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Gunmen kidnap director of Basra Int'l Airport
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 2: WoT Background
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Arabia
GCC have no reason to be worried about Bushehr - Islamic Consultative Assembly
Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly Adel Hadad said Tuesday that Gulf countries have no reason to be concerned about the Boshehr power plant because all Iranian nuclear facilities are under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and are visited by IAEA inspectors who observe all safe guards. He added, in a news conference today on the sidelines of the Inter-Parliamentary-Union (IPU) 117 conference, that there are hundreds of nuclear power stations which are under the IAEA agency's supervision, so there is no reason for concern.

Adel Hadad hailed relations between Iran and Kuwait and said "we have friendly and fraternal good relations and recently I have visited Kuwait and met with the Emir and all high ranking Kuwaiti officials; we are always ready to listen to our Kuwaiti friends and to other Gulf countries."

He added that there are those who want to create some kind of fear of Iran while Iran is not a threat to any country as Islam does not allow Iran to encroach on other nations or threaten them. Adel Hadad confirmed that Iran has always been opposing any ill use of nuclear energy, saying that the Iranian nuclear plant is for peaceful purposes, "we have no intention of building a nuclear bomb". He said, "The IAEA has said clearly that the nuclear activities of Iran are no diversion, we are a member of IAEA, inspectors have come to Iran in large numbers, monitored with their cameras and confirmed that our nuclear activities are peaceful contrary to what the Americans are saying and that our activities are not a threat to world peace," he said. He noted that Iran's nuclear activities are completely with the framework of IAEA. However, he added that the concern of a few western countries regarding the nuclear activities of Iran has no basis. "We consider the statements by the Americans an excuse and we believe that the opposition of the US to our nuclear activities is politically motivated and not legal," he said. The Americans, he added, should agree that the nuclear issue be dealt solely by the IAEA.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No, Never! Wonderful chap! Used to give his mother flowers and all that!
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 3:42 Comments || Top||

#2  The IAEA. The Barney Fife of atomic energy...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/10/2007 9:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly Adel Hadad

color me... unimpressed
Posted by: Frank G || 10/10/2007 12:24 Comments || Top||


Kuwait pardons inmates of Military Prison
Undersecretary of Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior Lieutenant-General Nasser Al-Othman ordered Tuesday the release of inmates of the Military Prison as of the last day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The pardon of prisoners coincides with on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting month, the statement noted. The decree is in line with the instructions of Acting Prime Minister, Minister of Interior and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior.
"Go forth, and don't make us sorry we sprung yez!"

Posted by: Seafarious || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 3:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Damn, man! Why don't we have Ramadan over here, man!
Posted by: Charles Manson || 10/10/2007 9:07 Comments || Top||


Britain
Worker suspended over Jesus image, after complaints from Moderate Muslim
A Catholic worker at Manchester Airport was suspended after hanging an image of Jesus on a staff room wall.
Gareth Langmead, 40, was sent home from his job as a car parks supervisor after a complaint from a Muslim colleague.

He was off work for three days while an investigation was carried out and later reinstated with a clean record.

Union officials accused the airport of overreacting and said Mr Langmead was upset by the incident, but the airport said he had not complained.

The airport worker, from Atherton, Greater Manchester, found the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as he was clearing out a desk drawer.

As he felt unable to throw it away, Mr Langmead hung it on a wall in the staff rest room, prompting a complaint it had been put up as "an act of provocation".

Airport bosses investigated the claim but reached the decision that he had done nothing wrong.

Manchester Airport spokesman

A spokesman said: "We can confirm that a member of staff was suspended pending an investigation into his conduct.

"This investigation was swiftly concluded and the employee has returned to work with a clean record.

"Given the nature of this incident, we have agreed with our airport Chaplain that he and his team will work with the employees involved to foster a greater level of Understanding™ about each other's beliefs and how this applies in the workplace."

News of the suspension emerged a week after Hindu Heathrow Airport worker Amrit Lalji, who lost her job for wearing a nose stud, was reinstated.

Last year, Heathrow worker Nadia Eweida was suspended by British Airways for wearing a Christian cross but later reinstated following condemnation by clerics and politicians.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 12:49 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is bizarre considering that England is officially Christian.
Posted by: Spot || 10/10/2007 13:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Easy enough fix. Just tell Mr. Muslim the he can put up a pic of Mohammed...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/10/2007 13:04 Comments || Top||

#3  He was off work for three days while an investigation was carried out and later reinstated with a clean record.

--sounds like a good scam. Hope he got suspended w/pay by the idiots at the airport and chuckled to himself while enjoying a few pints at the pub.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 10/10/2007 13:16 Comments || Top||

#4  This is just silly. Management should've given the Catholic gentleman the choice of taking the image home or having it thrown out. One simply doesn't post one's own religious symbols in public spaces, any more than one hangs one's two-year old's latest scribblings. Not that the two are equivalent, but both impose on others what should be private.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/10/2007 13:16 Comments || Top||

#5  in the big picture TW you're spot on.

I still like how it took them 3 days to investigate.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 10/10/2007 13:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Broadhead6: 1 day to decide to do an investigation. 1 day to get the committee together. On the third day, five minutes to decide to throw out the case.
Posted by: Rambler || 10/10/2007 13:33 Comments || Top||

#7  No wonder the left love I-slam.

It's a religion especially for offence taking narcissists.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/10/2007 13:34 Comments || Top||

#8  The religion wears a sign on its collective back that says kick me. Their outrage about everything invites cartoons, pissing in footbaths, and defiling mohammed and the koran. It is becomjing the religion of the permanently pissed off and outraged.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 13:53 Comments || Top||

#9  Just tell Mr. Muslim the he can put up a pic of Mohammed...

Instant Snark 'O The Day™ gold medal winner in all categories. A perfect 10.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 14:00 Comments || Top||

#10  It is becomjing the religion of the permanently pissed off and outraged.

If we intend to survive, it will be us who are pissed off and outraged by Islam.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 14:03 Comments || Top||

#11  I am personally offended by anyone wearing a used diaper on their head.
Posted by: Icerigger || 10/10/2007 18:06 Comments || Top||


High Court to challenge UK sale of British arms to Israel
Posted on Page One as this is an enemy operation, not mere backchannel blather.
A public hearing will be held before the High Court, in central London, on Wednesday, following the refusal by the British Government to justify UK policy on arms-related sales to Israel.

The High Court will hear arguments by the British lawyer Phil Shiner, who is specialised in human rights law, in co-operation with the Palestinian group "Al Haq."
The High Court will hear arguments by the British lawyer Phil Shiner, who is specialised in human rights law, in co-operation with the Palestinian group "Al Haq." Shiner told a news briefing at the Foreign Press Association, in London, Tuesday, that British sales of arms-related equipment to Israel is in breach of UK obligations under international law as well as British law. "The UK Government regulations stipulate that it would not issue export licenses to countries where there is a clear risk that the export might be used for internal repression in violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms," Shiner said.

The lawyer is acting in the case of Saleh Hasan, a 62-year-old resident of Bethlehem who is one of tens of thousands of Palestinians who until now have found no effective remedy of Israels unlawful acts against the Palestinians.

In 2005, Israel used military equipment to bulldoze agricultural assets and permanently confiscated land in order to make way for the security wall, Hasan, who came to the UK to attend the hearing, told the briefing.

For his part, Shiner said he would argue that "the UK Government has and continues to have clear evidence that Israel might use equipment imported from Britain for purposes prohibited under international law." And as such, the lawyer said he will seek a declaration from the High Court "that in future the UK Government must be transparent and give full information about how it has satisfied itself that there is no risk of a breach of these criteria and to make publicly available information that there is no risk of any arms-related products from the UK being used for repressive purposes." In the absence of any legal justification for continuing this current policy, Al Haq and Palestinians like Saleh Hasan "call on the UK Government to suspend all arms-related exports to Israel until such time as Israel complies in full with its obligations under international law," he added.

Shiner said that the hearing is of great significance as it is being funded by British legal aid through taxpayers money here.
Shiner said that the hearing is of great significance as it is being funded by British legal aid through taxpayers money here. Al Haq is an independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organisation based in Ramallah, in the West Bank. It documents violations of rights of the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Shiner"
An ironic name that, considering that in the vernacular, it refers to a certain act of Horatio performed on the pink oboe...
Posted by: Admiral Allan Ackbar || 10/10/2007 7:12 Comments || Top||

#2  In a totally unrelated news item Police chief says number of terror plots against Britain rising
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/10/2007 7:43 Comments || Top||

#3  "Shiner" needs to get one, via axehandle. Works wonders on the disposition.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/10/2007 14:09 Comments || Top||

#4  The High Court will hear arguments by the British lawyer Phil Shiner, who is specialised in "in-human rights" law, in co-operation with the Palestinian group "Al Haq."

There fixed that.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 10/10/2007 16:23 Comments || Top||


Police chief says number of terror plots against Britain rising
Terrorists are plotting more numerous and deadlier attacks against Britain each year, London's police chief warned lawmakers Tuesday. Ian Blair told a committee examining changes to detention laws that his officers face a sharply rising threat from terrorism. "The number of the conspiracies, the number of conspirators within those conspiracies and the magnitude of the ambition - in terms of destruction and loss of life - is mounting, has continued to mount year by year," Blair told the House of Commons Home Affairs committee.

Blair told legislators laws must be tightened, allowing police more time to question suspects before they must be charged.
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  The Brits have obviously not been abjectly servile enough to the Muslim community. Maybe a few turbans and burkas around Downing Street.

Of course, Blair never said the conspirators are Muslim. They could be very angry Lutherans, for all the government dares to say. I must have absorbed my culture's deeped seated Islamophobia. Or I read the news and choose to avoid the cognitive dissonance of ignoring the glaringly obvious.

Just keep telling yourself, "terrorism has nothing to do with Islam" as many times as it takes until you it starts to sound vaguely plausible.
Posted by: Baba Tutu || 10/10/2007 4:41 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm all sympathy.
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/10/2007 7:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Geez, maybe ya think ya might wanna...do something about it there, chief?
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/10/2007 13:07 Comments || Top||

#4  "terrorism has nothing to do with Islam"

How 'bout, islam has nothing to do with religion? Much more plausable.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/10/2007 17:34 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Putin says Iran is not building a nuclear weapon

MOSCOW (Rooters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a news briefing with French leader Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday that he has not seen any real evidence that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

"We do not have data that says Iran is trying to produce nuclear weapons. We do not have such objective data," Putin said. "Therefore we proceed from a position that Iran has no such plans but we share the concern of our partners that all programs should be as transparent as possible."

Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 06:46 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This from the intelligence service that agreed that Saddam had WMD's.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/10/2007 6:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Putin, Puntin, Puntin...Why don't I believe a single syllable you say?
Posted by: Bugs Hupusose2306 || 10/10/2007 10:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Putin, Puntin, Puntin...Why don't I believe a single syllable you say?
Posted by: Bugs Hupusose2306 || 10/10/2007 10:29 Comments || Top||

#4  surprised this dude doesn't have a hundred splinters sticking out of his ass for all the fence straddling he does.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 10/10/2007 10:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh, well, that settles it.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 10/10/2007 10:59 Comments || Top||

#6  Let me guess... they are going to quit trying to make a-bombs because he is going to sell them a pile that work better than his radars?
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 12:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Putin must think it is in his and Russia's best interest for America to be weakened by a nuclear armed Iran. Wonder what he'll think when the wind starts blowing the fallout over Russia?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/10/2007 14:49 Comments || Top||

#8  In the long run America can leave the middle east and produce its own energy. Can Putin move Russia?
Posted by: ed || 10/10/2007 15:41 Comments || Top||

#9  What a relief.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/10/2007 15:42 Comments || Top||

#10  There were numerous Net articles and news reports = indicias to the contrary, including from the Russians themselves. MOST RECENT > AMERICAN THINKER > IRAN PLANS TO CKECKMATE THE USA/AMERICA > reminds us that Radical Iran is CONSTITUTIONALLY obligated to work for and impose a Global Muslim-Islamist [Shia?]State, to include challenging the world's non-Muslim/Shia nuclear powers which by all accounts can be accomplished by Iran possessing nuclear weapons at a "sufficient", IFF NOT SUPERIOR, Level of parity agz other world-nuke powers. IOW, and even the Russians agree, IRAN NEEDS NUKE WEAPONS TO ACHIEVE ITS OWN MANDATED CONSTITUTIONAL = ISLAMIST AGENDA, LEST IT VIOLATE ITS OWN CONSTIT AND SUFFICE TO STAY A COMPARATIVE LESSOR/MINOR POWER.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 19:30 Comments || Top||


Europe
Sarkozy fails to soften Russian backing for Iran
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 11:49 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Mullah Krekar leader fights to keep his turban in Norway
OSLO: Mullah Krekar, the founder of radical Islamist group Ansar al-Islam, appeared before Norway’s Supreme Court yesterday in a new attempt to have an expulsion order against him declared invalid.

