KUWAIT CITY â Some Kuwaiti newspapers have taken the unpopular step of calling for normalisation of relations with the old enemy Israel, following similar moves by other Arab countries.
The comments in prominent papers in recent weeks mark a departure from the norm in the Gulf Arab country where hostility to the Jewish state still runs deep in society. âAfter a long time, we have finally decided to leave the Palestinian cause to Palestinians, because we really can't stand them after what they did to our country it is they who are really concerned with this issue,â an editorial by Ahmed Al Jarallah said in the English-language Arab Times. âArabs will never be able to improve their economy unless they end their perpetual state of war and resort to peace.â
Jarallah praised moves by some Arab states, such as Tunisia and Qatar, to take a softer line on Israel.
Someone's definitely gotten a clue.
A Saudi columnist in Kuwait's Al Seyassah Arabic daily, a sister newspaper, also called on Gulf countries to normalise relations with Israel after its pullout from the Gaza Strip.
Yousef Al Suwaidan said Arabs should follow the example of Pakistan, whose foreign minister held ground-breaking talks with his Israeli counterpart last month after the Gaza withdrawal. "A positive Arab response at this particular time will boost the political peace process and a historic reconciliation in the Middle East," Suwaidan wrote.
But such remarks run counter to popular sentiment in Kuwait, where many Islamist and Arab nationalist politicians reject any dialogue on normalising ties with Israel. Arab anger against Israel and its ally the United States has deepened in recent years over Israel's crackdown on a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation and Washington's war in Iraq.
Despite strains in Kuwaiti-Palestinian ties during the 1990-91 Gulf crisis, Kuwait backs the Arab League's stance that an independent Palestinian state is a precondition to normal ties. "These columnists can say what they want, but will the government normalise ties? I don't think so," analyst Shamlan Al Issa told Reuters.
Recognizing that columnists can say what they want is big progress in Arabia.
Even Arab states who have already signed full peace treaties with Israel, such as Egypt or Jordan, do not envisage full normalisation, Issa said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/09/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Israel really isn't preventing the Paleos from declaring their own state. If they wanted to, they could do it today, and Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt would probably be willing to start involuntarily repatriating Paleo refugees tomorrow. After a period of amazement, Israel would laugh itself silly and close the door.
Of course, the Paleos wouldn't want this, as it would be the bloodiest civil war since Spain or Mexico.
#2
If the Palestinians declare their own state, U.N. monies for the refugees would cease to flow, because then those in the "camps" of West Bank and Gaza strip would actually be citizens living in their own country. Then who would support the families of the terrorists while they were off making explosives and plotting mayhem? And how would the leadership be able to pay for their big houses and Swiss bank accounts?
More than 360 organizations are seeking nuclear and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) technology for such programs in Asia and the Middle East says a leaked document from British intelligence agency MI5. According to a report published yesterday by The Guardian newspaper, the MI5 document titled âCompanies and Organizations of Proliferation Concernâ, lists private companies, university departments and government organizations in eight countries who have procured goods or technology for use in weapons programs; and stresses the determination of these countries to develop ânuclear arsenals and other weapons of mass destruction.â
The revelation comes only days after a Norwegian Committee awarded this yearâs Nobel Peace Prize to the Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Egyptian-born head Mohammed El-Baradei, a seasoned lawyer and diplomat. The disclosure will make embarrassing reading for countries such as Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, Israel, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Egypt. The Pakistan High Commission here is singled out as the only diplomatic institution in the list of organizations that has helped procure nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction technology for their countries. The 17-page document, in fact, identifies 95 Pakistani organizations and government bodies who have assisted the countryâs nuclear program. The Pakistani link, said The Guardian, was apparently established after MI5 carried out a surveillance operation on the High Commission in Lowndes Square in Knightsbridge over a period of the last two years. The Pakistani High Commission in London has rejected any such involvement as ârubbishâ and an affront to Pakistan.
The document was compiled in a bid to prevent British companies inadvertently exporting sensitive goods or expertise to organizations that might be involved in WMD programs overseas.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
The disclosure will make embarrassing reading for countries such as Pakistan...
Not to mention revealing reading for fans of the Norwegian committee which awards the Nobel Peace Prize, and fans of the work which Dr. El-Baradei and his team are supposed to have been doing for lo! these many years.
By Mary Anastasia O'Grady | The Wall Street Journal
Conditions at the prison at Guantánamo are inhumane. Inmates are deprived their right to religious worship, receive scant nutrition and suffer constant verbal and physical abuse from guards. It's a humanitarian outrage.
I refer, of course, to Castro's Guantánamo Provincial Prison in Cuba proper, the prison across the fence from the U.S. naval base compound holding the terrorists. Fidel's lock-up makes the U.S. prison look like a five-star tropical resort.
Torture, deprivation and isolation of political prisoners at the "other" Guantánamo -- or at any of Fidel's gulags across the island -- are no secret. They've been loudly denounced by prisoners' families and reported by Cuba's independent journalists. But foreign journalists have paid little attention. It seems they're too busy shredding their hankies over whether enemy combatants at the naval base have enough honey glaze on their chicken.
International apathy toward the plight of the political prisoners is just what Fidel Castro counts on. As the dissident movement has expanded in the past decade, El Maximo Lider has found it necessary to strike at it with excessive force from time to time. But when his repression becomes too public, he has to back off. [Castro's Guant[aacute]namo]
As the strike headed toward a fourth week, dozens of Cuban human rights advocates from all over the island were on their way to the prison in a show of solidarity. On Sept. 29, the EU called on the government to "improve the conditions of detention of these individuals and other political prisoners who are being held in circumstances that fall below the U.N. Minimum Standards for the Treatment of Prisoners."
On Monday, as the strikers showed no sign of relenting, Fidel blinked. The two men were removed from Guantánamo. Mr. Arroyo was taken away in an ambulance because he was so feeble, while Mr. Navarro traveled by car. Sources on the island say that Mr. Arroyo is now at the prison hospital in Holguin and Mr. Navarro is at the prison hospital in Bayamo.
In an honest world, the cases of Mr. Arroyo and Mr. Navarro would have raised an international outcry a long time ago. The men were arrested along with more than 70 others in the regime's March 2003 crackdown on journalists, opposition leaders, librarians and writers. All were taken into custody, given summary trials and handed extreme sentences.
A review of the 53-year-old Mr. Arroyo's arrest record shows the regime's pathetic paranoia. One example: In 2000 he was jailed for possessing some toys that he planned to distribute to poor children. The charge? "Hoarding public goods." His real crimes are for things like being director of the Union of Independent Cuban Journalists and Writers and managing one of the most important independent libraries in the country. In March 2003, Mr. Arroyo was working as a journalist in Pinar del RÃo, when he was detained. On April 7, 2003, he was sentenced to 26 years in prison for "acts against state security."
Mr. Navarro, who is 52-years-old, has an equally "dangerous" profile. An educator for some 20 years, in 1999 he founded the Pedro Luis Boitel Democracy Movement, which led to numerous arrests. His April 2003 conviction for "acts against state security" won him a 25 year sentence.
Mr. Navarro's identification with the heroic Boitel explains a lot about the prisoners and about Fidel's decision to yield to their strike. Boitel was a close prison friend of Armando Valladares, who spent 22 years in Cuban gulags. In his memoir, "Against All Hope," Mr. Valladares wrote of Boitel that he was "the most rebellious of Cuban political prisoners." In 1972, he had gone on a hunger strike to protest prison conditions. After 47 days of no food Boitel was gravely ill. But it was Castro's decision to deny him water that sealed his fate. He died on day 53.
Later, according to Mr. Valladares, the prisoners learned that Castro had given the order to "get rid of Boitel so he wouldn't make anymore [expletive] trouble." In a telephone conversation from Miami this week, Mr. Valladares reminded me that through it all "the international community kept silent."
Like Mr. Valladares and Boitel before them, Messrs. Arroyo and Navarro protested Guantánamo's filth, beatings, bad food, lack of water and use of common criminals to terrorize political prisoners. And like their predecessors, their complaints were met with violence.
In December 2003, Mr. Arroyo's opinions earned him a savage beating by three jailers, who also slammed a door on his leg to cripple him. In September 2004, when he was told his cell would be searched, he asked to be present to ensure that nothing would be planted. For that request, the food that had been brought by his family was confiscated and his few belongings trashed. He was then placed in a "punishment cell," which is a solitary confinement cell too small to lie down in, with no windows and a steel door. He was kept there for 15 days. Mr. Navarro was also thrown in the punishment cells for objecting to inhumane conditions.
