President Hamid Karzais office said Sunday that there is serious debate among some Taliban fighters about laying down arms, though a spokesman for the group said the insurgents will never negotiate with Afghan authorities until foreign troops leave.
Karzai said Saturday he would be willing to meet personally with Taliban leader Mullah Omar and give militants a position in government in exchange for peace. On Sunday, Karzai spokesman Humayun Hamidzada stressed that the militants would have to accept Afghanistans constitution. However, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi repeated a position he had announced earlier this month, saying there would be no negotiations until US and NATO troops withdraw from Afghanistan. The Taliban will never negotiate with the Afghan government in the presence of foreign forces, Ahmadi told The Associated Press. Even if Karzai gives up his presidency, its not possible that Mullah Omar would agree to negotiations. The foreign forces dont have the authority to talk about Afghanistan.
But Karzais spokesman said the government has information of a serious debate among some groups of Taliban about how long militants want to keep fighting. The UN and NATO have also said they see similar indications. They want to live in peace and have a comfortable life with their families, Hamidzada said. There is serious debate within their ranks, but this is a process that takes time.
Karzai travelled to the UN General Assembly in New York days ago, and Hamidzada said that among the UN Secretary-General and the foreign ministers of many countries, everyone with one voice said we need a comprehensive strategy in dealing with the Taliban - both military and diplomatic components.
He said Karzai and US President George W Bush also spoke generally about the Taliban reconciliation process and said Bush also supports such initiatives, though it was not clear if that would include broader Taliban peace talks beyond the individual reconciliation process that has seen more than 4,500 fighters lay down their arms in the last two years.
Karzais latest peace overture came as insurgency-related violence continued. Thirty people, mostly army soldiers, were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a military bus Saturday in Kabul.
More than 270 have died in violence since last Sunday - 180 of them militants. The death toll this week includes more than 165 militants killed during two battles between the Taliban and joint Afghan-coalition forces.
More than 270 have died in violence since last Sunday - 180 of them militants, according to an AP tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials.
Military officials said they expected a spike in violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramazan, based on an increase in attacks last year during the same period. The death toll this week includes more than 165 militants killed during two battles between the Taliban and joint Afghan-coalition forces, and the 30 soldiers and civilians killed in the Kabul suicide bombing.
Militant attacks and military operations have killed more than 4,600 people so far this year, most of them insurgents, according to the AP count.
This article starring:
Karzai spokesman Humayun Hamidzada
QARI YUSEF AHMEDI
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Great news for America in general + another victory for Dubya-GOP iff true. IMO, HOWEVER, RADICAL ISLAM PC WANTS TIME TO REBUILD AND REARM FOR NEXT ROUND [e.g. MAOISTS in NEPAL, MAOISTS-MUSLIMS in INDIA].
#2
Great news for America in general + another victory for Dubya-GOP iff true. IMO, HOWEVER, RADICAL ISLAM PC WANTS TIME TO REBUILD AND REARM FOR NEXT ROUND [e.g. MAOISTS in NEPAL, MAOISTS-MUSLIMS in INDIA], espec wid Moud-Iran all but officially demanding to be invaded by the US.
#3
President Hamid Karzais office said Sunday that there is serious debate among some Taliban fighters about laying down arms, though a spokesman for the group said the insurgents will never negotiate with Afghan authorities until foreign troops leave.
Well, which is it, "floor wax" or "desert topping"? Answer up quick before we're obliged to wax your terrorist asses back to the stone age.
Officials from the top of Government to lowly council officers will be given unprecedented powers to access details of every phone call in Britain under laws coming into force tomorrow. The new rules compel phone companies to retain information, however private, about all landline and mobile calls, and make them available to some 795 public bodies and quangos. The move, enacted by the personal decree of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, will give police and security services a right they have long demanded: to delve at will into the phone records of British citizens and businesses.
The quasi-government agencies access is a mindboggling.
#3
If we could use it to stop ( with extreme prejudice) those aluminum siding calls that do not honor the 'do not call' listing then i would be ok with it. otherwise, this is troubling.....
#4
A fine example of how appeasement results in downstream overcompensation. Europe's Muslims are in for one helluva nasty surprise when the Continent's long-delayed overcompensation finally kicks in. Routine Muslim exploitation of European appeasement will carry a particularly wicked price tag.
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants are a drain on Britain and its economy, not a benefit, says a Left-leaning think tank.
It's interesting how the Left has positioned itself as a champion of immigrants while at the same time denigrating them. Just imagine if a Tory (or a Republican) had said this.
Migrants from many developing nations fail to pay their way, while those from wealthy countries, such as the United States and Australia, provide a boost for the economy. The report, published today by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), sets out to reveal which nationalities are "a debit on Britain's balance sheet".
Fewer than 1/2 Britain's 650,000 Somalis, Bangladeshis, Turks, and Pakistanis have jobs
It found that fewer than half of Britain's 650,000 Somalis, Bangladeshis, Turks, and Pakistanis have jobs and the four communities have the highest levels of benefit dependency. Britain's fastest-growing migrant group, the Poles, score above-average for employment, but have the lowest hourly pay and make a below-average tax contribution.
Channel 4 commissioned the report for a Dispatches documentary, Immigrants: the Inconvenient Truth, to be shown tomorrow night.
The IPPR, which has close links to Labour, insisted that its report "is not an attempt to cast immigrant communities in a bad or good light". However, its findings will be seized on by those campaigning for tighter immigration controls. New government statistics predict a two million rise in population over the next decade due to immigration, more than previous projections.
Liam Byrne, the immigration minister, said last week that the forecast "underlines the need for swift and sweeping changes to the immigration system".
This newspaper revealed last week that one in five crimes in London is now committed by foreign nationals, with Poles, Jamaicans, Irish and Somalis at the top of the list.
#1
"Hundreds of thousands of immigrants are a drain on Britain and its economy, not a benefit"
Ya' think?
Particularly since your idea of an "immigrant" is someone you let into your country to make you feel good about yourself, but don't actually expect them to assimilate or contribute to society because you're so sure the little brown people just can't.
Idjits.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/01/2007 0:12 Comments ||
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#2
Britain's fastest-growing migrant group, the Poles, score above-average for employment, but have the lowest hourly pay and make a below-average tax contribution.
Yes, provided they leave before the cut-off (six months or one year, I forget which) they are entitled to all of their taxes back. In this way they can accept lower wages while keeping more in pocket than a UK citizen would do for a higher rate but after taxes. If you put down cheese, you get mice.
Not that I have anything against the Poles. For the Orcs mentioned in this article: We are quite literally paying for these people to rape our daughters. We should be ashamed of ourselves. Time for a second Cromwell.
The Ministry of Defence has produced a plan to decommission five warships from next April, which would reduce the Navy's capability to the level where it could carry out only "one small-scale operation". Separate documentation from inside the department suggests that the total number of ships in the Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary could fall from the present level of 103 to 76 in 2017 and only 50 in 2027 a reduction of more than half.
The information has been supplied in an email from a whistleblowing official inside the MoD, who has given details of a row between senior officials in the department and Andy Burnham, the Treasury Chief Secretary, over the allocation of money to the MoD over the next three years.
The deal, sealed under the Comprehensive Spending Review and announced in July, gave the MoD an annual increase of 1.5 per cent above inflation for the years 2008-11. However, it also contained a commitment to buy two 65,000-ton aircraft carriers, at a cost of £4 billion meaning savings had to be found elsewhere if the MoD were to meet its "operational commitments."
The email reads: "The Chief Sec directed that no further money from the CSR would be allocated to Defence and to maintain force levels the Dept must find the savings/cuts. For the RN [Royal Navy], the poor CSR deal and the commitment to 2 carriers is such that a proposal for the immediate decommissioning of 5 ships (frigates and destroyers) from April next year has been considered. This would reduce the RN's capabilities to just one small scale operation and that is it."
So they can have carriers, they just can't escort them ...
Sources said that under the plan the Navy, once the pride of the Armed Forces, would be unable to provide anything like the 1982 Falklands task force. In what is likely to be a "worst-case" scenario, with no further commissioning of ships, total numbers of what the MoD terms "platforms" is slated to fall steadily from 103 to 50 within 20 years. The number of submarines would be cut from 13 to 11 in 2007-08 while there would be two aircraft carriers rather than the present three. Frigates would be cut from 17 to nine, while the number of destroyers would go up, from six to eight, but only because more have already been commissioned. There would be no minesweepers or patrol ships, while the number of landing vessels would be cut from eight to six.
The disclosures are likely to embarrass Gordon Brown, who has long been viewed with some suspicion within the Services. During his time as chancellor he was thought to regard the MoD as one of the most "financially wasteful" of all Whitehall departments. However, as Prime Minister he has been keen to be seen as a strong supporter of the Armed Forces.
Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said: "Any reduction in our forces' size at present would be insane, given our unsafe world and the level of our current deployments. No wonder there are suggestions Gordon Brown is considering a complete withdrawal from Iraq. His own cuts to our Armed Forces may leave him with no option."
Colonel Tim Collins, a former Iraq war commander, said: "The Armed Forces are once more facing the squeeze and once again it looks like the Royal Navy will bear the brunt. There are no votes in defence, as was reflected in last week's conference speech by the Prime Minister in which Afghanistan and Iraq, Labour's wars, were mentioned only once each."
An MoD spokesman said last night: "No decisions have been taken to make changes to force structures. As ever, we continually review the defence programme. The CSR settlement sees the continuation of the longest period of sustained real-terms growth in planned defence spending since the 1980s."
