Rome, 26 June (AKI) - Commenting on repeated calls by some parties in Italy's ruling centre-left coalition for Italian troops to leave Afghanistan, minister for EU policy Emma Bonino told Rome daily La Repubblica: "Afghans have ventured on a new path [...] and it would be irresponsible for us to abandon them half way through." In the UN mission to Afghanistan, "both the democratically elected government and civil society are asking us to stay and do more," Bonino said. "A country [Italy] which wants to grow on the international stage must face up to its responsibilities," she said.
Bonino has long been involved with human rights issues and is regarded as a democratisation expert. While serving as the European Union's humanitarian aid commissioner from 1994-1998, she promoted a number of initiatives in support of human rights. These included the 1997 campaign 'A flower for Kabul's women', to fight Afghan women's discrimination and to help them gain better access to international aid.
"I went to Afghanistan for the first time in 1997. Those who do not want to acknowledge the changes there do so for purely ideological reasons," Bonino said. "You only need to speak with ordinary people there to understand what has changed. Not everything is resolved, but at least women can work and children can go to school." Bonino explained that "it will take one generation to achieve complete and stable changes, it is a slow process." "There have been protests because the Afghans had great expectations and they are partially disappointed," she said.
Speaking in detail of Italy's role in Afghanistan, Bonino added: ""We are leading the crucial reform of the judiciary, [...] and it will be important to increase our diplomatic presence." "We shall also do more in the field of education - the next Afghans' generation represents the future of the country and we must support them," she continued. "I hope the most radical parties in our coalition will understand that [...] should we leave Afghanistan now, this would create us many more problems in future," Bonino concluded.
Bravo, Emma
Posted by: Steve ||
06/26/2006 09:08 ||
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#1
There are those who understand -- talk about speaking truth to power!
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday called Mulla Omar a coward, saying he should come out of hiding and face justice, AP reported. Karzai's comments come amid claims, allegedly made by Omar in an audio tape aired Sunday by a Pakistani television station, that the US-led coalition and the Afghan government lack the wisdom to solve Afghanistan's escalating violence.
Karzai did not comment on the tape's authenticity. But he told CNN's Late Edition television program that if Omar is "really in charge" he should come out of hiding and "face the danger that he is causing to hundreds of young people in Afghanistan and Pakistan".
"It needs guts to do what he's talking about, and he doesn't have it," he said. Omar and the Taliban, Karzai said, do not represent a threat to Afghanistan's government. "They exist in the form of attacking schools, attacking children, killing innocent people," he said. "They are no match for our power." Bin Laden, deputy Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri and Omar are "definitely" not in Afghanistan, Karzai said. "They don't dare come to Afghanistan," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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yeah don't you know the way too peace is too blow up 1000 yr old statues of buddha and too shoot women in the head iat the soccer stadium
Talibans fugitive leader Mulla Omar has claimed that the coalition and Afghan government do not have the wisdom to solve the escalating violence in Afghanistan, according to an audiotape aired on Sunday by Geo Television. The tape was apparently made during a recent meeting of Taliban leaders in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, the network claimed. They cannot solve the issue of Afghanistan based on their wisdom and thinking, said the speaker on the tape, who Geo said was Omar but whose identity could not be immediately authenticated.
The tape comes amid the deadliest campaign of militant violence since the Talibans ouster in 2001. US-led forces have launched their largest ever anti-Taliban offensive Operation Mountain Thrust across southern Afghanistan. The Geo reporter said that the tape also included Omars purported claim that the Taliban control large areas of the country. Afghan officials had no immediate comment on the tape, which Geo said was obtained in an email from Taliban representatives in Afghan capital Kabul. Geo officials also could not be reached for comment. The tape was the first allegedly by Omar since July 2005, when he had vowed in another audio statement that the Taliban would continue to fight coalition forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Talibans fugitive leader Mulla Omar has claimed that the coalition and Afghan government do not have the wisdom to solve the escalating violence in Afghanistan
This goober can't even read and he's talking about wisdom? Hey...I have an idea. Let's call up Kos!! Maybe Kos will make a political ad for old one-eye, and...
Islamic militia in control of much of southern Somalia yesterday appointed a hardline cleric on Washington's most wanted list as its supreme leader.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys was named as the head of the Islamic Courts Union's "consultation committee", replacing the more moderate Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. Mr Ahmed, a former teacher who led the alliance in taking control of Mogadishu earlier this month, is being given a lesser role.
Mr Aweys's elevation raises doubts about a deal negotiated last week with the interim government, based in the city of Baidoa. Mr Aweys has condemned the interim government in the past. Rest at link.
Posted by: ed ||
06/26/2006 08:35 ||
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Sudan + Western Paki + Somali = Al Qaeda Land
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/26/2006 8:51 Comments ||
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Sudan + Western Paki + Somali = World's Largest Free Fire Zone
This is almost as bad as the Ninth Circus Court of Appeals ...
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwaits appeals court acquitted four Islamists on Sunday of charges of recruiting anti-US fighters for Iraq and referred the cases of 18 others to two other courts, a lawyer said.
In May last year, the lower court sentenced 18 of them to three years in jail and fined four others. The group included four minors. But the appeals court found four of the group not guilty, returned the cases of four others to the lower court for reconsideration and sent the cases of the remaining 14 to the constitutional court, defence lawyer Osama Al Munawer said.
Where they'll be conveniently forgotten ...
The constitutional court was asked to review a clause in the penal code that deals with conspiracy charges which is suspected of contravening the constitution. The constitutional court is to decide whether the conspiracy to commit a criminal act outlined in article 56 of the penal code applied to the 14 defendants in this case.
That tells us nothing as it tells us everything ...
Last month, a Kuwaiti judge trying 36 Islamists suspected of fighting gunbattles with the police in January 2005, referred that case to the constitutional court on similar grounds. The 22 men were accused of involvement in aggressive actions against a friendly nation, raising funds for Islamist militants engaged in fighting against US forces in Iraq and possessing illegal weapons.
The men were arrested in a police crackdown in July 2004 after Syria extradited four Kuwaitis, two of them detained as they left Iraq and two captured as they attempted to slip into the country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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The hate charges are surprising because countries with those crazy laws, usually only apply them against whites. The other surprise is that nobody else published this story.
Four men charged with race hate crimes, including soliciting murder, following a demonstration against anti-Islamic cartoons are to be tried separately. The four pleaded not guilty to the offences at the Old Bailey. The charges follow a central London demonstration on February 3 in protest against cartoons published in Denmark satirising the prophet Mohammed.
Abdul Muhid, 23, of Stoke Newington, north London, pleaded not guilty to two offences of soliciting the murder of those who insulted the Muslim faith. Umran Javed, 26, of Birmingham, and Mizanur Rahman, 22, of Palmers Green, north London, denied soliciting murder and using threatening words or behaviour to stir up race hate. Abdul Saleem, 31, of Poplar, east London, denied one charge of using threatening words and behaviour to stir up race hate.
All except Muhid were remanded on bail to a date to be fixed.
#1
In all the signs of those protestors wanting to "slay those who insult Islam", I don't recall any "kill whitey" signs. At the risk of sounding like a EU snob (feeling the need to educate outlanders), do we need to educate the folks in the UK on what the word "race" means? Wouldn't a simple "incitement to murder" approach work with these jihadi scumbags?
#3
The other surprise is that nobody else published this story.
A decade ago, SkyNews was watched by expats and English speakers across Western Europe. It was considered less US-centric than CNN, and less Britain-centric than the BBC. Also, it carried a nice selection of American television shows and the latest show trials (O.J. Simpson, anyone?) that the Europeans for some reason found so fascinating.
(CNSNews.com) - Hugo Chavez, the virulently anti-U.S. president of Venezuela who is seeking a seat on the U.N. Security Council while establishing close ties with such rogue states as Cuba and Iran, is now planning a meeting with reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Chavez said at the weekend a visit to North Korea -- no date was specified -- would involve the signing of bilateral technology and science agreements, but one South Korean newspaper said Monday an "oil-for-missiles deal" may be on the agenda.
Which could lead to a "missiles-for-Hugo" program, with overnight delivery by the USAF
Venezuela is the world's fifth largest petroleum exporter, and Chavez has declared himself willing to use its ample oil revenues to fund efforts to spread his socialist "Bolivarian revolution" to other countries in Latin America. North Korea claims to possess nuclear weapons and also has an advanced missile program. The isolated Stalinist regime is currently believed to be planning a long-range missile test, to the dismay of its neighbors.
Despite Washington's denials, both North Korea and Venezuela have frequently accused the U.S. of seeking to invade or attack. Pyongyang's official media mouthpieces say the country needs nuclear weapons because of the military threat posed by the U.S. Chavez speaks increasingly about the need to prepare for an "asymmetrical war," a reference to an alleged plot by the U.S. "empire" to overthrow his government.
Since Chavez took office in 1998 relations between Caracas and Pyongyang have improved considerably, and North Korean political and economic delegations have visited Venezuela. According to Seoul's conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper, a top North Korean lawmaker, Yang Hyong-sop, visited Venezuela last September and said the two countries needed to respond jointly to "American pressure and threats."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
06/26/2006 09:56 ||
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Find out the date and we could have a 2fer1 when we knock out that missle!!!
#2
"Hugo Chavez, the virulently anti-U.S. president of Venezuela who is seeking a seat on the U.N. Security Council..."
Another damn good reason to ditch the Useless Nations.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/26/2006 11:03 Comments ||
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although Chavez "still has a lot of oil money and a lot of influence," democracies of Latin America were starting to speak up about Venezuela "infringing on their own democratic process,"
#6
Hugo better be careful. Kimmie might want some ballast for his rocket, and from the looks of him, Hugo weighs about as much as 3 Nork "volunteers" would...
#9
Hugo also has currency that can buy and smuggle in food etc. which NORK needs badly.
Food isn't embargoed to Norks is it? All they need is money to buy it. Hugo has a some, but not near as much as one might think. He's having to pay the Beard a lot of heavy oil to keep the missions going, which in turn help keep him in power. And BTW how's that new viaduct coming along?
#10
Food isn't interdicted, but the official NORK ideology rejects any use of foreign currencies or participation in trade.
"Official", note. But deadly serious, which is why they have to resort to weapons and drugs, plus counterfeiting, to get the currency they need for some key supplies.
It's true that Chavez has drawn billions out of the Venezuelan economy. But he DID get that permission to divert $12billion from oil and public proceeds to the President's discretion fund, and I don't think he's exhausted it yet.
There's a lot more serious mischief he can foster before he is done. Remember those 20,000 blank official passports that got "misplaced" a few years ago in Caracas. Add in a new alliance with Iran. Do you really want him trading oil for nuclear technology too?
June 26, 2006: For over three years, there have been rumors that Taiwan is developing ballistic missiles, and nuclear weapons. Called the Tiching Project, it is said to be using technology used for an earlier ballistic missile program. In the 1990s, technical problems and expense convinced Taiwan to halt their Sky Horse ballistic missile program. The reasoning was that, in addition to the expense, such a program would only anger the Chinese, and that, in any event, the United States would provide Taiwan with protection from an invasion. The official cancellation of the program in 2000 was apparently not final. The Tiching Project is believed to be developing two missiles. One is a two stage, solid fuel missile, with a thousand kilometer range, carrying a 700 pound warhead. The other missile would just use the first stage, have a range of about 300 kilometers and the same size warhead. The short range version of the missile is believed to have been tested already.
The nuclear weapons program has long been rumored. As long ago as the 1970s, the CIA declared that Taiwan could build nuclear weapons within five years. Since then, the time required has shrunk. Actually, the high quality of Taiwan's industrial and scientific capabilities indicates that nuclear weapons may already exist, but remain untested.
Naturally, Taiwan has good reason to keep all this sort of stuff secret. If they openly admitted to owning ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, China might, because of constant threats to "return Taiwan to Chinese control", feel compelled to do something drastic, and immediately. But ultimately, Taiwanese nuclear weapons, delivered by ballistic missiles, could provide the cheapest and most effective defense against Chinese invasion.
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06/26/2006 10:36 ||
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Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/26/2006 11:15 Comments ||
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The type of nuclear weapon they might have is just as important. A groundburst munition used for infrastructure destruction and fallout, but with a narrower hazard area for blast, heat and radiation; or an airburst, that destroys less on the ground, but covers a much larger area, targetting large concentrations in the open.
