Posted by: Howard UK ||
01/18/2005 07:51 ||
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#1
Substitute Security for Identity and we have a Winner!
This will be interesting to follow. Will Bell be forced to retract? Will the UK education system lower its standards so far that Fundo Madrassahs will be accredited? Tired of importing your jihadis and ready for home-grown, are you? This will go nicely with your Islamic Banks and a dole system looted by HookBoys. Will Shari'a be far behind?
This really is a big deal, IMHO, a pivot point of history in the UK.
#2
What took them so long to arrive at a simple conclusion? How many times can the Brits police foil the boomers? Are they waiting for that superfluous yet deadly development as a catalyst? The ostrich's head is still half stuck in the hole.
Posted by: Wo ||
01/18/2005 21:29 Comments ||
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#3
Substantial comment on the calibre of British schools in today's Wall Street Journal. Here's the whole thing, because its only available to subscribers.
Apples and Candyfloss
School league tables were introduced to the U.K. in 1992 to offer an easy comparison between schools. But the latest tables, released last week, make the task more complicated if anything. That is unless you're a parent who believes vocational courses such as hairdressing and bakery can be compared with -- and indeed be worth more than -- academic subjects such as English and math.
The government's examination watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, used a complex new system this year to compare results -- valuing some vocational courses higher than academic ones. For example, the top mark, an A*, in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) -- a national test taken at age 16 -- in an academic subject is worth 58 points to a school, and an A, 52 points. Compare this to a D grade in a vocational GCSE -- such as health and beauty -- worth 68 points, and a Level 2 certificate in cake decoration, which earns 55 points.
The Independent Schools Council, representing 1,300 private schools, described the new system as "absurd." "This is not even a case of trying to compare apples and pears: it is comparing apples with candy-floss." Quite. This isn't to denigrate vocational courses. Such comparisons are of little use to parents whether they are searching for a school with the best academic or best vocational degrees for their children. Pretending the new system is actually useful to anyone except a government minister trying to meet performance targets seems a stretch.
In response to criticisms like these, the government accused critics of "old-fashioned educational snobbery" and argued the new system benefits pupils who would otherwise leave with no vocational skills by encouraging schools to offer more vocational courses. Even if it were to do that, more dangerously it also offers an incentive for schools wanting to improve their league performance to strongly encourage pupils to switch into vocational degrees from academic ones.
Stretching even further, government officials trumpeted the "increase in standards" the results showed. The figures did reveal an increase of eight-tenths of a percentage point, to 53.7%, in pupils gaining 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades or equivalent. The government highlighted that the inclusion of vocational degrees only amounted to 0.1 percentage points of the increase -- but this is only year one, schools are just discovering how to play the system. What the government failed to mention, however, is that this was well below their target of a two-percentage-point gain, and that the number of pupils who passed actually fell by 0.2 percentage points. The real news was that despite the huge increase in spending of taxpayers' money on education over the last year -- £4.6billion ($8.7 billion) -- standards are barely rising, if not falling.
The irony of the league tables is that even if parents were to make sense of it, they could do nothing with their findings. Unlike countries such as Sweden where parents can choose which government funded school their child attends -- and so schools compete for pupils resulting in higher standards -- in the U.K. only those children with parents willing and able to pay for a private education have a choice. All other children must attend a local school. State schools in Britain only compete for more government funding -- and increases in standards occur largely through government manipulation of figures.
Perhaps this is why the government has complicated the league table system. A clear table would only serve as a cruel reminder for parents of the education their children could be getting if school choice was introduced.
#4
Substantial comment on the calibre of British schools in today's Wall Street Journal. Here's the whole thing, because its only available to subscribers.
Apples and Candyfloss
School league tables were introduced to the U.K. in 1992 to offer an easy comparison between schools. But the latest tables, released last week, make the task more complicated if anything. That is unless you're a parent who believes vocational courses such as hairdressing and bakery can be compared with -- and indeed be worth more than -- academic subjects such as English and math.
The government's examination watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, used a complex new system this year to compare results -- valuing some vocational courses higher than academic ones. For example, the top mark, an A*, in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) -- a national test taken at age 16 -- in an academic subject is worth 58 points to a school, and an A, 52 points. Compare this to a D grade in a vocational GCSE -- such as health and beauty -- worth 68 points, and a Level 2 certificate in cake decoration, which earns 55 points.
The Independent Schools Council, representing 1,300 private schools, described the new system as "absurd." "This is not even a case of trying to compare apples and pears: it is comparing apples with candy-floss." Quite. This isn't to denigrate vocational courses. Such comparisons are of little use to parents whether they are searching for a school with the best academic or best vocational degrees for their children. Pretending the new system is actually useful to anyone except a government minister trying to meet performance targets seems a stretch.
In response to criticisms like these, the government accused critics of "old-fashioned educational snobbery" and argued the new system benefits pupils who would otherwise leave with no vocational skills by encouraging schools to offer more vocational courses. Even if it were to do that, more dangerously it also offers an incentive for schools wanting to improve their league performance to strongly encourage pupils to switch into vocational degrees from academic ones.
Stretching even further, government officials trumpeted the "increase in standards" the results showed. The figures did reveal an increase of eight-tenths of a percentage point, to 53.7%, in pupils gaining 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades or equivalent. The government highlighted that the inclusion of vocational degrees only amounted to 0.1 percentage points of the increase -- but this is only year one, schools are just discovering how to play the system. What the government failed to mention, however, is that this was well below their target of a two-percentage-point gain, and that the number of pupils who passed actually fell by 0.2 percentage points. The real news was that despite the huge increase in spending of taxpayers' money on education over the last year -- £4.6billion ($8.7 billion) -- standards are barely rising, if not falling.
The irony of the league tables is that even if parents were to make sense of it, they could do nothing with their findings. Unlike countries such as Sweden where parents can choose which government funded school their child attends -- and so schools compete for pupils resulting in higher standards -- in the U.K. only those children with parents willing and able to pay for a private education have a choice. All other children must attend a local school. State schools in Britain only compete for more government funding -- and increases in standards occur largely through government manipulation of figures.