Norwegian authorities decided in February 2003 to expel Krekar from the Scandinavian country, claiming he was a national security concern. After several failed attempts at having the expulsion order overturned, Krekar appealed yesterday through his lawyer Harald Stabell for the Supreme Court to retry the validity of the verdict.

Regardless of what the court decides, a lower court has already ruled that Krekar cannot be deported until the situation in Iraq improves.

Krekar, whose real name is Fateh Najmeddin Faraj, has lived in Norway as a refugee since 1991, and has been under threat of deportation since Norwegian media revealed he was the founder of Ansar al-Islam, which figures on the US’s list of terrorist organisations. The Iraqi Kurd admits that he founded the group but insists he has not headed it since he handed the leadership over to Abu Masab al-Zarkawi in May 2002.

Krekar, who insists his life would be in danger if he returns to Iraq, has meanwhile come out in support of “jihad” in Iraq. He has compared the US occupation of Iraq to the Nazi invasion of European countries, and insisted that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is “a good man”.
This article starring:
FATEH NAJMEDIN FARAJ
MULLAH KREKAR
Ansar al-Islam
Posted by: tipper || 10/10/2007 11:06 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jawa Report fills in a few details for us.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/10/2007 11:33 Comments || Top||


Turkey: European Human Rights Court rejects compulsory Sunni education
When Worlds Collide ...

Ankara, 9 Oct. (AKI) - The European Human Rights Court on Tuesday ruled that compulsory lessons in religious culture and ethics had infringed the rights of two Turkish nationals, Hasan Zengin and his daughter, Eylem Zengin. The court ordered Turkey to pay 3,726 euros to the Zengins who belong to the Alevi branch of the Muslim faith.
More specifcally "compulsory lessons in Sunni religious culture and ethics"

The court's decison found "that religious culture and ethics lessons in Turkey did not meet the criteria of objectivity and pluralism necessary for education in a democratic society and for pupils to develop a critical mind towards religion."

"In the applicants' case, the lessons did not respect the religious and philosophical convictions of Ms Zengin's father," the decision said.
Wow... Strasbourg makes a statement on the bedrock Salafist program for world domination.

The court also ruled that Turkey's procedure making religious culture and ethics lessons compulsory for Muslim children but not Christian or Jewish ones was discriminatory.
Yes, can't allow Muslim taxpayers to fund Jewish and Christian religious education for wee kuff'rs - heads would explode!

The exemption procedure " did not use appropriate methods and did not provided sufficient protection to those parents who could legitimately consider that the subject taught was likely to raise a conflict of values in their children," the court said.

This especially applied to children from non-Sunni families, where the exemption from religious culture and ethics lessons had placed a "heavy burden" on parents of disclosing their religious or philosophical beliefs, according to the court.
The ruling (if enforced - ha ha) would certainly put a crimp in the "We own your children" effort.
The Zengins lodged their application with the court when Eylem was attending seventh grade of a state school. They complained that the syllabus of the religion lesson lacks objectivity in that no detailed information about other religions was included.

The court upheld this claim finding that the curriculum and textbooks in primary schools and the first cycle of secondary school "gave greater priority to knowledge of Islam than to that of other religions and philosophies."
Duh. Why is that (this is a rhetorical question)?
"Pupils received no teaching on the confessional or ritual specificities of the Alevi faith, even though its followers represented a large proportion of the Turkish population," the court said.

Information about the Alevis was only taught in 9th grade, the court found, stating this was too late.

The court concluded there had been a violation of Article 2 of Protocol No.1 (right to education) of the European Convention on Human Rights - as the Zengin appeal claims.

Minority Alevis describe themselves as ‘followers of Ali’, bridegroom of the Prophet Mohammed. They are neither Sunnis nor mainstream Shiites, and differ from Sunni Islam concerning religious practices such as prayer, pilgrimage and fasting.

Some Alevis emphasise Alevism is a separate religion and some that it is a belief-system, while others assert it is the 'true Islam'.

Posted by: mrp || 10/10/2007 09:32 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/10/2007 11:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe we should sic them on the public schools in NY, CA and the Pacific northwest that have "play muslim" classes for the kiddies. Nah, not worth the bad that would come with it. Fun to think about, though...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/10/2007 12:15 Comments || Top||


US Urges Turkish-Iraqi Cooperation on PKK
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Jimmy Carter calls Cheney a "disaster" for U.S
He ought to know, he caused more disasters than almost anyone else in the history of mankind.
Posted by: Ol Dirty American || 10/10/2007 21:21 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Bush warns against Armenia bill
President George W Bush has urged US legislators not to pass a resolution declaring the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire to be genocide.
"This resolution is not the right response to these historic mass killings," he said hours before a vote by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Such a move, already taken by France's parliament, would do "great harm" to US relations with Turkey, Mr Bush added.

Turkey disputes the causes of the 1915-1917 massacre.

Armenia alleges that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed in an organised campaign to force them out of what is now eastern Turkey.

That is strongly denied by Turkey which says that large numbers of Turks and Armenians were killed in the chaos surrounding World War I and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire when Armenians rose up.

Turkish indignation

Speaking before Mr Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the passing of the resolution would be "very problematic" for US policy in the Middle East.

It could, she added, destabilise US efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan because Turkey is a main hub for US military operations in the region.

Even if it passes and is then adopted by the House, the bill will not be binding. Mr Bush has made clear that he also opposes it.

But the BBC's Sarah Rainsford, in Istanbul, says that this will have little impact on the reaction in Turkey.

Ankara has pulled out all the stops to prevent the genocide resolution reaching Congress for a vote, she adds.

Politicians have travelled to Washington to lobby lawmakers, while the country's prime minister and president have both contacted Mr Bush.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul warned of "serious problems that will emerge in bilateral relations if the bill is adopted".

All this comes on top of mounting anger that the US is not doing enough to counter the Kurdish separatist PKK group, which mounts deadly attacks on Turkey from inside Iraq, our correspondent says.

Some Turkish analysts believe the passing of the resolution would make it harder for the Turkish government to resist public pressure to cross the border.

Armenian pressure

It is still extremely difficult to establish a set of undisputed facts about what happened in eastern Anatolia almost a century ago, the BBC's regional analyst Pam O'Toole says.

But the issue has been kept alive by the powerful Armenian diaspora.

Twice as large as the population of Armenia itself, over recent years it has stepped up efforts to get Western parliaments to recognise those events as genocide, and has even sought to link it to Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.

Last year, the lower house of the French parliament declared the killings a genocide.

Ankara argues that there were massacres by both sides at the time but completely rejects the allegation that there was a state policy to kill Armenians.

Some Turks fear if those events are recognised as genocide, that could open the door to claims for compensation or even territory, our analyst says.

Only two years ago it seemed that a long-standing taboo had been broken when academics were allowed to hold a conference in Turkey discussing the mass killings of Armenians at that time.

But since then rising nationalism inside Turkey itself has effectively halted further debate, our analyst adds.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 12:52 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Please shut up, George.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 12:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Congress, If there's no problem, create one.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/10/2007 13:00 Comments || Top||

#3  In George's Dhimmi mind Muslims never commit genocide.

What an asswhip.
Posted by: Icerigger || 10/10/2007 13:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Maybe some you who are far better at reading the smoke signals than can enlighten me:

1) Why are we doing this now & which congress folks are spear heading it (that should tell the ulterior motives or not)?
2) What's the significance if our country says it was a genocide? Turkey can tell us to kiss their *ss publicly but then still do business as usual behind the scenes.
3) The bill's not binding, so what does it really mean if it even passes the senate?

side note: Seems there are 22 other countries that recognized this as a genocide to include, Poland, Russia, & Soviet Canuckistan

Posted by: Broadhead6 || 10/10/2007 13:10 Comments || Top||

#5  To caveat my above comments; if the shoe fits, wear it.

Posted by: Broadhead6 || 10/10/2007 13:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Why are we doing this now

This is not news. The bill has been struggling to get passed for decades.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 13:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Mr. President, I for one am damn tired of your blind spot when it comes to Muslims. Why not call a genocide a genocide?

Without truth, a nation is doomed.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/10/2007 13:36 Comments || Top||

#8  I have long been dubious about the treatment in the US of the entire issue.

This is because when my *grandfather* was going to college, a corrupt dean shorted the students dinner one day a week, supposedly to send money to "the starving Armenians". But it was discovered that he was pocketing the money, a fairly substantial amount.

The university administration did nothing, so my grandfather did. Pretending to be a parochial student, he went to the dean's house and persuaded his gullible wife to give him several of the dean's chickens, "to help feed starving orphans."

So at least for one week, the student's stolen dinner was replaced by fried chicken. Fortunately for my grandfather, the dean was smart enough to write them off.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/10/2007 13:54 Comments || Top||

#9  Historical question, why'd the Turks go after the Armenians and not the Kurds, or both. Why not do what the Soviets did and just uproot and move the folks you don't care for. Move the Armenians to Jerusalem. Get the Kurds to act as your elite soldiers in keeping the Arabs in line. Divide and conquer.

The Turks really were lame Imperialists.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/10/2007 15:34 Comments || Top||

#10  To answer #9, because Saladin was a Kurd and the Ottomans were afraid of creating another Kurdish general who could effectively lead troops against them in Arabia.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 10/10/2007 16:17 Comments || Top||

#11  Uprooted and moved during the middle of the winter, thus death.
Posted by: Heriberto Ulusomble6667 || 10/10/2007 17:18 Comments || Top||

#12  The Armenians were Christians, the Kurds Muslim, rjschwarz. So of course the Kurds couldn't be touched until the kaffir issue was addressed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/10/2007 19:34 Comments || Top||

#13  The article hints at the phrase we await: "Armenian right of return".
Posted by: Chuckles Jaise7272 || 10/10/2007 20:32 Comments || Top||


Pelosi: All You Freaks Get Off Of My Lawn!
Heh...heh...heh...
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in a determinedly good mood when she sat down to lunch with reporters yesterday. She entered the room beaming and, over the course of an hour, smiled no fewer than 31 times and got off at least 23 laughs. But her spirits soured instantly when somebody asked about the anger of the Democratic "base" over her failure to end the war in Iraq.

"Look," she said, the chicken breast on her plate untouched. "I had, for five months, people sitting outside my home, going into my garden in San Francisco, angering neighbors, hanging their clothes from trees, building all kinds of things -- Buddhas? I don't know what they were -- couches, sofas, chairs, permanent living facilities on my front sidewalk."

Unsmilingly, she continued: "If they were poor and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they would be arrested for loitering, but because they have 'Impeach Bush' across their chest, it's the First Amendment."

Though opposed to the war herself, Pelosi has for months been a target of an antiwar movement that believes she hasn't done enough. Cindy Sheehan has announced a symbolic challenge to Pelosi in California's 8th Congressional District. And the speaker is seething.

