Hassan Butt, a 25 year old from Manchester, helped recruit Muslims to fight in Afghanistan. Like most of the London bombers, he is a British Pakistani who journeyed from rootlessness to radical Islam Long, text at link.
#1
"a bomb in London would be strategically damaging to Muslims here. Immigration is lax in Britain. . . London has more radical Muslims than anywhere in the Muslim world. A bomb would jeopardise everyone's position. There has to be a place we can come."
Jeebus. I don't even the cousins right this moment.
Venezuela will divert as much as $17bn this year and next from its oil export income bonanza into an opaque parallel budget for "development" projects, mostly elsewhere in Latin America, economists said yesterday.
Legislators loyal to President Hugo Chávez approved a law last week that sets a ceiling on the international reserves that can be held by Venezuela's central bank (BCV). The reserves currently stand at $30bn (â¬25bn, £17bn). "Excess" foreign earnings in the world's fifth- largest oil exporter must now be deposited into a special fund called Fonden.
The fund is expected to receive its first deposit of $6bn in the next few weeks, and because oil prices are forecast to remain high during the next two years, it is likely to be topped up with about $1bn per month.
But the money will be spent largely at the president's discretion, fuelling doubts about the transparency of public finances.
Santander Investment, the Spanish bank, said in a report yesterday that Venezuela's fiscal policy did not show "any sign" of accountability. "This is likely to be reinforced by the change of the BCV law that will allow the government to accumulate approximately $17bn [between 2005 and 2006] to finance social programmes and public investments."
Much of that looks likely to be spent abroad, adding clout to Mr Chávez's foreign policy goal of extending his "socialist" economic model across Latin America.
On Tuesday Mr Chávez suggested that the first tranche of the fund was already earmarked for Southern Cone countries. "The law authorises us to use [the money] only abroad. We want to use it, and invest part of the $6bn in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay."
Last week Venezuela said it would buy as much as $500m in Ecuadorean sovereign bonds. Earlier this year, Venezuela bought $300m of Argentine debt and it is considering another $200m.
One analyst said the parallel budget was designed to win wider political backing for Mr Chávez's critical stance against the US.
"Financially, the acquisition of Ecuadorean and Argentine bonds is a bad idea," said Orlando Ochoa, an independent economic consultant in Caracas.
"But its objective is not financial. It is aimed at gaining political support in the region for Venezuela's challenge to Washington in the hemisphere."
Posted by: too true ||
07/30/2005 10:09 ||
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great, well at least Chile is there.
Posted by: bk ||
07/30/2005 11:33 Comments ||
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The kommunist government of Kuba finally has found a sucker to float its artifical ekonomy after Soviet Russia bailed out. Good investment to befriend Chavez... everything is in the timing.
Some 440 Uzbek refugees who fled to Kyrgyzstan during a recent political uprising have been flown to Romania. Among them are 14 people whom Uzbekistan claims led the revolt and wants returned.
The refugees fled eastern Uzbekistan following an uprising in the town of Andijan, which was quashed by Uzbek troops in May. It is believed most of them will be resettled in Canada, Germany, Australia and Scandinavian countries.
"The Boeing owned by Thai airlines flew at dawn Friday out of Bishkek to Romania with 440 refugees on board," said UN spokesman Olga Grebennikova.
Romania has agreed to provide temporary shelter after being approached by the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
The UNHCR hoped to secure the release of another 15 men who are still being detained by Kyrgyz authorities at the request of Uzbekistan, which accuses them of various crimes.
These include killing law enforcement officials, fomenting mass disturbances and being members of an extremist group.
The international community started lobbying Kyrgyzstan after it sent back four Uzbeks and announced it would deport the other detainees.
Human rights organisations as well as the US and the UNHCR warned they were likely to be subjected to torture in their country of origin.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appealed to Kyrgyzstan's government "to strictly abide by its international obligations in the treatment of asylum-seekers".
Carlos Zaccagnini, head of the UNHCR in Kyrgyzstan, said the agency would "continue to work with the [Kyrgyz] government to ensure the freeing of those who are still locked up".
Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Felix Kuklov on Thursday said any decision on the 15 detained Uzbeks would be taken in accordance with the UN's refugee convention. He said their UN refugee status took precedence over bilateral accords with neighbouring Uzbekistan.
The Uzbek government claims 173 people were killed in the May protest, most of them Islamic militants. It blames the uprising on Islamic extremists and criminals. But eyewitnesses say up to 500 people were killed in Andijan, among them women and children.
Almost 500 people fled over the border to Kyrgyzstan, where they have been placed in a refugee camp. 67
Events are still evolving in Uzbekistan. I wonder if they really are kicking out the US airbase (and may we roll up the runways after ourselves if they do) or if it's a bargaining chip to elicit stronger support of the current regime?
Posted by: too true ||
07/30/2005 07:44 ||
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#1
Fox reported they were to be relocated to the US, Canada, and other countries after six months in Romania. At least one of the London bombers was an asylum seeker and Rita Cosby did a special on the OK City bombing where there was evidence the UN relocated Iraqi Republican guards to OK after the first gulf war. Adapted well, apparently, as there were reports they drank a few beers together at the local pub. Doesn't anyone find Kofi Annan's urging to treat extremists accused of crimes according to strict international standards, with housing and other socialist perks for all, somewhat alarming? I'd even bet Romania is hosting a training camp to aid in the "resettlement" of them into the West.
UZBEKISTAN has evicted the United States from a military base that has served as a hub for combat and humanitarian missions to Afghanistan since shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Washington Post reported today.
A notice to leave Karshi-Khanabad air base, also known as K2, was delivered by a courier from the Uzbek Foreign Ministry to the US Embassy in Tashkent, the newspaper said, citing an unnamed senior US administrative official involved in Central Asia policy.
Uzbekistan will give the United States 180 days to move aircraft, personnel and equipment, the newspaper said.
It said the United States expects Uzbekistan to follow through on the eviction notice and the action would create logistical problems for US operations in Afghanistan.
A Pentagon spokesman had no immediate comment on the report.
#3
Relationships will shift continually for a while in Central Asia.
Posted by: too true ||
07/30/2005 9:29 Comments ||
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#4
The situation in the stans is like the old 'Who's on First' routine.
Moving out of the Phillipines was also termed as creating logitistical problems by the brass at the Pentagon. Tough. Sometimes we not here to make your job easier by selling out principles. We need to keep that to the absolute minimum.
#5
The former Soviet base will just return back to it's old dilipiated self. We spent a lot of money on bringing it up to minimal functionality. Hopefully we remove all the improvements we installed before the government workers loot the place after we are gone. Perhaps we could dump sand & sugar into the fuel pods we installed there too. After all, who is to say that Uzbekistan will not fall within 5 years to radicals with a fatwa against anyone not like them too?