#1
France reportedly wants GERMANY to have a stronger role in EU defense - my EU-speak interpetation could be wrong, but IMO sounds like the Euros want EU Defense to be "specialized", wid major Euro nations having a Nation-specific NICHE FUNCTION/CONTRIBUTION, espec as per the protection of Euro-Socialism.
#3
This flies in the face of the claims to various and sundry bits of sea floor that the Brits have been making to secure mineral rights. You can claim all the land you want, but if you don't have the military might to back up your claims, the rest of the world just laughs at you.
#5
In other words, it would end US-UK military cooperation of the sort we've seen in Iraq and Afghanistan. It would end UK purchase of US mil tech and v.v.
Bottom line up front: it would end the special relationship. Intentionally and as a main goal, not accidently and as a side effect.
#6
Righto LOTP, and as an added depressant, read the article and accompanying chart (and afew of the comments) which show a specific target in eliminating ALL minesweeping vessels. Practically an engraved invitation for "enemies" to invest NOW in naval mines and related technology.
If Britain feels no need for this portion of the fleet, it will be interesting to see any follow up commentary on how it addresses this - perhaps anti-mine naval air capability from the carriers? But see Seafarious's comment about escorting.
And we complain about congress providing advance notice of withdrawal and troop reduction deadlines? This is essentially a request for applicants to assume sovreignty right into the Thames estuary.
#8
Who is NATO is/was tasked with extra-minesweeping? The Dutch?
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
10/01/2007 16:41 Comments ||
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#9
Perhaps labour should just sell the Falklands before they are grabbed up again and the UK humiliated for their inability to reclaim their soverieng territory.
Might want to escalate the talks about Gibralter and other areas as well because once the Falklands go others will start to get funny ideas.
At least they can be certain nobody is gonna grab Diego Garcia as long as the current tennant (US Military) is willing to pay rent.
#11
The 2 new carriers, once operational, will leave the British much better off to fight a Falklands type war than it was in 1982. As for cutting the military in favor of social programs, that's what socialists do. At least as a former finance minister, I hope he at least has a clue how to balance the budget.
Posted by: ed ||
10/01/2007 18:37 Comments ||
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#12
Who is NATO is/was tasked with extra-minesweeping?
#13
BRITAIN > ROYAL NAVY'S RADIO-CONTROLLED SUPERSHIP. 'Tis to be a cross/hybrid bwtn an aircraft carrier and Type 45 Destroyer class, circa Year 2020.
Via Drudge
MOSCOW (AP) - President Vladimir Putin said Monday he would lead the dominant party's ticket in December parliamentary elections and suggested he could become prime minister, the strongest indication yet that he will seek to retain power after he steps down as president early next year.
Putin is barred from seeking a third consecutive term in the March presidential election, but has strongly indicated he would seek to keep a hand on Russia's reins. He agreed to head the United Russia party's candidate list in December, which could open the door for him to become a powerful prime ministerleading in tandem with a weakened president.
Putin called a proposal that he become prime minister "entirely realistic," but added that it was still "too early to think about it."
Too early for the rest of us; he's been working on his next con for quite a while.
He said that, first, United Russia would have to win the Dec. 2 elections and a "decent, competent, modern person" must be elected president.
Putin's agreement to top the candidate list of United Russia sent an ecstatic cheer though the crowd at a congress of the party, which contains many top officials and dominates the parliament and politics nationwide. The move will likely ensure that United Russia retains a two-thirds majority in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, enough to change the constitution.
Leading the party's ticket does not mean Putin will take a seat in parliament; prominent politicians and other figures often are given the top spots to attract votes, but stay out of the legislature after elections. The 450 seats in the Duma will be distributed proportionally among parties that receive at least 7 percent of the votes.
But Vlad will have a seat, and then he'll be nominated by the party to be PM. We have forseen this.
The popular Putin has repeatedly promised to step down at the end of his second term in May, as the constitution requires, but has suggested he would maintain significant influence. He offered some initial hints at his strategy last month when he named Viktor Zubkova previously obscure figure known mainly for his loyaltyas prime minister.
With no power base of his own, Zubkov would likely play his preordained part in any Putin plan. If he became president and Putin prime minister, Zubkov could be expected to cede specific powers to Putin or step down to allow him to return to the presidency. If he becomes prime minister, Putin would be first in line to replace the president if he is incapacitated.
And just how on earth would a Russian president become incapacitated, I ask you.
Putin has amassed authority as president, but as he prepares to step down he has been setting up a system of check and balances that would weaken his successor by putting him at the mercy of rival centers of power. By leading the United Russia party list, Putin instantaneously creates the strongest such center, with himself as its head.
The move means that Putin's successor "will not be a czar," Kremlin- connected analyst Gleb Pavlovsky said on Ekho Moskvy radio. "There will be a new center of influence outside the Kremlin."
Just means the Czar will masquerade as prime minister.
Gunmen killed a Russian imam on his way to morning prayers in a restive southern region Saturday, a day after he spoke out against Islamic extremists, police said. Nurmagomed Gadzhimagomedov was shot by attackers in a car while walking from his home to his mosque in the Dagestani settlement of Gudben, they said.
Gadzhimagomedov was a vocal critic of Islamic extremism who had spoken out against militants during a service at the mosque Friday, police said. They said the killing was "clearly a revenge attack" by Islamic militants. In July, a deputy chief mufti at the central mosque in the provincial capital, Makhachkala, was killed, along with his driver, by a roadside bomb blast.
Envoys from six nations struck an agreement on Sunday on the next phase of ending North Koreas nuclear weapons programme, which the United States hailed as comprehensive and detailed. The provisional agreement will now go back to the governments for approval, and negotiators will resume their talks here in a few days so the deal can be sealed, the US and other envoys said.
No specifics of the agreement were released, although the negotiations were focused on devising a plan for North Korea to disable its key nuclear facilities and declare all its atomic programme. The joint statement was very comprehensive, US negotiator Christopher Hill told reporters, referring to the agreement outlined by China, which is hosting the talks. China put together a very nice joint statement. There are lots of details. It is very useful.
A South Korean official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sundays statement referred to disabling the Norths main nuclear facility at Yongbyon and two other sites by the end of this year.
Chinese envoy Wu Dawei said the talks had only been suspended for two days so that each nation could formally approve the joint statement, according to a notice on Chinas foreign ministry website.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Why would anyone think that the Norks will honor this agreement any more than they honored the last agreement? Oh, wait. This is our State Department. No "thinking" that any sane person could fathom is involved. Never mind.
#2
the next phase of ending North Koreas nuclear weapons programme
How is it that this elicits not an iota of confidence regarding any actual resolution to this crisis in the immediate future? Either there are comprehensive and unconditional inspections at the sites of our choosing or Kim can pound hot sand.
TEN terrorists involved in the Bali bombings are all likely to get sentence cuts to celebrate the end of Ramadan, it was revealed yesterday. As victims and families gathered in Bali late yesterday to commemorate the second anniversary of the second Bali bombings, which killed 20 people including four Australians, the list of radicals responsible for the carnage and who have been earmarked for remissions was being made public. Perfect timing, Indonesia. Announce the sentence reductions right on the anniversary of the second Bali atrocity. What a slap in the face for Australia and the civilized world. How can this not be seen as a pro-terrorist message?
The announcement was received as an insensitive blow by families of those killed and injured in both murderous attacks. Kerobokan Jail boss Ilham Djaya said yesterday he had recommended that all 10 terrorists in his jail be given remissions of one month to one month and 15 days. The controversial remissions are awarded for good behaviour and humanitarian acts such as blood donations and take the place of the parole systems which operate in Australia. There is no provision for parole under Indonesia's sentencing regime which delivers a straight sentence which can be reduced by remissions. Indonesia needs one helluva smackdown.
#2
Note to Fellow Rantburgers: The headline isn't supposed to be smug. I'm confident that the vast majority of us saw this coming. It's just that this was so predictable. Indonesia cannot make it any more clear as to whose side their on.
Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali returned to the Netherlands, Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad reported on Monday.
In August 2006, Somali born-Hirsi Ali, one of the Netherlands' most outspoken critics of Islam, accepted a position as researcher at the Washington-based Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank. The former legislator for the Liberal VVD party was allegedly forced to leave the US as American authorities had refused to finance the expenses of her personal security measures. So far, the Dutch government has paid all those expenses, but after more than a year of residency in the US, the Dutch allegedly said they were no longer willing to continue this arrangement.
#3
In the article, the key points of U.S. refusal to pay forcing Ms. Ali back to the Netherlands and Dutch discontinuing payments are both alleged. Twenty-four hour rule at least -- let's see if she didn't just fly back to visit friends or do some shopping for items unavailable in Washington, DC.
#4
g: That's the same country that pisses away spends 3 billion a week on trying to civilize Iraqis?
This is the country that has spent perhaps $50b subsidizing Israel over the past several decades. I can't remember the last time Israel sent troops to help us do anything anywhere. At the same time, we saved Israel's butt during Yom Kippur by risking nuclear war with Moscow. I hate to say it - but without Uncle Sam, there probably wouldn't be an Israel.
#3
Hope the $5 billion in German exports is worth removing the 60,000 US troops from Germany (>$5B spent) and jeopardizing the $100B/year German exports to the US.
Posted by: ed ||
10/01/2007 11:07 Comments ||
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#4
quoted in a a behind doors communique,
"Vee vish you not to smoke our customers pleeze mit der bomben!"
#1
Muhammed was a political leader. Unlike early Jewish and Christian communities, the social structure wasn't split into a religious and secular structure. Everything was integrated.
The Turks are only tossing out secularism so they can get into Europe, allowing millions of Turks to freely cross borders. When Muslims have the numbers: its final jihad. Turk Seculars believe they have to pave the way to an Islamic society. Its like Lenin's theory that communism is a final stage (the Soviets didn't claim to have reached "developed socialism" until 1961, and they put out a blueprint to the future).