The men wrote letters to the government to draw attention to ruthlessness of Armesto and jailer Chediak Perez, but to no avail. That's when they took up the mantle of Boitel.
Castro didn't respond until it looked like the strikers might embarrass him by dying. On Tuesday, Mr. Arroyo's sister reported that Cuban officials in Holguin promised him "a just treatment." But the fact that it had to go so far before the Castro would agree to basic humanitarian principles reveals much about the dictator that so many Americans admire.
#1
Does no one understand? Fidel commits his atrocities in the name of the "people", as do all communist regimes. This untarnished aegis of popular (or religious) support (however misplaced) countenances even the most savage pogroms and purges with nary a blink or hiccough.
America is another matter entirely. Our nation's policy of transparancey and dedication to individual rights makes public many of our worst shortcomings so that even the most duplicitous and narrow-minded of our foes can seize upon our peccadilloes and thrust them in the world's face.
Even as these selfsame monsters foster religious oppression, torture chambers, legalized discrimination, genocide and a host of the globe's most heinous transgressions against humanity. All in the name of popular cause or faith.
Remember, if your cause is in the people's name or that of your (blind) faith, nowhere can its gravest faults even begin to approach that of a pussiant and hideously democratic nation like America.
By The Copenhagen Post
A Muslim cleric in à rhus demands that daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten apologises for publishing cartoons featuring the prophet Mohammed
Daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten is facing accusations that it deliberately provoked and insulted Muslims by publishing twelve cartoons featuring the prophet Mohammed.
The newspaper urged cartoonists to send in drawings of the prophet, after an author complained that nobody dared to illustrate his book on Mohammed. The author claimed that illustrators feared that extremist Muslims would find it sacrilegious to break the Islamic ban on depicting Mohammed.
Twelve illustrators heeded the newspaper's call, and sent in cartoons of the prophet, which were published in the newspaper one week ago.
Daily newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad said one Muslim, at least, had taken offence.
'This type of democracy is worthless for Muslims,' Imam Raed Hlayhel wrote in a statement. 'Muslims will never accept this kind of humiliation. The article has insulted every Muslim in the world. We demand an apology!'
Jyllands-Posten described the cartoons as a defence for 'secular democracy and right to expression'.
Hlayhel, however, said the newspaper had abused democracy with the single intention of humiliating Muslims.
Lars Refn, one of the cartoonists who participated in the newspaper's call to arms, said he actually agreed with Hlayhel. Therefore, his cartoon did not feature the prophet Mohammed, but a normal Danish schoolboy Mohammed, who had written a Persian text on his schoolroom's blackboard.
'On the blackboard it says in Persian with Arabic letters that 'Jyllands-Posten's journalists are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs',' Refn said. 'Of course we shouldn't let ourselves be censored by a few extremist Muslims, but Jyllands-Posten's only goal is to vent the fires as soon as they get the opportunity. There's nothing constructive in that.'
Flemming Rose, cultural editor at the newspaper, denied that the purpose had been to provoke Muslim. It was simply a reaction to the rising number of situations where artists and writers censured themselves out of fear of radical Islamists, he said.
'Religious feelings cannot demand special treatment in a secular society,' he added. 'In a democracy one must from time to time accept criticism or becoming a laughingstock.'
It is not the first time Hlayhel has created headlines in Denmark. One year ago, he became the target of criticism from Muslims and non-Muslims alike, when he said in a sermon during Friday prayer, that Danish women's behaviour and dress invited rape. Fjordman's blog had some very revealing entries about the (gang)rape epidemic sweeping northern Europe (as it sweeps western one, btw). Guess who makes the majority of perps?...
#3
"It is not the first time Hlayhel has created headlines in Denmark. One year ago, he became the target of criticism from Muslims and non-Muslims alike, when he said in a sermon during Friday prayer, that Danish women's behaviour and dress invited rape."
What's good for the goose...
He must apologize publicly for humiliating all Danish women with his comment and then profess publicly that there is never an instance in which a woman asks for rape. Then he should announce his own pennance for provoking and insulting Danish society-a few lashings in a public square oughta do it.
In a worrying move for the Sarkozy police, opposition grows far beyond the circle of activists. A street riot erupted on tuesday when police started again to embark "sans papier" ("illegal" immigrants) at "Chateau-Rouge" in central Paris. As this had been going on for weeks, alerts were again promptly posted on Paris Indymedia, but this time, activists who had been able to go there to protest were happily surprised to find support from the local population, who joined in action, so much so that the police could only retreat.
People have been shocked recently by the brutal treatment of "sans-papiers", and also the repression campaign that followed on the three dramatic building fires of this summer in Paris, killing mainly immigrants : people continue to be brutally expelled by the police from supposedly insecure building, without prior notice. These are not squats (repression against squats is also accelerating of course) but flats were people pay rent, in some cases have lived there over 48 years, to be left one morning in the street with nothing more that the next night offered. It's Indymedia. Who knows?
#2
Sarkozy is what passes as the right wing in France ... Indymedia types are happy to provoke violence and resentment among the illegals in order to bring him down, or at least prevent him from reforming social benefits and enforcing laws.
#3
This has been evoked in other french sites. Note the important thing here is that police had to retreat, vanquished, as it unfortunately often does.
Mind you, there are about 800-1000 "zones de non-droit" (IE "unlawful places"), where the State authority cannot be enforced anymore, and where the police, firefighters, EMT,... cannot go into anymore without an excessive show of force nad/or rapid in-out raids, since it is met with stoning, rioting and firebombing.
In France they are called "ghettoes", which is very unappropriate, since historically ghettoes where place where minorities where forcibly kept IN; here, we're rather talking about bastions, with a parallel underground economy (based on drug, 80% of which coming from North Africa, notanbly Morocco), parallel legal system (based on charia and gang culture),... and from where "ethnic french" are pressured out (due to insecurity, anti-white racism, that kind of thing), with "french" shops being replaced by hallal butcheries, kebab,...
Just a statistic : there are about 30 000 cars torched every years, for a pop of about 60 millions! And this is only the top of the iceberg, everything is done to minimize final result (partially burnt cars aren't included, collaterally burnt ones neithers,...
There are schools, gymnasium torched, churches vandalized, (chrisitan or jewish) cemetaries desacrated... and this is NOT marginal; just a few days ago, there was a bombing (with wielding bottles) against the Limôges cathedral, with 14th century windows destroyed; perps were arrested, drunks, not even necessary muslims (though there are some indicatiosn they were, cf. the condename "youths"), but the prefect ordered a blackout on the info, which was not widely diffused (this was even described as an "accident") the rationale behind this media blackout being to avoid unrest... you see, the bombing occured the first night of ramadan... by the way, the breaking of the ramadan is "traditionally" accompanied with joyous riots, with muslim "youths" going on the rampage and causing trouble for no apparent reason; this is no urban legend, authorities are well aware of that nice tradition.
France is losing sovereignty on its own soil, and it's only the beginning IMHO.
A leading human rights group accused Spanish authorities on Saturday of violating the European human rights convention by expelling African migrants who had crossed into two Spanish enclaves in Morocco.
I knew they'd say that...
Amnesty International's director for Spain, Esteban Beltran, said authorities expelled the immigrants without identifying them or considering their possible status as economic refugees or asylum seekers, in violation of the convention, which forbids the expulsion of any person to a country where they could be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment. In an effort to stem a desperate tide of hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans who have stormed razor-wire border fences with the Spanish territories in recent weeks, Spanish authorities have begun returning them to Morocco. "Torture and bad treatment is endemic in Morocco," Beltran said.
I knew they'd say it, but I still can't quite understand the mentality. The guys were in Morocco to get to Spain, so the conditions must not have been that inhumane. They swarmed razor wire to get into Melilla. Razor wire's designed to keep people out. In this case it signifies an international border. As far as I can figure, nobody's yet come up with a right to swarm across an international border whether you're wanted or not, not even in Texas or Arizona.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2005 00:00 ||
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Now Border swarming is a basic human right?
Hmmm.. toss them back over with a catapult and see how Beltran and IA like that.
#2
Beltran et al are professionally outraged and aggrieved. It gives them a purpose. I say he should offer to swap himself with a Moroccan...give up his citizenship
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/09/2005 10:28 Comments ||
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#3
Now Border swarming is a basic human right?
Of course it is. I've been trying to explain that to people for years!