"We have to make responsible decisions in the Congress that are not driven by the dissatisfaction of anybody who wants the war to end tomorrow," Pelosi told the gathering at the Sofitel, arranged by the Christian Science Monitor. Though crediting activists for their "passion," Pelosi called it "a waste of time" for them to target Democrats. "They are advocates," she said. "We are leaders."
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/10/2007 10:13 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Reap what you Sow
Posted by: Bugs Hupusose2306 || 10/10/2007 10:27 Comments || Top||

#2  "We are leaders."

-not in the sense that you think that means Nancy baby.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 10/10/2007 10:43 Comments || Top||

#3  Did anyone else laugh at the advert up and to the right of Nan's picture
Posted by: Beavis || 10/10/2007 10:46 Comments || Top||

#4  The chickens always come home to roost, bitch.
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/10/2007 10:57 Comments || Top||

#5  They finally figured out that you can't get elected on the 4% of voters that make up the lunatic fringe. The 4%, unfortunately, that also happen to yell the loudest and get the most air time.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 10/10/2007 10:58 Comments || Top||

#6  Hey Nanny Nan, would you consider installing muslim foot baths in your garden?
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 11:02 Comments || Top||

#7  "Look, Gavin, I don't give a flying f**k who they are, they're crapping in my rose bushes! Either you send the cops over to roust 'em or I tell my SS boys to get the firehose, and I'm not fooling!"
Posted by: mojo || 10/10/2007 11:07 Comments || Top||

#8  My heart pumps piss. I'll bet she never counted on the fact that the only place a fuckwit like her could get elected required having a huge supply of these useful idiots on hand. Feel the love, Nancy.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 12:57 Comments || Top||

#9  Eating their own. Now how much fun is that to watch.
Posted by: Icerigger || 10/10/2007 12:59 Comments || Top||

#10  Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/10/2007 14:01 Comments || Top||

#11  My oh my, the left can't stand the left. It is understandable.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 14:05 Comments || Top||

#12  Unsmilingly, she continued: "If they were poor and they were sleeping on my sidewalk, they would be arrested for loitering, but because they have 'Impeach Bush' across their chest, it's the First Amendment."

Wait, you would arrest the poor? I would expect you to hand them a check signed by Joe Taxpayer.
Posted by: Chris W. || 10/10/2007 15:02 Comments || Top||

#13  It is not permissible to hound people on their private property. Thats what our official public institutions are there for. They should be arrested for disturbing the peace if they are doing this at a private residence.

No one has any respect anymore.
Posted by: newc || 10/10/2007 15:29 Comments || Top||

#14  Nancy's having a rough time of late. If it's not moonbat protestors on the front law, it's whacked-out has-been celebrities stalking her and her husband. Do you know how hard it is to get a restraining order in California these days?
Posted by: Mike || 10/10/2007 15:31 Comments || Top||

#15  Cause, meet effect.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/10/2007 15:39 Comments || Top||

#16  California + OJ Effect > A Man found de facto not guilty of murder can be held or viewed as de facto "responsible" for said murder without being de facto called a murderer nor a de facto accomplice/accessory to de facto said murder, hence may publicly be punished as an alleged murder wid out being termed a murderer nor being imprisoned as a murder. Legally, OJ CANNOT BE CALLED A MURDERER NOR PUT IN JAIL BUT MAY BE PUNISHED via ASSETS CONFISCATION "AS IF" HE WAS = COULD/MIGHT BE.

OJ CASE IS GOOD CLINTONISM IS LEGAL TOTAL ANARCHY IS PUBLIC GOVT-SUPPOR/PROTECTED NEPOTISM aka SPECIAL INTERESTS/FAVORS, MAFIA-WARLORD-TRIBALIST STATE, POPULAR/NATIONAL CORRUPTIONISM, etc. CLINTONISM > D *** NG IT, I rely really Really REALLY R-E-A-L-L-Y RRRRRRRRREEEEEE
EEEEEEEAAAAAAALLLLLLLLYYYYYYY believed I told the truth when I knowingly, wilfully, and admittedly lied, misled, deceived, and defrauded you, etc. ERGO THE BURDEN IS ON YOU AND ONLY YOU TO PROVE MALICE AFORETHOUGHT EVEN AFTER I PUBLICLY ADMITTED TO DOING SO. Thus it does NOT matter that Saddamist Iraq = North Korea said or inferred they had WMDS, ITS FOR THE USA AND ONLY THE USA TO PROVE OR DISPROVE THE TRUTH-INTENTIONS OF THEIR OWN WORDS, e.g SADDAMIST IRAQ + NORTH KOREA ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN LYING NOR TRUTHFULNESS.

ANARCHY IN USA is GOOD [DOMESTIC/NATIONAL]SOCIALISM-GOVTISM + espec GOOD ANTI-US OWG.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 20:31 Comments || Top||

#17  Are there retirement homes for worn out Caps Lock keys?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/10/2007 21:45 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Carter says U.S. tortures prisoners
U.S. Says Carter Tortures Us — History's Greatest Monster Won't Shut Up
Posted by: Tibor || 10/10/2007 15:36 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Carter tortures us, prisoners to his madness"

There fixed it for you.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/10/2007 17:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Carter who?
Posted by: Bobby || 10/10/2007 18:26 Comments || Top||

#3  I really can't wait until this guy dies...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/10/2007 19:16 Comments || Top||

#4  Will this man never be still?
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/10/2007 21:03 Comments || Top||

#5  What an asshole. But don't just take my word for it.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/10/2007 22:00 Comments || Top||

#6  Its time to make him face up to his senile dementia.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 23:14 Comments || Top||

#7  ION, REDDIT > LA TIMES > WE [America]NEED A NEW CONSTITUTION[?], + POLITICO> RETHINKING AMERICA.
"Progressive" and "Realist/Realistic" labels returneth as for said new US Constitution.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 23:34 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Bhutto: 'How we plan to control the military'
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 17:50 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shades of Nancy Pelosi.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 18:35 Comments || Top||


From Washington to war in Waziristan & Bhutto death threat.
[..]

Within a day of Musharraf's victory, Pakistani F-16 aircraft were flying sorties from Kohat Airbase to bomb the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali, acting on intelligence and satellite maps provided by US intelligence. Top al-Qaeda ideologues, reportedly including the group's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, were believed to based in the town.

The fighting in the area is continuing for a fourth day, in what has become the biggest battle in the tribal areas since 2003. So far, over 600 casualties have been reported, the majority of them civilians. Several dozen militants have been killed. The Paksitani armed forces have reported 45 military casualties, but a jirga (assembly of elders) handed over 73 bodies of Pakistani soldiers to the commander of the 7th division of the Pakistan Army on Monday. Another jirga handed over 50 wounded soldiers to army commanders. The aerial bombardment continues, causing a mass migration of the local population to nearby cities.

The flames of Waziristan fires always reach Islamabad and Karachi. When Benazir Bhutto’s aircraft lands in Karachi on October 18, the battle of Waziristan will be reverberating there. The top commander of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, has already openly vowed to kill her, and a strong Taliban cell in Karachi is ready to perform the task.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 17:47 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Pakistani court dismisses Bhutto bail appeal
KARACHI - A Pakistan court dismissed Tuesday a request from former premier Benazir Bhutto for pre-arrest bail ahead of her return from self-imposed exiled next week, her lawyer said. The High Court in Karachi rejected the petition after government lawyers ruled out the possibility that she would be arrested on arrival in the southern port city next Thursday.

Bhutto had sought protective bail in case she was seized over corruption charges that she says are politically motivated and forced her to flee Pakistan into exile in 1999. Bhutto, the first female leader of an Islamic nation, plans to return on October 18 to contest parliamentary elections due by January.

‘Chief justice of the Sindh High Court, Sabihuddin Ahmed, and judge Faisal Arab who presided in the court disposed of the petition after the government prosecutor said they would not pursue the cases,’ Bhutto’s lawyer Farooq Naek told AFP. ‘Thus the question of her arrest does not arise,’ he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:


Jihad Council ceasefire fails to move New Delhi
Indian forces in Jammu and Kashmir are unlikely to suspend operations against terror groups despite the dramatic announcement of a three-day unilateral ceasefire by Pakistan-based terror groups, Union Home Ministry officials have said.

A spokesperson for the Muzaffarabad-based United Jihad Council, chaired by Hizb ul-Mujahideen chief Mohammad Yusuf Shah, on Monday ordered terror groups to cease operations in Jammu and Kashmir from October 12 to 14, to mark Eid-ul-Fitr.

Sources in the Home Ministry said the government was unlikely to declare a reciprocal ceasefire unless the terror groups outside the UJC umbrella also demonstrated a willingness to halt strikes against civilians and Indian forces. “We’re considering the options,” a senior official said, “but do not wish to repeat past mistakes.” In December 2000 India responded to an eight-day Hizb ceasefire, terminating offensive operations for five months, but it led to a sharp rise in civilian fatalities.

No response
Major groups outside the UJC, such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, have not responded to the announcement. However, in a September 14 speech, the Lashkar’s supreme head, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, declared that “Ramzan and jihad have a deep relationship as the Battle of Badr and the Conquest of Mecca both took place during this month.” While Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is yet to discuss the ceasefire with key officials, a wide spectrum of politicians in Jammu and Kashmir has voiced support for the JNC declaration, saying it will help to move the peace process forward.
This article starring:
Hizb ul-Mujahideen
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad
Hafiz Mohammad SaeedLashkar-e-Taiba
Mohammad Yusuf ShahHizb ul-Mujahideen
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Hizbul Mujaheddin

#1  Jihadist-Islamist + Maoist-Commie collusion only been intensifying, not lessening.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  ASIA TIMES > INDIA IS KEY TO NATO'S WORLDVIEW. Read - vv Russia-China [SCO-CSTO].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 0:34 Comments || Top||

#3  When did Dom Deluise convert?
Posted by: Beavis || 10/10/2007 11:50 Comments || Top||

#4  I was thinking about Demis Roussos myself, or Bigfoot, alternatively... assuming those two are not in fact the very same person, of course. Abdominal snowman, is any of your relatives involved in showbizness?
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 11:54 Comments || Top||

#5  is that a golf club on the left? must be the caddy from Happy Killmore.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/10/2007 12:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Topol's Back. (Fiddler on the Roof)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/10/2007 13:05 Comments || Top||

#7  those can't be his real teefes...too white, They're unislamic
Posted by: Frank G || 10/10/2007 13:56 Comments || Top||


Government to approach SC against Lal Masjid concessions
The government will file a review petition before the Supreme Court (SC), asking that the concessions given to the former clerics of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa be withdrawn, Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier (r) Javed Cheema told a weekly news briefing here on Tuesday. Cheema said the Capital Development Authority (CDA) had allotted only 205 square yards of land to the former Lal Masjid administration to construct Jamia Hafsa, adding that the mosque administration encroached upon some land. He said the SC would be requested to withdraw all concessions it had given to the former Lal Masjid clerics in its verdict last week.

Cheema said the government would honour the SC order to reconstruct Jamia Hafsa – but for day-scholars only. “The government cannot fully implement the SC orders to construct the madrassa with hostel in the prevailing circumstances,” he said. He called the appointment of a pro-Maulana Aziz cleric at the mosque “just a temporary arrangement”. A permanent appointment would be made on the recommendations of the Auqaf Department, he added.
This article starring:
Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier (r) Javed Cheema
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Bin Laden more likely to be in a city than a cave: former ISI chief
Osama bin Laden could hide more easily in a city than a remote tribal region, a former Pakistani intelligence chief said on Tuesday, challenging the notion that the Al Qaeda leader is probably holed up in a mountain cave.
My guess is that he's in Qazi's guest house, and has been since late 2001.
Lt General Asad Durrani, former head of the ISI, said news of outsiders’ presence travels fast in the tribal areas and it would be hard to keep it secret for years. “In the countryside or in tribal areas ... it’s difficult to hide yourself because there people live ... and operate in a manner in which finding out about unusual presence is very important,” Durrani told Reuters in an interview in London. He said it was true that tribal customs placed great value on showing hospitality and not betraying a guest. “In the tribal code, anyone who seeks your protection has to be defended, with your life if necessary.” However, “I am not sure over a period of four, five or six years that it would be possible even for the tribesmen to keep his presence under wraps,” he added.

