A top Taliban commander has claimed that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was behind the February attack outside a US base in Afghanistan during US Vice President Dick Cheney's visit, according to an interview aired Wednesday on Al-Jazeera. He just didn't do a very good job of it.
Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's top military commander, told Al-Jazeera that bin Laden planned and supervised the attack that killed 23 people outside the big US base at Bagram during Cheney's visit. "You may remember the martyr operation inside the Bagram base, which targeted a senior US official. ... That operation was the result of his wise planning. He (bin Laden) planned that operation and guided us through it. The operation was a success," Dadullah told Al-Jazeera.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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INTEL, Terror, or even the Mafias, etal. > planners usually also will have = should have multiple contingency options, regardless whether the original intent of the Bagram attack was to de facto kill Cheney; or to intimidate = piss him off enuff, etc. into doing something to the advantage of Osama = Radical Islam.
#2
What? Binny can't speak for himself? (from the grave)
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/26/2007 1:16 Comments ||
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#3
there's no way that attention whore Bin Laden could stay off video this long. "He's dead, Jim"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2007 7:58 Comments ||
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#4
If so, then it looks like Binny's losing his fastball. Never got inside, never got near Cheney.
I don't know if I'd wanna take credit for that one...
#5
Wise planning. They miss the target and 23 people, Muslims no less, die. They accomplish nothing at the cost of dozens of lives and they expect applause. They're high fiving each other over mass murder.
I suppose Harry Reid was impressed, for what that's worth.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
04/26/2007 12:46 Comments ||
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#6
I thought we had Mullah Dadullah surrounded. What's up with that?
The African Union peacekeeping force in West Darfur told the United Nations on Wednesday that Arab militias were killing and pillaging in the region without arrests by the Sudanese authorities. Major Harry Soko, a Rwandan officer who briefed the head of the UN refugee agency, said that the presence of Sudanese rebel groups in his area had also led to conflict and hundreds of deaths in the past several months. "Arab militias believed to be employed by the [Sudanese government] ... roam freely in our area of responsibility, threatening and killing anybody against the interests of the government," he told Antonio Guterres, the visiting UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
An AU police commander, who did not give his name, told the same briefing that the militias committed crimes from banditry to rape and Sudanese police did not arrest them.
The government denies any connection with the militias, known locally as Janjaweed and blamed for many of the attacks on villages inhabited by non-Arab farming communities. It says they are outlaws and that it takes action against them when it can. Soko said one area where the rebel presence has added to the violence in recent months was around Sirba, about 45km north of El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur state. "[This has] resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives of Sudanese government personnel, rebels and civilians," he said. "These areas are no-go areas to AU personnel due to threats by the NRF [the rebel National Redemption Front]," he said.
The NRF is one of the Darfur rebel groups that have refused to sign the peace agreement signed in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, last year by the government and the main rebel group.
Soko listed a number of obstacles facing the AU troops, including the lack of good roads, attack helicopters, night-vision devices and adequate funding. The 5 000 African troops have not been able to bring law and order in Darfur but the Sudanese government has rejected attempts to bring in a large force under UN auspices.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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If the UN was going to do anything about this I'm thinking they would have by now.
China has sizeable interests in Sudan, so you won't get anything out of the Security Council.
#2
Float a nuke down the Nile and detonate it in Khartoum. No one will ever be able to determine where it came from. There will be a nice new lake on the Nile, and one set of cataracts will disappear. There will be a lot less violence in eastern Africa, from Chad to Ethiopia, and down into Kenya and Uganda.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/26/2007 13:01 Comments ||
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The African Union peacekeeping force in West Darfur told the United Nations on Wednesday that Arab militias were killing and pillaging in the region without arrests by the Sudanese authorities.
Isn't this the same basic African Union that couldn't bring themselves to condemn Mugabe? Am I detecting a pattern of total incompetence here? Yet, these fuckwits have the utter gall to bewail each increasingly ghastly turn of events even as they refuse to do anything constructive.
This is why Africa is swirling down the porcelain bowl. May they all rot in hell.
#4
Float a nuke down the Nile and detonate it in Khartoum.
Back when the Darfur genocide began I called for a decapitating strike against Khartoum while its government was in full session. Then Rinse & Repeat as needed until there was some sign of progress. This needs to become a default policy in Iran, Syria, Pakistan and numerous other Islamic shitholes.
Ethiopia on Wednesday accused arch-foe Eritrea of supporting the rebels behind an attack on a remote Chinese-run oil field that killed 74 people, including nine Chinese workers. Eritrea immediately denied the claim -- the latest in a string of accusations and counter-accusations between the rival neighbours.
"The perpetrator of the terrorist attack ... is the self-styled Ogaden National Liberation Front [ONLF], a terrorist wing that is part of the front of destruction led by the Eritrean government," the Ethiopian Information Ministry said in a statement.
Up to seven Chinese workers were kidnapped in Tuesday's dawn raid on the oil field in Ethiopia's eastern Ogaden region, where the rebel group is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis. "Hand-in-glove with the Eritrean government, which hates to see Ethiopia's development, the terrorist forces in the region have acted out this horrendous act of terror," the statement said.
Eritrea rejected the accusations, claiming Addis Ababa was seeking to trigger a war. "The accusations are baseless," Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu said. "They want to create a pretext to take belligerent measures against Eritrea."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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What? no bodies to look at for uniforms or insignia?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/26/2007 6:22 Comments ||
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Makes sense for them to say so. They have nothing to gain from having the Chicoms pissed off at them.
Confidential sources have revealed that four young men, whose age ranges from 20 to 23 years, have left their district situated in El Oued ( south of Algeria) to join Iraqi resistance. Same sources indicated that three of them are students while the fourth one is jobless. They added that their parents have informed security services of their disappearance, with their passports, but security services have affirmed that the young men have not left the country yet, and suspected them of joining the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, GSPC.
According to sources the number of young men who have joined the Iraqi resistance reaches 60 since three years, some of them have died there. National gendarmerie services have dismantled many cells specialized in recruitment and arrested their members.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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"three of them are students while the fourth one is jobless"
So all of them are jobless. And presumably the 'students' are in the 'Islamic Studies' program. Thus this jihad thing is like a 'class trip'.
Yemen has decided to shut down all private shops trading in arm and explosives throughout the country. This decision was made by the Yemeni government in its official weekly meeting, which was headed by the Yemeni Prime Minster, Ali Mujur.
The government attributed its decision to the fact that these shops contribute to the illegal trafficking and circulation of these weapons. The Yemeni government stressed the need for strict implementation of the resolution and has formed a committee headed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Dr. Rashid al Alimi, that will be responsible for its implementation.
Specialized field committees are being formed to receive requests from those wanting to trade their personally owned arms or who want to repair them. These requests will be required to be submitted to the Ministry of Interior, which in turn grants those seeking permission to trade their weapons and ammunition a months duration to obtain the required license. The government has warned that those who do not abide by the resolution will have all the weapons, ammunition and explosives in their possession confiscated.
Headed by the Yemeni prime minister, the governmental committee entrusted with the implementation of this measure also includes Brigadier General Muhammad Nasir Ahmad; Minister of Finance, Noman al Suhaibi and the Minister of Local Administration, Abdul-Qader Hilal.
There are several markets in Yemen for arms dealing the most famous of which is the one in the Saada province wherein a number of districts have witnessed savage clashes between the government and the al Houthi group over the past three months. Also popular is the Jahana market, which lies 40 kilometers east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa. There is a less known market in the Jahran district in the Dhamar province, which is located 70 kilometers south of Sanaa.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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How, exactly do you do that in a country where the nearest they can come to disarming is to insist that men remove the magazines from their weapons before entering the capital city Sana'a. since all males over 14 have at least two, who's got time to check?
Myanmar and North Korea, two of Asia's most repressive regimes, signed an agreement Thursday to resume diplomatic ties during a visit to Myanmar by the North Korean vice foreign minister, an official said. Myanmar severed diplomatic relations with North Korea in 1983, following a fatal bombing blamed on North Korean commandos during a visit to Yangon by former South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan. The two countries have been quietly working to normalize relations for the past few years. The two governments routinely meet at regional meetings, and Myanmar has reportedly bought weapons from North Korea.
Myanmar's deputy foreign minister, Kyaw Thu, told reporters the agreement to restore ties was signed Thursday morning on the second day of the three-day visit by North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il, whose trip had been cloaked in secrecy. It is now up to Pyongyang whether it will open diplomatic offices in Myanmar, Kyan Thu said.
Both Myanmar and North Korea have been widely criticized for their authoritarian governments, with Myanmar drawing censure especially for its detention of political opponents, including Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. North Korea has drawn international condemnation for its refusal to abandon its nuclear weapons program. In 2005, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice listed Myanmar and North Korea as among the six countries that were "outposts of tyranny."
The South Korean president was unhurt in the 1983 bombing, but 21 people were killed, including four South Korean Cabinet ministers.Three North Korean commandos involved in the bombing were detained - one was hung, a second blew himself up during his arrest and a third remains in prison.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2007 08:10 ||
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So East-Asia's most-corrupt tin-pot dictator with nukes is teaming up with East-Asia's most-corrupt tin-pot Junta without nukes? Sounds like a match made in heaven!
Coincidentally, neither nation has any significant industrial base... other than counterfeiting and drug production.
#3
The good news here is that Myanmar/Burma is still very much akin to unified VIETNAM in being ANTI-EVERYBODY or ANTI-CHICOM. Its not too late for the USA.
SEOUL - North Korea celebrated with a grand parade on Wednesday the 75th birthday of its invincible army, which experts say is capable of dealing a quick and devastating blow, but is hollow at the core.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il reviewed the parade of military hardware, and goose-stepping soldiers through central Pyongyang, waving to the enthusiastically cheering crowds from a balcony, North Koreas KCNA news agency said. Our military and people need to join forces, holding big faith in great leader Kim Jong-il, Kim Kyok-sik, chief of staff for the Korean Peoples Army, standing by Kim Jong-il, said in a statement broadcast on state television.
Columns of rocket units also went past the tribune of honour, demonstrating the invincible might of the KPA equipped with modern offensive and defensive means, KCNA said. It was not clear if those units included the Taepodong 2 rocket.
With nearly 1.2 million soldiers, the secretive communist state today has one of the largest standing forces on the planet. But the crippled economy has left the military short of food for its soldiers as well as lacking fuel and parts for its tanks, planes and ships. The army would not last long in a prolonged conflict with superior forces such as the US military, but it could inflict a lot of damage before falling, experts say. North Korea can provoke a war and has the military power to cause initial damage, but does not have the ability to carry out and win the war, said Baek Seung-joo, a military expert at the Souths Korea Institute for Defence Analyses.
South Koreas defence ministry said the North had amassed more than 13,000 pieces of artillery and multiple rocket launchers, many of them aimed at Seoul. Janes International Defence Review estimates if North Korea launched an all-out barrage, it could achieve an initial fire rate of 300,000 to 500,000 shells an hour into the Seoul area, home to half the countrys 49 million people.
North Korea also has some 800 ballistic missiles behind its artillery array, one of the largest such arsenals in the world.
The average North Korean soldier lives in squalid conditions that reflect the poverty of the country, but may have a few more perks than the average worker.
North Korea admits to economic shortcomings, but says the military will still triumph. A rosy future is in store for the people, who though not fed well, give priority to the development of the defence industry, build their army into a strong one and convert their whole country into an impregnable fortress, KCNA said.
Kims power stems from his position as the chairman of the National Defence Commission. His late father, Kim Il-sung, is the countrys eternal president and his portraits festooned Kim Il Sung Square, where the parade was held, KCNA said. The National Defence Commission has the people who have Kim Jong-ils utmost trust and those he needs, said Jeung Young-tae of the Korea Institute for National Unification.