The trouble in either case is both that mainland China is a very big place, thus requiring a LOT of nukes to be an effective deterrent; and also that Taiwan most likely is ill-equipped to defend its own people from nuclear retaliation.
This would mean that Taiwan would also most likely have a double-secret ABM program, not willing to rely on US Aegis ABM protection.
#11
Problem is they don't have an unsafeguarded reactor to produce plutonium, tritium or lithium deuteride.
To deter China with a countervalue strategy probably requires the threatened destruction of say, the five largest Chinese cities.
A 700 kg TN warhead might be 300 kT. Assume 3 warheads per city, assume 1/2 will get through the Chinese S-300 BMD defences. That is 6 warheads per city .. 30 nukes .. 180kg of Plutonium for the weapon primaries and 150 kg of HEU for the secondaries.
Posted by: john ||
06/26/2006 15:58 Comments ||
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Walt, Ima hear 8 inch shell and it was the 4th test.... The Vela saw it through a break in the clouds.
#14
Iff the anti-US, pro-OWG DEMOLEFIES > Dubya is a Nixon waiting for a Watergate, andor a Kennedy waiting for an Radical Muslim Oswald, dare HILLARY = JIMBO CARTER, heralding in an unprecedented period of Amer-specific unilateral geopol concessions and weakness in favor of Amer's enemies???
TOKYO (AP) - The United States plans to deploy Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missiles in southern Japan by the end of the year, a local newspaper reported Monday. The PAC-3 is designed to intercept and destroy incoming missiles and aircraft.
The U.S. government notified Japan earlier this month that it will deploy PAC-3 missiles at its Kadena Air Base or its ammunition storage area on the southern island of Okinawa, Japan's largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, reported. The U.S. military also plans to deploy an additional 500-600 American troops to Okinawa, along with an expected three to four PAC-3 missiles batteries, Yomiuri said, quoting unidentified sources.
I'm beginning to get the idea that someone thinks the PAC-3 is going to work ...
Tokyo is expected to accept the plan, which was proposed by the U.S. officials in a June 17 meeting in Hawaii, the report said.
Growing concerns about a potential North Korean missile launch also prompted the United States to move up its planned test of missile-detecting radar in northern Japan to as early as Monday, Kyodo News agency reported. The test run of the high-resolution radar, capable of detecting incoming missiles, was initially scheduled to begin later in the summer. But the plan was apparently moved up amid growing concerns that Pyongyang could test a missile in a matter of days, Kyodo News agency reported on Sunday, quoting an unidentified U.S. official in Washington.
The so-called X-Band radar had been transferred to Japanese Air Self-Defense Force's Shariki base in Tsugaru in northern Japan from the U.S. military's Misawa Air Base in Misawa, the Defense Agency said. Tsugaru is 360 miles northeast of Tokyo.
Japanese Defense Agency officials were not immediately available for comment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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I have a theory that the "missile" is just for show, and the maser/radar does the actual damage.
#3
The Japanese are deploying PAC-3s around Tokyo. With Nork threats, they speeded up deployment and might operational by now. South Korea was also buying Patriots.
Posted by: ed ||
06/26/2006 7:54 Comments ||
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My investment is in missle defense systems.
Whether this goes boom or bust, the conclusion is obvious (Left may get a clue).
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/26/2006 8:53 Comments ||
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Wasn't Windows 3 the first one that actually worked?
SEOUL - South Korean Prime Minister Han Myeong-Sook on Sunday urged Stalinist North Korea quickly to address international concerns about its nuclear ambitions and reported plans to test-fire a missile. The government strongly urges North Korea to return to six-way talks in order to resolve the nuclear issue peacefully, Han said in a speech marking the 56th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.
North Korea must fully understand international concern about its missile issue and quickly address it, Han told thousands of war veterans and others at the ceremony in Seoul. North Koreas nuclear issue is the biggest threat to our security and a major factor undermining peace and stability in Northeast Asia, she added.
Noticed that, did you?
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon said Saturday that China, host of the six-way nuclear disarmament talks, could contribute to easing missile tensions. Chinas role is most important to stop North Koreas suspected move to launch a missile, Ban told reporters upon returning home from a trip to Europe, according to Yonhap news agency.
I will request that China actively persuade North Korea this time too, as it has so far played a constructive role in the six-way talks on North Koreas nuclear weapons program.
China, curb your dog.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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It's their move. They fueled the damned thing, now it seems they only have a few weeks to shoot it off or get the siphon hose out. They wanted attention, but I don't think it was this kind. All this for one on one talks it seems, we arent going to give them jack shit anyway, don't know what we have to talk about.
#2
As the majority of commentators on Fox and other networks have said, CHINA can shut down North Korea in a day or anytime they want to. "NO MISSLES IN NORTH KOREA" = "NO WMDS IN IRAQ" > the USA and only the USA will be blamed no matter whether Dubya shoots it down or not, as Perfectionist Dubya-GOP led Male Brute America has to prove everything and anything for the Perfectionist = anti-Perfectionist, Everyone Anyone = No One hyper-correct Lefties, regardless of whatever the Norkies claim the missle actually is. LEFTISM-SOCIALISM, COMMUNISM and TOTALITARIANISM is the DemoLeft's reactionist response to the alleged problems, disasters, and catastrophes wrought on innocent Clintonian AMerika by defective Republican-Conservative, Fascist-Rightist, MERE LOWLY ARROGANT, DITZY KULTZY ERRORFUL = WILFUL MALICIOUS CONTROLLING, GOMER PYLE/ARCHIE = DARTH VADER/SIDIOUS AUTHORITARIAN SOCIALISM. Hated Despicable Nazi Adolf Bushitler = just a Well-meaning but defective Half-A-Commie/Stalinist. Hillary is innocent of anything becuz she's a girl, a woman, and a Mother. ONLY MOTHERLY LEFTIST TOTALITARIANISM CAN SAVE FASCIST AMERIKKKA'S MALE BRUTE SOUL. The Politburo-Presidium = People's Congress - you know, why the latter held the power in the former USSR, and in Commie China now, not the former.
A leading Republican senator suggested Sunday that the Bush administration should talk directly with North Korea as concerns grow over a possible test launch of a missile that could reach the United States. On CBS' Face The Nation, Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the U.S. should not attack the missile while it is on the ground, before it is fired, as some have urged. "It would be advisable to bring about a much greater degree of diplomacy, and this may involve direct talks between the United States and North Korea," he told Bob Schieffer.
Where the North can rant and rave and cast spittle about, and where the U.S. will be required to concede and acquiese in order 'to keep talks on track'. And everytime we're tempted to walk away we'll be likened to ogres, meanies and not-very-nice guys -- that'll be by the NYT, the KCNA will be kinder.
North Korea long has wanted direct meetings with the U.S. Washington, however, has refused, insisting it will only meet the North Koreas in the context of six-nation international talks aimed at ridding the communist country of its nuclear weapons program. Lugar, R-Ind., said he respected those talks, which are stalled now, but "nevertheless, with regard to a missile that might have a range of the United States, that becomes a very specific United States-North Korean issue."
"We're going to have to come to a point where we find at least an agenda to talk with North Korea about, and I think we are moving toward that," Lugar said on CBS.
Sen. Barbara Boxer who also appeared on Face The Nation said no options should be taken off the table, but urged the president to continue with multi-party talks. "The kind of diplomacy that we engaged in at first was very tentative, got stronger, got better, got wiser," the California Democrat said. "I say you never take any option off the table, but I think if we can continue to get those countries that North Korea listens to, to keep up the pressure that is Russia, that is China we could avoid a serious escalation of this whole matter."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Lugar. Lol. Leading - as in returned to DC so many times he gets to sit in the highchair, sport Depends, and swill Ensure - but no one with two neurons would follow him anywhere. I recall he's the big US advocate for Sea Law changes that are demonstrably idiotic. Other than that, a terrible position on a very important future issue, he's done nothing in the last 3 or 4 years worth noting. Senile buffoon.
Boxer. ROFL. ROFLMAO. Has never, ever, said anything worth noting, much less implementing. To imply she grasps the import of anything involving North Korea is a laugh. Doesn't get any worse than Boxy the Bonehead.
Neither has a clue. Face-time. Sound bite. Rub / Pull.
The way Bush has dealt with Kimmie has been as good as it could get, given what was dumped in his lap. Any suggestions, criticisms, or even agreement from either are irrelevant. Merely shows how desperate the FTN producers are these days. Russert's leftovers, lol.
#5
We can avoid and serious escalation of the matter. Well Babs I would say when they broke the Non-nuke treaty, fired a couple missiles, and now are fueling another that the escalation is ENTIRLEY on their part. Frigging moonbat! If Babs was in Congress on Dec 8, 1941 she would call for talks with Japan to see what we did to anger them.
#7
I agree with the Prez on this. It doesn't just concern us, it has a lot more to do with SKor, China, Japan and Russia than just us. They are trying to be clever, but in a battle of witts they are unarmed.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/26/2006 14:45 Comments ||
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#9
Yep. Only a peripheral concern to the US. Cut off funding and aid sources. If China and SKor want to fund them, then raise tariffs and move US troops south, eventually past Pusan.
Posted by: ed ||
06/26/2006 14:48 Comments ||
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#10
Woof! Woof! Woof!.... dang Hatfield. what's up old dawg? Why you barking at 8814? You think? Could be buddy-dawg. Hope so.
#11
You know the Left > the world would be a safer place iff everyone had missles and nukes, ergo America is the only one that must give up its missles and nukes to OWG, besides our sovereignty, freedoms, rights, control of our own Govt, and endowments, etal. Free America = Socialist-Commie Amerikkka is not paying the Norkies enuff $$$ to leave America-West alone, nor is America = Amerikkka dev the expensive hi-techs in order to give to the Norkies free so that the Norkies can use against America. D *** it all, "America must be constrained/restrained and controlled and under OWG" as long as the Lefties are NOT held responsible or blamed for anything.
I had been wondering when the Ummah was going to begin issuing passports. I guess I'm closer to knowing the date, now.
Danish LGF reader Ulf translated this jaw-dropping report that the European Council for Fatwa and Research, a Muslim Brotherhood front group led by Tariq Ramadan and Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, is working on a special constitution for European Muslimsthat will be above national legislation. Europe is turning into Eurabia before our eyes: A Muslim constitution in Europe.
Islamists in Europe are working on a special legislation for muslims, that will be above national legislation. The initiative comes from the Fatwa-council for Europe, who claims that a constitution for European muslims is on its way. The Fatwa-council has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood organization. Its spokesman is Tariq Ramadan, who among many westerners has a reputation of representing a more liberal european Islam.
Expectations that a decision had been made on whether Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Dutch citizen were dashed on Friday.
Ministers didn't even discuss the issue during their weekly cabinet meeting. Immigration and Integration Minister Rita Verdonk said afterwards that the investigation is continuing.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende added that a "well-considered and tenable" story was needed to end the uncertainty about Hirsi Ali's status. He said he hoped the matter could be finalised soon but he could not say if the decision would come next week. "It is being worked on very hard," he said.
It was also reported on Friday that Balkenende had no reason to believe the delay in coming to a decision is deliberate on Verdonk's part.
oh no, of COURSE not. it's a matter of ... of ... of getting the right watermark for the stationery for the committee meeting agendas. very important issue, watermarks.
Verdonk, a member of the Liberal Party (VVD), caused consternation nationally and internationally in mid-May when she informed the then VVD MP Hirsi Ali in a letter that her naturalisation in 1997 may have been invalid.
Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia and was granted asylum from a forced marriage in 1992 after she gave a false name. Her real name is Hirsi Magan.
Commentators in the Netherlands and abroad saw stripping Hirsi Ali of her Dutch passport as an attempt to silence her. A day after Verdonk's letter, Hirsi Ali told a press conference she had decided to accelerate her plans to move to the US. She has been given a job with a neo-Conservative think tank. She also resigned from parliament.
Many of her fellow MPs were incensed at Verdonk, particularly as some people suggested her letter, based on less than a day of investigation into the case, was linked to her bid to become leader of the VVD.
The Dutch parliament passed a motion calling on Verdonk to ensure Hirsi Ali keep her Dutch citizenship no matter what.
Broadcaster RTL reported earlier in this week that Verdonk has already decided Hirsi Ali will keep her Dutch passport. The announcement, however, has been delayed while officials come up with a formulation that will save a loss of face for the Minister.
which is, of course, the most important issue here. Pfeh.
