Posted by: DanNY ||
08/12/2005 07:10 ||
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#1
Fascinating Blog.
The death penalty case is only one aspect...
The top statement is chilling.
Memory of the lives of 15 Makkah Schoolgirls, lost when their school burnt down on Monday, 11th March, 2002. The Religious Police would not allow them to leave the building, nor allow the Firemen to enter.
Brings new meaning to "Allah Akhbar" {SPIT}
What an embarassment to Islam...
Does anyone think like me that maybe the Religious Police set the fire themselves, because like the Talibani-shits in Afghanistan, they do not like the idea of women reading and writing?
Poland made an official complaint to the Russian foreign ministry yesterday about attacks on two diplomats who were beaten up outside the country's embassy in Moscow. Yesterday a Polish journalist for the leading Rzeczpospolita daily paper was also beaten, by four men near his Moscow home, the Polish Press Agency reported. The newspaper reported the attack to the Polish embassy in Moscow and the foreign ministry in Warsaw. The incidents have added to the tension that has been growing between Moscow and Warsaw in recent months over a series of issues, including Poland's support last year for the opposition in Ukraine.
I'd guess this is a Russian version of "Cause/Effect"
On Sunday a technical employee of Poland's Moscow mission was attacked by a gang of young men 60 metres from the embassy, and suffered concussion. Three days later, in another attack metres from the same building, an embassy secretary received injuries to the head and chest, as well as a torn ear and bruising.
Message being sent
The Polish protest letter was delivered to the Russian foreign ministry by the Polish ambassador, Stefan Meller, who told Interfax that the beatings were "tragic incidents staged by criminal elements" which were evolving into a "form of politics". He demanded greater security for embassy staff.
The two beatings came a week after the children of three Russian diplomats were attacked in the Polish capital, Warsaw. The three boys and a friend from Kazakhstan, who were aged 13 to 14, were reportedly concussed after being accosted in a park in the city centre and robbed of their mobile phones. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, called the July 31 incident a "crime" and demanded an "adequate" response from the Polish authorities. The Polish ambassador was also summoned to the Russian foreign ministry, yet Warsaw insisted there was no reason its government should apologise for the attack.
So Putin has his own "response".
Warsaw police said yesterday that they had arrested two people suspected of receiving goods stolen in the attack.
Lilya Shevtsova, senior associate from the Carnegie Endowment, in Moscow, said it was unclear if the beatings were directly related to government tensions, but said a recent "chilling in relations between Russia and Poland had got to lower levels of society". She said Polish and Russian media had become "more hostile to each other, with or without reason". Ms Shevtsova added that the hostility had begun after Poland's active role in November's electoral leadership crisis in Ukraine. Poland backed protesters demanding the overturning of the fraudulent victory of the candidate Viktor Yanukovich.
Aleksander Kwasniewski, Poland's president, has also made explicit calls for the overthrow of Moscow's only remaining ally in the region, Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president of Belarus. Dubbed "the last dictator of Europe", Mr Lukashenko is seeking Russian support to prolong his rule into a third term. Moscow and Minsk are also toying with the idea of forming a union between the two states that would allow President Putin to remain president of the Belarus-Russian union after his second term expires in 2008.
The term "President for Life" comes to mind
Poland also remains partly reliant on Russia for its energy supplies. It was recently dismayed by a Russian deal with Germany to build a direct pipeline via the Baltic sea to Germany, cutting them out of the transit route.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/12/2005 13:35 ||
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Taiwan has begun deploying home-made cruise missiles on mobile launchers that are capable of hitting major military targets in southeast China, a newspaper here reported Friday.
The China Times said the Hsiung Feng missiles, which have a range of 1,000 kilometers (600 miles), were deployed across the island by the defense ministryâs new missile command. The missiles, which each cost some 100 million Taiwan dollars (3.13 million U.S.), were developed by the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the paper said. The institute was also developing cruise missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers for further deployment.
The China Times said President Chen Shui-bian had inspected the missile command and witnessed a mock launch of the cruise missiles. The defense ministry declined to comment on the report.
Taiwan reportedly successfully test-fired its first cruise missile earlier this year which flew over 500 kilometers before hitting its target.
Last month the Pentagon released a report warning that China had deployed up to 730 ballistic missiles targeting the island. It said Beijingâs defense build-up could tip the military balance against Taiwan and pose a credible threat to other countries in the region. In a bid to beef up Taiwanâs defense capabilities, the cabinet has approved a revised arms deal worth some 15.5 billion dollars to buy weapons from the United States, its largest arms supplier. The arms package over a 15-year period from 2005, pending approval by parliament, includes eight conventional submarines, a modified version of the Patriot anti-missile system and a fleet of anti-submarine aircraft. The massive budget proposal has stirred heated debate on the island as critics said the spending could further provoke China and heighten cross-strait tensions.
#2
heh heh... a nuke at the base of three gorges would make some wild downstream surfing, except Charlie Chang don't surf
Posted by: Steve Zissou ||
08/12/2005 13:30 Comments ||
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While cruise missiles are good, I think the Taiwanese might be missing the boat here. It is probably better to have a gazillion cheap rockets that cost $100k each as it to have a much smaller number of missiles that cost $3.3M each. By rockets I don't mean completely unguided, just partially guided with simple GPS instead of cruise evasion capability. Two sizes: 500lb bomb for inland attack and 1000lb bomb for coastal attack. A flying engine carrying an iron bomb.
#5
Way back in the '80s it was thought around intel circles that Israel, South Africa [Afrikkaner], and Taiwan were engaged in mutual support in development of nukes. Today we know about the first and the second, so it may well be one of the best kept secrets that they already have the warheads.
#6
I think you've got it.
The biggest danger to Taiwan isn't an invasion, but a blockade - ruin its trade and force it to surrender from economic hardship.
With these missiles Taiwan can retaliate and counter-blockade China. With this range Taiwan can threaten the shipping lanes to Chinas major ports.
#8
Other than China hav ICBM's, there's little in China's current modernizing arsenal that Taiwan can't counter or defeat. As a Socialist and Communist state. China must eventually expand, with military force if need be, or else risk deficit/regressions-induced implosion ala the USSR. CHINA WILL INTERPRETE THE DEPLOYMENT OF CM's AS A SYMBOLIC MOVE BY TAIWAN TOWARDS DE FACTO INDEPENDENCE REGARDLESS OF THE DIPLOMATIC RHETORIC. As the Commies are in their ideo "final struggle/conflict", do not be surprised iff they threaten global nuke war ags the USA-West over anything. EITHER THE USA DIES, OR THEY DIE, AND THEY DON'T WANNA DIE!?
ABOARD THE USS KITTY HAWK (AP) - A U.S. aircraft carrier battle group, a contingent of Marines and dozens of Air Force fighter jets have conducted one of their biggest inter-service exercises of the year off the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.
The maneuvers, which began Aug. 7, involved more than 100 military planes - including B-2 stealth bombers from the island of Guam, as well as the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier and its battle group. Fighters launched from the deck of this carrier in intervals of less than two minutes roared through the skies Thursday seeking out imaginary enemies and targets. ``This is the highest-level joint exercise we can have outside the United States,'' said battle group commander Rear Adm. Doug McLain. ``We're operating the entire spectrum of warfare.''
The maneuvers, called JASEX, come on the heels of statements from the Pentagon indicating an increased concern over the modernization of China's military, and amid talks aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Battle group commander McLain stressed that the exercises, scheduled to continue through Sunday, were mainly designed to improve cooperation and interoperability between the different branches of the U.S. military.
JASEX has been held annually since 2003.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
The maneuvers, which began Aug. 7, involved more than 100 military planes - including B-2 stealth bombers from the island of Guam,
#2
San Diego misses you, Kitty Hawk, and all my old neighbors who serve upon you. Go with God's grace!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2005 0:27 Comments ||
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#3
Don't fergit dat the Chicoms ambitions for East Asian hegemony go beyond just suborning Japan, the PI, and WESTPAC - they want Hawaii as well! They'll go as far as their OTH force projection and geopolitical concessions can take them.
#4
ChiComs taking down notes, awaiting their Ruskie-ChiCom show
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/12/2005 2:27 Comments ||
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#5
War games going on around Japan, Australia; Taiwan bucking up; testing, launching cruise missiles. I'm beginning to get that twitch in my eye again that I thought I got rid of after that rubble top warning "W" gave after 9/11, a few years back! However I stand ready to stand with my fellow Americans and toss out every chinese made product in my home, in what will be one of the biggest bonfires seen since the book burnings in Hitler's Germany. I can just hear the wailing of Walmart across the land!
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
08/12/2005 4:46 Comments ||
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#7
Raj, we've been doing this annually since 2003, so I doubt Kimmie's gonna all the sudden "get it" now! However, keep up the good work boys, and God speed!
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2005 8:08 Comments ||
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#8
However I stand ready to stand with my fellow Americans and toss out every chinese made product in my home, in what will be one of the biggest bonfires seen since the book burnings in Hitler's Germany. I can just hear the wailing of Walmart across the land!
Ummm, no.
Wally world will cheer and provide you with the lighter fluid and matches, then gleefuly chuckle as you have to replace all the Chinese household junk with more of the same, also Chinese made (Since there's no American made similar items)
A huge net gain for wally World.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/12/2005 10:00 Comments ||
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#9
Of course, last week the naval exercise off the coast of Kamchatka had already demonstrated everything Kimmie needed to know.
Posted by: john ||
08/12/2005 11:57 Comments ||
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Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has warned that "a small number" of Australians have joined al-Qaeda.
He was speaking about a videotaped message broadcast this week in which a man with an Australian accent threatened attacks against the West.
Australian papers have identified the man, who was dressed in combat gear, as former soldier Matthew Stewart.
"We have reason to believe he is one of a number of Australians who have turned to al-Qaeda," Mr Downer said.
The video, first broadcast by Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, shows a man wearing combat gear and a balaclava, and carrying a rifle.
"As you kill us, you'll be killed. As you bomb us, you will be bombed," the man warned, without saying who he represented.
He also criticised US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Following the broadcast, Australian authorities visited Mr Stewart's family, who have not seen him in four years.
A statement issued by the family denied the man in the video was Matthew Stewart, who left the Australian army in 2001 after serving in East Timor.
Mr Downer said Mr Stewart was believed to have links with terrorism.
"He is one of a small number of Australians we have had concerns about in this respect," he said, refusing to specify the exact total.
"Any Australian who thinks that joining al-Qaeda is a way for the future is an Australian who is taking up arms against the Australian people - and will find themselves, if captured, in enormous difficulty," Mr Downer said.
The video's release comes as Australian Prime Minister John Howard is pushing to tighten security laws.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/12/2005 13:36 ||
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Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says the Government believes former Australian soldier Mathew Stewart trained with al-Qaeda.
But he stopped short of saying that Stewart, who went missing in Afghanistan four years ago, might be the balaclava-wearing terrorist with an Australian accent who was filmed boasting that he had killed US troops in Afghanistan and warning of more attacks on the West.
"I don't want to say too much about him," Mr Downer said. "He is one of a small number of Australians we've had concerns about in this respect.
"⊠we have reason to believe that he is one of a number of Australians who have trained with al-Qaeda. But whether this is the person, that is a matter that is being still considered by the intelligence agencies."
Stewart's mother, Vicky, who lives on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, said in a statement this week that the man in the video was not her son, who she said was traumatised while serving with Australian forces in East Timor.
Prime Minister John Howard said the claims made by the man in the video were chilling. The more he listened to the tape the more like an Australian the man sounded, he said.
Mr Downer said any Australian who joined a terrorist organisation was taking up arms against Australians and their allies.
"These people are not soldiers of an army," he said. "These people are unlawful combatants ⊠they belong to a terrorist organisation.
"In those circumstances they are in a great deal of difficulty if they are detained. It's possible for a country to detain them indefinitely."
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said media speculation that Stewart was the man in the video was not helpful.
He said security agencies were investigating the video and should be left to do their work.
A meeting of business leaders and ministers involved in security agreed yesterday that, in the wake of the London Underground bombings, security agencies should be given prompt access to private security videos that could help track down terrorists.
Mr Ruddock said business leaders were keen for Mr Howard to pursue the issue of better access to private closed-circuit television images with state and territory leaders at the next meeting of the Council of Australian Governments.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/12/2005 13:31 ||
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#1
"In those circumstances they are in a great deal of difficulty if they are detained. It's possible for a country to detain them indefinitely."
Obviously never met an ACLU Lawyer.
Posted by: Charles ||
08/12/2005 13:51 Comments ||
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#2
Obviously never met an ACLU Lawyer.
That's assuming we tell anyone we've picked him up.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/12/2005 15:32 Comments ||
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Brave man. What's happened to him is a damn shame!
OT, I remember reading some moderate muslims(Tm) on their main french forum joking about his "new haircut", when his head was shaven, and saying how he was soon to be shaven "even closer" (ie decapitated, insh allah). Of course, the thread was killed by mods, but it's good to know what the pious followers of the Master Religion are thinking about western hostages... empathy doesn't seem to be their strong suit.
Douglas Wood, the Australian held captive in Iraq for 47 days, is now virtually blind and suffering rheumatoid arthritis. Mr Wood has no peripheral vision and no near sight partly because his kidnappers did not treat his diabetes and glaucoma, The Age has reported.
Iraqi soldiers freed the engineer, 64, on June 15 after he had been held hostage in Baghdad by a group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahideen of Iraq. "He can barely walk up stairs," a family spokesman said.
In June, Mr Wood said his eyesight was poor due to the malnutrition he suffered while in captivity and the side-effects from heavy doses of steroids for his rheumatoid arthritis. His spokesman said he went without his medication during his time in captivity and was given only bread and water. "He has no peripheral vision at all and cannot see a hand under his nose," he said. "He needs to be guided and he is also walking extremely slowly as a result of the arthritis."
However, he stressed not all of the deterioration was the result of the kidnapping
The spokesman said Mr Wood was coping well. "He hasn't crashed and burned. He is very buoyant with a great coping mechanism and he has not wanted to bleat publicly about his health. He doesn't complain about anything.
"His wife has been terrific, she's the ultimate carer. She really looks after him."
Mr Wood and his American wife, Yvonne, are in the US but plan to return Australia shortly and set up home in Melbourne after Mr Wood's step-daughter's graduation ceremony in the US. Because of Mr Wood's ill health the couple wanted to live close to public transport and they have leased an apartment in Melbourne's inner-city.
The spokesman said Mr Wood had a strong character and a prodigious memory for detail that helped him during his time in captivity. "He's not just a beer-swilling larrikin - that's just part of his persona," he said.
Mr Wood, who has been reissued with a Medicare card, still hopes to tell his story on the speaking circuit and he has said that he is keen to open an Australian pub. He previously ran a pub while he was living in California.