#2
The Kemalist secular state preceded the European Community by decades. Modern Islamism is itself partially a reaction *against* the Kemalist liquidation of the last caliphate.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
10/01/2007 12:35 Comments ||
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#3
Just as the Muslim Brotherhood arose as a reaction against Nassar's socialist government in Egypt.
#1
"Erdogan might consider US using Turkey for Iraq exit"
I'll admit I'm not up on the finer points of Middle Eastern geography - and don't have time to look it up - but I'm pretty sure Turkey doesn't lie between either Iraq and Syria or Iraq and Iran.
Which is where we need to go when we "exit" Iraq. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/01/2007 0:14 Comments ||
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#2
in 2013[and beyond?], as per KUCINICH VS DEMS??? STill a long time from now.
#1
If Rumsfeld is a "fascist" then anyone can fight fascism.
It's like Noel Coward delivering a series of devastating put-downs to Hitler.
The pen is not mightier than the sword if your enemy is confident you will never use anything other than your pen.
And these are just some of the lines that require no set up! Steyn is such an amazing writer. Each paragraph sparkles like a finely polished, indestructible diamond. When I see he's written a new column, even the anticipation of reading it is enjoyable. I feel that way about few others. Lileks is the only one that springs to mind (his recent one about Star Trek is a masterpiece too IMHO).
Thousands of U.S. soldiers in Iraq as many as 10 a day are being discharged by the military for mental health reasons. But the Pentagon isn't blaming the war. It says the soldiers had "pre-existing" conditions that disqualify them for treatment by the government.
Many soldiers and Marines being discharged on this basis actually suffer from combat-related problems, experts say. But by classifying them as having a condition unrelated to the war, the Defense Department is able to quickly get rid of troops having trouble doing their work while also saving the expense of caring for them. The result appears to be that many actually suffering from combat-related problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries don't get the help they need.
If true, and I'd like to see confirmation, this is an outrage.
Working behind the scenes, Sens. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., have written and inserted into the defense authorization bill a provision that would make it harder for the Pentagon to discharge thousands of troops. The Post-Dispatch has learned that the measure has been accepted into the Senate defense bill and will probably become part of the Senate-House bill to be voted on this week.
The legislation sets a higher bar for the Pentagon to use the personality-disorder discharge, and also mandates a review of the policies by the Government Accountability Office. Bond said it also would "force the Pentagon to stop using this discharge until we can fix the problem."
Bond said he learned of the practice from returning Iraq veterans. He called it an "abuse" of the system and "inexcusable." "They've kicked out about 22,000 troops who they say have pre-existing personality disorders. I don't believe that," Bond said in an interview Friday. "And when you kick them out, they don't get the assistance they need, they aren't entitled to DOD or Veterans Administration care for those problems."
Obama said the practice is "deeply disturbing" because "it means that those who have served this country aren't getting the care they need. "
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Vician declined Friday to discuss the matter because it was related to current legislation.
Defense Department records show that 22,500 cases of personality-disorder discharges have been processed over the last six years.
Jon Soltz, an Iraq war combat veteran who founded the group VoteVets.org, said untreated psychological problems were contributing to the highest military suicide rate in a quarter-century and to growing homelessness among veterans, he said.
Mr. Soltz is not exactly reliable in his pronouncements.
If such widespread mental problems really existed before people joined the military and saw combat, they would have been uncovered when the recruits were enlisting, Soltz said.
The issue of personality-disorder discharges is a window into the broader problem of psychological damage to Iraq veterans, which experts say has three main causes:
Multiple and longer deployments.
The stress of fighting an insurgency with no breaks and everyone always on the front line.
Better and faster medical care that helps troops survive horrific physical injuries that often leave psychological scars.
"You land in Iraq, and you're on the battlefield, whether you're a quartermaster or a medic or a cook," said David Segal, director of the Center for Research on Military Organizations at the University of Maryland. "All you have to do is get on the highway to go somewhere from the airport."
The military and lawmakers are only slowly coming to grips with the consequences, Segal said. "I think we have failed to recognize the extent of the problem," he said. "We've produced a problem that's going to be plaguing us for generations."
Past wars, through the Persian Gulf war, produced three casualties for every fatality, while now in Iraq "we're up to about 16-to-1," Segal said. Those killed are "really the tip of the iceberg" as far as the toll on soldiers, he added.
One Republican congressional staff member who works on military issues said the rationale behind the Pentagon's practice was: "We didn't break you, you were already broken. You're not our responsibility."
"One soldier I know received a diagnosis for a personality disorder after a 45-minute talk," said the staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He'd been in the military 10 years, had made it his career, and then he was told he was being shuffled out in a couple of weeks. We keep getting these stories."
In the House, Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., is leading the effort to get similar legislation approved. "It defies logic to think that tens of thousands of our servicemen and women slipped through the cracks during the pre-screening process," Hare said. "We have a moral obligation to review the discharge process and ensure we are getting it right."
#3
The result appears to be that many actually suffering from combat-related problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic brain injuries don't get the help they need.
Maybe. Maybe not. Numbers please.
History. Back in the late 60s and 70s, the military was inhibited from just kicking out drug uses, cause the courts ruled that it was the 'military' that caused the individual to take up drug, so the military had to fix it. So the military had to run rehab programs with the problem children till their enlistments ran out and the issue got transfered to the VA. The unit command structures got to spend way too much time dealing with problem children and not on training the motivated. After a while, someone actually looked into the 'problem' to discover it was largely a pre-existing condition/behavior, not something the 'evil' military caused. That coupled with a decision by the SCOTUS that since it had become a 'volunteer' force, they could indeed fire their asses. That's when reform started to take hold at the start of the 80s. So take with about a pound of salt what "experts say". Couldn't be any agenda here, no really? or as Ronnie said, trust but verify.
"They've kicked out about 22,000 troops who they say have pre-existing personality disorders. I don't believe that," Bond said in an interview Friday
Belief is not fact. The subject matter needs to be addressed, but by adults using their brains not their fantasies.
#4
If they've served in combat (including support and IZ) then one should assume any PTSD is service-related and treat it as best we can. If they have not been in combat then one could reasonably assume that any PTSD is not service-related, but something pre-existing - but I would still try to treat it if possible because 1) the soldier did sign on, 2) you don't want to release potential time-bombs on their communities if you don't have to, 3) you want to minimize 'stigma' of seeking mental help (for anyone), and 4) regardless of cause, the disorder and any effects of it WILL reflect back on the service.
It certainly is true that the military is cash strapped and capability strapped WRT the large number of injuries vs. deaths in this war compared to previous ones.
From what I've seen, tho, the Army at least has a huge push on to educate NCOs and commissioned officers re: PTSD and brain injury, encourage soldiers to get diagnosed and to treat diagnosed cases. Many of these conditions are treatable and the Army is more than happy to do so and retain good soldiers where possible.
#9
It's an all-volunteer force. It doesn't pay for the military to poison the well by stiffing people like this as a policy, especially for a service combat related problem like PTSD. So my initial sniff test is that this is a nutrient rich story.
#10
IF they are a REMF who never left the states or a friendly base in Japan or Germany (etc), then its not PTSD.
Not quite, OldSpook. It could well be post-traumatic stress disorder without being combat related. Lots of cases in the civilian world result from traffic accidents, childhood abuse, rape... at least two of which could occur in the Service without ever nearing the sound of guns.
This is an area, along with treatment of traumatic brain injury and its side effects, where research and treatment development have been on an accelerating curve in the past few years, and where those specializing in the field have increasingly been dropping other areas of interest to concentrate on the troops coming home. So it isn't surprising that those rightfully concerned with getting units functional for and in combat haven't kept up.
#11
I've been involved in some of this kind of mess both prior to my retirement, and afterwards. TW is right - PTSD can occur from many things other than combat. The physical stress of working 14 or 15 hours in 100+degree heat during an exercise can leave a person doing some mighty strange things. Sometimes stress is part of the daily routine, and over time can affect a person adversely, both physically and mentally. I've seen a number of people break under such stress, especially without relief. The military isn't very forgiving under such circumstances, and blames the individual, not the situation. Bad call. I've also seen commanders use mental issues as an excuse to get rid of someone who was physically exhausted from a stressful job situation.
Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder is just that - a reaction to traumatic stress. One person I knew went to pieces when his wife was killed in a four-car accident in Germany. The Air Force eventually discharged him, because he couldn't function in his job.
I know military life is rough, and I know you have to accept a pretty high level of stress, depending on the job and the assignment, while serving. That's not new. Relating ALL the changes in individuals to "pre-existing conditions" doesn't seem to acknowledge that. Knowing the military's propensities to look at mental cases as "failures" makes me distrust such evaluations until I know a LOT more about what's happening.
NOTE: I physically collapsed at work after working a highly stressful job for 23 months without a day's leave, and usually working six days a week, ten to twelve hours a day. I got labelled a "mental case" until the Hospital Commander where I was sent for "evaluation" gave my commander a very forceful and negative "evaluation". I've been there. BTW, that six weeks of "outpatient therapy" was the first relief from stress I'd had in about five years. Did wonders!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/01/2007 17:35 Comments ||
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#12
TW, I doubt the non-combat sources of PTSD number the thousands annually. They certainly would be an anomaly. Which is why I'd like to see better statistical breakdown on this so called "dumping". Especially 1st-enlistement status, combat/deployment status, etc.
If it breaks down that a lot of these are combat or combat related, then someone in the Pentagon needs to get beat up badly on this.