The old KCNA writer we knew and loved must be no more, this stuff doesn't get a '3' on my scale.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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They don't need food. They'll pillage along the way. Keeps the soldiers motivated.
#3
A rosy future is in store for the people, who though not fed well, give priority to the development of the defence industry, build their army into a strong one and convert their whole country into an impregnable fortress, KCNA said.
Damn.. how bad is the food situation if official propaganda media actually says that the people are "not fed well"?
The North Korean military lowered height requirements for adult male conscripts from 4 feet, 11 inches to 4 feet, 2 inches due to widespread malnutrition.
Posted by: John Frum ||
04/26/2007 7:14 Comments ||
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North Korea can provoke a war and has the military power to cause initial damage, but does not have the ability to carry out and win the war, said Baek Seung-joo, a military expert at the Souths Korea Institute for Defence Analyses.
All they have to do is keep going until until Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi demand a timetable for withdrawal of American forces from the Korean Penninsula.
The head of the U.S. anti-missile program says North Korea is helping Iran develop missiles that could reach Europe. We know that they are collaborating, Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told reporters at a press conference April 23 at the U.S. Embassy in Prague.
U.S. officials say a missile-defense system, with missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic, would protect Europe in the event that Iran developed long-range ballistic missiles.
Obering said the United States believes Iran could have such weapons in four to five years, based on the pattern North Korea established when it developed its long-range missiles. Furthermore, he said, despite arms-reductions deals, these types of weapons have continued to proliferate throughout the world.
Obering was in the Czech Republic to meet with President Václav Klaus, officials from the Defense Ministry and lawmakers. The purpose of my visit is to share as much information as I possibly can, Obering said during the brief press conference.
His visit, which comes after a similar trip to Poland earlier in the week, coincides with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates trip to Moscow to allay Russian concerns about the plan. Gates floated a plan to link Russian and U.S. missile-defense systems in an attempt to quell staunch Russian opposition. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that if the United States stations the shield in Eastern Europe, Russia would develop a system to overcome it.
Talks between the two countries will continue over the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg was in Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Rice is expected to travel to Norway later in the week to discuss the proposed missile shield with NATO allies. Sounds like a full-court press.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/26/2007 15:54 Comments ||
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"Russia would develop a system to overcome it" > once again proving Russia has no covert intentions vv post-WARPACT unified Europe. The WARSAW PACT nations were sovereign and independent from the USSR, don't ya know.
For three years Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali galvanized Dutch society with a frank account of her traumatic past and her conviction that Islam is a violent, misogynous religion. That conviction led to death threats, the murder of her associate, filmmaker Theo van Gogh and, her critics say, the alienation of precisely those she aimed to engage as relations between Muslims and non-Muslims deteriorated as never before.
Now almost a year since the former Dutch parliamentarian hit headlines worldwide for admitting she lied to gain asylum in the Netherlands, many of the Dutch-Muslim women Hirsi Ali sought to stir and inspire state bluntly they are relieved she is gone.
"I am glad that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is gone, because now the tone has softened, it has become less extreme and tensions have eased," said Nermin Altintas, who runs an education centre for migrant women. Hirsi Ali is held responsible by many in the Muslim community for "Islamising" the Netherlands' migrants, polarizing communities and diverting attention from those trying to boost integration in what they see as a more constructive approach.
"Let her call one woman forward and show how she really helped her," said Famile Arslan, a 35-year-old family lawyer. "We worked for 10, 15, 20 years to help emancipate Muslim women... and she stole the respect we should have had as grass- roots movements working for change."
But Hirsi Ali's former spokeswoman, Ingrid Pouw, who worked with her during her time in the Dutch parliament said she received many messages of support from Muslim women, who said they were too afraid to go public. "She often had messages from women, sometimes with violent husbands, saying 'please go on'," Pouw said.
#1
This fate waits for those uppity Islamic women. Hirsi Ali is exactly right. And where are the voices of the so-called American feminists on this issue? Bueller? Anyone?
#7
Van Gogh is literally dead and Hirsi Ali's voice is deadened because it has been exported. Things are once again quiet, allowing the Muslims to do their takeover in silence. It is spell-binding to observe entire societies meekly stand around and watch their utter destruction. The Dutch welcome these outsiders and surrender meekly. Same with the Swedes and British. France has tried balkanization but that has only created states within the parent state. Germany backslides more each day. Only the Danes have seen the peril and are beginning a backlash. They are a very small island like Israel in the Muslim ocean. This really is chilling to observe. It could be useful to us if we look at it with the eyes of realism. We must outlaw the Islamic Party. It is every bit as dangerous as the Nazi or Communist Parties.
#8
How dare she say true things. It's not like its a free country.
Twenty years of work at "emancipating" Muslim women and Ms. Arslan has nada, zippo, bupkis to show for it and apparantly prefers it that way. Let's pick on the uppity one making all the fuss. She should shut up like the rest of us, if she knew what was good for her.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
04/26/2007 13:14 Comments ||
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#9
"No good deed goes unpunished"!
Posted by: Boss Shusoth4259 ||
04/26/2007 16:29 Comments ||
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diverting attention from those trying to boost integration - Nermin Altintas has tipped her hand here, no ?
She, like a good little sheep intends to populate the Netherlands with little muzzies, as she was instructed. And now, Nermin has come out against Hirsi Ali...no stoning for her today.
#11
"I am glad that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is gone, because now the tone has softened, it has become less extreme and tensions have eased,"
Without Ali to hold the Muslims' feet to the fire, of course "tensions have eased". However, this says nothing about any ongoing slow jihad in the Netherlands. In that department I'm quite sure it's still "business as usual".
A civil rights lawyer convicted of helping an imprisoned terrorist sheik communicate with his disciples was disbarred Tuesday. The New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division denied Lynne Stewart's request to voluntarily resign from the practice of law.
Stewart was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to terrorists. She had released a statement issued by one of her clients, Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind sheik sentenced to life in prison for plotting to blow up five New York landmarks and assassinate Egypt's president.
The appellate panel said Stewart became subject to losing her law license immediately upon being convicted of a felony. Her request to resign was in a letter dated Nov. 14, 2006, after she was convicted, and therefore could not be accepted, the court said.
Stewart was convicted of one count each of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorist activity and providing and concealing material support to terrorist activity. She also was convicted of two counts of making false statements.
The state appellate court said the federal convictions of making a false statement were analogous to a state felony statute against filing a false written statement. "Accordingly, the federal convictions provide a proper predicate for automatic disbarment," the appellate judges wrote.
Stewart's appellate lawyer, Joshua Dratel, declined to comment on the disbarment ruling. But, he said, if a lawyer's felony conviction were reversed the disbarment could be vacated and the lawyer reinstated to practice law.
Stewart was sentenced to 28 months in prison. Government prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 30 years. U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl has permitted her to remain free pending federal appeal.
#4
CNS > Muslim Amer activists-groups are complaining about a PBS documentary [PBS has decided to cancel showing on TV for mow] which purportedly shows that dedicated Muslims are intent on creating a parallel culture-society within America as subject only to SHARIA, NOT TO ANY OTHER NON-MUSLIM =NON-ISLAM BASED AUTHORITY.
IRONY > PBS is being criticized for failure to support FREE SPEECH + INADEQUATE?MISLEADING DEPICTION OF "TRUE" MUSLIM AGENDA IN AMERICA.
#6
Does this schedule sound like someone who is ill and enfeebled and thus cannot serve a longer sentence?
-------------------------------------------------
Thursday, April 26 - Pastors for Peace - event at St. Mary???s Church 126th Street, Manhattan
7 p.m.
Sunday, April 29WBAI Fundraiser - Click here for Flyer (PDF)
Food Service: 5:30 to 6:30 Welcome and introduction of Lynne Stewart, 6:30 to 6:45
Jay Mankita: 6:45 to 7:15 Vic Skolnick, Lynne Stewart & Bernard White to speak and pick winner of Clearwater festival pass for two, 7:15 to 7:45
Monday, April 30 - Geoffrey Blank sentencing, 100 Centre Street, Manhattan Rally before court 9:00 A.M. Freedom of Speech case.
Tuesday, May 1st - Union Square, 14th Street, Manhattan, Rally for Immigrant Rights 4 p.m.
Saturday, May 5th - Lynne Stewart guests on the Steve Lendman News & Information Hour . It is an hour of fact-filled information on vital world and national issues with occasional guests as able and listener call-ins each Saturday at noon US Central Time / 10 AM Pacific at The Micro Effect.com
Saturday, May 5th - St. Mark???s Church in the Bowery - 2007 Annual Patron Block Party. East 11th Street between 2nd & 3rd Aves. NYC - Lynne Stewart D.C. solidarity table.
Thursday, May 10th - Lynne to speak at LaGuardia College - The Little Theatre - 31-10 Thompson Ave., L.I.C. New York 1 p.m.
Friday, May 11th 5-11, 5 p.m. ??? Chicago welcomes Lynne Stewart: Reception (Lynne Stewart will share podium w/ Erica Thompson, People???s Law Office, trial counsel on Salah) The Law Offices of Kinoy, Taren, & Garaghty, 224 S. Michigan Av., 312-663-5210 Light hors d???oeuvres & whatnot.
Saturday May 12th Lynne Stewart to join a symposium on torture. Details to be announced The location: Wright College (http://wright.ccc.edu/): 4300 North Narragansett, Chicago, IL 60634.
Monday, May 14th , 5:30PM Join Lynne Stewart: Book Party to celebrate the release of : Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine, by Joel Kovel & We Begin Here: Poems for Palestine and Lebanon Edited by Kamal Boullata and Kathy Engel
Place: Mamlouk 211 East 4th Street Joel Kovel, Kathy Engel and others will read from their works.
Tuesday, May 15th Rally, Fulton & Broadway, SEIU organizing better pay and working conditions for security guards. Contact Saul Nieves for details 212-388-2172
----------------------------------------------
I thought not.
Posted by: DanNY ||
04/26/2007 9:26 Comments ||
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#7
Don't wanna hear you complaining about this, you ugly bitch, seeing how you oughta be hanging at the end of a rope...
#8
I detect a pattern here--women with the name Stewart doing time. At least Martha was a little more acceptable--except for when she recommended sending your kids to school with quail eggs in their lunch.
#9
"He said, if a lawyer's felony conviction were reversed the disbarment could be vacated and the lawyer reinstated to practice law." I will give him odds on the not happening and he can bet all he can afford to lose.
#10
Disbarrment should only be the beginning. I want to see this pariah on a street corner begging with a tin cup. Better yet, ship her off to Saudi Arabia. Let her enjoy the real fruits of her work.
#1
I haven't decided who I'm supporting in the primaries yet--my theoretical ideal isn't running (he never does) and I want to see what Thompson does--but there's things to like about McCain. For one thing, he gets the One Big Thing (the war) right. For another, he's not afraid to give the likes of Murtha what's coming to them.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/26/2007 15:28 Comments ||
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#2
McCain was "absent" for today's vote on the war. Shameful. I was listening to him yesterday on a conservative talk show and he was talking like Mr. Tough Guy and I thought he sounded great. But then I remembered that during his last campaigns he did the same thing, but once elected he cuddled up to the left and failed in all meaningful reform such as immigration, talking about how the war was mismanaged, campaign finance reform, etc.
I hate to say it, but the fact that he missed this very important vote was the final straw for me. I have always, very much, wanted to believe in McCain. But today he proved he is little more than a phony, shameless opportunist.