Such information would have travelled or been divulged, given the incentives, Durrani said in a reference to the $25 million US bounty on bin Laden’s head. “My conclusion therefore is that it’s extremely unlikely that he is around that place.”
This article starring:
Lt General Asad Durrani, former head of the ISI
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  Milwaukee? Chicago?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  I still think it's more likely a hidden rural cave network
Posted by: Victor Emmanuel Unomoting3635 || 10/10/2007 1:55 Comments || Top||

#3  “My conclusion therefore is that it’s extremely unlikely that he is around that any place.”
Posted by: twobyfour || 10/10/2007 3:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Osama bin Laden could hide more easily in a city than a remote tribal region

So, is this an indication that we should be bombing all major cities in Pakistan?
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 3:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Why Pakistan? He's probably home in Soodia---enjoying a well earned rest in the lap of his family.
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/10/2007 7:40 Comments || Top||

#6  He probably lives in Durrani's basement...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/10/2007 9:10 Comments || Top||

#7  Detroit
Posted by: Sheba Phavick4542 || 10/10/2007 10:00 Comments || Top||

#8  Has anyone checked camp casey???

Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 10:22 Comments || Top||

#9  Look for the tall skinny dead guy with other rabble under rubble somewhere.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 11:26 Comments || Top||

#10  He's got a condo on Fire Island which he shares with Castro and a full-time medical staff.
Posted by: Iblis || 10/10/2007 12:41 Comments || Top||

#11  Detroitistan?
Posted by: Icerigger || 10/10/2007 13:19 Comments || Top||

#12  Dearbornistan more like. Working at a gas station. The chaldeans own the 7/11s.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 10/10/2007 13:29 Comments || Top||

#13  If Bin Laden was living in Mecca, does anyone believe the kaffir west would ever be told? Even moderate Muslims would do a hand pump at the way Binny gave the finger to the man and they'd keep silent. Perhaps giving some money to the cause.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/10/2007 14:09 Comments || Top||

#14  Nah, my guess is he's cruising the seas. His brother-in-law has been in the Philippines & Indonesia and his younger brother reportedly in South America. Bali and Sharm al-Shek are only a few resort areas either targeted or as meeting spots. Granted it was Debka, but AQ is also said to have its own fleet of ships. His father was a dockworker before he made his fortune in construction and his mother from the port of Latakia in Syria. He left Sudan in his own plane to Afghanistan. I suspect Binny is much more well traveled than anyone has suspected. The cave dweller persona is just more Muslim deception to keep our military busy.
Posted by: Danielle || 10/10/2007 14:28 Comments || Top||

#15  He'd dead.
Posted by: Crusader || 10/10/2007 17:51 Comments || Top||

#16  There is a captured video where Bin Laden welcomes a Saudi guest and talks about planning the 911 attack.
Inside what is obviously a large house, He greets the guy with a "welcome to my cave" and they both laugh.
Posted by: john frum || 10/10/2007 19:19 Comments || Top||

#17  My money is on a Pak Army General's mansion inside Rawalpindi cantonment.
Posted by: john frum || 10/10/2007 19:19 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Transcript: Charlie Rose interview with David Kilcullen
Posted by: Glolurong Jones1696 || 10/10/2007 10:27 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  DAVID KILCULLEN: . to say. Let me say, though, I think being the senior counterinsurgency adviser to General Petraeus is probably a serious misnomer. You know, I mean .

CHARLIE ROSE: He is the senior adviser.

DAVID KILCULLEN: Yeah, if anybody ever less needed a counterinsurgency adviser, it's him. I was more just kind of helping around in the field. And he was -- he is the guy,
Posted by: Icerigger || 10/10/2007 13:12 Comments || Top||

#2  LA TIMES > RETHINKING THE US ARMY; + TOPIX > GATES EXPLAINS ARMY TRANSFORMATION GOALS. Composite - Future Army will no longer fight asmuch as seen as "Behaviorial/
Psychological" specialists whose job is to advise-train foreign militaries and act like an "Advisor Corps" in charge of broad = strategic security??? IOW, TV > Army now the in-house FBI-trained Psychologist assigned to NYC Special Victims Unit.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 23:23 Comments || Top||


Iraqis and Kurds say Turkish incursion will not be tolerated
Baghdad - Iraq will not allow Turkish troops inside its territories, Kurdish officials and Iraqi government spokesman Ali al- Dabagh said following Ankara's caveat of an incursion into northern Iraq following an ambush on its soldiers.

'Turkey should respect Iraq's sovereignty,' al-Dabagh told Arab broadcasters on Wednesday.

A Kurdish military official said that Iraqi and Kurdish forces would rebuff any attempts at an incursion into Iraqi territories.

A day earlier, Turkey had indicated that it might launch cross- border raids to destroy rebel Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) camps in mountainous northern Iraq, following the killing of 13 Turkish commandos and two soldiers in Turkey by members of the PKK.

'The necessary orders and regulations have been given to take whatever economic, legal and political measures - including (the possibility) of cross-border operations - needed in order to continue the fight against terror and terrorists,' read a statement released after a meeting of the Turkish anti-terrorism High Board, which includes ministers, military generals and intelligence officers.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised that Turkey's 'fight against terrorism will take a very different form.'

According to Turkish observers, the increase in Turkish casualties in recent weeks has increased pressure on the government to act.

Efforts to legitimize the incursions did not go as planned.

On October 27, Baghdad and Ankara had sealed a security agreement where Iraq committed to cooperating with Turkish authorities in hunting down PKK rebels in the north. It was hoped that occasional incursions would be an official part of the deal.

However even as the details were not disclosed, reports said that the Iraqi side had agreed to cooperate but refused to grant an absolute right to Turkish troops to cross the border in hot pursuit of Kurdish rebels.

Both the Kurds and the United States have voiced concerns that a Turkish operation into northern Iraq would upset Iraqi Kurdish groups and may destabilize the region, a part of Iraq that is relatively free of violence.

More than 32,000 people have been killed since the early 1980s when the PKK launched its fight for independence or autonomy for the mainly Kurdish-populated south-east.

The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by both the US and the European Union. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani had called on the PKK fighters to either leave the Kurdish lands, or denounce violence and lay down their arms.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 06:57 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What about Iranian incursions/shelling?
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 12:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder how much of these "incursions" are part of the Iranian plan to destabilize Iraq so they can take over. I also wonder if the hand of Iran isn't behind some of these attacks blamed on the PKK. I don't trust Iran to keep its hands to itself for 10 microseconds.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/10/2007 17:55 Comments || Top||


Key Shiite leader returns to Iraq after hospital stay in Iran
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 06:56 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good thing it was only lung cancer, and not an STD or alcohol-related illness, or Muslims doctors would not have been able to treat him.

Seriously, who's next in his chain-of-command? Lung cancer doesn't have a very good prognosis under either Iranian or US treatment.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/10/2007 7:46 Comments || Top||


Iraq Demands $136 Million for Families in Blackwater Shooting
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  Make it a few more people BW. Kill these idiots that proposed the suit against you.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 1:23 Comments || Top||

#2  And a Pony!
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 3:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Oi vey.
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/10/2007 7:36 Comments || Top||

#4  .
The linked article says that the Iraqi Government also that "the U.S. government cut its ties with Blackwater within six months."

I assume that the Iraqi Government determined this interim, transition period in consultation with the US Government.

The six-month interim will enable the US Government to request bids, filter down the multitude of bids to the four or five best and select the new contractor(s). (The work might be divided among several winning contractors.)

The newly contracted US security companies then will need a few months to hire personnel, provide training and guidance about rules of engagement and reporting procedures, and then put those personnel into place in Iraq.

In the meantime Blackwater will have to continue to fulfill the conditions of its current contract fully. During this interim six months, if the State Department assigns Blackwater to guard Iraqi officials on occasion, then Blackwater will have to comply with its current contract and do so.

Eventually the important work of guarding US and other officials in Iraq with the help of private security companies will continue under the management of a company other than Blackwater.

In the meantime, Blackwater should strive to repair the damage that has been done by this incident. The incident should be investigated and reported thoroughly and blame should be assigned objectively and fairly. Blackwater should compensate the families of innocent victims, and I think that a settlement far smaller than $136 million would be accepted.

The lessons will be many. People must continue to recognize and appreciate that these miscalculations and overreactions are inevitable in such a threatening and violent situation as exists in Iraq. On the other hand, the security companies and personnel must accept that the US Government is paying a lot of money for the exercise of good judgement in such incidents and for frank and detailed reporting afterward.

In cases where security personnel do overract and exercise bad judgement, then they should be disciplined and (in some cases) fired and (in extreme cases) subjected to criminal prosecution.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 10/10/2007 8:41 Comments || Top||

#5  You guys missed the little but important piece ...The Associated Press says.... It's a regurgitation of another source. Yesterday this was posted here. To quote;" Baghdad - The Iraqi Government did not release any statements calling for compensations from Blackwater, the US security company, Iraqi Government spokesman Ali al-Dabagh said Tuesday."

Let's just remember the 'usual suspects' [i.e. AP, Al Reuters, etc] involved. It's not about the facts, it's about the narrative.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/10/2007 9:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Yup. And since there are power plays within Iraq that are ... interrupted ... by the surge, it's about some in Iraq shaping that narrative by presuming to speak for the government, when they don't.
Posted by: lotp || 10/10/2007 9:15 Comments || Top||

#7  Let's just remember the 'usual suspects' [i.e. AP, Al Reuters, etc] involved. It's not about the facts, it's about the narrative.

The linked article was published by the Voice of America, so it is a statement of the US Government.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 10/10/2007 9:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Nope. That's now how VOA works. While it is funded by the US government, it is managed by a separate Board. Broadcasts are taken from other news outlets and are not official statements of the government nor should they necessarily be taken to reflect the government's point of view.
Posted by: lotp || 10/10/2007 9:59 Comments || Top||

#9  now not
Posted by: lotp || 10/10/2007 10:00 Comments || Top||

#10  The problem is Mike, despite your thinking so, you are not in full posession of all the facts, only the "publicly available" spin and half truths, as generated by the Maliki government, and then filtered through the press and reporter's bias.

Its akin to uncritically taking a press release verbatim from Josef Goebbels about how well those nasty Jews burned the Reichstag.

Stop being so gullable.

Dig deeper, the truth is out there.
Posted by: OldSpook || 10/10/2007 10:50 Comments || Top||

#11  Hey, it was a work accident. File it with OSHA.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 11:06 Comments || Top||

#12  The Iraqi Government certainly is well informed about its own investigation and also probably is well informed about the US Government's investigation of this incident. There has been plenty of time for both governments to investigate the incident, reach their own conclusions, and consult with each other about further actions.

The Iraqi Government's firm position on this matter certainly is based on all the investigations and on its knowledge of the US Government's own conclusions and position.

It's pretty clear that Blackwater will be replaced by another or by several other private security companies in the next six months and that the US Goverment has decided to comply and to facilitate the change.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 10/10/2007 11:25 Comments || Top||

#13  Iraq should compensate the families of the four savaged and murdered Blackwater employees in Fallejuh in 2004.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 11:28 Comments || Top||

#14  Mike - where is the grassy knoll?
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 12:14 Comments || Top||

#15  Iraq should compensate the families of the four savaged and murdered Blackwater employees in Fallejuh in 2004.

That's a good point, but it also is a reminder that some Blackwater employees might on occasion feel justified in extracting some personal vengeance on random Iraqis who happen to be on the scene in an incident like this.

Those feelings are understandable, but it also is understandable that the US Government has to require that Blackwater employees maintain professional attitudes at all times.

Blackwater had to weed out its few emotional overreactors constantly and ruthlessly. On those occasions when some Blackwater employees do lose their own self control, then the company should not try to protect them at the risk of the company's own survival.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 10/10/2007 12:35 Comments || Top||

#16  The problem is Mike, despite your thinking so, you are not in full posession of all the facts, only the "publicly available" spin and half truths, as generated by the Maliki government, and then filtered through the press and reporter's bias.