If its mainly rear-echelon, with no combat deployments, and no other service-related, then its jsut the Army cleaning out sh*tbirds like Beauchamp and that Fake Ranger.
#13
I guess where I was from, we couldn't go in for evals like that - you'd lose your clearance, and thus your ability to be assigned to the unit. PRP pretty strict, as is the SCI stuff.
#14
PTSD, in and out of the service, seems a whole lot more common than it used to be. I see two reasons for this.
1) We are better at recognizing it.
2) We have less stress in our lives in general, so it takes smaller 'trauma' to trigger disorder. In the past, every day they rains didn't come meant another day you'd go hungry this winter - now WIC will take care of you; a lot less stressful for all concerned. Etc.
{3) In the service more wounded survive, meaning more survivors to have PTSD.}
#17
A servicemember is part of a total-gross military machine, and that machine's job is to win battles, win wars, and gener defeat or destroy an enemy including but not limited to the enemy's will to fight/resist, the enemy's resources-suppors, belief systems and society, etc. iff need be. PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS > during the Cold War, iff a candidate/recruit had a prior, pre-service record of psychological treatment or disorder, the USDOD wanted a certified record of it for evaluation.
#18
I guess where I was from, we couldn't go in for evals like that - you'd lose your clearance, and thus your ability to be assigned to the unit. PRP pretty strict, as is the SCI stuff.
If someone where you were had PTSD, OldSpook, they shouldn't have stayed in the unit, no matter how much they wanted to carry on. PTSD is classed as one of the anxiety disorders, and apparently at least partially results from an imbalance in the brain chemicals, which causes the neurons to misfire. For perspective, panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive disorder are also anxiety disorders, which gives an idea of how disabling such things can be. Paranoia and depression are differently classified, although anxiety disorders are often accompanied by some degree of depression -- it's hard to keep a positive outlook when one's thoughts change without one thinking them. Random variation within the genome means that some are more susceptible to falling into such an imbalance under severe or prolonged stress -- it's nothing to do with courage or sanity or sanguine temperment beforehand, as far as I know (which granted isn't very far, it's just that I've a couple of friends and relatives who've been treated for anxiety disorders, and one who we think should have been treated for PTSD, but it wasn't known then).
Actually, I would argue we have more direct stress in our lives, Glenmore. Things move a lot faster now, especially in the U.S., so we function a lot more on adrenaline, rather than having time to ponder and come to terms with thing. Our surroundings are louder in general -- stressful in itself -- more of us live in heterogeneous communities, where differences must be accommodated, more of us travel great distances and are exposed to different diseases even just cold viruses meaning our systems are more stressed underneath what our minds are dealing with, everything is more competitive, and so forth, etc.
I may have missed this if it has already been posted. I searched and didn't find it -- thought it needed to be read, even if it comes from Reuters. Those Dems just keep on killing our guys!
U.S. authorities racing to find three kidnapped American soldiers in Iraq last May labored for nearly 10 hours to get legal authority for wiretaps to help in the hunt, an intelligence official told Congress on Thursday.
The top U.S. spy agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, sent Congress a timeline detailing the wiretap effort as the Bush administration makes its case to wary Democrats for a permanent expansion of its authority to eavesdrop on the foreign communications of terrorism suspects.
"In order to comply with the law, the government was required to spend valuable time obtaining an emergency authorization ... to engage in collection related to the kidnapping," Ronald Burgess, principle deputy director to McConnell, said in a letter to U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes. Reyes, a Texas Democrat, is chairman of the House of Representatives intelligence committee.
Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell has been under fire from some Democrats in control of Congress who say misstatements have eroded his credibility. Some Democrats and civil liberties advocates say a temporary expansion of the eavesdropping authority passed in August threatens the rights of Americans and any permanent law needs more protections.
The timeline shows that at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on May 15, after three days of developing leads on the whereabouts of the three soldiers who went missing south of Baghdad, U.S. agencies met to discuss ways of obtaining more intelligence.
Concluding at 12:53 p.m. EDT (1653 GMT) that requirements for emergency eavesdropping approval had been met, officials spent more than four hours debating "novel and complicated issues" in the case. They spent about more two hours to obtain final approval from then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who was traveling.
The wiretap began at 7:38 p.m. (2138 GMT). Authorities then had 72 hours to obtain a special court's endorsement of the emergency authority, which was granted, a U.S. official said.
McConnell told the committee last week that an outdated provision in the eavesdropping law made the approval necessary because the targeted foreign communications were carried in part on a wire inside the United States. "We are extending Fourth Amendment (constitutional) rights to a terrorist foreigner ... who's captured U.S. soldier," he said, arguing that this was unnecessary and burdensome.
Congress temporarily broadened the law in August so such approval would no longer be required, but that legislation expires in February and U.S. President George W. Bush wants a permanent law enacted.
An al Qaeda-led group in June said it had killed the three soldiers, and showed pictured of ID cards of two of the men.
Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) leader and member of the National Assembly (NA) Hafiz Hussain Ahmads resignation, which he had submitted to MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmad and MMA central leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman has been misplaced, a private channel reported on Sunday. Hafiz Hussain told Geo news that he had given copies of his resignation to Fazl and Qazi, but was told by both that they had lost his resignation. He said he himself would go to the NA on Monday and present his resignation to the NA speaker. Hafiz said he was resigning from the NA in protest against the Womens Protection Act, 2007.
This article starring:
HAFIZ HUSEIN AHMED
Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal
MAULANA FAZLUR REHMAN
Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal
QAZI HUSEIN AHMED
Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal
Womens Protection Act
Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto said Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden didnt want her to return to Pakistan, as he was against womens rule, CNN quoted her as saying on Sunday. She said Osama didnt believe in democracy. Bhutto said the government would provide her security upon her arrival in Pakistan. Referring to the assassinations of her father and brother, she said that her past life was very horrible but she was hopeful about future. I am aware of threats but I have a strong belief in Allah, she said. Replying to another query, Bhutto said that she was no longer hopeful about her power-sharing talks with the government. She said domestic pressures were compelling her to contact opposition parties. She said former premier Nawaz Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia because he was convicted.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
But Osama's fav babe Whitney Huston makes records, while his so-called "concubine" writes books and poetry ostensibly wo Osama'a permission.
And iff, I remember corectly, the alleged women that allegedly died wid alleged Zarqhawi allegedly died reading alleged modern magazines [read - feminism?]!?
#2
But we're being told Allah was merely the Arabic word for God, and that Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians are accustomed to use it so, not the sole property of the Muslim religion. Taqiyya, it seems.
#3
from the description at the link, not only is that claim taqqiya, but the UN move is deliberate lawfare against those who expose Islamicism for what it really is.
#4
So, let it be the policy of the Council henceforth that all references to the individual commonly known as "Allah" will instead be referred to as "That Guy". All in favor?
Mr. Chairman, I object in no uncertain terms! We haven't even had lunch yet!
I'll allow that. Members of the Council, debate is opened on the proposal. Shall the Council have lunch catered or should the limos be brought around for a fact finding mission on possible human rights violations at Tavern on the Green? All in favor...
#5
"Mr. Chairman, point of order!... What about references to 'Muhammad, the notorious bastard offspring of a brain-damaged monkey and a diseased pig?'"
#6
You, sir, are out of order!
Kindly refrain from questions until the proper question and answer period. At least have the common courtesy to wait until after we have perused our dessert menus and placed our orders.
Thank you.
#7
There is no greater oxymoron than the United Nations Human Rights Commission.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/01/2007 17:44 Comments ||
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#8
It would now seem that the mention of Allah even when quoted from the Charter of Hamas or from other Jihadist statements would be considered unwise unless used as a blessing by Member States of the OIC.
Taqiyya posing as thought control. This is nothing more or less than the same reverse bigotry of how blacks think they have exclusive right to use the word "nigger", yet can demonize anyone else who does.
If anyone still doubts the use of the term genocide we would advise reading the relevant passages, especially the lethal article 7 and articles 22 and 32 that refer at length to that infamous century-old forgery, The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. It uses almost the identical words of Adolf Hitler. Article 13 makes it doubly clear why peace is impossible with a Hamas-led Palestine: Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. (...) There is no solution to the Palestinian question except by Jihad. All initiatives, proposals, and International Conferences are a waste of time and vain endeavours.
Accomodation of Muslims and their religious aspirations in the Western world will create space for political and social harmony. All is not dark. Enlightened communities and opinion leaders in Europe and North America are trying to steer their societies in that direction. It is, however, surprising that in many instances Holocaust survivors, instead of promoting such harmony, are campaigning against Muslim symbols in the Western world. They should be the most ardent advocates against discrimination. Islamophobia is also a crude form of Anti-Semitism."
1. All the west has been doing is "accomodating" muslims. It has led to more terror, more bloodshed, and more tragedy. To hell with accomodation. All is indeed dark, as far as any hope that muzzies and the free world can co-exist in any semblance of peace and harmony. They've already more than proven their inability to play nice with humanity.
2. Holocaust survivors are against all this accomodation talk with muzzies because being singled out as a race of people to be annihilated, both in the words of the Imams, and the words of that filthy rag the Koran, will tend to make you a bit hostile.
3. So-called "islamophobia" is as far from anti-semitism as night is from day. To be against a religion because it has the nasty habit of going around butchering people in the name of it's pedophile prophet and bloodthirsty moon god has no resemblance whatsoever to wanting an entire race of people destroyed. Besides, who in their right mind doesn't know that Islam is by nature, contant and practice, the ultimate form of Anti-semitism?
Just another outrageous example that the UN is an utterly clueless, anti-semitic pack of clowns.