Perhaps this is why the government has complicated the league table system. A clear table would only serve as a cruel reminder for parents of the education their children could be getting if school choice was introduced.
#1
He won't leave, not while him and his vile spawn are sucking up generous benefits. I'm sorry to sound like a fascist but can't we just put him up against a wall and shoot him? It was reported in yesterday's Times that a catalogue of his misdemeanours has been sent to the Met... he well be joining brother Hook in Belmarsh before we know it... Imamâs calls on internet for Britons to join al-Qaeda prompts police inquiry
Posted by: Howard UK ||
01/18/2005 7:43 Comments ||
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#2
How about putting a cap on welfare benefits and a cap on the number of years you can receive such benefits? It seems to have worked very well in the US.
A side benefit is that it would reduce Islamic migration to western Europe and lead to some out migration.
#3
True - I guess some Muslim doctor's signed him off work on long term sick pay due to a 'bad back.' A notably easy scam to pull...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
01/18/2005 8:38 Comments ||
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#4
The reason for posting was to show that at last his antics are getting some high profile media , albeit The Sun , but it has a base readership of around 4 million I think , mostly 'bread-and-butter' hard working Brits . The paper , even though its quite shite , is very influencial in its own provocative way .
The first known visual evidence of dissent within the world's most secretive state emerged yesterday when video footage taken in a North Korean factory showed a portrait of the dictator, Kim Jong-il, defaced with graffiti demanding freedom and democracy.
The 35-minute video clip, said to have been taken in November, was posted on the website of an opposition group based in South Korea. It shows a poster of Kim scrawled over with the words: "Down with Kim Jong-il. Let's all rise to drive out the dictatorial regime.''
Kim inherited the leadership of the world's most reclusive communist state in 1994 on the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.
Posted by: Pappy ||
01/18/2005 11:31:29 AM ||
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#1
This was probably done by a foreigner and not a Nork. I am guessing this because it was supposedly seen by a foreigner and they are only allowed in special areas. If this happened in a non-foreign area we would never have heard about it.
#2
Cyber Sarge above might be correct. Think about it. The guy(s) who supposedly defaced Kimmy's pic would be certainly marked for death if caught. Equally, if caught smuggling this pic out of NK, the smuggler would be marked for death. Regret to advise: I'm thinking this pic is a photoshop special worthy of dot com. Wish it were otherwise.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
01/18/2005 12:32 Comments ||
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#3
Oh shit - now I have to install the Korean character set? Lol!
Long, two-part series on the shabby treatment of NKor refugees by the SKors.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/18/2005 12:59:14 AM ||
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#1
Article: China has developed close ties to the military regime in Rangoon and turned a nation wary of China into a "satellite" of Beijing close to the Strait of Malacca, through which 80 percent of Chinaâs imported oil passes. China is building naval bases in Burma and has electronic intelligence gathering facilities on islands in the Bay of Bengal and near the Strait of Malacca. Beijing also supplied Burma with "billions of dollars in military assistance to support a de facto military alliance," the report said.
This is why sanctions on Burma are a bad idea. All of these countries we're giving a hard time about human rights are becoming China's allies. This kind of thing is why we adopted a policy of non-interference with those regimes that weren't aligned with the Soviets during the Cold War. If we're going to start peeling some of these countries away from Beijing, we need to start being a little less assertive about human rights with respect to friendly countries.
More than 50 years after he directed a brilliant amphibious invasion that repelled North Korean forces during the Korean War, Gen. Douglas MacArthur is no longer welcome. The focus of the latest outpouring of South Korea's anti-Americanism is on a bronze statue of the general, mounted on a massive 16-foot slab of concrete in this port city's Freedom Park. Police have guarded the statue 24 hours a day since it was targeted three years ago by protest groups angry with American policies.
Pull the guards. Let the vandals destroy the statue. It's their country. We'll know next time not to bother sending another McArthur...
Now civic groups are angry that taxpayer money is being spent to protect the monument. The dispute over the MacArthur statue is symbolic of South Korea's internal debates over its history, the division between North and South and sweeping generational changes. "In the urgency of the Korean War, he was the hero," said Choe Woong-ki, 68, looking at the statue. "I don't know what other people think, but for someone like me who has been through the Korean War, he was a contributor to our country. I don't understand." How do you want your Chinese food prepared...losers.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 12:53:47 AM ||
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#1
Yep, they're just a decade or so from self-immolation. When the ones who remember pass on, the cycle begins anew.
Thus it has ever been with stupid people. I've just never included Koreans in that category before.
#2
Police have guarded the statue 24 hours a day since it was targeted THREE YEARS AGO by protest groups angry with American policies.
A bunch of protestors attack it three years ago, it gets guarded 24 hours a day (its a statue! paint comes off!) and now people (after three years) think the police might be better employed say.... fighting crime? well, what fools eh?
#4
I love it when you justify your rabid sweeping cultural slurs .com, its so much easier than just slinging insults at me... o no, no wait a second....
#6
Lotsa statues in DeeCee of Grant, Sherman, etc that dont have 24 hour protection. In fact I dont think ANY of them do. Mountain out of molehill dept here, folks.
#8
Note source in Wash Times. Wash Times, while sometimes a valuable source, has particular obsessions with Korea, not surprising given its publisher. They may be making a big deal cause of some obscure nuanced thing they have against the folks who pulled the police.
#9
Man, I don't miss that place at all. What a dump.
.com is right: when the old ones go, the young 'uns are gonna run amok. Sure was something taking a train ride down to Seoul. The old folks would smile wide and pat our arms and shoulders. The young ones (40ish and younger) would shoot us looks that could kill. I distinctly remember one "gentleman" who glared at me from the time he got on the train till the time he got off. Never once moved his glance from me.