#3
AT: IIRC, there was another critical vote in the not too distant past where Mr. Big Mouth did the same no show act. At least with a POS like Murtha, you know what he's about, McKerry you don't.
#4
MCCAIN [paraphrased] > US withdrawal from Iraq will lead not only to local GENOCIDE and other chaos, as thousands or millions of innocent people are now made subject to the whims of victorious Terrorists, but will lead also to Terrorists following us back here to America.
We are one signature away from ending the Iraq War. President Bush must listen to the will of the American people and sign this bill so that our troops can come home.
A better way of putting it would be, "We're one signature away from yet another self-inflicted American defeat."
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/26/2007 19:39 ||
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With lower approval ratings than the Presidents' (and that's pretty low), Congress represents at best about 1/3rd of the people in this country at this time. What in the blue bloody hell makes them think they speak for all of us?
#2
FOTS:
Re. "What in the blue bloody hell makes them think they speak for all of us?"
They're in office, and you're not. And the system is gamed towards the incumbents. So when they speak for themselves, for practical purposes they speak for all of us, like it or not.
#4
As I read this, I kept feeling that this is another repeat of the Vietnam War. But not in the manner of how the leftist portrayed it. The Congress back then, forced a retreat by cutting the funding sources to the troops, and leaving the South Vietnamese to the less then tender ministrations of the Communist North. I wonder how many congressmen serving back then during the Vietnam Era voted in support of this nonsense. The politicians have learned nothing.
More ever, Osama Bin Laden and his minions had been expecting this to happen and was counting on the politicians see this eventually happen.
#5
"A better way of putting it would be, 'We're one signature away from yet another self-inflicted American defeat.'"
No, the correct way of putting it is, "We are one signature away from giving over millions of Iraqis and others in the Middle East and Afghanistan to mass slaughter by Iran terrorists. But it's worth it if it damages the Republicans, and especially George Bush. Anyway, it's not like the Iraqis are white can vote for us or anything."
F*ck the traitorous weasels who voted for this. And the camels their Saudi and far-left loony bribes they rode in on.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/26/2007 21:13 Comments ||
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#6
"So that our troops can come home" > okay-y-y, but JUAN WILLIAMS + ALAN COLMES on FOX have both said, as I understand them, that the Dems intent is only to end active US-led combat or ground operations in Iraq, likely at worst to reduce the scale of US force levels in Iraq-ME, NOT TO COMPLETELY WITHDRAW OR PULL OUT, although JUAN did later say on FOX TV the USA should just up and "PULL-OUT".
This is just more indicia/evidencia that its the US DEMS/DEMOLEF WHOM ARE IN IDEO + POLITICAL
"QUAGMIRE", THAT POLITIX + PC HAS REACHED SUCH A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL "CRITICAL MASS", INCLUDING IN NATIONAL POLITICS, THAT DE FACTO HARM OR DESTRUCTION TO AMER NATIONAL-GLOBAL INTERESTS IS PREFERRED TO LOSING POLITICAL POWER OR ADVANTAGE.
Their agendas and -isms are so perverted and convoluted they can't tell right from wrong, an enemy from a friend, good or evil, etc. anymore. JACK BAUER + "24" > EXISTENCE + LIFE IS ONLY THE NEXT 24 HOURS, OR LESS, FROM DESTRUCTION.
#8
Glenmore said They're in office, and you're not. And the system is gamed towards the incumbents. So when they speak for themselves, for practical purposes they speak for all of us, like it or not.
No, they do NOT! It is the American people's duty to inform them of the error of their ways when they assume such dictatorial authority and/or to remove them from office, by force if necessary, under the Constitution.
When Constitutional officers refuse to abide by their Constitutional duties and no longer represent the will of the American people, the Constitution obligates the people (and the military, not coincidentally) to act to restore the will of the people.
The problem currently is that 99% of the people of this country have the same attitude that Glenmore has stated here and are unwilling to act in the fashion necessary to insure Constitutional officers act in a proper and responsible manner and in such as fashion as will insure they actually do represent the will of those they are ostensibly supposed to represent.
As Jefferson said (paraphrased), a little revolution every now and then might not be all that bad.
When a representative government represents less than 1/3rd of the people it governs that government is no longer representative and that revolution is not far behind IMO.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A defiant Democratic-controlled Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, propelling Congress toward a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war. The 51-46 vote was largely along party lines, and like House passage of the same bill a day earlier, fell far short of the two-thirds margin needed to overturn the president's threatened veto.
So now the real fun begins.
Republicans said the vote amounted to little more than political theater because the bill would be dead on arrival after reaching the White House. Bush said he will veto the bill so long as it contains a timetable on Iraq, as well as $20 billion in spending added by Democrats. "The solution is simple: Take out the surrender date, take out the pork, and get the funds to our troops," said Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Republicans Gordon Smith of Oregon and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska sided with 48 Democrats and Independent Bernard Sanders in supporting the bill. No Democrats joined the 45 Republicans in voting against it. Missing from the vote were GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both staunch advocates of the president's Iraq policy.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., sided with Republicans in opposing the bill. "We delude ourselves if we think we can wave a legislative wand and suddenly our troops in the field will be able to distinguish between al-Qaida terrorism or sectarian violence. Or that Iraqis will suddenly settle their political differences because our troops are leaving," Lieberman said.
Democrats said the bill was on track to arrive on the president's desk by Tuesday, the anniversary of Bush's announcement aboard the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln that major combat operations in Iraq had ended. Bush since has acknowledged that the war has not progressed as he had hoped. After the November elections in which Democrats swept up enough seats to take the majority, he announced a new strategy that involved sending additional forces to Iraq.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that if Democratic lawmakers timed the sending of the bill to the anniversary of Bush's speech, it would be "a ridiculous P.R. stunt." "That is the height of cynicism, and absolutely so unfortunate for the men and women in uniform and their families who are watching the debate," she said Thursday morning.
And now we know why the Dhimmis delayed putting the bill through.
In the House, two RepublicansReps. Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland and Walter Jones of North Carolinajoined 216 Democrats in passing the bill. Voting no were 195 Republicans and 13 Democrats.
Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said Democrats were still considering what to do after Bush's veto. One option would be funding the war through September as Bush wants but setting benchmarks that the Iraqi government must meet, he said. Murtha chairs the House panel that oversees military funding. "I think everything that passes will have some sort of condition (placed) on it," he said. Ultimately, Murtha added, the 2008 military budget considered by Congress in June "is where you'll see the real battle," he said.
That's where the Dhimmis will be their worst.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2007 13:55 ||
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#1
A day that will live in infamy. Voting for defeat and pork.
#4
I have to wonder: given the horrific damage to our credibility that would result if we walked away from Iraq as the Democrats wish-- worse, IMO, than when we walked away from Vietnam-- how much of that damage has already occurred, just from their constant threats to force an end to the war?
What would we have to do to re-establish that credibility?
And even more shuddersome, what would we have to do to re-establish a measure of deterrance against further terrorist attacks on American soil?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/26/2007 15:28 Comments ||
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#5
Since Bush is a lame duck... If any of his campaign funds or specialty PACS have any money left they need to start a massive add campaign in magazines and TV (not news channels) EQUATING DEMOCRATS to TRAITORS and worse.
Take it to the damn edge past acceptable..
Not Rep party money or PACS but the Prez's.
Burn them for the next 50 years. That's what a lame duck can do!
#6
The Terrorists are going to feed into the propaganda machine and have fun with this. This will give them more incentive to be more aggressive against Western interests, Military initiatives and Western partners. This will appear to them that the West is a Paper Tiger and nothing else. A bad day all around for everyone.
They must be breaking out the champagne and music at the Daily Kos and others of their ilk.
I will be waiting for Maliki's statement next from Iraq and combat vets in place over there. The sh*t must be hitting the fan right about now.
Posted by: Boss Shusoth4259 ||
04/26/2007 15:52 Comments ||
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#10
Yep, DMFD, it's happening again, and it's the same people doing it. Cowardly bastards.
Posted by: Mac ||
04/26/2007 23:06 Comments ||
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#11
Ol' Gordie makes a guy proud to be an Oregonian NOT! .. Talk about a gutless S.O.B. I think Smith has made it to the top of my 'despised' politicians list at long last. How does one go about replacing a jackass like this?
Posted by: Dave S ||
04/26/2007 23:22 Comments ||
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Pakistan is reverberating with the call of jihad. Taliban-style militias are spreading rapidly out from provinces in the far north-west. The danger to the country and to the rest of the world is escalating
"You must understand," says Maulana Sami ul-Haq, "that Pakistan and Islam are synonymous." The principal of Darul Uloom Haqqania, a seminary in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a tall and jovial man. He grabs my hand as he takes me round the seminary. Maulana ul-Haq laughs when I ask his views on jihad. "It is the duty of all Muslims to support those groups fighting against oppression," he says.
The Haqqania is one of the largest madrasas in Pakistan. It produces about 3,000 graduates, most from exceptionally poor backgrounds, every year. The walls of the student dormitory are decorated with tanks and Kalashnikovs. A group of students, all with black beards, white turbans and grey dresses, surrounds me. They are curious and extremely polite. We chat under the watchful eye of two officers from Pakistan's intelligence services. What would they do after they graduate, I ask. "Serve Islam," they reply in unison. "We will dedicate our lives to jihad."
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
Asma Jahangir, chairwoman of Pakistan's Human Rights Commission
Benazir Bhutto
Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry
Islamabad-based security analyst Dr Ayesha Siddiqa
MAULANA SAMI UL HAQ
Darul Uloom Haqqania
Nawaz Sharif
Rahimullah Yusufzai, Peshawar-based columnist on the News
Rashed Rahman, executive editor of the Lahore-based Post newspaper
#2
We chat under the watchful eye of two officers from Pakistan's intelligence services
That's the money graf in this article. The ISI and Soddy financing are the key ingredients in jihad. We need to stop both.
An Islamic rebel group in Indian Kashmir has demanded that Internet cafes demolish closed-door cabins for users, claiming they are being used for licentious purposes. The Al Badr Mujahideen group, which has claimed responsibility for many attacks on Indian troops, issued no deadline and did not say what action it would take if its demands were disobeyed. The cabins in Internet cafes facilitate immoral activities. They should be abolished, the group said in a telephone statement to Current News Service, a local media agency. There are hundreds of Internet cafes throughout the Himalayan state and many have cabins with doors and room for two people to sit. Police said they had received complaints in the past that couples were viewing pornographic sites and behaving in an intimate fashion in the cabins. Last year, Dukhtaran-e-Milat raided some Internet cafes and destroyed equipment to prevent, what it said, were immoral activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal General Secretary Maulana Fazlur Rahman on Wednesday backed resolution of the Kashmir issue through dialogue, but said that Pakistani people were not yet ready to accept the Line of Control (LoC) as a permanent border. There is no indication that we are close to a solution. No report has been presented in parliament. It hasnt been discussed with us, Rahman, also leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, told IANS in an interview. Its hard to say whether the talks are going on well or not. People of Pakistan are not ready to accept the LoC as a permanent border, Rahman said in response to a question about Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuris remarks that India and Pakistan were close to an agreement on Kashmir.
Kashmir is one of the crucial issues. Some call it a big issue while others call it a core issue. Both (Pakistani and Indian) regimes are engaged in resolving this issue. We support this move, said the leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, a major component of the MMA. Kashmir solution should be one acceptable to all parties including Kashmiris, Rahman said, when asked what would be an ideal solution to the Kashmir dispute that has been the cause of two of the three major wars between India and Pakistan.