#10
The Arabs like to claim they can't possibly be antisemitic, being a semitic people themselves. They like to ignore the fact that the term antisemite was invented by a German because the term Judenhass (Jew hatred) had become declasse. Philology/linguistics was then all the rage, so he borrowed the classification from the professors.
The U.S. military is eliminating Al Qaida's chain of command in Iraq. Officials said several leading aides to Al Qaida network chief Abu Ayoub Al Masri have been killed by the U.S.-led coalition. They said two out of the four foreign aides of Al Masri remain alive.
On Sept. 25, the U.S. military killed an Al Qaida chief deemed responsible for transporting foreign operatives to Iraq. The Al Qaida commander, identified as Abu Osama Al Tunisi, was killed in a U.S. air strike as he met his Maker colleagues in Musayib, about 60 kilometers south of Baghdad. The other two Al Qaida insurgents killed in the strike were identified as Abu Abdullah, said to be the new commander of the southern part of Baghdad's Karkh region, and Sheik Hussein, an Al Qaida facilitator.
Shortly before he died, Al Tunisi wrote a letter that warned of a threat to Al Qaida operations in Karkh. The lettter, found by the U.S. military, sought guidance from Al Qaida leaders amid coalition operations that hampered Al Tunisi's network. "We are so desperate for your help," the letter read.
Al Tunisi was said to have been a leading adviser to Al Masri, officials said. "The inner circle of leadership with Abu Ayoub Al Masri consists of foreigners, and Al Tunisi was in this top tier of leadership," Anderson said.
This was the second leading aide of Al Masri killed in less than a month. On Aug. 31, another member of Al Masri's inner circle, Abou Yaakoub Al Masri, was killed near Tarmiyah, north of Baghdad. Anderson said the two remaining foreign leaders of Al Masri's inner circle remain at large. "The top two Iraqis, Abu Shahed and Abdallah Latif Al Jaburi, have also been captured or killed," Anderson said.
Maybe thay can publish the letter on an Islamic website, along with a picture of the dead guy.
Buncha crybabies.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/01/2007 16:26 Comments ||
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#2
"We are so desperate for your help," the letter read.
xxooxx
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/01/2007 17:40 Comments ||
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#3
Suicide bombings are down.
Suicide bombers are largely non-Iraqi imports.
Al Tunisi was chief importer of non-Iraqi 'operatives'.
The traffic jam of unimported operatives ought to be getting kind of noticable about now. Anybody seen a couple hundred disoriented Saudis, Morrocans, Sudanese etc accumulating somewhere in Jordan or Syria lately? Might be worth checking.
Seems pretty clear to me. I hope they'll get it. Just abandon it and try again. From scratch. No face-saving maneuvers, please. Just paying attention and including some real experts on all of the multiple intertwined issues in the process. There is no way a bunch of folks from the US can fathom what is going on here by themselves.
Normally, I'd think State and the Senate were playing good cop/bad cop. But the Senate ain't that subtle. Or smart.
BAGHDAD - The U.S. Embassy ... joined a broad swath of Iraqi politicians both Shiite and Sunni in criticizing a nonbinding U.S. Senate resolution seen here as a recipe for splitting the country along sectarian and ethnic lines. The Senate resolution, adopted last week, proposed reshaping Iraq according to three sectarian or ethnic territories. It calls for a limited central government with the bulk of power going to the country's Shiite, Sunni or Kurdish regions, envisioning a power-sharing agreement similar to the one that ended the 1990s war in Bosnia. Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, a Democrat presidential candidate, was a prime sponsor.
In a highly unusual statement, the U.S. Embassy said resolution would seriously hamper Iraq's future stability. "Our goal in Iraq remains the same: a united, democratic, federal Iraq that can govern, defend, and sustain itself," the unsigned statement said. "Iraq's leaders must and will take the lead in determining how to achieve these national aspirations. ... attempts to partition or divide Iraq by intimidation, force or other means into three separate states would produce extraordinary suffering and bloodshed," it said.
The statement came just hours after representatives of Iraq's major political parties denounced the Senate proposal. And much of that was probably putting it together, too!
The Kurds in three northern Iraqi provinces are running a virtually independent country within Iraq while nominally maintaining relations with Baghdad. They support a formal division, but both Sunni and Shiite Muslims have denounced the proposal.
At a news conference earlier in the day, at least nine Iraqi political parties and party blocs both Shiite and Sunni said the Senate resolution would diminish Iraq's sovereignty and said they would try to pass a law to ban any division of the country. "This proposal was based on the incorrect reading and unrealistic estimations of Iraq's past, present and future," according to a statement read at a news conference by Izzat al-Shahbandar, a representative of the secular Iraqi National List. Well, the Iraqis don't seem to be doing much better themselves, do they?
On Friday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told The Associated Press that "dividing Iraq is a problem, and a decision like that would be a catastrophe."
Iraq's constitution lays down a federal system, allowing Shiites in the south, Kurds in the north and Sunnis in the center and west of the country to set up regions with considerable autonomous powers.
Nevertheless, ethnic and sectarian turmoil have snarled hopes of negotiating such measures, especially given deep divisions on sharing the country's vast oil resources. Oil reserves and existing fields would fall mainly into the hands of Kurds and Shiites if such a division were to occur. Why doesn't the US just keep it until they come out with a workable solution that all can whine about equally. That'll light a fire under them.
#2
They need a resource sharing program that treats each sect equally. (Preferably for each person, regardless of gender or marital status)They could use the distribution to start their own small businesses and invest in infrastructure and it would be less likely for them to pilfer the collective moola if they have a personal stake in it. Equal opportunity should catch on real quick with the women, especially if they have their own shot at it.
Turkey and Iraq signed a security agreement Friday to fight the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) but the sides failed to reach an agreement over a clause that would allow the Turkish military to engage in ''hot pursuit'' operations in the northern Iraq territory.
We could not reach an agreement on the article concerning improvement of border security cooperation. Our negotiations on this issue will continue, Turkish Interior Minister Beþir Atalay told a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart, Jawad al-Bolani, following the signing ceremony.
On the second day of negotiations in the Turkish capital it was announced that the agreement would be signed Thursday but the discussions went into deadlock when Iraq insisted on laying strict conditions for Turkey's possible hot pursuit operation across the border. Under the now-deleted article 4 of the agreement the Turkish military would chase the PKK terrorists on the other side of the border on the condition that permission is granted by Baghdad first.
While the visiting Iraqi interior minister was readying to leave Turkey Thursday without having reached a compromise late the same day, Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ertuðrul Apakan and Interior Ministry Undersecretary Þahabettin Harput visited al-Bolani at his hotel. Al-Bolani extended his stay to Friday only after further talks with Turkish officials.
The final version of the agreement falls short of meeting Ankara's demand to cross the border in order to chase the PKK terrorists who stage deadly attacks from their bases in northern Iraq. Instead, the countries committed themselves to taking all necessary measures, including financial and intelligence, to combat the PKK and other terrorist groups. They will hold six-monthly meetings to coordinate their work under the accord.
We are expecting this cooperation against terrorism to be broadened as much as possible, said Atalay.
Al-Bolani said the agreement as very important for Iraq, adding his government would do all in its power to implement the measures. The PKK is an organization that aims to harm Turkey, he said. You can be sure that the necessary steps will be taken in the coming period to prevent terrorist acts, he said.
On the hot pursuit issue, al-Bolani said, We want to choose the most effective mechanism for both sides. He said discussions on the key demand would continue.
Iraqi Kurds Friday signaled they might agree to an Iraqi-Turkish counter-terrorism pact after Ankara dropped its demand to send troops in pursuit of the PKK in northern Iraq, said news reports. But they complained the agreement had been reached without their consultation. We are not committed to any security agreement connected to Kurdistan's security that was drawn up without any active participation from the regional government, Brig. Gen. Jabbar Yawar, an undersecretary for the ministry governing Kurdish protection forces known as peshmerge, was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.
If this agreement is a routine one for sharing intelligence and fighting terrorism, then we will support it, but we will not support anything violates the sovereignty of the regional government, he said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned Sunday that if Israel carries out its threatened sanctions after declaring Gaza "hostile territory," it would likely create a humanitarian crisis. "In the past three months, 106 cargo trucks were allowed into the Gaza Strip per workday," the organization wrote in a paper issued in response to Israel's September 19 announcement of a change in policy towards Gaza in response to the continued shelling of western Negev communities.
"This assured the prevention of a humanitarian crisis among the Gaza population. The continuation of this situation cannot be guaranteed if there is an additional deterioration regarding the restrictions at the Gaza border crossings," the paper said.
OCHA pointed out that until Hamas took over full control of the Gaza Strip in June, some 238 cargo trucks had crossed into Gaza each day. But less than 10 percent of the goods allowed into Gaza today come from humanitarian aid. Some 86% of the cargo trucks carry commercial goods. Even though humanitarian aid is likely to continue in the face of Israeli sanctions, the Gaza population is largely dependent on commercial imports for its sustenance.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"Severe hardships in Gaza if Israel carries out sanctions"
The snark just writes itself.
Can't choose between:
1. What's the downside?
2. How would they tell?
3. In order to have a "humanitarian crisis," don't you have to have some humans first?
Feel free to add to the list. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/01/2007 0:08 Comments ||
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#2
Now, now, Mrs Skolaut. The livelihood of many UN families depends on the Palestinians.
#9
...it would likely create a humanitarian crisis.
As it always seems to do.
So will this be on top of the last "humanitarian crisis" or the current "humanitarian crisis" or will this be an entirely new "humanitarian crisis'?
#11
the Gaza population is largely dependent on Israeli electricityIsraeli water suppliesoutside donationsbeggingviolent controlsharia lawthe will of Allahdumbfuckingluck commercial imports for its sustenance.