Yeah, pull the security from the statue. Pull us out completely. Let 'em fend for themselves and see how they like it.
#10
nada: The young ones (40ish and younger) would shoot us looks that could kill. I distinctly remember one "gentleman" who glared at me from the time he got on the train till the time he got off. Never once moved his glance from me.
The young 'uns are on this yellow/racial solidarity/supremacy kick. Doesn't seem to have occurred to them that the Chinese showed up just in time to prevent the unification of the Korean peninsula.
#11
A statue is an artifact that represents something deeper than itself. In this case, MacArthur's likeness symbolizes the dead and wounded Americans who fought for freedom, faced incredibly bad conditions, in what was one of the most bloody wars in recent history.
In this sense, the yu's are pissing on their very freedom itself, on their very pant legs.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 13:24 Comments ||
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#12
The inscription at the monument reads: "We shall never forget what he and his valiant officers and men of the United Nations Command did here for us and for freedom. And until the last battle against the malignant infection of communism has finally been won, may we never forget it was also he who said 'In war, there is no substitute for victory.' "
INDEED!!
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 13:26 Comments ||
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#13
Help build up Japan's capabilities. Encourage the Japanese to keep a tight watch on Korea a w as China.
A human rights group claimed Tuesday that it has obtained video footage showing dissident activities in North Korea, with demands for freedom and democracy written over a poster of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il. If authentic, it would be the first time images of dissent in the highly secretive North have come to light. But there was no way to independently confirm the validity of the footage. The 35-minute videotape, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, shows written statements posted on a wall, urging North Koreans to fight to retrieve freedom and democracy. A man is heard, but not seen, reading a statement, demanding Kim Jong Il be removed from his post. ``The North Korean people are suffering from hunger and poverty because of Kim Jong Il's dictatorship and dogmatic politics,'' the man says.
If true, this man gets a beer on me at the O-club any day of the week.
The tape was delivered to the Seoul-based Citizen's Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees, and became public after the Coalition handed over the footage to an Internet news site that specializes on North Korean affairs. The Coalition said the footage was taken by the Youth Solidarity for Freedom at a North Korean town near the border with China. The Kim family has ruled North Korea for more than a half century, creating a powerful personality cult. Portraits of Kim and his father hang side-by-side on the walls of every house. Recently, however, observers of the world's most reclusive regime have noted possible signs of subtle cracks in Kim's grip on power.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/18/2005 12:12:53 AM ||
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#1
Al Guardian must be torn by this... a good story, if true vs. a fellow commie's regime in danger. Sympathies to the Editorial Staff.
#2
and became public after the Coalition handed over the footage to an Internet news site that specializes on North Korean affairs
oooh....smart move!! That's one big huge nail in the coffin of the MSM. No longer do they bother to send it to the Guardian or the NYT, but instead they now make it public on the internet where it can't be ignored.
MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali returned to the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday, declaring under intense media scrutiny that she intended to continue her fight against Islamic extremism despite repeated death threats. She appeared in the Lower House shortly after 2pm for her first Question Time since she went into hiding some two months ago after the brutal murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh. The Somali-born MP was hotly followed by Dutch and foreign media journalists and camera crews. Hirsi Ali was also escorted into the parliament chamber by a horde of protection officers from the Royal and Diplomatic Security Service, and several bodyguards from a private security company.
Lower House chairman Frans Weisglas welcomed Hirsi Ali back prior to the start of the parliament's first question hour after the end of the Christmas recess. "Dear Ayaan, welcome back among us. We have missed you," he said. Weisglas also said he hoped that Hirsi Ali — who moves on a daily basis from safe house to safe house — can soon resume her normal work outside of the parliament. "We hope to soon hear your voice here in the House again," he said, to loud applause from the public tribune.
The Liberal VVD had earlier arrived at the parliament in an armoured Mercedes just before 9.30am on Tuesday, proceeding immediately to a meeting with Weisglas and VVD parliamentary leader Jozias van Aartsen. She then attended her first party meeting since Van Gogh's death. Hirsi Ali said she was pleased to be back and Van Aartsen said her return represented a joyful and fantastic day.
Soon after the brutal killing, it was discovered that Islamic extremists were planning to murder Hirsi Ali. She was then flown by the Dutch military from the airbase Valkenburg on 10 November to the US base Brunswick in the state of Maine.
NAS Brunswick is the base closest to the European theater and NATO commands. It's the last active duty DOD airfield in the northeast, located 26 miles northeast from Maine's largest city, Portland, and 31 miles south from the capital city of Augusta. I'm impressed, nobody would look there. Hell, I didn't even know there was there.
The two terrorist suspects arrested after a 14-hour stand-off in The Hague on 10 November are accused of planning the Muslim-born MP's murder. It has since been revealed that the murder was planned for New Year's Eve, when fireworks would disguise the sound of shooting.
Hirsi Ali is known for her strong criticism of the Islamic faith, having previously called the prophet Mohammed a pervert by modern standards for taking a child bride. She also co-wrote with Van Gogh the film Submission, which took a critical look at domestic violence in the Islam faith. The film is believed to be the prime motivation behind Van Gogh's murder and a note left plunged into the filmmaker's body with a knife warned that Hirsi Ali was next.
But speaking at a press conference at about 4pm, Hirsi Ali said she had discussed at length with Van Gogh the possible dangers of making the film. She also said it was terrible that others had resorted to violence. Nevertheless, Hirsi Ali also declared to the world that she would continue with her fight against the radical side to the Islamic faith: "Ladies and gentlemen, I will continue".
Posted by: Steve ||
01/18/2005 1:13:25 PM ||
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#4
Sobiesky - Lol! I am not so encumbered, by design, heh. As I tell telephone solicitors who ask to speak to the "woman of the house", there is no such animal, now WTF do you want? Lol!
"Glorious Golden Gloria" is my current contact with the real-world. Hirsi is now my virtual flame, heh.
BTW, meet Mimi, my housekeeper the last 2 yrs I was in Saudi - she's an Ethiopian version of Hirsi regards escaping unhealthy / sinister forces there.