Los Angeles: They wore T-shirts asking "What Really Happened?," snapped up DVDs titled "9/11; The Great Illusion," and cheered as physicists, philosophers and terrorism experts decried the official version of the September 11 attacks that shook America to its core. Some 1,200 people gathered at a Los Angeles hotel on the weekend for what organisers billed as the largest conference on the plethora of conspiracy theories that see the 2001 attacks on Washington and New York as, at best, official negligence, and at worst an orchestrated US attempt to incite world war.
"There are so many prominent people who are incredibly well-respected who have stated that the evidence is overwhelming that 9/11 was an inside job," syndicated radio talk show host Alex Jones told a news conference. "There are hundreds of smoking guns that people need to be made aware of," said Jones, calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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"Hundreds of smoking guns"
Actually, no guns were involved in the 9/11 radical Islamic attack tragedy.
Imagine being one of these conspiracy guys, and going there and bumping into endless alternate theories while fighting to advance your own theory. The thoughts go through your head (these jerks have no clue of what really happened) (but I know) (where was Rove on the evening of 9/10 ?) (that's the key) (Rove is the key) (why won't they listen to me) (what's that jerk eating, looks like vomit) (where's the men's room ?) (where's my wallet ?)
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/26/2006 8:55 Comments ||
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#5
Lots and lots of tin foil!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/26/2006 9:00 Comments ||
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#6
Wow, all those different conspiracy theories in one room? Most mutually exclusive of each other. The nutbars must look around and realize that they cannot, possibly, ALL be right. Even they have got to see that. What they won't see is that while they can't all be right, they can all certainly be wrong.
#10
"Would've been a great occasion for a JDAM test shot."
There remains one fully operational RAF Lancaster Bomber today. Usually brought out during important dates, like D-Day anniversary. So how about a fly-over this conference, and just for old times, dropping a 10,000-pound blockbuster?
#13
No no no, no need for bombers, or black helicopters. These people are utter jokes, and taking 'em out that way only gives them attention.
Why not drop some acid in their water supply, as well as a healthy dose of salmonella or something else just as effective on the gastro-intestinal tract. That should generate plenty of discussion points for them.
Or why not put some of those low-frequency riot control devices in the hall (on the queasy stomach or low-grade paranoia setting).
Or have someone in a black suit and shades walk through the hall, talking into his cuff. Bonus points for having red LEDs on the other side of the shades.
The possibilities are endless...although to be honest, I think these people need help more than anything else. Sad bastards.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/26/2006 15:46 Comments ||
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#14
Some people aren't on speaking terms with the truth.
Three Canadian warships arrived at Hawaii's famed Pearl Harbor on Sunday to take part in multinational battle exercises due to start Monday.
HMCS Algonquin, HMCS Vancouver and HMCS Regina, along with two embarked Sea King helicopters, are now preparing for the month-long Rim of the Pacific Exercise(RIMPAC).
Also from Canada are members of the Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific); six CF-18 fighters from 3 Wing Bagotville, Que. supported by a CC-130 Hercules from 435 Squadron, 17 Wing Winnipeg; and two CP-140 Aurora maritime patrol aircraft from 19 Wing Comox in B.C.
The Canadian contingent will join about 35 warships, six submarines and 160 aircraft from seven nations - the 20th time Canada has participated in the exercises.
It's the largest multi-national battle exercise in the Pacific and will be conducted through the end of July.
Bruce Donaldson, Canadian Pacific Fleet commander commodore, is serving as deputy commander of a multi-national combined task force of sea, air and land units.
"It is Canadian participation in exercises like RIMPAC that allows the Canadian forces to be effective and leading contributors to multi-national operations around the world," Donaldson said in a news release. "This exercise enhances our ability to work with the forces of other nations and it promotes stability in the Pacific Rim region to the benefit of all."
U.S. Vice-Admiral Barry Costello, commander of the United States Third Fleet, is responsible for the overall co-ordination of the exercise.
Participating nations include Australia, Japan, Chile, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Observer nations include Ecuador, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore and Thailand.
The first RIMPAC exercise took place in 1971 and now takes place every second year.
This year's exercises include more than 35 ships, six submarines, more than 160 aircraft and 18,000 sailors, soldiers and air crew members.
About 1,000 Canadian personnel are included in that number.
After a week of operational and safety briefings, the Canadian ships depart from Pearl Harbor and sail for the actual training at sea beginning July 5.
According to The Lookout, the newspaper for Vancouver Island's CFB Esquimalt, the Canadian vessels will take part in simulated international hostilities.
HMCS Vancouver is set to fire Harpoon surface-to-surface missiles and Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles, while HMCS Algonquin will fire three standard missiles with telemetric warheads to measure missile and system performance.
The Lookout reports one missile will be fired at the hulk of a decommissioned U.S. warship while the other two will be aimed for remote-controlled drones the size of a dining room table.
Images and updates on the exercises can be found at www.c3f.navy.mil/RIMPAC-2006/index.htm.
#2
That was for domestic consumption, Jim, and the Canuckistanis ate it up with a spoon. PM Harper's approval rating soared with that li'l speech and allowed him to order a more aggressive approach in Afghanistan.
#3
The US and pretty much every other northern navy has been moving subs under the ice pack for decades, its not news here. The only reason it is even mentioned now is because of renewed interest in subsea resources on the continental shelf and the possible opening of the northwest passage if the ice packs recede. The talk about sovereignty is about money, not nationalism.
BTW, there will be a series of stories this week officially announcing where the $15b will be spent. So far it includes 2 supply ships, a bunch of trucks and Chinooks, some C-130s, and 4 C-17s. Of course, the liberals/NDP are apoplectic about us buying strategic airlift.
Democratic Senators were angered Sunday after they learned the U.S. commander in Iraq had separately requested a reduction of troops in the same week Republicans voted against the withdrawal timetable.
General Casey didn't set a timetable, he started developing a plan for the eventual withdraw which we all know is going to happen. How do we know? George Bush said so.
According to a Monday Washington Post report, Sen. Barbara Boxer a California Democrat said Gen. George W. Casey's plan falls in line with the Democratic proposal that called for the beginning of troop withdrawal in December.
Except Casey's plan doesn't send a signal to the terrorists as to how long they need to hold on, Babbles.
The paper quotes Boxer saying, "That means the only people who have fought us and fought us against the timetable, the only ones still saying there shouldn't be a timetable really are the Republicans in the United States Senate and in the Congress." Boxer criticized the outcome of the vote which rejected a timetable for withdrawal. "Now it turns out we're in sync with General Casey," the senator said.
No you're not. The appearance of such is an accident, let us assure you.
Michigan's Sen. Carl M. Levin, one of the two sponsors of the resolution, condemned the report as one of the "secrets" of the Bush administration.
The report alleges there is a need for troop reductions in Iraq, but The White House prefers to begin withdrawal by midterm elections due November. The administration believes this would show there is some "progress" in Iraq.
First, Bush has said all along that the withdrawal would be determined by facts on the ground, and second, if it was so important to time it to an election, 2004 would have been better.
The paper quotes Levin on "Fox News Sunday" saying, "It's as clear as your face, which is mighty clear, that before this election, this November, there's going to be troop reductions in Iraq, and the president will then claim some kind of progress or victory."
The president and the military have said all along that troops would start coming home when the situation got better, and it's been obvious since, oh, mid-2005 or so that 2006 would be the year in which things got measurably better. The Iraqis have elected and installed a government. They have graduated sufficient police and military personnel to start doing the heavy lifting. The population, especially the Sunnis, are more accepting of the new system. The terrs are dispirited -- the ones that haven't been dismembered by a bomb. It's no big secret. Anyone who could read tea leaves could see this coming, which is exactly why the Dems have been trying to get out in front on this all year.
#1
Democratic Senators were angered Sunday after they learned the U.S. commander in Iraq had separately requested a reduction of troops in the same week Republicans voted against the withdrawal timetable.
Note very well, it is the Theater Commander doing this - NOT A POLITICAN. That is what the Goldwater-Nichols Act is all about, because of constant interference just like the current behavior of the Democratic Party, during Vietnam. The uniform service member makes the call, not some dandified egocentric power seeking self serving ten cent copy of a human being.
#2
Am I the only one to notice how much alike the Dems and moslems are?
They get angry and seethe about just about everything. They're just like little kids, screaming and kicking and throwing a fit if they don't get their OWN WAY ALL THE TIME. Waaaaahhhhh.
Wonder if they'd like some Danish cheese with that whiiiiinnnnnne?
Losers.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/26/2006 17:36 Comments ||
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#3
"Am I the only one to notice how much alike the Dems and moslems are?"
Hell, no!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/26/2006 17:58 Comments ||
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With bloggers, his constituents and Connecticut Democratic officials still angry about his support for the Iraq war, the moderate Senator could be headed for a shocking fall
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, with the liberal blogosphere's track record to date, JL shouldn't have much to worry about.
Sad to see it come to this, since he is one of the very few politicians who seems to have any personal integrity - whether you agree with him or not, you know where he stands.
Actually I'm hoping the dep Homeland Sec can be the new Sec of Transp. His name is Michael Jackson. If he becomes Sec. we can start advertising for interns: must be male 12-14 yr old.
#7
What about that big line of bullshit from the Democrats about the strength of their party being in their disparate views? Then they try to run this guy out on a rail cause he isn't going along with the "F*ck Bush" crowd.
#8
"Why Joe Lieberman is Fighting for his Political Life"
Because he's sane and the rest of the Dems are NOT.
Next question?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/26/2006 14:19 Comments ||
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#9
Hmmm...now I'm thinking...I'd like Lieberman as Secretary for Veterans Affairs. We'd kill two birds with one stone: Unload the loser who failed to safeguard the vets' info, and twist up the Dem turbans just that much more.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Sorry guys, it's not our call whether the Iraqi government grants amnesty or not. Besides, there's all sorts of historical precedent for amnesty - US Civil War, for one, and that war had a whole lot more killing in it. World War II for another - and it had even more killing.
#2
I'll respectfully take issue with your comparison Glenmore. With regard to the great unpleasantness and WWII, peace documents had been signed and insurgent activities were not nearly as significant. Northern occupation forces in the South were unpopular, but most of the fighting had ended. There were a few Japanese infantry holdouts in the Pacific in the 1950's thru the 1970's, but they were quick to retire and assimilate once they'd been given the official news.
#3
Those so-called "lawmakers" (read whiners) are the same ones who wanted to absorb Saddam's military rather than disband it.
Hypocrites all
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/26/2006 8:58 Comments ||
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#4
We didn't hunt down and kill all the natives here in America who participated in various fights, shootouts, and 'wars' either. While the words sometime said one thing [The only good indian...], in practice, the end game was to isolate them enough so they wouldn't be a hazard or threat to anyone else without extermination.
#5
At first I was against this but after some thought I think it is a step in the right direction. If granting amnesty further diminishes the pool of insurgents then I cant really see a downside. Sure there might be some guys responsible for attacking our guys but if they are in essence giving up is that not a definition of victory? Also this needs to be purely an Iraqi decision and our esteemed group of useful idiots (Congress) needs to keep its nose out.
#7
Set aside for a moment the question of "insurgents" torturing and killing in the most barbaric way our soldiers (which to me is reason enough to reject this notion). Let's say this amnesty goes through. We're there for another how long, 1 1/2 years, 2 years? Amnesty will effectively put in place immunity for these savages in the future (contrary to the fine print), because it puts forth the notion that the insurgents are morally justified in "resisting" the people who liberated Iraq. So our boys will continue to lose arms, legs, eyes, heads month after month, while pouring out sweat and blood to help Iraq recover, while insurgents, who have world-class inferiority complexes and rage management issues, continue to murder the very folks that brought them freedom from the Saddam they griped about for so long.
Amnesty should only occur if we were to withdraw forces immediately. Otherwise, we are sanctioning the sacrifice of our soldiers on the altar of Middle Eastern "dignity" and helping rebuild a country that is, at the minimum, ungrateful for those our sacrifices.
#9
splitting up insurgents, and getting some to surrender, is an essential part of any counter insurgency strategy. I dont know how you can get the Baathist insurgents to surrender, if youre threatening to prosecute any insurgent whos planted an IED trying to attack US or Iraqi soldiers. Maliki's offer (though it may be refined, will still include something that looks like whats been described, I expect) is the logical thing to do in the situation. And of course it would only apply to those groups who take the deal, and who stop fighting - it would give no blank check to anyone else, and wouldnt effect the legal status of anyone who keeps fighting against the govt (and US troops) after the deal is done.
