immigrant origin who have not understood the principles on which Danish society is based. ---
No, they understand the principles and don't agree w/them and will use violence and death to change them.
#1
ATimes's Spengler: The re-elected administration of US President George W Bush has put into action a two-pronged attack, destroying the Sunni resistance in Fallujah and neighboring cities, while holding a gun to the head of Iran in order to forestall the emergence of a greater Shi'ite opposition. Not a whimper of protest arose from the Europeans, whose undivided attention was focused on the van Gogh affair and its implications. The ground will continue to erode beneath the feet of moderate Muslims, the constituency upon whom the White House placed its best hopes.
The title of this article should be "The Myth of Muslim moderation". First off, Spengler is a supercilious European poseur who puts together caricatures of American conservative thought to entertain his audience, as if to say - hey, check out those animals. Second, it appears that Spengler, like many European pseudo-conservatives, appears to think that it is possible to deal with Muslim moderates who support Iranian nukes and Iraqi terrorists. I don't. And I doubt GWB does.
#3
Thank you, Zhang Fei, for reminding me of Spenger. I have forgotten to read him for a while now. Muslim moderates? this is still being played out and the question is in doubt if there can be Muslim moderates, as Spengler acknowledges.
This is certainly one of the best paragraphs ever written on this conflict, and it comes from the current Spengler article you cite.
"Smugness oozes from European politicians who demand that Muslims repudiate violence as a precondition for residence in the West. To repudiate the death sentence for blasphemy would be the same as abandoning the Islamic order in traditional society in favor of a Western-style religion of personal conscience. The West spent centuries of time and rivers of blood to make such a transition, and carried it off badly. Whether Islam can do so at all remains doubtful."
#4
Spengler is a supercilious poseur who puts together caricatures
This passage reminded me of someone else.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
11/23/2004 7:49 Comments ||
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If Muslim's don't want to "abandon" the "Islamic order" - then they can go back to the barbaric lands they came from. We don't want them here and no longer care if they are "anguished" over it. If they want to live a peaceful world, they are welcome here. Speak up or shut up and go home.
#7
mhw-I think he is trying to say "anguish" = perpetual humiliation of Muslims... not sure about the "hypocrisy" accusation-maybe that the West is hypocritical of its own history of forcing peoples to adopt religious doctrine?
In any case, I thought these two paragraphs were pretty good:
...Jews and Christians have learned to accept humiliation. God's love for the individual soul remains valid despite worldly reverses, and failure in the temporal realm provides cause for self-evaluation. Humiliation is intolerable to Islam; Allah sets the spin of every electron around every nucleus by a discrete act of will, and reverses in the temporal world challenge Islam's promise of success.
The logic of events offers nothing to Muslims but humiliation. The re-elected administration of US President George W Bush has put into action a two-pronged attack, destroying the Sunni resistance in Fallujah and neighboring cities, while holding a gun to the head of Iran in order to forestall the emergence of a greater Shi'ite opposition...
Hat Tip to Ace of Spades
In the world of Hamid Dabashi, supporters of Israel are "warmongers" and "Gestapo apparatchiks." The Jewish homeland is "nothing more than a military base for the rising predatory empire of the United States." It's a capital of "thuggery" - a "ghastly state of racism and apartheid" - and it "must be dismantled."
A voice from America's crackpot fringe? Actually, Dabashi is a tenured professor and department chairman at Columbia University. And his views have resonated and been echoed in other areas of the university. Columbia is at risk of becoming a poison Ivy, some critics claim, and tensions are high. In classrooms, teach-ins, interviews and published works, dozens of academics are said to be promoting an I-hate-Israel agenda, embracing the ugliest of Arab propaganda, and teaching that Zionism is the root of all evil in the Mideast.
In three weeks of interviews, numerous students told the Daily News they face harassment, threats and ridicule merely for defending the right of Israel to survive. And the university itself is holding investigations into the alleged intimidation. ...more...
Posted by: .com ||
11/23/2004 12:54:37 AM ||
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Anyone notices that ledt "intellectuals" will not tell a word about, say, Sudan? Why? Is it because the victims are Blacks? Or is it because making Palestinians into victims allows them to hate the Jews without being told Nazis?
#2
In the end, the Failed Left's/Angry Left's ultimate justification for Big-Government-centered/driven Socialism, despotic or universal Regulation, and militarized Centralism, etc. ARE THEMSELVES.
#3
A disgrace given that Columbia has been a Jewish friendly university with many building and wings named after major donors of the Jewish faith. Take a tour of the campus and the dedication plaques are there
#4
If this represents the norm among this nation's Near Eastern Studies departments, then we have a huge problem. How are we supposed to train the thousands of scholars and experts we need to win the WOT if the well's poisoned by their fascist instructors? Looks like Congress needs to get involved here.
#5
Lex: âHow are we supposed to train the thousands of scholars and experts we need to win the WOT if the well's poisoned by their fascist instructors?â
I read an article on this issue a few days ago. One answer is to recruit language volunteers from within an organization and then train them intensively in language and culture. The US military is doing this. Start with loyal, intelligent people and then train them.
Automatic translation software is also getting better.
In the long run, we need to understand how the human brain acquires language and provide the biotech and computer teaching aids to accelerate the process. (This technology is also needed to help immigrants assimilate.)
#6
I'm also talking about policy advisers and regional experts. During the Cold War, if you were a bright kid interested in the Soviet Union you could learn from brilliant men whose political views were within the range of normal democratic debate: from Bialer and Legvold to Brzezinski to Ulam to Pipes.
Where does a bright young person who wants to train with brilliant middle east scholars go these days? Columbia's corrupted, as are many of the other Ivy League arabist faculties. Juan Cole of Michigan is a good scholar but a rabid critic of everything the Bush admin does. Time for this nation to fund a massive increase in Area Studies programs, as we did during the Cold War, to attract normal and sane, patriotic future scholars to this crucial field.
#7
In the long run, we need to understand how the human brain acquires language and provide the biotech and computer teaching aids to accelerate the process.
Exactly. President Bush has at least set us in the right direction, with the essence of the NCLB initiative: science-based/research-based learning. Out with the fuzzy boasts and feel-good methods, in with crystal clear results and performance-based methods.
Security officials yesterday refused to confirm reports that Saudi visitors to Canada faced extra airport arrival checks demanded by the US Secret Service ahead of next week's visit by President George W Bush.
Gee, and here I thought Bush and the Saudies were such good friends.
The report, in the Toronto Sun newspaper, said the extra checks were mandated by a confidential alert, which said immigration officers should conduct background checks on Saudi visitors using Canadian and US police databases. A spokesman for Canada's Border Services Agency said he was "flabbergasted" that such sensitive information had made its way into the press, but refused to comment on its veracity. "We basically don't comment on any news regarding national security," said spokesman Michel Proulx." Another agency official, Patrizia Giolti, added: "Even if such a document exists, we wouldn't be able to discuss it."
Saudi Arabia's embassy in Ottawa did not immediately return calls for comment. The Sun story quoted unnamed airport officials as saying that the alert resulted from increased "intelligence chatter" and that the bulletin ordered immigration agents to "refer all holders of Saudi passports for further inspection." Officers were also told to verify the identity of each traveller, establish the purpose of their trip and ensure travel documents were in order as a "precautionary measure," the report said. Bush was due to arrive in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, on November 30, for a two-day visit intended to patch up relations between the two giant neighbours bruised when Canada refused to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 2:47:38 PM ||
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Well, from a Jiihadists point of view, the President is a tempting target. But they do not think it through. I think that Cheney as President would be a living nightmare for them. I would be concerned with the President's security in Canada, because of their liberal immigration and entry policies in the past bringing in many members of the Riff-Raff Rat Club.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/23/2004 15:08 Comments ||
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I don't think any assassins or "arrest Bush" folks have thought things through. Cheney would go hog wild and 90% of America would applaud him under such circumstances.
#4
President Cheney! That should send shivers down the spines of the local Jihadis. Vice-President Rice would also be very hawkish on them. Oh please let the LLL Canadians embarrass themselves like the LLL English did. They looked completely stupid standing outside with paper to declare the President âMentally Unbalanced.â Gee I wonder whom that applied too after they were sent packing by the Bobbies?