Mike, remember our exchange about how the American public is under-informed or outright misinformed about Islam by the Mainstream Media? Correct me if I'm wrong but I recall you finally being honest enough to concede that public opinion about what constitutes actual torture and the applicability of its use might differ were it not for the media's under-reporting about Islam's predations upon the west.

What makes you think this case is any different? Maliki is a twobit thug and wanna be warlord. Here's some background on Maliki by Khudayr Taher that you probably missed:
He added that Maliki "does not believe in democracy because of his ideological commitments" in al-Da'wa Party, claiming that political Islam and democracy do not meet for someone like Maliki.

In a private discussion held when both men were in Syria, Maliki told Taher: "We declare our acceptance of democracy, but in reality, we are tricking them [the Americans] in order to topple Saddam and come to power." Taher writes: "I swear to God that this is exactly what he said!"

Taher adds that Maliki does not believe in the equality of women and will refuse to give any cabinet posts to Iraqi women, unless those imposed by the Kurds. He wraps up by saying that Maliki is anti-American, and has expressed his anti-American views to friends and in private discourse.

[emphasis added]

I urge you to read the entire article. An Iraqi Shi'ite immigrant, Khudayr Taher is an exceptionally brave individual. You will be stunned by what he has to say regarding Muslim immigrants in America.

The media hates America and will do anything within its power to destroy Western culture, especially Christian-based societies. Witness how Dan Rather attempted to throw a presidential election with patently false evidence. It's long past tea to begin taking the media's intense anti-American bias into account while viewing the news.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 13:20 Comments || Top||

#17  In the meantime, Blackwater should strive to repair the damage that has been done by this incident.

I can think of several steps--offing Maliki being one of them.
Posted by: Crusader || 10/10/2007 13:28 Comments || Top||

#18  I can think of several steps--offing Maliki being one of them.

Let's see if this continues to generate the outrage it did when I suggested it a few months ago. One caveat, Blackwater should not do the offing.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 13:31 Comments || Top||

#19  Re #16 (Zenster) What makes you think this case is any different? Maliki is a twobit thug and wanna be warlord.

The situation is that 16 Iraqis were killed and some more were wounded. And nobody else was shot.

Also, many witnesses present at the scene have been interviewed, and their observations have been reported publicly.

This is not a situation where we intelligent US citizens are at the mercy of whatever Maliki might tell us.

The information about the incident that is publicly available is sufficient to deduce reasonably that only Blackwater personnel were shooting any weapons at the scene.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester || 10/10/2007 13:51 Comments || Top||

#20  The information about the incident that is publicly available is sufficient to deduce reasonably that only Blackwater personnel were shooting any weapons at the scene.

"The information about the incident that is publically available" is not a sufficient substitute for a trial under the UCMJ; your main beef with Blackwater seems to be that they are unwilling to confess guilt for murder on behalf of their employees.and make any attempt by them to defend themselves in court much more difficult or impossible.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 10/10/2007 14:18 Comments || Top||

#21  This is not a situation where we intelligent US citizens are at the mercy of whatever Maliki might tell us.

No, it's a situation where the intelligent US citizens are at the mercy of whatever lies the MSM might tell us.

The information about the incident that is publicly available is sufficient to deduce reasonably that only Blackwater personnel were shooting any weapons at the scene.

I am also terribly sceptical of the Mike Nifong's of the world who are ready to read the verdict before the trial. Must be something about the name Mike.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 10/10/2007 14:42 Comments || Top||

#22  The situation is that 16 Iraqis were killed and some more were wounded. And nobody else was shot.

Suffice to say that Muslims are not renowned for their marksmanship.

Also, many witnesses present at the scene have been interviewed, and their observations have been reported publicly.

I refer you, once again, to the reportorial bias our military encounters. There's also this nasty little Muslim habit called taqiyya which makes anything they say rather suspect. Finally, try to imagine just how eager certain Iraqi factions are to give America any sort of black eye that they can. Do you honestly think that they will not resort to lies, distortions and smears of any sort?

This is not a situation where we intelligent US citizens are at the mercy of whatever Maliki might tell us.

No, but we remain at the mercy of the media which has consistently demonstrated a complete lack of reportorial ethics.

The information about the incident that is publicly available is sufficient to deduce reasonably that only Blackwater personnel were shooting any weapons at the scene.

Again, all that is "publicly available" is what the media decides we need to hear. I'm not trying to give Blackwater a free pass but if their employees were a bunch of gun-toting yahoos, we'd have had many more incidents like this already. That has not been the case. Yesterday's comments by mcsegeek carry a lot of weight, seeing as how he has been to Iraq and you have not:

Mike, have you ever been to Iraq? I have. There is no "stampede of companies" who want to do security work there. Blackwater was and is doing a DAMN FINE job, and they protected my ass while I was in theater, I can assure you.

The entire thing is a political railroading, consisting of half-truths and downright lies. These guys were some of the bravest and most dedicated folks I met there. You have no idea the threats they face every day. Dozens of their employees have been killed or wounded protecting American contractors (such as me) while NOT ONE of the people they are protecting has suffered the same fate.

[emphasis added]

That last sentence speaks volumes. It indicates some solid professionalism and definite restraint in the use of force. Any lack thereof would have produced a slough of similar incidents a long time ago.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 14:44 Comments || Top||

#23  Must be something about the name Mike.

Hey! You dissin' me? I'll kick yo ass!
Posted by: Mike Tyson || 10/10/2007 14:46 Comments || Top||

#24  some Blackwater employees might on occasion feel justified in extracting some personal vengeance on random Iraqis

weed out its few emotional overreactors

My God Mike. I was just going to sit idly by and let you drive the train until it wrecked. But man, you're biting off way more than you can chew. Now you know what Blackwater employees are FEELING? Astonishing! Mike the mind reader.

I've personally met and been protected by several Blackwater folks. You sir have not. Even with having worked closely with them for more than a month, I would never presume to know what their FEELINGS were unless they told me.

But lucky you! Some of them did, and now I can share it with you. Without going into too many details, I can tell you they were painstaking and thorough in making sure of their targets when it came to force. Many of them bemoaned the fact that the attacks against them were often arranged so that fire came from a crowd of civilians, assuring that retaliation would result in civilian deaths. In at least two cases, they DID NOT retaliate, precisely because of this scenario.

You seem to assume the worst, every time. Why is that? And the negativity doesn't seem to confine itself to the Blackwater issue. Again, why? Do you actually believe the Iraqi government over men who have spent their entire adult lives as dedicated American patriots? If so, why is that?

Many here have challenged you to wait for the allegations to be PROVEN before damning Blackwater, but in reading the threads, I don't see any response from you on that point. Why? What is it in your makeup that requires you to judge first, and determine the facts later?
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/10/2007 15:07 Comments || Top||

#25  That last sentence speaks volumes. It indicates some solid professionalism and definite restraint in the use of force. Any lack thereof would have produced a slough of similar incidents a long time ago.



CONFESS! CONFESS!!!!!

(pokes with soft cushion)

CONFESS!!!!!

Hmm. He must be made of sterner stuff.

FETCH... THE COMFY CHAIR!
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 10/10/2007 15:11 Comments || Top||

#26  attacks against them were often arranged so that fire came from a crowd of civilians, assuring that retaliation would result in civilian deaths

Got that, Mike? GOT IT? These are the sort of vile scumbags that we're fighting in Iraq and all over the Islamic world. Now why don't you give all of us a nice lecture on how to deal with terrorists who use human shields.

mcsegeek, thank you for weighing in. Your in-country experience trumps the media's usual ration of shit in spades.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 15:18 Comments || Top||

#27  I have a feeling as well that this is a power play as well. I'm seeing and attempt at a legal precident to kick out any private security firm which does not play ball with the government, sue them for lots of money, and perhaps try to get a war crime -or even terrorism- charge against individuals and companies accused of whatever crime. Also, suing the company as a tactic as well as intimidating the personel into double guessing using force. Targets of opportunity would open up due to less competent/unreliable security and-or troops being reassigned to guard duties instead hunting. I feel that if Blackwater just came out and kneejerked apologized, this would already have happened (and it sounds like some tried today) and many high level targets would have been hit within a couple of days as a way to momentum shift PR wise against the surge.

I have been following this thread the last couple of days and MS's thread seems to be what the message of the MSM overall story is - and is very similar in many accounts as what a friend of mine's take on the situation is; knowing only MSM and Daily Show info. I read Rantburg for the different and usually informed conversation. It has remained civil and well reasoned, but Mike lost me yesterday with the repeated calls to buy stock in a private company. Now, it feels like I'm overhearing a Denver Bronco's cheerleader talking about what the team should have done different against the Chargers. What the Iraqi government says indeed, didn't a MP get caught the other day? Heck, I don't take what my government says at face value. News made public - the best we have got comes off more like 'my sister's classmate's best friend said ...'
Posted by: swksvolFF || 10/10/2007 17:28 Comments || Top||

#28  how about the IRAQI gov paying every killed US soldier a 100 million. i hope blackwater tells them too fuck off
Posted by: sinse || 10/10/2007 18:10 Comments || Top||

#29  Amen to that sinse.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 18:40 Comments || Top||

#30  Must be something about the name Mike.

Woah, hoss! As a PROUD Mike, I take offense at that. There are good Mikes and bad Mikes. Lumpin' us all together gets my temper riled, and my trigger finger a'itchin. A 10-gauge, double-barreled goose-gun ain't somethin' to mess with...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/10/2007 22:55 Comments || Top||

#31  So OS, are you a good mike or a baaaad Mike? LOL I just could not resist.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 10/10/2007 23:27 Comments || Top||

#32  Too many beers at this TOC OP, hahaha
Posted by: 49 Pan || 10/10/2007 23:28 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Innocent people killed in Hamas-Fatah infighting: PCHR report
Many innocent Palestinians have been killed and wounded in the infighting between Fatah and Hamas movements, with 41 civilians killed in June, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) in Gaza said in a report published Tuesday. Of 161 people killed in the fighting during June, 41 were civilians who were not involved in the fighting between the two rival groups. The report said 700 people were wounded in the Gaza Strip, including many who lost feets limbs.

The PCHR report, Black Days in the Absence of Justice, looked at the Palestinian conflict and concluded that the groups violated international laws on infighting in the Geneva Convention.
The PCHR report, Black Days in the Absence of Justice, looked at the Palestinian conflict and concluded that the groups violated international laws on infighting in the Geneva Convention. "Many were executed on purpose in a severe violation of human rights law, while militants from both sides were killed after being detained," it said.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/10/2007 01:33 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Waaaah! Waaaah! Me wantum tu3031's snarkfest!
[stampses widdle feetsies]
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 3:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Tsk, tsk.
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/10/2007 7:37 Comments || Top||

#3  I looked it over yesterday. 105 page pdf file. Good history of their little bloodbath. You'll need a big bowl of popcorn.

http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/Reports/English/pdf_spec/Gaza%20Conflict%20-%20Eng%209%20october..pdf
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/10/2007 8:45 Comments || Top||

#4  One hundred and five pages? They've been busy recently! Probably just as well the details weren't posted -- even with her two heavy duty popcorn machines dear Barbara Skolaut would have been worn to a frazzle by now.
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/10/2007 20:02 Comments || Top||


Israel seizes Arab land near Jerusalem
JERUSALEM - Israel has ordered the confiscation of Arab land outside east Jerusalem, officials said on Tuesday, reviving fears that the occupied West Bank could be split in two and challenging peace overtures.

Hassan Abed Rabbo at the Palestinian local government ministry said the late September order covers 110 hectares (272 acres) in four Palestinian villages between east Jerusalem and the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim. The land could create a bloc of settlements incorporating Maale Adumim and nearby Mishor Adumim and Kedar, he said, and “prevent Palestinian territorial continuity” between the West Bank and Jordan Valley.
That's a mighty big 272 acres.
“They have usurped dozens of hectares of West Bank land for their greater Jerusalem settlement project that takes in Maale Adumim,” Abed Rabbo said.