Rahman, who represents the influential conservative establishment in Pakistan, is, however, upbeat about the health of the three-year-old peace process between the two countries. The peace process is going on well and has become strong regardless of who is in power. All parties are in favour of resolving the issue through dialogue. Issues should be resolved through dialogue, he stressed. The situation has improved over the last five years. The temperature has come down and the ice over old issues is thawing. The security situation is better, he said, while pressing for a reduction of Indian troops in Kashmir. He welcomed development of a joint India-Pakistan anti-terror mechanism, but evaded a direct answer when asked about his views on cross-border terror.
Rahman came to India on Sunday night to take part in a seminar on eminent Muslim scholar and parliamentarian Maulana Asad Madani. He sounded vague about a reported deal between former prime minister Benazir Butto and President Pervez Musharraf that would see her return to Pakistan. There are different kinds of reports. We dont want to isolate Ms Bhutto. If she wants to isolate herself, thats her choice. We want a grand opposition alliance, said Rahman, sporting his trademark orange turban.
Rahman protested the move by President Musharraf to get himself re-elected through the incumbent parliament and assemblies. It is unconditional. All opposition parties should be consulted, he said. Suspecting President Musharrafs claims regarding the restoration of democracy in Pakistan, Rahman said: Political struggle is required for a real democracy in Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), declared on Wednesday that the stand-off with Lal Masjid in the capital had been amicably resolved, but the mosques administration denied there had been a breakthrough in talks, saying several issues were yet to be resolved.
Shujaat told journalists at the National Assembly that all issues had been settled amicably during his talks with the clerics that head the mosque on Tuesday. They had two main demands; reconstruction of mosques and enforcement of Islamic Sharia, he told reporters, according to Reuters.
We have agreed to rebuild the mosques and as far as Islamic Sharia is concerned, Pakistan is an Islamic Republic and measures can be taken to improve the laws, he said.
The deputy chief cleric at Lal Masjid denied this. There is no such agreement, Abdul Rashid Ghazi said. There has been an understanding from the beginning that they will rebuild our mosques and enforce Islamic laws and in return students will vacate the library. We will hand over the library to an Islamic government. Sources told Online that Shujaat would brief the National Assembly on the details of his talks with the Lal Masjid administration today.
Meanwhile, the situation appeared unchanged at the Lal Masjid compound and its Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia madrassas.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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A newspaper warns that Jews and Christians are engaged in genocide against Muslims. A website says children should love guns instead of cricket. A video shows a child beheading a militant accused of betraying his comrades.
Despite government promises to crack down, hate-filled jihadist propaganda is thriving in Pakistan, especially in print and on the Internet. Critics say it is contributing to the demonisation of the West and the Talibanisation of Pakistan.
Some of the most vitriolic material is produced by affiliates of supposedly banned groups. I feel it has increased and the tone has become more hostile, said Mohammad Shahzad, who runs a media monitoring service in Pakistan for clients including think tanks and embassies. The level of extremism and fanaticism has gone up. Shahzad said there are no statistics on the output of extremist groups. However, examples are plentiful.
Tayyabat, a magazine for women published by Jamaatud Dawa says Pakistans support of the US war on terror amounts to surrendering to an America bent on eliminating Muslims. A white flag will not put out the fire from the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. They are thirsty for the Muslims blood, an article in February said.
A government ban against the al-Rashid trust, an Islamic charity proscribed in February for alleged links with terrorist groups, has failed to stop the associated Daily Islam newspaper from publishing in Karachi. Its content is not overtly militant, but often inflammatory. Jews, Christians and their allies are engaged in genocide of Muslims but Islam is spreading and its enemies are losing their nerve, a recent article said.
Hardline religious propaganda is still far from the mainstream in Pakistan, where the thriving private media have, in particular, revolutionised TV with more liberal programming. But as in other Muslim countries, the call for jihad, or holy war, against the West has also gained resonance here amid widespread anger over the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Abdullah Muntazir, spokesman for Jamaatud Dawa, defended the group as a peaceful organisation exercising its right to freedom of expression. He complained that anyone publishing anti-American material in Pakistan is immediately accused of promoting jihad. But many observers worry that Pakistans military-dominated government is doing too little to prevent extremists from publishing incendiary material that potentially drums up recruits and donations for militant attacks in Pakistan and beyond.
There are laws against hate speech. They havent even applied those, said Samina Ahmed, an analyst for the International Crisis Group. The fact that there are no curbs on them (extremists) or that the government backs down the moment there is the slightest resistance on the part of Islamic organisations has encouraged them to circulate their message.
Tariq Azeem, minister of state for information, defended the governments record against extremist media. He said any media promoting violence, including suicide bombings and sectarian attacks, were totally illegal and will not be tolerated.
Some action has been taken. Markets in key cities such as Peshawar and Karachi that openly stocked jihadist videos a year ago no longer do so - although some merchants still whisper they can get them on request. That is despite an increased output of videos promoting the stepped-up Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. In a shocking example last week, a video obtained by the Associated Press showed a boy beheading a Pakistani militant accused of betraying a top Taliban leader.
Azeem said the advent of the Internet and the ease with which pirate radio operators can change frequencies made it impossible to clamp down completely.
The website affiliated with the Al Qaida-linked group Jaish-e Mohammed - which was banned in 2002 - still lavishes praises on those who fight jihad. One recent post by a writer identified as Abu Khabib Mardanvi urged youngsters to shun the dirty and useless game of cricket and opt instead for militancy. I pray that God may staunch the love of the bat from the hearts of todays youth and bless them with love for the gun, he wrote.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday admitted that supporting Taliban was a big mistake on part of her government, the Geo television reported.
Addressing students at the London School of Economics (LSE), she said her government thought that Taliban could restore peace in Afghanistan but it did not happen. We made mistakes and so did others. We thought Taliban would restore peace, she said. Benazir said the real issue was not working with a military government but the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. She said only democratic governments could diminish extremism and terrorism.
The Pakistan Peoples Party Chairwoman suspected that 2007 elections in Pakistan would be rigged. She urged the world community to ensure free and independent elections. She said she was in favour of reforming the army. She said she would return Pakistan by the end of this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Bhutto's a marked woman now: A muslim woman admitting that an islamic government, gulp, was wrong.
#2
And that loose scarf. And no burqa. And where's her husband? And why isn't she home pregnant and taking care of the kids? The Taliban aren't going to like this one little bit!
The Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) staged a rally on Wednesday in Mandi Kas, some five kilometres from the Bara Bazaar, to protest the killing of four students in recent clashes. Most of the rally participants were armed youths, while the speakers condemned the killings of students and demanded the government let Mufti Munir Shakir live in Bara.
Protesters passed a resolution calling for restoration of peace in the area through a jirga. They also demanded the government reconstruct the LIs demolished centres. Haji Amal Gul Afridi, belonging to Malak Din Khel tribe and chief of an organisation called Sarishta, told Daily Times that the recent clash between the LI and government had disturbed the law and order situation in Bara, and that the government was responsible for the present state of affairs. The LI is playing its due role to maintain peace in Bara, he added.
Asim Afridi, a shopkeeper, said his daily sales had plummeted from Rs 30,000 to Rs 15,000 after the recent clashes, adding that students should not be involved in politics.
Saifud Din, who runs a public call office, said the crisis had massively affected his business and that the government was responsible for it. A taxi driver, requesting anonymity, told Daily Times that the situation in Bara had started worsening when several organisations emerged in the area. He said the LI workers had forced drivers to hoist LIs black flags on their vehicles lest they should be fined.
LI Commander Mohamad Tayyeb said Benazir Bhutto should review her statement condemning the LI activities, lest her party should suffer in the Khyber Agency. Our protest will continue till Mufti Munir is back in Bara and demolished markets are reconstructed, said Tayyab, adding that the government had agreed in a jirga to hand over the house of Pir Saifur Rehman to the LI, and that they had 30 witnesses to bear out this agreement. Setting up check posts, fining people and burning down a criminals house are part of the Khyber Agencys tribal customs, and we fine only those people against whom we have valid complaints, said the Lashkar commander, adding that the LI had not instigated students to come to streets.
This article starring:
Asim Afridi, a shopkeeper
Haji Amal Gul Afridi
MOHAMAD TAIYEB
Lashkar-e-Islam
MUFTI MUNIR SHAKIR
Lashkar-e-Islam
Pir Saifur Rehman
Saifud Din, who runs a public call office
Lashkar-e-Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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NORTH COUNTY -- The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is denying its agents did anything improper when they interrogated Marines in the 2005 slaying of two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha. On Tuesday, attorneys representing a senior officer charged in the case, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, asked Navy Secretary Donald Winter for an investigation based on complaints the agents mistreated Camp Pendleton Marines during interviews conducted in Iraq last year.
Ed Buice, a spokesman for the investigative service, has since issued a written statement to the North County Times denying any improper conduct by the Navy's law enforcement agency. "Naval Criminal Investigative Service practices are wholly consistent with legal and constitutional requirements and conform to federal law," Buice said in the statement. Lt. Ryan Perry, a spokesman for Winter's office in Washington, said the complaint from Chessani's attorneys would be examined and that the secretary would have no comment beyond the statement issued by Buice.
The letter sent to Winter's office contends that agents mistreated some of the witnesses and some of those ultimately charged in several ways. Some of the Marines were subject to questioning for as long as 18 hours and denied anything to eat or drink or use the bathroom, according to Chessani's attorneys. Other complaints include accusations that the agents yelled and threw things at the Marines and approached the case from the point of view that crimes had been committed.
Chessani is charged with two counts of dereliction of duty and one count of violation of a lawful order for his role in conducting the initial investigation of what occurred in Haditha. His attorneys say he examined the scene of the killings on the day they took place, Nov. 19, 2005, and again the next day. His report filed with the Marine Corps chain of command in Iraq at the time reflected precisely what he knew, the attorneys say.
A hearing for Chessani is set to take place in a Camp Pendleton courtroom starting in late May. His case will be the first among the seven Haditha defendants to reach court. Three other officers, 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson and Capts. Lucas McConnell and Randy Stone, face similar charges. Three enlisted men, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich and Lance Cpls. Justin Sharratt and Stephen Tatum face murder charges.
The Marine Corps charged the men from Camp Pendleton's 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment on Dec. 21. All the accused maintain they are not guilty. One of the enlisted men originally charged, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz, saw five homicide counts filed against him withdrawn earlier this month in exchange for his testimony during the upcoming court hearings. As many as seven other Marines, including a first lieutenant, also have been granted immunity.
Case is beginning to smell like ripe fish.
The killings took place after a roadside bomb destroyed a Humvee, killing a lance corporal. None of the slain, who included several women and children, was determined to have been an insurgent.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2007 08:30 ||
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#1
These men have already been found guilty in the court of world opinion. Any result to the contrary by Navy investigation or Court Martial (or even actual helmet camera footage!) will be held as 'yet another example of Administration cover-up.'
#2
Let's remember the NCIS' high points like, the battleship Iowa case -
"On 19 April 1989, an explosion ripped through the Number Two 16 inch gun turret, killing 47 crewmen. Sailors quickly flooded the #2 powder magazine, likely preventing catastrophic damage to the ship. At first, the NCIS investigators theorized that one of the dead crewman, Clayton Hartwig, had detonated an explosive device in a suicide attempt after the end of an alleged homosexual affair with another sailor. This theory was later abandoned and Hartwig cleared. The cause of the explosion, though never determined with certainty, is generally believed to have been static electricity igniting loose powder.