The giant spending bill that Congress passed on Saturday eliminated money for developing new nuclear weapons, including one that would be used to destroy underground bunkers. It also deeply cut the Bush administration's request for money for a new factory to make the triggers for nuclear bombs. One of the projects eliminated was the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, widely known as the bunker buster; the administration had wanted $27.6 million for the program. If a bomb penetrates into the earth by a few feet before detonating, much of its energy is transferred into the soil, forming a shock wave that can destroy underground structures, experts say. For years, military planners have discussed a need for such a weapon, which could wipe out underground factories or command centers. But critics argued that developing such weapons would push the United States closer to stepping across the nuclear threshold for the first time since 1945, that intelligence was not good enough to assure that the Pentagon would know where to use the weapons, and that even if such weapons were used, they might not work.
Another program that was cut back was the advanced concepts initiative, which was also apparently for new weapons, although details were not made public. It was also supposed to provide meaningful work for young weapons designers after years of the United States' relying on old designs, nuclear experts said. Instead, Congress gave the Energy Department the amount it had requested, $9 million, but told it to use the money for modifying existing weapons to keep them reliable, an aide to the House Appropriations Committee said. Representative David L. Hobson, the Ohio Republican who is the chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, said in a speech in August to a symposium on post-cold-war nuclear strategy that he saw the administration's call for research on the new bombs and the earth penetrator, along with a proposal to shorten the lead time required to resume nuclear testing, as "very provocative and overly aggressive policies that undermine our moral authority to argue that other nations should forgo nuclear weapons." A republican congressman who embraced the bizarre logic of the nuclear 'freeze' movement? "Moral Authority" sure has worked to keep nukes out of the hands of the Norks and Iranians.
#1
Hobson has 5% ADA rating, so he appears to be solidly conservative. But this is an issue on which Congress should not be micromanaging. It would be nice to find a way to change his mind, perhaps with a letter-writing campaign.
Starting from the end of 2005, all American passports will be equipped with a contact-less chip (IOL 486) that will permit wireless access of data through new radio frequency technology. So reports Intelligence Online, in a brief piece in their November 5, 2004 issue (N. 487).
The passports will permit border personnel to automatically call up the full identity of the holder along with biometric information. Initially, the biometric data will be photographs, but fingerprints and even the iris of the holder's eye are expected to be included eventually. The reliability of fingerprint identification and the large size of existing data bases of fingerprints make the inclusion of fingerprint information the most likely next step.
Hmmm. Wondering if I feel like renewing my passport a year or three early...not sure if I like the biometrics idea for myself. For everybody else, definitely. But for me personally, I still need to think about it! Heh.
Posted by: headland ||
11/23/2004 9:45:46 AM ||
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"Sir, you've got an unpaid parking ticket in Oshkosh, WI. We can't let you back into the US unless you make a payment immediately. We accept cash or credit cards, no checks."
Funny how someone can always come up with a reason (lame or otherwise) against doing the obvious - to make it sound as if there's something unreasonable about doing it.
Bull Shit. I don't want some asshat jihadi to get in and do damage, kill people, whatever so some cheesedick can dodge a parking ticket. Wotta lame 'tard.
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Here's the Crux of the Biscuit for the Terminally Stupid:
1) The laws we must obey haven't changed.
2) The ability of law enforcement to discover law-breaking and identify law-breakers has changed.
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Got it?
If you're not a dickhead scofflaw, you have nothing new to worry about - so quit squealing like a baby and lying like doggies, k?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/23/2004 13:15 Comments ||
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I'm with .com. I left Samizdata about 2.5 years ago (and came to RB) cos I got tired of fighting with the Libertarians over this. A revolution in security is coming and I can see in my lifetime a dramatic reduction in many forms of crime if only we don't let the f**kwit 'civil libertarians' get in the way.
Defying President Bush, Reps. Duncan Hunter and James Sensenbrenner — who led opposition dooming legislation based on the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations — said they won't change their minds without Senate concessions. "It'll be tougher now because the well got even more poisoned by the senators and their supporters thoroughly criticizing Duncan Hunter and myself by name on the talking head shows yesterday," Sensenbrenner told The Associated Press on Monday.
The two men turned back a last-second deal Saturday to pass stalled legislation to create a new national intelligence director and national counterterrorism center. The overhaul was supposed to help the intelligence community track terrorist threats and was one of the biggest legislative priorities of this year. There was nothing left but recriminations on Monday, with most of Congress heading home for Thanksgiving and Bush still on an overseas trip. No meetings of the bill's negotiators have been planned.
Posted by: Capt America ||
11/23/2004 10:03:09 PM ||
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Heard these guys on RL today. They're not holding things up out of spite - they had pretty rational reasons for what their doing. For instance - the military wants to keep control of the satellites used for real-time battlefield surveilance. They're worried that they'd lose too much time if they had to make requests through another civilian agency. Made sense to me.
While the use of security firms to protect commercial operations in Iraq receives lots of attention, there are many other parts of the world where private security is in demand. There are many risk management firms that monitor, and rate, the security risk around the world. The list of those places considered dangerous for commercial operations (not to mention tourists) is rather long.
But will the tourists listen? Noooo!
At the top of the list is Iraq, but equally out of control is Chechnya (in Russia), Somalia and the border area between Tajikistan and Afghanistan (because of the drug smuggling). Beyond those very dangerous areas, we have just plain dangerous places like Bangladesh, Burundi, Colombia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Georgia, Haiti, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
Golly. It looks like the Rantburg Index of Favorite Places...
There are also a lot of countries where only some areas are considered dangerous. These include Afghanistan, the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the Nagorno-Karabakh areas inside Azerbaijan.
I wasn't aware anybody ever went to Nagorno-Karabakh. Population movement is entirely out, isn't it?
The major cities in Cameroon are very dangerous, as are the northern and northwestern parts of the Central African Republic. The Ethiopian border with Eritrea is dangerous, as are the Somali and Kenyan borders with Ethiopia. These border areas tend to be full of bandits and rebel gunmen.
Not that there's a diffo, mind you...
Guatemala is OK, but not the capital (Guatemala City). In Jamaica, Kingston and Spanish Town are dangerous. India is generally safe, except for the northwest (Kashmir) and the northeast (tribal areas). Same with Indonesia, where only certain areas (Aceh, Papua, Central Sulawesi and Malukus) are dangerous. Israel is safe, except for the Palestinian areas. Kenya is OK, except for the border areas with Somalia and Ethiopia. In Kyrgyzstan, stay away from the borders with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In Laos, two provinces have dangerous unrest.
In Laos? Something actually happened in Laos? I thought the entire country went to sleep when they closed Lulu's...
In Liberia, the border with Ivory Coast is risky, as is the northeast portion of Macedonia and the Niger Delta in Nigeria.
I'da said Ivory Coast and points adjacent, but that's probably just a matter of style...
In Panama, the Colombian border is iffy. The major towns of Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby, Lae and Mount Hagen) are full of risks, as are the Upper Huallaga, Apurimac, Ene and Perene valleys in Peru. In the Philippines, parts of the island of Mindanao are dangerous.
Reeeaaaalllly? When did that start?
In Rwanda, the border with Burundi is dangerous. Russia is bad in parts of the Caucasus (Dagestan, Ingushetia and North Ossetia). Southern Serbia and Kosovo are bad, as is the Somaliland region of Somalia. Sudan is risky in the west and south.
Ummm... The north and east aren't too hot, either...
In Uzbekistan the Tajik border and Fergana valley are risky. Finally, stay away from the Colombian border in Venezuela unless you have some reliable hired guns along. All of these areas have some private security working, and some have a while lot. It depends on how much money is to be made. Where there is oil (as in southern Sudan and the Niger delta), there is plenty of work for security personnel (both local and foreign.)
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 11:36:47 AM ||
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Malaysia's second-highest court has backed a head teacher's decision to expel three Muslim boys for wearing turbans to school. The judge overturned an earlier ruling that the school's ban on turbans had violated the right to freedom of religion. This is enshrined in the predominantly Muslim country's constitution. The opposition Islamic party, Pas, denounced the decision, likening it to France's recent ban on headscarves. The three boys were expelled from a government school in the state of Negri Sembilan in 1997 for wearing what is known locally as a serban. The flowing turban is not a traditional part of local Muslim costume. However, it is often worn by those who have studied at religious schools abroad, particularly in the Middle East, or who support Pas.