#18
Time for the end-game in Gaza. These people have brought all manner of hardship upon themselves, and yet, as JFM so eloquently puts it, still find money for bombs and suicide belts.
If the UN didn't have their own aid program so intertwined with the 'plight' of the paleos, this would have been sorted out decades ago.
What utter wankers the UN and Paleos are, two organisms that are symbiotic and parasitic upon each other (is that possible?) Ugggh!
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
10/01/2007 18:15 Comments ||
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#19
I think the Israelis should start sending all supplies to Gaza via 155mm cannon. I'm sure a can of Crisco fired at 65 degrees elevation will make quite an impact on those Gazans receiving it...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/01/2007 18:17 Comments ||
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#20
LOL OP! - that visual touched a sensitive part in my psyche :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/01/2007 18:38 Comments ||
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#21
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned Sunday that if Israel carries out its threatened sanctions after declaring Gaza "hostile territory," it would likely create a humanitarian crisis.
Yet Hamas' genocidal attacks against Israel are not a "humanitarian crisis". The UN needs to pound copious quantities of hot Palestinian sand.
As part of a campaign to discredit Hamas, Fatah has been using a video showing the killing of a girl in Iraq as "evidence" of Hamas's "atrocities" in the Gaza Strip. On Friday, officials from the Fatah-controlled General Intelligence contacted The Jerusalem Post, offering the "exclusive" video and story for publication in Sunday's Post. They claimed that it provided fresh evidence of Hamas's "barbarity."
The officials even gave the Post the phone numbers of two men in the Gaza Strip who claimed that they had witnessed the "honor killing" of the 16-year-old girl. The two confirmed (by phone) that they had witnessed the lynching of the girl in the Gaza Strip.
Since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, the IDF has banned Israeli journalists from entering the area. Consequently, the Israeli media (and many foreign journalists) are forced to rely on local reporters and Fatah and Hamas officials as a main source of information.
The girl, along with her two sisters, was murdered in the Gaza Strip in July for "dishonoring" her family. And according to Palestinian human rights groups, at least 11 Palestinian women have been murdered in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the year in what is known as "honor killings." But thanks to the awareness of readers and bloggers, who responded to an article on the video that was later removed from the Post's Web site on Saturday night, the Post did not carry the article in Sunday's paper and has ascertained that the supposed fresh "evidence" of another such killing is actually a Fatah hoax.
The video was authentic, but was filmed in April in Iraq. It shows members of the Yazidis sect killing one of their young girls for carrying on a romance with a Sunni Muslim boy.
According to Dion Nissenbaum, who covers the Middle East as Jerusalem bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers, the same video was feverishly sent around by e-mail and cell phone last month in Syria. Only the Syrians were telling each other this was an honor killing perpetrated by the Druse minority in southern Syria.
The Fatah security officials behind the story claimed on Sunday that they, too, had been misled by some of their colleagues. An investigation revealed that the two "eyewitnesses" who talked to the Post were former Fatah security officers living in the Gaza Strip. The two have since disappeared. Those who answer their mobile phones claim the numbers are wrong.
Last week, Fatah claimed that its security forces in Bethlehem had thwarted an attempt by Hamas to launch rockets at Jerusalem. Fatah later admitted that the "rockets" were old pipes apparently used by Palestinian children during a game. IDF sources told the Post at the time that the pipes were not suitable for use as Kassam rockets, but nonetheless praised the conduct of PA security forces for handing them over to the Civil Administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
The subtext Barak makes is an indirect criticism of the Orthodox Rabbinical Counsel in Israel.
The counsel is currently headed by a fellow who feels a stringent standard should apply to both converts from people who serve in the IDF and converts from people outside of Israel. Basically, people have to swear to abide by all the provisions of orthodoxy with no reservations (e.g., you can't say, well, I'd do everything except I can't afford to leave my lights on for Sabbath and I can't predict when I'm ready to sleep so I'll turn those off via hand).
This issue gets into additional minutia pretty quickly but let's just say the Counsel has made some enemies (in the IDF and the Israeli govt and among Orthodox American Rabbis) with their approach.
#4
Something I noticed a while ago... This Gabi is the top Isreali soldier, yah? & Peter Pace is ours? Now just judging by looks, who'd you rather have on your side in a fight..... just saying we may be getting too techie....
Hamas called on Sunday for a cease-fire with Israel, a possible indication of the growing pressure the Islamic group faces after months of isolation in the Gaza Strip. Gaza's Hamas government "is ready to offer a truce at this time," Mohammed Awad, a senior Hamas official, told a Gaza Web site affiliated with the Islamic group. Awad's office confirmed he had made the statement, which echoed similar calls by Hamas in recent months.
This article starring:
MOHAMED AWAD
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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#1
No, no, no guys. This isn't what you're thinking it is. See, over here in civilization, a "cease fire" means you both stop shooting, not just the Israelis. Does that clear it up for you?
Getting pretty hungry, are yas? And winter's coming soon, too.
Oh well, ya got Islam to keep ya warm...
48 hour rule for corroboration, if we get any. Even Debka says they have only one source. Very interesting if true, tho - especially after the Turkish rebuff.
The Khorramshar News Agency, which is published by the ethnic Arab underground of Irans oil-rich Khuzestan, reported early Oct. 1 that the entire staff of Russian nuclear engineers and experts employed in building the nuclear reactor at Bushehr had abruptly packed their bags Friday, Sept. 28, and flew back to Russia. The agencys one-liner offers no source or explanation. DEBKAfile have obtained no corroboration of its report from any other source.
The story appears to have originated with the ethnic Arabs who live near the reactor or who come in contact with its Russian staff. If true, DEBKAfile can offer three hypothetical scenarios to account for the Russians precipitate departure:
1. Another crisis has cropped up in the patchy Russian-Iranian dealings over the Bushehr reactor. This is unlikely because Russian president Vladimar Putin is due for a high-profile visit to Tehran on Oct. 16, when he plans to sign a series of nuclear accords with the Islamic Republic. Furthermore, Moscow, like Beijing, stands foursquare behind Irans efforts to delay harsher sanctions for its continued uranium enrichment. Only this week, the two powers gained Iran two to three months grace by forcing a delay in the UN Security Council session that was to have approved a third round of sanctions.
2. Moscow or Tehran has been tipped off that a US or Israeli attack is imminent on the Bushehr plant and Irans other nuclear installations and acted to whip Russian personnel out of harms way.
3. Moscow has learned that an Iranian pre-emptive attack is imminent against American targets in Iraq and the Persian Gulf and/or Israel.
Aside from these hypothetical scenarios, DEBKAfiles Iranian sources report that the Khorramshar News Agency keeps its ear to the ground on happenings in Bushehr, because it is claimed by Khuzistan separatists as Arab land which they will fight to liberate from Iranian occupation.
#7
I would like to think that there have been arguements over Russian anti-Air defences failing to spot Israeli attacks in Syria leading to a falling out. Possibly Russians realizing that the Islamists can't properly run the equipment, or that their equipment is crap and not trusting the lives of their scientists.
#8
Scientists or engineers? In theory this is run of the mill civilian nuke engineering that shouldn't require special anything from the Russians. In truth, what kinds of skill sets are the Russians likely supplying here?
#9
Iranian operations in Iraq is their spoiling attack.
The Russians are supplying the nuclear reactor, something the Iranians can not do themselves.
Posted by: ed ||
10/01/2007 18:17 Comments ||
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#10
Possibly Russians realizing that the Islamists can't properly run the equipment, or that their equipment is crap and not trusting the lives of their scientists.
Funny you should mention that. This link is to a translation of a Soviet document on the 1986 US air strike on Libya. Their conclusions (if I am remembering properly) were that the US exaggerated and that the Libyans were idiots not using the AD systems properly.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
10/01/2007 19:11 Comments ||
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#11
From the end of LotR's link:
Although the evidence of Libyan support of terrorism gave justification to the American side, U.S. communication skills abroad were limited. In the polarized world of that time, there was no room for an international "coalition against terror."
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
#12
STRATEGYPAGE had indic that the Iranians, plus other major Russ arms customers, were dismayed and po'ed at the failure of Russ ADS, etal. to detect or stop the Israeli airtsrike of 9/6, and that the Russ $$$ cheated = deceived them. *"Nuclear reactor... which the Iranians cannot do themselves" > HHHHMMMMM, no, more correct to say that Iran = Islamism, like Russia-China, broadly desires the "fast track" to modernity and world power/influence. Lastly, iff resistance group claims are correct about Iran building underground nucdev, etc. facilities, THEN RUSS IS AWARE THAT IRAN WILL EVENTUALLY TURN ITS NUKE AGENDAS AGZ RUSSIA, SOONER THAN LATER. RUSS INTEREST is IRAN AGZ USA-WEST, NOT IRAN AGZ RUSSIA.
#14
Shouldn't we remember something about October 12th?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
10/01/2007 19:54 Comments ||
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#15
I am seriously hoping that the Iranians do NOT do something incredibly stupid on October 12th and make the Israelis bust out the Sampson Option on them - things would get really nasty for a very long time over there if that were to happen.
#16
FREEREPUBLIC > IRAN IRREVERSIBLE? Article asks once [nuclear tech=bomb] knowledge is attained by Iran, can any amount of air bombing or other anti-nucdev methodisms stop the Iranian/Islamist Bomb??? Can "knowledge" be stopped or destroyed?
#17
unfortunate, Shieldwolf, but the regime and it's Islamist brownshirts has been asking for it since '79 - time to Git Er Done before the pacifists/apologists have a chance?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/01/2007 21:07 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Also from FREEREPUBLIC > JPOST - IRAN [TRGC] threatening to attack up to 170 US targets in response to any Israeli or US attack agz Iran. IRGC > US interests-targets will be attacked anywhere in the ME + World, including any and all US NATIONALS IN THE ME.