#6
You can bet I offered that advice, regards SA. She was the person I was with as we watched the WTC attack on CNN. It was unforgettable, of course, but made even more so by her questions about how the US would react and an extensive conversation. She is a terrific person - and when I left I gave her what I called her "Get out of Jail Free" card - plenty of money to get her and both her sisters (also there in SA) out of that shithole, heh. I had to make her promise aloud that this would be kept hidden and private - not end up going home to buy a phreakin' VCR for her Mom - or something equally pointless.
Shortly after the U.S. presidential elections, George Bush Sr. was in Spain on a hunting trip with friends.
Spanish Minister of Defense Jose Bono asked to see him and, according to a well-informed Madrid source, was very persistent. When the former president agreed, Bono arrived for the meeting with a lavish gift of a pair of hand-made Spanish hunting rifles. His purpose was to ask the elder Bush to persuade newly re-elected President George W. Bush to agree to speak to Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, at least on the phone.
G.H.W. Bush telephoned his son at the White House, but the president's reaction was, "tough, rough, and loud," the source said. Sorry, Bush Sr. told Bono, the president was not interested in personal contact with Zapatero at this time.
**SNIP**
The fact that Aznar still has access to the White House irks the Zapatero government. On the other hand, observers say Zapatero has not helped his own case with his public criticism of the war in Iraq, which he has described as "illegal." And while Zapatero never publicly said that he supported Democratic candidate John Kerry in the presidential elections (Nope, just made tons of dinner bets), Spanish officials were quoted as saying that relations would certainly improve if Kerry were elected president.
**SNIP**
Even so, observers believe that U.S.-Spanish differences are a surface crack in the relationship, but not a fissure. At the working level, it is still largely business as usual. The chief of the Spain's armed forces recently said U.S.-Spanish defense cooperation was still good both within the NATO framework and on a bilateral basis. For example, U.S. Navy ships continued to call at Spanish ports for routine services. Last October, Spain increased the strength of its military contingent in the NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan from 165 to 1,040 men. Cooperation on the anti-terrorism front also remains good, according to Spanish sources in Madrid.
A leading Spanish business executive told United Press International that U.S.-Spain tensions have not affected commercial transactions between the two countries (because we really haven't paid attention). He noted that administration spin merchants had not pushed anti-Spain sentiment the way they had the PR offensive against France after President Jacques Chirac opposed the Iraq war(BS, frogistan's stance was one in a long line of back-stabbing). There had been no boycott of Spanish goods in the United States, and the number of U.S. tourists visiting Spain had continued to climb to record levels. While French toast had become Freedom Toast on the Air Force One breakfast menu, a Spanish omelette had not been re-named a Regime Change Omelette.
**SNIP**
...Paris is not on Bush's travel schedule, but reliable sources say President Chirac will by then have made a separate trip to Washington, or possibly to the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas: the trip has yet to be officially announced. - If that slime ends up at the ranch, I want my RNC donation back.
#1
So let's get to the crux of the question: Did George get to keep the rifles? Are there any stats on the pieces - you know fps, muscle velocity, ohms, foot-lbs of resistance, the good stuff.
#2
Interesting. Playing seer is a risky gig, but some of this rings true - even given the many wiggles that will likely occur en route. I believe China will have more grief than implied - hell, I hope we supply it. Interesting regards India and Brazil.
The Europeans have several hardcore moments of truth approaching, and speechifying, grandstanding anti-Americanism, and hair dye won't help. Nor will dragging all down to the lowest common denominator. Better re-invigorate capitalism, and do it fast, or sink under the weight of those PC policies.
#6
I'm in Germany and I'm surprised that they give them THAT long. Must be hedging their bets.
The unions here make the stateside unions like kindergarten kids. In Germany, you'll have to pry their benefits from their cold dead fingers. In all fairness, it seems like the German economy is what has kept the EU sputtering along this long.
#8
A CIA prediction has about as much validity as Henry Blodgett's investment picks.
The EU's science and technology base is excellent, and there has been so much transatlantic investment in both directions that, at least at the level of large corporate activity (eg ~50% of GDP), we and they are joined at the hip. And of course we will continue to cooperate closely on intel-sharing and cross-border judicial-police coordination.
The really interesting question is the EU's relationships with the failing state that is Russia and the only superpower rival on the horizon, China. To the extent EU energy sources, esp natural gas, derive increasingly from Russia and EU exports are devoted increasingly to China, it would seem that the EU has significantly less leverage over those nations than we do. Not much of a superpower if you can't exercise leverage over China and Russia...
#9
More room for Richard Rieds and company. Can't wait for these flying buses to get sent back to base due to loading known terrorists.
Even your screaming Euros.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 15:06 Comments ||
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#10
The $64 question is: "And then what happens?" Now, accepting the notion that the EU is functionally dead as a continental government, does NOT mean that it will go away. As evidenced by the Holy Roman Empire (962-1806), which after its founder, Charlamagne, died, became a paper exercise but remained so for almost a thousand years. Powerless, meaningless, yet surviving endless internal clashes, the invasions of the Ottomans and even the Protestant Reformation. And yet, modernism has swept away many of the regional and local differences in the continent, so it is doubtful Europe will return to its ultra-fragmentary 19th century state. Most likely, it will devolve into large, competing blocs with independant states playing the middle--suggestions of which we've already seen with the "Frankenreich" vs. the Britain-Italy-and-a-few-others-bloc. The divisions will be based on subtle but important differences, such as those nations under Roman Law vs those under Common Law, with tiny Brussels pretending to still be of consequence, though living on the handouts of whoever throws a few coppers their way to get a de jure ruling in their favor.
#12
My sentiments are shared. EU = one seriously dysfunctional family
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 17:24 Comments ||
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#13
The divisions will be based on subtle but important differences, such as those nations under Roman Law vs those under Common Law,
I don't think there's 1 person in 10 that even knows the differences between the two systems, let alone considers them significant.