#7
I do not recall the source, but hasn't the ChiComs been doing overtures to Uzbekistan?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/30/2005 12:25 Comments ||
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#8
And the Rooskies too. About 6 months ago the Rooskies even hosted an alleged conference for Uzbeks specializing or associated with natural resources. The natural resources found within Uzbekistan like other stans in the neighborhood have some folks frothing at the mouth. Funny thing about the conference back in late DEC '04... it was held in D.C. And who paid for the air fare and accomodations do you think? Hmm.... Life is so full of intrique.
#9
Now is the time to roll over Islam Karamov(Uzbekistan's "president") and his pretty little mini-me daughter too.
Kill them and drag them throught the streets as a gesture of unity with the Uzbeki people. This fuck needs to be killed today.
Building a democratic government in Uzbekistan is just as important as securing Iraq to or strategic future. It would meet two goals:
1 a permanent military presence in central asia, bringing within reach all of Central asia, Russia, and China. Very strategic.Although currently bases in Kyrgystan can fulfill this goal, thanks to Rummy's recent trip and negotiation to keep our Kyrgystani airfields.
2. a stable democratic government in Central Asia would be the biggest victory against radical islam in the region. The wahhabbis are profiting immensely from a crackdown on freedom of religion by Karamov's regime. It would be a great show of moral superiority were we to assist a largely muslim citizenry revolution against this a$$hole and his puppet govt.
Otherwise Uzbekistan wil be another Chechnya, where non radical nationalist fighters were forced to find allies in the jihadis. We should direct them away from global jihad and if possible deradicalize them before they go past the point of no return. Maybe , maybe not.Maybe too late.
And IMHO assisting with a Uzbeki peoples' revolution against a Stalinist bitch boy would be the best and easiest way to stabilze a section of the region.
Of course, you could try to explain to the new-reimposed totalitarian Russkie Govt the concept of a free press, but he'll prolly never swallow it. The fact that these MSM asshats have been trying to topple yer Boss at every opportunity will prolly whiz right by, as well. Oh well, take yer lumps, State Boy, that what you get paid for.
#1
Whoa - that's a major bitch-slap... It's clear that socialism (in several strengths and flavors), which has been adopted wholesale across much of Europe because it's sold as institutionalized something for nothing, is the soporific at work. And the hardcore socialists have made a common cause / convenience pact with Islam, temporarily one must presume, to undermine and defeat the last remaining vestiges of individualism and free thought. That the wake-up call is reaching some people (Thanks to the moronic bloodthirsty Islamists) is encouraging. Sure would be nice to share the burden of this saving freedom thingy.
The U.S. Army will pull out of 13 bases in southern Germany as part of its repositioning of American forces around the world, its European headquarters said Friday. Eleven bases in and around the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg will be handed over to the German government by September 2007, the Army's European headquarters in Heidelberg said. Two more bases near Wuerzburg will close and be handed over in subsequent years. The Defense Department said the changes will affect about 6,100 soldiers and 11,000 family members as well as about 1,000 Army civilian employees and 1,000 civilians employed locally.
While facilities like the huge Ramstein Air Base, a hub for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are being retained, Washington is bringing many units home and opening smaller, more flexible bases abroad to respond to new threats such as international terrorism.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2005 00:00 ||
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#2
I think it's a big mistake pulling out of Germany, it's still very important that we maintain a presence there.
Is this because of less folks enlisting?
Posted by: Jan ||
07/30/2005 0:21 Comments ||
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#3
Both of you missed the point!
The pullout stems not only from changing priorities but also from the need to stick it to the German Left (public?). Now let them fare without tens of thousands of U.S. servicemen and women plunking down mucho dollars into their economy.
You don't shit in the master's chair and that's exactly what Gehard and company did, continue to do, and plan on more of the same stuff in the future.
#4
Yes, while we probably give their economy quite the boost, I still feel it's necessary. After travelling and spending some time in Germany a few years back, I really got the feeling that they still feel they are the superior race and I could see history being repeated.
Posted by: Jan ||
07/30/2005 0:43 Comments ||
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#5
The 1968ers their commie off spring and German media are quite happy to see us go. The Bavarians who these closings mostly effect will not be, they are "conservative" when comparing them with the rest of Germany.
I think we should stay so we can keep our foot on their throat if they decide to go on the warpath when their socailist dream state craters and they start blaming everyone else for their problems. It after is the German way to deal wiht problems, blame it on someone else.
#6
We had to conquer europe just to get these air bases in place, even tho we stick it to them by hurting their economy, they'll recover and we'll end up with less influences on them in the long run.
#7
"Hurting the economy" is just nonsense. No doubt the local communities (pro-American btw) will be affected but for the German economy as a whole this is just a waterdrop in a bucket.
Germany subsidizes the U.S. presence with more than 1bn dollars a year (Pentagon estimate). It gets more out of it than it spends but even if the net value of total US presence in Germany tops 1 bn dollars, this would represent about 0,1% of the GDP.
The truth is that those bases were laid out to face the Soviet challenge and do not fit into the current US military strategy, that's all.
But "new friends" are not always that reliable as the case of Uzbekistan just showed.
Not likely that you'd ever get an "eviction note" from the German government. Uzbekistan just sent you one.
#8
It's still useful to let the Europeans understand that their dependence on American defense spending is reaching an end. Either they stand up for themselves, at a cost, or they go gently into the Islamist night. Or could it be into the arms of the Russian bear?
Either way, the US should maintain bases in its own interest, not for the sake of the locals.
#9
TGA, I agree. There are plenty of areas in Germany populated with pro-Americans. You've got your red and blue areas too.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/30/2005 2:22 Comments ||
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#10
I think it's a big mistake pulling out of Germany, it's still very important that we maintain a presence there. Is this because of less folks enlisting?
No. The US military is undergoing one of its every-50-years-or-so major restructurings in response to changing missions, world situations and technology.
You can follow more of the details of what and why at the DOD transformation site. The move of Army divisions from Germany and South Korea is part of a reworking of the Army to make combat brigades, rather than the larger divisions, the "unit of action". UAs are the level at which major deployments occur.
Moving to brigades as the deployment unit is connected to other transformation changes. For instance, the Army is changing its job rotation approach: soldiers will spend more time in a given unit. This is due to training / mission benefits, but also lessens the disruption to families. Units will mostly be based at home, but will rotate out to do various missions (including non-combat) more often ... this means families can stay at the same base, retain school continuity for kids and friendships, with the soldiers travelling away from the base more often - i.e. for 1 yr tours in Iraq rather than the 2+ year deployments of individual families to divisions overseas as is currently the case.
Behind all of this is technology. We are evolving what military doctrine people call the "netcentric battlefield". The Army's Future Combat Systems plan, for instance, has a lot of digital data being exchanged between soldiers, commanders and autonomous vehicles (robots such as the ones used in Afghan caves, that can maneuver themselves; unmanned aerial vehicles; etc.)
The result is smaller, nimbler units of action which can respond to situations quickly - especially operations that are smaller than / not necessarily a full war, i.e. the kind of operations we are likely to be doing for the next decade or two, while also allowing the aggregation of such units into larger armies as needed. It also better supports joint operations across the various services.