In other words, Saudi trained fundis.
The Malaysian government does not allow overt religious symbols in its schools. It is anxious to prevent friction between the country's different groups and discourage the spread of conservative Islam. It does make exceptions though, and permits Sikh students to wear turbans and Muslim girls to wear a headscarf, though not a veil. Five years ago, a lower court ruled for the boys parents, who had argued that the turbans were part of Islam, and ordered the school to reinstate the pupils. But Court of Appeal judge Gopal Sri Ram has now decided otherwise and says the courts have no place getting involved in disputes between pupils and school principals. However, the decision has provoked an angry response from Pas. A spokesman for the party said the government could not both support the pupils' expulsion while professing to uphold Islam and practise religious tolerance.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 9:04:47 AM ||
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Syria was said to have launched a campaign to intimidate the regime's opposition abroad. Syrian opposition sources said agents of President Bashar Assad have been sending threats to opponents in Europe and the United States. They said the messages include e-mails that threatened to kill the children and relatives of opposition members. "The Syrian Ba'ath party secret agents are on the prowl against Syrian opposition outside Syria," the Washington-based Reform Party of Syria said. "In what seems to be a deliberate policy, RPS members are getting threatening e-mails from Syrian agents. The e-mails are threatening to kill them, their children, and members of their immediate families."
On Nov. 6, Germany arrested a Syrian embassy staffer and charged him with espionage and issuing threats against the Syrian opposition in Europe. The staffer was said to be one of scores of Syrian nationals who work for the Assad regime and ordered to locate and intimidate opposition members.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2004 4:31:51 PM ||
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hmmmm - why do we tolerate Syria? It's not like they can defeat anybody (except Lebanon) in their vicinity. Smackdown is in order
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/23/2004 17:17 Comments ||
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Exactly. So why waste energy when there are bad guys who can do us harm still standing. Israel has this one under control.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/23/2004 17:36 Comments ||
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November 23, 2004: Lebanon is moving towards violent confrontations with the many foreign powers that occupy it. Syria has had 30,000 troops in the country for nearly three decades. Initially the Syrians came in as peacekeepers, to help end the 1975-90 civil war that tore Lebanon apart. But the Syrians have settled down to run legal, and illegal enterprises, and make life miserable for the Lebanese. Then there is the Iranian subsidized Hizbollah terrorist organization, several thousand armed men (all from the Lebanese Shia minority) who do pretty much what they please in central and southern Lebanon. There are 300,000 Palestinian refugees who have been in the country for over four decades (Lebanon won't let them become citizens), and can muster several hundred armed men who try to launch terrorist attacks on Israel, or anyone who disagrees with Palestinian politics.
The Lebanese remember that their 1975 civil war began because of friction between the many factions in the country, but particularly the Palestinians and Shia (who later received much support from Shia Iran). Lately there have been anti-Syrian demonstrations. There has always been hostility towards the Palestinians, and the Shia have not made themselves any more popular because of the Hizbollah's "we can do whatever we want" attitude. In the last few weeks, the Lebanese army has put up more roadblocks in the south, trying to keep Palestinian terrorists from driving down to the border and launching 107mm Katyusha rockets into Israel. One was fired off on November 15th, but caused no casualties. Israel has told Lebanon, for years, that if terrorists fire too many of those rockets into Israel from Lebanon, the Israeli army will invade, and go looking for rockets. The Israelis did this in 1982, and the Lebanese don't want to go through that again. The Lebanese would also like to get back control of their country. That will take a while, even though the UN, the United States and just about everyone else has told Syria to get out of Lebanon. Syria is making too much money staying in Lebanon, and no one has stepped up to offer Syria a large enough bribe to leave. No one is willing to force the issue with troops.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 11:29:57 AM ||
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#1
Bekaa Valley drug trade alone must bring in millions...why should Syria/Iran voluntarily turn over this profitable business? Realpolitik.
#3
This may be the first sign of an Arab country looking to Isreal for help. I know... ridiculous but bear with me.
I live in Europe (Army). You would not believe the big push the Lebanon has made to present itself as a peaceful place that tourist should come to. I think that the Lebanese want to get rid of the more radical factions that are in their country right now.
This could get ugly in the future. Lebanon wants to move forward and realizes that criminal, islamic wackos are holding it back.
Posted by: Pissed off Army ||
11/23/2004 15:18 Comments ||
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..and no one has stepped up to offer Syria a large enough bribe to leave.
#5
Borg's point concerning the Bekaa Valley bringing in millions is true. Those profiting may be the most fanatical of Islamic terrorist groups, Hizb'allah, bought & paid for via Tehran. Once Iran is dealt with, which may prove tougher than Iraq & Afghanistan combined, Hizb'allah will be on their own, since Syria may begin to have domestic problems of her own.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/23/2004 15:42 Comments ||
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Lebanon will remain ``steadfast'' in maintaining close relations with Syria and ensuring that its peace talks with Israel are tied to its powerful and influential neighbor, the Lebanese president said Sunday. Emile Lahoud said in a televised speech that his country's Independence Day comes Monday amid a ``globally and regionally fateful juncture,'' a reference to a possible spillover from the war in Iraq and increasing international pressure to have Syrian troops withdrawn from Lebanon. ``The unforeseen events that we are witnessing, the political volatility and the levels of wanton violence compel us to ask how to safeguard Lebanon as we face the looming storm,'' Lahoud said in the speech, which marked Lebanon gaining independence in 1943 after some 20 years of a French mandate.
The pro-Syrian Lahoud said Lebanon's position on the Arab-Israeli dispute and the relations with Syria are the cornerstones of Lebanon's foreign policy. ``We concluded over a decade ago that Lebanon's interest is to remain steadfast, in spite of mounting pressures,'' he said. Lebanon, officially at war with Israel since 1948, for years has rejected the idea of separate peace talks, insisting on a ``joint track'' with neighboring Syria in any peace negotiations.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/23/2004 2:41:57 AM ||
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Iran on Monday suspended sensitive nuclear activities that could be used to make a bomb in a move likely to thwart U.S. efforts to report the Islamic Republic to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. Washington wants Iran to face sanctions, accusing it of trying to develop atomic bombs under the veil of a nuclear power project. But the EU has taken a softer line, persuading Tehran to stop sensitive activities in return for better ties. Oil-rich Iran denies it is trying to develop a nuclear arsenal and says it just wants to generate electricity.
"We're simple peasants, really!"
"Today the whole enrichment process has been suspended," Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told CNN. U.S. President George W. Bush reacted to the announcement with mild scepticism. "Let's say, I hope it's true," he said. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirmed the freeze. "I think pretty much everything has come to a halt right now. We're just trying to apply seals and make sure everything has been stopped," ElBaradei told reporters in Vienna.
Attaboy, Mo, those seals really work well.
Operations at an Isfahan facility readying raw "yellowcake" uranium for the enrichment process had also stopped, he said. IAEA inspectors are verifying the suspension and plan to confirm it has been fully implemented at Thursday's IAEA board meeting which will discuss a draft EU resolution on the issue. Iran never fully suspended the programme after making a similar promise to France, Britain and Germany in October 2003.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/23/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Iran halts key nuclear work to avoid sanctions
And, they initiated a sales campaign on an "original" Omar Khayyam manuscript, complete with Times New Roman superscripts.
#2
Boy, threats of triggering UN sanctions....I'll bet the MMs are shaking in their curly toed slippers. Meanwhile, the olde Hex is a-spinnin' merrily away in the centrifuges.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/23/2004 0:56 Comments ||
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#3
ElBaradei... ElBaradei...
Isn't that the UN employee, who by the way was the former head of Egyptian nuke program, who recently leaked disinformation in order to manipulate the US Presidential Election?
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/23/2004 2:24 Comments ||
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#5
They've never stopped - anything. They've never slowed down - anything. Total farce, total disinfo, total lies, total joke - and it's on every wanker who thinks they've have any effect whatsoever on the Mad Mullahs - especially the E3. Elbaradai is either complicit or imbecilic - either way, a fool and tool.
There is only one course of action that will belay their acquiring a nuke and using it: their eradication. Then the joke will be funny. Damned funny.
#6
Iran halts what? Now where is that friggin bridge I have to sell...