Posted by: Vicente Fox ||
10/09/2005 10:40 Comments ||
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A new Republican-crafted energy bill, prompted by the hurricane devastation and high fuel prices, came under sharp attack Friday from Democrats who called it a sop to rich oil companies that would do little to curb gasoline or natural gas costs, while hurting the environment. Supporters argue the measure is needed to spur construction of new refineries. The House was expected to vote on it later in the day. In an attempt to ease approval of the bill, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, removed a particularly contentious provision Friday that would have implemented clean air regulation changes long sought by the Bush administration. It would have allowed not only refineries, but also coal-burning power plants and other industries to expand and make changes without adding pollution controls even if emissions increase.
Still, Democrats and a few Republicans lambasted the legislation as debate opened on the House floor. It does nothing to curb oil use by requiring more fuel efficient cars or promoting alternative energy sources, said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass. He called it "a leave-no-oilman-behind bill."
Attempts to add requirements that automakers increase vehicle fuel economy and a measure aimed at producing more natural gas were thwarted by GOP leaders who strictly limited the ability by lawmakers to amend the bill. "Natural gas is an issue this (Congress) needs to deal with," said Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., who was prevented under House rules for the bill from offering a proposal that would have opened offshore natural gas resources to drilling.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita shut down more than a dozen refineries and disrupted natural gas supplies. Gasoline prices soared and huge increases in heating bills are expected this winter for users of both gas and fuel oil. Barton says vulnerabilities in the fuel supply system exposed by the hurricanes show that the country needs to build more refineries, especially away from the Gulf Coast region. No refineries have been built in the United States since 1976 as the industry has consolidated to fewer, but larger facilities.
The GOP legislation also would limit to six the different blends of gasoline and diesel fuel that refiners would be required to produce, reversing a trend of using so-called "boutique" fuels to satisfy clean air demands. And it would give the federal government greater say in siting a refinery and pipeline. It also calls on the president to designate military bases or other federal property where a refinery might be built. "The bill weakens state and federal environmental standards ... and gives a break to wealthy oil companies while doing little or nothing to affect oil prices," Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., said in a letter Thursday to colleagues. With prices soaring, "oil companies now have all the profits and incentives they need to build new refineries" without government help, he maintained.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2005 00:20 ||
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#1
Mostly good. I'm glad that they tried to prevent spurious amdendments. Reducing the number of brands will greatly reduce the volatility, since it will be legal to ship excess gas in city A to city B which has a shortage. That has been a felony.
I'm not sure about building them on "Federal Property." That probably means the West. Hey, we could start a rumor on DU that "other Federal property" means the National Parks.
They really need to build some in California, since that's a major user.
Of course, it will die in the Senate, or be amended into something worse than doing nothing.
#2
then they will pay at the ballot box for obstructing refineries, anwr, and drilling
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/09/2005 10:44 Comments ||
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#3
Think I'll start a new slogan.
NNN
Nukes
Needed
Now
Non-patent pending, use as desired.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/09/2005 11:05 Comments ||
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#4
'They really need to build some in California, since that's a major user.'
actually already a major producer...majority used in state is produced locally....try going to carson ca and taking a whiff... some of those very liberal eastern regions need to beef up
#5
Hey, we could start a rumor on DU that "other Federal property" means the National Parks.
hee hee,
Republican-crafted energy bill Friday [bill passed 212-210] has a secret provision for federal land to be used, encouraging construction of new refineries even in
Nationl Park land.
This clause was added at the behest of Vice President
Dick Cheney
to fullfil a promise made in secret meetings five years ago with the energy industry at the White House.
Environmentalist have sought The draft from those meetings for years now, but have been blocked by
Presidential Privilege
. This bill fullfils items from the energy industry âwish listâ at those secret meetings in 2001.
For example, their bill would let MTBE manufacturers off the hook, open the door to exploitation of coastal resources, weaken clean air protections, and give billions of taxpayer dollars to energy companies. In fact, the Republican leadership in Congress tripled - to more than $23 billion - the tax breaks that President Bush originally asked for to the coal, nuclear, oil and gas industries.
Their bill continues the outrageous $100,000 tax deduction for so-called small businesses that buy SUVs - even Hummers!
/Ima tempted.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
10/09/2005 12:09 Comments ||
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#6
Don't forget the Halibuton Earthquake and Tsuami Generation Division (HE&TGD) and Haliburton Hurricane generation Division comspired in a secret meeting on that secret moonbase (you know.... the one where experiments are conducted on baby ducks and puppies... not to mention the desecration and dishonor to Allan (the moon god)) to cause the current energy crisis...
And now the HE&TGD is at it again in pakistsan trying to dusrupt the oil supply....
This is the DHHS website that the New York Times so breathlessly touts as our 'inadequate' preparedness plan. Note the date: August 26, 2004. Advantage: DHHS!
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/09/2005 11:15 ||
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Yuma County sheriff's deputies will patrol the Arizona-Mexico border in a surplus British military armored personnel carrier. The $18,000, nine-ton, six-wheeled vehicle is needed because of increased attacks on deputies and U.S. Border Patrol agents by drug and migrant smugglers, sheriff's and patrol officials said. The agencies frequently work together. The Border Patrol's Yuma sector also has a new armored car, this one a 4 1/2-ton vehicle picked up from the Baltimore police. It's set to go into service in a few months.
Law officers in the border region are increasingly subject to rock throwing and gunfire and being rammed by fleeing vehicles. In the first six months of 2005, 167 assaults, 104 rock-throwing incidents and six cases of officers targeted by gunfire have been documented by the agencies in the Yuma region, sheriff's Maj. Leon Wilmot said.
In August, a rock thrown by an illegal immigrant forced a Border Patrol helicopter to land west of Yuma. The rock hit the rotor blade of the chopper, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing. No one was hurt.
Wilmot said he hopes the armored personnel carrier deters the violence. "Hopefully, when they see this, they'll know they just can't run into this and get away," Wilmot said.
Border Patrol spokesman Michael Gramley said federal officers already use "war wagon" pickups with detention compartments in the back and metal grates on the windows to protect agents from rock throwers. But the new military vehicles will be the first capable of withstanding gunfire. How about some vehicles capable of producing gunfire? Nothing major, just an M-60 or equivalent.
#2
In that kind of uneven desert terrain, your biggest concern is that you have a Humvee-wide wheel base. Other than that, light shielding, and "ramrod" defenses again being rammed, it can be pretty stripped down.
Other stuff that might be included would be a tear gas smudge pot, to create a blanket or strip of tear gas against a large crowd, or even a dry tear gas powder dispenser, so that even footfalls raising dust make an area difficult to pass.
It being the desert, that CS could last for months, and a bandanna over the face just won't cut it.
#3
I wouldn't go with stripped-down, at least not wrt survivability; if there's an escalation it'd be nice to have a margin of safety built in now, instead of having to put up with the howls and finger-pointing later.
#4
A lot of that terrain is hideous. For example, Hell's Trail in SW Arizona. Smokes, even a Humvee wouldn't last six months out there, without being rattled to bits. The typical 4WD is good for one trip only on 50/50 odds. Driving the trail is an extreme sport.
The biggest serious threat is a rifle, and there's not a bit you can do for it except stay bottled up.
Having maneuvered a lot in that desert, your #1 priority on foot is access to water, then to hug a trail or road. You don't have the time to starve to death before you succeed in the crossing or fail. That is why they have and are using vehicles, why ramming is the #2 threat.
I recommend the CS for two reasons. Most of the year, at night, you have an inversion layer, so the gas hugs the ground and makes an effective barrier. At dawn it lapses straight up and gets out of your way. The dry stuff is for the walkers who will have to retreat on their own. You can't travel any distance when blind from CS.
Lastly, putting up signs in Spanish warning of hazards is a very good idea. People just don't grasp that they either have 50 miles of desert in front of them, or that they will need 10 gallons each of water to have any chance of crossing it on foot. Simple signs for simple people.
#5
I've heard two reports of armed Mexican government helicopters crossing over onto ranchers' land, moving drugs. One was from the founder of the Minutemen and the other from the rancher involved during an interview weeks apart. They need a lot more than personnel carriers down there...like armed Predators.
As Iraqis and Americans seek ways to talk Sunni Arab hardliners into laying down their arms and joining a peaceful political process, some speak wistfully of finding an "Iraqi Gerry Adams" across the negotiating table.
Opponents will scoff, but one man who sees himself in the mould of the Irish Republican leader is Saleh al-Mutlak, a businessman and former bureaucrat, and perhaps the best known of the numerous Sunni politicians who claim to speak for their people -- though many Sunnis boycotted January's election.