#11
TGA, I'm not sure that we wouldn't get the equivalent of an eviction note from some future German government. But you are absolutely correct that these bases were established in response to a strategic threat that doesn't exist in the same form anymore.
A restructuring of these large overseas deployments of US troops is timely and appropriate for all concerned.
#12
And, to put this in context, a massive and time-pressured restructuring of the Army occurred in rampup to US participation in WWII.
Roosevelt promoted Gen Marshall, who had realized that our Army was both undermanned for the conflict and also equipped and trained for last century's war - literally, as we still had some horse cavalry in an emerging era of tanks and airplanes.
Marshall's planning and organizational skills made him so valuable that Roosevelt refused to send him to supreme command in Europe. Hence one of the few 5 star generals in our Army's history never directly commanded combat action past the rank of Captain - and that was not because he wasn't a capable field commander.
It's hard for us to realize just how massive the resulting changes to our military were -- expensive, done later than hindsight wished, controversial to some. For instance, tanks were still new. In the 30s, prior to the outbreak of the war, we hadn't standardized on tank design and equipment. Patton was given command of one of our first tank units and used some of his own personal fortune to upgrade equipment for them - not unlike the experimentation being done in Iraq and Afghanistan with new weaponry and command systems today. The resulting experience helped Marshall and his staff standardize equipment, create new doctrine, implement a new way of training and rapidly spin up a powerful Army already under the stress of fighting a war.
You only need enlistments to replace those leaving, for whatever reason, the service. Congress mandates the manpower ceiling the service can have, so for extended periods its a finite sum game. Back in old army of 70s-80s, the Army operated under an 'up or out' personnel system. A soldier had to reach a certain grade by a certain time in service or they had to leave. Call it churning. With the reduction in force starting the 90s, the upper ranks stagnated, that is they stayed around longer, forcing very qualified individuals in the lower ranks out, not because they couldn't do the job, just because the personnel system couldn't promote them. That meant that recruiting had to constantly replace personnel because the 'system' created the need. In the late 90s, someone finally realized that the problem wasn't the soldiers, but the system. The blind 'up or out' policy was modified, so that now you can have at least career E5s [that is individuals who can reach 20 year retire in the rank of sergeant].
Remember your personnel ceiling is fixed. So with record reelistments, the need for new enlistments drops. With the willingness to retain qualified individual regardless of progression in rank, the service is well served. It takes years to make good NCOs [unless you prefer the Darwinian environment which means you pay heavily in casualties to sort out natural leaders, re:Audey Murphy]. Those can not be made up with a first term enlistee which is something Hildabeast and her crowd do not understand. Its not about numbers. Its about the quality of the NCO corps.
#15
I don't see the closure and pull out of forces as a pay back or a bitch slap. I spent three tours there and loved it, despite all the alerts, repeated rotations in and out of the Hohenfels and Grafenwehr Military Training Areas and the former REFORGERs. But change must come.
The ending of the golden era of the Cold War, with our forces so finely honed, began during the great reduction of forces and buy-out plan after the Warsaw Pact countries began to finally implode more rapidly due to the failure of policies and mechanisms brought on by socialism.
The Cold War was long and whether the winner or loser, there are consequences for both sides good and bad. Much of it economic.
Bush Sr. and Gorbachev helped facilitate the dismantling of the status quo built up since the post-WW II tragic decisions that led to the Soviets taking eastern Europe into a bloody iron grip of inhumanity. That status quo was unbelievable in its expense, breadth of influence and monstorous in it's military might for both NATO & the Warsaw Pact. But what a mighty sight!
Bush Sr. & Gorbachev took the spotlight for the facilitation of changing all this. In reality it was a great number of people behind the scenes on both sides who kept the machinery running and a great deal of people to bring the machinery to a near-halt.
The consequences of peace are more appealling to me even if it meant the loss of jobs and frightful military prowness for the world to oggle at. I did my part and I had to shift gears in my military career too.... albeit not so painful as it may have been for others.
The closure of the military bases will be terrible for some and welcomed by others. The times are always a changing, and sometimes seem to change too quickly.
We will get over it and the Germans who built their careers working at these bases will find a way to adjust... that's what the fine near-socialist government of Germany is good at right? It will all work out in the wash.
This is particularly interesting in light of the constant claims that America's Muslim population is moderate and opposed to terrorism and Islamism. Apparently they're not opposed enough to stop hiring the firebrand imams
The voice of the new imam at one of the largest mosques on the East Coast rang loud from the pulpit during Friday services: "The call to reform Islam is an alien call."
People who do not understand Islam are the ones seeking to change it, said Shaker Elsayed, the new spiritual leader at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington. "Ignorance comes from outside circles who know nothing about us."
Though his role as the mosque's religious leader is a new one, Elsayed is well known as a civic activist in a large Muslim community that has been subject to sharp scrutiny ever since the Sept. 11 attacks. His face is a familiar one at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, where he has lent support to area Muslims he sees as victims of a federal witch hunt - from those prosecuted for immigration violations to soliciting treason.
In other words, this mosque picked him despite -- because? -- he's a mouthpiece for those facing accusations. Can we presume, as he is newly picked, that the attendees at that mosque find him and his stance acceptable?
BIRMINGHAM, England - Former President Jimmy Carter on Saturday said the detention of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base was an embarrassment and had given extremists an excuse to attack the United States.
Speaking at the Baptist World Alliance's centenary conference in Birmingham, central England, Carter also criticized the U.S.-led war in Iraq and said it was "unnecessary and unjust."
"I think what's going on in Guantanamo Bay and other places is a disgrace to the U.S.A.," he told a news conference. "I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts."
Carter said, however, that terrorist acts could not be justified, and that while Guantanamo "may be an aggravating factor ... it's not the basis of terrorism."
Critics of U.S. oPresident George W. Bush's administration have long accused the U.S. government of unjustly detaining terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base on the southeastern tip of Cuba. Hundreds of men detained in the war on terror have been held indefinitely at the prison, without charge or access to lawyers.
"What has happened at Guantanamo Bay ... does not represent the will of the American people," Carter said. "I'm embarrassed about it, I think it's wrong. I think it does give terrorists an unwarranted excuse to use the despicable means to hurt innocent people."
Carter, who won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his years of peace efforts, has been an outspoken critic of the Iraq war.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/30/2005 12:55 ||
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No, Jimmy, you're a disgrace.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/30/2005 13:12 Comments ||
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#4
People like him never die. They just spend years nattering at others about not having enough fiber in their diets until they devolve into swamp gunk.
#6
Jimmah's inspired, decisive, and dynamic leadership with respect to Iran back in the 1970s brought the US the legacy of Islamic radicals terrorising the US. Thank you Jimmah. Now sit down and STFU, if you would, pleeze, suh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/30/2005 14:29 Comments ||
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#7
If Jimmy Carter had never opened Gitmo in the first place, then the jihadis would never have swarmed our embassy and taken all those hostages. Or blown up the Marine barracks in Beirut. Or attacked the Achille Lauro. Or put bombs on airplanes and shot up airports. Or bombed our embassies in Africa. Or attacked the Cole. Or mobbed our forces in Somalia. Or murdered 3,000 people on 9/11.