The sooner this affair gets over with by precision strikes, the better for all involved, xcept moollahs. Well, it'd better for them too, they just don't know it.
#7
All of this wrangling back and forth only puts Israel in the 'hot seat' as the Wild Card to watch! Israel WILL strike Iran even if it knows it's preemptive targets won't achieve regime change;(hedging their bet, the US backs it's ally) for the subsequent retaliative offense!
Israel will 'trigger the web' that will subdue our "catch"!
#9
careful JM - you're conjuring up a Sylwester thread intervention
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/23/2004 9:42 Comments ||
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#10
smn, have you considered that maybe Israel can't reach out and whack Iran sufficiently violently and comprehensively?
I'm concerned EU politicians are calculating that Israel will eventually and devastatingly be attacked by Iran. It wouldn't be the first time the EU acts against the interests of Jews. I don't think EUniks realize what Israel could and would do in such circumstances (the lack of response to Saddam's missiles during GW I was bad and misleading in that respect).
I think the liberation of Kuwait 1991 and Iraq 2003 have saved us from certain WMD-based war provoked by Saddam. I'm worried Iran has been left free to pursue its own mad purpose in the last 25 years.
What will happen if (when) the US starts bombing Iran? will we lose the support of the UK? or will Blair sack Jack Straw? just before running for his own re-election? I suppose we need to have the elections in Iraq first. Then what happened in Fallujah may seem to be small compared to what will happen in Iran. I hope.
This mail may not be surprising to you if you have been following current events in the international media with reference to the Middle East and Palestine in particular.
I am Mrs. SUHA ARAFAT, the wife of YASSER ARAFAT, the Palestinian leader who died recently in Paris. Since his death and even prior to the announcement, I have been thrown into a state of antagonism, confusion, humiliation, frustration and hopelessness by the present leadership of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the new Prime Minister. I have even been subjected to physical and psychological torture. As a widow that is so traumatized, I have lost confidence with everybody in the country at the moment.
You must have heard over the media reports and the Internet on the discovery of some fund in my husband secret bank account and companies and the allegations of some huge sums of money deposited by my husband in my name of which I have refused to disclose or give up to the corrupt Palestine Government. In fact the total sum allegedly discovered by the Government so far is in the tune of about $6.5 Billion Dollars. And they are not relenting on their effort to make me poor for life. As you know, the Moslem community has no regards for women, hence my desire for a foreign assistance.
I have deposited the sum of 20 million dollars with a security firm abroad whose name is withheld for now until we open communication. I shall be grateful if you could receive this fund into your bank account for safe keeping and any Investment opportunity. This arrangement is known to you and my personal Attorney. He might be dealing with you directly for security reasons as the case may be.
In view of the above, if you are willing to assist for our mutual benefits, we will have to negotiate on your Percentage share of the $20,000,000 that will be kept in your position for a while and invested in your name for my trust pending when my Daughter, Zahwa, will come off age and take full responsibility of her Family Estate/inheritance.
Please note that this is a golden opportunity that comes once in life time and more so, if you are honest, I am going to entrust more funds in your care as this is one of the legacy we keep for our children.
In case you don't accept please do not let me out to the security and international media as I am giving you this information in total trust and confidence I will greatly appreciate if you accept my proposal in good faith. Please expedite action.
Yours sincerely,
Suha Arafat
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2004 9:54:47 PM ||
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#2
I suspect that things may be smoother than would be apparent on the surface. For their part, the Kurds have a group of leaders that are very educated and erudite (having heard them speak), and they have powerful allies in both the US, and, strangely enough, with their new friend, Turkey. The Shia are businesslike, and I suspect would be far more comfortable with a federal situation than would the Sunni. For their part, the Sunni have been severely rattled of late, and may be weakened in their representation in the government. And without the firm backing of a weaponed Iraqi army, they are just an annoying minority. This leaves the Kurdish leaders to explain how very much the Kurds have to gain in a federal state, vs. how terribly much they could lose if they sought independence. So while they may not have an independent country de jure, they can be content to have such a land de facto. The final, long term selling point to the Kurds will be "what does a unified Iraq offer us?" If the answer is substantive, the outlook is good.
#3
The Sunnis are making a big mistake here. They are wasting the cream of their fighting men - i.e. the guys who are willing to fight (and die fighting) - in a campaign they cannot win. Far better to spread their tentacles within the regular Iraqi army and wait for the moment when US forces finally withdraw. The axiom haste makes waste was never so obvious as it is now.
With so many military families scrambling to ship holiday care packages to their loved ones deployed around the world, the U.S. Postal Service is stepping in to make things a bit easier. It's offering a package of free packing materials, including 10 boxes, 10 customs forms with envelopes, 10 "Mili-Pac" shipping envelopes, which are specially printed to reflect the complexities of military mailing addresses, and a roll of Priority Mail tape. To order the special kit, call (800) 610-8734 and request Care Kit 4. Brennan said the Postal Service will ship it by Priority Mail, with delivery generally within a couple of days. Although the packing materials are free, shippers must still pay normal postage costs, Brennan said
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/23/2004 8:05:00 PM ||
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The Middle East quartet met Tuesday on the sidelines of the international conference on Iraq in a renewed bid to revive the peace process following the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. "We are all encouraged. We reaffirmed our determination to work with the Palestinian leadership to support the January 9 election" to choose a successor to Arafat, UN chief Kofi Annan told reporters after the meeting. "We must give them all the necessary support. There is an opportunity to... move ahead with the roadmap" peace plan. "We believe the Israeli government is also ready," the secretary general said, also referring to discussions with the Israelis to release frozen Palestinian funds. "We will send election monitors, ensure international support to see they get the necessary budgetary support," Annan said. The brief quartet meeting came a day after US Secretary of State Colin Powell held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on his first trip to the region in 18 months, before heading to Egypt's resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Everybody's all hopeful now. This'll last until the next bus boom.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2004 4:38:34 PM ||
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'"We will send election monitors, ensure international support to see they get the necessary budgetary support," Annan said.'
#2
The solution for the Paleo "government" is very simple: dismantle/break the terrorist groups that operate openly in their midst. Then sweep the slate clean in the schools and institute a new curriculum with new textbooks minus the derogatory passages about Jews. Anything short of these two actions (for starters) can only be taken to mean that the Paleos aren't serious about any kind of lasting peace.
#3
We need to keep a sharp eye out to see that State is not throwing hard-earned taxpayers dollars on the same Paleo agenda. It will take Condi time to clean out the anti-Israel-pro-terrorist group.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/23/2004 21:11 Comments ||
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"Nope. Can't do it. Too busy occupying. Try asking Soddy Arabia."
The World Bank called on Israel to sharply reduce army closures which have decimated Palestinian trade and employment, painting a bleak picture of the economy of the occupied territories. Four years into the Palestinian uprising, average incomes have dropped by more than a third and a quarter of the workforce is unemployed, said one report entitled: "Four years - Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis". A massive 47 percent of the Palestinian population in the occupied territories live below the official poverty line, on barely two dollars a day, the report found. "More than 600,000 people - 16 percent of the population - cannot afford even the basic necessities for subsistence."
A second report entitled "Deep Palestinian Poverty in the Midst of Economic Crisis" said that generally well-targeted donor relief had helped in preventing widespread malnutrition and lowered the poverty rate. But it warned that "in the short term, a significant portion of the Palestinian population is likely to remain poor and increasingly vulnerable to further shocks as their savings are exhausted". Donors disbursed 883 million dollars in 2003 - 264 million of which went to emergency and humanitarian aid and the same amount to budget support.
Suha spent the rest.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2004 4:35:41 PM ||
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#2
I hope they got all of Suha's financial info in order so, when she's found face down in the Seine,
they can grab it all up and can kick all these folks back a few bucks.
I'm sure Suha would want it that way...
#3
The paleos should get their own house in order. If they'd give up genocide as a way of life and actually work for a living, their economy wouldn't be in the toilet.
You'll notice I'm not holding my breath.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/23/2004 17:10 Comments ||
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#4
ever see a skinny paleo kid with a distended stomache--its bull--these people are the fattest most well fed poor people in world history--they only lose weight when they have aids like their late leader
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
11/23/2004 17:25 Comments ||
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#5
This is contravened everytime some Palestinian unloads his AK-47 in "celebratory gunfire." Although the cost of 7.62mm ammunition varies according to supply and demand, the range that I've seen for that area is between $1 and $7 per bullet. So every 30 round clip of 7.62 launched heavenward costs between $30 and $210. As long as they can afford celebratory (or hostile) gunfire, they don't need economic help from us.