"I'm near to the resistance, in the way I speak, in my attitudes," he said in an interview this week at his Baghdad office as he called for a U.S. ceasefire and fulminated against the constitution that will be put to a referendum on Saturday.
"I'm not far from them," he said of the nationalist rebels fighting the U.S. occupation and the Shi'ite-led government Washington is backing in Iraq. "But I'm not part of them."
"We need (a) Gerry Adams in Iraq," said Mutlak, whose formal role is that of spokesman for the Iraqi National Dialogue, a leading Sunni Arab group.
"I find myself well qualified for this," he added, listing his Shi'ite wife and friends as well as years of what he calls opposition to Saddam Hussein after his expulsion from the Baath party in 1977 as credentials for helping heal Iraq's divisions.
"Our political programme is close to the resistance," Mutlak said. "The only difference is we don't carry guns."
Not everyone sees him as a force for peace; Iraqi troops raided his office last week, arresting his guards. Bullet holes and shattered glass around a pile of copies of the constitution bear witness to their visit, and to the state of Iraqi politics.
"There is no freedom in Iraq ... to achieve your aims by telling people what you want," Mutlak said, accusing Shi'ite Islamists and U.S. forces of muzzling Sunni politicians.
Affable and animated, his hands, moustache and high forehead in perpetual motion, Mutlak is an articulate spokesman, fluent in English since university days at Aberdeen in the 1970s.
But Shi'ites, Kurds and diplomats who faced him in ill-tempered negotiations on the constitution dismiss him as an intransigent extremist speaking up for fellow ex-Baathists.
"I'm an ex-Baathist," he says, emphasising the "ex", though his expulsion -- for defending Shi'ites, he says -- was followed by a good career in Iraq's state-supervised agriculture sector.
Sitting next to the flag and map that are symbols of the united Iraq he says is threatened by a looming civil war with "chauvinist" Kurds and "pro-Iranian" Shi'ite Islamists, Mutlak calls himself a peaceful nationalist, sacrificing himself out of patriotism and not seeking office.
Dapper in a suit and tie, he describes himself as an academic, farmer and businessman: "I have enough money to live anywhere in the world," he said.
"I'm in politics ... to serve my country."
Unlike Kurds and exiled Shi'ites, who forged parties against Saddam, Sunnis were left disorganised by his fall, throwing the field open for new leaders.
Lines between moderates and fighters are blurred in places like Mutlak's native Falluja. Ending the U.S. occupation and ensuring influence and prosperity for the once dominant 20-percent minority are common goals.
For all his public good humour and insistence on peaceful dialogue, he makes no bones about sharing the aims of the armed rebels -- though not the al Qaeda Islamists who have been their allies. Nor does he reject comparison with the old "gun in one hand, ballot in the other" tactics of Adams's Irish Republicans.
Ambivalence toward the guerrillas' violence has irritated officials of the U.S.-led coalition. But Mutlak does agree the fighting should end: "The problem is it doesn't work," he said.
And he is ready to work with the Americans against al Qaeda.
Yet, as in Belfast, making democracy work across sectarian schism is fraught; Mutlak is uncompromising in his disdain for many opponents and his belief the Sunnis must defend themselves.
Exile or death will be their fate, he said, if the Shi'ite Islamist parties now in power are returned in December.
"They will not leave any of us in Iraq," Mutlak said. "We will either have to be outside Iraq -- or under the earth."
But, citing secular former prime minister Iyad Allawi -- another former Baathist -- as one Shi'ite politician he could work with, Mutlak said an Iraqi peace process was possible.
"We must find a political solution," he said. "Everybody is getting tired in Iraq."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/09/2005 16:13 ||
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#1
How did the man manage to amass enough money to live anywhere on earth when he was out of favour with the Ba'athists rulers for so long? For that matter, how did he manage a good career in Iraq's state-supervised agriculture sector?
#2
And finally, Gerry Adams is an apologist for terrorist hoodlums, which makes him either one of them, or their poodle. Neither role strikes me as very desirable.
The terrorists fighting against Iraq's fledgling government would consider a "no" vote in next week's planned constitutional referendum to be a victory, the country's national security adviser said Sunday.
Mowaffak al-Rubaie told CNN's "Late Edition" the insurgents fear democracy.
"I believe these people are the dark forces, the anti-Iraq forces, who would not like democracy in Iraq," al-Rubaie said.
"They want to bring to Iraq a Taliban-style regime like in Afghanistan," he said, referring to the ultraconservative Islamic religious and political faction that ruled much of Afghanistan from the mid-1990s until November 2001.
Al-Rubaie said he hoped voters will approve the constitution at Saturday's vote.
"I hope and I think and I pray that the Iraqi people will say 'yes, yes' -- loud and clear -- for this constitution, because it's a huge step toward building a new Iraq," he said.
Al-Rubaie predicted that, despite vocal opposition to the document from some Sunni representatives on the constitutional committee, the "overwhelming majority of the ... ordinary [Sunni] people" favor the draft constitution.
Iraqis cannot be bullied, he said.
Threats from Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who leads al Qaeda in Iraq, and Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, will not have "any influence on our Iraqi citizens, which are really determined to go to the ballot boxes," al-Rubaie said.
"We are so determined to proceed with our political process and to move on to the next step, which is the general election in December," he said.
The national security adviser's comments on the referendum came one day after the government announced stiff security measures ahead of the historic vote.
Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said more that 70,000 Iraqi police and soldiers will be responsible for security during the referendum.
Iraqi authorities say they hope the constitutional referendum will help lead to the establishment of law and order and social stability in the country, where a largely Sunni insurgency has been targeting the Kurdish and Shiite-dominated government, the U.S.-led coalition forces and civilians regarded as their supporters and abettors.
Government authorities say they hope Iraqis will feel safe enough to go to the polls as they did in January, when more than 8 million people -- more than half the Iraqis eligible -- voted in the election for a 275-member transitional national assembly.
The announced security measures include border closures and curfews in the period surrounding the referendum.
Polling centers will have three rings of security. Local police will be closest to the polls; Iraqi soldiers will form the second ring; and coalition forces will serve on the perimeter.
A U.S. Marine was killed Saturday when the vehicle he was in was hit by a roadside bomb in the Anbar province capital of Ramadi, the U.S. military said Sunday.
A car bomb in the second-most populous city in Iraq wounded four Iraqis on Sunday, an Iraqi army official said. The bomb exploded outside a building used by the Badr Brigade -- a military wing of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq party, an Iraqi police official said. Basra is about 280 miles (450 kilometers) south of Baghdad.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/09/2005 13:51 ||
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BAGHDAD - The threat of a unified Sunni Arab boycott of next weekâs constitutional vote in Iraq receded on Saturday as Sunni leaders failed to agree on how to oppose the US-backed document.
After a meeting in a Baghdad mosque, Sunni leaders said they hoped those voters who do decide to participate will vote âNoâ.
The lack of consensus revealed divisions in the Sunni community, with some groups insisting on a boycott to rob the referendum of legitimacy, and others saying a massive Sunni âNoâ vote was the only way to properly defeat it. âWe do not ask the Iraqi people to boycott or not,â said Harith Al Dhari, the head of the Muslim Clericsâ Association, one of the Sunni groups arguing strategy ahead of the Oct. 15 referendum.
âWe ask them to do everything they legitimately can to reject the draft of the constitution,â he told Reuters, leaving followers to choose whether that is to vote âNoâ, or to stay at home.
Several hundred monitors, including from the Arab League, are set to oversee the referendum, which will be the largest organisational effort Iraq has undertaken since Januaryâs election, when more than eight million people cast ballots.
Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League, told BBC radio on Saturday that the country was close to civil war and said there seemed to be no strategy for bringing rival groups together. âThe situation is so tense ... a civil war could erupt at any moment, although some people would say it is already there.â
So the Sunnis had better learn to get along, doncha think?
Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabor announced a series of strict security measures ahead of the referendum, echoing arrangements made in January, saying the countryâs borders would be sealed for four days and curfews imposed overnight.
Cars will be banned from moving between provinces and no civilians, even those with permits, will be allowed to carry weapons. Tens of thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers will be on duty to protect more than 6,000 polling sites, with US and other foreign troops backing up if needed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/09/2005 00:00 ||
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Saddam Hussein is looking forward to his forthcoming trial and believes that he will be acquitted of all the charges laid against him, according to Iraqi officials.