LABOR wants the Government to take a hard line with Muslim schools to force them to teach mateship and tolerance.
And it will demand funding be cut to schools that peddle extremist or inflamatory material.
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley will today push for education to be on the agenda at Prime Minister John Howard's anti-terrorism summit with Islamic leaders next month.
Labor say the nation's 29 Islamic schools must enshrine Australian values such as respect, tolerance, diversity and mateship in their teachings.
More than 12,800 students attend the 29 schools and they receive $47 million, or $1.6 million each annually, in Commonwealth funding.
They receive a similar amount from the states.
The Labor plan includes:
TEACHING students respect for democratic values;
PROFESSIONAL development for teachers; and
BUDDY programs between Islamic and other schools.
Mr Beazley will today call on the Government to ensure Muslim classrooms do not "present opportunities for extremism".
The plan demands all Muslim students are taught the responsibilities that come with being a member of the Australian community.
"I'm urging the Prime Minister to put on the table teaching values of respect and tolerance at all our schools including Muslim schools," Mr Beazley said.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/12/2005 00:36 ||
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Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/12/2005 00:39 ||
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#1
So he finds the body of a (western) journalist butchered by what I presume was a Muslim militia (as far as I can tell, the death squads in East Timor were mostly Islamic, although I certainly could be wrong in this case), and he goes home, later to emerge as a vocal supporter of Islamic death squads the world over.
This looks more like inspiration than trauma.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/12/2005 7:05 Comments ||
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A Belgian court will decide next week whether to put 14 suspects on trial on charges of belonging to a group blamed for the Madrid and Casablanca bombings, which killed more than 200 people.
The court will base its decision on the findings of Examining Magistrate Daniel Fransen, whose investigation led to a series of arrests which began last year.
The suspects face charges of belonging to a cell of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), providing false papers and other logistical help to members elsewhere in Europe.
Fransen's investigation has already led to the arrest and extradition of Youssef Belhadj to Spain, where he was wanted on suspicion of being the al Qaeda spokesman who claimed responsibility for the Madrid bombings on a videotape in 2004.
But the federal prosecutor's office said the 14 suspects who may stand trial in Brussels were not implicated in any attack.
"It does not concern Madrid or Casablanca," the office spokeswoman Lieve Pellens said on Friday.
Known by its French acronym, the GICM is listed by the United States as a terrorist group whose aim is to establish an Islamic state in Morocco and support al Qaeda's struggle against Western countries.
Some of the GICM's members are suspects in the Madrid bombings that killed 190 people.
The case of the 14 suspects would be Belgium's third prominent anti-terrorist trial since the Sept. 11 attacks led to a crackdown on Islamist militant networks in Western countries.
It would also come under tough new laws in Belgium that explicitly criminalise terrorist activities.
Belgium's last case led to the October 2004 conviction of Islamist militants for ties to groups supporting al Qaeda.
A previous trial resulted in the jailing of a former professional soccer player, Tunisian Nizar ben Abdelaziz Trabelsi, for plotting to blow up a military base.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/12/2005 13:45 ||
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#1
Are they going to round up the usual suspects, then?
I think this means they won't mail you the checks, Omar.
LONDON - Britain on Friday barred radical Muslim cleric Omar Bakri from returning to the country that was his home for the past 20 years, saying his presence was no longer "conducive to the public good." Was it ever?
The decision came as the country's top legal official defended plans to deport another radical Muslim cleric and nine other foreigners suspected of posing a threat to national security.
Jordan said Friday it would ask Britain next week to extradite one of those detained, cleric Omar Mahmoud Othman Abu Omar, also known as Abu Qatada. Spanish officials have described him as Osama bin Laden's "spiritual ambassador in Europe." Jordan looks forward to...seeing him.
Bakri, 45, left Britain on Saturday, one day after Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed tough new anti-terrorism measures including the deportation of extremist Islamic clerics who preach hate. Bakri was arrested in Lebanon on Thursday. Bakri, who has dual Syrian and Lebanese citizenship, had come under increasing pressure from the British government for his hardline rhetoric after last month's transit bombings. He had insisted that he planned to return to north London, where his wife and children live. Oh, yeah? Could you get their leaching asses out of here too please?
Home Secretary Charles Clarke had written to Bakri to inform him he would not be allowed back into Britain. The cleric has 14 days to appeal."The Home Secretary has issued an order revoking Omar Bakri Mohammed's indefinite leave to remain and to exclude him from the U.K. and the grounds that his presence is not conducive to the public good," the Home Office said in a statement. Bakri founded the now-disbanded radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun, which came under scrutiny in Britain, particularly after some of its members praised the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. A spokesman for Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said Thursday prosecutors were looking at Bakri's recent remarks to assess whether he could be charged with solicitation of murder or incitement to withhold information known to be of use to police. A little incentive to make sure he doesn't even think about coming back?
Meanwhile Britain's plans to deport the 10 foreigners have sparked fears for their safety in their destination countries. Oh no!
The Home Office did not identify the detainees. But a government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, confirmed that Abu Qatada, a Palestinian cleric who carries a Jordanian passport, was among them. A statement from Abu Qatada's lawyer said the detainees were "primarily Algerians." Algeria welcomes you...OUCH! OW! OUCH!
Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer said it was necessary to balance the risk of a deportee being mistreated against the threat they pose to Britain. He added that the government may seek new human rights legislation to make the deportations easier. The measure would be among a raft of tough new anti-terrorism laws announced in the wake of the July bombings."The deportee has got rights, but so have the people of this country," Falconer told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "If they are threatened in terms of national security, that is something that the government has got to protect them against as much as possible." Looks like the game may be over in England? Play your little Jihadi poseur games somewhere else, holy men?
As a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, Britain is not allowed to deport people to countries where they may face torture of mistreatment. The government has been trying to sign agreements guaranteeing humane treatment of deportees with 10 countries, including Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt and Tunisia. The first such memorandum of understanding was signed with Jordan on Wednesday. The detentions and are another indication of the dramatic impact of last month's bombings in a country until recently regarded as something of a safe haven for radicals."The circumstances of our national security have changed, it is vital that we act against those who threaten it," Home Secretary Clarke said. Muslim persecution whines in 5...4...3...
Abu Qatada was granted political asylum in Britain in 1993. He has been in jail or under close supervision here since 2002, but now faces deportation to Jordan where authorities convicted him in absentia in 1998 and again in 2000 for involvement in a series of explosions and terror plots. British authorities believe Abu Qatada inspired the lead Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta and he is suspected of having links with radical groups across Europe. Jordanian Interior Minister Awni Yirfas said his country would request Abu Qatada's extradition next week. A spokesman for Britain's Home Office had no immediate reaction. They were probably too busy writing up the paperwork.
The cleric's lawyer, Gareth Peirce, condemned the detentions. Her firm said in a statement that the detainees had not been allowed to see their lawyers. You can see them all you want in a few weeks...in Algeria and Jordan.
Like Abu Qatada, some of the foreigners detained Thursday had spent up to three years in jail without trial under sweeping anti-terror legislation until their release in March after Britain's highest court ruled the detentions unlawful. Since then, they have been supervised under so-called control orders, such as curfew or house arrest, and banned from using the telephone or Internet. The Home Office said the detainees had five working days to appeal deportation â a process that could drag on for months. A spokeswoman insisted they would not be deported until the British government gained assurances from the destination countries that they will not be treated inhumanely. Yeah, sure. No problem.
Civil rights campaigners and the U.N. special envoy on torture, Manfred Nowak, have warned, however, that such assurances carry no weight in international law and would not sufficiently protect the deportees. Like we said, yeah, sure. No problem.
"The assurances of known torturers, many of whom deny the use of torture even when it is widely documented, are not worth the paper they are written on," said Mike Blakemore, a spokesman for Amnesty International. Hey, all the British can do is take them at their word. Once they're out of the country, it's beyond their control. Sorry, Mr. AI.
#4
BAKRIâS DIELEMMA
Sung to
âFool on the Hillâ
Lennon & McCartney
Day after day, alone in Beiruit,
Imam with a crazed look is spouting violence still
Jihadis all want to know him,
Because heâs still on the loose,
And he always gives an answer.
But Imam in Beiruit, makes Jihad as the way
With his evil black heart, to make his power play.
Well on the way, distorting The Book,
The man of a thousand voices talking every which way.
But only the evil hear him,
And the venom that he spews forth,
He angry that Blair took notice.
But Imam in Beiruit, makes Jihad as the way
With his evil black heart, to make his power play.
His tickers not good, must have surgery
His third-world hideout canât provide the doctor he needs,
In London he gets a surgeon,
But he knows heâs an arrestee,
And this is his big dilemma,
But Imam in Beiruit, makes Jihad as the way
With his evil black heart, to make his power play.
Young eager minds, absorb what he says,
72 in paradise means youâre better off dead,
He easily convinces,
He knows that theyâre just some fools,
They do pay close attention,
But Imam in Beiruit, makes Jihad as the way
With his evil black heart, to make his power play.
A Home Office spokesman said the decision to bar Mr Mohammed would not affect his family. He has seven children who were born in Britain. They would continue to receive their State benefits, he said, although those paid to the cleric would cease.
And from his butt boy: The cleric's spokesman, Anjem Choudray, described the UK move as "completely outrageous" and a "failure" of the principle of free speech. "He has been a great asset for the Muslim community here.It is going to be a great loss for the British public and the Muslim community, I believe, and I think that this is indicative of the oppressive nature of the Blair regime."
#8
I know this supposed to be well reasoned, but I cant help myself,
ha fucking ha, you scrounging, hate mongering, lazy parasite, you have taken your last step on English. FUCK OFF AND TAKE YOUR MATES!
#9
I know this supposed to be well reasoned, but I cant help myself,
ha fucking ha, you scrounging, hate mongering, lazy parasite, you have taken your last step on English SOIL. FUCK OFF AND TAKE YOUR MATES! and I forgot to add self righteous!
#2
I don't. They were a pretty nasty bunch themselves.
I don't think the Arab "volunteers" should have been allowed in, and I think the war criminals on the Bosnian side should have been killed like the vermin they were.
Maybe my attention span is too long. I can still remember the picture of the girl in the white dress, killed by a sniper in Sarajevo, and her little dog, too. Filth doesn't excuse filth.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 12:00 Comments ||
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#3
Putting down a revolution is nasty business. That area has a history of discontent even when it was run by austro-hungary.
As far as killing children, its distasteful to modern western ideas, but history weighs in favor of those who are remorseless, not in favor of those who show mercy.
(yes I thought before I typed that, and I am not happy with the conclusion)
The Bush administration has sent seemingly conflicting signals in recent days over the duration of the U.S. deployment to Iraq, openly discussing contingency plans I think the MSM is the one "discussing" the plan, to Bush, it was just a contingencey plan to withdraw as many as 30,000 of 138,000 troops by spring, then cautioning against expectations of any early pullout. As he has been doing every time the MSM asks "Well, when are we gonna withdraw?" Finally yesterday, President Bush dismissed talk of a drawdown as just "speculation and rumors" and warned against "withdrawing before the mission is complete." Do I sense a certain consistency here in the Bush position?
If the public was left confused, thanks to the MSM, and especially the WaPo it may be no more unsure than the administration itself, as some government officials involved in Iraq policy privately acknowledge.
The shifting scenarios reflect the uncertain nature of the mission and the ambiguity of what would constitute its successful completion. For all the clarity of Bush's vow to stay not one day longer than needed, the muddled reality is that no one can say exactly when that will be. Pretty clear to me, but you guys have to keep muddying the waters, to make it "muddled".
The events of the past week have brought home once again the difficulties confronting the president as he prosecutes what polls suggest is an increasingly unpopular war. The WaPo advances!With surging raging, escalating, bigger than any time since the day-before-yesterday violence claiming more U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq and the angry mother of a dead soldier camping out near his ranch in Texas, Bush plainly cannot count on indefinite public patience. This is NEWS?
Administration officials have all but given up any hope of militarily defeating the insurgents with U.S. forces, instead aiming only to train and equip enough Iraqi security forces to take over the fight themselves. So now we spin the original plan to make it look like a change in the plan, since unnamed "Administration Officials" have given up hope. At the same time, they believe that the mission depends on building a new political infrastructure, a project facing its most decisive test in the next three days as deeply divided Iraqis struggle to draft a constitution by a Monday deadline.
I can't take anymore. See the rest at the link. But why bother? It'll just make you ill.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/12/2005 07:44 ||
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#1
He might be confused. Then again, he might just like fucking with the media's heads.
#2
tu, another grand, evil, Rovian plot? Personally, I think it's that the MSM (especially inside the beltway) don't understand what I call "Plain English." You know, the kind where you do what you say you're gonna do, come he!! or high-water! And, usually when the MSM asks "When are we gonna leave," they usually mean the whole kit & kaboodle, not just a 30k troop drawdown. But, who am I to question the WaPo's intentions...not like I'm a big city news editor who's already pointed out 3-4 errors in the snips above alone, eh?
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2005 9:12 Comments ||
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#3
You'd think in year 5 the Big Media would start to catch on to that whole "say what you mean, mean what you say" thing.
#6
The fundamental issue is the press is stupid and ignorant.
They are stupid in that they expect there to be one hard and fast solution and date that you can nail to the floor now, and ignore any and all changes afterward.
They are ignorant in that they don't realize its the job of a good military leader to have plans for contingencies - all the possible ones, and then deveop the plans further for the probable ones, and then for the highest 1-3 probabilities (and the branches they can evolve into), you develop a plan in detail. Then you shape the battlefield, and implement the plan, with the contengencies in the back pocket.
Why doesnt the press understnad this? Its plain common sense. Businesses practice it all the time. Doctors do it with treatment of serious chronic illnesses. Investors do it if they are smart.
I guess journalists are the dregs of university graduates in terms of reasoning capability and though cpacity.
Entertainer/activist Harry Belafonte has retracted some of the controversial comments he made at a civil rights march in Atlanta regarding Jews working for Hitler, but his retraction may have created even more controversy for the singer.
During an interview with Cybercast News Service at the Aug. 7 march, Belafonte asserted that Adolf Hitler's regime in Germany included Jews and that African Americans working in the Bush administration should be compared to Jews working for Hitler. "Hitler had a lot of Jews high up in the hierarchy of the Third Reich," Belafonte said on Saturday. He went on to label African Americans working in the Bush administration as "tyrants."
On Wednesday, Belafonte told the Jerusalem Post: "I do regret the sentence was not structured more accurately." He added: "I, too, agree that Jews weren't 'high up.'" Brilliant.