Oh. Wait. Carter didn't open the prison in Gitmo. And all those attacks happened BEFORE Gitmo opened.
Some days I wish Carter would choke on his own resentment and die.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/30/2005 14:30 Comments ||
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#8
My only regret about Jimmah's funeral is that he will not be around to see how ill attended it will be.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
07/30/2005 14:41 Comments ||
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#9
He's only about 4 years from the Bess Truman stage - forgotten, but not gone.
#11
"I wouldn't say it's the cause of terrorism, but it has given impetus and excuses to potential terrorists to lash out at our country and justify their despicable acts."
None of it means anything if you don't BUY their excuses. Do you, Mr. Carter?
#12
Carter is one of those people who thinks we should apologize to the Muslim world for our existence.
He is - and always has been - the worst combination of sanctimonious smugness and weak vacillation. He did us uncountable harm with regard to Iran, and then jutifies it by repeated harm in which he convinces himself that he is more moral than most Americans.
I despise the man. More than anyone, he turned me away from the Democratic party to which I belonged.
Posted by: too true ||
07/30/2005 15:41 Comments ||
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#13
Carter goes to Birmingham, where the first failed bomber was arrested, to say this?
#14
The good news is (seriously) Ima have a cousin what took his peanut seed business to the cleaners to the tune of 800,000 for knowingly shipping defective seed peanuts.
#16
Carter is working hard on his legacy for his life as the worst President the country has had, but still in a neck to neck with James Buchanan. However, don't worry, Jimmy has yet a few more years left in him to grasp that honor.
You know, in the long run, it probably would have saved more lives had he nuked Tehran in the first place and stop all this death and destruction from starting up. Now he's got to cover up his abject failure by trashing those picking up after him. Keep digging Jimmy.
#17
Jeebus. If this schmuck had just kept his yap shut about politics and stuck to building houses for the poor, he could have kept his reputation as "the most successful ex-President in U.S. history". I'd formerly thought that, even though he was a total clusterf**k as a President, his activities since leaving DC were genuinely admirable. That's completely changed since 9/11, given his insistence on whining about anything and everything we do to fight Islamist terror, and his never-ending ability to excuse and explain away the barbarity of our enemies.
There's one more reason I despise Jimmuh. He's an anti-Semite. Not anti-Israel, or pro-Palestinian, even though he's both of these things. I mean he hates Jews. I keep in my office a clipping from the December 3, 2003 edition of the New York Times, an article about the "Geneva Accord", an unofficial peace proposal drawn up by Israeli delusional ostriches peace activists and Palestinian wolves in sheep's clothing ex-government officials. The Times reporter got Jimmuh's two cents' worth on the subject; predictably he bitched about America's pro-Israel "bias", and then whined about not having another chance (i.e., a 2nd term) to make yet another dog's breakfast of the Mideast situation.
He then delivered this shocker: "Had I been elected to a second term, with the prestige and authority and reputation I had in the region, we could have moved to a final solution". That's right, folks...at least according to the Times reporter, that's exactly what he said. Now Jimmuh's a well-educated man, he knows his history, and even though his head is filled with a warehouse full of half-baked ideas, he's still not stupid. He had to have known EXACTLY what he was saying when he used the words "final solution" in any context whatsoever involving Jews.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
07/30/2005 18:20 Comments ||
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#18
And I bet Gitmo is embarrassed by Djimmi Carter.
#19
At work, (I'm a design engineer) when a design or component fails, we often call it a Jimmy. It's been said that back in the day, Jimmy and Rosalyn would do the nasty with her on top exclusively. Because Jimmy could only F*@k up!
#20
We're even, Jimmuh - America is embarrassed by YOU.
Not to mention disgusted beyond belief.
Dunno, EC, but whenever he does check out, I have no doubt where he's going. Nice to know he'll be able to spend eternity with the dictators he loves so well.
Mrs. Davis - Good point. And I'll bet a large sum of money that the Bushes (either set) won't fall asleep during the service.
I went to DC for Reagan's visitation (didn't get in - the line was longer than the time left before the funeral), and watched the funeral on TV.
I won't even go to the bathroom for Jimmuh.
I don't know where he's picked for his burial site, but underneath an outhouse would be apropo.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/30/2005 21:33 Comments ||
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#1
Saw the title and my first thought was, "Who - us or the jihadis?"
They'll do whatever they'll do - for the majority of Islam that prolly means nothing, so it'll be business as usual until we get fed up playing Law Enforcement games.
I'm more interested in the more dangerous issue - our internal population segment that is actively trying to subvert the Constitution of the US and set us up for defeat from within.
#2
our internal population segment that is actively trying to subvert the Constitution of the US and set us up for defeat from within.
I theorize they do it out of shear damn laziness of mind, body and spirit. Things should be easier, we need a little help, don't stress me I'm having enough trouble paying for the boat and little Jim Jim's Saxophone lessons. Life was meant to be easy, it's in the Declaration of Interdependence or if now the Declaration out to be amended like they did with the ERA. BTW, I need more money and leisure time and less f**king hassle at work, this measurement system sucks.
The US is temporarily closing down its consulate in the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo following several months of violence there. Bazookas, grenades and machine guns are said to have been used in recent clashes between rival drug cartels. Bazookas? Not RPG's?
They seek to control key smuggling routes across the US border. Plenty of reasons to act - but this will definitely help move the moron politicians, on both sides, off the dime - just in different directions, heh. Thanx, assholes.
The US State Department had warned its citizens earlier this year not to travel to the violence-stricken city, known for its crime and kidnappings. "A violent battle, which included unusual advanced weapons, took place between armed criminal groups late Thursday in Nuevo Laredo," said US Ambassador Tony Garza. And the innocents prolly cheered both sides on.
He expressed his hope that Mexican authorities would bring the situation under control, adding that the consulate would only reopen once things had calmed down. This is a major (legal) border crossing point - closing it down will get Fox & Co's attention.
On Thursday night, some 30 masked men attacked a house believed to be sheltering rival drug smugglers. The house was partly destroyed by a rocket launcher and hit by hundreds of bullets. Thick adobe. When you have to make a stand, there's no substitute, heh.
More than 100 people have been killed in Nuevo Laredo since January. Victims include 15 municipal policemen and the local police chief, Alejandro Dominguez, who was shot dead only hours after taking office. This should help get the ball rolling stateside - "drugs" are always a popular election topic.
#2
Issue visas. Help US citizens whose passports get lost/stolen. That sort of thing.