The deposed dictator, who has been held in solitary confinement at an American-controlled prison in Iraq since his capture in December 2003, is in good shape "mentally and physically" and is relishing the opportunity to clear his name. "He still insists that he is the legitimate ruler of Iraq and that a foreign army came and deposed him," said Hoshiyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister. "He does not seem to realise that he lost the war and that since then we have had new elections and new leaders. Saddam's frame of mind is that he will get off."
According to Mr Zebari, Saddam intends to conduct his defence on the basis that he is still the legitimate ruler of Iraq, based on the referendum he held shortly before the war in which he claimed to have won 100 per cent of the vote. "He claims everyone voted for him, but I am an Iraqi, and he did not get my vote," said Mr Zebari.
But while Saddam is confident about his prospects, other leading members of his regime are in low spirits. "People like Tariq Aziz and Chemical Ali [Ali Hassan al -Majid] are broken men. They know there is no escape from justice."
'cause there's a rope at the end for them.
The Iraqi government has announced that Saddam's trial by a special tribunal will start on October 19 in Baghdad, where he will face charges relating to the massacre of 146 Shias in the village of Dujail in 1982. If convicted he faces execution by hanging.
Mr Zebari insisted that the trial would start on time. "This trial is long, long overdue," he said. "Saddam and his accomplices should have been dealt with long ago.
"So long as they are still in jail, their old Ba'athist colleagues think there is still a chance that they might one day come back. We need to show that the age of Saddam is finally at an end."
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/09/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Have I mentioned that I have Jury Duty Report Date of October 19? I'm sure it's just a coincidence.
#5
Supposedly he plans to start revealing the names of those Westerners who took his bribes and broke the embargo. He believes this threat of reverse blackmail(?) will frighten his persecutors into backing down from trying him.
(No links, I'm afraid, but I read it here at Rantburg some time ago.)
#7
Supposedly he plans to start revealing the names of those Westerners who took his bribes and broke the embargo. He believes this threat of reverse blackmail(?) will frighten his persecutors into backing down from trying him.
Oh please, oh please, oh please!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
10/09/2005 17:13 Comments ||
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Rival Palestinian militant groups put up a united front on Saturday to denounce inter-factional kidnappings and violence that have undermined calls by President Mahmoud Abbas for law and order in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"We announce all of the military wings are united in their position and faith and that we consider any attack on any one of us as an attack on us all," eight factions, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, said in a statement.
"Any action aimed at spreading chaos or internal strife ... will be considered treason," said the statement, issued at a Gaza news conference attended by gunmen, some of them masked. "Our response will be unified and swift."
In the latest in a string of kidnappings widely believed to stem from factional rivalries, a Hamas member was abducted by unidentified gunmen in the West Bank on Friday but was released within hours. Several other Hamas men were snatched last week and freed unharmed.
Three people were killed in Gaza on Sunday in firefights between Hamas gunmen and Palestinian police, and 50 people were wounded when militants later tried to storm a police station.
Abbas has called on militant groups, which have spearheaded anti-Israeli violence over the past five years, to end what he describes as armed chaos and stop carrying their weapons in public.
Israel has complained he has not gone far enough and must disarm the factions and dismantle "terrorist infrastructure" in accordance with a U.S.-backed "road map" that charts mutual steps leading to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Abbas, who declared a truce along with Israeli leader Ariel Sharon last February and coaxed militants into announcing a "period of calm" until the end of the year, wants to co-opt gunmen rather than confront them, citing fears of civil war.
The two are expected to meet as early as Tuesday ahead of Abbas's White House talks with U.S. President George W. Bush on Oct. 20 amid heightened hopes for peacemaking following Israel's completion of a pullout from the Gaza Strip on Sept. 12.
Israeli and Palestinian officials planned to meet on Sunday for another round of preparatory talks ahead of the Abbas-Sharon summit, which is not expected to yield any breakthroughs.
Speaking on Israel Radio, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom reaffirmed Sharon's refusal to restart talks on Palestinian statehood until Abbas cracked down on militants.
"Our demand is unequivocal: they have to act against terrorism decisively," Shalom said.
"I think if they do that, we would be willing to take a long series of measures that would ease things for them. Our aim is to march together towards a resumption of talks, but in accordance with the road map and devoid of shortcuts which the Palestinians are interested in."
In an exclusive interview with WorldNetDaily to be released in full on Monday, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zohar warned that U.S. President George W. Bush's actions in the Middle East are "placing America in danger," accusing Bush of "shooting innocent populations with missiles" in Iraq and Afghanistan, and starting a confrontation "between the West and 1.3 billion Muslims in the world." Didn't something happen in New York and Arlington before then?
Al-Zohar spoke to WND from Gaza. He is the most senior Hamas member in all of Israel and the Palestinian territories, and is second in the organization only to overall Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, who resides in Syria. "I think Bush is doing an enormous historical crime by fighting against Islam and giving Islam adjectives like fascism and terrorism," said al-Zohar. "I want to ask about what happened [when America pounded the caves in 2001 during operations in Afghanistan] at Tora Bora? And what happened and is still happening in Faluja? Are the Americans shooting chocolates and biscuits on the local and innocent population? No, they are shooting missiles.
"What about the Americans in charge of their prison in Abu Ghriab, sending dogs on the prisoners. Is this okay? And a president who lies to his people and says the war in Iraq is led in order to abolish the mass destruction weapons while it was discovered there were no such weapons in Iraq. Is it okay? Is Hamas going to run someone in the Democratic primaries. He's got the talking points down.
"Therefore I say that President Bush puts in danger American interests when he chooses to fight against Islam and describe Islam in a negative way that makes him face 1.3 billion Muslims in the world. It is stupid that a person decides to push the West and Islam into a confrontation. Doing so puts in danger his own interests."
Al-Zohar took the occasion of the interview to declare Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, completed last month, a victory for Hamas and other Palestinian groups' "resistance operations," and said Hamas will next focus on forcing Israel from the West Bank. "[That our operations caused Israel to withdraw from Gaza] is the truth and the reality and we lived this reality during the last few weeks," al-Zohar told WND. "The withdrawal happened after years of political and diplomatic activity that achieved nothing. ...The resistance caused Israel heavy damages, including on Israeli soldiers and Israeli society. Therefore the resistance is the Palestinians main tool and option and will remain so. [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon must realize what brought him to withdraw from Gaza and do the same thing in the West Bank."
Asked whether Hamas is trying to ultimately capture only the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem or if it is committing attacks to destroy all of Israel, al-Zohar responded: "No one will deny the fact that before 1948, the state of Israel did not exist and that for thousands of years this land was part of an Islamic and Arabic land. History proves that this is the land of the Palestinian people and we will never give up any part of it. If our generation will not succeed to liberate all of historical Palestine then that mission will be for the following generations." If the majority really feel the same way, then we need to make sure there are no following generations. Please, Mr. President, may your way work.
Al-Zohar also called recent reports that al-Qaida members are in Gaza "Israeli propaganda," claiming Israel sent fake al-Qaida agents to liase with Palestinian groups. "All these talks about the presence of al-Qaida is Israeli talks and propaganda. Israel tries to link al-Qaida, which acts abroad, and the resistance in Palestine in order to gain sympathy in the international community and in public opinion against Hamas and the Palestinian resistance," said al-Zohar.
"We know that Israel tried through its agents to have contacts with marginal activists in the Palestinian resistance. The agents represented themselves as al-Qaida members and tried to tempt these people with money and weapons. This is part of the Israeli effort to represent things even though they are not that way in order to say that al-Qaida exists in the Gaza Strip."
The Hamas leader scoffed at demands by the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the international community that his group disarm as a precondition for entering Palestinian legislative elections in January. "What reason do they have to ask us and the other organizations to disarm while the enemy is continuing to attack the Gaza Strip and is planning to occupy it? Didn't Sharon bombard Gaza with aircraft after the withdrawal? Didn't he put in position artillery and threaten to use it? If any of this happens, who will defend the Gaza Strip? Will it be the PA that is against any armed struggle and that has never done anything against Israeli attacks? Therefore disarming the organizations is not a possibility. If we are disarmed, how will we face Israel while it is trying to occupy the Gaza strip again."
Among other topics addressed in the full interview to be released Monday, al-Zohar discusses the possibility of Hamas' rocket attacks against Jerusalem and Tel Aviv; says he is suspicious the PA may have been involved in late PLO Leader Yasser Arafat's demise; and welcomes Christians to join Hamas, which he says stands for the fair treatment of all non-Muslims, including Jews. Of course "fair treatment" means dhimmitude,. conversion, or death.