But Belafonte's interview with the Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, which included the assertion that Jews claim "a high and pure morality," has caused more controversy and more demands for apologies. "The point was not to attack Jews," Belafonte told the Jerusalem Post. "Sometimes, the Jewish people have laid claim to such a high and pure morality" that they react defensively when attacked. But the history of Jewish people "is a DNA that sits within the entire human family," Belafonte said. Even more brilliant.
On Thursday, Wyman Institute Director Rafael Medoff responded to Belafonte's assertion that the Jewish people claim "a high and pure morality." Medoff said Belafonte's new statement "smacks of bigotry," and he called on Belafonte "to retract and apologize for his remarks." "Hitler and his regime murdered six million Jews and launched a world war that caused more than 40 million deaths. How can that be compared to current U.S. government policy?" Medoff asked.
Belafonte used a 2002 book entitled "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers" to back his claim that Jews were involved in the Third Reich. "Jews did have a role, some did, in the demise and brutal treatment of the Jewish people," Belafonte told the Jerusalem Post. "Was it rampant? Absolutely not," Belafonte told the Post. "But these things happen, and people are not exempt from their behavior," he added. "Let's not be dishonest about all of us. The more we know the truth, the better we'll be [at] improving humanity," he said. So let me see if I have this straight. Jews who, in fear for their very lives, turned in other Jews in order to save themselves. In most of those cases, it mattered not since the Nazis rounded the stoolies up anyway and gassed and burned them too. Harry, come here and get slapped.
But the book's author, Bryan Mark Rigg, repudiated Belafonte's attempt to use his book as the basis for his controversial statements. "Belafonte continues to distort history. My book shows that a number of people of partial Jewish ancestry served in the German military, but they did not even consider themselves Jews," Rigg said in a statement released through the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. "Moreover, the vast majority of them were drafted - they were forced to serve Hitler just as other Jews were forced to become slave laborers in Auschwitz and elsewhere," Rigg said. "In fact, many of them were later dismissed from the German military and sent to forced labor camps, where they themselves were persecuted, and some were murdered. Belafonte should take the trouble to read the books he cites before claiming they support him. My book doesn't support him," Rigg added. Belafonte really wants to win the Fiskie this year. Too bad he's too irrelevant to warrant such an honor.
Belafonte was featured at the rally and march commemorating the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act. His controversial comments came in response to a question about his criticism of blacks working in the Bush administration. The event included prominent Democrats like U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. Judge Greg Mathis of television fame called members of the Bush administration "thieves" and criminals" who needed to be "locked up" for allegedly stealing the last two presidential elections. Belafonte's original comments about Jews "high up" in the Third Reich's hierarchy prompted the Anti-Defamation League and the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies to demand an apology earlier this week.
Dr. Rafael Medoff, director of the Institute for Holocaust Studies, said Belafonte was wrong about his assertion. "The fact is that there were no Jews in Hitler's hierarchy. The policies of America and Israel are not similar to those of Hitler, and African-American conservatives are not comparable to Nazis," Medoff said. No practicing Jews in Hitler's army, anyway.
Comedian Dick Gregory, also interviewed by Cybercast News Service during the Atlanta civil rights march, said that African-American conservatives "have a right to exist, but why would I want to walk around with a swastika on my shirt after the way Hitler done messed it up?" Yuk yuk yuk. No wonder you're such a popular comedian. What was your name again?
In the Jerusalem Post interview, Belafonte stuck by his comparison of the Bush administration to Nazi Germany, calling the analogy "not inappropriate" because of the U.S. policy of "detaining suspects without charges [and] creating an atmosphere of fear." These actions, Belafonte said, are "very much similar to the things that were done when Hitler was on the rise." I find your views fascinating and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Belafonte then went on to explain why he believes Jewish groups would defend President Bush. This oughtta be good.
"I can understand why Jewish leaders would be prone to protect the image of George Bush and his administration," Belafonte told the Post, noting that the president supports Israel "even when there are questions of the humanitarian, the moral and the political [motivation] of things that are done to Palestinians." It's got a hip, modern beat and you can dance to it. I give it an 8.9
Belafonte has received numerous awards from Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brith and Yeshiva University, according to the Jerusalem Post. Noting that his wife is of Russian-Jewish heritage, he has visited Israel and he does "the best version" of "Hava Nagila," Belafonte said: "I've always been supportive of the right of Israel as a state, and I've always fought against anti-Semitism, even in my own community." You're doing a great job, too.
This is not the first time Belafonte's remarks have caused a backlash. In 2002, Belafonte called then-Secretary of State Colin Powell a "house slave." Ted Rall sez she's a "house nigga". Guess Harry found that offensive.
Belafonte has also been criticized for his relationship with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. In 2002, Belafonte starred in the biographical documentary "Fidel." New York Times movie critic A.O. Scott described the film as "an exercise not in biography but in hero worship." Belafonte "starred" in something? Must have been a direct-to-video masterpiece.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
08/12/2005 00:30 ||
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#1
Please, just shut up already. What a dumbass!
Posted by: Dar ||
08/12/2005 6:57 Comments ||
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#2
"...Left foot, right foot, in my mouth- "Daylight come and I wan' go hooome..."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/12/2005 6:58 Comments ||
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#3
I'm actually upset that his comments are making it to print and we should not take care to propagate them. There are two sides to this coin one is we are showing his actions are completely unacceptable but the other is that he is actually reintroducing another generation to a very potent lie.
Don't doubt for one second that someone is reading his words, right here at rantburg, and thinking, yeeeah.... now that you mention it... Jews do claim a high and pure morality. That guy that interviewed me and didn't give me that job was jewish.
That Belafonte is willing to defend his comments and hawk that book shows how far we have slipped. This is dangerous stuff and I'm really sorry to see we in this nation have stooped to this level.
And for those who may be reading and be thinking.. yeeah... don't forget that Islam claims to be the pure religion and intends to kill you if you don't conform. And since Islamists are blowing up subways and crashing planes into buildings, maybe it would be best to focus your energies there.
#4
and furthermore, I never quite understand why the left so well understands how to ignore ideas but the right just doesn't get it. Look at the NYT and WAPO and the networks with the Food for Oil scandals, the Swift Vets and any other controversy - they just completely ignore it as long as they can and then when forced to acknowledge it, quickly change the focus as to why it's Bush's fault or Cheney's fault, etc - thus limiting the exposure of the accusation.
The best way to handle this would be to note only that Belafonte apologized and quote people saying what a crackpot he is - how his record sales are slipping, what a has been he is and he has been shunned. Turn the focus onto anything else. But to repeat what he said and his defense of his comments only plays into the game. Don't play along.
#5
and furthermore, I never quite understand why the left so well understands how to ignore ideas but the right just doesn't get it.
You realize that this difference has resulted in a left run by the moonbats and a right that does a decent job of exposing and expelling its moonbats, don't you?
Which is healthier for society?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/12/2005 8:24 Comments ||
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#6
I realize that complete and total moonbats have been able to get elected into congress because their antics were ignored by the press - to the point that the entire Democratic party is nothing BUT moonbats.
It would be far better if the left was providing us with serious discussion about the balance of civil liberties v/s security and tax cuts than the loon parade we are witnessing now.
#7
I see you POV, 2b, but, personally I like to think that it (hopefully) is exposing a new generation to just how much of a moonbat-congregation the left is. Makes me think of a black lady I work with. She rides the bus home with me, and her husband picks her up at the bus stop. They are younger, married, black and he's always listening to Sean Hannity (oh, the horror) in the car when I walk past! I think the black community is starting to come around to the Repubs (especially as they move up the income ladder, and many of the younger generation are getting married and are more conservative than many whites I know), and moonbats like Belafonte (who?) speaking nonsense like this can only help the shift move faster, IMHO.
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2005 8:34 Comments ||
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#8
"I, too, agree that Jews weren't 'high up.'"
Yeah, Harry. I too think they were on the lower, labor intensive side of the Reich...
#9
Another example: Black guy my age here at work (former military, so that helps) is married, has kids, etc. He stumbles in on our lively "coffee club/political discussion group" often and I never will forget a discussion we had with him. When confronted about numerous social issues (not even the WoT), he agreed with us...abortion on demand, harder sentences on criminals, gay "rights", etc. One of the other guys in the club said to him, "Congratulations, you're a Conservative Republican." His face dropped! Since then, he's showed up daily, and he's amazed at how much we in the club know about what's going on in the world that he's never even heard of (much, to the influence of Rantburg, no less...and ignoring the MSM). You'll always have the community of "my parents voted Democrat, I've always voted Democrat, and that's just the way it is." But, my personal experience (and that's here in the South in Atlanta) is telling me the younger black generation (~35 and younger) didn't grow up with REAL racism, are experiencing greater wealth, are moving up in income brackets, and, thus, are moving TOWARD the Repub. party. It'll still take years to "de-indoctrinate" many, but moonbats like Belafonte are helping push them to the VRWC!
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2005 8:42 Comments ||
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#10
BA - I agree with the point that both you and BA are making - and you are talking about the other side of the coin.
It's all in the presentation. There is a reason why the left never spoke or acknowledged the Swift Vets accusations and instead only focused on the accusers and then ran polls showing what "most people think". The focus was always and completely on the Swift Vets. No air time was given to the accusations themselves. They kept information that was dangerous to their candidates out of focus and put 100% focus on the Vets themselves.
#12
The point I am trying to make is that we all know how dangerous and potent this particular lie is. Let's not help spread the lie and instead leave it at "Belafonte, has-been loser, shunned for anti-semetic comments". Keep the focus on Belafonte and keep the discussion away from advertising the original lie. Trust me on this one.
Look at it this way - does it help or hurt Ted Kennedy to have discussions on the reasons why his drinking and womanizing should not matter if he can get legislation done? Answer - it does both. But I'm sure Ted understands he's better off if that discussion doesn't happen in the first place.
#13
Who is most hurt by this comment in the high school paper? Betty Sue was to exposed to be a mean and hurtful gossip by her commenting that the Prom Queen has a big butt?
Gosh, up until now, I never thought the Prom Queen had a big butt - but, I guess it is a little bigger than it should be.
#15
It's more like Harry B stuck both his feet in his own butt. He should have stuck to his competent but mediocre singing rather than become an idiotic and nasty old crank.
#16
same lies Farrakhan and his ilk spread. Ignoring Belafonte as he gets more and more senile with BDS won't make him go away. Attack him for this loudly and publicly.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2005 10:04 Comments ||
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#17
"..Noting that his wife is of Russian-Jewish heritage.."SOME OF THE WORST ANTISEMITS ARE F---ING JEWS ONE WAY OR ANOTHER OR BOTH.
#18
Belafonte is an ass, no question.
However, it was rumored at the time that Heydrich (Head of SD), Robert Ley (Labor head) and Alfred Rosenberg (Nazi "philospher" if there could actually be such a thing) were partially Jewish.
Field Marshall Erich Manstein, the Wehrmachts offensive operations genius on the Eastern front was also reportedly Jewish.
Emphasis on the word rumored.
If any of this is true, it points to the flaws of the individual and not the sterotypical assumptions of that tard Belafonte.
#19
Say, I didn't read any mention of Danny Glover attending the rally. Is he on location, or has he renounced the democratic party and become a Shining Path?
#21
Harry Belafonte, Dick Gregory, Television-Judge Greg Mathis. I mean really now. Who really cares what they say? Do they have any influence at all? And if so with who? Not to mention the "Voting Rights Act" Rally had little or nothing to do with voting rights. It was just an excuse for another Anti-(Fill in the blank) protest. The ADL and Wyman Institute should quit sounding the anti-Semitism bell at every off the cuff statement. It only weakens their cause and shines the light on these turds.
Oldey but Goody for those who missed it on Monday!
Harry Belafonte's New
"Banana Boat Song"
"I'm So Los'"
Hey-oh, Hey-ey-ey-oh
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Hey, he say hey, he say hey, he say hey,
Hey-oh, Hey-ey-ey-oh
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Go all day on a cup-a jo'
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
It's a-gettin noon, There's a Burga King!
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Walkin' a-rounâ mumlin' to ma self
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Walkin' a-rounâ mumlin' to ma self
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Six mile, seven mile, Where am I?
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Six mile, seven mile, Where am I?
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Hey-oh, Hey-ey-ey-oh
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Hey, he say hey, he say hey, he say hey,
Hey-oh, Hey-ey-ey-oh
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Eight mile, nine mile, Where am I?
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Eight mile, nine mile, Where am I?
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Come to dis park spoutin' foolishness
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Lotsa people cheer ma' foolishness
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Hey-oh, Hey-ey-ey-oh
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Hey, he say hey, he say hey, he say hey,
Hey-oh, Hey-ey-ey-oh
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Come Mr. Taxi-man take me back to ma' place
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
I got so'money you can take me back to ma' place
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Hey-oh, Hey-ey-ey-oh
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
Hey, he say hey, he say hey, he say hey,
Hey-oh, Hey-ey-ey-oh
I'm so los' and I caâ find ma home
#23
"...the Jewish people have laid claim to such a high and pure morality that they react defensively when attacked..."
And how would you have them react when attacked, Harry?
COLUMBUS, N.M. (AP) -- Gov. Bill Richardson on Friday declared an emergency in four New Mexico counties along the border, an action that lets him free up money to be spent on everything from fighting drug smuggling to fencing a livestock yard.
The executive order, issued after Richardson toured the area around Columbus, Columbus is the town attacked by Pancho Villa and the base for Pershing's punistive expedition. makes $750,000 immediately available to Dona Ana, Luna, Grant and Hidalgo counties. This is all four counties that touch Mexico. He pledged an additional $1 million.
The money will aid state and area law enforcement efforts, fund a field office for the state Office of Homeland Security and help build a fence to protect a Columbus-area livestock yard where a number of cattle have been killed or stolen.
Richardson's declaration said law enforcement officials have used all available resources to help with border security. But those efforts haven't alleviated the situation, which he said "constitutes an emergency condition with potentially catastrophic consequences."
"Recent developments have convinced me this action is necessary - including violence directed at law enforcement, damage to property and livestock, increased evidence of drug smuggling and an increase in the number of undocumented immigrants," he said.
He also ordered the New Mexico Department of Agriculture to work with the state Livestock Board to assess the safety of livestock in the region.
The funds include nearly $50,000 for an 11-foot, razor wire-topped security fence around the stockyards. It will replace a shorter, barbed-wire fence that Richardson said "is so full of holes and gaps that trucks and people can cross with no control." Now if they can just connect it to the wall they're building west of Yuma...
The new fence will help prevent cattle from Mexico straying across the border, officials said.
"We don't want contagious diseases to contaminate our food supply and disrupt our agricultural economy," Richardson said in a statement before his trip.
Daniel Manzanares, executive director of the Livestock Board, said at least 100 cattle from Mexico have been found in the area. The agency hasn't traced any outbreaks of disease to Mexican cattle, but Manzanares said he suspects some have carried bovine tuberculosis into New Mexico.