Posted by: too true ||
07/30/2005 11:16 Comments ||
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#3
This is a very bad place, full scale guns battles are getting so common the press hardly mentions them.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/30/2005 15:53 Comments ||
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#4
No, no, no...now, here's the headline I want to read. You listening, Secretary Chertoff? How 'bout the Governors of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas? Okay, do I have y'all's attention? Here goes:
"US Shuts Mexican Border"
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
07/30/2005 18:29 Comments ||
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From the Marshfield Mariner. Edited to remove 'local interest' material and for clarity
It's "one brick at a time" for U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Quincy, as he looks down the road toward improving the Coast Guard service, which he claims is both underfunded and understaffed. Delahunt would like to see small boat stations, like the one in Scituate [MA] now manned by Coast Guard personnel only during the boating season from May through October, occupied year-round to better protect boaters and keep emergency response times to a minimum...
The Coast Guard is near and dear to Delahunt, who served from 1963 until 1971. Delaunt formed the first-ever Congressional boating caucus nine years ago to address the need for more resources and funding for the Coast Guard, to raise its profile and maintain its one "core mission" of search and rescue.
Delahunt has his hands full right now, as he battles to keep Otis Air National Guard Base - which is connected to Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod - open. Otis and several other New England military installations have been targeted for closure and are included on the BRAC Base Realignment and Closure Commission's list. According to Delahunt said the closing of Otis would have a great impact on the US Coast Guard if plans follow through for the 102nd Fighter Interceptor Wing to be reassigned to New Jersey and Florida.
Pentagon officials claim $10 million a year can be saved by moving the 102nd, but reports from the U.S. General Accounting Office indicate the federal government would have to enhance budgets of other Otis tenants, like the Coast Guard air station, to keep the base - with its waste treatment plant, waterworks, utilities and roadway structure - operating and secure.
On Aug. 1, Mass Development, which has been working with the Save Otis group, will present its case to BRAC to spare all Massachusetts bases. Otis, however, will be the primary focus...
"There is not a more perfect location than Otis in terms of the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station," [Delahunt] said, adding that the station's area of responsibility ranges from the Canadian border to New Jersey.
With the Coast Guard's transferal to the Department of Homeland Security, its duties and mission have also grown. Resources must be met in this case for their increased multi-tasking, Delahunt said, like finding the funds to update equipment and vessels. This is of outmost importance for both the Coast Guard and those serving in it as well, according to Delahunt's Chief of Staff Steve Schwadron.
"This puts the safety of the Coastguardsmen themselves in danger," [Schwadron] said about the aging fleet.
WASHINGTON - Adding an unusual proposal to the searing debate over illegal immigration, U.S. Rep. John Culberson of Houston introduced a bill late Thursday to let Texas and other border states establish armed militias to catch people trying to illegally cross from Mexico and Canada.
The bill, which he called a "thunderclap," is more than a solitary, symbolic gesture by the Republican lawmaker: It has 46 Republican co-sponsors.
It comes as the White House, Congress and local officials are becoming increasingly immersed in efforts to find the best way to secure the borders and perhaps also establish a "guest worker" program to let immigrants stay in the United States as temporary legal residents.
Gov. Rick Perry indicated he is open to Culberson's idea... Among Culberson's co-sponsors are 10 Texans, including freshmen Reps. Ted Poe of Humble and Michael McCaul of Austin.
The measure's stated goal is to let governors create a Border Protection Corps of citizens to shield the country from "uniquely devious, criminal, cowardly and fanatically determined" terrorist organizations.
Culberson said the militia provisions in the Constitution must be invoked because the U.S. Border Patrol lacks the resources to deal with any surge in illegal crossings by people who may have ties to terrorist groups... He pointed to the militialike Texas Rangers, which formed in the 1830s and had several violent clashes with Mexicans and robbers in the border area in the early 1900s...
It would essentially create an authorized version of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, the Arizona-based group that sent hundreds of volunteers to patrol the state's border with Mexico and has plans to expand to Texas and California. The militias would require participants to be free of criminal background or history of mental illness. They would be authorized to "use any means and any force authorized by state law" to stop illegal crossers and hand them over to federal authorities.
Funding for the militias would come from some of the unspent portions of the $6.8 billion set aside by the federal government for emergency workers who would be among the first to respond to terrorist acts. The money would also go toward detaining, housing and transporting those who are taken into custody. In 2004, Border Patrol agents intercepted 1.1 million people illegally entering the country.
Immigration rights advocates and other critics of the Minutemen could not be reached for comment after Culberson announced his bill.
#1
"Border Patrol agents intercepted 1.1 million people illegally entering the country."
and this is only a small fraction
Posted by: Jan ||
07/30/2005 0:35 Comments ||
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#2
Gov Perry should direct the Rangers to do the training for the Texas outfit. Make a component of it engineers - Border SeeBees - to create a wall zone that will actually work. Form it regardless of what the lickspittle US Congress decides. If they drop the ball, follow through and make fools of them.
CA and AZ would probably follow suit... NM? Their Gov is a vacant prettyboy Camelot II refugee, he'll prolly leave the gate open until the ridicule affects his chances for a Prez run - something everyone knows he wants to do someday.
Then we can focus on the Northern Friendship Fence.
And I am all for the guest worker program. As long as it is tied to a COMPLETE sealing of the border - and the worker cards are only given out on the OTHER side of the border at special US Customs+DHS+FBI centers, for fingerprinting, and criminal/terr checks.
And one last proviso: any employer in the US found employing ANY illegals after this law passes should be fined severely - and ther president fo the company and board members (in the case of a corporation) should be fined as well.
Let in the people that want to work - keep out the terrorists, and put the "guest workers" on a fair footing with other workers so the laws can protect them and US workers the same (including taxes).
But it all begins with sealing the borders and vigorously hunting and deporting illegals - and arresting+fining the bastards who are using them.
#4
The Mexes have nothing but contempt for our laws and sovereignty. I'm for allowing a "shoot on sight and shoot to kill" policy on the southern border. You don't come through an authorized check point, you stand a good chance of catching a center of mass rifle bullet. If the Mexes don't like it, tell them to screw themselves, break relations and seal the border completely. We'll see who come out best. Second, enforce the laws against hiring illegals harshly and with prejudice. Bankrupt a few companies and jail a few CEOs. Put them in cells with the Mara Salvatruchas they were so helpful in bringing here. I suspect the word will get around real quickly.
Posted by: mac ||
07/30/2005 8:36 Comments ||
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#5
Hell, all we really need to do is tell the Mexes we're going to enforce border security on our southern border the same way THEY do on THEIR southern border. They'd get the message in a hurry. Ask any Guatemalan how friendly Mexico is to illegal border crossers. The response won't be a printable one.
Posted by: mac ||
07/30/2005 8:39 Comments ||
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#6
I'm with you OldSpook. But allow Guest Workers from other countries not just mexico and canada.
#8
This makes little sense. Right now, any border governor could create a State border patrol and set up a boundary zone, a limited State martial law area, in which anyone crossing is subject to arrest and detention. In addition, because of the federal government's "catch and release" program for non-hispanic illegals, the State governors could also erect holding facilities, until such time as the feds agree to detain them. Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County (Phoenix) has just publicly offered the use of his "tent cities" jails to hold illegal aliens caught in central Arizona. If their detention is challenged, the State legislature could create a special court, solely to try them for trespassing and other violations of State law, sentence to be served in the holding area. This would force the "cheap labor" issue to the forefront, as business strongly pressured the federal government to force the States to release their illegal cheap labor.