The army orders given to landowners, a copy of which was seen by AFP, sought to justify the expropriation on “military grounds” and for “measures designed to stop terrorist acts”.

The army confirmed Israel was constructing a 15.5 kilometre (10 mile) road connecting east Jerusalem with the West Bank town of Jericho on 144 hectares of state-owned land and 23 hectares of private land “which was appropriated.” The road was being built “in order to improve the quality of life for Palestinians,” it said.

But Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said the appropriated land would also allow for the development of Jewish settlements on a key strip of the occupied West Bank east of Jerusalem. “That in turn would “free up’ the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, through which the current Jerusalem-Jericho road runs, for a long-planned Jewish development consisting of 3,500 apartments and an industrial park,” Haaretz wrote.

In 2005, Israel -- under US pressure -- froze plans to connect Maale Adumim to east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want to make the capital of their promised state and which Israel has occupied since 1967. The Palestinians heavily criticised the project because it would effectively split the West Bank and separate the territory from east Jerusalem.

Israelis and Palestinians are trying to draw up a joint document which would serve as a basis for final-status negotiations ahead of the scheduled international meeting on the Middle East scheduled for next month. Jewish settlement activity has been one of several stumbling blocks that have precluded an agreement in past Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

“We condemn this Israeli decision to confiscate Palestinian land at a time in which we are trying to revive the peace process,” chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP. “Settlement expansion, especially in the Jerusalem area, will undermine and destroy these efforts. We call upon the Israeli government to revoke this decision and give peace a chance,” he added.

Egypt also strongly criticised what foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said proves “Israel is planning to go ahead with its scheme to separate the northern parts of the West Bank from its southern ones. “Going ahead with this project is in total contradiction with efforts by all parties to resume serious political negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians,” he added.

A US diplomat refused to comment on this specific case, but said ”we discourage any of the sides from taking actions that will prejudice the final status issues that should be settled in bilateral negotiations.”

According to an opinion poll published in Israel’s Yediot Aharonot newspaper on Tuesday, most Israelis -- 63 percent -- oppose sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians as part of a final peace deal.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All of this land belongs to Israel, by God.
Posted by: newc || 10/10/2007 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  It's a start ...
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 0:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Just because they squatted on it since the British Mandate doesn't make it their land.
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/10/2007 7:34 Comments || Top||

#4  justify the expropriation on “military grounds” and for “measures designed to stop terrorist acts”.

Certainly more reasonable grounds for eminent domain expropriation than those upheld by Souter and the US Supreme Court.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/10/2007 7:57 Comments || Top||

#5  It's just a small piece of land.
It would not even be farmable size in the US.
What is the deal with anger over these tiny parcels?
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 23:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh and I know the small ranch a cousin has in Montana is more than 1/5 the size of Gaza and better land and more water to boot but it is still worthless scrub land.

These guys are just too over populated to be sustainable on some junk land.

Using my cousin's land as a guide... She, her hubbie, two sons and one daughter-in-law are about all it can take. So 5 times that should support 25 people in a hard lifestyle.

That's it! 25 not 1,000,000.

1.000,000 is game over plus just as bad ratios in the west bank.

Over Population. Muslims need the pill.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 23:28 Comments || Top||

#7  Over Population. Muslims need the pill.

Preferrably the same sort that all those spies carry.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 23:32 Comments || Top||


'Olmert rules out Syria talks at Annapolis'
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants the US-sponsored November peace conference to focus on Israeli-Palestinian relations and not Israel's conflict with Syria, an Israeli government official said Tuesday, probably ruling out Syrian participation. Olmert made the comments in a meeting Monday with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan in Jerusalem. Babacan pressed the prime minister to open talks with Syria as well, but Olmert responded by saying he wished to give his full attention to the Palestinian front and thought it unwise to include other topics as well, according to a senior Israeli government official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.

The conference is expected to be held in Annapolis, Maryland, in mid-to late-November to provide the foundation for peace talks to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The US has invited Syria, but Syrian President Bashar Assad has made it clear his country would not attend if the conference did not address the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War war.

Olmert said he would be pleased if the Syrians attended the meeting to support an Israeli-Palestinian peace effort, but peace talks between Israel and Syria were still premature.
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  "Annapolis" > I could say something but won't.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 0:11 Comments || Top||


Abbas's office denies report that shots were fired at his convoy
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's office denied a report in Al Jazeera that shot were fired at his convoy in Ramallah on Tuesday night, Israel Radio reported. The shots, said his office, were fired by Palesitnian Authority security officials in an attempt to stop the robbery of a car. Abbas was at his home during the time of the shooting.
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Fatah

#1  Duck season! Wabbit season!
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 3:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Mild disappointment.
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/10/2007 7:33 Comments || Top||


Egypt lets 30 Islamic Jihad operatives return to Gaza
Egypt confirmed on Tuesday that 30 Islamic Jihad operatives have entered the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported. According to the report, most of those who returned to Gaza are terrorists belonging to the Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the group. The operatives were injured during the Intifada and were abroad for medical treatment.

Official sources of the brigades denied the reports, although the Islamic Jihad confirmed that one man did return to Gaza with full cooperation of the Egyptians. Last week, Egypt allowed 80 more Hamas operatives to return to Gaza.
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad

#1  Your Islamic Catch & Release™ tax dollars at work.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 3:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Just herdin' em all together so they'll be easier to shoot, Zenster.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/10/2007 23:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Bunchin' 'em up works for me, OP. Just so long as they follow through.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 23:36 Comments || Top||


Mashaal: Hamas spurning Israel's attempts at talks
Exiled Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal said Tuesday that many European and American representatives have "approached" him in recent weeks. According to Mashaal, Israel was also "knocking on Hamas's door," seeking talks, but Hamas has thus far refused. According to the Saudi Okaz newspaper, Mashaal spoke at a conference in Mecca and said that his organization was preparing for "another round" of military resistance against Israel.
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Olde Tyme Religion
Influential US Islamic Jurist: Marriage of Muslim Woman to Non-Muslim Man – Forbidden, Invalid
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 11:22 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/10/2007 11:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/10/2007 11:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Easier to grow a mustache than to marry one...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/10/2007 12:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Ok. No marriage. Check. We'll just tap the hot ones without commitment.
Posted by: Iblis || 10/10/2007 12:36 Comments || Top||

#5  "The wisdom of the religious ban [against the marriage of a Muslim woman to a non-Muslim man lies in] its preventing [the woman] from being tempted away from her faith.

In other words she would be rescued from the religion of piss.
Posted by: Icerigger || 10/10/2007 13:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America

The Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America (AMJA) is a non-for-profit organization comprising a select group of Muslim jurists and scholars, seeking to manifest and clarify the rulings of the Shari`ah concerning issues and events affecting Muslims residing in the United States.

All AMJA members hold a doctorate in Shari`ah. The members include experts experienced in economics, law, politics, information, as well as imams, directors of Islamic centers, and those who work in Islamic financial and information institutions.


Oh, well...shariah law.
In America, shariah don't mean dick. So shove it, "jurist"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/10/2007 13:19 Comments || Top||

#7  Wow, and to think why would anyone want to question or dare say disparage such a fine and well reasoned philosophy as islam.

More fodder for islamofacism awareness week - right out of their own book.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 10/10/2007 13:24 Comments || Top||

#8  His opinion means nuts.
Posted by: mojo || 10/10/2007 15:09 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs
Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month.

"I heard someone say, 'Oh my god, look at those,' " the college senior from New York recalled. "I look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?' They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects."

"I'd never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical, or is that alive?' "
I finally receive the recognition my self esteem requires.
That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York. Some suspect the insectlike drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.

Others think they are, well, dragonflies -- an ancient order of insects that even biologists concede look about as robotic as a living creature can look.

No agency admits to having deployed insect-size spy drones. But a number of U.S. government and private entities acknowledge they are trying. Some federally funded teams are even growing live insects with computer chips in them, with the goal of mounting spyware on their bodies and controlling their flight muscles remotely.

The robobugs could follow suspects, guide missiles to targets or navigate the crannies of collapsed buildings to find survivors.

The technical challenges of creating robotic insects are daunting, and most experts doubt that fully working models exist yet.

"If you find something, let me know," said Gary Anderson of the Defense Department's Rapid Reaction Technology Office.

But the CIA secretly developed a simple dragonfly snooper as long ago as the 1970s. And given recent advances, even skeptics say there is always a chance that some agency has quietly managed to make something operational.

"America can be pretty sneaky," said Tom Ehrhard, a retired Air Force colonel and expert in unmanned aerial vehicles who is now at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a nonprofit Washington-based research institute.
...and Go Gators!

Posted by: DragonFly || 10/10/2007 13:48 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let's buy them and apply generously at their demos & freak el cubos out of their wits!

About these Black helicopters...
Posted by: twobyfour || 10/10/2007 17:50 Comments || Top||

#2  WowWee Dragonfly
Posted by: twobyfour || 10/10/2007 17:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Pffft. smashed one myself [early prototype] here at Guam's UOG back in mid-1990's - in another UOG incident, the proto just didn't have the energy to fly let alone buzz. OTOH, so called GM-ING OF MOSQUITOS- can science effec control any and all said future Bug-Zillas or Ant-Rexes???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 23:48 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Indonesian speaker hails Iran-Indonesia ties
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 09:07 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Isn't this like Mike Tyson teaming up with O.J. to improve his image?
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 14:54 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
23-yr-old Japanese man detained in S.E. Iran
TEHRAN (AP) - (Kyodo)— A 23-year-old Japanese man has been detained in southeastern Iran, according to word reaching the Japanese Embassy in Tehran on Wednesday.

The embassy, which is still investigating the details, has yet to reveal the man's identity.

The incident comes after a series of kidnapping cases in southern Iran in recent years that were targeting foreigners.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry has been calling on Japanese nationals in the area to remain alert.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 11:48 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Che Guevara family protests Islamist exploitation of legacy :)
An attempt to rope in the son and daughter of the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara to forge a parallel between Iran’s Islamist revolution and the socialist revolution in Latin America through a four-day conference has ended in fiasco.

After Aleida Guevara protested from the podium against perceived distortions of her father’s ideology by the first Iranian speaker, Haj Saeed Ghasemi, the four-day ‘Che Like Chamran’ conference, that started Sep. 25, was aborted and the Latin American guests whisked away.

‘Che Like Chamran’, the title of the conference, was chosen for the alliteration in the names of the two revolutionaries and because both Che and the Iranian, Mostafa Chamran, fought alongside revolutionaries in other countries. But the similarities end there, no matter what the organisers intended to promote.

Chamran, a United States-educated engineer and Islamist, helped Mousa Sadr found the Amal Movement in southern Lebanon and fought alongside Amal guerrillas in the late 1970s. Appointed the young Islamic Republic’s defence minister by Ayatollah Khomeini, Chamran organised and led paramilitary forces during the early phase of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) and was killed in battle in the Khuzistan province in 1981.

"We feel responsible towards all of humanity...unity is of especial importance to us. The reason for the relations established between our student group and the children of Che Guevara and the Latin American countries is what we have in common," Morteza Firoozabadi, secretary of the Pro-Justice Student Movement (PJSM), explained to the Islamic Students News Agency (ISNA).

"We are never afraid of death and that is what Americans are most scared of. They cannot accuse us simply by citing things like terrorism, seeking war or breaching human rights. We only aim to free the oppressed and to restore the rights of all the people of the world so we do not recognise borders and do not care what names Americans use for this," Firoozabadi was reported by ISNA as saying.

Organised by the student militia of Tehran University, the conference was attended mostly by counterparts from various other universities as well as members of hardline student groups such as the PJSM that strongly support President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s policies. These groups regularly organise demonstrations and protest rallies against the US and other western countries.