The current state of the stockyard fence means people have been able to illegally enter the country as well.
"We definitely have concerns about biosecurity and agroterrorism," said Tim Manning, New Mexico's homeland security adviser.
Richardson is a Democrat and former memeber of Clinton's cabinet. Even so, he seems pretty level-headed. He pushed a cut of NM's income tax rates in half right after taking office. Might make a decent President, so of course would have no chance in the primaries.
#4
Unfortunately, Richardson also issued a directive for state agencies not to report illegals to the INS. He's playing politics. He wants it both ways.
Hat tip to Captain's Quarters; EFL: With all of these references to Germany and Hamburg, the 9/11 Commission oddly failed to include a published report from March 2001 in a Parisian Arabic newspaper, Al-Watan Al-Arabi, about the arrest of two suspected Iraqi spies -- based on a tip from the CIA (boldface mine):
Iraqi Spies Reportedly Arrested in Germany
16 March 2001
Al-Watan al-Arabi (Paris) reports that two Iraqis were arrested in Germany, charged with spying for Baghdad. The arrests came in the wake of reports that Iraq was reorganizing the external branches of its intelligence service and that it had drawn up a plan to strike at US interests around the world through a network of alliances with extremist fundamentalist parties.
The most serious report contained information that Iraq and Osama bin Ladin were working together. German authorities were surprised by the arrest of the two Iraqi agents and the discovery of Iraqi intelligence activities in several German cities. German authorities, acting on CIA recommendations, had been focused on monitoring the activities of Islamic groups linked to bin Ladin. They discovered the two Iraqi agents by chance and uncovered what they considered to be serious indications of cooperation between Iraq and bin Ladin. The matter was considered so important that a special team of CIA and FBI agents was sent to Germany to interrogate the two Iraqi spies.
But they told us there was no connection between Saddam and al-Qaeda, right?
Posted by: Steve ||
08/12/2005 15:42 ||
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#1
and their spokesman today "clarified" that they were briefed about the milintel group identifying Mo Atta more than a year before 9/11, yet chose to not put that in the report. Stonewalling bastards protecting Clinton, Berger, Gorelick, et al. At least we know what Sandy Burglar was trying to hide
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2005 17:44 Comments ||
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#2
Stonewalling bastards protecting Clinton, Berger, Gorelick, et al. At least we know what Sandy Burglar was trying to hide
Clintoon, Burglar, Gorelicks, burn em out Reno, Halfbright et al. That whole crew are disgusting, thru and thru, Stonewalling & Shitwalling POS, all.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
08/12/2005 20:58 Comments ||
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#3
Don't forget Putty Put's comment before the November '04 election about Al Qaeda's plan to attack the US
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/12/2005 22:04 Comments ||
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#4
The CLinton admin can be summed as the Dems acknowledging the Reagan-Repub economy but of course giving credit to themselves and Leftism-Socialism, justifying the latter once, before, and forever for all mankind and -isms, and ergo providing the Left's unilateral/unconditional justification for the USA to be suborned under OWG and Socialist national and World Order. Even when Bill himself admits to being POTUS by elex fraud and that the US economy was long-expanding before he even became POTUS, the DemoLefties are upholding him as the de facto standard for Washington, Politicians, and the Nation, in everything!?
EFL
An Iraqi pilot and four U.S. airmen were together aboard an Iraqi air force plane when it crashed in May. Their remains were buried together yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery. Iraqi air force Capt. Ali Hussam Abass Alrubaeye, 34, was the first Iraqi buried at the United States' premier military cemetery. "This will signify that these warriors were training together, they went into battle together, they died together, and it's only proper that they be buried together," Lt. Gen. Michael Wooley, commander of the Air Force's Special Operations Command, said before the service. RIP
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/12/2005 06:40 ||
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#1
I'm a Government Data "Mining" skeptical IT guy.
This article does not say how many false postives, or false negatives (partly a known unknown ;) ) where generated for the Atta name to pop up.
If people ARE going to use them then these sort of expansion and correlation searches should be authorised by a judge when strong evidence of a likely suspect to pivot the data around is found.
Continuos randomised invasions of privacy are a dangerous waste of resources which could be better deployed elsewhere.
#2
In what way is searching through public domain information an "invasion of privacy"?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/12/2005 7:53 Comments ||
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#3
"It actually does not cause us to rethink this," a legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, Timothy Sparapani, said. "The American public's most sensitive personally identifiable information should not be subjected to this kind of experiment unless and until we have some kind of confidence that society is going to get some kind of tangible benefit out of it."
Once again, the ACLU shows it's on the other side. I count staying alive the biggest "tangible benefit" of all. And, RC's right...from the way I understand the computer system uses PUBLICLY available information to make linkages (e.g. a souped-up version of Google). I don't want the gov't snooping around my info, either, but if it's snooping in publicly available info for tracking terrorists, I'm all for it!
The basis for the attorneys' decision, which Mr. Weldon said he heard about from one of the "Able Danger" officers, is not clear. In general, a 1981 executive order bars intelligence agencies from disseminating information about American citizens and legal permanent residents of this country. However, Atta and the other hijackers did not fit that definition and, in any event, exceptions to the order allow sharing of some terrorism-related information.
This sums it up right here! Either we are a nation of laws (like this one, which specifically excludes non-residents and American citizens...of which, Atta fit the bill) or a nation of men (oligarchy...like the Judicial system, making up a right to "privacy," which in MHO, started w/ Roe v. Wade). Don't mean to be off-topic, but we need to either follow the rule of law, or follow the rule of man (I prefer the former). As someone noted yesterday, too, this shouldn't have been held up by the above mentioned EO, but was more than likely, held up by the famous "wall of separation" put up by Gorelick herself (on the 9/11 commission), when she served in the DOJ in the 90's. That wall supposedly keeps intel agencies from talking to each other, and this right here could be the shining example of the stupidity of that rule. Finally, I noted the NY Post's jab here ("so-called", I love it!): Mr. Weldon is currently engaged in a public tussle with the members and staff of the so-called September 11 Commission over why that body omitted all discussion of the "Able Danger" project from its report.
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2005 9:01 Comments ||
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#4
"In what way is searching through public domain information an "invasion of privacy"?"
Although this is a valid question, there may be better questions to ask. Like: i may have the right to do so (search), but who gave the govt the power to? what process is the govt using to single out me & not you?
If the govt were full of perfect people, 'searching through public domain info' would not bother me... who to scrutinize is ultimately a politital decision.
The article contains zero data, as it does not give the ratio of accurate hits to false hits. I could give you a list of everyone in the USA and say it picked the terrorist out.
"Publically available" is also a bit of weasely phrase. I get the feeling we are not talking about information already in the public domain. What are the controls if it is, to make sure it stays that way?
It would be far better to start with a particular suspected person and expand out from there with these types of searches. This should be authorised by a judge. The numbers of these searches should be published. The search should include financial records etc.
#6
Although this is a valid question, there may be better questions to ask. Like: i may have the right to do so (search), but who gave the govt the power to? what process is the govt using to single out me & not you?
Where is the government DENIED the power to search public information?
What process is there for the government to "single out" person A vs. person B on any matter?
The article contains zero data, as it does not give the ratio of accurate hits to false hits. I could give you a list of everyone in the USA and say it picked the terrorist out.
No, you couldn't. Not without being a bald-faced liar, at least.
It would be far better to start with a particular suspected person and expand out from there with these types of searches.
How do you know this wasn't done? In fact, it's the obvious way FOR doing it -- you look for someone connected to people you know ARE involved, then look for other commonalities -- age, gender, culture, type of residence, educational background, etc.
This should be authorised by a judge.
Why? Should police be required to get a warrant to investigate when someone calls them to report a crime? Should police be restricted from using crime pattern analysis to allocate manpower?
The numbers of these searches should be published.
Why?
The search should include financial records etc.
Huh?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/12/2005 12:49 Comments ||
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A former Border Patrol agent, accused of lying about his citizenship, also smuggled immigrants in his official vehicle while on duty and was heard talking about smuggling drugs, a prosecutor said yesterday. A federal judge ruled that Oscar Antonio Ortiz, 28, should remain in jail without bail to prevent him from fleeing to Mexico, where he was born.
Ortiz resigned from the Border Patrol Friday, the day after he was arrested.
Prosecutor Michelle Jennings said Ortiz helped to smuggle more than 100 people into the United States, used a firearm during a felony and abused his position of trust. She said Ortiz was caught smuggling immigrants in 2001 and admitted to Border Patrol recruiters that year that he had used cocaine and marijuana.
Jennings said Ortiz was born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and a Guatemalan mother and went to middle school and high school in the Mexican state of Sonora.
Ortiz served in the U.S. Navy honorably and received favorable job evaluations at the Border Patrol, a defense lawyer said, evidence that his client stands by his promises and would return for court appearances. But the judge said Ortiz had rendered his government service a fraud by lying about his citizenship.
Jennings said agents discovered an "obviously counterfeit birth certificate" when they searched Ortiz's home in June.
In 2001, Ortiz, then a seaman aboard the Tarawa, an amphibious assault ship, was arrested in San Ysidro with two illegal immigrants in the back of a car he was driving, the prosecutor said. The two immigrants told authorities they each paid $200 to enter the United States, but no charges were filed.
That same year, Ortiz used an Illinois birth certificate to apply for the Border Patrol, agents said in a court filing. Investigators learned this year that a birth certificate with that same number had been issued to someone else...
The El Cajon-based agent was placed on administrative leave June 6, and was told to report to his superiors every day. He didn't. [Defense attorney Stephen] White said Ortiz wasn't shirking his duty, but was making the most of a bad situation. "He took a vacation," White said outside court.
Ortiz and another Border Patrol agent were investigated after federal agents listening to wiretaps on an Encinitas-based drug ring heard them talking about immigrant smuggling, authorities said. The other agent has not been charged in the case. Outside court, prosecutors said they couldn't answer questions about that agent.
#4
In 2001, Ortiz, then a seaman aboard the Tarawa, an amphibious assault ship, was arrested in San Ysidro with two illegal immigrants in the back of a car he was driving, the prosecutor said. The two immigrants told authorities they each paid $200 to enter the United States, but no charges were filed.
Why in the world did it take 4 years to put this punk on trial? He was not an INS agent at the time, but still should've been charged! I guess 9/11 had some role to play (and the fact that he faked a birth certificate to get a Federal job at the INS), but good grief, he should've been charged then and there!
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2005 8:22 Comments ||
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NEW YORK (AP) - After years of legal battle, the Fire Department of New York is releasing thousands of documents offering a detailed and intimate look at the heroism and missteps behind its response to the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack.
The department on Friday plans to make public hours of radio transmissions and hundreds of oral histories telling the story of firefighters' rush to the twin towers on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, to help evacuate thousands of people. The Sept. 11 commission, which had access to the histories and recordings, described major flaws in the city's response to the attack. Emergency radios did not function properly. Police and firefighters did not work together. Discipline broke down. Vital messages went unheard.
But some of the families of the 343 firefighters killed say they hope the information will cast additional light on the problems that contributed to the death toll. Sally Regenhard, whose son, Christian Regenhard, died that morning, still does not know exactly where her son died. ``Maybe there will be something on there that gives me a clue as to what happened to my son,'' she said. ``I have not heard where he was sent, when he was sent, what he was supposed to accomplish when he went in.''
Regenhard and other victims' families joined The New York Times in suing the city in 2002 to release the more than 15 hours of radio transmissions and 12,000 pages of oral histories collected by the fire department in the days after the towers' collapse. The city argued that releasing the histories and radio recordings would violate firefighters' privacy and jeopardize the prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty in April to six counts of conspiring with the Sept. 11 hijackers.
New York's highest court ruled in March that the city had to release the materials but could excise potentially painful or embarrassing portions.
Some families and other critics of the city's response hope the new documents will help them challenge the conclusion that many firefighters in the north tower heard but heroically chose to ignore an evacuation message issued after the south tower collapsed at 9:59 a.m.
Glenn Corbett, a professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and an adviser to Regenhard's Skyscraper Safety Campaign, said he believes that outdated radios prevented many from receiving that vital message. He said he did not find it credible that perhaps hundreds of firefighters ignored a message from their commanders.
At least 450 relatives of firefighters killed in the collapse have requested copies of the oral histories and radio recordings, and they will be receiving them by express mail Friday, the fire department said. An FDNY spokesman said the department would not comment on the documents before their release.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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This will be painful - but useful. There are too many people who have scarfed up money and precious little progress has been made for actual programs that will correct some of the problems that still exist after 911. I could list a few - but I wont.
Politics and money grabs by the powerful and ambitious to fund the same ol' same ol'. It will eventually be responsible for the death of many - perhaps millions of us.
President George Bush has said he "sympathised" with the mother of a US soldier killed in Iraq but refused to heed her call to pull out the troops. Speaking from his Texas ranch where Cindy Sheehan has been holding a roadside protest, Mr Bush said withdrawing would be a "mistake".
Ms Sheehan is vowing to remain until she gets to speak to the president about his justification for the war. Dozens of knuckleheadsrubesfoolsStalinist tools well-wishers have turned out to join her demonstration.
"Listen, I sympathize with Mrs Sheehan," Mr Bush said. "She feels strongly about her position.
"And she has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America."
He said he had thought "long and hard about her position" calling for US troops to be sent home. But he had decided against it, he said. "It would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long run if we were to do so," he said.
Some veterans and relatives have dubbed the vigil a distraction and are keen to ensure support for those serving in Iraq does not wane.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Someone keeps refreshing her Kool aid-cooler. She is taking advice from some moonbats that the even other moonbats disagree with.
Hers is nothing but a sad grandstand.
She needs to come in from the hot sun before it brains her damage.
#2
I didn't really keep up with it yesterday, but someone here mentioned that Drudge had a report that her entire family had issued a press release saying they disagree with her stand. Any followup to that?
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2005 8:01 Comments ||
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She is both disturbed and a tool. I read her letter to Bush and it's full of the LLL talking points.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2005 10:11 Comments ||
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#6
She needs to come in from the hot sun before it brains her damage.
Too late.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/12/2005 10:17 Comments ||
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#7
I feel sorry that she lost her son but taking that tragedy and running it like a political football is incredibly disgusting and gross. I really wonder if her son would have wanted this to be done. Having flung herself into the media/political pawn circus ring it appears to me that Cindy Sheehan seems to really get off on the attention and sense of importance it affords her. Makes one cringe in repulsion just to hear or watch.
#8
I'm sure she knows her son would've supported her, and if he didn't, he'd be in the same category as everybody else outside her little camp.
She's smarter than everybody, including her son.