The congressmen who are opposing this are not thinking to clearly. The Dems who are opposing it, like Levin and Feingold, are engaging in rank cynicism.
#10
"it puts forth the notion that the insurgents are morally justified in "resisting" the people who liberated Iraq."
did amnesty for confederate soldiers put forth the notion that the rebellion was morally justified? Of course not. It merely said that it was not expedient to prosecute them.
#11
#2. Yes, but those were conventional conflicts, by and large. An insurgency, especially one that is as divided in multiple groupings as the Iraqi insurgency, simply doesnt end that neatly.
#12
Equating confederate soldiers and jihadis may be a stretch, LH. Unfortunately, I fear your thinking may win the day.
So why not make a deal with anyone, over anything? Hamas-sure, keep killing Jews, we'll release all captured Palestinians. OBL-him, too, just pull off the dogs, because no cause is too despicable if peace is the prize. Ends justifies the means, and all that...
It is all part of our great inability, learned from our "betters" in Europe, to name an enemy an enemy.
#13
Malike excluded those whove killed civilians. How is a Baathist who killed American or Iraqi troops different from a Confederate who killed American troops?
The distinction that excludes Hamas terrorists is that theyve killed Israeli civilians. Hamasniks whove attacked Israel soldiers might well be considered for release as part of a deal. Israel released arab POWS after every war.
OBL of course engineered the deaths thousands of CIVILIANS.
Its usually our enemies who confuse the difference between terror and guerilla war.
#15
LH-Are you honestly saying that you cannot see a difference between confederate soldiers and Iraqi "insurgents" (Baathist or otherwise)?
And do all those "insurgents" you'd like to see released fit neatly into a "guerilla" category?
If Israel released ALL Palestinian prisoners who renounced violence, and it took 2 years or more to get a Palestinian state, do you imagine that those released Palestinians would suddenly give up the ghost and become little Gandhis in the meantime? They of course would return, just as these insurgents will, since we're offering impunity, to violence. I hope it will have to be you to explain to grieving survivors of American soldiers the distinction of protection for civilian Iraqis. Go ahead and stand up for the release of the insurgents. I honor what our men and women are fighting for, and will not stand up for those who murder them because it is expedient.
#16
I think in this context, "amnesty" is a synonym for "surrender and renounce the insurgency on condition I'm not prosecuted for past offenses." That's the same deal Robert E. Lee got at Appomattox.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/26/2006 15:13 Comments ||
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#17
Mike-Even if what you are saying is true now, once the Iraqi government really is "fully in control", consequences for future insurgents will be out of our control, won't it?
#18
Of course consequences for future insurgents in Iraq will be out of US control, in the same way that consequences for insurgents in Algeria, or Nigeria, or Thailand, or Sri Lanka, or wherever are out of US control (IE we can apply pressure, when its important to our interests, but we arent sovereign there) Unless you expected us to make Iraq a colony, what alternative is there?
#19
"Are you honestly saying that you cannot see a difference between confederate soldiers and Iraqi "insurgents" (Baathist or otherwise)? "
Why do you say Baathist or otherwise? Youre confounding the very distinction that is at issue here. SOME of the insurgents in Iraq are terrorists, who deliberately target civilians,etc - and, not coincidentally, are dedicated supporters of AQ. Others are principally conducting a more traditional insurgency, attacking infrastructure and soldiers. Their insurgency is ILLEGAL and WRONG and BASED on wrong ideas - which is also the way I see the Confederate cause. But thats NOT a reason to not allow them amnesty if they surrender.
"And do all those "insurgents" you'd like to see released fit neatly into a "guerilla" category?"
Theres not a particular group that Id LIKE to see receive amnesty. I merely acknowledge that many will be amnestied as part of a deal, and that its quite reasonable that the govt of Iraq do that. Will there be grey areas, and difficult cases? Of course, and those will have to be negotiated.
BTW, Im not sure the same terms will apply to those currently in custody (and thus suubject to release) as to those in the field.
"If Israel released ALL Palestinian prisoners who renounced violence,"
Uh, we're not talking about Iraqis who merely renounce violence, but those who never engaged in terrorist violence against civilians. A distinction you keep missing.
"and it took 2 years or more to get a Palestinian state,"
Of course Maliki is not proposing a Sunni Arab state, or a Baathist state.
"o you imagine that those released Palestinians would suddenly give up the ghost and become little Gandhis in the meantime?"
You dont have to be a gandi to live in peaceful society.
"they of course would return, just as these insurgents will, since we're offering impunity, to violence."
I dont know why you assume that someone who gets amnesty as part of a surrender deal gets a get out of jail free pass for life. Again, Grant let the confederate soldiers return to their homes, ON CONDITION that they not take up arms against the union again. If they did take up arms again, they were subject to arrest.
The same would hold in Iraq.
"I hope it will have to be you to explain to grieving survivors of American soldiers the distinction of protection for civilian Iraqis. "
I would merely point out to them that Americans have been killed by Japanese and Germans, and yet we let Japanese and German soldiers go at the end of the war. This is a necessary step to achieve the GOAL US soldiers faught for. In any case, I dont hear the families making the case, I hear politicians trying to stir something up.
"Go ahead and stand up for the release of the insurgents. I honor what our men and women are fighting for, and will not stand up for those who murder them because it is expedient. "
You make no distinction between fighting a war, and murder?
And what exactly do you think they are fighting for, if not for a stable and democratic Iraq? Which is not possible if we dont let the Iraqis make the deals they have to make.
#20
LH is right (and a long diatribe against the Left's inability to do this avoided). It's not enough to criticize, you must present an alternative course of action (and defend it).
Jules, I understand what you're saying. However, if Iraq is to be a free country, the Iraqis have to own their problems and own the solutions, so to speak. If they make a deal with some of the bad guys to let them live if they quit the bad-guy business, it's their country and they get to do that.
Do note, too, that nobody's making an offer like this to al-Q. In fact, if the Sunnis take the deal, I expect they'll burn their al-Q contacts big time.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/26/2006 15:50 Comments ||
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#22
And you can bet that burning the Al-Q contacts, along with any holdouts, will be a big part of the amnesty. The Border War terrorists in the Civil War were included in the overall amnesty, as long as you did not have direct witnesses to an atrocity pointing out specific individuals. Of course, that is how we got so many of our bandits in the Wild West - Jesse James and the Youngers for example. And once again, most of the "U.S. lawmakers" objecting to this have been impeding the conduct of the war, and their major solution is for us to simply pullout and betray our Iraqi allies.
An American soldier convicted in the fatal shooting of a handcuffed Iraqi cow herder in 2004 was freed from a military prison in Oklahoma on Friday, more than a year before his sentence was up, the Dayton Daily News reported today.
Army Spec. Edward Richmond Jr., 22, of Gonzales, La., was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced in August 2004 to three years in prison for the April 28, 2004, shooting death of Muhamad Husain Kadir in the village of Taal Al Jal, which is about 40 miles southwest of Kirkuk. Richmond Jr. said that he shot Kadir because he thought he lunged at the soldier who was holding him, Sgt. Jeffrey D. Waruch of Olean, N.Y., and that he wasn't aware Kadir's hands were bound.
Richmond was released on parole, his attorney said Friday.
Technical innovation is present in all militaries, but America's combination of do-it-yourself types, large defense budgets, and a gadget-happy national character makes it particularly fertile ground. Now add a global war and its challenges, plus a defense sector with a strong small business component made up of ex-military types. The overall innovation transmission belt may not be as tight or as effective as Israel's or Singapore's, but the scale of the US defense establishment more than compensates in terms of the sheer number produced.
Adoption, of course, is another matter. One way to improve it is to raise the profile of sucessful innovations through awards. Along those lines, the US Army recently recognized some special innovators by naming its "Top 10 inventions of 2005," a list that should be of interest to many militaries around the world.
It includes...
* Combat Application Tourniquet. A total of 145,000 tourniquets were purchased and fielded to personnel in the Central Command area of operation between April 2005 and July 2005.
* Persistent Threat Detection System. An aerostat-based persistent surveillance and sensor set. PTDS leverages a wide-area, secure communications backbone to integrate threat reporting from available sensor assets such as the Fire Finder Radar Weapons Surveillance System. See related DID articles.
* Fixed Site/Vehicle Mounted Gunfire Detection. The GDS is a gunshot detection and locator device. See DID coverage of related anti-sniper systems; we've now added GDS.
* M100 Grenade Rifle Entry Munition. GREM appears to be a lightweight, bullet-0trap launched grenade that can be fired from the M-16/M4 rifles to safely blow open doors (including steel doors) and windows without injuring the firing soldier.
* M192 Lightweight Ground Mount. A compact, collapsible ground mount for mounting the M249 Light Machine Gun and M240B Medium Machine Gun, replacing existing M122/M122A1 tripods. Among its other featres, the M192 is about 6.5 pounds lighter. If you don't think that's pretty great, try carrying one around for about 10 miles.
* M782 Multi Option Fuze for Artillery. The MOFA works with 155mm and 105mm shells to provide proximity, precision time, delay and point detonating impact functions in a single fuze, and the inductive fuze set feature makes it easier to use MOFA safely with automated ammunition handling equipment.
* Over-the-horizon Satellite Communications and Improved Dual AN/PRC-117F Command and Control Console. This console was initially developed in late 2004 and fielded to multiple aviation units in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2005. It was especially helpful in Afghanistan, where line-of-sight can be difficult.
* Countermeasure Protection System, aka. "Warlock-CMPS" that jams IED land mines. See a DID article that covers a similar system from Elbit, which is also deployed in Iraq, as well as other systems like ICE et. al.
* Dual Band Antenna. Approximately 8000 units were delivered by the end of 2005, and they cover an unprecedented wideband frequency span from a single antenna structure.
* Fido Explosives Detector. An IED land mine detector that is portable and weighs less than 3 pounds, but performs about as well as a bomb-sniffing dog.
The winning programs were selected for their impact on Army capabilities (breath of use and magnitude of improvement over existing systems), inventiveness, and potential benefit outside the Army. See this US Army web page for more details concerning each of these items.
#1
Combat Application Tourniquet. A total of 145,000 tourniquets were purchased and fielded to personnel in the Central Command area of operation between April 2005 and July 2005
Good deal! Get ready for something 4 times better.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Here's a clue:
...his son also developed an interest in Islam after studying the Bible for years. The pastor said his son was determined to study the Quran despite his urging to remain with Christianity.
Lemme help you out with this, Pops. Your kid got it into his head that God wants him and his friends to rule the world. Killing uncooperative nonbelievers advances that righteous cause. Its sorta like a kind of missionary work, but with explosives.
Of course, Juan Cole says they're not Muslim, so what do I know? Could be a whole different Quran he's talking about.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
06/26/2006 10:31 Comments ||
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#2
I suspect Cole is right on this one, if only accidently ....
The group sounds a bit like the Beltway snipers, except that they were spouting standard nation of Islam stuff, whereas this group seems to be an offshoot of a small cult that started a couple decades ago.
#3
Yes, but they thought they are Muslims, and certainly sought to act to expand the Caliphate. As I understand it, one must merely make a certain statement of faith in order to be considered a convert to Islam, and then subsequently endeavor to uphold the Five Pillars, including daily prayer and charity and such. It isn't up to us, or even the good professor, to tell they they aren't Muslims, or even good Muslims... although we certainly can tell them they are bad people; the majority of the religion is going to have to redefine the terms of inclusion and exclusion, and loudly publicise the definition to the entire world. It goes back to Islam coming to terms with the rest of the world, which Pope Benedikt and others consider to be impossible.
India's Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjeeon Sunday rejected a call by Pakistan for troop cuts in Kashmir to push forward a slow-moving peace process, citing a recent spiral of violence in the region. "With the present situation, I am not confident that we can reduce troops," Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the CNN-IBN TV channel.
Infiltration and attempts at infiltration have also increased, Mukherjee said. The minister's comments came after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on suggested demilitarisation as a solution to the decades of dispute between India and Pakistan over the Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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The Chinese diplomatic mission in Pakistan has said that members of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) are planning to kidnap senior Chinese diplomats and consular officers in the country. Chinese diplomats in Pakistan have expressed their concern through a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They said that some members of the ETIM had arrived in Pakistan and were planning to kidnap senior diplomats of the Chinese Embassy, sources told Daily Times. They also said that members of terrorist organisations, including Al Qaeda, were providing support to ETIM activists for the kidnapping, sources said.