#10
This makes little sense. Right now, any border governor could create a State border patrol and set up a boundary zone, a limited State martial law area, in which anyone crossing is subject to arrest and detention.
You missed two things:
1. It provides Federal support funding.
2. By giving Federal authorization based on Constitutional grounds, it makes it more difficult for opponents to block the establishment of such militias.
VIENTIANE, July 29 (Bernama) -- The three littoral states responsible for security in the Straits of Melaka are open to the views of other interested countries, so long as the issue of sovereignty is clearly understood, Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said Friday. He said a number of states, including those that participated in the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) here, had offered to work with the littoral states of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, yet respecting their maritime responsibility and sovereignty.
Since it was first established in 1996, the ARF has developed into a useful forum for consultation and dialogue with the goal of preventing future conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region. It consists of the Asean countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), the 11 "Dialogue Partners" (European Union, Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, North Korea, Russia, the United States); Papua New Guinea; Mongolia and, the latest, Timor Leste.
Syed Hamid also said that there were fears that unadressed terrorism on the high seas could lead to a new phenomenon, threatening world peace and security even beyond the littoral states.
"We do not want the Straits of Melaka to become a pirate-infested area or a potential area where pirates can operate freely," he said.
Syed Hamid said 25 per cent of the world's trade as well as 50 per cent of the world's oil pass through the Straits of Melaka. He also referred to Singapore's comment that the low insurance market has placed the Straits of Melaka as a danger zone, thus increasing cost of insurance on ships going through the waterway.
"If this happens, there will be increase in cost of goods and services, because there will be increase in shipping cost.. We are aware of these things. When we talk about primary responsibility, it does not mean we will exclude people who are willing to help us," Syed Hamid said...
"There are many ways where we can add value to the safety and security of Malacca Straits. I think working together in a co-ordinate way will increase efficiency in patrolling and increase the capability of working as a group with the assistance of other countries," he added.
#1
Open to views, yes. This doesn't say anything about permitting ships to defend themselves, or commit the littoral states to providing security in their waters.
#2
Careful TW Pappy's got a huge elephants leg umbrella stand of 9 irons. Forget the self-defense mode. Can't and won't happen above the fire hoses. The littoral states will do what they can but in the end the only guarantee of free passage is the USN.
#3
Without going into a lot of detail, the littorals are facing a great deal of pressure. From personal experience dealing with these countries, the sovereignty-thing has been around for generations and is pretty much inflexible. So you don't aim for their pride. You aim for their wallets.
#4
Are 9 irons the big, fat ones, Shipman? We went to the driving range a few times, but I decided to stop when I nearly killed the kind people on either side of me. The cost of acquiring some skills is just too high. ;-)
Indonesiaâs top Islamic council issued a religious edict yesterday forbidding any liberal interpretation of Islam in the worldâs most populous Muslim nation.
"Nope. Nope. Can't do it. It's my way or the highway!"
âReligious liberalism is haram (forbidden),â said a fatwa, or doctrine, issued by the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) and seen by Reuters. âThis is a reminder for Muslims to follow the religion in a correct way and not to try to deviate from the principles,â Maaruf Amin, chief the MUIâs Fatwa Commission, told Reuters.
"Not one little bit. We're watching you, y'know..."
Another fatwa banned inter-religious marriages in Indonesia where 85 percent of its 220 million follow Islam.
"Don't want no damned infidels sniffin' around our wimmin!"
There is widespread debate in Indonesia over inter-religious marriages with some clerics saying Muslim men can marry non-Muslim women.
"But Muslim wimmin can't marry no damned infidels!"
But Amin said the MUI had decided to ban such marriages âfor the sake of Indonesian Muslimsâ.
"Better to just stay away from it. Next thing y'know, you'd be sayin' 'yes, dear,' and takin' out the garbage. Go off on jihad for a few years and there she is, waitin' for you at the door when you get back, with a rollin' pin!"
âThis is the strongest view at the MUI and we are doing this to improve the religion quality of the Muslim,â Amin added. The fatwas underlined the growing influence of hardliners in Indonesia, where most Muslims embrace a moderate form of Islam.
Even though they're not allowed to...
Indonesia is officially secular and recognizes Christianity and other religions.
There wouldn't be any Islam in Indonesia if the Hindus and Buddhists who ran things in the old days had adopted the same attitudes as today's Moose limbs...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
10 days ago Indonesia banned the Ahmadiyah sect of islam. Not pure enough for the legendary muslim moderates.
Posted by: ed ||
07/30/2005 0:20 Comments ||
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#2
Ah, the nuclear target list just keeps growing by the hour.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/30/2005 0:36 Comments ||
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#4
Q. Why are there no major Secular organizations in Indonesia?
A. Because Indo leaders, like the dictators of the Pakistan terror entity, get massive foreign aid from suicidal Secular states, notwithstanding their oppression of Seculars. No bend; no break.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
07/30/2005 1:37 Comments ||
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#5
Although I must admit watching Indonesia with bated breath over the past couple of years to see which way the wind would blow, I continue to have great hope and expectation for the country, and stand by what Iâve said before -- like at this link
If authoritarian, totalitarian Islam is to experience a reformation like what took place during authoritarian, totalitarian Christendom, it will be through people and groups like those found at Liberal Islam Network.
#6
People keep hoping for an Islamic reformation, but I believe that this IS the Islamic reformation. I am more conviced every day that this is going to end badly for the world - and especially for Islam.
#8
"Is there art that is more beautiful, more divine, and more eternal than the art of martyrdom? "
Actually, nothing quite as ugly. Intestine and bone fricassee that feeds sick narcissists. Friends, family and neighbors wiped from the slate of the Earth because upset Islamists can't have their way--boo fuc*ing hoo.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Hundreds of Muslims in Pakistan's staunchly conservative northwest have set ablaze dozens of TV sets following a cleric's ruling that watching television was a sin, police said Saturday.
The men congregated in a park after Friday prayers and piled up about 25 TV sets, doused them with fuel and set them on fire, said witnesses from the Charsadda district of the North West Frontier Province near the Afghan border.
"These people actually responded to a cleric's call," said district police chief Muhammad Iqbal, after a local mullah had said on radio that watching TV was a sin and declared a jihad or holy war against vulgarity and obscenity.
The park echoed with shouts of "Allah-o-Akbar" (God is greatest) and "Islam zindabad" (long live Islam), while the emotional crowd also decried an ongoing crackdown on suspected extremists following the London bombings.
Parliamentarian Maulana Gohar Shah addressed the crowd and called the 800 arrests and series of raids on Islamic seminaries ordered by President Pervez Musharraf a "conspiracy of the infidel (non-believer) world".
A local journalist said that, days earlier, influential local cleric Abdullah Shah had decreed that TV was "not allowed in Islam" after followers had asked him to give an Islamic ruling.