Bless him for his service.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/12/2005 12:38 Comments ||
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Just saw the sainted mom on CNN and she says that since her meeting she has become educated on the "Rush to War" and the "wrong reasons for attack and occupation of Iraq" based on the Downing Street memos. I respect her son but she has officially gone over to the Lefty Moonbat side of the equations.
UNITED NATIONS â A California man was in custody Friday after trying to enter a parking garage near U.N. headquarters with two firearms and a five-gallon container of gasoline in his car, U.N. and police officials said. Vernon Wilker, 59, from Salton City, California, told law enforcement authorities he had a property dispute in California and was coming to the United Nations to file a lawsuit, U.N. chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
That would make him a left-coast leftist loonie.
Wilker had not yet been charged and was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan criminal court, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office said.
Wilker, driving a Ford Escort station wagon, was arrested Thursday after attempting to enter a garage under a hotel located across the street from the U.N. headquarters compound on Manhattan's East Side.
Told by a private guard at the garage entrance that his vehicle had to be searched, he asked if a permit was required to carry a .22-caliber revolver, then backed up and left the garage without being searched, Dujarric said.
"I'll be back!"
Wilker returned 10 minutes later and tried to run over the guard to force his way into the garage, Dujarric said.
He's Back!
At that point, a U.S. Secret Service agent standing nearby apprehended the man and turned him over to New York police.
"One nut, ready for pickup!"
Secret Service agents help provide security at the United Nations.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/12/2005 13:15 ||
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Weapons security at the UN has long been tight because the delegates themselves have on average tried to smuggle in guns, knives, poison, even blow-guns at a rate of over 50 confiscations a DAY.
BAGHDAD -- There were no reporters riding shotgun on the highway north of Baghdad when a roadside bomb sent Sgt. Elizabeth Le Bel's Humvee lurching into a concrete barrier. The Army released a three-sentence statement about the incident in which her driver, a fellow soldier, was killed. Most news stories that day noted it briefly.
But a vivid account of the attack appeared on the Internet within hours of the Dec. 4 crash. Unable to sleep after arriving at the hospital, Le Bel hobbled to a computer and typed 1,000 words of what she called "my little war story" into her Web log, or blog, titled "Life in this Girl's Army," at http://www.sgtlizzie.blogspot.com .
"I started to scream bloody murder, and one of the other females on the convoy came over, grabbed my hand and started to calm me down. She held onto me, allowing me to place my leg on her shoulder as it was hanging free," Le Bel wrote. "I thought that my face had been blown off, so I made the remark that I wouldn't be pretty again LOL. Of course the medics all rushed with reassurance which was quite amusing as I know what I look like now and I don't even want to think about what I looked like then."
Since the 1850s, when a London Times reporter was sent to chronicle the Crimean War, journalists have generally provided the most immediate first-hand depictions of major conflicts. Sorry I have to work today. I could fit a couple of pages of comments in right here! But in Iraq, service members themselves are delivering real-time dispatches -- in their own words -- often to an audience of thousands through postings to their blogs.
"I was able to jot a few lines in every day, and it just grew from there," Le Bel, 24, of Haverhill, Mass., said in an e-mail. Her Web site has received about 45,000 hits since she started it a year ago.
At least 200 active-duty soldiers currently keep blogs. Only about a dozen blogs were in existence two years ago when the U.S. invaded Iraq, according to "The Mudville Gazette" ( http://www.mudvillegazette.com ), a clearinghouse of information on military blogging administered by an Army veteran who goes by the screen name Greyhawk.
Written in the casual, sometimes profane language of the barracks, the entries give readers an unfiltered perspective ROTFLMAO on combat largely unavailable elsewhere. But they are also drawing new scrutiny and regulation from commanders concerned they could compromise security
In April, Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, the top tactical commander in Iraq, published the military's first policy memorandum on Web sites maintained by soldiers, requiring that all blogs maintained by service members in Iraq be registered. The policy also barred bloggers from publishing classified information, revealing the names of service members killed or wounded before their families could be notified, and providing accounts of incidents still under investigation. Limitations the MSM doesn't have to bother with, and considers a violation of the public's right-to-know.
"We don't have a problem with most of what they write, but we don't want to give away the farm," said Lt. Col. Steven Boylan, a military spokesman in Baghdad, who said such guidelines are nearly identical to those required of news organizations that cover the military.
Enforcement of the policy was left to the discretion of unit commanders. In late July, Arizona National Guard Spec. Leonard Clark became the first soldier found to have violated the new policy. He was fined $1,640 and demoted to private first class for posting what the military said was classified material on his blog. His site has since been shut down, although much of the content has been posted elsewhere on the Internet. He did not return e-mail messages seeking comment.
His postings -- which included long entries detailing attacks against American patrols and convoys -- described his company's captain as "a glory seeker" and the battalion sergeant major as "an inhuman monster." In at least one entry, Clark, who has run for political office in Arizona several times and was widely expected to run for Senate in 2006, suggested that his fellow soldiers were becoming opposed to the U.S. mission in Iraq. Which was the only kind of stuff the MSM believed. The rest was obviously 'filtered'. I filtered the rest of the anti-war tripe; read at link.
Soldiers' Web sites vary from multimedia presentations of digital photos and videos to simple text written in journal form. Many bloggers say they do it to keep friends and family up to date or to counter what they consider the biases of the mainstream media.
Many entries are deeply personal. Battered but still able to perform her duties, Le Bel returned to her unit a few days after the roadside bomb attack. She attended the memorial service for her driver, whom she never named, and shared her thoughts with the readers in a Dec. 7 posting:
"I am now deathly afraid of the nightmares I have already seen bits and pieces of. I can see them in my mind when I close my eyes, I see the truck slamming into the wall and it scares me all over again. Why did I walk away from a wreck that killed a comrade and friend?"
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/12/2005 07:44 ||
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This is and is going to continue to be a thorn in the side of the MSM. Not only do soldier blogs give a blow-by-blow that the MSM doesn't, but as a resource for historians, they are far more useful. In addition, once the histories start being produced, the glaring errors and filtration will be immediately thrown back in the face of those who would re-write history at the expense of the soldiers, and it will be done so in forums that cannot be ignored. And they will face the same face, rhetorically, as did "journalists" caught in the camp of Gen WT Sherman: to be taken around camp while riding on an ass, backwards, with a sign reading "spy" around their necks, before being kicked out, told that the pickets had orders to shoot on sight if they made effort to return.
I love William T. Sherman! Would that we only had more like him today!
"...to be taken around camp while riding on an ass, backwards, with a sign reading "spy" around their necks, before being kicked out, told that the pickets had orders to shoot on sight if they made effort to return."
Only peripherally related to the WoT, but it struck me as kind of interesting and more than a little bit odd.
President Arroyo could ask the House of Representatives to throw out the impeachment complaint against her for allegedly cheating in last yearâs presidential election on the grounds that the main evidence has been digitally altered, her spokesman said yesterday.
Environment Secretary Michael Defensor, Mrs. Arroyoâs acting spokesman on the impeachment case, said Malacañang will present to the House committee on justice a technical analysis of the audio recordings allegedly detailing Mrs. Arroyoâs phone conversations with an election official to prove that they had been "spliced."
But Sen. Panfilo Lacson, skeptical of Defensorâs claim, challenged the administration yesterday to have their respective copies of the audio recordings analyzed together â a challenge that Defensor accepted.
The committee will begin hearings on the impeachment complaint next week to determine whether it is "sufficient in form and substance" to be sent to the Senate for trial.
Defensor said while it was possible that the voice heard on the tapes was Mrs. Arroyoâs, bits and pieces of different telephone conversations she had with other people could have been digitally stitched together to give the impression that the voices were conspiring to rig the May 2004 presidential vote.
"The tapes they made us hear are full of lies. That was her voice but she was not the one talking. The conversations have been manipulated," Defensor said at a news conference where the Arroyo administration released a technical study of the tapes earlier provided by the opposition loyal to deposed President Joseph Estrada.
"It is an electronic and digital manipulation to link the President to cheating and rigging," he said.
Unless the opposition lawmakers that sponsored the case can prove that the tapes were not tampered with, "then the impeachment complaint should be thrown out," Defensor said. "No technical studies have been done on the recordings."
Defensor disclosed that a copy of the tape was sent to an American expert on sound analysis, Barry Dickey, to determine the recordingsâ authenticity.
Dickey is a forensic expert of Audio Evidence Lab, a Texas company that specializes on analyzing audio and video evidence.
Dickey had examined a tape of Saudi terror mastermind Osama bin Laden in which the al-Qaeda leader exhorted Muslims around the world to declare a "holy war" on the United States.
The tape was found in a house in Afghanistan by US soldiers shortly after the 2001 invasion.
AELâs website states that the company has experience in examining evidence from over 1,000 cases in the United States and Europe.
Dickey has provided "expert testimony on issues involving both audio and video evidence. Utilizing DSP technology, analytical equipment, and microscopic resolution, Mr. Dickey employs scientifically accepted techniques to provide the critical evidence required in the courtroom," according to the company website.
Citing Dickeyâs report, Defensor said some parts of the recordings were "questionable due (to) the sudden change in male voice/verbal pattern and surrounding events" while other segments were "not consistent with the rest of the recording."
"The incriminating quotes were spliced. They spliced the sentences, doctored the conversations to make it appear that there is an intention to rig the elections," Defensor said.
He said the recordings were sent to Dickey through a local sound engineer, Jonathan Tiongco, who had met with Defensor recently.
Tiongco told the same press conference that he had presented his own initial analysis of the recordings to Defensor and told him that he doubted the recordingsâ authenticity. That prompted Defensor to seek Dickeyâs expertise.
Using an approach called "audio method of time expansion" which analyzes the pronunciation of words, Tiongco said the part of the tape in which Mrs. Arroyo was purportedly heard "rigging" the vote count had been manipulated or altered.
When slowed down and broken into syllables, Tiongco said, the now well-known phrase "yung dagdag, yung dagdag (the additional votes, the additional votes)" came out as "gal-ban-binalbag."
Two other local sound experts, Jim Sarthou and Arnold Jallores, also doubted the recordingsâ authenticity. Sarthou said clicking sounds raised the possibility that the recordings were spliced together while Jallores pointed out that the sound patterns were inconsistent.
Malacañang said Dickeyâs findings vindicated Mrs. Arroyo but acknowledged that the public in the end would have the final say.
"What we are saying is that what many believe may not have any basis in fact," Press Secretary Bunye told reporters. "Itâs very clear that the tapes were tampered with."
President adviser for political affairs Gabriel Claudio said the findings showed that "the root of all the political turmoil we are in is a sinister and utterly malicious attempt to link the President to electoral fraud where none exists."
"Itâs tragic how audiotapes that turn out to be fabricated or tampered could have brought about so much political conflict, turmoil and instability to our nation," he said.
Administration congressmen Prospero Nograles of Davao City and Monico Puentevella of Bacolod City said the impeachment complaint should be junked if the audio recordings were proven to be fake.
Lacson said while he did not question Dickeyâs expertise, he pointed out that Defensor may have sent an edited copy of the recordings and not the original, which Lacson said he possesses.
It appears that there are two versions of the recordings, according to Lacson: one that came from Alan Paguia, a former lawyer of deposed President Joseph Estrada, and another which Defensor had sent to Dickey.
"If he submitted only one set of tapes, then we have two different sets, the public may have reason to get confused," Lacson explained. "If you submit garbage, the authenticator would say that it is garbage. Garbage in, garbage out."
Lacson had commissioned his own tape analysis last June at UniQuest Pty Ltd of the University of Queensland in Australia, which concluded the tape was authentic.
The former national police chief suggested that he and Defensor send their respective tapes to Dickey and UniQuest for verification. "If we submit similar tapes both to UniQuest and Dickey, they should have the same finding," he said.
Defensor was amendable to Lacsonâs suggestion and added he was willing to shoulder the cost in the "spirit of cooperation."
On June 5, Malacañang announced there was a fresh attempt to destabilize the administration with renewed accusations that Mrs. Arroyo had fixed the results of last yearâs presidential election.
Bunye released a pair of CD recordings the following day as part of a preemptive effort to counter the expected poll fraud claims.
The opposition had widely been expected to release copies of the audio recordings, in which Mrs. Arroyo appeared to press for a million-vote margin over action film actor Fernando Poe Jr.
Poe had accused Mrs. Arroyo of robbing him of victory but his electoral protest was junked by the Supreme Court shortly after he died in December of a stroke.
In a news conference Bunye played two CDs for reporters, one which he claimed was a wiretapped cell phone call between Mrs. Arroyo and an election official known only as "Gary," and the other that he claimed used snippets of that call spliced with the voice of a fake Commission on Elections official.
In July, Mrs. Arroyo apologized to the nation for what she described as an improper telephone call to an unidentified election official before Congress could proclaim the winner of the election.
However, she insists she committed no crime and has refused to resign, urging critics to channel their complaints through the impeachment proceedings.
The opposition has also raised other issues in its impeachment complaint, including allegations that Mrs. Arroyoâs family was on the payroll of illegal gambling barons and that Mrs. Arroyo had allegedly engaged in anomalous contracts.
Malacañang, meanwhile, announced that Mrs. Arroyo had appointed three members of a Manila law office as her lead counsel in the impeachment case.
Opposition congressmen filed an impeachment complaint on July 25, the same day Mrs. Arroyo delivered her annual State of the Nation Address.
The opposition had initially shunned the impeachment route, anticipating that Arroyo allies â who outnumber them in the House and the Senate â would block it.
They had hoped to pressure Mrs. Arroyo to leave office through "people power" pressure, but decided to make an impeachment bid after anti-Arroyo protest rallies drew disappointing crowds.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/12/2005 13:43 ||
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GMA is not the cleanest woman on earth. But measured against Ping Lacson she is the light of of an angel. Remember Ping ran the secret police under Marcos and recieves all his funding from China. He will give the region away to China if he gets her out of office. Then our problems with the ASG and JI will seem trivial. This will affect the way we fight the insurgencies/terrorists in Asia
Posted by: 49 pan ||
08/12/2005 18:19 Comments ||
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PUTRAJAYA, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will sign soon the Mega Port Initiative (MPI) that will enable the United States to help screen cargo for nuclear or radioactive materials that can be used for weapons of mass destruction.
The MPI is a follow-up to the Container Security Initiative (CSI) which Malaysia signed with the United States in January 2004. The CSI permitted American customs officers to be placed in Tanjung Pelepas Port in Johor and Port Klang to inspect potentially high-risk containerised shipments bound for the US.
Under the MPI, the US will provide radiation equipment and training to enhance Malaysia's capability to screen cargo for radioactive materials. Malaysian Customs Director-General Tan Sri Abdul Halil Abdul Mutalib said 80 countries had joined the MPI and Malaysia expected to sign it before the end of this month.