Testing at Dalhgren, Virginia Naval Surface Warfare Center of powder in the same lot was able to reproduce spontaneous combustion of the powder, which had been originally milled in the 1930's and stored during a 1988 dry-docking of the Iowa in a barge at the Navy's Yorktown, Virginia Naval Weapons Station. Gun powder gives off ether gas as it degrades; the ether is highly flammable, and could be ignited by a spark."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_%28BB-61%29#1985-2001
Abandoned only after outside pressure forced the reexamination of the particulars. In October 1991, after Congress forced the Navy to reopen the investigation and scientists at Sandia National Laboratories determined that an overram could have caused the blast, the chief of naval operations, Adm. Frank B. Kelso III, publicly apologized to the Hartwig family. He said there was no proof that Hartwig had deliberately detonated the powder bags.
#4
My surprise meter jumped when i scanned the seattle papers ( on live versions) and there is not one word about this in either one. (ok so i fibbed about the jumping surprise meter; must have been a passing bus)
SAN DIEGO - Even as the government was investigating whether a Marine officer failed to probe the death of 24 Iraqi civilians, he was being recommended for a Bronze Star medal partly for his actions the day of the killings, his attorney said Wednesday. First Lt. Andrew A. Grayson, of Springboro, Ohio, was in a team of intelligence operatives that inspected the scene of the Nov. 19, 2005, attack in Haditha. The killings were carried out by a Marine squad in the aftermath of a roadside bomb explosion that left one Marine dead.
Grayson was charged in December with willfully failing to report and investigate a possible violation of the law of war, making a false official statement and telling his sergeant to delete photographs of the dead. Attorney Joseph Casas said Grayson, 25, is innocent. The medal recommendation was written in February 2006, about the same time government agents were probing the deaths, Casas said. The Bronze Star is the fourth-highest award given for combat action. Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Sean Gibson, contacted after business hours, said he could not immediately confirm whether Grayson had been recommended for a medal.
Casas said the nomination praised the Marine for learning of two other roadside bombs in Haditha from Iraqis he questioned in the wake of the attacks. He was also cited for obtaining information that led to the capture of two men who detonated the bomb that sparked the violence. The medal nomination also cites other instances in which Grayson obtained information that may have saved American lives from August to December 2005, Casas said. "I think it is indicative of the type of Marine he is and the unblemished career Lt. Grayson has led and of his good military character," said Casas, who believes the recommendation is still under consideration.
Three enlisted Marines are accused of unpremeditated murder in the Haditha killings. Four officers, including Grayson, are charged with failing to investigate or report the deaths. The enlisted men have maintained their innocence, saying they believed they were under attack and followed proper procedures to defend themselves, while the officers say they reported events up the chain of command. Grayson's preliminary hearing is set for June 18 at Camp Pendleton.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/26/2007 08:22 ||
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#1
Guess Thomas Watkins didn't get the word from NewsMax . Just keep adding the names to the soon to be party to libel list. Duke II.
#4
Was up earlier. Guess someone finally pointed the NewsMax feed to the editor, who probably conferred with their lawyers, who probably said it would be best to pull it.
But without any troops to protect the aid workers, right, Nancy?
With more than 850,000 people displaced and on the move within its borders, Iraq is in the midst of a major refugee crisis and the United States has an obligation to help resolve it, the head of the Iraqi Red Crescent Organization said yesterday.
"We have an emergency crisis right now, and the United States has a moral obligation to lead the world and address this issue right now," Said Hakki told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. "I have children dying of cancer, not because they have cancer, but because they cannot get treatment."
In Washington this week to meet the "relevant people in the Bush administration," Dr. Hakki said he was not lobbying for additional U.S. taxpayer-funded aid, but rather for the United States to use its "good offices" to persuade some of Iraq's wealthy neighbors to step up and help. "We have a budget of $66 million," said Dr. Hakki. "That is about 10 percent of what we need."
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/26/2007 07:55 ||
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#1
The UN was obligated to assist in the enforcement of its resolutions. The only reason the UN is concerned is that there's no more money to steal.
#4
Here's my contribution: Quit acting like savages.
Posted by: ed ||
04/26/2007 8:17 Comments ||
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#5
We keep hearing the message from leading Iraqis that it would be disastrous were the US to actually pull out of Iraq in the foreseeable future. Dr. Hakki is approaching it from a different angle than, say, Prime Minister Maliki or the head of the Kurdish police force, but the bottom line is the same: "Please don't desert us!"
#6
We have probably made it clear to the NGOs working in Iraq that if we leave, they are boned. So it is their best interests to actively lobby that we stay.
#7
First, the "wealthy neighbors" are tapped out - kinda costly supporting all those jihadis and such who are committing such savage crimes in Iraq.
Second, NGOs aren't in Iraq due to the security situation (well, not the major relief-oriented ones, anyway), and that ain't gonna change.
If the comments were directed at countering US sentiment about quick withdrawal, that's fine. Otherwise they are rather infuriating - when the US has shouldered all the difficult responsibilities nearly alone (kudos to our Coalition partners, who deserve great credit) for years, to come tsk-tsking us about doing more - sheesh.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki hit back on Wednesday at a critical UN human rights report on the situation in his war-torn country and questioned its credibility. The Iraqi government announces that it has major reservations about this report, which lacks precision in its presentation of information, lacks credibility in many of its points and lacks balance in its presentation of the human rights situation in Iraq, he said in an official statement.
Despite the Iraqi governments full cooperation and transparency in dealing with the UN delegation in Iraq, much of the information contained in the report was not taken from credible sources, he said.
The United Nations Assistance Mission had earlier criticised Baghdad for concealing casualty figures for the countrys ongoing sectarian strife and alleged that detainees had disappeared while in state custody.
Any word on how much money UN employees took in the Oil-for-Food scandal?
The Shiite premiers statement went on to accuse the report of worsening humanitarian conditions in Iraq rather than improving them and called on the United Nations to play a more constructive role in the country.
Like, for example, come back.
Considering the conditions which Iraq is currently enduring, this report calls into question the credibility of the United Nations office in Iraq, aggravating the humanitarian situation instead of resolving it, he said.
That's okay, the UN doesn't have any credibility anywhere else.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
Actually, very nice to see Maliki hit back hard like this. If only the US could muster the will and smarts to do likewise - times 10,000. The arrogance and cluelessness of all things UN, of course, never cease to amaze, but they certainly deserve credit for a new low/high here - grumbling about a new, beleaguered govt.'s warts or inability to solve its country's horrible problems while not instead focusing all public atttention on the outrageous support given by neighboring member states to the vicious campaign of mass-murder now disfiguring Iraq. How about "reports" on that?
Iraqi leader Moqtada Al-Sadr condemned the US construction of a wall around a Baghdad district and calls for demonstrations against it. Sadr's remarks were the first by the Mahdi Army head since the US military said last week that it was building a wall in Baghdad's Sunni Adhamiyah district.
The Shia cleric said on Wednesday that the protests showed that Iraqis reject "the sectarian, racist and unjust wall that seeks to divide" Sunnis and Shias. He described it as "the evil wall" of the American occupiers. Urging Iraqis to stage a demonstration, Al-Sadr said, "I am confident that such honorable voices will bring down the wall. We the people of Iraq will defend Adhamiya and other neighborhoods that you (Americans) want to segregate from us. We will stand hand in hand with you (Sunnis) to demonstrate and protect our holy land."
Sunni and Shia protesters in Adhamiyah carried banners on Monday with slogans such as "No to the sectarian wall" and "Adhamiya children want to see Baghdad without walls". But the US military says it plans to construct barriers in other neighborhoods too, saying it wants to protect people from bombings and other sectarian attacks. Iraq's President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki have already criticized the US military's action, saying it will only fuel sectarian tensions in the strife-torn capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Trying to regain some credibility, are you? And why don't you have a callous on your forehead?
#7
It looks like he's missing some of his top front teeth and the rest of them are all kind of a brownish-yellow. Apart from not bathing, he probably never brushes or flosses either.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 16:00 on Wednesday, 25 April 2007, a dispute between the families of Mayat and Hamdan in al-Boreij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip developed into an exchange of fire between the two families. Turn that shit down, Mayats! I hate Jordanian rap!
We curse your moustaches, Hamdan's! Especially your womens!
BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG...
As a result, 3 woman and a child were wounded:
1)Suzan Ali Mayat (al-Habeel), 30, seriously wounded by a gunshot to the chest (she was pronounced dead at 21:00);
2)Baraa Mazen Olayan, 14, wounded by shrapnel to the right thigh;
3)Aamena Yousef Mayat, 70, wounded by a gunshot to the left leg;
4)Hiba Hussein Mayat, 20, wounded by a gunshot to the right forearm. Looks like the Hamdan's win this round handily...
Later, Hani Nemer Mayat, 27, was admitted into al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, as he was wounded by a gunshot to the right foot when the two families resumed the exchange of fire. Hey! Get back there and shoot one of them Mayat bastids in the foot so they know we're serious!
At approximately 03:00 on Tuesday morning, 24 April 2007, medical sources at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City declared that Haitham Mohammed Bulbul, 12, from al-Shaaf neighborhood in the east of Gaza City, died from a wound he had sustained on Monday. The child was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the chest at approximately 22:00 on Monday, when he mishandled a gun at home. Want to see a trick, Haitham? Pull my gun ...
Earlier, at approximately 01:30, Ahmed Aayesh Rajab, 26, a member of the Palestinian Military Intelligence from Nusairat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, was admitted into al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, as he was wounded by a gunshot to the right foot. Rajab was wounded, when he unintentionally unleashed a bullet from his pistol while on duty. Looks like a fine representative for Palestinian Military Intelligence...
At approximately 22:30 on Monday, 23 April 2007, Ibrahim Nabeel Mashal, 12, from Deir al-Balah town in the central Gaza Strip, was wounded by a gunshot to the left hand, when a number of gunmen opened fire celebrating the wedding of a relative. A wedding and only one gunshot wound? Must've been poor folks...
Earlier, at approximately 20:40, Mohammed Fathi al-Sadi, 10, from al-Nada housing project in the northern Gaza Strip, was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the chest coming from an unknown source, when he was near a shop in the neighboring al-Awda housing project. He was evacuated to the hospital, but medical efforts to save his life failed. It is worth noting that the area witnessed intense shooting coming from an unknown source. Who notices intense shooting in Gaza? It's their version of the wailing car alarm.
At approximately 20:00 also on Monday, 4 masked gunmen traveling in a civilian car (a white Subaru) fired at Jamal Ibrahim al-Deshet, 54, from Nusairat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, and his son, 22-year-old Ibrahim, when they were on their agricultural land in al-Zawaida village in the central Gaza Strip. The man was wounded by a gunshot to the right thigh, and his son was wounded by a gunshot to the left foot. According to al-Deshet, the gunmen shot him and his son when they failed to rob his car. Can we have your car, pops?
No.
BANG.
Hold out your foot, kid.
At approximately 19:20 also on Monday, a mysterious explosion occurred inside a house belonging to al-Jammal family in al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. Two persons were wounded by shrapnel throughout their bodies. Ah, ye olde "mysterious explosion". Another science fair project gone bad, I'm sure...
At approximately 18:30 also on Monday, Ramez Moin Hamada, 18, and Rami Taleb Abu Abdu, 23, were admitted into Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, as the former was wounded by shrapnel to the limbs and the latter was wounded by shrapnel to the face. According to information available to PCHR, the two persons were wounded when a mysterious object they mishandled exploded near their houses in al-Nafaq Street in the east of Gaza City. Ramez? Do you see that mysterious object?
I do, Rami. Since this is Gaza, let's pick it up and shake it. Maybe hit it with something to see what happens...