Sources said that the Chinese diplomats had sought increased security and round-the-clock patrolling of the Chinese diplomatic mission in Islamabad and the consulate general in Karachi. The ETIM is a separatist organisation in the Xinjiang province of China, and seeks independence on grounds of Islamic identity. Sources said that the Interior Ministry had issued directives to the inspectors general of police of the four provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory to hunt down the ETIM members and report to it as soon as possible. Diplomatic Protection Department Senior Superintendent of Police Tariq Masood Yaseen said that security around the Chinese Embassy building and residences of Chinese diplomats had been tightened. Police officials had also been directed to visit religious seminaries in their areas and investigate possible connections of foreign students, particularly the Chinese nationals, with activists of the ETIM, the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
This is synonymous wid the kidnappings of Russian diploms in Irag - disguising internal weakness and revolutionary failures by PC wilfully expanding the war. i.e. to use foreign mil intervention as a hedge against victorious America + Allies. Prob hoping for a North Vietnam-style, post-1972 "Vietnamization = Iraqification" solution where US [ground/USA-USMC-only] milfors would withdraw while leaving Radical Islamist forces in place "as is" to be dealt with by local forces and US-Allied airpower. Dubya = Nixon waiting for a Watergate.
Amnesty International USA issued the following statement in response to the alleged killing and torture of two U.S. soldiers in Ramadi, Iraq.
"Amnesty International, first and foremost, extends its sincerest condolences to the families of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker for their tragic loss. We are deeply disturbed by reports that these two soldiers were brutally tortured. These reports, if proven true, may rise to the level of war crimes.
Amnesty International condemns the torture or summary killing of anyone who has been taken prisoner and reiterates that such acts are absolutely prohibited in international humanitarian law. This prohibition applies at all times, even during armed conflict. There is no honor or heroism in torturing or killing individuals. Those who order or commit such atrocities must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law without recourse to the death penalty.
[..]
My own testament, for the record, are that if I should ever be tortured, have my throat slit, beheaded, mutilated and then have booby traps planted round my corpse so that they might kill any relatives and friends -- should any of this ever happen to me -- that Amnesty International kindly refrain from extending it's "sincerest condolences" and weasely condemnations and offering its insulting and gratuitous advice. I don't want them. I would much rather lie forgotten in some open field than have one of Amnesty International's sick letters on my casket. Not that they would write it.
#1
Summary execution of any Combatant not in uniform found attacking uniformed military personel is legal under international law. This protects non-combatants from attacks. We need to start followiong this "law."
They need to remember this and quit spouting their typical bullshit. That they are lawywers tell you just how worthless they are.
#3
Amnesia Int'l knows exactly what it's about: eroding the concept and legitimacy of the nation-state, destroying the power, presitge and wealth of the United States, and reconfiguring the world under a transnational bureaucracy. What they refuse to see is that this transnational ephemera will exist under the black flag of Islam, for as soon as the US and the Anglosphere is no longer a playa, the Islamists will move in.
LINKS between Boutros Boutros Ghali, the former UN Secretary-General, and an alleged agent for Saddam Hussein will come under the spotlight when the first American trial of a major figure in the Oil-for-Food scandal gets under way today.
The judge has ruled that prosecutors can present evidence of Dr Boutros Ghalis relationship with Tongsun Park, a South Korean businessman on trial in New York for acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Saddams Iraq.
The North Korean-born Mr Park was dubbed the oriental Gatsby after he played a central role in the Koreagate bribery scandal in Washington in the 1970s, although the judge has ruled that evidence of that role is not relevant to this case.
Mr Park, 71, is accused of plotting to make pay-offs to two top UN officials to secure favourable terms for Iraq in the creation of the Oil-for-Food programme during the 1990s.
The trial could reveal whether the scandal-plagued $64 billion humanitarian programme, which allowed Iraq to sell limited amounts of oil to finance the import of humanitarian supplies while under UN sanctions, was corrupt from the very start.
Enrollment in Iraqi schools has risen every year since the American invasion, according to Iraqi government figures, reversing more than a decade of declines and offering evidence of increased prosperity. Despite the violence that has plagued Iraq since the American occupation began three years ago, its schools have been quietly filling. The number of children enrolled in schools nationwide rose by 7.4 percent from 2002 to 2005, and in middle schools and high schools by 27 percent in that time, according to figures from the Ministry of Education. The increase has greatly outpaced the modest population growth during the same period. And it is seen as an important indicator here in a country that used to pride itself on its education system, then saw enrollment and literacy fall during the later years of Saddam Hussein's rule.
But while life in Baghdad grows more paralyzed it was the only province in the country where primary school enrollment fell the figures for the rest of Iraq show that everyday life goes on, particularly in the largely peaceful south, which experienced the biggest jumps, with some regions having above 40 percent enrollment increases since 2002. "There is a considerable increase in the number of students," said Majid al-Sudanie, an official in the Education Directorate in Najaf. "This province needs more than 400 schools to accommodate the growing number of students."
It is a complex phenomenon. Increases in some places, for example, are being driven by bad news: among the highest increases in secondary and high school enrollment were in provinces that have received families who are fleeing the violence of Baghdad and its dangerous outskirts, including Babylon, with a 44 percent enrollment rise; Najaf, with 35 percent; and Kirkuk, 37 percent. But the growth is too broad to be explained only by migration patterns. According to American government estimates, Iraq's population grew by about 8 percent to 26 million from 2002 to 2005. Even in provinces that have experienced population declines, for example, school enrollment is still up. In Anbar the large desert province in western Iraq, where insurgents regularly battle American soldiers, causing residents to flee enrollment in primary school is up by 15 percent, and in secondary and high school it is up by 37 percent.
Economics is driving much of the rise, officials say. Public sector employees, who make up almost half the work force in Iraq, according to the Ministry of Planning, used to collect the equivalent of several dollars every month under Mr. Hussein. But since the American invasion, Iraq's oil revenue has been earmarked for salaries instead of wars, and millions of Iraqis doctors, engineers, teachers, soldiers began to earn several hundred dollars a month. Income from oil covers more than 90 percent of the Iraqi government's spending, officials say. American money finances investment and reconstruction projects, but no current costs, like salaries.
"Fathers can provide food for their families," said Abdul Zahra al-Yasiri, a teacher in Karbala in southern Iraq. "Kids don't have to work to help their parents anymore."
While some parents have held their children out of schools at times because of safety concerns, especially in parts of Baghdad, direct attacks on schools have been relatively rare, allowing the school year to continue without major interruption in some parts of the country.
The largest change among Iraq's approximately five million schoolchildren was in secondary schools and high schools, the equivalent of 7th through 12th grade in Iraq, where numbers of enrolled students rose to 1.4 million in 2005 from 1.1 million in 2002.
Primary school enrollment rose to 3.7 million from 3.5 million. The numbers do not include the students in the northern Kurdish region, which is administratively separate.
High school enrollment increased more for girls than for boys, while boys made bigger gains in primary school in Iraq, first grade through sixth grade.
In many ways, the increase is a measure of how far Iraq had fallen. Iraq was one of the most educated countries in the Middle East in the 1970's. Many Iraqis traveled abroad to study or took part in state-sponsored exchange programs. Literacy rates were relatively high.
But enrollment began to fall significantly in the 1980's, toward the end of the Iran-Iraq war, and only worsened during the period of international economic penalties that were imposed after Mr. Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.
By 2000, only 33 percent of all high-school-aged Iraqis were enrolled in school, compared with 75 percent in Jordan, according to Unesco figures published in a 2004 report by the Ministry of Education. The overall enrollment rate appears to have risen since then, according to the best estimates available. Unicef estimated that in 2004, about 50 percent of all school-age Iraqi boys and 35 percent of school-age girls were enrolled.
Teachers and administrators interviewed in four Iraqi cities said their classrooms were more full than they had ever been a continuation of a pattern they began to see just months after the American invasion in 2003, when class sizes began swelling again.
"We emptied the storage rooms and use them as classes," said Raya Faid Allah, a primary school teacher in Mosul, who said some classes had reached 75 students, more than double the normal size. "I am afraid that next year we will have to use the teachers' room and the principal's room."
The increase has pointed out many of the infrastructure problems that plague the country. Hussein al-Rifaii, a former high school teacher and political prisoner under Mr. Hussein who is now the general director of schools in eastern Baghdad, said the country needed approximately 5,000 new schools, an increase of almost 50 percent.
The schools that exist are in need of repair. Only 20 percent of schools in central and southern Iraq had working toilets, the ministry report said. A quarter had trash bins.
The enrollment figures are encouraging, but also describe the chaos of the war. The southern provinces with the highest flows of Iraqis fleeing violence have the largest rises, while Diyala, a province to the north of Baghdad that has been nearly as violent as the capital, registered the second-lowest rise in primary school enrollment growth, after Baghdad.
The ministry administered about double the number of early examinations in 2006 compared with 2005, as more students changed schools because their families moved.
Even the bookkeeping told a story. The Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq was included in figures the first year after the invasion, but later dropped, as if in an acknowledgment, at least in the bureaucracy, of the area's relative autonomy.
Much of the decline in the education system that happened in the last years of Mr. Hussein's government came as a result of an economic downturn during the era of international penalties on Iraq. As the country grew poorer in the 1990's, the numbers of working children went up. More than 10 percent of Iraqi children from 5 to 14 years old were working in 2000, according to the ministry report. As a result, Iraqis are less literate than they were 20 years ago, after literacy campaigns had increased rates substantially.
Ms. Allah, who teaches in a poor area in central Mosul, said a recent survey in her school showed that about a quarter of the parents of first graders could not read or write. Those families, she said, are trying harder to keep their children in school, in part because civil service jobs that require diplomas are paying higher salaries. "Families are insisting their kids should finish their studies, even if they are failing or exhausted," Ms. Allah said. She recalled a father "coming in to school and making trouble" to reinstate his wayward sixth grader who had been suspended. "We didn't see this before," said Ms. Allah, who has taught in Mosul for 25 years.
The provinces that had the highest rates of child labor Babylon, Maysan, Salahuddin, Kirkuk and Wasit registered some of the largest increases in enrollment since 2002.
Even adults who never finished school are going back for degrees, teachers said. Those students are not reflected in the ministry figures, but their presence is obvious in the school system. In the Almu Tamaizat high school in Adhamiya, in central Baghdad, women in dresses and hijabs sat at small desks writing answers to final exam questions. A 35-year-old with a pierced nose and a hijab emerged from the exam smiling broadly. She did not appear to feel shy standing in a hallway littered with pink Barbie pencil cases and child-size rhinestone studded backpacks. "I work in the Housing Ministry," she said, her hand on her hip. "I want progress in Iraq."
#2
"Fathers can provide food for their families," said Abdul Zahra al-Yasiri, a teacher in Karbala in southern Iraq. "Kids don't have to work to help their parents anymore."
This is definately something we can blame on Bush and the war criminal US soldiers. Just think how happy the Iraqis would be if Saddam and Uday were still in charge!
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/26/2006 18:40 Comments ||
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Newly declassified documents captured by U.S. forces indicate that Saddam Hussein's inner circle not only actively reached out to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan and terror-based jihadists in the region, but also hosted discussions with a known Al Qaeda operative about creating jihad training "centers," possibly in Baghdad.
Ray Robison, a former member of the CIA-directed Iraq Survey Group (ISG), supervised a group of linguists to analyze, archive and exploit the hundreds of captured documents and materials of Saddam's regime.
This is the final installment in a three-part series concerning a notebook kept by an Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) agent called Khaled Abd El Majid, and covers events taking place in 1999. The translation is provided by Robison's associate, known here as Sammi.
The first two translations from this notebook detailed an agreement between members of the Saddam regime and the Taliban to establish diplomatic and intelligence based cooperation. This final translation further advances the link between the Saddam regime and world-wide Islamic Jihad terrorism.
The relationship between the Taliban and Saddam appears to have been mediated by a Pakistani named Maulana Fazlur Rahman. Another document captured in Afghanistan and written by an Al Qaeda operative confirms the relationship between the Maulana and Saddam. The translation provided here includes an early 1999 meeting between the director of the IIS and the Maulana.
Another notebook entry records a meeting with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghani Islamic Jihadist and leader of the Islamic Party in Afghanistan. Hekmatyar made news recently with the BBC article Afghan Rebels pledge to al-Qaeda that reports on a video statement from Hekmatyar in which he states he will fight alongside A Qaeda. In this translation, Hekmatyar makes specific requests for a center in Baghdad and/or Tajikistan.