MPI and CSI were introduced by the US after the country was attacked by terrorists on Sept 11, 2001.
Video clip interview of Iranian nuke negotiator on MEMRI TV
The following are excerpts from an interview withIranian chief negotiator on nuclear affairs, and member of the Iranian Supreme Council for National Security Hosein Musavian, which aired on Iranian Channel 2 on August 4, 2005
Musavian: Those (in Iran) who criticize us and claim that we should have only worked with the IAEA do not know that at that stage â that is, in August 2003 â we needed another year to complete the Esfahan (UCF) project, so it could be operational. They say that because of that 50-day (ultimatum), we should have kept (the UCF) in Esfahan incomplete, and that we needed to comply with the IAEA's demands and shut down the facilities.
The regime adopted a twofold policy here: It worked intensively with the IAEA, and it also conducted negotiations on international and political levels. The IAEA gave us a 50-day extension to suspend the enrichment and all related activities. But thanks to the negotiations with Europe we gained another year, in which we completed (the UCF) in Esfahan.
[...]
There was a time when we said we would not work with Europe, the world, or the IAEA, and that we would not comply with any of their demands. There were very clear consequences: After 50 days, the IAEA Board of Governors would have undoubtedly handed the Iranian dossier over to the (U.N.) Security Council. There is no doubt about it. As for those who say we should have worked only with the IAEA â this would have meant depriving Iran of the opportunity to complete the Esfahan project in the one-year extension.
Esfahan's (UCF) was completed during that year. Even in Natanz, we needed six to twelve months to complete the work on the centrifuges. Within that year, the Natanz project reached a stage where the small number of centrifuges required for the preliminary stage, could operate. In Esfahan, we have reached UF4 and UF6 production stages.
[...]
We suspended the UCF in Esfahan in October 2004, although we were required to do so in October 2003. If we had suspended it then, (the UCF) in Esfahan would have never been completed. Today we are in a position of power: (The UCF) in Esfahan is complete and UF4 and UF6 gasses are being produced. We have a stockpile of products, and during this period, we have managed to convert 36 tons of Yellow Cake into gas and store it. In Natanz, much of the work has been completed.
[...]
Thanks to our dealings with Europe, even when we got a 50-day ultimatum, we managed to continue the work for two years. This way we completed (the UCF) in Esfahan. This way we carried out the work to complete Natanz, and on top of that, we even gained benefits. For 10 years, America prevented Iran from joining the WTO. This obstacle was removed, and Iran began talks in order to join the WTO. In the past, the world did not accept Iran as a member of the group of countries with a nuclear fuel cycle. In these two years, and thanks to the Paris Agreement, we entered the international game of the nuclear fuel cycle, and Iran was recognized as one of the countries with a nuclear fuel cycle. An Iranian delegate even participated in the relevant talks. We gained other benefits during these two years as well.
[...]
Host: Mr. Musavian, there is a point that our viewers might find interesting - the comparison between Iran's nuclear activity dossier and North Korea's.
[...]
There is a belief that if we adopted the North Korean model, we could have stood much stronger against the excessive demands of America and Europe.
[...]
Musavian: During these two years of negotiations, we managed to make far greater progress than North Korea. North Korea's most important achievement had to do with security guarantees. We achieved the same thing a year ago in the negotiations with the Europeans. They agreed to give us international guarantees for Iran's security, its national rule, its independence, non-intervention in its internal affairs, its national security, and not invading it.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/12/2005 12:16 ||
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Hey, Europe. This guy just shit all over you. But it's not like we didn't know that was gonna happen...
#2
A certain believer in Kofi's innocence has just been proven wrong again. Looks like Europe's efforts were for nothing, since they were dealing with a dishonest negotiating partner.
Odd. How many of us knew this from the beginning?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/12/2005 12:55 Comments ||
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Of course they crapped all over Europe - Iran = NOrth Korea, etal > they all but officially want the USA to attack them, pinning down prob 500K US troops EACH NATION while forcing Washington to MILITARIZE/CENTRALIZE everything back in America - read, REGULATE & SUBSIDIZE! 9-11 and the WOT is about PC forcing Failed Leftism-Socialism-Communism/SWO on America and later the world, and ideally without resort to mutually destructive global nuke war. See the Clinton-led DemoLefties -they harshly crticize Dubya, the GOP-RIGHT, and the GOP-led USA as being alleged "FASCIST" while also depending on the "Fascist" GOP-Right to dev and pay for new GLOBAL EMPIRE-MODERNIZATION while Russia-China modernize; and while promo the Dems as the alternate or counter to the "Fascist" GOP-Right. Well, what the alternate or antithesis of Fascism within the context of SOCIALISM - answer, COMMUNISM, where alleged GOP-Rightist-led "Fascist" Authoritarianism isn't enough to serve, save, and protect America vv Communist TOTALITARIANISM. In CLINTON/DEMSPEAK. "FASCISM" is merely DE-REGULATED=COMPETITIVE COMMUNISM. "LIBERALISM", and SOCIALISM, where Fascist = Communist > Limited State-centric Capitalism! WHAT IT COMES DOWN TO IS THAT THE CLINTONS AND CLINTON-LED DEMS ARE WAITING FOR SEVERE OR CATASTROPHIC NEW 9-11's TO OCCUR AGS GOP-LED AMERICA, WHERE THE LEVEL OF CASUALTIES IS HIGH AND IDEALLY DUBYA AND HIS ADMIN IS BLOWN TO SMITHEREENS! GOP AMERICA ERGO GOP-BLAMED. AND WHERE HILLARY IS CONCERNED, BOTH GOP-DEMOCRAT MALE POLITICIANS MUST FAIL LIKE AMERICA. THE LEFTIES PROB IS NOT AMERICA WAGING WAR FOR GLOBAL EMPIRE VV 9-11, THE LEFT'S PROB IS AMERICA DOMINATING OR RULING ITS NEWFOUND GLOBAL EMPIRE, AS THE LEFT DEMANDS ITS UNCONDITIONAL POWER AND UNCONDITIONAL GLOBAL TRIBUTE!?
Iran has warned the US and the EU that referring it to the UN Security council over its resumption of nuclear activities would be a step towards "the path of confrontation."
Some of us have been expecting that, though the eventual casus belli will probably be interference in Iraq...
"I think that would be a grave miscalculation by the US, and particularly Europe," Sirus Nasseri told the BBC's Newsnight program.
It doesn't seem to have occurred to Sirus that Iran might be miscalculating...
An emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began in Vienna on Monday after Iran resumed uranium conversion activities - which had been suspended since November - at a plant in Isfahan. "There is no legal base whatsoever to go to the Security Council. If it is, it is by political choosing and it will be a big mistake," said Nasseri who is Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA "What we have been trying to do is see whether it would be possible to continue our enrichment activity through an agreement with Europe," Nasseri said. In Tehran on Tuesday Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described an EU offer to Iran of trade and other incentives in return for guarantees it was not making nuclear weapons as "an insult".
Let's see how much longer truculence and vitriol work...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Think the EU3, et al, will get it, now?
The music stopped a long long time ago, this dance is over.
#2
Germany and France will trod all over themselves to keep this issue from getting to the UNsC. If it gets to the UNSC it will be vetoed by France, Russia and China. That is how this will play out.
The tables is set, and the diners are taking their places. We have been down this road before.
#4
Either that or Iran will have a 'change of heart' at the last miniute, France and Germany will declare it a 'Big Breakthrough' and the dance will start again.....
All the while Iran will continue enrichment. Does anyone really think they ever really stopped.
Iran on Thursday night rejected a resolution approved by the UN nuclear watchdog on the Iranian nuclear issue as "politically motivated."
That's prob'ly why they call it "international politix," isn't it?
"This resolution is politically motivated and has been approved under the pressures of the United States and its allies and is void of any legal or rational basis, and (therefore it) is unacceptable," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.
Okay. Not accepting it won't make it go away, though.
Earlier in the day, the 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approved a resolution on the Iranian nuclear file. The resolution voices "serious concern" over Iran's recent resumption of uranium conversion activities and urges Iran to "re-establish full suspension of all enrichment-related activities." However, the resolution does not have any teeth mention the referral of Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council, which the European Union (EU) had previously said would be triggered by Iran's resumption.
Hence its contemptuous dismissal...
The resolution also asks the agency's Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to "continue to monitor closely the situation and to inform the Board of any further developments and to provide a comprehensive report on the implementation of Iran's Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Safeguards Agreement and this resolution by Sept. 3."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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'unacceptable'
Asefi gets the Arrogant Dickwad Award for the day.
#3
... and to inform the Board of any further developments...
Yea, like when the cameras and sensors go dead, and when the keys to doors suddenly can't be found or duplicated. Oh, and ElBaradei, watch him for those one way leaks, he's famous for!
#1
not if it's an embassy - it confirms they are a distinct separate "state", no part of Jerusalem. Smart move by Sharon
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2005 20:46 Comments ||
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By international law, an embassy only exists if one country offers an ambassador to another country, and they are accepted as such, which would represent official recognition of the Palestinian state by Israel. This would be unlikely, as it would confer no benefit to the Paleos. However, the way it appears to be set up, Abbas could claim the victory that "Jerusalem is the capitol of Palestine", even though that capitol is only one building, along with any other Arab properties the PA could obtain in Jerusalem, most likely through coercion--the forced sale by Israeli Arabs to the PA. Remember that Jerusalem is historically measured in inches, quite literally, with various religions and sects jealously guarding their inches. The advantage to the Israelis is that unlike the Ramallah compound for Arafat, they would have complete and utter control over Orient House, to include who goes in and out, its communications, and that no weapons be permitted on the grounds. They could also close it in a heartbeat if they wanted to. All told, this would end up creating five Paleo enclaves: the West Bank, controlled by Fatah, with the de facto capitol; the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas; the Lebanese camps, controlled by Hizbullah; the Jordanian camps, that are still fairly independent, preferring to be ruled by someone other than Paleos; and the de jure capitol in Jerusalem, where the PA could entertain diplomats and international sympathizers while under the protection of the Israelis. All told, there are plusses and minuses for both sides, but in balance, both sides profit far more than they lose.
What's new is the ability of these vans to "drive by" whole streets at normal speed and examine each and every vehicle it passes. The manufacturer's website describes this capability in more detail and provides a video, complete with cheerful music, showing how the equipment can turn everything it passes into the opacity of clear glass. The backscatter X-ray is tuned to organic wavelengths, enabling it to find hidden people and explosive. But this is not all it can do. For an optional extra, the Z-Backscatter Van can also find those pesky dirty bombs and nuclear weapons that every well-managed city wants to be rid of, all at a low price and in an environmentally responsible manner: getting frisked by the Z-Backscatter Van only requires an exposure equivalent to a fifteen minute flight on a commercial aircraft.
In the snow-clad mountains near Jalalabad in November 2001, as the Taliban collapsed and al-Qaeda lost its Afghan sanctuary, Osama bin Laden's biographer, Hamid Mir, watched "every second al-Qaeda member carrying a laptop computer along with a Kalashnikov" before they scattered into hiding and exile.
On the computer screens were photographs of the September 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta.
Al-Qaeda has since become the first guerilla movement in history to migrate from physical space to cyberspace.
With laptops and DVDs, in hideouts and at internet cafes, young code-writing terrorists have sought to replicate the training, communication, planning and preaching facilities they lost in Afghanistan with countless new locations on the internet.
Al-Qaeda suicide bombers and ambush units in Iraq depend on the web for training and tactical support. They rely on the anonymity and flexibility to operate with near impunity.
In Qatar, Egypt and Europe cells affiliated with al-Qaeda that have recently carried out or seriously planned bombings have relied heavily on the internet.
A US State Department expert, Dennis Pluchinsky, said such cases had led Western intelligence agencies and outside terrorism specialists to conclude that the "global jihad movement" had become a "web-directed" phenomenon.
Hampered by the nature of the internet, the government has proven ineffective at blocking or even hindering significantly this vast online presence.
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and its offshoots are building a massive and dynamic online library of training materials - some supported by experts who answer questions on message boards or in chat rooms.
They cover how to mix ricin poison; how to make a bomb from commercial chemicals; how to pose as a fisherman and sneak through Syria into Iraq; and how to navigate by the stars while running through a night-shrouded desert. These materials are cascading across the web in Arabic, Urdu, Pashto and other first languages of jihadist volunteers.
The Saudi Arabian branch of al-Qaeda set up an online magazine last year that exhorted potential recruits to use the internet. "Oh mujahid brother, in order to join the great training camps you don't have to travel to other lands," read the inaugural issue of Muaskar al-Battar, or Camp of the Sword. "Alone, in your home or with a group of your brothers, you too can begin to execute the training program."
"Biological Weapons" was the stark title of a 15-page Arabic-language document posted two months ago on the website of the al-Qaeda fugitive leader Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, one of the jihadist movement's most important propagandists, often referred to by the nom de guerre Abu Musab Suri. His document described "how the pneumonic plague could be made into a biological weapon", read a translation by an analyst at the Terrorism Research Centre in the US, Rebecca Givner-Forbes.
Nasar's guide drew on US and Japanese biological weapons programs from World War II and showed "how to inject carrier animals, like rats, with the virus and how to extract microbes from infected blood ⊠and how to dry them so that they can be used with an aerosol delivery system".
Terrorists seek to overcome in cyberspace the obstacles they face from armies and police forces. In planning attacks, radical operatives are often at risk when they congregate at a mosque or cross a border with false documents. They are safer working on the web.
Al-Qaeda's innovation on the web "erodes the ability of our security services to hit them when they're most vulnerable, when they're moving", said Michael Scheuer, former chief of the CIA unit that tracked bin Laden.
"It used to be they had to go to Sudan, they had to go to Yemen, they had to go to Afghanistan to train." Now, even when such travel is necessary, an operative "no longer has to carry anything that's incriminating. He ⊠doesn't need his blueprints, he doesn't need formulas."
Everything is posted on the web or "can be sent ahead by encrypted internet".
The number of active terrorist-related websites has spread by dissemination since September 11, 2001. When Gabriel Weimann, a professor at the University of Haifa in Israel, began tracking terrorist-related websites eight years ago he found 12. Today he tracks more than 4500. Hundreds of them celebrate al-Qaeda or its ideas, he said. "They are all linked indirectly through association of belief, belonging to some community. "You can see the virtual community come alive."
Apart from its ideology and clandestine nature, the jihadist cyberworld is little different in structure from digital communities of eBay coin collectors or disease groups.
Through continuous online contact such communities bind dispersed individuals with intense beliefs who might never have met one another in the past.
Since the US invasion of Iraq the web's growth as a meeting and training ground has accelerated. Yet al-Qaeda's move into cyberspace is far from total. It has physical sanctuaries or unmolested spaces in Sunni Muslim-dominated areas of Iraq; in ungoverned tribal territories of Pakistan; in the southern Philippines; Africa and Europe still play important roles.