No other division either is either significant enough or will interfere with EU's current map too much. Orthodox vs Western Christian would only remove Greece and Cyprus from the EU -- a rich-North vs continent, would only remove UK, Ireland and Denmark. A loss to be sure, but not crippling by far, and would probably increase the integration in the rest of the continent.
The only future division I'm concerned about, is a possible Eurasian vs Euro-atlanticist division, to divide Europe again between the poles of Kremlin and Washington. But it seems to me it'd need a significantly stronger Russia than now for it to become a huge issue, and Ukraine's Orange Revolution put a significant blow to that.
#15
The Airbus will be a nice large tempting terrorist target with half a k population on it. I hope that they made more robust vertical stabilizers and rudders on it than they did with their sister airbus ship off of NYC.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/18/2005 22:40 Comments ||
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Hat Tip: World Tribune Editors' Note: LTC Tim Ryan is Commander, Task Force 2-12 Cavalry, First Cavalry Division in Iraq. He led troops into battle in Fallujah late last year and is now involved in security operations for the upcoming elections. He wrote the following during "down time" after the Fallujah operation. His views are his own.
All right, I've had enough. I am tired of reading distorted and grossly exaggerated stories from major news organizations about the "failures" in the war in Iraq. "The most trusted name in news" and a long list of others continue to misrepresent the scale of events in Iraq. Print and video journalists are covering only a fraction of the events in Iraq and, more often than not, the events they cover are only negative.
The inaccurate picture they paint has distorted the world view of the daily realities in Iraq. The result is a further erosion of international support for the United States' efforts there, and a strengthening of the insurgents' resolve and recruiting efforts while weakening our own. Through their incomplete, uninformed and unbalanced reporting, many members of the media covering the war in Iraq are aiding and abetting the enemy.
The fact is the Coalition is making steady progress in Iraq, but not without ups and downs. So why is it that no matter what events unfold, good or bad, the media highlights mostly the negative aspects of the event? The journalistic adage, "If it bleeds, it leads," still applies in Iraq, but why only when it's American blood?
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 2:07:10 PM ||
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#1
I'm sure Dan Rather will lead with this story tonight... :-(
#2
When ops start winding down and these troops finally begin to come home...there's going to be a true accounting of what the MSM has done.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/18/2005 15:35 Comments ||
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#3
Naw...it will get swept under the rug.
Ordinary folks will just want to get on with their lives. That's an ok thing.
The MSM and lefties in general will just quietly drop the subject rather than look stupid and look for another reason to hate. That's not so ok, but there it is.
Posted by: Michael ||
01/18/2005 15:42 Comments ||
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#4
The irony is that the media have been treacherous swine for a long time. Gen WT Sherman, when reporters were caught in his camp, had them put backwards on a mule and ridden around with a sign reading "Traitor" around their necks before kicking them out--much to the amusement of his soldiers.
#6
It will be fascinating to see the impact on our domestic politics of this generation of veterans when they return home.
First, these are probably among the most talented, resourceful, and of course courageous Americans we have. Many are very well-educated and perfectly capable of smacking down rivals in debating forums. If they choose to enter politics, we will have some extremely interesting candidates for national office soon.
Second, once they return home they will have far more time to set straight the MSM spinners and doom-mongers, in a media and cultural environment that, unlike that of 1968, gives ordinary citizens a real voice and fighting chance against the Cronkites of the MSM.
Third, they will have very valuable expertise in not just military operations but also diplomacy, intel-gathering and of course politics in the arab world. This will make them a very useful counter to the arabist foreign policy madarins at State and in academia.
Fourth, their positions on domestic issues is not easily predicted. It's doubtful that soldiers who have sacrificed so much for what has been, all in all, fairly shabby treatment, both by the MSM's distortions and Washington's imposed hardships on their families, will be as corporate- and gazillionaire-friendly as our two plutocrat-driven parties.
I imagine we will have the makings of a truly populist, largely sunbelt-based party that can knock one of the two parties off its perch-- almost certainly the Dems. Or at least pull the parties and the debate into new directions. Stay tuned.
#21
I tried to forward this to CNN and NBC and ABC on their web sites....none of them would accept it..the error msg was "The correct amount of data was not sent" I guess they only want short sound bites. I didnt try to send it to CBS, figured they dont care anyway.
Posted by: Live to Ride ||
01/18/2005 17:06 Comments ||
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#22
Lex is absolutely correct about the forthcoming impact of the returning soldiers on our society. These men and women are truly incredible. Every time that I get to work with them, which is often, I am stunned at their capabilities.
The MSM is no longer in sole control anymore. Their power is getting chipped away each and every day by the blogosphere and talk radio. Unfortunately, bloggers generally can't be there on the ground with a camera or microphone when Col. Ryan calls with a potential story. Nevertheless, I think that many Americans know that what they are seeing is terribly one-sided.
I love how a posting like this draws the trolls like hot butter. You know it is the last kind of information that they want to get out.
#27
I was in the Army from '70-'73, as the Vietnam war was winding down. And I don't remember there was much of an awareness among GIs back then of just how deliberately and calculatingly their efforts were being undermined by politicians and the MSM at home. Back then, many people still believed the media were unbiased, honest, and loyal to the country.
But today's soldiers sure as hell are conscious of that bias-- and of the media's dishonesty and disloyalty. They are also aware of the Democratic Party's attempts at exploiting every setback, every surprise, and every mistake for cheap political gain.
And they are NOT pleased. Add that to the political ferment, the blogosphere's shattering of the MSM's long-held monopoly on published opinion, and the continuing urgencies of the WoT, and we're in for some very interesting politics.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/18/2005 20:09 Comments ||
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#28
I've been mulling lex's post, too. There's a possible political earthquake in those people. I would welcome it with open arms, I am certain. Even where they had a more hearts 'n minds take, I'd STFU and listen. And the best part is the entire working-age spectrum is represented.