#6
If the members of the World Bank think that Israel is ever going to open its borders to Palestinians again, they are crazy. It's more likely that Israel will start importing Mexicans to do the work formerly done by Palestinans than that Israelis will ever voluntarilay expose themselves to this tribe of murders. Israel's policy to the Palestinians can be expressed succinctly as FOAD.
Posted by: Random thoughts ||
11/23/2004 17:34 Comments ||
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#7
Maybe they can get a matching grant form the Magic Kingdom so they stop sending their money to build Madrassas in South Asia.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/23/2004 17:38 Comments ||
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Closures, stop and searches, entry permits, sounds like a war or something.
The world's main powers and countries across the Middle East put on a rare show of unity Tuesday to support elections in Iraq that UN chief Kofi Annan termed "critical" to quell rampant violence. The stand was enshrined in a joint declaration approved by the United States, France and other Western states, the interim government in Iraq, as well as Iran, Turkey, several Arab countries, China and Russia at the close of a two-day international conference in this Red Sea resort.
The new interim Palestinian leadership has agreed to avoid a crackdown against insurgency groups. Palestinian Authority officials said the leadership that succeeded PA Chairman Yasser Arafat decided that PA security forces would not be employed against insurgency groups that do not threaten the new regime. The officials said the decision was relayed to several Arab allies as well as the United States. "The policy is that there will be dialogue and mutual respect between the PA and armed groups," a PA official said. "In another few months, this policy could be reviewed."
"Assuming any of us are left alive, of course..."
Officials said the policy was instituted in an effort to maintain stability in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the Palestinian elections on Nov. 9. They said that during the campaign the interim PA leadership -- composed of PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei -- would not force insurgency groups to agree to a ceasefire.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2004 4:21:50 PM ||
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was instituted in an effort to maintain stability
Of course! Makes sense! Not much sense, but sense. Like passing out of the single wing.
Posted by: Bill Peterson ||
11/23/2004 16:36 Comments ||
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#2
Nah. They're good guys. Really. Just a little "hot headed" sometimes... like every five seconds.
#3
Has any leader in Palestine, or the Middle East for that matter, ever taken Human Behavioral Psychology 101? Based on the 1st paragraph, I would bet not.
#4
Sorry, boys - as long as those "hotheads" are running around loose, shooting people, etc, etc, you have ZERO chance of putting together an actual state (as opposed to a anarchistic thugocracy).
#5
Barring a miraculous change in attitude, I'd say that these Paleo retards are a lost cause. GWB would be better off simply ignoring them and putting his energies into more pressing and more important matters.
U.S. Army soldiers of the 111th Signal Battalion recently organized the donation and distribution of 400 pairs of shoes and various other items from the United States to Iraqis working for the Department of Public Works on Logistics Support Area Anaconda in Balad, Iraq. The battalion is a South Carolina Army National Guard unit deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. "It all started because we had DPW [Directorate of Public Works] guard duty with these [local nationals], and we just kind of formed a bond with them because we see them each and every day," said Sgt. Robert Cadden, a member of the 111th Signal. "We created a friendship with them and we felt like we wanted to help this group."
In order to prevent a rush of Iraqis trying to receive donations, the locals were not informed of the unit's intent to distribute clothing beforehand. "We didn't want to let [the workers] know in advance," Cadden said. "There was quite a bit of confusion and pandemonium just with them knowing once they got on site."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/23/2004 3:55:00 PM ||
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Anan: "holy credibility meter; Batman! My time is running out!!"
The coming Palestinian elections provide an opportunity to revive the Middle East peace process, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday, adding that Israel is ready for such a step.
Annan spoke after talks among world leaders who came to this Red Sea resort for a conference on Iraq and held a side meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. tis the season for "lame duck" hunting
Annan said talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Colin Powell were dominated by the Jan. 9 elections for a Palestinian Authority president to replace the late Yasser Arafat. .....we can no longer hide our failure and hatred for Israel.
Powell, who held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders before flying here on Monday, had assured my last ditched effort to stab Bush in the back them that US President George W. Bush intended to advance the peace process in his second term. Israeli leaders, who boycotted Arafat, told Powell they would ease travel restrictions on Palestinians to facilitate voting.
"We are all encouraged," Annan said, adding the UN would provide election monitors. election monitors would ensure that Hamas and Hizbullah gets a seat in the council resulting in the Paleo voice not being heard
"There is an opportunity to move ahead with the road map," Annan said, referring to the peace plan sponsored by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia. "We believe the Israeli government is also ready."
The host of the Iraq conference, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said the Israeli-Arab conflict was as much a threat to the region as the insurgency in Iraq. Egypt: "we speak on the behalf of super power democracies"
"Efforts to achieve stability in Iraq cannot be separated from strenuous efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East," Aboul Gheit said in an opening address. stable Iraq would re-focus attention towards oppressive Islamo dictatorships
The conference, which began Monday and ends Tuesday, brought together amid tight security representatives of nations that opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq but who recognize the need to contribute to its reconstruction.
"It is a world duty to save Iraq from its tragic situation," Aboul Gheit said. But don't call us, we'll call you.
The 20 nations attending the conference are expected to endorse the interim Iraqi government's campaign against insurgents. Their draft resolution also calls on all parties to avoid violence against civilians and excessive use of force. political jargin for "our proxy war against the U.S. did not work out so well (understatement)"
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2004 1:10:25 PM ||
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The administration should make it clear, however, that regardless of who wins the upcoming "election", there's going to have to be some hard choices for the Paleo leadership to make before any further U.S. support is forthcoming. No more playing for time, Arafart-style.
November 23, 2004: The U.S. Air Force is beginning it's A-10 upgrade, that will convert most of the current A-10A aircraft to A-10Cs (the A-10B was a two seat version produced in small quantities). Most of the changes will not be visible, and many will be in the cockpit. The pilots will now have color LCDs, new instruments and a new joystick with enough buttons on it to allow the pilot to control just about everything without having to fiddle with any other controls. This is called HOTAS (Hands-On Throttle And Stick). The A-10C will be able to use JDAM (GPS guided) smart bombs, as well as many current, and future, missiles. This makes the A-10 even more versatile. The air force has been trying to dump the A-10 for some two decades now. But the army combat troops like it, as do the air force pilots who fly it and, most importantly, so does the media. The A-10C will be the most versatile combat warplane the air force operates. The A-10 is the only warplane that can get down low (the better to figure what is really going on), and deliver effective firepower (via the 30mm automatic cannon). The A-10C will also be able to drop smart bombs from higher altitudes, making it able to deal with just about any combat support mission that comes up. In addition, the A-10 is designed to operate from crude airbase facilities and, in general, take a lot of punishment and keep going.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/23/2004 11:32:38 AM ||
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This is called HOTAS (Hands-On Throttle And Stick)
Hey! No snickering, dammit!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/23/2004 11:38 Comments ||
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#8
Don't forget their air-to-air capability: A10's shot down two Iraqi helicopters during GW 1 (and the pilots later offered to fly topcover for F15's.)
Posted by: Matt ||
11/23/2004 13:06 Comments ||
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#9
I echo Mike. The A-10, the Soldier's friend.
Cyber Sarge, forget what looks meaner: the A-10 SOUNDS MEANER. I think it's caused more soiled enemy undies per sortie than any other aircraft that's ever been in the inventory.
#10
I wish someone would tell the AF to put a sock in it and give the Army its own organic fixed-wing CAS. This dumb-ass game of fixed-wing "having" to be Air Force, out of what? Pride? Just because?, has killed far too many soldiers. If the Army was *permitted* to have A-10Cs, it would pay for ten times as many, having an organic squadron to every combat brigade.
#11
I was getting my instrument flying training in May of 1988. One morning I was under the hood, on the gauges, getting vectored to Eilson AFB for a practice instrument approach. My instructor told me to take off my hood for a minute. Above me was a KC-10 and beside me were two A-10s as pretty as can be. They flew with authority!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/23/2004 13:37 Comments ||
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#12
I love them 'Hogs - a Cavalryman's best friend!