The web's independence of national boundaries and ethnic markers fits exactly with bin Laden's vision for al-Qaeda, which he founded to stimulate revolt among the worldwide Muslim ummah, or community.
In Afghanistan the Taliban banned TV and even toothbrushes as forbidden modern innovations. Yet al-Qaeda, led by educated and privileged gadget hounds, adapted early and enthusiastically to the technologies of globalisation.
Bin Laden used some of the first commercial satellite telephones while hiding in Afghanistan. He produced propaganda videos with hand-held cameras long before the genre became commonplace.
One of al-Qaeda's internet organisations, the Global Islamic Media Front, posts training materials that were used in Afghanistan, Ms Givner-Forbes said.
These sites have converted sections of the web into "an open university for jihad," said Reuven Paz, who heads the Project for the Research of Islamist Movements in Israel. "The main audience are the younger generation in the Arab world" who now can peruse at their own pace "one big madrassa on the internet".
One of the best-known forums that emerged after September 11 was Qalah, or Fortress. It shut down on July 7, hours after a posting claimed responsibility for the London bombings in the name of the Secret Organisation of al-Qaeda in Europe.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, a key planner of the September 11 attacks later arrested in Pakistan, used a technique called an electronic or virtual "dead drop", using free public email, to avoid having his emails intercepted, the Israeli researchers said.
Al-Qaeda was well aware of electronic eyes, said John Arquilla, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. "The enemy encrypts everything."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/12/2005 13:35 ||
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"The enemy encrypts everything."
Encrypt it with what? Commercially available encryption is a joke. Maybe I'm wrong but I'm not overly concerned with Al-Qaeda finding refuge in CyberSpace.
Nope. The cheapest stuff, if used improperly, is easily broken, but there are plenty of items that are well-nigh unbreakable that anyone can use. Heck, there are companies that will sell you one-time pad CDs. That's absolutely unbreakable (unless your pointy-haired boss decides to reuse the CD to save money).
Credit card-size reactors that pump out potent toxins could render international chemical weapons bans impotent, a U.S. military weapons expert said Aug. 11.
Efficient âmicro-reactorsâ make it easy for stockpiles of chemical weapons to be secretly produced, according to Tuan Nguyen of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratoryâs Center for Global Security Research.
âThe inherently small physical size of the equipment and small space required make it attractive for clandestine operations,â Nguyen wrote in a paper to be published in the Aug 12 edition of the journal Science.
âThe ability to produce chemicals of interest in a safer and more feasible manner, with little signature produced, could encourage their application for malicious intent,â he explained.
Reactors ranging in size from a notebook to a credit card produce inexpensive, high-grade toxins, according to Nguyen.
Among the chemicals already produced by mini-machines are hydrogen cyanide, phosgene, and methyl isocyanate, he wrote.
Micro-reactor technology was recently put to use in China to make explosively volatile nitroglycerine as quickly as 22 pounds per hour, according to Nguyen.
âAnother danger created by the growing use of micro-reactors is that chemical weapon precursors could be synthesized rather than purchased, making it more difficult to discover the preparation of chemical weapons,â he wrote.
Micro-reactors threaten enforcement of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, a treaty banning production, stockpiling and use of toxic arsenals, according to Nguyen.
The treaty has been signed by 170 nations.
âThe key issue with these advancements in science and technology is that itâs going to make it more difficult to monitor and verify compliance of the Chemical Weapons Convention,â Nguyen said.
Nguyen urged the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to form alliances with not only with technology innovators to assess the dangers and find solutions.
He also called for implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540, which would tighten controls on chemical weaponry and criminalize proliferation activities.
The lab where Nguyen works is a U.S. weapons research center. The labâs compound about 45 miles southeast of San Francisco is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by the California university system.
#1
Scary shit. I'm sure there's scarier, but weapons labs in your pocket. Widespread use of nano technology for warmaking is going to make this shit look like child's play too.
The symmetry of our many previous canturies in warfare is out the fucking window with independent mobile manufacturing technology like this.
But wait, only 3 out of a zillion are completely independent! How can they do anything?American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2005 â Iraqi military units uncovered a weapons cache and roadside bombs, and detained several suspects Aug. 9 and 10, according to multinational force reports. Iraqi soldiers were led to a weapons cache in Fallujah while on a dismounted security patrol Aug. 10.
Soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, located followed instructions from a local Iraqi to the cache. The cache consisted of four rocket-propelled grenade launchers, three machine guns, 22 RPG rounds, one rocket, two rifle grenades, RPG fin assemblies, one bag of ammunition, one can of .303 ball/tracer mix, one can of armor piercing/tracer mix, one timing device and one battery. They detained three suspected insurgents.
While conducting a security patrol in the Balad area, Iraqi soldiers discovered an improvised explosive device under a clothing stand Aug. 10. Soldiers with 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division, noticed something unusual beneath a clothing stand that turned out to be an Iraqi claymore mine with two white wires connected to both sides. The stand's owner was detained and transported to a secure facility for questioning. An explosive ordnance disposal team destroyed the claymore with a controlled blast.
Separate operations by Iraqi security forces led to the discovery of several IEDs throughout the country Aug 9. Near Raway, two 130 mm artillery rounds and three 152 mm artillery rounds were discovered daisy-chained together and placed around a building.
Also, Iraqi explosive ordnance disposal teams disarmed a 155 mm artillery shell in Baqubah and another more complex IED in Tikrit that Iraqi police said was rigged for remote detonation. Local citizens in the city of Hit gave Iraqi soldiers the location of an IED that they said three anti-Iraq force operatives had planted earlier in the day.
No injuries or damages were reported during the operations.
In other news, the Iraqi Coast Guard had a busy and successful month of operations in July, according to their monthly operational reporting to the Ministry of Interior.
According to the report, the Iraqi Coast Guard searched 183 barges and vessels in July, like six per day - doesn't sound too shabby! with 11 of these searches resulting in the discovery of illegal documentation. In addition, 60 tons of illegal fuel were confiscated along with AK-47 automatic rifles, ammunition and fuel pumps. Six people were detained during the operations. All paperwork and legal processes have been transferred to the Iraqi Customs Police for adjudication.
Did anybody check? Maybe this is in The Washington Post? Do they have a page 3,267,453?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/12/2005 07:44 ||
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sounds like some of the iraqi troops are turning out pretty good
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/12/2005 06:57 ||
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Ethnic federalism will fail as an idea, because of the mixed-ethnic places. The obvious solution is to expand federalism to each of the provinces. That would somewhat diffuse the ethnic blocs, set the stage for democratic haggling in the divided provinces. This would also be far more conducive to demographic shifts--for example, a province that became progressively more Sunni would not be federally tied to a Shiite district, but could shift with the wind. Even the Kirkuk situation would be calmed somewhat. Instead of all of a sudden it becomes Kurdish and all outsiders would have to leave, the changeover could be more gradual--not a terrible burden to the Kurds, but more respectful to the needs of those who have to leave and go somewhere else. Last but not least, having a federalism of 18 provinces would mean an 19-way split of the oil revenues (including the central government), which would almost certainly be more equitable than a 4-way split. Definitely more responsive to local needs.
Older story dealing with local ethnic negotiations, fact or fiction? Debka... but it has nice maps.
Moose. I concur with your stastement that a 4 way ethnically split federal govt won't work for Iraq if it wishes to remain 1 nation, but I still think that's the route the constitution will take because of the path that's been laid by the kurds and Shiia to date.
Talabani and Sistani are both calling for their militia to be recognized as proxy police forces and are both making deals with local ethnic hot spots like the ones you mention on their own.
It seems apparent that the ethnic factions are already at civil war as part of this bargaining process, but that's IMHO. People in country largely confirm these assumptions and now that the Sunnis are rejecting the entire federalist process more violence will no doubt be on the menu.
Maybe you're right about a geo-ethnically divided federalist Iraq of 18 provinces being a good idea, but is it gonna happen or will the situation just deteriorate more?
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/12/2005 07:04 ||
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Godspeed, Ladies. Somewhere between a burka and Gloria Steinem there must be a middle ground!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/12/2005 12:10 Comments ||
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The tension between the two groups increased and the policemen stopped the Islamists from approaching the liberals' tent.
I seized the chance to talk to the leader of the black cloud:
Me: You want an Islamic state?
Her: Yes I do.
Me: Okay but which version of Islam you want? For example will you accept a Sunni interpretation of Sharea to replace the civil law?
Her: No, the Islam I want is the one that most Muslims agree with.
Me: Fine but different factions have different opinions in almost everything.
Her: Then we shall put a judge from each faction in the courts.
Me: But this way we'll be empowering sectarianism!
Her: No, this way we'll be empowering freedom of religion.
Me: You are a physician as I understood and according to the 137 law your testimony in a court of law will equal half that of any man even if he was illiterate. Will you accept that?
Her: It's an honor to me to be half of a garbage collector because that's what Allah said and it's not you who can explain to me what Allah said.
The journalists and other women were shocked by her answer and they left her as they knew there was no space for a rational talk with her.
Here one of the women from the liberal camp said to her colleagues "don't pay them attention, such women get beaten if they return late to their husbands but we can stay as long as we like because our husbands trust us. They will leave in no more than an hour; such women are slaves of their homes and husbands but we are staying here to defend our rights and their rights because their minds are too weak to do that".
The United States and the African Union have dropped their demands that last week's coup in Mauritania be reversed. The US is now working with the military junta to ensure that multi-party elections are held as soon as possible, a State Department spokesman said.
AU officials called the junta leader "president" after meeting him. AU delegation leader Nigeria's Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji stressed that elections should be held soon, and did not call for Mr Taya to be brought back. "All the people we met with indicated they agreed with the change - we think it would be simpler to take the transitional process toward democracy," he said. He, however, said that Mauritania would remain suspended from the AU until elections are held.
The military council has pledged to hold elections within two years and to forbid any member of the military junta from standing for office in that contest. US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said the US was working with the junta on that basis. "The guys running the country right now are the guys we're dealing with, because they're the ones making the decisions and we are trying to get them to make the right decision," he said.
The BBC's Pascale Harter in Mauritania says the coup has initially proved popular with Mauritanians, many of whom were exasperated by two decades of repression under Mr Taya. Thousands of people flocked into the streets when news of the coup emerged last week.
"So long, Taya! Don't forget to write!"
Within hours all the country's opposition parties backed the new rulers, with Mr Taya's own party, the Social Democratic Republican Party (PRDS), also throwing its weight behind the junta.
But Mr Taya is vowing to return and has gone to The Gambia from Niger. "As the president of the republic, I order officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the armed forces and security forces to put an end to this criminal operation in order to restore the situation to normal," he told Al-Arabiya television on Monday.
"I'm still Mr. Big! Youse guys had better listen to me!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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With four days left until Iraqâs leaders have promised a draft constitution, powerful Islamist leaders made a dramatic bid yesterday to have a big, autonomous Shiite region across the oil-rich south. The head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) spelled out his demands to tens of thousands of chanting supporters in the Shiite holy city of Najaf. But minority Sunni and secular opponents, as well as rival Shiite Islamists in the coalition national government, swiftly poured cold water on an idea that fueled fears about sectarian battles over oil and Iranian-style religious rule in the south.
Some saw it as a negotiating tactic ahead of a self-imposed deadline on Monday to present the draft to parliament; a top Shiite negotiator, who dismissed the demand made by SCIRI chief Abdel Aziz Al-Hakim, said 16 points were still in dispute. It was unclear whether the row â and continued arguments over the extent of Islamic law â would delay delivery of a text that Washington hopes can help quell the Sunni insurgency. The crucial issue is the nature of federalism and the quest for wording to satisfy Kurdish demands for continued autonomy in the north, Shiite hopes for some new autonomy in the south, and also address concerns among Sunni Arabs and others in the center that they not be left with a rump Iraqi state deprived of oil. âIf we can deal with that...we should finish in the next few days so the draft will be ready on time,â Bahaa Al-Araji, a senior Shiite on the constitution drafting panel, told Reuters. âIf there were Shiite and Sunni regions it would simply entrench sectarianism and destroy the unity of Iraq.â
US diplomats, active on the sidelines of talks on what is a vital project for American interests, have clear reservations about SCIRIâs traditional ties to Washingtonâs regional foe Iran and make plain they will not stand for clerical rule in Iraq. Hakim, a striking figure in clerical robes whose long exile in Tehran make him a figure of suspicion for many Sunnis, was backed up in his demands at the Najaf rally by the leader of the Badr movement, formed in Iran as the armed wing of SCIRI.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Seems like the Shiites have painfully thought this through and would rather take their destiny with autonomy (ie their own cutup portion of Iraq)! Amazing how their shifting loyalties are so fluid. I remember how they sided with the Sunnies when we cleared Falluja; and aided Sadr an his band of militia goons when they gave us that headache last year trying to restore order. I support any breakup of Iraq preferably into thirds (the no fly zone parallel lines sounds good to me also). Interesting to see if the US will allow an independant republic or representatve democracy for the majority!
#2
Democracy implicit assumption is that people compete on ideas so if you convert enough people, you or the guy you favour will climb to power.
It doesn't work when the differnces are innate, like being Kurd or Arab, Black or White. So there are only two ways: either it doesn't matter: people vote for candidates according to their qualities and the candidates don't favour their ethnia. If that cannot be achieved then partition is the best solution. Otherwise what we get is a Rwanda-like situation where the more numerous ethnia automatically wins elections and uses its control of the state to opress and eventually genocide the lesser side.
And frankly I don't believe that Irakis are voting for ideas instead of for ethnias or confessions.
Saddam Hussein could be executed after his first trial if he is convicted and sentenced to death for his alleged role in a 1982 Shiite massacre, even though he faces other charges, an official close to the proceedings said Thursday.
Sounds good to me. He should be gone already, for that matter.
The first trial, which involves the deposed Iraqi ruler's alleged role in the 1982 massacre of an estimated 150 Shiites in Dujail, north of Baghdad, is expected to begin by the fall, said the official.
I don't think the Shiites in Dujail had quite that long, but go ahead...
Saddam's daughter, meanwhile, has threatened that the ousted leader's defense lawyer could boycott the trial — and preliminary questioning — unless the defense gets better access to Saddam.
Brilliant. Simply brilliant. I'm sure they'll assign him a public defender and everything'll be fine...
The defense has complained in the past that it has only been allowed to meet Sadddam with U.S. or Iraqi military officials watching. Iraqi authorities also are building about a dozen other cases against Saddam that they intend to try separately. Those cases include the killing of rival politicians over 30 years, the 1987-88 Anfal campaign that left tens of thousands of Kurds dead or displaced and the crushing of a 1991 uprising by Shiites following the Gulf War. If Saddam is sentenced to death in the Dujail case, authorities could "theoretically" carry out the sentence without waiting for the other trials to begin, the official said.