I'm "getting it", I think. And I think I like it, heh.
#29
Capt. America- send this to more than the media's that you have tried to reach. Lot's of work, but do not give up. As we all know...sex sells, and so do these one sided military stories- And YES, the parties, stories and memories for those who do get to come home!
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea ||
01/18/2005 20:40 Comments ||
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#30
hey poster # 27 I remind you that military families are also aware of republican party exploits and big and taft talk but not personal participation
Posted by: republicans are the crap of america ||
01/18/2005 21:37 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
01/18/2005 21:47 Comments ||
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#33
the funny thing is...in the past, it was the journalists who wrote about the soldiers. The MSM is so discredited and so out of touch that after this war - it will be the soldiers writing about the journalists - and it won't be flattering....but it will be fun for the rest of us.
#34
LTC Tim Ryan Is full off shit REALITY is: the iraqi are kickin corn and turky american raised asses like the viets 40 yers ago so stick your jew influenced media proud in your arses and go fuck yours mothers
#35
hey coward but taffy on computers pussies why don't you literates Jew farts join the army or send your wifes to intratein the army as patriotic duty
Posted by: bill ||
01/18/2005 16:24 Comments ||
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#36
HEY FRANK ABLANDO THE MAMMAS TO HERMANA MAMA MY BIEN
Posted by: bill ||
01/18/2005 16:25 Comments ||
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#37
LTC Tim Ryan Is full off shit REALITY is: the iraqi are kickin corn and turky american raised asses like the viets 40 yers ago so stick your jew influenced media proud in your arses and go fuck yours mothers
#38
hey Fred did your sibling are in the army yet or you are just a buffon talking taft
#11 y tu chingada mama, Sibilla
Posted by: Frank G 2005-01-18 4:19:08 PM
is also off-topic or abusive comment
minning is: your fucking mother ...your
#39
#19 ahhhh good! I was worried it might be wasted on you, pendejo
Posted by: Frank vjeco putto y marricon 2005-01-18 4:44:43 PM
tua moglie mi suchia il cazzo e tua figlia mi lecca le palle
Dr Rice's confirmation hearing is in progress. Those with the means should be watching / listening. You would not (or maybe you would, lol!) believe the shit. Kerry has taken a number of shots. Boxer is on right now - going totally moonbat.
Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice told senators on Tuesday that a U.S. exit strategy from Iraq is "directly proportional" to Iraq's ability to defend itself against terrorists after this month's elections.
Stepping out from her largely behind-the-scenes role as President Bush's national security adviser, Rice said she could not give Congress a timetable for American disengagement. "The goal is to get the mission accomplished," she said. "We're right now focused on security for the (Jan. 30) election."
Rice told her Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing that spreading democracy through the Middle East remains a top administration foreign-policy objective.
... Now Boxer is doing aluminum tubes - the whole nine yards of LLL memery. Wotta whore - keeps bringing up the US service people killed in Iraq - as if she doesn't dream of 10,000 so she could scream, "I told you so!" Unbeleeeeevable Whoring.
#1
They will reconvene the hearing at 2:30 ET. I don't know if Boxer used all of her time, but it ended up in a bona-fide scrap with Boxer waving the LLL memes and Dr Rice challenging Boxer to refrain from questioning her honesty and integrity. Very testy. Boxer is the biggest asshole whiner I've ever heard speak as a US Senator. Not even Skeery, who played his games about imaginary Int'l offers of help, yadda3, was nearly as big an ass - and that's saying something.
#3
Babâs had a petition to stop Condi from getting a hearing. I guess that idea fell short (like her many others). Yes she was elected by a large margin, but that had to do with turnout for Skerry in California and not her abilities. Also she was facing yet another cream puff of a Republican. She is just about the dumbest Senator in history and shows many times that she is out of her league in the Senate. If she had not gone into politics, she would have become the youngest Walmart greeter, a (automated) tollbooth operator, or possibly a slow/stop sign handler.
#5
Raj - You're an Oracle! That was a running joke in the hearing, in fact. Biden chided him for showing up, heh. I hope somewhere, on some blog, some of the highlights (like Biden's shot) are available.
#7
Boxer wins in CA because the Republican party doesn't seem to grasp that you can't run a Trent Lott type Republican in that state and win.
So instead of running a moderate that would win - and perhaps not be against abortion and who might favor the environment - the Republican would rather lose than back a true moderate.
#8
Boxer, a dumb senator for a dumb state. She's a superb emblem for a state whose educational system and workforce have deteriorated markedly in recent years.
#9
Well 2b the problem is Republican politics in California tends to be run out of and by Orange County Republicans that have a death wish it seems. Instead of doing the possible they demand the impossible and don't get get elected as a result. The void is filled by The Democrats lead S.F. Bay area moonbats and LA county diptards who know how to lie,look and sound good. Ronald Reagan knew how to win and deliver California WTF is wrong with the rest of these peeps? One reason I am not registered a Republican The California Republican party doesn't speak or represent me.
#10
lex I think you ought to check the GDP of California compared to the state you live in. The myth that the California work force and education system is some how substandard seems to be refuted by such comparisons. Even during the current tough economy here California is kicking the other 50 states ass when it comes to GDP.
That's because the critics' side didn't win the election...
WASHINGTON: President George W Bush is drawing heat over a $40 million splurge on inaugural balls, concerts and candlelight dinners while the country is in a somber mood because of the Iraq war and Asian tsunami. As Bush prepares for his second-term inauguration on Thursday, his supporters plan to celebrate with fireworks and three days of parties, including a "Black Tie and Boots" ball and nine other balls. Critics say the lavish celebrations are unseemly when US troops face daily violence in Iraq and Americans are being urged to donate money to alleviate the suffering in Asia, where the Dec. 26 tsunami killed 163,000 people. "I just think that the sobriety of the times dictate that we be mindful of the imagery of these things," said Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York. In a letter, Weiner urged Bush to ask donors to re-direct their inaugural contributions to equipment for troops in Iraq, some of whom have complained of having to scrounge for scrap metal to protect their vehicles.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Democratic Rep. Anthony Wheiner...nuf sed.