And if the Airforce doesnt want the A-10's, give em to the Army - we they will fly the things for 2 more decades with Warrant Officers on the stick.
#13
Anonymoose, The Army had a chance to take the A-10s during the Bush I administration but they didn't want it. The Air Force was modifying some F-16s to ground support variants and planned on retiring the A-10 before the Desert Storm. Well the A-10 proved so useful that they decided to keep it. BTW the Air Force Forward Air Controllers assigned to every Army combat unit.
#14
#8. Matt, the A10 that shot down two enemy helicopters during GW1 is on static display at the Air Force Academy. When the pilot returned from that mission he learned that two US choppers were unaccounted for. Needless to say he had a taut puckerstring until the friendlies finally showed up.
The Army did want the A-10... but not at the price the Air Force wanted to give it away for. GEN McPeak (Air Force) said, "you can have the A-10 but we want the Patriot missile system". Sounds like a simple trade. But the Army would be giving up any say on where theatre missile defense batteries (patriots) would be place. Thus, they said no.
The Army knew the true value of the A-10. An ugly, slow streetfighter that could dish out punishment and take it as well. It's the only aircraft with triple redundency... three back ups if a system goes down. Not to mention it was built around a 30mm chain gun. True statement... the Hog is the Armor guys best friend.
The AC-130 is the Ranger's best friend. It's like a mobile artillery platform with deadly accuracy. Call either one in for Close Air Support (CAS) and your like a dog getting it's belly scratched!
Also, got no idea what an AH-10 is. AH is the designation for attack helicopter.
Posted by: Pissed off Army ||
11/23/2004 14:57 Comments ||
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#17
I took the "AH-10" reference to be to the (AH-64) Apache. Just a typo.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
11/23/2004 15:03 Comments ||
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#18
But the army combat troops like it, as do the air force pilots who fly it and, most importantly, so does the media.
Ah, that GAU-8 cannon and the bullets it fires.... :)
#19
The sound of the screaming jets is fine but the 30mm Avenger cannon is the best....If I was on the ground I'd be looking for new Hanes toute suite....
#21
GK, thanks, I didn't hear that part of the story.
Posted by: Matt ||
11/23/2004 16:16 Comments ||
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#22
A10 = Al Qaeda/Taliban paradise lost
Posted by: Capt America ||
11/23/2004 16:26 Comments ||
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#23
Foiled again by the Pajamahadeen! LOL I don't know why I typed AH-10! I have the computer game "AH-64 Apache"! That is what I meant. All three look mean as hell just sitting on the runway. Agree that McPeak was a 'AF 1st' and everyone else second type of General. During Desert Storm a friend told me how all activity in the POW compound would cease when the A-10s took off. It even sounds mean when it takes off, kind of like a low growl.
#1
RB Futures:
Event: Mahmoud Abbas Assassinated
Group: Iran
Narrative: to prevent his election and reconciliation with Israel
Window: 3 Months (2/14/2005)
Probability 90% entered by Frank G on 11/16/2004
Probability 99% entered by Anon6619 on 11/18/2004
Overall opinion is Highly Probable (94%)
Current opinion is Highly Probable (99%)
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/23/2004 9:40 Comments ||
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#2
He'll be whacked by Christmas
Posted by: Capt America ||
11/23/2004 16:24 Comments ||
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This is Gaza, site of a particularly bloody conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Somewhere in the middle of this battlefield, attending to the fallout of war, supplying food, water and accommodation, tracing dead bodies and their parts for burial, assisting the wounded, the bereaved, the tortured,.... ....er, what was that? Oh, I see. The torture will remain unexplained. There'll be no further mention of it during the following half hour of being tortured by the BBC. People will think that 'torture' refers to the actions of those vicious Israelis. They wont stop to think that it could refer to torture of Paleostinians by Paleostinians.
....the homeless and the imprisoned is the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross — ICRC. And here its sister organization, the Palestinian Red Thingy Crescent Society. In this series, the BBC World Service accompanies Red Thingy Cross and Red Thingy Crescent staff working to help the victims of war, famine and national disaster. There will be no mention of Israel's Magen David Adom — MADA — and the extraordinary work it does assisting victims of terror. There will also be no mention of the fact that MADA has been refused recognition by the ICRC and therefore cannot work in conjunction with this distinguished body. The Star is spurned by the Cross and the Crescent (and, of course, by the BBC).
I'll be finding out why the Red Thingy Cross, after a hundred and forty years of following its aim to help the helpless is itself facing crisis in a world of insurgency and terrorism. The BBC mentioning terrorism?!
The ICRTC delegation was blown up last year in Iraq because Islamic militants.... ....and here I was getting excited.
....believed the symbol of the Red Thingy Cross represented western domination. That's how the BBC views terror. A kind of noble guerrilla struggle, all the fault of the west, naturally.
And here, the local organization in Gaza, the Palestinian Red Thingy Crescent has also been treated with distrust. Oh, I see, blowing up a building and killing and maiming humanitarian workers is the natural outcome of 'distrust' of domination. But wait, it gets better:
An ambulance driver was shot by the IDF on suspicion that he was smuggling weapons. Shot on suspicion?? Perhaps they stopped him, walked up to him and shot him through the head because they thought he might be smuggling weapons?? Or he was the one who didn't stop at a checkpoint after the IDF had become aware that ambulance drivers were in fact smuggling weapons. And was he killed or just injured? And were they shooting at him, or trying to immobilize the ambulance? Right after the 'shot on suspicion' accusation presented as fact, a Red Thingy Cross worker explains that as long as they identify themselves clearly, they encounter no problems from the Israeli side. But what about the Red Thingy Crescent? We are left to assume that the driver was killed or wounded simply because he worked for the Red Thingy Crescent. Very devious, and very effective. At the end of the programme, we are taken down to the ocean:
There is an eerie beauty to the coast of Gaza. But despite this long stretch of golden Mediterranean beach, there's no holiday making here. There's the occasional swimmer and people washing clothes. Otherwise just a promise of what peace might bring. (Sound of waves breaking close to shore). 'Inside the Red Cross' by Alan Little (01:00 — 01:30 GMT 11/23/04) A 'Just Radio' Production (Neat double meaning of 'just'.) Produced by Kate Bland (The BBC is only bland on the surface.) Can be heard at:
BBCworldservice.com/programmes/archive
(I can't access it yet. I suppose it takes a bit of time to archive)
Posted by: Anonymous Poster ||
11/23/2004 3:38:20 AM ||
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The International Red Thingy Cross is way too postmodern for its own good.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
11/23/2004 10:45 Comments ||
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Yes, and their propaganda is getting better and better. It only becomes clear when you sit down and pick it apart.
The U.S. said terrorists may be planning attacks in the ``near future'' in the Indian cities of Mumbai and New Delhi and asked its citizens to increase security. Indian government bonds fell on the news. Some U.S. diplomatic offices in Mumbai, India's commercial capital, are closed today as a precaution, it said. The statement made no reference to any shutdown in the capital New Delhi. ``Terrorists may be planning attacks on U.S. interests in India in the near future,'' according to a statement posted on the Web site of the Mumbai consulate of the U.S. embassy. ``Although not specific, the information suggests that an attack could be aimed at U.S. interests.''
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
11/23/2004 2:31:22 AM ||
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EFL
According to reports, the Saudi Arabian Embassy in New Delhi is pushing - somewhat tentatively - India's Human Resource Development Ministry and Minorities Commission to set up new madrassas (seminaries) in India. The same reports claim the Saudi royal family has cleared plans to construct 4,500 madrassas in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka at a cost of US$35 million, to promote "modern and liberal education with Islamic values". The Saudi money would be dispersed through nine Jamaat-e-Ulema organizations in the four countries, and the project is targeted to take off in February 2005, reports indicate. It is difficult to fathom New Delhi acceding to the Saudi request. Presently, there are an estimated 35,000 madrassas in India, big as well as small, with an enrollment of about 1.5 million. This presents a clear security problem for India and other South Asian governments.