#19
COLD WAR > iff article is correct, Russ scientists would not suddenly leave en masse unless WAR/ATTACK IS IMMINENT; or A SERIOUS ACCIDENT = DAMAGE HAS OCCURRED [Red Sea Eruption?].
#22
Russia to pull out engineers in Iran if war begins
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=d0c3da65-7283-41fc-9318-77b82ca53834&MatchID1=4577&TeamID1=7&TeamID2=3&MatchType1=1&SeriesID
This is from the HindustanTimes 18 Sept07
clip
"Amid escalating talk of a US-led attack against Iran, Moscow is preparing an emergency blueprint to evacuate hundreds of Russian construction engineers who have been building the $1bn Bushehr atomic power plant in southern Iran which would be a key target in the event of war...."
#1
I thought the Golan was already annexed by the Israelis? Enough of these ludicrous demands. Does the Mexican government put re-annexation of Arizona on its agenda on a repeated basis?
#3
We need a LOT more of that sort of invective directed against the Leftists Students. That is something their parents should have done.
Posted by: Natural Law ||
10/01/2007 10:05 Comments ||
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#4
This is good!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/01/2007 16:25 Comments ||
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#5
That. Is. Cool.
That lady has utterly nailed it - why the fucktard was invited to the US in the first place is totally beyond me.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
10/01/2007 18:02 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Natural Law, I have tried delivering some invective toward my Leftist Student. It goes in one ear and out the other. Sigh. All you can do is hope they grow up. Like Churchill said, if you have any heart you'll be a liberal when you are young but if you have any brains you'll be a conservative when you grow up. Or something like that. The problem is too many either don't have any brains or else they never grow up.
#8
Great diatribe by the lady. It goes beyond me how anyone could think that Ahmadinejad would not turn his visit to Columbia into a propaganda victory back in Iran. Bush was an idiot to not have issued an executive order prohibiting it.
Like Churchill said, if you have any heart you'll be a liberal when you are young but if you have any brains you'll be a conservative when you grow up.
"If by the age of 20 you are not a liberal, you have no heart. And if by the age of 40 you are not a conservative, you have no brain."
That's the way I've always heard it. However, it is evidently a false attribution to Churchill:
"Conservative by the time you're 35"
"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain." There is no record of anyone hearing Churchill say this. Paul Addison of Edinburgh University makes this comment: "Surely Churchill can't have used the words attributed to him. He'd been a Conservative at 15 and a Liberal at 35! And would he have talked so disrespectfully of Clemmie, who is generally thought to have been a lifelong Liberal?"
#9
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." Winston Churchill
If only our president had even 1/10 the oratorical skills of Churchill.
#11
Remember, dear Mr. Churchill was British, so Liberal and Conservative had different meanings to him. If I understand correctly,
Brit Liberal = Amer. libertarian
Brit Conservative wants rule by king and gentry/aristocracy, not something to make an American conservative at all comfortable.
Not to say that the sentiment doesn't transfer to this country the way we understand it.
The head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Ali Jaafari, has declared that, on orders from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the paramilitary Basij forces are now officially subordinate to the IRGC. The reason for this move appears to be the need to strengthen the regime's ability to handle domestic threats.
#4
In the mid-90s, the Iranian military and the IRGC told the government they would not order their troops into battle to combat civil disturbances,and recommended the Baseej do it. Khamenei then made it so and promoted a civilian to head that force, essentially cutting off the IRGC.
In the past couple of years, the Baseej were given additional training in urban warfare and two brigades were given heavy weapons and the training to use them.
Up until this month, there was no clear line of authority outside of Khamenei; the IRGC didn't know who the Baseej reported to. There were also reports of Baseej and internal-security police referring to the mullahcracy as apostate.
If I had to conjecture, I'd go with both putting the Baseej on a leash, and the IRGC adding a C3I element. According to the news report it was for boosting internal security, but it could also be for strengthening Iran's urban-combat ability.
In a speech addressed to students that graduated in Aley mountain resort region, Jumblatt said he wanted a Lebanese national president who is independent and doesn't sit in Baabda palace waiting for instructions.
His speech was read by Anwar Dao, Managing Director of the cooperative of government employees . He added: "We want an individually strong and free president as per Bkirki specifications and refuse to have a weak president that derives his power from the outside. We want a president that represents the aspirations of the people of Lebanon in freedom, sovereignty and independence. We reject any president that objects to and undermines the aspirations of the Lebanese people. We want a president that is colored freedom, tastes sovereignty & smells independence, and reject any president that has no color, taste or smell...
"We want the President who can solve our economic and social, living, educational and other problems, and reject President that adds to these problems. We want a President, who will be able to sponsor the youth and contributes to their ambitions and aspirations, and reject the President, who sits idle as the country is drained of its youth who are leaving their country out of desperation to build other countries instead of their own. We want an active president that works hard at making sure his people smile and reject a president that smiles while his people are suffering.
"This country is now bleeding the young and qualified to God's vast country, bleeding the innocents citizens, the free deputies and the brave soldiers. Its economy and the standard of living of its people are also bleeding.
"Lebanon will no longer be the divided country , but the country of unity and harmony , the country of liberty, democracy and justice, a country of diversity and respect for others ."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Democratic gathering chief MP Walid Jumblatt sent letters to several heads of state urging their support for completing the presidential elections under UN resolution 1559 .
The letters were sent to Saudi Arabian king Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Jordanian King Abdullah II,US President George Bush, Russian president Vladimir Putin, French president Nicholas Sarkozy, Chinese president Liu Chimeng , Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero, Italian Prime minister Romano Prodi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the European Parliament, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Mun, political coordinator of the European Union, Javier Solana, Secretary-General of the Arab League, members of the US Senate , the American House of representatives and a number of party leaders and the European Socialist International. In the letter he stated :
Lebanon has once again fallen victim of a heinous crime against a member of the Democratically elected parliament MP Antoine Ghanem and a number of innocent civilians. Ghanem has been a prominent member of the March 14 team and had participated effectively in the " Cedar revolution " which with your support led to the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon in 2005.
This crime is just one of the numerous efforts to obstruct the pursuit of Lebanon's independence and sovereignty and a desperate attempt by the Syrian regime to prevent the election of a new President of the Republic.
This terrorist attack took place days before the scheduled meeting to elect a new president to replace Emile Lahoud whose term was illegally extended in 2004 under pressure by the Syrian regime .
The Syrian regime is a direct threat to Lebanon and we should not also forget its allies who are determined to destabilize the country and rob it of its " Cedar revolution " achievements . They are in fact preventing the creation of a Democratic, Independent and sovereign nation and have destroyed our sate institutions.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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Lebanon's parliament majority leader MP Saad Hariri said at an Iftar dinner after meeting House Speaker Nabih Berri as part of continuous efforts to reach a consensus Presidential candidate, that the era of imposing a new head of state is over.
The daily An Nahar said Sunday that Berri briefed Hariri on the outcome of the meetings held separately by the speaker's envoys and Lebanese political leaders, the latest of which was with PSP chief and Democratic Gathering bloc leader MP Walid Jumblatt on Saturday.
Hariri, in turn, notified Berri of the details of his talks with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and Lebanese Forces leaders Samir Geagea. "I'm sure these rounds of talks will, God willing, produce a new President" for Lebanon, Hariri told an Iftar dinner in honor of families of the northern Akkar province. "Gone with the era of imposing presidents on Lebanon," Hariri stressed. "The era of free, independent and national decision shall start the era of pure and only Made in Parliament Lebanese presidents."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
After years of inactivity, militias are forming up again as tensions mount in Beirut to Lebanon. Officials said a handful of militias have been revived amid the confrontation between the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah. They said Lebanese Christian and Druze politicians have reorganized militias for personal protection as well as to preserve communal rights from encroachment by Hezbollah and pro-Syrian factions. "There is no question about it that political leaders are preparing for a breakdown in law and order," an official said.
So far, most of the newly-revived militias have been identified as being aligned with Syria. They included the Free Patriotic Movement, led by former Lebanese President Michel Aoun and linked to Hezbollah and Damascus. The Lebanese media have reported that several militias sent their fighters to six-day training courses by Hezbollah. Aoun's forces were said to receive two-day courses from former Lebanese Army officers. "These weapons exist and are for self-defense and not to be used to carry out military operations," Aoun said.
Two other pro-Syrian factions, led by former ministers Zaher Khatib and Wiam Wahab, were also undergoing military training, officials said. The training has been provided by Hezbollah in the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border and Jbeil in southern Lebanon.
A key concern was that militia violence would rage within the Christian sector. In 1989, during the final months of Aoun's presidency, the Lebanese Army and Lebanese Forces battled in Beirut, which led to the Syrian destruction of his regime. [Ret.] Gen. Elias Hanna said he envisioned the outbreak of civil war over efforts to elect a new president. Hanna cited the coalition led by Lebanese parliamentarian Saad Harari known as the March 14 forces and opposed by Hezbollah and pro-Syrian groups. "The March 14 forces will elect a new president and the opposition's response will be civil disobedience at the very least," Hanna said. "This uprising against the president could lead to a military clash."
So far, the militia training has been limited to light arms maneuvers. But officials did not rule out the procurement of rockets, anti-tank missiles and other heavy weapons. "In 1975, you had the Palestinians and you did not have a major armed Lebanese force like Hezbollah," Hanna told the Beirut-based Daily Star. "Today there is deep U.S. involvement and there are international resolutions. You have Shi'ites aligned with Maronites and Sunnis aligned with Maronites. Now it would be a very different civil war."