#1
We need a visual of a "Cause & Effect" meter (maybe like the "Dignity & Honor" one) erupting with smoke and flame. Either that, or the image of a "Denial" meter with its needle wrapped around the infinity peg.
Posted by: too true ||
10/09/2005 10:23 Comments ||
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""No one will deny the fact that before 1948, the state of Israel did not exist and that for thousands of years this land was part of an Islamic and Arabic land. History proves that this is the land of the Palestinian people and we will never give up any part of it. "
Any person with an ounce of integrity should oppose Hamas simply because of their pathological hatred of Jews. Their split personalities of a political wing and a military wing make dealing with them like dealing with a two-headed snake-you may engage with one end, but the other remains free to kill. But if that isn't reason enough, then this stated commitment to eliminating the entire state of Israel should. EU, Americans are watching your response. Will you repeat your WWII history of working for the extermination of Jews or have you learned your lesson? In what century does our "partner", the EU, plan to stand up for what's right and remove all excuses for supporting Hamas (at either end)?
JERUSALEM - Israel and the Palestinians have made some progress on new security arrangements for the Gaza-Egypt border, Palestinian officials said on Saturday, ahead of a planned summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas this week.
A border deal, brokered by international mediator James Wolfensohn, would allow Gazans relatively free movement of guns and ammunition for the first time and is seen as crucial for the economic development of the impoverished coastal strip.
However, the two sides appeared to remain deadlocked on other issues, including the release of Palestinian prisoners and an Israeli troop withdrawal from additional West Bank towns. The Palestinians seek the release of all prisoners who have served more than 20 years in Israeli prisons, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Saturday. However, Israel says it will not release those involved in attacks that wounded or killed Israelis, meaning most of those with long sentences would be ineligible.
Which is why they're locked up in the first place.
The summit is tentatively set for Tuesday, but the date is not yet firm. Both sides have said itâs better not to hold the meeting at all than to have it fail.
A key issue is the Rafah terminal on the Gaza-Egypt border. Israel closed the terminal as part of its pullout from Gaza last month. The reopening depends on a new security deal that would address Israeli security concerns but also grant the Palestinians freedom of movement. Israel, which used to operate Rafah, fears that militants and weapons will reach Gaza more easily once Israeli inspectors are no longer present.
Under a compromise proposal, Palestinians travelers and goods leaving Gaza would go through Rafah, with European Union inspectors supervising the traffic. Incoming goods would be rerouted through Kerem Shalom, an Israeli-run inspection point on the meeting point of Gaza, Egypt and Israel.
Yeah, let the EU do it. They'll fix everything.
Wolfensohn briefed Abbas on the negotiations on Friday, and told him Israel agreed in principle to the presence of foreign inspectors, said a Palestinian official who participated in the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity. Israel wants to have access to the terminalâs computers to monitor who is entering and leaving Gaza, the official said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/09/2005 00:00 ||
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The armed wings of Palestinian factions announced yesterday that they had signed a national covenant of honor aimed at safeguarding the resistance and maintaining their weapons.
"'Cuz you ain't a man without a gun in your hand!"
Abu Obaidah, a spokesperson for Ezzedin Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said some parties are exploiting the state of chaos in the Palestinian territories to harm the resistance by disarming the groups of their weapons. The armed wings of the national and Islamic factions signed a written national covenant of honor to protect the resistance from such plots. In a statement to the press, Abu Obaidah said: âThe covenant states that as long as the Israeli occupation continues, the resistance will remain the peopleâs national and strategic choice as a means of fighting this occupation. The covenant stresses on saving the national constants.â The covenant was signed by the armed wings of Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, PFLP, DFLP and the Popular Resistance Committee. Fatah was represented by three armed wings, and each other faction had one armed wing represented.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I know the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade belong to Fatah, but what are the other two armed wings?
Posted by: Sheik Abu Bin Ali Al-Yahood ||
10/09/2005 0:07 Comments ||
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#2
Probably Tanzim and Force 17.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2005 0:10 Comments ||
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#3
All the better reason for Israel to simply assume that the entire Palestinian population at large are combatants. With Israel's own people removed from the sphere of combat, it's time for retaliations which rain down the large-scale destruction that the Palestinians so dearly deserve.
PENANG, Oct 8 (Bernama) -- The Indonesian Consulate here too became the latest foreign mission to receive a suspicious package Saturday. A witness, Made Jaafar Abdullah, 53, [president of the Indonesian Students' Association in Penang] said he noticed a Caucasian man surrender an envelope to a guard at the entrance of the consulate at 6.40 pm, but when the guard came out of the guardhouse to confront him, the man took off...
Police and a team from the Fire and Rescue Services Department arrived a short while later and took away the package to be examined.
This makes it the 15th incident in which suspicious packages have been sent to foreign missions in the country, the other 14, all containing harmless substances, were mailed to embassies in the capital city, Kuala Lumpur.
Police have described them to be work of pranksters capitalising on the latest bombing incidents in Bali.
The United States has briefed key nations on intelligence that it says shows Iranian atomic weapons work, namely research on getting a missile warhead to explode at an altitude that would maximize the blast of a nuclear explosion, diplomats and analysts told AFP.
However, a non-Western diplomat said the US briefing, carried out in various capitals ahead of a meeting in September of the UN atomic watchdog, "looks plausible but there is no hard evidence," namely direct proof of a nuclear warhead project. Iran says its nuclear program is a strictly peaceful effort to develop atomic power in order to generate electricity and rejects US charges that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
A diplomat close to the Vienna-based watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that setting a warhead explosion at such a height, which is about 600 metres (yards), the same altitude at which the Hiroshima atomic bomb was detonated, would make sense only for nuclear weapons. Chemical, biological or conventional weapons need to detonate closer to the ground in order to be effective. The intelligence does not indicate whether the weapon the warhead is to hold is nuclear but the United States still considers the data the most important information it has on Iran, diplomats said.
The intelligence, the existence of which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal in March, contains diagnostic test information on putting a package, a so-called black box, inside the cone of the medium-range Shahab-3 ballistic missile, a diplomat told AFP. It consists of extensive Farsi-language computer files and reports. US officials are confident the data is genuine, diplomats said, even though some analysts have criticized it as unreliable since it is believed to come from only one source. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
10/09/2005 19:42 ||
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#1
The only "hard evidence" that will work for these folks is the one that goes boom and blows them away.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/09/2005 20:13 Comments ||
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#2
We absolutely, postively must have layered missile shields around both Iran and North Korea yesterday. Any *and every* missile launched from either country with hostile ballistics must be covered.
AFX News Limited
Iran official says US incapable of going to war
10.09.2005, 01:14 PM
TEHRAN (AFX) - Washington is not in a position to go to war against Tehran and its pressure over the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear programme is nothing more than 'intimidation', Iran's top nuclear negotiator said.
'There will not be a war ahead of us. The situation in America does not allow them to create new fronts,' Ali Larijani was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA.... (emphasis added)
The mullahs are not entirely naive but there is almost certainly a great deal of ignorance and wishful thinking in their perception of the "situation in the US."
All anti-American elements throughout the world are acutely aware of the political history of the Vietnam War and of the role of the media in turning popular opinion against the war and the Republic of (South) Vietnam.
At the same time, they are only dimly aware that the US is leading the world into a new stage in the history of the institutional media culture, the decline and collapse brought on by the development of alternative media. There is an increasing awareness of the institutional media culture as a vested interest in and of itself. This has resulted in a massive increase in public skepticism and hostility toward that culture, and an ever-accelerating decline in its power and influence.
The mullah elite's perceptions will therefore be based to a large extent on what they see in the US media. This will lead them to exaggerate the influence and power of the anti-war movement and of pacifist opinion.
They rely on an ally that they do not know is in decline; the institutional media culture and its ideological client, the peace movement. As a result they over-estimate their chances of success and they are that much more likely to risk war.
#2
Another country playin' the same ole' "look at the US" in an attempt to hide their own disgrace. Those mad mullahs are losing control of their own country. Look at the US don't look at Iran's drug problem. Look at the US don't look at Iran's aides problem. Seems to me is close to imploding in the near future...
#3
Iran doesn't apperent understand the tactical use of a CBG. We can destroy Iran without putting one US body on Iranian soil. Pretty soon the fecal matter will hit the spinning baldes.