Madrassas in India
...The Hindu-Muslim relationship, deeply affected by the violent partition of the nation in 1947, got another serious jolt in December 1992 with the demolition of the Babri masjid in Ayodhya. Demolition of this mosque by a large group of anti-Muslim militants sent shockwaves throughout the Muslim community in India and beyond...The proliferation of madrassas in India in the years that followed acted to link India to the increasingly growing militant political agenda of Muslims. Significantly, a large number of madrassas have been set up in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura, as well as in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. With the exception of Uttar Pradesh, and to a certain extent, West Bengal, these states all have poor law and order records and are affected by violent insurgency activities. According to Indian intelligence authorities in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Central Bureau of Investigation, some of these madrassas were used by the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) organization to indoctrinate young, impressionable minds for future terrorist activities against a "Hindu" state.
Unstable Nepal
In Nepal, bordering India, a full-blown Maoist movement menaces the Hindu kingdom-nation. Nepal has a small number of Muslims who, as records show, have not participated in the violent Maoist uprising in western and central Nepal. Nonetheless, reports indicate that the Nepalese government has begun regulating madrassas amid growing concern that these institutions might be fanning radicalism in the country. The ISI has established linkages with the Muslims of Nepal, and funding for various anti-India activities are channeled through these Nepali Muslims, who receive foreign funding to run their madrassas. Although not much direct evidence has been presented yet to justify this conclusion, it has been widely accepted in India that in many countries, particularly in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Islamic militants were funded by foreign charitable organizations through madrassas. One such group, Pantech, based in Pakistan and engaged in establishing madrassas in Nepal, has been identified as an ISI front group.
Growing fundamentalism in Bangladesh
Indian security authorities are also keeping a wary eye on the growth of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh. RAW points out that Pakistani terrorist outfits such as Hizbul Jihad-e-Islam have been implanted in Bangladesh by Pakistani intelligence groups to speed up a violent anti-India Islamic militant movement. RAW correlates the spurt in the growth of madrassas in Bangladesh with such anti-India activities...While there is no doubt that Bangladesh is becoming increasingly fundamentalist, the exact role of madrassas is difficult to ascertain. Nonetheless, it is certain that Saudi Arabia's goal is to spread the more orthodox variety of Sunni theology, known as Wahhabism, throughout the Sunni world. Saudi Arabia has spent oodles of money to achieve this objective all over the Islamic world, particularly where Sunnis dominate. There is compelling evidence that suggests that some, if not most, of the money spent by various Saudi outfits to spread Wahhabism ends up financing militancy and terrorism.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/23/2004 1:35:33 AM ||
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The Saudis promoting modern and liberal education. Thats the day's best laugh!
Paul - You're really on a roll tonight - trolling the weirder waters (atimes? lol!), bro! I love this bit: "the more orthodox variety of Sunni theology, known as Wahhabism"
and this one: "The House of Saud sees the setting up of madrassas as an exercise to correct the distorted worldwide image of Islam."
I spewed Dr Pepper all over reading those, lol!
I figure you have a PhD in Maintaining an Even Strain, but the real question is, Are you able to keep a straight face when you hit the "Accept" button, lol??!! Just wanna make sure you're still uninfected, heh. Thx!
#4
It's becoming abundantly clear that something has to be done about the Saudis. We've seen where exporting their own troubles have got us in the past. I can only hope that once GW has sortede out the Iranians that all attention is then focussed on the Oil Ticks.
Mind you, I'll not let that get me down - it's been a *great, nay sooperb!* November, and there's still a week left! :)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
11/23/2004 7:30 Comments ||
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I hope Dr. Rice has a litle discussion with the Princes real soon. Talk to them in a way they understand.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/23/2004 9:16 Comments ||
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The "seethe quotient" in India just went up 10%, and they haven't even begun construction yet...
#7
Why do these idiots want to spread more wahabbism around when it's those same madrassa grads who will toss the princes on the dung heap of history? You'd think they would've learned by now that in the kingdom is one thing, but outside the kngdom is another. It's lip service guys, not cash.
#10
I read somewhere that 80% of the mosques constructed in the US are financed by Saudis. The same sickness is here in the US. We will have to deal with it, too.
The HUGE transfer of wealth by the West to the Saudis is coming back with interest in the form of Terrorism and destruction of Western values. It really comes down to money. Saudi Arabian princes are the West's Public Enemy No. 1, with Iran a close second.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/23/2004 11:15 Comments ||
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"modern and liberal education with Islamic values"
In other words they're expanding the system to teach modern bomb-making skills in conjunction with the Koran. Any child sent into the system should be required to have "TERRORIST" tattooed across their forehead. Yes, 5 or 6 of the 35,000 won't turn out to actually BE terrorists...but I say we err on the side of caution!
Sounds like a deal might have finally been made between the Pakistan People's Party and the Musharraf regime. It should have happened years ago.
Pakistan's Supreme Court yesterday granted bail to the jailed husband of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, paving the way for his release, a lawyer and a government spokesman said. Lawyer Farooq Naek said Asif Ali Zardari, who has been jailed since 1996, has now been granted bail in all the corruption cases against him. He said that once the surety of 1 million rupees ($21,575) had been submitted, Zadari would be freed unless state prosecutors filed a new case against him. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said "the government will respect the Supreme Court decision and Asif Zardari will be freed when they deposit surety bonds." He expected that legal procedure to be complete in "one or two days." "We will welcome his release. This will be good for political harmony," Ahmed said.
Bhutto was twice prime minister of Pakistan, but her governments were dismissed in both 1990 and 1996 for alleged corruption. She lives in exile but still heads the Pakistan People's Party, one of the country's main opposition groups. In September, a court overturned Zardari's conviction for receiving kickbacks from the state-run Pakistan Steel Mills in 1995, during his wife's tenure, for which he was sentenced for seven years. However, he has remained in custody awaiting trial on at least nine other corruption and criminal cases, all registered against him since 1996. Bhutto's party contends that the cases are politically motivated. Notice that the husband of a former Prime Minister can remain in prison without trial for 8 years, and yet the Jihadi emirs never stay under arrest for more than a few months at a time.
If Zardari were released, it could improve rancorous relations between the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Bhutto's party. On Friday, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz offered to hold talks on key national issues with opposition groups - which are planning to stage street rallies in the weeks ahead to protest Musharraf's apparent intention to backtrack on a promise to stand down as army chief by the year's end and rule as a civilian. Sen. Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for Bhutto's party, accused the government and the state National Accountability Bureau, which investigates allegations of corruption against officials, of persecuting Zadari. "Asif Zardari has been vindicated, truth has triumphed. The rulers have been exposed. The myth of accountability exploded," he said. "Those who kept Asif Zardari in illegal confinement for more than eight years and those in the NAB who have been using accountability for political ends, must today hang their heads in shame." Actually, the level of curruption from Zadari was so renowned that he was widely known as "Mr 10%" for the cut that he would demand from his 'business partners'. And yet the PPP is the most moderate mainsteam party in Pakistan, and it's leader seems to be very loyal to her husband, so this release is probably necessary for the completion of any deal with the military.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/23/2004 1:13:44 AM ||
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I do not think it is good idea to give up on Musharraf just yet. Over the past 3 years, he has been very helpful to us on the war on terror. I say give him at least 4 more years and then dump him for another puppet.
Posted by: Mark ||
11/23/2004 5:59 Comments ||
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In the Afghan theater of the war on terrorism, Pakistan despite its close alliance with George W. Bush's Administration is playing something of a double game. On the one hand, Islamabad has aggressively pursued al-Qaeda operatives since 9/11. It has arrested more than 600 suspects and handed most of them over to the U.S. Also, Pakistan has sent thousands of troops into the tribal areas to drive out al-Qaeda fighters hiding in the mountains along its Afghan border. But President Pervez Musharraf's government has done little to capture the many Taliban commanders who have fled into hiding in the country, according to Afghan officials and Taliban fighters and sympathizers in the frontier Pakistani cities of Quetta and Peshawar. Pakistan's reluctance, according to a senior Kabul official, stems from its "nostalgia" for when Afghanistan was firmly within its orbit of influence.
Letting the Taliban remain free gives Pakistan a card to play if or when the U.S. decides to vacate Afghanistan.
Letting the Taliban remain free gives Pakistan a card to play if or when the U.S. decides to vacate Afghanistan. "If money and support were to stop from the Pakistani side, the Taliban would be finished," says Mullah Rocketi, a former Taliban commander who earned his nickname for his accuracy in shooting Soviet tanks and who spent time at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Islamabad's reluctance to crack down has allowed Afghan fundamentalists to use Pakistan as a refuge from which to recruit fresh militants and launch cross-border ambushes against U.S. and Afghan troops.