At approximately 13:00 also on Monday, Eyad Shadi Abu Jarad, 5, from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia, was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the head coming from an unknown source, when she was playing near her family home. According to her father, the area did not witness any incidents of shooting, and that his child was wounded by a gunshot coming from an unknown sources. Any weddings in the area? Funerals? Hamas pep rallies? Sexually frustrated Fatah member?
At approximately 20:30 on Sunday, 22 April 2007, the bodies of two Palestinians were found near al-Baidar Hotel at the beach in Sheikh Ejlin neighborhood in the southwest of Gaza City. A third Palestinian, who was seriously wounded, was also found near the bodies. The victims were evacuated to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The two deceased Palestinians were identified as: Haitham Kamel Abu Amru, 29; and Alaa Abdul Hamid Abu Hussein Nassar, 28, both from al-Shojaeya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. They were both hit by gunshots to the head. The third Palestinian, who was seriously wounded by two gunshots to the chest and the abdomen, was identified as Mohammed Sadi Abu Amru, 28. The three victims are members of the Palestinian National Security Forces. The Palestinian police initiated an investigation into the crime. And Gaza CSI will not rest until we solve this heinous crime!
But first, lunch...
Earlier, at approximately 19:30, Nabeel Talab Abu Hassan, 38, a policeman, was admitted into Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as he was wounded by two gunshots to the feet, when he mishandled his gun while on duty. Two gunshots, Nabeel! You shot yourself twice! In both feet!
At approximately 17:00 also on Sunday, 3 masked gunmen stormed a shop of electrical appliances belonging to Hasan Mahmoud Abu Sharekh, 51, from Jabalya refugee camp. The gunmen kidnapped Abu Sharekh. During the attack, the gunmen exchanged fire with members of the Executive Force of the Ministry of Interior who were in the area. Four people, including a member of the Executive Force, were wounded, and the kidnappers were able to leave the area taking Abu Sharekh with them. At approximately 19:00 on the same day, Abu Sharekhs body was found near Barcelona Park in Tal al-Hawa neighborhood in the south of Gaza City. He was killed by a gunshot to the head. Damn, this plasma TV has sucked since I stole it! Boys, pay Abu Sharek a visit.
Right away, Mr. Haniyeh...
At approximately 15:30 on the same day, a dispute broke out between the Executive Force and members of the Helles family over a tract of land near the Oculist Hospital in al-Nasser Hospital in the north of Gaza City. At approximately 18:30, the dispute developed into an exchange of fire between the two sides in al-Shojaeya neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. A member of the Executive Force, 18-year-old Mohammed Hjaila, was wounded by a gunshot to the right foot. Hey, your Executive Force dog shit on my lawn. Mo wizzed on that lawn about a thousand years ago. It's the 237,654,678,798th Most Holy Place in Islam.
BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG....
At approximately 15:00 also on Sunday, unknown gunmen kidnapped Riad Olayan al-Masri, 48, from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, after they had stormed an office of real estate belonging to him in al-Wihda Street in Gaza City. An hour later, the kidnappers released al-Masri in al-Nafaq Street in the east of Gaza City, but after wounding him with several gunshots to the feet. So let that be a warning to yas!
For what?
We don't know...
At approximately 21:15 on Saturday, 21 April 2007, 4 unknown gunmen traveling in a civilian car fired at Ali Hasan al-Hayek, 40, from Gaza City, Deputy Chairman of the General Union of Palestinian Industries, when he was traveling in his car near Cairo Elementary School in al-Remal neighborhood in the center of Gaza City. Al-Hayek was wounded by a gunshot to the right leg. Must've wanted jobs. I hear this is part of the application process...
Earlier, at approximately 20:00, Arafat Farajallah Farajallah, 31, from Nusairat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, a member of the Executive Force of the Ministry of Interior, was admitted into al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah as he was wounded by a gunshot to the abdomen. Farajallah was wounded when unknown gunmen fired at a site of the Executive Force in al-Maughraqa village, south of Gaza City. Hey, ain't that da guy wid da funny name? Fire a few rounds at him...
At approximately 16:50 also on Saturday, unknown gunmen traveling in a civilian car fired at Ramzi Fawzi Zwayed, 27, when he was near his house in al-Daraj neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. He was wounded by a gunshot to the right leg. Is that who we're lookin for?
I don't know. Shoot him anyways...
At approximately 10:30 also on Saturday, Ashraf Eid al-Ajrami, 45, a writer from al-Twam area in the northern Gaza Strip, was wounded by shrapnel to the forehead, when a hand grenade was thrown near him while he was attempting to stop an armed dispute between his relatives and members of Hamas and the Executive Force in Jabalya refugee camp.According to information available to PCHR, armed clashes erupted between members of the al-Ajrami family on one side and those of Hamas and the Executive Force on the other side in Block 5 in Jabalya refugee camp, as the Executive Force detained a member of the Ajrami family and the family kidnapped a member of Hamas. The clashes continued until 13:00. Ashraf al-Ajrami was wounded when he intervened in an attempt to stop the clashes between the two sides. Additionally, Said Ibrahim al-Zinati, 50, a bystander, was wounded by shrapnel to the right foot. Bet it sounded like a good idea at the time, right Ashraf? You'll know better next time, won't you? Just rub those scars on your forehead...
#3
So let that be a warning to yas!
For what?
Dat's in case yas does sumtin an we ain't aroun!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/26/2007 16:00 Comments ||
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#4
It sounds like the whole freaking place is imploding, lets give them a State of their own.
Posted by: Boss Shusoth4259 ||
04/26/2007 16:26 Comments ||
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#5
Faster, please.
At approximately 18:30 also on Monday, Ramez Moin Hamada, 18, and Rami Taleb Abu Abdu, 23, were admitted into Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, as the former was wounded by shrapnel to the limbs and the latter was wounded by shrapnel to the face.
Could it be? Have we finally learned the secret identity of that famous Palestinian blogger, Shrapnelface?
Palestinian armed factions renewed their commitment to a Gaza Strip truce on Thursday but said rocket salvoes from the territory could resume if Israel did not halt military operations in the occupied West Bank. The message was delivered to Israel by an Egyptian mediator who has been trying to prevent major confrontation after Hamas's armed wing fired rockets and declared the Gaza truce dead on Tuesday, Palestinian sources familiar with the talks said. Egyptian Major-General Burhan Hammad "informed the Israelis of the new commitment by the factions and at same time stressed that factions demanded the calm be reciprocal and simultaneous, covering Gaza and the West Bank," one of the sources said.
Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades said its barrage was a response to the killing of nine Palestinians in Israeli military operations against militants, mostly in the West Bank. After security consultations on Wednesday, Olmert decided against launching a ground offensive in Gaza, Israeli political sources said. But in a statement, his office said Israel would not hesitate to attack rocket-firing squads.
Anticipating Israeli military action, Hamas gunmen took up positions overnight near Gaza's border with Israel, covering themselves with tree branches as camouflage.
"The Zionist enemy should understand that any thought of raiding the Gaza Strip will open the gates of hell and hundreds of rockets will be launched against (the southern Israeli towns) of Sderot and Ashkelon and beyond," said Qassam brigades spokesman Abu Ubaida, [who] also threatened to shoot down Israeli military aircraft flying over the Gaza Strip.
Israel has signaled its interest in extending the Gaza truce to the West Bank but only if militant threats cease first.
#2
Well, I'd call the Gaza Strip a little slice of Hell, maybe Hell's back forty, so raiding into it would, by necessity, mean opening gates of some kind.
The spokesman for the military wing of Hamas said the Palestinian resistance movement has a right to attack Israeli-occupied territories. "It's a Legitimate Right!" "We must have Dire Revenge!"
".........and a pony!"
"Israel has killed over ten Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past few days as it continues its crimes against the Palestinians," said Abu Obeidah, the spokesman for the Izzedine Qassam Brigades. Abu Obeidah supported the recent retaliatory missile attacks of the Izzedine Qassam Brigades against Israel, saying as long as there is occupation, there will be "resistance".
The Izzedine Qassam Brigades officially announced on Tuesday that Israel had put an end to their five-month ceasefire agreement by killing Palestinians in its latest air raids. The announcement criticized Israel for not ending its aggression against Palestinians despite the ceasefire agreement in November 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Just so long as Israel has the "right" to crush you like the cockroaches you are.
#5
" "Israel has killed over ten Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the past few days..."
Ok, class, now remember, to solve for the actual number of Palestinians killed in the past few days, you must divide the given number by 5-this is known in Mathematics as the Innocent Islamic Deaths Formula.
#7
:) DMFD
If they were born ISLAMIC ducks and bunnies, you must count them in the calculation, even if they attempted to convert to another faith, but only after you hang up your coat and before you go to lunch. (Monty Python enters the fray.)
Egypt has threatened to cut off its relations with Hamas unless the movement halts its rocket attacks on Israel, Palestinian Authority officials said Wednesday. The officials said Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleiman sent a "tough" message to Hamas leaders, warning them against the continued rocket attacks. The message was delivered to PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas by Burhan Hammad, a senior Egyptian intelligence officer based in the Gaza Strip, the officials added.
They said that Suleiman also warned that Egypt would not side with the Palestinians if Israel launched a military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "We hope that the Hamas leaders will listen carefully to what the Egyptians are telling them," said one official here. "Hamas must return to the period of calm so as not to give Israel an excuse to invade the Gaza Strip."
The Egyptians can't be happy with what's been happening the last couple of years: the Medes and Persians are showing up on their doorstep and buying their way into influence with the various crazies. First Hezbollah and now Hamas, and the latter is a Sunni-dominated group. Hamas didn't mind, the money's good and the 'Death to the Jooooz' schtick is always popular.
But the Egyptians have to be wondering: what if the Muslim Brotherhood in their own country decides to align itelf with the Persians? The Mad Mullahs have been building a long-term relationship and logistical base in Lebanon, and now they're doing the same in Gaza. They could just continue 'round the Med coast and why, look there, Alexandria! And such a strategy plays well into the Mullahs desire to be the hegemonistic Islamic state, eventually supplanting the Saooodis as the Keepers of the Faith.
That can't be good for Egypt and certainly wouldn't be good for Hosni and his clan. So they have to start drawing lines somewhere. Telling the Paleos that it wouldn't bother them all that much if the Zionists whomped Hamas is one way of doing that.
Another senior PA official accused Hamas of trying to "extort" ineffectual PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on the eve of his meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Cairo this coming weekend. "The firing of the rockets and the resignation of Interior Minister Hani Kawassmeh [earlier this week] are part of an attempt by Hamas to extract concessions from President Abbas ahead of his meeting with Mashaal," he told The Jerusalem Post. "The meeting is supposed to focus on the possibility of including Hamas in the PLO. Mashaal wants to be deputy chairman of the PLO. At the meeting, Hamas will agree to a cease-fire with Israel on condition that Mashaal is appointed to a senior position in the PLO. This is extortion."
Hammad and a number of Egyptian security officials met in Gaza City on Tuesday night with representatives of several Palestinian factions, including Hamas, and urged them to stop the attacks on Israel.
Hammad said he made it clear to the factions that the rocket attacks would provide Israel with an excuse to launch military operations against the Palestinians and their leaders. "They promised to consult with their groups and give us an answer by Thursday morning," he said. "We are working hard to avoid a deterioration, and we hope that all the groups will comply and agree to a cease-fire."
Hammad said the Palestinians had asked him to exert pressure on Israel to refrain from launching a military operation in the Gaza Strip. "The Palestinians' position is that Israel initiated the last wave of violence by killing at least 10 Palestinians in the West Bank," he added. "They maintain that a new cease-fire should apply also to the West Bank."
Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led government, said Israel's threats would not deter his government. "An Israeli response will not change the reality at all," he said. "Israel has already tried military solutions, but to no avail. A military operation will only lead to more violence and bloodshed in the region. We believe that Israel wants to attack the Gaza Strip to cover up for its failure in the last Lebanon war."
Fawzi Barhoum, another senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, denied allegations that his movement was trying to embarrass Mahmoud Abbas by firing rockets at Israel. "The only language that Israel understands is the language of force and resistance," he said. "Resistance is a legitimate right of the Palestinians, even under international laws and conventions. Hamas is defending the Palestinians and Jerusalem. There is a consensus among all the Palestinian factions that Israel understands only the language of force."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
A paleo threw a bomb at an Egyptian policeman earlier today
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/852758.html
I'm willing to acknowledge that the Egyptian leadership has turned against Hamas and to some extent against the Paleos. However, the general population hates their govt., so they may still be pro Paleo and pro Hamas.
Laser technology being designed for the next-generation U.S. military communications satellite has passed a recent laboratory test.
The "lasercomm" technology produced data speeds up to 40 gigabits per second, or Gbps, in the test carried out recently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Lasercomm is slated for use in the TSAT, or Transformational Satellite Communications System, which is being developed to provide high-speed and secure Internet Protocol networking to be used by military and intelligence agencies.
The system employs terminals that are smaller and cheaper than radios; however, it requires the capability to connect these terminals with a satellite thousands of miles away using a thin laser beam to carry the data.
Northrop Grumman's satellite team in Los Angeles County said in a statement that the "milestone moves the team's TSAT efforts a major step forward, providing high confidence in this critical technology."
Northrop is part of a team that includes Lockheed Martin and is competing for the TSAT contract to be awarded late this year.
The companies said the test dubbed Lasercomm Test 2 was run last month at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. It was actually the third test of lasercomm performed on the lab's Optical Standards Validation Suite test bed.
Engineers used the test to evaluate pointing, tracking, and communication performance as well as the interoperability of the Northrop Grumman brassboard lasercomm terminal with the test bed at data rates ranging from 2.5 Gbps to 40 Gbps.
#9
"You have reached the end of the Internet. Please hit the 'RETURN' key to start over."
A geek's dream!
Posted by: Almost Anonymous5839 ||
04/26/2007 10:48 Comments ||
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#10
Spam at hyperspeed
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/26/2007 15:57 Comments ||
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#11
All well and good, but how do you communicate during a heavy cloud cover or in sandstorms and other local weather conditions? Using microwaves would work to a point, but there is still interference. I think there's more to the system than what's being discussed - at least I hope so.
An SR-71 could map 95,000 square miles in an hour. It usually took a team of 20 people ten days to interpret all the targetted installations covered. I KNOW we do ten times that much today, and that doesn't include all the drones that are flying. I'd bet the military has an overwhelming need for well-trained imagery analysts. Computers can only do so much.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/26/2007 16:58 Comments ||
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#12
Mexicans are available who will do the work that Americans will not. Just drag a fiver through town at around 7AM.
#13
OP:
Unfortunately, I left the books at work, but atmospheric absorption and scattering is depending on frequency. There are bands where it is much less than others. (Surprisingly enough, most countries' radars are in that region.)
An old friend of mine who used to work with Seymour Cray and had a security clearance once asked me, "Ya know how Tom Clancy writes about the NSA having rooms full of Cray supercomputers? ... Well, it's true."
For Iraqi terrorists in Iran, membership has its privileges.
The leaders of many of the Sunni jihadist groups that are harbored there are issued a special political refugee card. With the laminated photo identification card, described this week in an interview by a former Kurdish spy for Iranian intelligence, the terrorists can sail through checkpoints and border checks.
"Don't leave home without it!"
If ever a jihadist were to encounter a problem with the local police, flashing the card would make his problems disappear, in part because the all-powerful intelligence ministry, known as Ettelaat, and Revolutionary Guard are the only people allowed to issue them. As such, these ministries have files with photographs and biographical information on most of the Iraqi terrorists in Iran.
There's a target worth going after. Wonder if Bill Casey could help us out?
The status of the Al Qaeda affiliated jihadists in Iran was recounted Tuesday in an interview with Osman Ali Mustapha, a former Kurdish police officer who was recruited as a spy for the Iranians. In his first interview with the press, and his second conversation with any American, the former spy for Iran said of the terrorists who operate across the Iranian border from Iraqi Kurdistan: "Each one of them filled out a form at Ettelaat. They bring them to Ettelaat. It is a green card for political refugees. When you want to go through a checkpoint, the green card will let you go." Later, he said these cards "are not issued to non-Islamists. Normal refugees do not get this."
Mr. Mustapha added, "If you have this card you are treated better than a Kurd. When the Kurds want to go somewhere, the authorities have a suspicion about relations with Kurdish parties. When you have this card, it means you are working for them."
Mr. Mustapha is in a position to know Iran's relationship to Al Qaeda. He was recruited in 2004 to the Ettelaat by a senior leader of what was then Ansar al-Islam, the Sunni jihadist group that linked up with Al Qaeda's Iraqi chief, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
A top security official accused the United States Thursday of seeking to undermine Iran's clerical regime by stoking sectarian and ethnic tensions in the country and using newspapers and non-governmental agencies toward that goal. "A soft threat is the main plan of the US due to its incapability to launch a military operation [against Iran,]" Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Evidently he hasn't seen our full inventory.
Zolqadr, whose comments came in a speech he made in Iran's Kurdistan province, said, "The threat is being implemented through the creation of instability and tension inside Iran as well as fanning ethnic and sectarian differences."
I sure hope we're doing this, and doing other stuff you don't even know about.
"The threat is being implemented through the creation of instability and tension inside Iran as well as fanning ethnic and sectarian differences," said Zolqadr.
You mean the Kurds, Balochis, Arabs and Azeris aren't all that excited to be subservient citizens of the Empire of the Medes and Persians? Tusk, tusk.
Earlier Thursday, he said that his country would attack Israel and American targets throughout the world if Teheran were attacked over its nuclear program, Israel Radio reported.
Thanks for the warning, but we knew that already.
According to the official Iranian news agency, the official, who deals with defense issues, said that no American would be safe from Iran's long-range missiles. "We are prepared to fire tens of thousands of these missiles every day," he said.
That's almost, ... KCNA-like.
He added that the Shahab 3 missiles, which have a range of some 2,000 kilometers, could hit Israel, as well as US Army bases in the Persian Gulf.
Funny, we have some long-range missiles too. As do the Israelis.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2007 12:29 ||
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#1
A top security official accused the United States Thursday of seeking to undermine Iran's clerical regime by stoking sectarian and ethnic tensions in the country and using newspapers and non-governmental agencies toward that goal.
Oh yeah that's classified material allright. Nobody saw that coming.
#8
"American and Israeli" [by extens US Allied]interests or targets "AROUND THE WORLD" is once again threatened. FREEREPUBLIC/LUCIANE/NEWSMA > Hillary - WE [USA] MAY HAVE TO CONFRONT/ATTACK IRAN; + FREEREPUBLIC > THE ARAB MILITARY BUILDUP + EQYPT MAY BE SECRETLY PLANNING A PAN-ARAB ATTACK AGZ ISRAEL.
Tehran, 26 April (AKI) - Some 150,000 women have been detained in Iran for violating strict new Islamic dress code rules, the country's top police officer has announced. "During the first four days [since the code came into effect] we have picked up 150,000 women who were not properly veiled, but many of them were released after they signed an admission of guilt and a formal apology," General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam told journalists. An unspecified number of the women taken into custody were also forced to undergo psychological counseling, Moghaddam said.
Only 13 of these women are still being held and they will have to stand trial," he explained. The Religion Of 1984
Some prominent politicians have criticised the government and the security forces for the way the matter has been handled. Certain methods produce undesired results," said Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. Dragging women and girls to police stations for having some hair out of place, not only won't serve to bring morality to the country, but will have very negative effects on it," he added.
Justice minister Gholam Hossein Elham has apparently tried to minimise the incident by blaming the poice for being over zealous in enforcing the dress code. The government issued no specific orders on how to carry out the campaign," he said.
Thus leaving it up to the hard boyz to decide. I think I see the root core issue here.
However, 203 legislators in Iran's Majlis parliament in a letter addressed to Moghaddam, expressed their support for the way police acted. In the letter, the legislators blame the United States and Israel for "inciting" Iranian women not to respect the Islamic dress code, including the shrouding of the head with the hijab scarf. Blame the US, blame the Jews for our property's uncovered hair.
My fault. The harlots listened to me.
The Speaker of the Majlis, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, described the new 'moralising2 campaign which includes a strict application of the dress code as an "admirable act" and he urged women to believe strongly in the hijab. Beat them into submission
Radical Islamist deputy, Seyyed Mehdi Tabatabai, said that those who do not respect the dress code and who refuse to wear the hijab have no place in an Islam country and should leave." That's right, not just Iran, but any Islamic country. The option of "Love your hijab or leave the country", of course, is ayatollan humor.
Culture and Islamic Orientation minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi, for his part defined the police operation as a holy deed" and marked for elimination lambasted newspapers and other media that had criticised the campaign. It is unacceptable that some have shown dissatisfaction with the police's behaviour and have placed obstacles against the campaign. Newspaper who create problems for the police will not be tolerated for much longer, and action will soon be taken against them," Harandi promised warned. Promising Islamic revolution throughout the world isn't enough for these clowns - now they've opened hostilities against half of the country's population.
#4
the legislators blame the United States and Israel for "inciting" Iranian women not to respect the Islamic dress code, including the shrouding of the head with the hijab scarf.
Dang if the iranian legislators don't sound just like a donks. It's always somebody else's fauult.
Rival Lebanese leaders urged calm on Wednesday after two Sunni Muslim government supporters were kidnapped in what was believed to be retaliation for the killing earlier this year of a Shi'ite opposition activist. Police reported that Ziad Qabalan, 25, and Ziad Ghandour, 12, went missing on Monday and their vehicle was found abandoned in a Shi'ite neighbourhood of Beirut on Tuesday.
Ghandour's father and Qabalan are members of the Progressive Socialist Party of pro-government Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. A short police communiqué said the two left Beirut PSP stronghold of Wata Mseitbeh on Monday in a French made Renault minivan which was found 24 hours later deserted east of the capital. The communiqué included photographs of the two, urging whoever has information pertaining to their whereabouts to report it to police.
It did not disclose further details.
The PSP confirmed the two went missing but withheld comment on whether efforts are being exerted to determine their whereabouts. Lebanese media reports said the two had been kidnapped by members of the Shi'ite Shamas clan, who had vowed to avenge the death of Adnan Shamas in clashes between government and opposition supporters at a Beirut university in January. Sporadic violence between the mainly Sunni, Druze and Christian ruling coalition and mainly Shi'ite and Christian opposition have killed 10 people since the opposition launched a street campaign to topple the government in December.
The political crisis, Lebanon's worst since the 1975-1990 civil war, has at times threatened to spill into Sunni-Shi'ite strife as sectarian tensions run high. Jumblatt urged calm after visiting the families of the two missing people. The daily An Nahar on Wednesday said Jumblatt swiftly called House Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, in the first such contact between the two leaders in months due to the ongoing political crisis. The paper said Jumblatt asked Berri to help secure the release of the kidnapped persons "to avoid unrest."
Saad al-Hariri, the Sunni leader of the anti-Syrian majority coalition, called on all leaders to help secure their release. The opposition's main Shi'ite parties, Hezbollah and Amal, denounced the "very dangerous" kidnapping and urged the security forces to liberate the two and punish their captors.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a lot less of this crapulence while the Israelis controlled Lebanon? The mixed religious makeup of Lebanon makes me a little more reluctant to simply abandon it to Muslim on Muslim violence as with the Palestinian Terrortories. Still, the intractable nature of Islamic intramural festivities makes it tempting to let them twist in the breeze. Were there no threat to Israel, I'd probably go with Plan B.