A third meeting involves an Islamist representing Bangladesh that we believe to be Fazlur Rahman Khalil. Another page of the notebook indicates Khalil is coming or came to Iraq. Khalil is a Taliban/Al Qaeda associate who signed the 1998 fatwa from Usama bin Laden declaring war on the United States.
Editor's notes: "Sammi" puts translation clarifications in parenthesis. Robison (RR) uses parenthesis for clarification and bold-face type for emphasis.
Translation:
Translation for ISGP-2003-0001412 follows (PDF):
Page 70, Left Side:
Saturday 3/20 at 11:45
Met with him Mr. MS4 (translators note: MS4 is the code name for the high ranking IIS official).
1. Intelligence and security cooperation.
2. Mr. MS4 informed him that the Iraqi president and Iraqi leadership are interested in him.
3. We are ready to help you in any country and against your enemies. (translators note: most probably this is MS4)
4. Fadlul Haq - The governor of Peshawar that was assassinated.
(translators note: points 5 and 6 are direct quotes from the Afghani)
5. We are facing a vicious international plot against the Islamic Party and cannot find any country to help us at the time being.
6. Iran helped us at the beginning and we brought 2,000 fighters but things changed at the time being. Also the Russians called to help but we do not trust them. Moscow and Iran want the war to drag on. (RR: this is probably the Taliban vs. Northern Alliance conflict). This is why he is coming to Baghdad for help. Asked Baghdad to help open a center in Tajikistan or in Baghdad and they will bring them (translators note: not clear what them refers to) in through Iran or Northern Iraq.
He asked for help in printing Afghani money in Baghdad or help in printing it in Moscow.
Page 69, Right Side:
Stinger missiles have a range of 5 kilometers. (translators note: there is only this one sentence on this page)
Page 69, Left Side:
Meeting of MS4 with 6951 on 4/10 at 8 p.m. in room 710.
He (6951) inquired about our relation with Usama (bin Laden).
(translators note: The Iraqi answer is not reported.).
He (6951) proposed to the Taliban to form a front with Iraq, Libya and Sudan.
He met some of them in Hajj (Translators note: Pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, it is one of the five pillars of Islam) and he came to the conclusion that they do not know anything about Foreign Relations.
The Taliban defense minister is Abdul Razzak (unclear) Association of Muslim Clerics.
They openly claim that they are against America.
He said that he was ready to build relations between the Taliban and Iraq.
(translators note: meeting continues on both sides of page 68/76, with questions about Pakistani politics and the other Islamic parties.) The Iraqi official says, I suggest that the parties come closer together because that means power to Islam against the American and Zionist policies.
Page 39, Left Side:
Meeting with an Islamist leader from Bangladesh. He promises support to Iraq. He says: Let them know that I made Bangladesh a second country to Mr. President and we have 125 million (people). (RR: Although no name is given for this meeting, it is important to note Fazlur Rahman Khalil, noted for meeting with Iraqi officials in the previous article, signed the 1998 fatwa as Fazlur Rahman, Amir of the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh. This is a strong indication that this meeting is with Khalil or his representative.)
Page 27, Left side:
(translators note: contains notes with information on prior meetings recorded in the notebook.)
The mentioned person (Translators note: Fazlur Rahman) arrived to the country on 11/27/1999 and he was hosted in Al Rachid Hotel suite number 526. He will leave on 12/1/1999.
(translators comment: note No. 1 in a list of notes.)
He visited Iraq on the beginning of April 1999 and the ex-director of the intelligence, may God rest his soul, instructed him to mediate between the Taliban and the leader of the Afghani Islamic party, Hekmatyar following the request for mediation done by Hekmatyar to the leadership of Iraq during a visit when they met us on 3/19/1999.
End Translation
Analysis:
Because Arabic writing is right to left, the pages in this notebook go in reverse chronological order. The note on page 27 indicates that Hekmatyar met with the IIS on March 19, 1999. The translation of page 70 is dated March 20 and it refers to someone from the Islamic Party, which is Hekmatyars group. Therefore it makes sense that the meeting on page 70 is with Hekmatyar.
The note on page 27 also says the meeting was with the director if the IIS, so we believe MS4 is his code-name. It appears that Hekmatyar, a jihadist leader warring with the Taliban for control of Afghanistan at the time, asked Baghdad to help open a center in Tajikistan or in Baghdad and they will bring them (translators note: not clear what them refers to) in through Iran or Northern Iraq. There is a strong indication that this requested center is a jihadist training camp.
From a US Department of State report Patterns of Global Terrorism, 1996:
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar maintained training and indoctrination facilities in Afghanistan, mainly for non-Afghans. They continue to provide logistic support and training facilities to Islamic extremists despite military losses in the past year. Individuals who trained in these camps were involved in insurgencies in Tajikistan
It looks very much like Hekmatyar, a long-time jihad leader and recently self-identified Al Qaeda associate, is asking the Saddam regime for a jihad training camp in Tajikistan and/or Baghdad.
Page 27 tells us that the Maulana Fazlur Rahman was meeting with the IIS Director in early April. The meeting on page 69 fits the time frame, has the code for the IIS director, and the guest speaks for the Taliban indicating that 6951 is the Maulana. According to these notes, the Maulana proposed to the Taliban to form a front with Iraq, Libya and Sudan. He also enquires about the IIS relationship to Usama bin Laden.
In researching the Maulana, a third document has been found that demonstrated the relationship between Saddam and the Maulana. The document which appears to be an IIS memo also mentions a relationship with Hekmatyar. There is no government authentication of the document. Because this document matches closely with what we find in the IIS agent notebook we will reference it so that the reader may decide.
The article entitled Exclusive: Saddam Possessed WMDs, Had Extensive Terror Ties states:
A senior government official who is not a political appointee provided CNSNews.com with copies of the 42 pages of Iraqi Intelligence Service documents. The originals, some of which were hand-written and others typed, are in Arabic. CNSNews.com had the papers translated into English by two individuals separately and independent of each other.
The CNS report includes a translation of a memo from the IIS to Saddam. The memo is dated January 25, 1993. The subject is IIS influence with two groups: the JUI, led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman; and, the Afghani Islamic Party led by Hekmatyar. These are the same two men meeting with the IIS in Baghdad in 1999, according to the notebook.
The document states that the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) depended upon Pakistani support as well as foreign help from Iraq and Libya. It also mentions that the secretary general of the JUI has had a good relationship with the IIS since 1981, and that he is ready for any mission.
The IIS document reported on by CNS News also states that the Islamic Party of Hekmatyar relies on Iraqi funding. It says the relationship has existed since 1989 and has improved under Hekmatyars leadership. Although this document has not yet been validated by the U.S, government, we can see very specific information, not publicly available before 2004, that matches what we find in the IIS notebook. It indicates a long history of Saddam regime support to Islamic jihad groups, and that the IIS considers them organizations that will take on missions for Iraqs interests.
Epilogue:
Lets review what we have learned from the IIS notebook.
We learned that in 1999 the IIS met with three significant leaders of Islamic jhad from Afghanistan: a warlord and Islamic jihadist; an Al Qaeda leader; and, a man known as the Father of the Taliban.
The Saddam regime and Taliban leadership agreed to diplomatic ties and a secret intelligence service relationship. They discussed security cooperation with Hekmatyars Islamic Jihad group. The Taliban representative also agreed to support the Saddam regime in Pakistans North-West Frontier, a region sympathetic to and actively involved with the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and the world-wide Islamic jihad movement. An Islamist, most likely the Al Qaeda and Taliban affiliated Fazlur Rahman Khalil, promised the support of Bangladesh.
We see a request to the Saddam regime for a training center in Baghdad or Tajikistan from a jihad leader accused by the U.S. State Department during the Clinton Administration of running Islamic extremist training camps.
There is a discussion about transporting something into these centers, including a discussion that appears to mention surface-to-air missiles.
And, we have numerous statements of Islamic fidelity between Afghani jihad leaders and the Saddam regime, with many statements of mutual animosity towards the United States and intent to cooperate.
This notebook thus provides significant evidence that the Saddam regime collaborated with and supported Islamic jihad elements in Afghanistan at a time when the Taliban and Al Qaeda were attacking United States citizens and their interests and plotting the 9/11 attacks.
In this notebook, we see a Saddam Hussein actively seeking to expand his sphere of influence in a region at the heart of the world-wide Islamic jihad movement.
This now-public relationship between Maulana Fazlur Rahman and Saddam Hussein deserves great scrutiny.
As we researched the Maulana, a picture came into focus that our team was not looking to find: The Maulana is a senior leader of an affiliation of Pakistani groups supportive of Islamic jihad. These groups include the JUI and the Jamaat Islami (JI). The JUI provided direct support to both the planner and paymaster of the 9/11 attacks. The Pakistani government accused the JI of working with Al Qaeda. The Maulana mediated an intelligence pact between the IIS and the Taliban.
Clearly, this evidence indicates that the Maulana was in a position to procure assistance from Iraq for the 9/11 attacks.
Dr. Laurie Mylroie, an expert on Iraq, testified in front of the 9/11 commission in 2003:
After al Qaeda moved to Afghanistan, Iraqi intelligence became deeply involved with it, probably, with the full agreement of Usama bin Ladin. Al Qaeda provided the ideology, foot soldiers, and a cover for the terrorist attacks; Iraqi intelligence provided the direction, training, and expertise
This notebook demonstrates that Islamic jihad leaders in Afghanistan were seeking IIS assistance and Saddam was giving them that assistance.
The author welcomes your comment on the translation and analysis of this document. You can contact Ray Robison by emailing him at: saddamdossier@gmail.com.
#1
6. Iran helped us at the beginning and we brought 2,000 fighters but things changed at the time being. Also the Russians called to help but we do not trust them.
#2
Russian help, e.g. CHERCHENS??? May explain why the Cherchies have had troubles wid their insurgency. "I am a Berliner = Cherchen", says JFK = BillClinton.
New evidence continues to emerge that U.S. Marines did not wantonly kill Iraqi civilians in Haditha last November - and the soldiers' accounts of what happened are backed up by videotape shot by an ultralight vehicle, NewsMax has learned. According to media reports, last Nov. 19 members of a Marine Corps company killed some 24 innocent civilian Iraqis in Haditha, a town140 miles northwest of Baghdad and near the Syrian border. In the ensuing media firestorm that broke out after the story was revealed, many news reports here and abroad compared the Haditha deaths to the infamous My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Michael Sallah, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his May Lai reporting, has said: "You would have difficulties finding a single newspaper in Germany or elsewhere in Europe which does not deal with My Lai." But the facts and accounts from Marines and others on the ground tell another story.
What is not in dispute is that the Marine's engagement in Haditha began when an IED (improvised explosive device) detonated, killing a Marine from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. In the aftermath of the action two investigations were launched, one by Army Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell, who was charged with investigating how the incident was reported through the chain of command. A second investigation, headed by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), is looking into any possible criminal aspects of the incident. The Bargewell report has not been released and is still being reviewed by Army Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, a top U.S. commander in Iraq. But military officials told the Los Angeles Times that although it concludes there was no deliberate cover-up by senior Marine officers, the Corps failed to follow up and ask questions that the known details should have provoked them to ask. The NCIS investigation is still ongoing.
Last May, when Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., appeared on "Good Morning America," he accused the Marines of K Company of killing innocent civilians in "cold blood" and that the killings were covered up by higher officers. The Bargewell report has disproved that allegation and with the NCIS investigation so far incomplete, and no soldier has been charged with a crime, how would Murtha know?
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
06/26/2006 10:23 ||
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#1
Piss on John Murtha and Time. That's ABSCAM Murtha, the whore for DOD contractors.
#2
Doesn't matter how much evidence emerges to absolve the Marines - Murtha and his ilk have already cemeted the "fact" that the Marines were murderers in international minds.
#4
Only if the word gets out, I'm afraid, tw. Lots of people have seen the TIME cover and the TV reports. How many retractions will they see - and of similar impact??
#8
(1) I don't think the Marines are guilty and I certainly would give them the benefit of the doubt until someone proves them guilty.
(2) I would not have cared if Haditha was leveled by repeated B-52 strikes since it was a bastion of enemy activity and thus behind enemy lines (as were Berlin and Hanoi in previous wars) as this would have put less of our folks into the line of fire and sent a really strong message to other villages and towns thinking of lining up on the side of the bad guys.
#9
"I guess its too much to ask that the senate grow a backbone and censor Mr Murtha and kick his sorry treasonous excuse for a senator out on his ass."