Posted by: john ||
07/30/2005 15:16 ||
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#1
Taliban One-eyed Mad Mulla Omar decreed the same thing... These guys have a hang-up about TVs and fire...
#3
They should have added that radios and communication devices are the works of the devil too... that includes those dadburn vehicles equipped with radios too!
FORMER Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was attacked by an unidentified man during his appearance at a court hearing in Baghdad yesterday, his defence team said today.
The team, which has an office in the Jordanian capital Amman, said in a statement that the man attacked Saddam and the two exchanged blows during a hearing attended by defence lawyer Khalil Dulaimi.
"As the president stood to leave the courtroom one of those present attacked him and there was an exchange of blows between the man and the president," the statement said.
The head of the tribunal did nothing to stop the assault, the statement alleged.
It did not say if Saddam was hurt.
The Iraqi Special Tribunal trying Saddam released photographs yesterday of the toppled leader being questioned on the suppression of Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991.
The photographs were taken during a hearing in Baghdad yesterday, the tribunal said.
Saddam has been formally charged with the killings of Shiite Muslims in the village of Dujail in 1982 but no date has been set for his trial.
#1
I presume these shitheads hope they will be able to make hay out of this.
I, on the other hand, am amazed that the people of Iraq have not stormed this site during Saddam's appearances, dragged him outside by the hair, and stomped him to death.
Dawood Ibrahim did attend the marriage of his daughter Mahrukh with Junaid, son of former Pakistan cricketer Javed Miandad. The underworld don beat the hawk eye of top global intelligence agencies and the crosshairs of rivalsâ guns to be present at the nikah which was solemnised on July 9 at the mosque in Mecca, as was reported by TOI on July 10. The publicised function of July 23 at Dubaiâs Grand Hyatt was not the nikah ceremony but âwaleemaâ or reception that was deliberately passed off as the marriage to hoodwink intelligence agents, Dawoodâs rivals and the media. And virtually everyone fell for the elaborate cover.
Top intelligence sources say Dawood travelled to Saudi Arabia on a Pakistani passport to attend the wedding. And how did he reach the venue for the wedding in Mecca? No one is certain, although intelligence sources cited the presence of a group of burkha-clad women at the Mecca mosque whose identity could not be established but who were said to represent the Dawood family. Perhaps one of them was the don himself.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
07/30/2005 05:11 ||
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...The president, who has outlawed 10 extremist groups, said the police had been ordered to catch the leaders of these organisations.
We'll be waiting to see Masood Azhar arrested. And Hafiz Saeed. And Fazlur Rehman Khalil...
âThe raids are not aimed at rounding up large numbers of people, but to catch the leaders of the Islamic radical underground,â he said. âI donât want to arrest the workers,â he told a group of foreign correspondents. âI want the leaders of the banned groups. Iâm not impressed by figures. We want to get all of the bigwigs. We are not going as fast as I would like to go.â
From where we sit, it looks like you've been going two steps forward and two steps back...
President Musharraf said that he believed Pakistan would be never be governed by extremists. âPakistan will never be governed or ruled by extremists,â he added.
Maybe we've got the wrong impression over here, but it seems like you can't throw a rock in Pakland without hitting an extremist. Or maybe our definition of "extremist" is different?
President Musharraf also pledged to enforce a ban on anti-Western hate speeches being spread from mosqueâs loudspeakers or through audio recordings. Asked about the seriousness of the arrest campaign, President Musharraf said, âI have never done anything without being serious. I donât bluff. I do act with realism. I am realistic, not idealistic. I am extremely serious.â
You're kidding, right?
âI am in a much stronger position now to campaign against religious extremists in this Muslim nation than during a limited crackdown in 2002,â said the president. âI am in a totally different environment.â President Musharraf said he did not have âa free handâ in 2002 because of an unstable economy, a confrontation with India over Kashmir and insufficient international support for his presidency. âMaybe the boat would have capsizedâ if the government had pursued the campaign against domestic militants more aggressively in 2002, he said. âWe took action, but there were restraining factors.â Talking about Islamabadâs successes in the war on terror, President Musharraf said Pakistan had âbroken the vertical and horizontal command and communication links of Al Qaeda, which means that they have ceased to exist as a homogenous, well-controlled, centralised force.â The president said that Pakistanâs strategic assets were secure and in safe hands and there was no possibility that they would fall into the wrong hands.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
It's pegged! LOL!
verify verify verify, and then don't trust em.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
07/30/2005 0:12 Comments ||
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#2
How about just continuously transmitting their GPS coordinates?
Posted by: ed ||
07/30/2005 0:23 Comments ||
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#3
âbroken the vertical and horizontal command and communication links of Al Qaeda" and following CompSci techniques inserted breakpoints that run to ISI controllers?
Egypt's top Islamic cleric delivered a fierce sermon against terrorism Friday at the main mosque in Sharm el-Sheik, the Red Sea resort struck in deadly bombings a week ago.
"Kill all the terrorists, Brethren and Sistern! Chop their heads off! Blow up their cars! Kill their families!... No... Wait... Ummm..."
Even the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah, branded as terrorist by Washington, says Muslim clerics have to act to curb extremism.
"We ain't extreme, of course. But those other guys are..."
After the unflagging bloodshed in Iraq and this month's London bombings, the Sharm attack has deepened what has been a growing debate in the Muslim world over how Islam should deal with terrorists who act in its name.
This? It barely even qualifies as a discussion. "Debates" in the Muslim world come with body counts...
Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, grand imam of Al-Azhar — one of the Sunni world's most prestigious institutions — delivered the sermon at Friday prayers in Sharm el-Sheik's "Peace Mosque," packed with hundreds of worshippers still reeling from the July 23 bombings, which killed scores of Egyptians and foreign tourists. Tantawi told worshippers that "even polytheists who come to Egypt to see its civilization, who didn't come to harm you, you have to protect them and treat them in a good way." The cleric used the Arabic word "mushrikin" — "polytheists" — a term heavy with negative connotations in Islam. The Quran, Islam's holy book, repeatedly denounces "mushrikin," while accepting Jews and Christians as fellow monotheists. Islamic radicals often rail against polytheism and its followers.
And toss Christians and Jews and Shiites and Qadianis and atheists and agnostics and that guy down the street with the wrong color turban into the definition...
Those who killed dozens of innocents, "have no justification," and if they claim they are obeying orders of Islam, "then they are liars, liars and charlatans, and Islam disavows them," he said. "The aggressors who blow up themselves, their cars and bombs against innocent men, women and children will not be given any mercy by God ... they will be cursed by God and his angels," Tantawi said.
Even when they do it in Israel? And Kashmir? And Chechnya? Or only in Egypt?
Tantawi has emerged as a strong voice against terrorism in recent months. In early July, he harshly condemned Islamic insurgents in Iraq — who even some moderate Muslims feel are fighting for a just cause against U.S. occupation — saying all Iraqis and Arabs should unite to purge Iraq of "their filth and viciousness."