DAMASCUS - Tempers have flared in various areas of Syria resulting in scuffles with police, amid delays in announcing the results of the weekend parliamentary polls, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. Al-Watan, without giving figures, said several people were injured as unofficial partial results filtered out from the Saturday-Sunday elections. Scuffles broke out north of Damascus between people celebrating the partial results and others who contested them, leaving some demonstrators slightly injured, it said, citing security sources and witnesses.
During the incidents in Wafidin camp which is home mainly to Syrians from the Israeli-annexed Golan, the security forces quickly moved into action and brought the situation under control, the paper said.
A demonstration was also held in Maadan, located in the Raqqa region of centre-north Syria, where protesters burnt tyres. Security forces intervened with about 20 tear-gas canisters and firing warning shots in the air, witnesses told Al-Watan. One resident was lightly injured in the leg. More injuries were reported in the southern villages of Hauran where celebratory gunshots were fired into the air, it said.
Official results were due to have been announced on Tuesday or Wednesday after two days of polling which were marked by a reportedly low turnout and lack of enthusiasm among the electorate.
That's why it's taking so long, there are so few ballots to count.
The state news agency SANA put the delay down to the large number of empty ballot boxes and complaints from candidates of irregularities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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story at Captain Ed's says the Syrian troops fired INTO the crowds to put down a "riot"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/26/2007 7:59 Comments ||
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Senior Iranian and Western envoys on Wednesday scheduled a new round of talks in two weeks after speaking of progress in trying to break the deadlock over Teheran's refusal to meet UN Security Council demands that it freeze its uranium enrichment program. EU senior foreign policy chief Javier Solana and senior Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani spoke after their second meeting of the day - unscheduled dinner talks that documented potential headway in the dispute even before the announcement of a new round in coming weeks. "We will have some talks tomorrow and in two weeks," Larijani told reporters, at the end of Wednesday's two rounds of discussions, that ran close to six hours. He described Wednesday's discussions as "pleasant talks."
Solana spoke of a "very constructive dinner," adding the talks "will continue tomorrow and in the coming weeks also."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/26/2007 00:00 ||
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tick...tick....tick
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/26/2007 1:21 Comments ||
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Solana spoke of a "very constructive dinner," adding the talks "will continue tomorrow and in the coming weeks also."
#1
So George's book will finally come out. Wonder if he'll talk about the "better politicians than spies" issue at Langley, or address the nearly unbelievable silliness of the 1990s documented by Baer and others. George always had a mystical and magical effect on principals - mysterious the rest of us, for whom he was a likeable but not overpowering sort - and that plus circumstance carried him far above where he should have been. Dangerous combo when you had the lightweights (which ran up to the very top) in the Clinton years. Still can't believe Dubya tolerated the shenanigans from the CIA during the 04 campaign, not to mention the damaging criminal leaks of classified operations.
On Thursday, April 19, Esquire contributor C.J. Chivers won the Michael Kelly Award for "The School," his chilling hour-by-hour reconstruction of the 2004 Beslan school massacre.
Here's an excerpt from the prize-winning article:
The terrorist was sick of Larisa Kudziyeva. She had been shouting, even after they had ordered everyone to be quiet. She was lean and beautiful in a quintessentially Caucasus way, with fine skin and dark hair and brown eyes, a look intensified by her black blouse and skirt. She did not look her thirty-eight years. The terrorist was one of the young men guarding the hostages. He wore his mask. He walked toward her to quiet her, for good.
Larisa had spent the first hours of captivity tending to Vadim Bolloyev, a father who had been shot near the right shoulder. He lay on the basketball court silently, holding in his pain. His white shirt was soaked red. He was growing weak. "Why did they shoot you?" she had asked him.
"I refused to kneel," he said.
Larisa urged him to lie back and placed her purse under his head. She inspected his wound. The bone had been shattered. Blood flowed freely. She tried using a belt as a tourniquet but could not position it. Sweat beaded his forehead. His son, Sarmat, six, sat beside him in a white shirt and black vest, watching his father slip away.
Larisa had not wanted to come to school that day. Her six-year-old son, Zaurbek, was starting first grade, but she had asked Madina, her nineteen-year-old daughter, to bring him. Her husband had died of stomach cancer in April. She was in mourning and felt no urge to celebrate. But after they left, Larisa looked outside at the crowds moving to the school. Go with them, a voice told her, and she rushed to her balcony. "Wait for me!" she called down.
Now she leaned over a bleeding man, struggling to save him. Her daughter was enrolled at a medical academy. "You are a future doctor," Larisa whispered. "What do I do?"
"There is no way to save him," Madina said. "His artery is damaged. He needs an operation."
Larisa felt fury. She would not let him die. She shouted at a terrorist across the room. "We need water and bandages!" she said. No one answered. She shouted again. She was breaking rules. The terrorist approached. "Why are you yelling?" he said.
"I need bandages," she said.
"Are you the bravest person here, or the smartest?" he said. "We will check." His voice turned sharp: "Stand up!"
Bolloyev grabbed her shirt. "Do not go," he said. Larisa slipped free and stood, and the terrorist shoved her with his rifle toward a corner where confiscated cameras and phones had been piled and smashed.
"What are you doing?" she demanded.
He ordered her to kneel. "No," she said.
For this Bolloyev had been shot. "I told you," he said. "Get on your knees."
"No," she said.
For a moment they faced each other, the terrorist and the mother, locked in mental battle. She looked into his mask; freckles were visible near his eyes. A hush fell over the gym. The hostages had seen Betrozov's murder. Now came Larisa's turn. The terrorist raised his Kalashnikov, past her chest, past her face, stopping at her forehead. He pressed the muzzle against her brow. Larisa felt the circle of steel on her skin.
Bolloyev propped himself on an elbow. Larisa's children looked on. She reached up, grasped the barrel, and moved it away. "What kind of spectacle are you playing here, and in front of whom?" she snapped. "There are women and children here who are already scared."
The terrorist paused. Thinking quickly, she tried to convince him that Ossetians were not enemies of Chechens, a difficult task, given that enmity between Ossetians, a Christian people with a history of fidelity to Moscow, and the Islamic Chechens and Ingush, who have long been persecuted, is deep. "Your children rest in our sanatoriums," she said. "Your women give birth here."
"Not our wives and children," the terrorist said. "They are the spawn of Kadyrov."
The word stung. Kadyrov-the surname of former rebels who aligned with Russia and became the Kremlin's proxies. The separatists despised them with a loathing reserved for traitors. Larisa was stumped. Abdullah had been rushing across the gym; he stepped beside them. "What is happening here?" he said.
"This guy wants to execute me because I asked for water and bandages for the wounded," she said. Abdullah studied the two: his young gunman, the woman who stared him down.
"There is nothing for you here," he said. "Go back and sit down and shut up."
She pointed to his bloodied arm. "Your arm is bandaged," she said. "Give me some of those bandages."
"You did not understand me?" he said. "There is nothing for you here. Go back and sit down and shut up."
Larisa returned to her place. Her children stared at her. Bolloyev lay back down. His lips were violet, his forehead coated in sweat. His death could not be far away. She was enraged.
Go read it all.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/26/2007 07:14 ||
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Basayev's death counts not a rat fart against this intolerable atrocity. When will some real retribution take place? Were the nationalities of the "Arab" perpetrators ever identified? So many, many young lives cut short before they even began.
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.
SEOUL - North Korea celebrated with a grand parade on Wednesday the 75th birthday of its invincible army, which experts say is capable of dealing a quick and devastating blow, but is hollow at the core.
The head of the U.S. anti-missile program says North Korea is helping Iran develop missiles that could reach Europe. We know that they are collaborating, Lt. Gen. Henry A. Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, told reporters at a press conference April 23 at the U.S. Embassy in Prague.
A civil rights lawyer convicted of helping an imprisoned terrorist sheik communicate with his disciples was disbarred Tuesday. The New York Supreme Court's Appellate Division denied Lynne Stewart's request to voluntarily resign from the practice of law.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A defiant Democratic-controlled Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, propelling Congress toward a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war. The 51-46 vote was largely along party lines, and like House passage of the same bill a day earlier, fell far short of the two-thirds margin needed to overturn the president's threatened veto.
Pakistan is reverberating with the call of jihad. Taliban-style militias are spreading rapidly out from provinces in the far north-west. The danger to the country and to the rest of the world is escalating
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal General Secretary Maulana Fazlur Rahman on Wednesday backed resolution of the Kashmir issue through dialogue, but said that Pakistani people were not yet ready to accept the Line of Control (LoC) as a permanent border. There is no indication that we are close to a solution. No report has been presented in parliament. It hasnt been discussed with us, Rahman, also leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, told IANS in an interview. Its hard to say whether the talks are going on well or not. People of Pakistan are not ready to accept the LoC as a permanent border, Rahman said in response to a question about Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuris remarks that India and Pakistan were close to an agreement on Kashmir. 
Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday admitted that supporting Taliban was a big mistake on part of her government, the Geo television reported.
BAGHDAD - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki hit back on Wednesday at a critical UN human rights report on the situation in his war-torn country and questioned its credibility. The Iraqi government announces that it has major reservations about this report, which lacks precision in its presentation of information, lacks credibility in many of its points and lacks balance in its presentation of the human rights situation in Iraq, he said in an official statement.
Iraqi leader Moqtada Al-Sadr condemned the US construction of a wall around a Baghdad district and calls for demonstrations against it. Sadr's remarks were the first by the Mahdi Army head since the US military said last week that it was building a wall in Baghdad's Sunni Adhamiyah district. 
Egypt has threatened to cut off its relations with Hamas unless the movement halts its rocket attacks on Israel, Palestinian Authority officials said Wednesday. The officials said Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleiman sent a "tough" message to Hamas leaders, warning them against the continued rocket attacks. The message was delivered to PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas by Burhan Hammad, a senior Egyptian intelligence officer based in the Gaza Strip, the officials added. 
A top security official accused the United States Thursday of seeking to undermine Iran's clerical regime by stoking sectarian and ethnic tensions in the country and using newspapers and non-governmental agencies toward that goal. "A soft threat is the main plan of the US due to its incapability to launch a military operation [against Iran,]" Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Tehran, 26 April (AKI) - Some 150,000 women have been detained in Iran for violating strict new Islamic dress code rules, the country's top police officer has announced. "During the first four days [since the code came into effect] we have picked up 150,000 women who were not properly veiled, but many of them were released after they signed an admission of guilt and a formal apology," General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam told journalists. An unspecified number of the women taken into custody were also forced to undergo psychological counseling, Moghaddam said.
Rival Lebanese leaders urged calm on Wednesday after two Sunni Muslim government supporters were kidnapped in what was believed to be retaliation for the killing earlier this year of a Shi'ite opposition activist. Police reported that Ziad Qabalan, 25, and Ziad Ghandour, 12, went missing on Monday and their vehicle was found abandoned in a Shi'ite neighbourhood of Beirut on Tuesday. 
DAMASCUS - Tempers have flared in various areas of Syria resulting in scuffles with police, amid delays in announcing the results of the weekend parliamentary polls, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. Al-Watan, without giving figures, said several people were injured as unofficial partial results filtered out from the Saturday-Sunday elections. Scuffles broke out north of Damascus between people celebrating the partial results and others who contested them, leaving some demonstrators slightly injured, it said, citing security sources and witnesses.