Well...considering that he is not a Senator, but a Congressman, it might be better if the House of Representatives performed the things you mention.
On that same note, would it be too much to ask of posters to do a little homework, and know the difference between a Senator and a Congressman?
IRAQ'S oil production is now over 2.5 million barrels a day, a record since the fall of Saddam Hussein, the country's oil minister said overnight. Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani said on US television that Iraq hopes to be producing 4.3 million barrels by 2010 and to be challenging Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer by 2015.
Production was about 2.5 million barrels a day when president Saddam Hussein was deposed by US-led forces in 2003. It then collapsed to virtually nothing and has been slow to rebuild because of insurgent attacks and other problems.
In an interview with CNN television, Mr Shahristani emphasised that only one month and three days after the Iraqi government took office, "we have been able to break a record". "Today's oil production was in excess of 2.5 million barrels a day. And that's a record since the fall of Saddam's regime in April 2003," he told CNN's Late Edition program.
He said Iraq hopes to increase production to 2.7 million barrels by the end of the year and to 4.3 million barrels by 2010, which would be a new all-time record for Iraq. The minister said Iraq's highest oil production was 3.5 million barrels a day. "Our ultimate aim is to reach more than six million barrels a day, hopefully by 2012.
"And needless to say, Iraq holds one of the largest reserves of oil and gas in the world, and we are determined to prove it has the largest world reserve."
#1
Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani said on US television that Iraq hopes to be producing 4.3 million barrels by 2010 and to be challenging Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer by 2015.
Lets hope that we will not need ME oil at all by 2015.
#5
Basra area has most of the known oil reserves, and has had the bulk of the export production for the past few years, due to higher sabotage to the pipelines in the north. Central Iraq has almost no production or known reserves.
I am not sure production has actually increased - it may be a case of decreased theft & smuggling allowing more production to actually show up on the meter.
I haven't followed it closely, but there were some recent announcements of new foreign investment - I think in the north - which should lead to production increases, but I doubt enough time has passed for much to have happened yet.
#7
Lets hope that we will not need ME oil at all by 2015.
We don't need ME oil today. In fact, most of our oil comes from North America.
But somebody does use ME oil because it is the cheapest source of energy for them. If no one in the world is using ME oil in 2015 it will be beause it is no longer the cheapest source of energy. It is unlikely that we will discover and exploit a cheaper source of energy by 2015, so I hope lots of people are using lots of ME oil in 2015 and that we continue to discover more.
#8
Nuc Reactors for ALL electrical power except where hydro is available, power distribution to hydrogen generation stations at current gas stations, and fuel cell power for electrical vehicles and other apps. Natural gas for heating (and open up the contiental shelf for that befor Castro and the Chinese suck them dry right off our shores).
The only thing we should be using oil for is plastic polymers and lubricants. And we produce enough of that to not need a single drop imported. Plus, coal conversion is easily done if you have large cheap electrical supplies (the Germans even did this in WW2 to power the armored divisions).
We need to get serious about this and start building fail-safe next-generation breeder reactors NOW.
#10
Doing all the things OS suggests will not change anything, except to reduce the US use of oil, increase the cost of energy for Americans and reduce the price of oil, thus increasing the demand for and use of ME oil in the rest of the world.
Oil is an economic issue, subject to economic analysis. Our problem is not oil per se. We have no problem getting oil from Canadians and Mexicans.
We have problems with Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan in spite of their not having oil. Our problem is really their problem of emerging into the modern world. No people have made this transition painlessly or easily. To a certain extent, we are just going to have to endure their pains of adolescence. Pursuing costly economic policies to achieve political ends is not likely to prove successful.
Not using cheap ME oil is as foolish as not drilling in ANWR.
This means that A. Iraq is fixing problems of competence and corruption in the Oil Ministry or B. The insurgencys ability to disrupt production with attacks is diminishing or C Both.
#12
NS, I agree - assuming it stays available and cheap. But one way to man age that is to introduce competition.
Nuclear power has a big capital investment hurdle, but pays off longer term. Having it in place will significantly change the economic and geopolitical dynamic WRT the middle east, Chavez etc. Right now, the role of oil is distorting the already-difficult process of those countries emergence into the world economy and responsive governmental practices.
#13
The cost of middle east oil encompasses more than the dollars shipped to the sheiks and mullahs. The US has for many years been spending enormous sums to keep mideast oil flowing for the rest of the world. Even before Sept 2001, the US was spending more than $50 billion per year to keep the mideast oil flowing. That's was a 50% premium on ALL oil imports or several hundered percent premeium on mideast oil imports. Since 2001, the mideast security premium has increase by another $100 billion a year and oil import costs have increased another $200 billion a year.
Better to apply that money domestically to become self sufficient in energy production (including reliable suppliers like Canada and Mexico), crash oil demand and isolate muslim the lands from the civilized world. The US has the resources and technology, yet not the political will.
Posted by: ed ||
06/26/2006 11:32 Comments ||
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#14
The U. S. maintains its military forces to preserve peace in the world of which it is the dominant power. Were all the oil reserves in the world in the United States instead of the ME, we would not have one less CBG.
Demand for ME oil will never be "crashed" because it is the cheapest source of energy in the world. That will not change until it runs out or we make some revolutionary scientific discoveries about energy conversion.
Note also that we don't build nuclear plants for financial reasons as well as political. The liability associated with an accident at a nuclear plant is so great that even given its low probability it precludes the construction of new nuclear power plants.
Together with a thorougly politicized permitting process it assures that no nuclear plants will be built in the forseeable future, no matter how much rational sense it makes to do so.
#15
The US maintains a military to advance it's interests. There is no intrinsic reason for the US to be the world's provider of "Peace". If the US becomes self sufficient in energy, then the US has no interest in the middle east, other than to keep the muslims the hell away from us. Without the oil weapon, the Arabs become no more a concern than the Congolese. Instead they will have to worry about pissing off Americans and seeing their oil wells go up in smoke.
I should have used "crash price", not demand. The absolute roof on oil prices should be $30-35/barrel, the cost of producing high grade diesel from coal ($ teens to 20's for tar sands) and that money should say within our economy to fuel further our economic activity instead of funding muslim imperialism. Let them use whatever oil diminished income feeding and clothing themselves, else see it all go up in flames.
There are several nuclear plant designs that cannot go supercritcal. Lose all coolant and they shut down. Blow them up and robots pick up the ceramic fuel balls. With reprocessing, 99+% of the energy of uranium can be uxtracted vs. less than 0.5% currently. Add to that, thorium (more plentiful than uranium) reactor designs.
Posted by: ed ||
06/26/2006 12:23 Comments ||
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#16
There is no intrinsic reason for the US to be the world's provider of "Peace".
I wish it weren't so, but as the world's dominant military, financial, economic, intellectual and entertainment power, there is an intrinsic reason for the US to be the world's provider of Peace. No one else can do it. So it's up to us to choose to do it or choose not.
If the US were totally self sufficient in energy, the rest of the world would continue to buy ME oil, as we do not now and they do. They would still be a bunch of rich juveniles with more money than they know what to do with and no plans for supporting themselves when it runs out and they no longer know how to herd camels.
#17
But they will have less than half of the income they are currently getting. In addition, the US would be spending $3-400 billion less each year. And the US will have the leverage to shut them off anytime. On balance, I like it.
Posted by: ed ||
06/26/2006 12:59 Comments ||
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#19
NS, I have to point out your error here. The production cost of ME oil is immaterial to the argument. What matters is the market price, and the market price makes oil the most expensive source of energy today.
You are also wrong about nuclear power. France, the world's largest producer of nuclear energy, which has never had a nuclear incident/accident of any significance, It is also the world's biggest exporter of electricity for the very simple reason they produce it for far less cost than any of their neighbours.
I've covered the financial risk aspect a hundred times before, but very large financial risks can only be carried by governments - start, end and middle of story. Governments need to carry the risks of a nuclear 'accident', regardless of whether the risk is media hyperbole or not.
What matters is the market price, and the market price makes oil the most expensive source of energy today.
True for now, but when the price falls, the ME will still be producing, no matter how low the price falls because they have the lowest cost of production. So somebody will always be buying ME oil until it runs out.
I also don't see that we disagree about nukes. I agree that only governments can carry the financial risk of nuclear accident. Thus, nukes are not competitive on a free market financial basis. Further, the involvement of government in the decision making process makes it a political, not a rational, decision. I would be perfectly happy to see a roll out of nuclear generating capacity as in France. But I doubt it will happen in the US in my lifetime for political reasons.
As long as we have any of the dictatorial countries with the ability to severely disrupt our economy, thats a playing card they hold that we cannot abide.
There are 2 ways of fixingthat: become self reliant (nucs/hydrogen/nat-gas/coal), or go take the wells from them.
Military actions in the interests of liberty and the US are another matter.
Like immigration and border security, these are two related, but definitely seperate things.
Like border security, we need entergy independance FIRST before we can disentangle and choose our fights.
Think of it this way: had we no energy supplies to worry about, do you think we would be kvetching ineffectively over Chavez or taking him out?
What about the Iranians and their nukes? Taking thier oil off the world market would slam the US economy by jacking up oil prices - and probably prompt Chavez to stop seling oil to the US, putting usin a fuel shortage and forcing a raw economic seizure by armed force of their oil fields in Venezuela.
Contrast that to a fully independant US - we destroy the Iranian nuc sites at will. Same goes with punative raids into Nigeria for the human rights stuff, and Venezuela to help rebels against the Chavez government.
Its that simple - energy independence gives us the elbow room we need to "swing free" militarily against warlords, dictators and backers of terrorists (*cough* Saude princes *cough*).
NOW you see why its a strategic issue of far more impratnac than anything else we should be doing as a nation?
Its a pre-requisite to winning the war on terror by chopping it off at the funding roots and opening all its range of people and activites to interdiction by economic and military force.
#24
OS, I hate to disagree with you, but I do here. Not so much with what you suggest doing, but with whether we will do it and the extent to which we ought to.
Chavez? We wouldn't take him out unless and until he moved outside his borders. We really didn't do much about Allende. Those days are over.
Iran? That game isn't over yet. Why we haven't done anything yet because of the WMD fiasco in Iraq, not oil. I'd bet dinnerjacket folds, but if he doesn't, Bush will take Iran out before '09. And look at Korea. We've been equally ineffective against them.
Swinging against the Saudi princes? Come on, you know as well as I do that the Department of State is a wholly owned sycophant of the House of Saud. We will never take action against them, nor even any of their terrs, without their permission.
An adolescent ME is not a threat to the US as much as a threat to World Peace. The real threats to the US are China and a dhimmi Eurabia. Neither one has much to do with oil, nor would being "energy independent" do much to help us with either.
I believe you overestimate the extent to which the U. S. could continue to take unilateral action against the world's tin pot dictators and warlords without provoking an alliance against it by Europe, Arabia and China. This is what we need to avoid in order to maintain our hegemony.
Once a decade we will be able to take out one of these jokers to demonstrate how much better we've gotten. But more than that and we'll provoke a response we don't need.
#26
True, but not true, 6. Ever heard of seigneurage? Because we're top dog, everybody does business in dollars. So we get to issue lots of currency (debt) to them, for zero interest, that they are glad to hold because it's debt from the king of the mountain. Talk to the Brits about how long it takes to readjust to no longer being king of the mountain. They are riders, but not quite for free.
#29
It would extremely hard to pollute the oil fields with radiation. The surrounding countryside : no problem; but the oil fields themselves are underground and under pressure {generally}. You would have to put the radioactive elements down into the oil fields via pressurised wells to introduce the pollution.
The Aksa Martyrs Brigades announced on Sunday that its members have succeeded in manufacturing chemical and biological weapons. In a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip, the group, which belongs to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party, said the weapons were the result of a three-year effort.
According to the statement, the first of its kind, the group has managed to manufacture and develop at least 20 different types of biological and chemical weapons.
The group said its members would not hesitate to add the new weapons to Kassam rockets that are being fired at Israeli communities almost every day. It also threatened to use the weapons against IDF soldiers if Israel carried out its threats to invade the Gaza Strip.
#1
PIMF!! only the first line was meant to be yellow, the rest comes from the Jerusalem Post article. And I didn't set up the hattip link correctly, either. Yet another small monument to the fallacy of speed before accuracy, darn it!
#2
It's the content that matters TW, and it's certainly worth reading.