But Ghasemi, who is associated with Iran’s Esteshhadiyoun (volunteers of suicide operations) must take credit for scuttling the conference. Referring to a translated version of a Che Guevara book that he held in his hand, he said Che Guevara was religious and believed in God. "The people of Cuba, Fidel (Casro) and Che Guevara were never socialists or communists. Fidel has several times admitted that he and Che and the people of Cuba hated the Soviets for all they had done.’’

''Today communism has been thrown into the trash bin of history as it was predicted by Ayatollah Khomeini," Ghasemi told the conference and added that the only way to save the world was through the ‘’the religious, pro-justice movement’’.

An indignant Aleida, however, started her own address "in the name of the people of Cuba". "We are a socialist nation," she asserted. She also said the people of Cuba were grateful to the Soviet Union and there had never been any discord between the two nations, as mentioned by Ghasemi. She advised him to "always refer to original sources instead of translations to find out about Che Guevara’s beliefs".

"My father never talked about God. He never met God. My father knew there was no absolute truth,’’ Aleida said, responding to Ghasemi’s speech. The coverage of her address by state-sponsored news agencies like ISNA was brief and excluded most of her contradictory remarks.

At a meeting later with students of Amir Kabir University of Technology, where the leftist groups are particularly strong, Camilo Guevara told students he approved of all that his sister had said at the conference, ISNA reported.

The other main speaker, Mehdi Chamran, brother of Mostafa Chamran, avoided mention of Che Guevara or his ideology in his address. Chamran, who is chairman of the Tehran City Council is a loyal supporter of Ahmadinejad.

''President Ahmadinejad’s promotion of closer ties with certain Latin American countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, and Bolivia called for some kind of identification of his brand of Islamist militant ideas with those of the leftists in Latin American countries,’’ a leftist student activist from Amir Kabir University told IPS on the condition of anonymity.

"Ahmadinejad has visited several Latin American countries over the past two years. He has brought (Hugo) Chavez and (Daniel) Ortega here. Belief in socialism is considered a crime in the Islamic state, punishable by death. Ahmadinejad’s slogans against the West and the U.S., his pro-justice rap, and his promises of economic assistance bring them here -- much to our disappointment," she said. "Daniel Ortega and other leftist leaders too must clarify their position about their relations with Iran. We feel greatly betrayed when for their countries’ economic benefit they choose to support extreme rightists, fascists like Ahmadinejad," she added.

Following Aleida’s outspoken address to the conference, the organisers took flak from their own comrades. "It is appreciable to commemorate Che Guevara as a revolutionary figure. Otherwise, our former perspectives on his ideas, methods and attitude are still the same. We are Muslims and he is non-Muslim. The difference will always remain," Mohammad Sedaghat, the leader of Student Militia of Shahed University was quoted by ISNA as saying.

"Chamran was a revolutionary Shiite Muslim whereas Che Guevara was totally atheistic. The only thing they had in common was their spirit of fighting injustice. For choosing friends we must meet other criteria, such as being God-loving -- besides being anti-American," Sedaghat was reported as saying.

Mohammad Jaffar Irani, a reformist student activist, was quoted by ISNA as pointing out that the same group that organised the conference had always considered Che Guevara an atheist. "If anyone other than the (hardline) group that organised this event had done so they would have gotten into a great deal of trouble,’’ he was quoted saying.

"The organisers of the event were hardline supporters of Ahmadinejad who have nothing in common with leftists, even the Islamic leftists of the early days of the (Iranian) revolution. President Ahmadinejad has in fact much in common with President Bush, although he may sound very ‘leftist’," an observer in Tehran told IPS on condition of anonymity.

"Leftist countries must realise that if the issues that make the Iranian hardliners confront the West such as its demand to be accepted to the nuclear club are resolved, today’s leftist allies may instantly turn into their common enemies," he said.

"Unfortunately some wrong approaches (remarks) diverted the course of the conference from (discussing) commonalities to the differences (between the two revolutionaries). This caused the conference to be deviated from its main course,’’ Sajjdad Saffar Harandi, leader of the Student Militia (Basij) in Tehran University, told the pro-Ahmadinjead website Raja News, explaining the fiasco.
Posted by: tipper || 10/10/2007 10:30 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  too bad their wasn't any real red on red.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 10/10/2007 10:41 Comments || Top||

#2  *snicker*
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 10/10/2007 10:55 Comments || Top||

#3  We can't have these riff raff thugs detracting from the name of us respectable thugs.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 10:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Commies calling Islam worthless. Popcorn time boys!
Posted by: Icerigger || 10/10/2007 13:01 Comments || Top||

#5  Aw, geez, ya invite the commie icon's kid over for your big party and she goes and pisses in the punch bowl.
Musta been embarrassing, I'll bet...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/10/2007 13:23 Comments || Top||

#6  It was jinns. Anybody with eyes could see that.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/10/2007 14:23 Comments || Top||

#7  This story wins on all levels.
Posted by: Chris W. || 10/10/2007 14:56 Comments || Top||


Cheney, Rice divided over Israeli intel
Officials in the Bush administration are divided over the significance of intelligence provided by Israel that led to last month's strike inside Syria on a reported nuclear facility, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

According to the Times, at issue is whether intelligence presented by Israel months ago to the administration that Syria had begun work on a nuclear weapons program was conclusive enough to justify military action by Israel, and subsequently, a rethinking of American policy toward the two nations.

US Vice President Dick Cheney and other conservatives in the administration are portraying the Israeli intelligence as credible and argue that it should cause the US to reconsider its diplomatic overtures to Syria and North Korea.

By contrast, the Times reports, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her allies in the White House said they do not believe that the intelligence presented so far merits any change in the American diplomatic approach
Why I'm not surprized?
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/10/2007 07:19 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  State is rarely on the right side of things.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 11:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Seems to me rice was a bit more on the ball when she was a national security advisor. The air at state must rot the brain...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/10/2007 12:17 Comments || Top||

#3  I have no idea what the pre-raid evidence proved, or even suggested. The post-raid response has been so anomalous that I am strongly persuaded that, whatever the evidence, the raid hit something significant.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/10/2007 13:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Is there anything of significance to hit in Syria? Just joking.
Posted by: JohnQC || 10/10/2007 13:48 Comments || Top||

#5  The source is the NYT? Oh, now they're credible.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/10/2007 15:41 Comments || Top||


Syria pushes for US peace conference to address Golan Heights issue
Damascus - The United States-sponsored Middle East peace conference in November should address all peace tracks, otherwise, peace would be partial and in Israel's interest only, a Syrian pro- government newspaper said Wednesday.

The US has invited Syria to the conference, but President Bashar Assad has made it clear his country will not attend if the conference did not address the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel wants talks to focus on its relations with the Palestinians rather than Syria.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 06:55 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  sure, we'll discuss the Golan, right after discussing assassinations in Lebanon, importing of fighters and weapons to hezbollah, Iranian arms, NK nuke facilities, Assad's lack of chin,.....
Posted by: Frank G || 10/10/2007 9:37 Comments || Top||


US needs "maximum diplomatic relationship" with Iran, sez Carter
With increasing evidence that Iran is a dangerous and unpredictable country, the best thing for the United States to do is have "a maximum diplomatic relationship" with that country, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Tuesday.

Carter, whose re-election bid in 1980 may have been foiled by the 1979-80 Iranian hostage crisis, said in a CBS "Early Show" interview that the United States, which has no diplomatic relations with Iran, needs to find a way to communicate directly with the Iranians "to reassure their fears that we might attack them, which is constantly a drumbeat out of Washington, maybe deliberately from the (Bush) administration or inadvertently." If the Iranian leaders feel they are going to be attacked, "then I think that is one incentive for them to be more militant," Carter said. "So I think to assuage their fears and to tell them the truth about our intentions would be very helpful." A U.S. military strike against Iran at this time "would be completely unnecessary and counterproductive," the 83-year-old former president said.

Carter questioned where the United States would get the troops to invade Iran, since it does not even have enough troops for the war in Iraq. "And I do not think we would have any other nation in the world that would join us in any sort of military intervention against Iran," he said. "So diplomacy is the best approach."
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NEWSMAX > IRAN CONTINUES ITS DEADLY GAME.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Carter's demise would elicit the sound of one hand slapping clapping flapping crapping.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 0:24 Comments || Top||

#3  ATLANTIC FREE PRESS > Daan de Wit -ATTACK ON IRAN: THE ONLY QUESTION IS WHEN AND IN WHAT FORM. USA allegedly already bureaucratically gearing up for Iran war. IRAN WAR GAME PLANNING -USCommand officers see inevitable escalation.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 0:28 Comments || Top||

#4  AH yes, Jimmuh Cartah, the renowned expert on Iranian relations. There wouldn't be a problem with Iran if you had done your job as POTUS.
Posted by: GK || 10/10/2007 0:31 Comments || Top||

#5  AMERICAN THINKER [10/7/07] > IRAN PLANS TO CHECKMATE THE USA.Iran is willing to sacrifice not only the pawns, but the trophy as well, vv CHAOS in a masterful geopol chess game of all chess games. ALso, IRIB NEWS [Iran] > MOUD > reiterates that MATERIALIST WORLD + MATERIALISM ITSELF IS AT AN END.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 3:44 Comments || Top||

#6  Because reassured mullahs are delightful, easy going folks. We should rock them to sleep whispering soft lullabies in their ears.

If we disbanded our military they would be assured we would not attack them. Would we be safer then?

Is it more likely they took hostages because they thought we would attack them, or because they were fairly sure we wouldn't? Hmmm.
Posted by: Baba Tutu || 10/10/2007 4:56 Comments || Top||

#7  And the Peanut Farmer is the expert on caving in to negotiating with the Mullahs.
Posted by: Bobby || 10/10/2007 6:52 Comments || Top||

#8  "...because it worked out great for us in 1979-80, after all."
Posted by: eLarson || 10/10/2007 7:37 Comments || Top||

#9  From JM's comment :

American Thinker Iran Plans to Checkmate America
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 7:46 Comments || Top||

#10  Carter, whose re-election bid in 1980 may have been foiled by the 1979-80 Iranian hostage crisis...

Now that's an understatement!
Posted by: Raj || 10/10/2007 7:47 Comments || Top||

#11  Ohfergawdsakes Dhimmi, just STFU already!
Posted by: Spot || 10/10/2007 7:55 Comments || Top||

#12  Carter is rapidly falling into the domestic enemy category with his constant stream of hurtful talk.
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/10/2007 8:20 Comments || Top||

#13  Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/10/2007 8:43 Comments || Top||

#14  "If the Iranian leaders feel they are going to be attacked, "then I think that is one incentive for them to be more militant," Carter said.

So...why did they become more militant back in 1978-79 when they knew they weren't going to be attacked by a president with absolutely no guts and no clue?
Talk about "disconnect"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/10/2007 8:58 Comments || Top||

#15  I was all set to say something snarky, but tu3031, eLarson, Bobby, and GK beat me to it.
Posted by: Mike || 10/10/2007 9:10 Comments || Top||

#16  OK, so war is diplomacy carried on by other means. So let's get jimmuh appointed as a special ambassador to iran, and then go with the maximum other means diplomacy while he's there...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/10/2007 9:35 Comments || Top||

#17  He's right, diplomacy works. Except with killer rabbits.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/10/2007 9:46 Comments || Top||

#18  Like he had?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 10/10/2007 11:01 Comments || Top||

#19  Will I have to help pay for Carter's funeral?
Posted by: Heriberto Ulusomble6667 || 10/10/2007 11:01 Comments || Top||

#20  Gee, thanks Jimmuh, but you did enough back in 78/79. You go take your meds and have a nice nap, ok old timer? We'll take it from here.
Posted by: mojo || 10/10/2007 11:01 Comments || Top||

#21  Carter is an idiot.

Question: Who the hell says we are INVADING Iran?

Nobody. What we are likely getting ready to do is a combination of strikes that will destroy the nuclear weapons infrastructure, the command and control of the Government inclduing the leadership, and the C&C IRG and terrorist support areas, and the religiously controlled forces there. Basically put the Mullahs out of communication, unable to control, and if lucky kill many of the worst who have led this.