With all the shit that Bush has had to endure, I say....party on, dude.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 0:37 Comments ||
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#2
I suppose they shouldn't have put the Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol during the Civil War either. Too extravagant.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/18/2005 8:01 Comments ||
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#3
Another effort by the Dims to deligetimize the election and the Presidency of our country.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
01/18/2005 8:40 Comments ||
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#4
The counter for this is hilarious. The republicans have announced that they are turning this inaugural into "a four-day long celebration of America's men and women in uniform." There are already scheduled events for soldiers, and those who like them, all over DC. Black tie balls on the high end all the way down to BBQ parties elsewhere. I wouldn't even be surprised if the word went out to military bases around the globe: "You fellas take the day off and have yourselves a party." So, that being said, what would you think of someone who protests "America's young men and women in uniform"?
#6
I walked down to the Capitol yesterday...all the preps are being made. The platform is ready, there are more news trucks than people in DC, and it is FREEZING COLD outside. I hope the weather warms for the event.
#9
I was supposed to be part of the second Reagan inaugural when it fell to minus 17. They canceled the parade, but I still got the entire day off! My only regret is that I can't be there to help scuffle with the LLL sore losers that are planning to attend. Saw one last night on H/C and she was clueless as to why she needed to attend just to protest. If she doesn't like Bush she doesn't have to attend the parade, it's for people who want to celebrate his re-election and paid for by private donors. May the DC police response be swift and violent.
#15
But nary a word about Trump's wedding! Lets count the phonies that show up to that thing and any recent statements they have made about peace, war, charity, etc.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
01/18/2005 11:40 Comments ||
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#16
I hope it's about 30 degrees and the cops break out the water hoses.
#17
Funny, I didn't hear all these guys whining about the Indonesians and other South Asians choosing not to cancel their New Year's Eve parties right after the tsunami.
#20
#15 Jack How long do you think Mr. Trump will be married? (a real joke).
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea ||
01/18/2005 20:18 Comments ||
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#21
Fred: At this time of crisis- the war, the Tsunami, mud slides in California, buried skiers in Utah et al. I know the U.S. dollar could be used in a wiser manner to benefit all of us*
Yes, the money needs to go to the soldier's for
equipment and any other effort's for fighting this war. ALso, when they all come home- that is another war (personal nature) for those soldier's known as veteran's ** Lets NOT S--T on them and have the funds available to support them ****
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea ||
01/18/2005 20:26 Comments ||
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#22
Look folks, a puppy was killed today. Yes, an evil car ran over this cute little puppy and it was dragged for several feet. Poor Georgi!
Therefore, the President should confine the festivities to a case of purified water shared amongst family members in a tent pitched in front of the White House.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 23:00 Comments ||
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#23
I will give Trump's new tramp three months, longer if she doesn't say anything except "Nice hair, Don" during that time.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 23:02 Comments ||
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The police are talking about robbery and religious hatred as motives. But ABC News has learned the FBI sees a possible link to a terror trial now underway in New York.
The bodies of Hossam Armanious and his wife and two young daughters will leave from Journal Square for the church at around 10:00 this morning. The coffins will arrive at the church just around 10:30 for the funeral service.
Thousands are expected to attend. And many of those are very fearful because there are no arrests in this case.
There are still several theories on the table as to why all this happened. There is doubt and uncertainty in this close-knit community.
ABC News has learned that the slain family's cousin has been a translator working for the prosecution in the trial of Lynne Stewart. She is the radical lawyer accused of smuggling messages from imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, to terrorist cell members and associates.
The FBI is also looking at other aspects of the murder, including possible robbery.
Investigators also say that the slain father was active online. He recently argued in a chat room with a Muslim, who felt he had insulted Islam. That man reportedly threatened to kill him if he didn't take back his comments.
Emile Garas, victim's uncle: "That is all speculation. Nobody can say anything until the authorities do the final investigation."
The murdered family belonged to the Coptic Orthodox church. They fled Egypt a decade ago to escape religious persecution.
They were mourned Sunday by relatives and fellow churchgoers.
The Coptic community is offering at least $100,000 to anyone with information about the crime.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/18/2005 10:18:18 AM ||
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Jersey City cops are saying in the news the apparent motive was robbery.
I call Bullsh*t.
Since when is robbery part of sharia?
Iraqi prisoner abuse suspect Pfc. Lynndie England said in an interview with a Dutch television program aired Monday that she had been in love with fellow soldier Charles Graner when abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison took place. England, 22, of Fort Ashby, W.Va., was a prison clerk who was shown smiling and pointing at naked Iraqi prisoners, and holding one at the end of a leash, in photographs that caused international outrage. She is charged with 19 counts of abuse and faces a sentence of up to 38 years if found guilty on all counts. England gave birth in October to a son fathered by Graner, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Saturday for his role in the scandal. "He's a really good guy," England said of Graner on the television program Nova.
Sure, sure. We caught that right away. And you're a really sweet girl...
"He's very responsible, he's very trustworthy. I'm not just saying that because of the storm we're in." She said she still loves him and hopes they will someday be together again.
Maybe ten years or so. Maybe fifteen for you.
England said she had been doinking in a relationship with Graner when the abuse occurred in the fall of 2003. Asked whether she loved him at the time, she answered, "yes."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2005 8:55:46 AM ||
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#4
Of course she did....hence the euphemism "Love Child".
BTW, Mike Savage of the 'Savage Nation' radio show has already started a "Free Graner" movement. (And I had expected this to come from the LLL.) He also has a poll that shows way over half of the participants think that Graner didn't deserve 10 years.
Does Leavenworth have suites for couples?
#5
I don't know how many years one should get for gross stupidity mixed with a sadistic streak. I fully expect the wank-o-matics to pile on this post, today.