Hokay. We have the words. Any deeds to back them up?
Egyptian investigators have been focusing on the likelihood that homegrown Islamic militant cells in Sinai — possibly with international links — carried out the Sharm bombings, in which two car bombs and a knapsack bomb ripped through a luxury hotel, a neighborhood full of Egyptians and the entrance to a beach promenade. The official death toll stands at 64, but hospitals say bodies still uncounted could bring it to 88. With every terror attack, Arabs and Muslims have been struggling to strike a balance between condemning bloodshed and pointing to U.S. policies in Iraq and Israel they say fuel Islamic militant violence.
The argument, never very strong to start with, gets weaker every time it's used, doesn't it? By now it's kind of like an Islamic mantra. That and a $12 amulet is guaranteed to ward off the hairy eyeball...
Debate has focused on whether reform is needed to purge extremist teachings. In Lebanon, the militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah said immediately after the Sharm attack that "mass murder attacks against innocent people ... require a decisive stance by (Muslim) clerics" against violence.
"Unless they're one of our heroic operations, of course..."
The group's stance on violence is becoming more nuanced.
"Nuance"=spit||go blind dichotomy...
It sharply opposes the U.S. troop presence in Iraq — but with its Iraqi Shiite brethren frequently falling victim in bombings, it has grown more vocal in condemning the insurgency in Iraq. Lebanon's most senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah — who had past connections with Hezbollah, but broke with the group — said after the Sharm attacks that all Muslims must condemn such attacks, which he blamed on "backward minds that do not understand Islamic texts." But in his sermon Friday, he said the "evil phenomenon" of terrorism "stems from the policy of arrogance (by the United States and Israel)."
But he is well protected from the old mal'occhia...
At a small mosque in Cairo's Heliopolis suburb, the Friday preacher appealed to his congregation, trying to explain the proper meaning of "jihad" — a word often translated as "holy war" but more broadly meant as a "struggle" for Islam against oppression. Jihad, he said, is by word, not by action. "Oppression should be fought, but every thing has rules," he said in a sermon blared by loudspeaker across the neighborhood. "The world has become a small village, and with good words, we can influence and impress the rest of the world, not by horrific actions."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2005 00:00 ||
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Saw this story in alG - it's an AP piece making the rounds in the symp press...
I'd like to see a simple valid translation in its entirety - sans the cherry-picking and spin. This sounds really good, but I don't buy it in this form.
It flies in the face of the last 4 years of real-life actions by alQ types the world over in general, and almost 60 years of hatred and murderous acts specifically against Israel.
It only came after Egypt was hit.
It's probably very skimpy on the goodies, such as naming names, recognizing peace is inherent in democratic institutions - not the Islamic ideology, that Islam is the home, safe harbor, facilitator, and financier of terrorism, including the Jews as deserving peace the same as everyone else, etc. etc. etc.
They have to do more than talk, they have to back it all up with consistent actions. I hold them to no higher standard than I do myself or my friends.
#2
The problem with those who speak for Islam is that most of them are (clinically certifiable) sociopaths. This fact is nowhere clearer than when they are scared into "condemning" terrorism.
#4
I don't see the contradiction here. He's opposed to terrorism, the killing of innocents.
But Joooooooos are all guilty by definition, so it's not "terrorism" to blow them up. And the Allies are occupiers, so that's not "terrorism" either. And the Iraqis? Um, they're the wrong kind of muslim or apostate or something. So, it's not terrorism to kill them, either.
I thought the Association of Muslim Scholars filled that function... Though we haven't heard much from them lately.
Iraqi resistance factions are mulling the formation of a "political bureau" to speak in their name and engage in any future negotiations with the US occupation forces, revealed a well-kept Iraqi source close to the Iraqi resistance. "The Iraqi resistance groups will soon unveil a political bureau to speak in their name in any potential future negotiations with the US occupation forces or any other party," the source told IslamOnline.net Thursday, July 29. "The formation of this bureau is currently under way and will be announced within weeks," the source said, maintaining that the nascent bureau will operate in the first stage in a "secretly fashion".
"This will block the road on those who claim to speak on behalf of the Iraqi resistance groups or in their name." The source added that prominent resistance groups as the Islamic Army in Iraq, the army of Ansarul Sunnah and the Mujahideen Army will join the new political bureau. "It is natural that all resistance groups, which carry out major resistance attacks against the occupation force, will take part in one political body." Two Iraqi resistance groups, the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Mujahideen Army, appointed on July 3, an official spokesman to speak in their name, in a bid to "silence all those who claim to speak in the name of Mujahideen".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2005 00:00 ||
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Track the mouthpieces down and kill them for the rebel and terrorist scum they are. So go right ahead.
Outspoken Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour registered yesterday to challenge President Hosni Mubarak in Septemberâs landmark presidential election â and swiftly became embroiled in a row with his rival. Nour said he was the first to throw his hat into the ring for the first multicandidate poll in Egypt in the hope his name would top the ballot papers. âI showed up first at the commission and was the first to register because I want my name to appear first on the ballot papers,â he said. âThatâs how it works according to Egyptâs electoral law.â
Nour, the highest profile of opposition candidates in Egypt who is currently on trial on what he says are trumped up fraud charges, dismissed claims from Mubarakâs camp that the president registered first. âSuch a lie does not bode well for the future of the campaign,â said Nour, who has been highly critical of Mubarak for failing to embrace democratic reform. Nour was among 12 candidates who submitted their candidacies on the first day of registration for the Sept. 7 vote. The 40-year-old leader of the liberal Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) party said it was âimportant to provide guarantees against fraud during the electoral process which should be impartial and independent from beginning to end.â The official MENA news agency said Nour registered as soon as the Electoral Commission opened its doors while a source at Mubarakâs campaign headquarters said a delegate, Mohammed Al-Dakruri, was the first to register the president.
The 77-year-old president announced in a televised speech from his native village in Egypt on Thursday that he would seek a fifth six-year term after 24 years at the helm.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/30/2005 00:00 ||
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I pick Hosey to win, show and place--by a long nose.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/30/2005 2:18 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Indonesiaâs top Islamic council issued a religious edict yesterday forbidding any liberal interpretation of Islam in the worldâs most populous Muslim nation.
...The president, who has outlawed 10 extremist groups, said the police had been ordered to catch the leaders of these organisations. 
Egypt's top Islamic cleric delivered a fierce sermon against terrorism Friday at the main mosque in Sharm el-Sheik, the Red Sea resort struck in deadly bombings a week ago.
Outspoken Egyptian opposition leader Ayman Nour registered yesterday to challenge President Hosni Mubarak in Septemberâs landmark presidential election â and swiftly became embroiled in a row with his rival. Nour said he was the first to throw his hat into the ring for the first multicandidate poll in Egypt in the hope his name would top the ballot papers. âI showed up first at the commission and was the first to register because I want my name to appear first on the ballot papers,â he said. âThatâs how it works according to Egyptâs electoral law.â