Some ex-Taliban fighters even allege that colonels in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), are funding former Taliban proteges.
Some ex Taliban fighters even allege that several colonels in Pakistan's security agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), are funding former Taliban proteges through madrasahs, or religious schools, and mosques in border villages. "The ISI knows where the Taliban live," Mujahed says. "They could arrest us all in a day. But they don't bother us." His claims could be dismissed as an attempt to win favor with his Afghan jailers. Afghans often blame Pakistan for nearly every ill a legacy of Islamabad's pre-9/11 support for the Taliban regime. But the prisoner's allegations are consistent with reports by Afghan and Western intelligence officials who contend that more than a dozen times in the past two years, they have alerted Pakistani authorities to the locations of specific Taliban hideouts, only to find that the extremists had slipped away before the raids started. (In response, Pakistani officials say the tip-offs were too sketchy.)
"Right now," says a senior Afghan official, "we have solid evidence that Mullah Omar is hiding near Quetta." Other Taliban bosses are living openly in Pakistani cities, according to Afghan intelligence officials and several jailed jihadis. A captured seminary dropout, for example, claims he was recruited to carry bombs into Afghanistan by a senior Taliban living in Peshawar's swanky Hyatabad district. And an Afghan who works with the U.S. in Kandahar, Afghanistan, says the former Taliban Defense Minister, Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, openly celebrated his marriage to a teenage bride in Quetta several months ago.
"We know the entire al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership is on the other side, and we can't do a damn thing about it," a U.S. commander complained.
"We know the entire al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership is on the other side, and we can't do a damn thing about it," a U.S. commander complained to his officers on a recent tour of a firebase on the Afghan side of the border. He called in a mortar round that exploded only a few hundred yards short of a Pakistani border post a warning that U.S. patience was being pushed to the limits.
America's impatience reaches all the way to the White House. At a New York City meeting in September of Bush, Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Bush turned to Musharraf and ticked off the names of several Taliban chiefs that U.S. intelligence officials had told him were hiding in Pakistan, according to a member of the Afghan delegation. Musharraf, says the source, denied any knowledge of them. "If the U.S. has specific evidence that the Taliban are hiding here," says presidential spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan, "they should tell us, and we will act." Recently, Musharraf told reporters he was "exasperated" by claims that Taliban leaders were hiding in Pakistan.
But Bush's talk with Musharraf may be paying off. Taliban followers say ties are fraying with their militant sponsors and through them, the ISI. Money for arms, explosives and fresh recruits is drying up. As a result, says a mid-level commander, Taliban are no longer able to mount effective hit-and-run missions inside eastern Afghanistan. In addition, last month's Afghan presidential election seems to have sapped Taliban strength. Despite the extremists' attempts to sabotage voting, Karzai was the overwhelming victor among Pashtuns, the ethnic group of most Taliban.
This article starring:
Major General Shaukat Sultan
MULLAH OBAIDULLAH AKHUND
Taliban
MULLAH ROCKETI
Taliban
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/23/2004 12:08:46 AM ||
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Perhaps Musharraf should ask this Time reporter to show him where the Taliban are hiding, since the reporter appears to have found at least some of them.
#2
Why the hell don't we have agents in Pakland offing these bastards? Some sort of deal with Perv? Clean out the ISI and the "House" of Saud and most of the problems would disappear overnight.
#3
Its not reached that level yet Spot, but the US commander on the ground certainly seems to getting towards a 'whoops, that was Quetta? sorry about that' moment. I can't says I blame him at all...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
11/23/2004 7:18 Comments ||
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A major international conference on al Qaeda and international terrorism takes place here on 2 December. Sponsored by the New York University Centre on Law & Security and the New American Foundation, the one-day conference will open with a paper by CNN's expert on terrorism Prof. Peter Bergen on the current state of al-Qaeda as an organisation. It will also hear presentations by Bruce Hoffman, senior analyst, RAND Corporation and author of Inside Terrorism and Steve Simon also of RAND who is author of The Age of Sacred Terror.
The second session will be addressed by Yosri Fouda of Al Jazeera and author of Masterminds of Terror who in 2002 interviewed Khalid Sheik Muhammad, who is said to be the operational planner of 9/11. Also featured is Dr Jessica Stern of the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government and author of Terror in the Name of God. The session will also hear from Marc Sageman, forensic psychiatrist, and former CIA case officer, who worked with the Afghan mujahideen in Islamabad from 1987 to 1989 and who recently wrote a book called Understanding Terror Networks. Also featured is Abdel Bari Atwan, Managing Editor, Al-Quds Al-Arabi who has interviewed Osama bin Laden.
The third session will be devoted to al Qaeda in Europe with presentations by Rohan Gunaratna, Director, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore and author of Inside Al Qaeda and Ursula Mueller, counterterrorism expert; and minister at the German embassy in Washington. The next session on militant Islam will be addressed by Michael Scheuer, former chief of the CIA Counterterrorist Centre's Bin Laden unit; and author, as "Anonymous", of Through Our Enemies' Eyes. Also on the roster is Salameh Nematt, Washington bureau chief of Al-Hayat. The session dealing with the US and al Qaeda will be addressed by Daniel Benjamin, senior analyst, Centre for Strategic and International Studies and author of The Age of Sacred Terror, Col Pat Lang, former Chief of Middle East Intelligence, Defence Intelligence Agency and Reuel Gerecht, Director, Middle East Initiative, Project for the Next American Century, who is a former CIA Middle Eastern specialist.
The final session on al Qaeda's influence on Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will be addressed by Hamid Mir of Geo TV, Pakistan, Anatol Lieven, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Lawrence Wright of the New Yorker magazine.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/23/2004 12:07:25 AM ||
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So what exactly is this conference supposed to achieve? Seems to me that discussing things out in the open only serves to provide an opening for the enemy to gain some insight as to what our future plans are.
#2
CNN's "expert on terrorism" - is he an OBL fan, too? Wanking in pubic, tsk, tsk. Think anyone is polishing their speaking engagement credentials or promoting a boook or two? Nah, me either. This should be a very quiet, closed, invitation-only meet if it intends to accomplish anything. Sheuer's presence and the fact that he's a session speaker rather clearly indicates it's not a serious effort of serious people. He was canned for his incompetence by the Cinton admin, what sort of recommendation is that, heh? Methinks this is a "Terror Expert" Persona Marketing Symposium.
Zee poop, she keeps getting deeper Capitan! Shall I issue waders to zee mens, sir?
#3
Oops, I like Peter Bergen. He wrote a damn good book on OBL and al-qaeda before 9/11, and from what I gather, is not a moonbat.
Posted by: Rafael ||
11/23/2004 1:16 Comments ||
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.com--any links on sheuer being fired by clinton administration--never saw that anywhere?
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
11/23/2004 4:11 Comments ||
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sheuer being fired by clinton administration......
Was not fired but was removed from the OBL desk in 1999. Why I don't know. His book ain't half bad. Lots of good information and insight. He is a scholar of modern day Jihadism. One doesn't have to buy into his worldview.
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.
Sudanese opposition military leader 
After weeks of reports from North Korea of defecting generals, antigovernment posters and the disappearance of portraits of the country's ruler, the leader of Japan's governing party warned Sunday of the prospects of "regime change" in North Korea. "As long as Chairman Kim Jong Il controls the government, we have to negotiate with him, but it is becoming more doubtful whether we will be able to achieve anything with this government," said 
A visit by President Jacques Chirac to Libya Wednesday is the first ever by a French head of state since independence in 1951 and confirms maverick leader Moamer Kadhafi's gradual return to international respectability. For France the trip is also the chance to stake a claim for lucrative business contracts which should follow Kadhafi's promise to liberalise the oil-rich country's heavily-controlled economy. Accompanied by three ministers and a delegation of business leaders, Chirac spends Wednesday night in Tripoli before flying to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso for the biennial summit of French-speaking nations.
While the use of security firms to protect commercial operations in Iraq receives lots of attention, there are many other parts of the world where private security is in demand. There are many risk management firms that monitor, and rate, the security risk around the world. The list of those places considered dangerous for commercial operations (not to mention tourists) is rather long. 