#4
I agree there will not be a new war or a new front. Everyone has lost patience with the MM's. It will be so decisive they will never know what hit them End of matter.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
10/09/2005 18:00 Comments ||
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#6
Carrier Battle Group. - Aircraft carrier (80+ planes), cruiser, destroyers, submarine and support ships (definition is flexible).
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
10/09/2005 18:18 Comments ||
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#7
I am almost certain that the Iranians intend to use their nukes *first* at a US CBG. As with Pearl Harbor, their military will be focused on our military. The attack, either by nuclear naval mine, nuclear fire ship, or missile, will have to be immediately followed by an attack into southern Iraq, to "bog down" US forces there.
The strategy there would be to keep strong defenses in the North of Iran, to force the US to first recapture the South of Iraq before it could advance towards Iran.
Conventional missiles would be fired at US airbases in Iraq and Afghanistan, to temporarily disable them, costing the US much air remaining air support. They would be throwing conventional and some nuclear missiles every which direction for maximum chaos.
They might even coordinate missile fires with North Korea to open a second front.
Please note that this is possibly *their* scheme, and *not* one I would recommend for success.
However, the counters to such an attack are dependent on several things. First of all, the US must have massive, layered missile defenses in the region.
Our CBGs will hopefully be very alert to the biggest threats in the closed quarters, those being nuclear mines and nuclear fire ships, though terribly hard to defend against. Calculate out a probable 25-100kt warhead as the maximum size the Iranians will be able to build.
While the Iranian army could probably advance strongly into southern Iraq, they already would face a formidable and motivated Iraqi army, for sheer numbers, and incredibly lethal US combat systems. Once our divisions were fully in play, they would be cut to ribbons.
Iran's new hardline president has placed his country's nuclear programme under the control of militant commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, the military's most committed wing.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has launched a purge of moderates in national and provincial government since his election two months ago, has drafted in fellow radical revolutionaries to top administrative posts - a move that will heighten Western fears over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Many of the new power-brokers are veterans of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds (Jerusalem) Force, in which Mr Ahmadinejad held the rank of brigadier general. The unit is linked to a series of international terrorist attacks and the main backer of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), a leading opposition group that has previously exposed clandestine nuclear sites, gave details of the appointment of high-ranking Quds Force officers to senior positions to The Sunday Telegraph. Other Iranian exiles with contacts inside the country are also tracking the purges.
Most significantly, the country's nuclear programme, which Iran claims is for civilian purposes, is in the hands of hardliners who, like Mr Ahmadinejad, were young radicals at the time of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
American and British intelligence are certain that Teheran is trying to develop atomic weapons. "This is not like the pre-war debate about whether Iraq was working on weapons of mass destruction," an American intelligence official said. "Iran has a nuclear weapons programme. There are no doubts."
The disclosures come days after Tony Blair said that explosives used by insurgents to kill British soldiers in Iraq "lead us either to Iranian elements or to Hezbollah", effectively ending a long-running diplomatic effort to woo Iran.
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/09/2005 12:26 ||
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#1
Of course the Nuclear Reactors are for solely peaceful means...
Only an idiot Nobel Peace Prize Winner would believe that.
#2
Sounds like some dis-info documents need to fall into their hands from Khan that cause them to change specs in a manner that causes a nasty work accident.
An Iranian official said Saturday it would be in the interests of both Iran and the West to hold unconditional talks on resolving suspicions about Tehran's nuclear program. Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization, reiterated that Iran would not accept any conditions for resuming talks with the European Union that broke off in August, an allusion to demands that Iran again halt its uranium conversion operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
This reminds me very little of something Mark Twain once said:
"Never try and teach a pig to sing. It's not only a waste of your time, but it really annoys the pig."
Haven't we wasted spent enough time trying to teach the mullahs pig to sing?
#2
Agreed.
They don't realize that they are able to gain much more by agreeing with the US rather than disagreeing. If they just went along with things, they aren't shooting themselves in the foot.
As if they'll actually do anything smart anytime soon.
Syria should have adopted a firm stance regarding the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and collaborated with the UN investigation into the murder headed by German judge Detlev Mehlis who is excepted to present his conclusions later this month, according to informed US sources. Speaking to Asharq al Awsat, US officials indicated that, âSyrian President Bashar Assad should have announced he wanted the truth to emerge immediately after doubts rose on possible Syrian involvement and affirmed his readiness to punish all those who planned or took part in the planning of Haririâs murder or those who carried out the assassination.â This readiness, the sources added, âwould have strengthened Assadâs position and enabled Syria to take part in the search for the truth instead of being an isolated party in the probe.â
On the other hand, the course they took was compatible with having something to hide, wasn't it?
According to these sources, when officials speaks of possible Syrian involvement âthey do not necessarily mean the highest echelons of power in Damascus and do not dispute that the responsibility may lie with the lower levelsâ, giving the president room for maneuver and breathing space in the international arena.
Probably Baby Assad isn't bright enough to recognize when he's being given an out.
In spite of this, the US administration appeared to have already decided to depose the current leadership, âbut has yet to find the way to do so or a suitable alternative,â to hand power to in Damascus, the sources added.
So we're out of the standing-under-the-tree-waiting-for-the-fruit-to-drop stage...
Accordingly, the current US government, under President George W. Bush, was examining âthree different scenarios for the next stage after the UN report is published, including Damascus agrees to surrender one or two officials in the hope of saving the regime. A number of subterfuges might be used by the US government prior to its involvement in Syria , such as a stray bomb on Syrian territory or a missile by US forces in Iraq which âaccidentallyâ hits its neighbor.
Or we could just drive up to Damascus and announce we're taking over, but I doubt that'll happen. Bush is trying to do this without a shot being fired...
For their part, informed French sources revealed that the US has already opted for regime change in Syria, with âa faction in the US administration ready to gamble to induce this chance as it believes that any development in Syria is better for US interests, including chaos as it might turn out positive.â
This is called going for a possible bad outcome in preference to a demonstrated current certainty.
So far, the French have continue to affirm that âthey are not interested in developments in Damascus as they focus firmly on Lebanon and the application of UN security council resolutions 1559 and 1595, as well as insisting on discovering the truth behind Haririâs murder.â
The Frenchies don't say they're opposed, notice. Only that they're more concerned with the Lebs.
In the last week, Paris, Washington, and London have held a series of meetings to coordinate their actions after the UN report is published, included the role of the security council in a trial for the accused and the type and powers of this court. Paris has called on the US administration to âpractice restraint and moderationâ regarding Syria and warned Washington from the consequences of âviolent regime changeâ on the region and Lebanon especially. French sources said their government had âsucceededâ until now in reining in the US government but protested that Syria was ânot helpingâ in this regard.
See, Jean-Pierre? Don't things work better when you can do the good cop-bad cop thing?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2005 00:00 ||
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I'd like for Damascus to fall peaceably as well, but I really wouldn't mind if a messy 'incident' happened somewhere near Khaled Mashaal's offices...
Iranâs foreign minister denied claims by US President George W. Bush that the Persian state is sheltering Islamic radicals, saying yesterday that his country is committed to regional stability and security.
Then his lips fell off.
Manouchehr Mottakiâs comments, reported by state-run TV, were aired after Bush reiterated accusations Thursday that Iran and its ally Syria were harboring extremists wanting to undermine US efforts in Iraq. âIran, as a responsible and committed member of the international community, has had constructive and positive participation and activity in improving regional stability and security,â Mottaki was quoted as saying. Mottaki said Washington âshould learn from its loss of credibility in international public opinion on Iraqâs alleged weapons of mass destruction and avoid intervening in domestic affairs of other countries.â
They think they're inoculated by the Iraq experience. But I think we're being much more devious subtle than that.
On Thursday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in London that explosive devices that have killed US-led troops were similar to those used by the Iranian-linked militant group Hezbollah. Iran has denied the charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2005 00:00 ||
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai has replaced his U.S. bodyguards with local ones, blunting accusations by critics who accuse him of relying too much on American support.
Karzai asked for American bodyguards in mid-2002, not long after one of his deputies, Haji Abdul Qadir, was assassinated in Kabul and one of his ministers was killed at the city's airport.
The American bodyguards were conspicuous by their absence on Thursday when Karzai held a news conference at the presidential palace with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
The contract of the Americans, hired by the State Department from U.S. security firm DynCorp, expired on September 27 and Karzai is now protected by about 600 Afghan guards trained by them, officials said.
"They had a timeline and that has expired officially," palace official Khaliq Ahmad said of the American bodyguards.
He said only a handful of a force that used to number about 300 remained in the country and they would leave too after completing training of their Afghan replacements.