Are these people insane? On the one hand we have representatives of the elected government tunnelling into a neighbouring country, killing people and kidnapping others, whilst the other part of the government (if such a thing means anything in Paleo-land) openly admits to creating weapons which by their nature are totally indiscriminate, and admit to wanting to use them on Israeli communities.
Morons.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/26/2006 16:25 Comments ||
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#3
These guys go way beyond the idea of stuck on stupid. Hey guys, try it out and see how fast you all become spare parts masses of goo martyrs.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/26/2006 16:26 Comments ||
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#4
A lot of the world's stupidity could be avoided if we just quit feeding them.
Posted by: ed ||
06/26/2006 16:30 Comments ||
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#5
I'm all for giving them a state.
It seperates the good guys from the bad and makes it easier to direct artillery.
#10
20 different types of chemical AND biological weapons, in three years. This, despite all those jihadi "work accidents" -- with no reports of bizarre injuries or illnesses? Riiight. I suppose they'll follow up CBW strikes with directed pulse energy weapons fired from a geosynchronous orbital platform.
Mebbe they got some CBW munitions through Syria or whatever, but independent development and manufacture? Please. They can't even grow tomatoes in a freakin greenhouse.
Posted by: ST ||
06/26/2006 18:08 Comments ||
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#11
So what exactly will they do with them? If they use them....EVEN ONCE.....what's left of paleo "society" will be decimated.
#12
For all their crappy track record with respect to work accidents, these rectal cavities will probably succeed in killing more Palestinians than anyone else. Hey, wait a minute, did Israel hand them the precursors?
#13
ST sez: They can't even grow tomatoes in a freakin greenhouse.
That is still open to question. They wrecked the multimillion dollar greenhouses that the Israelis gave them, so we will never know if they have the ability to *ahem* grow things in greenhouses. People who throw rocks should not work in greenhouses, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/26/2006 22:31 Comments ||
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#14
Pissing off the IDF - always a succesful idea.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/26/2006 10:59 Comments ||
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#4
There you go, Dave. You cannot be nice with these guys. You have to state that Hamas will be subject to total destruction by the installment plan if the captured Israeli soldier is not returned safely to Israel in 24 hours. Then you start systematically taking out Hamas with air power. Not hellfire missiles. JDAMS with jet aircraft. It is the ONLY way to communicate with these thugs. They will understand power and respect and fear it. Any tit for tat action will be viewed as a sign of weakness by Hamas. The IDF can also turn off the electricity and water.
Jeeze Louise! The Israelis are get5ing to be as bad as us Yanks when it comes to dealing with terrorists.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/26/2006 11:43 Comments ||
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#8
I'd guess he's dead, the IDF will smash ass on Gaza, and Hezbollah will launch rockets from Lebanon on orders from Iran. The IAF will get some work in as well. Hopefully, yes, the Hamas POS's operating in Damascus will get theirs
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/26/2006 18:40 Comments ||
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The attack on the IDF post near the Gaza Strip border was carried out on instructions from the Hamas leadership in Syria, Fatah officials claimed on Sunday.
They said the attack, in which two IDF soldiers were killed and one captured and brought into the Gaza Strip, was designed to torpedo any agreement between Fatah and Hamas on a controversial document drafted by some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
As news of the capture spread in the early hours of the morning, many residents of the Strip took to the streets to express their joy. Drivers honked their horns and some merchants and gunmen distributed sweets. Many expressed hope that the abduction would lead to a prisoner swap with Israel.
Continued on Page 49
#5
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, most of Hamas's top leaders in the Gaza Strip went underground for fear of being targeted by the IDF. Sources close to Hamas said Haniyeh and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar were advised to keep a low profile.
The plane dipped in low over the line of warships as they patrolled the Black Sea off the coast of Romania. Picked up by the radar of the INS Eilat, the unidentified aircraft began to make its approach, setting off alarms warning of the possibility of a kamikaze pilot on his way to a suicide attack.
This exercise and others are what kept the sailors of the Sa'ar 5-class missile ship busy on Sunday as it participated for the first time in Israeli history in a tactical NATO exercise on the Black Sea.
The airplane in this case was an IAF helicopter accompanying the Eilat and was posing as a suicide kamikaze jet in an exercise meant to drill how the warships respond to this 9/11-like threat.
Continued on Page 49
SANA: Information and Broadcasting Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani on Sunday urged the Muslim world to unite against the growing threat of fundamentalism by focusing on conflict resolution. He was delivering his opening address on the role of civil society and the state of political reforms in Pakistan at the conference on democracy and political reforms. The minister called upon the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to play a more pro-active role in resolving disputes in the Islamic world and emphasised the need for interfaith harmony and inter-civilisation dialogue.
The need of the hour is for us to make a concerted effort to resolve the conflicts in Kashmir and the Palestinian territories, Durrani said. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh delivered the keynote address at the conference, which had been organised as part of the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) initiative by the G-8 countries focusing on 20 Muslim countries in Asia, Middle East and North Africa.
Saleh criticised the occupation forces in Iraq and questioned the rationale behind imposing democracy on the developing world. We are not undeveloped, Saleh said in Arabic to resounding applause from the audience. We know what democracy is, he added. The conferences aim was to increase dialogue between nations in the BMENA region through non-state actors such as non-government organisations and civil society to further democracy in a region perceived to have immense economic and trade potential by their G-8 benefactors. Several such forums have been held since the BMENA initiative was launched nearly two years ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Did he take off his shoe and beat it on the podium during his speech?
#2
Here's an eye opener, Saleh; Islam's your problemm, the anchor holding you all in the eighth century. Stop brainwashing your children. Be the last generation of your race to live 1300 years ago. Be reborn into the present.
June 26, 2006: Several American newspapers have revealed that bank wire transfers were being monitored for terrorist activity. Some Islamic terrorists apparently suspected as much. It's not public knowledge about how they knew this. They might have been tipped off by prior knowledge of the banking industry, or tips from people in the criminal underground who were aware of the risks inherent with using wire transfers.
The risks are there because of pattern analysis. This is a collection of statistical tools that can reveal patterns in wire transfers. By using a database of organizations and individuals, known or suspected of terrorist involvement, pattern analysis will spotlight those who are involved in terrorist activities, or drug dealing, or whatever you are looking for. The wire transfer system that was being monitored moved over 11 million payments a day. Several terrorists are known to have been caught because of the wire transfer monitoring.
However, because the media has made it widely known that this technique is being used, those terrorists who were using wire transfers, will switch to other forms of moving money. Actually, many terrorists have been doing that all along. Sending a courier with cash is slower and more dangerous, but it sure beats transmitting your activities to the police. Alternative methods of transferring money are probably also being monitored, and will still be useful until some enterprising investigative journalist reveals that information to the terrorists
Thanks again, NYT
Posted by: Steve ||
06/26/2006 10:30 ||
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#1
The same type of pattern analysis statistics was underneath the NSA (so-called) warrantless wiretapping program as well. It's been a loooonnngg time, but something makes me think it's time to re-read Asimov's 'Foundation' trilogy.
#3
The USA is dealing wid well-organized, decentalized networks of personages wid long experience in hiding in the shadows, similar to the various Mafias. Terrorists, like many Mafiosi, spend the bulk of their time and $$$ working to acquire more secret monies and other funding. WAR = TERROR = VIOLENCE > is highly expensive, even prohibitive, in money energy and time, etc.
Posted by: DanNY ||
06/26/2006 07:00 ||
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#1
Nothing "mixed" about Irant signals. It's all rope-a-dope hokey-pokey bullshit. Focus on actions (and inactions) not words.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/26/2006 10:00 Comments ||
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#2
The simple fact that Iran is one of the most long-standing sponsors of international terrorism should have been all it took for other countries to realize that NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) or not, Iran's access to nuclear technology was A VERY BAD THING.
How this trout-in-the-milk-pail has been ignored is a sterling example of ostrich diplomacy. I wish it were a simple matter of assigning this to entrenched anti-Semitism, but the stupidity meter's needle passed that mark over a year ago.
Tehran - Iran is to hold its controversial proposed conference on the Holocaust in October of this year, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi said Sunday. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad provoked international outrage last year by calling for the eradication of Israel, branding the Holocaust a 'fairy tale' and demanding a relocation of Israel to Europe or the United States.
Following international protests, Tehran decided to hold a conference discussing what it termed 'clarification of the real dimensions of the Holocaust.' The conference was supposed to be held in spring this year but observers say that it was delayed in order to avoid possible problems for the Iranian national football team before and during the World Cup in Germany. Several Muslim as well as Western scholars, reportedly also German neo-Nazis, are among those to attend the conference.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/26/2006 00:00 ||
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Sounds like fun. I wouldn't mind attending. Probably a lot more interesting than the IT conferences I used to attend.
#1
Strange that this article doesn't mention the several newly producing Chinese oil wells off the north coast of Cuba-- less than 90 miles from Florida.
Of course there won't be any spills from the communist owned and operated wells. /sarcasm
Leonard Gropper, a retiree who makes occasional boating excursions to Cuba from his homes in Fort Lauderdale and Marathon, said he was amazed to see rigs dotting the island's north coast.
"They've got new wells coming in all over the place, pumping away," Gropper said. "People have been worried about drilling over in the Gulf, but I saw all kinds of wells with Chinese writing on them just south of the Keys. If there is a spill, it will flow into the Gulf Stream and go all the way up the East Coast."
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.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday called Mulla Omar a coward, saying he should come out of hiding and face justice, AP reported. Karzai's comments come amid claims, allegedly made by Omar in an audio tape aired Sunday by a Pakistani television station, that the US-led coalition and the Afghan government lack the wisdom to solve Afghanistan's escalating violence.
Talibans fugitive leader Mulla Omar has claimed that the coalition and Afghan government do not have the wisdom to solve the escalating violence in Afghanistan, according to an audiotape aired on Sunday by Geo Television. The tape was apparently made during a recent meeting of Taliban leaders in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, the network claimed. They cannot solve the issue of Afghanistan based on their wisdom and thinking, said the speaker on the tape, who Geo said was Omar but whose identity could not be immediately authenticated.
(CNSNews.com) - Hugo Chavez, the virulently anti-U.S. president of Venezuela who is seeking a seat on the U.N. Security Council while establishing close ties with such rogue states as Cuba and Iran, is now planning a meeting with reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Chavez said at the weekend a visit to North Korea -- no date was specified -- would involve the signing of bilateral technology and science agreements, but one South Korean newspaper said Monday an "oil-for-missiles deal" may be on the agenda. 
TOKYO (AP) - The United States plans to deploy Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missiles in southern Japan by the end of the year, a local newspaper reported Monday. The PAC-3 is designed to intercept and destroy incoming missiles and aircraft.
A leading Republican senator suggested Sunday that the Bush administration should talk directly with North Korea as concerns grow over a possible test launch of a missile that could reach the United States. On CBS' Face The Nation, Sen. 
Expectations that a decision had been made on whether Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Dutch citizen were dashed on Friday.
Los Angeles: They wore T-shirts asking "What Really Happened?," snapped up DVDs titled "9/11; The Great Illusion," and cheered as physicists, philosophers and terrorism experts decried the official version of the September 11 attacks that shook America to its core. Some 1,200 people gathered at a Los Angeles hotel on the weekend for what organisers billed as the largest conference on the plethora of conspiracy theories that see the 2001 attacks on Washington and New York as, at best, official negligence, and at worst an orchestrated US attempt to incite world war.
With bloggers, his constituents and Connecticut Democratic officials still angry about his support for the Iraq war, the moderate Senator could be headed for a shocking fall
Technical innovation is present in all militaries, but America's combination of do-it-yourself types, large defense budgets, and a gadget-happy national character makes it particularly fertile ground. Now add a global war and its challenges, plus a defense sector with a strong small business component made up of ex-military types. The overall innovation transmission belt may not be as tight or as effective as Israel's or Singapore's, but the scale of the US defense establishment more than compensates in terms of the sheer number produced.
The Chinese diplomatic mission in Pakistan has said that members of the Eastern 
IRAQ'S oil production is now over 2.5 million barrels a day, a record since the fall of Saddam Hussein, the country's oil minister said overnight. Oil Minister Hussein Shahristani said on US television that Iraq hopes to be producing 4.3 million barrels by 2010 and to be challenging Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer by 2015. 
Tehran - Iran is to hold its controversial proposed conference on the Holocaust in October of this year, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi said Sunday. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad provoked international outrage last year by calling for the eradication of Israel, branding the Holocaust a 'fairy tale' and demanding a relocation of Israel to Europe or the United States. 