Its more of a decapitation and cordon. They can rot for all we care after that. Leave enough of the Army intact and encourage a coup.

If the Iranians want to continue the fight after that, then we move on to targeting dual-use civil infrastructure that their military needs - power, phones, bridges, rail, roads, pipelines and the single refinery, and interdict the ports.


Ultimately if we have to demolish the infrastructure, then we should dismember Iran from the start rather than invading. There are plenty of ethnic fault lines to use to accomplish this, and they are are quite fortunately placed in terms of geography and oil.

Maybe encourage the Turks to "pacify" the northern Oil regions and use the threat Iranian Kurds declaring independence there to motivate the Turks to move quickly. And get Arab countries to do the same thing in the SE part of Iran with Pakistan's help (Arab money, Paki troops). Have Iraq offer to help, shia to shia, in the Basra region - give that little bastard Sadr a chance to hold the whip hand over his old masters. The rest, we just cordon it off, and allow humanitarian aid in.
Posted by: OldSpook || 10/10/2007 11:07 Comments || Top||

#22  OldSpook - you have my vote for prez!
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 12:12 Comments || Top||

#23  They can rot for all we care after that.

Yup. If there is one single lesson we must carry away from Afghanistan and Iraq it is that the era of nation-building is over. Most likely, forever and especially so in the case of these thankless, treacherous Muslim majority countries. From now on we will just drop by to break the bad boys' toys and they can clean up the mess themselves. Someone here even suggested going in after their national treasuries to pay for the beatdown. I like that idea a lot!
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 12:41 Comments || Top||

#24  Who the hell says we are INVADING Iran?

Thanks for that, OldSpook. This is yet another example of loony liberals using lies, half truths and emotional appeals to advance their dubious agenda. And this time it's from King of the Dhimmis.

Nobody, except jimmuh himself, said anything about invading Iran. What we need to do is break it, disable the nuke program and let the survivors figure out what to do with the rubble.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/10/2007 12:49 Comments || Top||

#25  Pappy seems disinclined to re-comment on this issue, but he presents a really valuable perspective over at:
http://mycardboardbox.wordpress.com/
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/10/2007 13:06 Comments || Top||

#26  Jimmy, Jimmy who, the penis farmer?
Posted by: Icerigger || 10/10/2007 13:18 Comments || Top||

#27  'Spook, I'm glad you work for our side.
Posted by: Mike || 10/10/2007 14:04 Comments || Top||

#28  Worst. President. Ever.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/10/2007 14:49 Comments || Top||

#29  So what happened to Billy Beer anyway? Did such a fine brand name die off when Jimmy left the White House in disgrace?
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/10/2007 15:27 Comments || Top||

#30  Maximum diplomatic relationship with Iran


Works for me.
Posted by: DMFD || 10/10/2007 19:19 Comments || Top||

#31  Glemore, I agree with Pappy. You have to read it all. I have the same perspectives, having had my ass on the line, and seeing and knowing peopel that continue to put it on the line.

There is NO silver bullet, no magical way of donig it.

Thats why I said it has to be combined actions going after and destroying enough of the command and the things needed for command (C3I) to ensure there can be no effective responses. unlike going after terrorists, Iran does present conventional leadership targets, and they have to have soem semblance of structure and infrastructure to maintain their power. Unlike Bin Laden, they cannot simply leave and run things from a cave in another country.

The key is to damage the sectarian ability to command and control and act as a government to the point where they are incapable/impotent in their responses. Create a power vacuum, and leave enough of the secular Iranian Army to fill it.

But above all, no invasion.
Posted by: OldSpook || 10/10/2007 19:55 Comments || Top||

#32  Pappy's crazy - I support him totally
Posted by: Frank G || 10/10/2007 21:42 Comments || Top||

#33  One of the things I've advocated is alienating the IRGC and the mullahs from the populace. If you take away what support/fear/respect they have (and the power from it that results), it makes it much easier to allow a response to a power vacuum.

How? Knock down their economic power so they can't provide jobs (or money for their own use). Designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization is a good first step. I'd go with designating certain mullahs as terrorist enablers as well. Nothing like starting a intramural conflict.

OS is correct on the other stuff, but I'd hit the Baseej first. They're the ones trained in handling civil strife. They're also the ones trained in urban combat.

That the Baseej have come under IRGC control is a development that can be taken advantage of. If the IRGC have to get involved as a result of the Baseej being reduced, so much the better.

Hit the IRGC camps involved in supporting the Iraqi insurgents and the Taliban. Still a strike, but it's a legitimate reason.

The idea is to get them off balance. Off balance means making mistakes. Making mistakes means creating opportunities.

There are risks. Likely the Iranians will respond, the obvious target areas being the rest of the Middle East. I suspect that's why Mr. Carter is concerned - because his Saudi paymasters are concerned.
Posted by: Pappy || 10/10/2007 22:03 Comments || Top||

#34  So what happened to Billy Beer anyway?

I found an unopened can when I was cleaning out my parents' house.
Posted by: Mike || 10/10/2007 23:30 Comments || Top||

#35  TOPIX > PUTIN - IRAN NUCLEAR BOMB IS A STRATEGIC THREAT TO RUSSIA, despite Russ finding no "objective proof" that Iran intends to build said bomb(s). OTOH, KOMMERSANT > USA, BRITAIN WORK AGAINST RUSSIA, FSB. Milyuhns and Zilyuhns, or circa 300 [RIAN][300 Spartans?] of anti-Russian "foreign intelligence" operatives caught or exposed in Russia.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 23:40 Comments || Top||


Hariri: Syria is slaughtering Lebanese
March 14 leader and MP Saad Hariri on Tuesday met with U.N. Special Envoy Terje Roed Larsen and senior U.N. officials on ways to speed up the formation of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Hariri was also due to meet later Tuesday with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon.

In addition to discussing the formation of the international tribunal that would try suspects in the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father and related crimes, the talks were expected to touch on ways of enforcing U.N. resolutions on Lebanon. "These are political and terrorist crimes," Hariri told an Iftar banquet in his honor. "We tell the killers that the tribunal is coming."

The Iftar, thrown by ambassador-designate to the UN Nawaf Salam , was attended by the U.N. ambassadors of the five permanent Security Council members as well as former MP Ghattas Khoury and Al Mustaqbal coordinator for North America Rafik Bizri. Hariri reiterated that Syria was behind the serial killings in Lebanon. "The Syrian regime is slaughtering us and the world knows that, and measures to protect Lebanon are needed," Hariri demanded.
This article starring:
Ban Ki-moon
Ghattas Khoury
Nawaf Salam
Rafik Bizri
Saad Hariri
Terje Roed Larsen
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  TOPIX NEWS > LEBANON ASKS FOR RUSSIA, CHINA AID, to help protect Leb from dangerous whims of foreign powers-groups.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 0:03 Comments || Top||

#2  And his point is?
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 3:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Hariri: Syria is slaughtering Lebanese

And this is news? Why?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/10/2007 13:20 Comments || Top||


Hariri asks Russia, China to prevent interference in presidential vote
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Like that's gonna help.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/10/2007 3:51 Comments || Top||

#2  STRATEGYPAGE > A NEW WARSAW PACT APPEARS. SCO + CSTO, i.e. most of former Cold War Soviet SSr's plus China now.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/10/2007 23:51 Comments || Top||


IDF officers meet with Lebanese army representatives in Nakoura
Representatives from the IDF and from the Lebanese Armed Forces met on Monday at a UN base in Nakoura, Israel Radio reported. The meeting, coordinated by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, focused on aerial violations the LAF claimed were being carried out by the Israeli Air Force over Lebanese skies. The sides also discussed security matters regarding the disputed border village of Ghajar and the redrawing of the UN-drawn Blue Line boundary between the two countries.

UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano said afterwards that the talks were effective. He added that he was encouraged by their general direction and the decisiveness shown by both sides to oversee the implementation of UNSC resolution 1701.
This article starring:
Claudio Graziano
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:


Hariri: Faster justice needed in Lebanon
Lebanese parliament leader Saad Hariri urged UN chief Ban Ki-moon here Tuesday to accelerate efforts to set up the UN-backed tribunal that is to prosecute those responsible for the murder of his father and ex-premier. The court, which is to be based in the Netherlands, will try suspects in the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, a popular five-time prime minister who was killed along with 22 others in a massive explosion on the Beirut seafront on February 14, 2005.

The slain ex-premier's son also called for international help to end the wave of assassinations of anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians.
"What is happening in Lebanon today is a destabilizing coup on Lebanon," he said, referring to the political assassinations that have claimed the life of his father and several other anti-Syrian politicians. "This is not acceptable ...The international community should move on those who commit these crimes in a very swift way. We asked for a harder position from the United Nations in the face of those assassinations."

US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad meanwhile said he planned to discuss with Hariri specific steps the UN might take to protect Lebanese members of parliament who feel threatened. He said he would also discuss with Hariri how to generate financial support to make the international tribunal operational "as soon as possible."

"We need to move at a faster pace," Khalilzad noted.

An initial UN inquiry implicated Damascus and its allies in Lebanon, where four pro-Syrian security chiefs were arrested in late 2005. But Syria has vehemently denied any involvement.
"Wudn't us."
Hariri meanwhile said his wide-ranging discussion with Ban also touched on the upcoming presidential elections. The Lebanese parliament is to hold a delayed session on October 23 to elect a new president, amid deadlock between the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and the pro-Syrian opposition. Fears are running high that the deadlock over the presidency could lead to two rival governments. "We want the presidential election to take place in timely manner... We want no interference in the process by outsiders," Khalilzad said in a clear reference to Syria.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who also met with Hariri, said Moscow would do its utmost to help ensure that the presidential election process is "be completed in a timely and amicable manner."
This article starring:
Ban Ki-moon
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora
Rafiq Hariri
Saad Hariri
Vitaly Churkin
Zalmay Khalilzad
Posted by: Fred || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Ye, somebody needs to fumigate the entire place.
Posted by: gromgoru || 10/10/2007 7:45 Comments || Top||

#2  I look at that picture and all I can think is "Greasy Kid Stuff" (Mid 60's hair oil commercial)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/10/2007 13:29 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Khawaarij and Jihad: Is Al-Qaida's Network in Iraq Doomed to the Fate of the GIA?
Posted by: 3dc || 10/10/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It's be nice to think of jihadis as a self limiting phenomenon, but I feel better with the US military doing the bulk of the jihadi elimination work...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/10/2007 12:40 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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4Taliban
4Govt of Syria
3Global Jihad
2Hizbul Mujaheddin
1Hamas
1Iraqi Insurgency
1Islamic Jihad
1Mahdi Army
1Fatah
1Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
1al-Qaeda

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In no particular order...
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2007-10-10
  Gunmen kidnap director of Basra Int'l Airport
Tue 2007-10-09
  Al Qaeda deputy killed in Algeria: report
Mon 2007-10-08
  Tehran University student protest -- 'Death to the dictator'
Sun 2007-10-07
  Support network in Pakistan accused of helping Taliban, others sneak across border to attack U.S
Sat 2007-10-06
  Paleo arrestfest as Hamas, Fatah detain each other's cadres
Fri 2007-10-05
  Korean leaders agree to end war
Thu 2007-10-04
  US-led team to oversee N. Korea nuclear disablement
Wed 2007-10-03
  3 die in explosion at Hamas HQ
Tue 2007-10-02
  Bhutto may allow US military strike
Mon 2007-10-01
  Hamas renews call for cease-fire with Israel
Sun 2007-09-30
  Indian troops corner rebels in Kashmir mosque
Sat 2007-09-29
  Court Lets Perv Run for President
Fri 2007-09-28
  AQI #3 Abu Usama al Tunisi bites the dust
Thu 2007-09-27
  Over 100 Taliban killed in Afghanistan
Wed 2007-09-26
  NWFP govt calls for army's help


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