Opposition leaders said Hezbollah has played a major role in the militia revival. They said Hezbollah has provided AK-47 assault rifles and was organizing units of pro-Syrian fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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Lebanon's pro-Syrian president on Friday decried attempts by "international parties" to interfere in his country's presidential elections, saying it could further cast a pall on an already tumultuous process that has raised fears of fresh violence in the event of a collapse.
Emile's not addressing himself to Syria, of course...
Emile Lahoud, whose main rival in government is the anti-Syrian prime minister, Fouad Siniora, told the U.N. General Assembly that the Lebanese are capable of making their own decisions.
As long as they're approved by Damascus...
The worry is that a failure to decide on Lahoud's successor could result in two rival administrations. This occurred in the last two years of Lebanon's 15-year civil war when army units loyal to rival governments battled each other. Many in the international community most recently the Security Council have weighed in on the issue, giving a diplomatic nudge to Syria which, as the main power-broker in Lebanon, has been accused of involvement in a series of assassinations, including that of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. It denies any involvement. "Unfortunately," Lahoud said, "there have been attempts by international parties to intervene in Lebanon's domestic affairs in a way that contradicted international norms. Such interference could instigate hatred and increase tension on the Lebanese scene, a thing which not only might have negative repercussions on upcoming presidential elections but on the safety of the Lebanese as well."
He said that with a straight face, too...
While he did not specify what he meant by "international parties," the comment was likely directed at the United States and other Security Council members who have been openly critical of Syria and its support for Hezbollah. The militant Shiite group, which has been branded a terrorist organization by the United States, is a major force in Lebanese politics.
This article starring:
Emile Lahoud
Fouad Siniora
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
Hezbollah
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told Tory delegates in Britain Sunday that efforts by the UK and the EU to negotiate with Iran had failed and that he saw no alternative to a pre-emptive strike on suspected nuclear facilities in the country.
Bolton said that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was "pushing out" and "is not receiving adequate push-back" from the West. "I don't think the use of military force is an attractive option, but I would tell you I don't know what the alternative is. Because life is about choices, I think we have to consider the use of military force. I think we have to look at a limited strike against their nuclear facilities."
He added that any strike should be followed by an attempt to remove the "source of the problem", Ahmadinejad. "If we were to strike Iran it should be accompanied by an effort at regime change ... The US once had the capability to engineer the clandestine overthrow of governments. I wish we could get it back," he said.
Bolton said that the fact that only partial intelligence about Iran's nuclear activity existed should not be used as an excuse not to act. "Intelligence can be wrong in more than one direction... Responding after they (nuclear devices) are used is unacceptable."
Bolton also said the UN was "fundamentally irrelevant".
The former envoy criticized Britain's "softly softly" approach to Iran's imprisonment of 15 British sailors in April. They were released after Ahmadinejad announced he was making a "gift" to the British people. "They [Iran] got no response from the UK or the US. If you were the Iranian leader, what conclusion do you draw?"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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[7 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
In due time, Bolton, as both Moud + Dubya are in escalation mode. *Russia, China, Israel and assorted Euros are all in rough agreement that at 3000 centrifuges and counting, Iran will have "the Bomb" wid in a year [or less], a prospect that not even Russia-China, etal. US opponents is in favor of. FEW IFF ANY IN THE GOP-DEMS WANT A US-IRAN WAR [including insurgency] GOING INTO 2008 ELEX. ANY WAR in 2008 WILL HAVE TO BE A QUICKIE WITH NO CHANCE OF LONG-PERIOD INSURGENCY, FOREIGN INTERVENTION, OR PARALLEL WAR ala NK-TAIWAN, NOT IFF DUBYA-GOP WANT DEM SUPPORT. IMO, short of new 9-11's or worse Terror events inside the USA, the only way the Dems will suppor a Summer-Fall 2008 Iran conflict is iff the GOP agrees to "lose" the 2008 POTUS elex and give the Dems the WH. ELSE, the ideal time is now thru EOY 2007 [EOM Jan 2008?], and all camps including Moud-Iran know it.
#2
TOPIX NEWS > PACIFIC > TAIWAN - Local Govt. calling to renew issue of TAIWANESE INDEPENDENCE AND SOVEREIGNTY from CHINA, this time backed up by referendum. Lest we fergit, 900 Chicom missles are still pointed at Taiwan. SINGAPORE + HONGKONG also have issues wid BEIJING.
Exactly. No nation building for Iran. Just bomb the hell of them and then leave them to their own devices. Let the Ruskies and/or Chicoms try to pick up the pieces if they are foolish enough. If troops are used at all it should be to verify the nuke sites are disabled and, if necessary, chase IRG back across Iran-Iraq border and punish them for any incursions they make.
#5
I don't believe an attack can be a quickie. At a minimum Iran must be broken up and the Persians denied any coastline and oil fields. That means a minimum of 3 new countries and we would have to guarantee their independence from the Persians.
Posted by: ed ||
10/01/2007 18:27 Comments ||
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#11
Ahmadinejad isn't Iran's leader. He's like their hood ornament.If he gets whacked maybe the mullahs will install someone with a name that is easier to spell.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
10/01/2007 22:31 Comments ||
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#12
IRANIAN.WS > US STRIKE ON IRAN article > IRAQ is now a STRATEGIC/DECISIVE BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF ME BWTN IRAN AND USA; + THE BACK DOOR TO TEHRAN artiiikle.
#13
IRANIAN.WS > HIZB AL TAHRIR GETTING STRONGER. Milyuhns and Zilyuhns of angry young Muslims, espec tweeny youths, DEMAND THE CALIPHATE AND ANTI-DEMOCRACY/CAPITALISM, i.e. "TRUE ISLAM".
#14
I miss him, too, Barbara. I hope it's because he's too busy consulting with the German government and having the occasional visit with his old friend the pope.
Iran's Foreign Ministry on Sunday joined the country's Parliament in labeling the US Army and Central Intelligence Agency as terrorist organizations in a largely symbolic move.
Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in his weekly brief that he agreed with the symbolic resolution passed by Iran's hardline parliament Saturday which condemned the two American institutions for its actions in Japan in World War Two, as well as more recently in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/01/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
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.
President Hamid Karzais office said Sunday that there is serious debate among some Taliban fighters about laying down arms, though a spokesman for the group said the insurgents will never negotiate with Afghan authorities until foreign troops leave. 
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants are a drain on Britain and its economy, not a benefit, says a Left-leaning think tank.
The popular Putin has repeatedly promised to step down at the end of his second term in May, as the constitution requires, but has suggested he would maintain significant influence. He offered some initial hints at his strategy last month when he named Viktor Zubkova previously obscure figure known mainly for his loyaltyas prime minister.
Gunmen killed a Russian imam on his way to morning prayers in a restive southern region Saturday, a day after he spoke out against Islamic extremists, police said. 
Envoys from six nations struck an agreement on Sunday on the next phase of ending North Koreas nuclear weapons programme, which the United States hailed as comprehensive and detailed. The provisional agreement will now go back to the governments for approval, and negotiators will resume their talks here in a few days so the deal can be sealed, the US and other envoys said.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto said Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden didnt want her to return to Pakistan, as he was against womens rule, CNN quoted her as saying on Sunday. She said Osama didnt believe in democracy. Bhutto said the government would provide her security upon her arrival in Pakistan. Referring to the assassinations of her father and brother, she said that her past life was very horrible but she was hopeful about future. I am aware of threats but I have a strong belief in Allah, she said. Replying to another query, Bhutto said that she was no longer hopeful about her power-sharing talks with the government. She said domestic pressures were compelling her to contact opposition parties. She said former premier Nawaz Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia because he was convicted.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned Sunday that if Israel carries out its threatened sanctions after declaring Gaza "hostile territory," it would likely create a humanitarian crisis. "In the past three months, 106 cargo trucks were allowed into the Gaza Strip per workday," the organization wrote in a paper issued in response to Israel's September 19 announcement of a change in policy towards Gaza in response to the continued shelling of western Negev communities. 
As part of a campaign to discredit Hamas, Fatah has been using a video showing the killing of a girl in Iraq as "evidence" of Hamas's "atrocities" in the Gaza Strip. On Friday, officials from the Fatah-controlled General Intelligence contacted The Jerusalem Post, offering the "exclusive" video and story for publication in Sunday's Post. They claimed that it provided fresh evidence of Hamas's "barbarity." 
In a speech addressed to students that graduated in Aley mountain resort region, Jumblatt said he wanted a Lebanese national president who is independent and doesn't sit in Baabda palace waiting for instructions. 
Lebanon's parliament majority leader MP Saad Hariri said at an Iftar dinner after meeting House Speaker Nabih Berri as part of continuous efforts to reach a consensus Presidential candidate, that the era of imposing a new head of state is over.
After years of inactivity, militias are forming up again as tensions mount in Beirut to Lebanon. Officials said a handful of militias have been revived amid the confrontation between the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah. They said Lebanese Christian and Druze politicians have reorganized militias for personal protection as well as to preserve communal rights from encroachment by Hezbollah and pro-Syrian factions. "There is no question about it that political leaders are preparing for a breakdown in law and order," an official said. 
Lebanon's pro-Syrian president on Friday decried attempts by "international parties" to interfere in his country's presidential elections, saying it could further cast a pall on an already tumultuous process that has raised fears of fresh violence in the event of a collapse.
Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told Tory delegates in Britain Sunday that efforts by the UK and the EU to negotiate with Iran had failed and that he saw no alternative to a pre-emptive strike on suspected nuclear facilities in the country. 