He has already survived at least two assassination attempts.
In September 2002, his bodyguards shot dead an attacker who opened fire on Karzai's car during a visit to his native city of Kandahar.
Last year, a rocket fired at his helicopter narrowly missed while he was on a visit to the town of Gardez.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/09/2005 16:16 ||
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To the man's credit, he's putting his money where his mouth is by placing his @ss on the line. It is another matter entirely as to how much longer those two anatomical features of his will remain contiguous.
#3
how much longer those two anatomical features of his will remain contiguous.
Not actually contiguous, one would hope.... rather uncomfortable if the man isn't extremely flexible. ;-) But certainly, both simultaneously attached to his body.
Maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it. We don't get that lucky ...
No evidence suggests that the deadly earthquake that rocked Pakistan on Saturday injured or killed the world's top terror leader, Osama bin Laden.
The quake shook the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where bin Laden is believed to be hiding.
However, authorities at this point have no information indicating he's been injured or killed, said a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the information's sensitivity.
But bin Laden escaped and is now believed to be living a relatively isolated existence to evade capture.
He was last seen publicly on a videotaped message before the November 2004 elections.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/09/2005 16:09 ||
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Bin Laden is in a southeastern village of Somalia, kicked back admiring all the 'ruckus'!
#5
He could be in that collapsed apartment block in Islamabad.
More likely he is in Rawalpindi, being protected by a detachment from the ISI or Pak SSG commandos.
All the Qaeda big shots ahve been caught in major pak cities.
Posted by: john ||
10/09/2005 17:03 Comments ||
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There is a video of OBL where he greets an arab guest. The guy looks around the house and laughs. "I love your cave" OBL laughs. "my cave is very comfortable.
Posted by: john ||
10/09/2005 17:06 Comments ||
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I've doubted OBL was still in the NW province, but the Taliban and others that have remained to to cause trouble and deceive us probably are at the minimum entrapped. His cover is blown.
The leader of Mauritania's new military junta pledged on Sunday to maintain the country's international commitments to fight terrorism, which have included U.S. military training for Mauritanian troops.
Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, head of the military council that ousted President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in a bloodless coup in early August, said combating terrorism would protect Mauritania's own security.
"Terrorism is contrary to our own values," he said in his first public news conference since the 17-member military junta seized power in Mauritania, which straddles black and Arab Africa and is due to start pumping oil next year.
"We'll do everything possible to ensure it does not take root in Mauritania and we will respect all our international engagements in the fight against this phenomenon," he added.
The news conference began late on Saturday and ended in the early hours of Sunday.
Although Mohamed Vall did not specifically mention the United States, his words appeared aimed at reassuring Washington that it could still count on Mauritania's cooperation in efforts to stop the spread southwards of radical Islamic militants across the Sahara desert.
Following the August 3 coup, Washington initially called for the return of Taya, who had ruled for more than 20 years. But later, realising the extent of popular support for the coup, it said it was prepared to work with Mauritania's new rulers if they kept their promise to organise transparent elections.
Mohamed Vall said the junta would only modify its previously announced programme to hold a referendum on constitutional reforms in a year and elections within two years if Mauritanians wanted such a change of plan.
He said there would be no "witch hunt or settling of scores" against the ousted president and his supporters.
Asked if Taya, who was abroad when the coup occurred, could return, Mohamed Vall said he was a Mauritanian citizen who had the right to participate in national politics.
"The important thing is to turn the page," he told the packed news conference, speaking in both French and Arabic.
The junta last month declared a general amnesty for political prisoners, freeing dozens of former coup plotters and Islamist politicians. Mauritanians welcomed the releases.
But the amnesty did not cover a hard core of around 20 suspected Islamist extremists who have remained in detention.
Some of these are suspected of receiving military training in Algeria from the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), a movement which has pledged allegiance to al Qaeda and is listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation.
"Their case is in the hands of the justice system, which must make its decision," Mohamed Vall said.
In another apparent warning to extremists, he said the junta would not allow any party to exclusively claim to represent Islamic interests. "Mauritania is an Islamic country, it's written in our constitution ... Islam cannot be the monopoly of any political party," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/09/2005 13:53 ||
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The Bombay High Court on Monday will hear the plea of suspected Al-Qaeda operative Mohammed Afroze challenging his conviction by a special POTA court for conspiring with the international terrorist organisation to attack places of importance in India, Australia and UK.
The High Court had admitted his petition on September 20.
The special judge had sentenced Afroze to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Afroze has challenged his conviction in the High Court stating that the special court did not have the right to try his case as the POTA charges against him were dropped.
Once the POTA was withdrawn, the special judge has to transfer the case to a regular court trying cases under the IPC, Afroze's lawyer Mubin Solkar argued, adding as per the law, it was mandatory on the part of the judge to transfer the case to a regular court.
Afroze's petition states that the police had failed to provide evidence against him.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/09/2005 13:47 ||
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Leading Egyptian opposition parties and the banned Muslim Brotherhood have formed a national front ahead of the November parliamentary elections, officials say. "The Wafd, Tagammu and Nasserists and the Muslim Brotherhood in addition to some eight other opposition groups have formed a National Front for Change," Wafd Secretary General Rifaat al-Said told AFP on Saturday. He said that a common platform would be drafted but that the front would not field candidates in its name in the elections next month. "The Wafd, Tagammu and the Nasserists will in all likelihood field candidates as part of a coalition while the Brotherhood will field their own," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/09/2005 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.
KUWAIT CITY â Some Kuwaiti newspapers have taken the unpopular step of calling for normalisation of relations with the old enemy Israel, following similar moves by other Arab countries.
More than 360 organizations are seeking nuclear and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) technology for such programs in Asia and the Middle East says a leaked document from British intelligence agency MI5. According to a report published yesterday by The Guardian newspaper, the MI5 document titled âCompanies and Organizations of Proliferation Concernâ, lists private companies, university departments and government organizations in eight countries who have procured goods or technology for use in weapons programs; and stresses the determination of these countries to develop ânuclear arsenals and other weapons of mass destruction.â 
A new Republican-crafted energy bill, prompted by the hurricane devastation and high fuel prices, came under sharp attack Friday from Democrats who called it a sop to rich oil companies that would do little to curb gasoline or natural gas costs, while hurting the environment. Supporters argue the measure is needed to spur construction of new refineries. The House was expected to vote on it later in the day. In an attempt to ease approval of the bill, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, removed a particularly contentious provision Friday that would have implemented clean air regulation changes long sought by the Bush administration. It would have allowed not only refineries, but also coal-burning power plants and other industries to expand and make changes without adding pollution controls even if emissions increase. 
Attempts to add requirements that automakers increase vehicle fuel economy and a measure aimed at producing more natural gas were thwarted by GOP leaders who strictly limited the ability by lawmakers to amend the bill. "Natural gas is an issue this (Congress) needs to deal with," said Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., who was prevented under House rules for the bill from offering a proposal that would have opened offshore natural gas resources to drilling. 
BAGHDAD - The threat of a unified Sunni Arab boycott of next weekâs constitutional vote in Iraq receded on Saturday as Sunni leaders failed to agree on how to oppose the US-backed document.
JERUSALEM - Israel and the Palestinians have made some progress on new security arrangements for the Gaza-Egypt border, Palestinian officials said on Saturday, ahead of a planned summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas this week.
The armed wings of Palestinian factions announced yesterday that they had signed a national covenant of honor aimed at safeguarding the resistance and maintaining their weapons.
An Iranian official said Saturday it would be in the interests of both Iran and the West to hold unconditional talks on resolving suspicions about Tehran's nuclear program. Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization, reiterated that Iran would not accept any conditions for resuming talks with the European Union that broke off in August, an allusion to demands that Iran again halt its uranium conversion operations.
Syria should have adopted a firm stance regarding the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister 
Iranâs foreign minister denied claims by US President George W. Bush that the Persian state is sheltering Islamic radicals, saying yesterday that his country is committed to regional stability and security. 
Leading Egyptian opposition parties and the banned Muslim Brotherhood have formed a national front ahead of the November parliamentary elections, officials say. "The Wafd, Tagammu and Nasserists and the Muslim Brotherhood in addition to some eight other opposition groups have formed a National Front for Change," Wafd Secretary General Rifaat al-Said told AFP on Saturday. He said that a common platform would be drafted but that the front would not field candidates in its name in the elections next month. "The Wafd, Tagammu and the Nasserists will in all likelihood field candidates as part of a coalition while the Brotherhood will field their own," he said.