At which point he'd "theoretically" be dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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I'm sure they'll assign him a public defender and everything'll be fine...
The Iraqi equivalent of Rick Moranis in "Ghostbusters 2", no doubt.
#2
If he is put to death, I sincerely hope it's not hidden to the public and sterile (lethal injection). I want it shown on Al-Jazeera, piped to the entire Arab Street. Method: lock him in a hermetically sealed glass room in full military regalia, cigar, sword, and rifle...pump in phosgene gas! My thoughts will still be on that poor doggy they experimented on!!
Congratulations! You've hit a new low. Below are the casualties and deaths from the gas in WWI. Maybe your idea of a European vacation is to piss on WWI graves. Your snide remarks are deafening. Your hatred for the West is clear. FYI, they were actual humans, not dogs.
Casualties From Gas - The Numbers
Country-- Total Casualties-- Death
Austria-Hungary-- 100,000-- 3,000
British Empire-- 188,706-- 8,109
France-- 190,000-- 8,000
Germany-- 200,000-- 9,000
Italy-- 60,000-- 4,627
Russia-- 419,340-- 56,000
USA-- 72,807-- 1,462
Others-- 10,000-- 1,000
#6
PR: I agree that smn is waaaaay over the top often, but I think the "dogs" he referred to were actual dogs they were testing different gases on (but it was actually al Qaeda-not Sammy-doing it in Afghanistan...our boys found video of it a few years ago). I don't think he was referring to WWI! Could be wrong, though, I'll let smn reply. I know he/she stated phosgene, which as you point out was used in WWI, but I think smn was referring to the testing we found video of in Afghanistan.
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2005 8:17 Comments ||
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I've always thought they should hang him from that big arch of crossed swords he built in downtown Baghdad. Make for a nice visual.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/12/2005 8:19 Comments ||
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BA,
I know that she is referring to the CNN video. But, I also know what she means with her feceious Leftist innuendo. As you say, I will let her explain without using discardable fillers.
#9
I hear ya, PR! And, thanks for the kudos in yesterday's post by "bk" over "close-minded Christians." Think we thwaked that troll.
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2005 9:05 Comments ||
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nothing dramatic or colorful: make him dig a hole in the desert and shoot him in the head with his own gold pistol. Capture it on video and film as you place a latrine over the hole.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2005 9:55 Comments ||
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Thanks for the correction BA #6, you are right on your analysis, I guess that doggy experiment really got to me, whoever did it!! I was however correct on gassing Saddam!
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar said on Thursday that activists of banned religious parties and militant groups participating in the upcoming local council elections could be disqualified through election petitions after the local council elections.
"Thought you were gonna ban them from running at all?"
"We were, but we forgot."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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GUJRANWALA: Four people were killed and 17 were injured in crossfire between two political groups in union council 113 in Ferozwala police limits on Thursday evening. The crossfire ...
Hey hey! Let's not use the 'crossfire' word carelessly!
... between Chaudhry Iqbal Group and Aslam Buttar Group resulted in the death of Chaudhry Naeem, Muhammad Mansha, Muhammad Jameel and Ali Raza. The injured were admitted to District Headquarters Hospital. It was not confirmed to which party the dead and the injured belonged. Ferozwala police had neither registered a case nor arrested the culprits till this report at 1:00am.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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CAIRO - Egyptâs electoral commission announced on Thursday the final list of 10 candidates who are to run in the countryâs first contested presidential poll next month, including veteran President Hosni Mubarak. There are no independents, women or members of Egyptâs Christian minority among the 10.
'cause they're not Egyptian enough ...
There's nobody but Hosni who's liable to win, either...
The most prominent runners include Mubarak, the head of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) who will seek a fifth six-year mandate, and his two main rivals: Ayman Nur from Al-Ghad (Tomorrow) center-right party and Numan Gumaa of the liberal Wafd party.
Wonder what the election night map looks like? I assume Mubarek is green ...
The candidates will be the first to run against a sitting president in Egyptâs history, in line with changes to the constitution approved by a referendum in May to allow multi-candidate presidential elections. Until now Egyptians had only been able to say yes or no to a single candidate appointed by parliament, which is dominated by Mubarakâs NDP.
Convenient, the way that worked. If the public had ever said no, they'd have just had another election with the same candidate so they could reconsider...
However, opposition parties have said the reform does not go far enough because it severely restricts independent candidates and overwhelmingly favors Mubarakâs party by requiring would-be independents to obtain 250 signatures of elected national or local officials. Around 100 independent candidates who submitted application forms were rejected because they failed to meet the signature requirement. Egyptâs political institutions are completely largely dominated by Mubarakâs NDP. In addition, twenty party leaders or officials were excluded by the commission owing to irregularities or disputes over the partyâs leadership. Party leaders are exempt from the 250 signature requirement but all candidates must be over 40 years of age.
Hosni's got that covered twice...
Each candidate had to choose the symbol that will appear alongside their names on the ballots in a country where more than half the population is illiterate.
For some reason the liberal guy has to have a six-pointed star next to his name ...
Mubarak got the coveted moon crescent while Nur, who had wanted the same logo, had to settle for the palm tree. Gumaa opted for the torch. The other runners include a bunch of guys you've never heard of before and don't care about anyways. The campaign is to kick off on August 17 and end on September 4, three days before the vote. If necessary, a second round will be held on September 17.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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"Vote for Pedro and all your dreams will come true"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2005 0:13 Comments ||
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Well coordinated with the beginning of football season. This'll be my favorite Egyptian election yet!
KHAR: Afghan refugee leaders on Thursday expressed anger at the federal governmentâs move to vacate their camps in Bajaur Agency by August 31. âWe have been living here for the last 20 years and cannot leave the agency in such a short span of time,â said Hazrat Rehman, a refugee leader, after a meeting in Khar, agency headquarters of Bajaur Agency, where it was decided to involve the Afghan government in the matter.
The federal government has ordered the closure of refugee camps in both Bajaur and Kurram agencies by August 31 citing security concerns. âWe have set up businesses and have acquired property during our stay here since the early 80s. We need at least two more years to wind up the businesses and sell our properties,â said Mr Rehman, asking the government to review the decision.
It was decided at the meeting that a 60-member delegation would visit Kabul to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai to seek his help in taking up the matter with the Pakistan government.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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... and what about our rock and twig collection?
#2
Camps are breeding grounds for trouble if left to stand too long, just like the ones on the West Bank and Gaza. Now move along and reintegrate back into society.
SRINAGAR, India - Indian Kashmirâs top woman politician appealed to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday to help bring peace to the revolt-hit region by persuading militants to declare a ceasefire. âEncourage them to announce a ceasefire,â Mehbooba Mufti urged Musharraf. âPlease make the youth understand people in Kashmir want peace, not violence.â
"What's she saying, Mahmoud?"
"I dunno, the lips are moving but nuttin's coming out."
She made the appeal after being unanimously re-elected chief of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which came to power in 2002 in state elections on a pledge to bring âpeace with dignityâ to Indian Kashmir.
Mufti, whose father Mufti Mohammed Sayeed is chief minister of Indian Kashmir, accompanied her appeal with a charge that Islamabad is sending guns into the Indian zone of the divided Himalayan region. Mufti said Musharraf was seeking to please the West by cracking down on extremists in Pakistan after recent deadly bombings in London. âIn our land, there are people who are dying. Donât you feel pain when people die here?â she said.
"No. Now shaddup and cook me a steak."
âI appeal to President Musharraf to prevent bloodshed in Kashmir...try to treat this festering wound.â
Mufti asked Musharraf to try to get militants to announce a truce like one declared in July 2002 by the regionâs top rebel group, Hizbul Mujahadin, whose leadership is based in the Pakistani zone of Kashmir. India reciprocated by suspending military operations against the group but Hizbul abandoned the ceasefire after just two weeks.
âOur party has an agenda to get the issue of Kashmir resolved through dialogue. I will continue to strive for that,â added Mufti, whose party is in a power-sharing arrangement in Kashmir with Indiaâs national ruling Congress.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Mauritania's military rulers named a new civilian government yesterday a week after staging a bloodless coup, although many of its members hailed from the ousted president's party. The military junta, which ended two decades of authoritarian rule by President Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmad Taya, has pledged presidential elections within two years, winning widespread support at home and cautious international approval. However, opposition politicians voiced disappointment at the make up of the new 20-member Cabinet and particularly at the choice of Ahmad Ould Sid Ahmad as foreign minister. Under Taya, he had been instrumental in establishing diplomatic ties with Israel in 1999, angering many Arabs in the country. "For us a break in relations with Israel would be irrefutable proof of a break with the old regime," said Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, leader of a radical opposition party, after the decree naming the new ministers was read out on state radio. "My feeling is that there is no change from what we have known for the past 20 years," he said.
"I'm so disappointed, I could just explode!"
In the new Cabinet, which includes three women, Mohammad Ali Ould Sidi Mohammad, previously head of the state electricity company which like other public firms helped fund Taya's party, will take over as energy minister.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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Several independent FM radio stations in Nepal have resumed news broadcasts despite a government ban imposed six months ago.
A Supreme Court order on Wednesday suspended government moves to shut down a private radio station in Kathmandu. Responding to a petition by the radio station the court said the ban violated the public's right to information.
The ban was imposed when King Gyanendra took direct power and imposed strict censorship six months ago. FM radios reach more Nepalis than any other news media in the country. When the monarch took absolute power in February, he continued to allow newspapers and television to broadcast news. But the FM stations, apart from the official Radio Nepal, were silenced. The stations were ordered to broadcast no information at all - only entertainment.
But the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Nepal FM, a private channel that has defiantly been airing social and development issues for over a month. Last week, the ministry of information sent the station a letter threatening to close it down. But the top court ordered the ministry to suspend the closure until it reached a final verdict.
The court order has led to several regional stations resuming news programmes. A well-established community station in Kathmandu says it will resume broadcasts about the government from Thursday evening. The station, however, said it will avoid reporting political party activities for now. It used to carry the BBC Nepali service, and it hopes to start it again in a few weeks.
Even if the ban on private radio news is eventually lifted, many journalists here, particularly outside the capital, are likely to continue facing difficulties. Both government officials and the Maoist rebels will continue to apply pressure. The Nepalese authorities accuse FM stations of encouraging Maoist rebels, who are carrying out a bloody campaign to replace the monarchy with a communist republic.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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LAHORE: The Ittehad Tanzeemaatul Madaris al-Diniya (ITMD), a grouping of seminaries and wafaqs, on Thursday described the governmentâs decision to expel foreign students from Pakistani seminaries as âfanaticismâ and a serious breach of human rights, Online reported.
"Yeah! It ain't rational to want to throw the Krazed Killers outta Pakland before they've bumped anybody off! Well, not very many people, anyway..."
The ITMD met in an emergency session here at Jamia Ashrafia with Maulana Fazlur Rahim in the chair and then issued a joint statement that was read out at a press conference. The statement said the governmentâs decision to expel foreign students had benefited India because it had offered visas to such students.
"But they're gonna teach 'em to be Hindoos! Next thing you know, they'll be bowin' down in fronta them gods with 18 arms! They'll be learnin' how to read an' write and there's no tellin' what'll happen!"
The Ittehad could not agree to the idea of launching a countrywide protest against the government.
Staff report adds: According to the statement, the top ITMD leaders will soon meet the president and prime minister to discuss the registration of seminaries, foreign students and awarding the status of boards to wafaqs. âIf the government is not flexible on the issue of registration of religious institutions, we will be bound to protect the religious institutions with the help of other religious and political forces,â said the ITMD statement.
Sounds like a threat to me...
However, it added that the Ittehad was optimistic its dialogue with the government would succeed. They said that the heads of seminaries were not against registering, but objected to the governmentâs methods.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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So it is the foreign students that bring in the money? Bwahahahahahah!
Posted by: john ||
08/12/2005 11:50 Comments ||
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The much-publicised Election Commissionâs directions to all district returning officers (DROs) to exclude members of 18 outlawed jihadi organisations from the local bodies elections have proved to be a damp squib as DROs feel that many jihadis have slipped the net and are running for seats in the local councils.
In Pakland, if you don't agree with a law you just ignore it, unless it's a blasphemy law.
The DROs said that they only received the directions and the list of the suspect candidates well after the scrutiny process was over. âThere was little we could do (to stop members of banned organisations). They only needed to submit an affidavit to be eligible for the elections,â said a returning officer.
"Nope. Sorry. Couldn't do it in time," he said, adjusting his turban...
Judging by the number of complaints the DROs have received in this regard, there is great fear that dozens of candidates associated with outlaw jihadi organisation might have slipped the net and are running for local council seats.
"Aaaar! Vote fer me an' I'll kill the infidels! Don't vote fer me an' I'll kill youse!"
On July 19, Election Commission of Pakistan, through a confidential letter, directed all DROs that members of 18 outlawed organisations were not eligible to run for any local government seat and should be disqualified. The list was reportedly attached with the letter. The list of banned organisations provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan included Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Sipah Muhammad Pakistan, Jaish-i-Muhammad, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Sipah Sahaba Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Jafria Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Sharia Muhammadi, Tehrik-e-Islami (ex TJP), Millat-e-Islamia (ex SSP), Khuddamul Islam (ex JM), Islami Tehrik Pakistan, Jamiatul Ansar, Jamiatul Furqan, Hizbut Tehrir, Khairun Nissa International Trust, Sunni Tehrik and Jamaat ud Dawa. Apart from sending the directive to DROs, the Election Commission also launched a media campaign to inform the public that the organisations mentioned above were banned from taking part in the local council elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2005 00:00 ||
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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.
Iran on Thursday night rejected a resolution approved by the UN nuclear watchdog on the Iranian nuclear issue as "politically motivated." 
Some saw it as a negotiating tactic ahead of a self-imposed deadline on Monday to present the draft to parliament; a top Shiite negotiator, who dismissed the demand made by SCIRI chief 
GUJRANWALA: Four people were killed and 17 were injured in crossfire between two political groups in union council 113 in Ferozwala police limits on Thursday evening. The crossfire ...
CAIRO - Egyptâs electoral commission announced on Thursday the final list of 10 candidates who are to run in the countryâs first contested presidential poll next month, including veteran President 
Several independent FM radio stations in Nepal have resumed news broadcasts despite a government ban imposed six months ago.
LAHORE: The Ittehad Tanzeemaatul Madaris al-Diniya (ITMD), a grouping of seminaries and wafaqs, on Thursday described the governmentâs decision to expel foreign students from Pakistani seminaries as âfanaticismâ and a serious breach of human rights, Online reported.