#7
âHeâs very responsible, heâs very trustworthy..."
And he couldn't possibly marry her anyway until after he divorced his current wife, and arranged for the support of his current offspring. As if someone like him would do that for someone like her.
#8
BTW, Mike Savage of the 'Savage Nation' radio show has already started a "Free Graner" movement.
Let's put Savage in Graner's custody. Seems like fitting punishment for both of them: Savage gets the abuse he deserves and Graner has to listen to Savage.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/18/2005 10:55 Comments ||
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#9
Savage is either a moon howling moon bat or an agent provocateur of the left. Put him in the same cell with the Unibomber and let nature take it's course.
#11
# 7 & 10 What is love? and love is what it is?
What is reality? I don't feel sorry for either
of them. Upon entering the armed forces- all soldier's are educated on what is allowed i.e. abuse and the full court martial procedure.
I think the innocent victim is their little boy.
Who will raise him when both parent's are incarcerated.....for many year's**
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: andrea ||
01/18/2005 14:04 Comments ||
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#12
Andrea rhaetor dicet: What is love? and love is what it is? What is reality?
I have it from good sources that the answer is 42. It is not entirely clear, though, what is the question.
Who will raise him when both parent's are incarcerated.....for many year's
Lemme guess... two scenarios...
A) Foster homes (probably not the best arrangement but more likely)
B) Adoption (chances that kid would grow up a decent human being)
#13
I bet the Euros love this click, the stereotypical US military pervert. Should launch a French movie soon.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 14:38 Comments ||
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#14
Lynndie England says she loved Graner
Proof neither one of them has any taste.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/18/2005 14:45 Comments ||
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#15
...England said of Graner on the television program Nova.
Is this the PBS series devoted to scientific topics? WTF? Isn't there enough coverage of this already without cannibalizing broadcast time devoted to science?
#18
#12 Sobiesky - I already know that a relative (who is willing /God Mother-Father) would be given legal custody through the court). Foster parent if nobody can take care of the boy.
Adoption- a good choice, but you would have to terminate the parental right's from both parties and I doubt that would happen ***
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea ||
01/18/2005 19:21 Comments ||
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A massive turnout is expected this morning at the funerals of a Jersey City family. The family was found bound, gagged and slashed to death on Friday. The police are talking about robbery and religious hatred as motives. But ABC News has learned the FBI sees a possible link to a terror trial now underway in New York. The bodies of Hossam Armanious and his wife and two young daughters will leave from Journal Square for the church at around 10:00 this morning. The coffins will arrive at the church just around 10:30 for the funeral service. Thousands are expected to attend. And many of those are very fearful because there are no arrests in this case. There are still several theories on the table as to why all this happened. There is doubt and uncertainty in this close-knit community.
ABC News has learned that the slain family's cousin has been a translator working for the prosecution in the trial of Lynne Stewart. She is the radical lawyer accused of smuggling messages from imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, to terrorist cell members and associates. The FBI is also looking at other aspects of the murder, including possible robbery. Investigators also say that the slain father was active online. He recently argued in a chat room with a Muslim, who felt he had insulted Islam. That man reportedly threatened to kill him if he didn't take back his comments.
Emile Garas, victim's uncle: "That is all speculation. Nobody can say anything until the authorities do the final investigation." The murdered family belonged to the Coptic Orthodox church. They fled Egypt a decade ago to escape religious persecution. They were mourned Sunday by relatives and fellow churchgoers.
The Coptic community is offering at least $100,000 to anyone with information
Stewart is a veteran seditionist and a significant insider in left-elite circles, a lesser known colleague and comrade of Ramsey Clark and Ron Kube. Her prosecution is even a minor cause celebre in the campus activist industry. If the murders really are connected to the translator, it would represent a very significant escalation of the left elite's covert war against America and a step toward open warfare. That they would even consider overt violence on this scale is also a good indication that their confidence in media support and academic cover is eroding.
Radical lawyers are the 7-figure a year end of the terrorist spectrum and have been since the heyday of William Kunstler and Angela Davis in the 60s.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy ||
01/18/2005 1:30:05 AM ||
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Thanks AC1
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/18/2005 7:32 Comments ||
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#2
This story is intrinsically about 100 times as important as the Lacey Peterson murder. If Stewart is tied into it, maybe it will get some real play.
Somehow I bet we will find the murderer is one of those folks who seemed like a nice jolly muslim to his infidel associates.
#4
The hard left may feel they're losing their cover, but as of yet I don't see it. As for Stewart, for her previous crimes and her open advocation and active support of the violent overthrow of our democracy she deserves to be shot.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/18/2005 11:38 Comments ||
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#5
This story is intrinsically about 100 times as important as the Lacey Peterson murder. If Stewart is tied into it, maybe it will get some real play.
Never happen. a) There's no sex involved, b) no attractive women involved, c) Stewart will still get a pass because of who she is.
#6
Possible link, but I wonder how many Copts in the US don't have or haven't had family members working as translators for the Government? They seem to be perfect recruitment material for such a job, and this association might well be entirely coincidental.
#12
Aw gawdz, that was awful. I can still taste the stomach acid. The only thing "it" could ever be passionate about is a 200 lb block of chopped liver shaped into a replica of Lenin's @$$.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/18/2005 12:44 Comments ||
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#13
Or a well-deserved beating at the hands of a Turkish husband. She seems to like going with the rougher characters.
#14
This woman is not an attorney, she crossed the line long ago and became a traitor that has aided and abetted terrorists trying to destroy this country.
Perhaps Paul Volcker, head of the United Nations-authorized inquiry into the U.N. Oil-for-Food program, was speaking solely of graft when he said recently that the internal audits of Oil-for-Food contained "no flaming red flags." But if he meant anything beyond outright criminality, he was surely wrong.
On that score, previously secret U.N. internal audits of the multi-billion dollar program, finally released last week by Volcker's own investigating commission, are packed with bombshells enough to shatter any normal business — let alone a U.N. program supplied with $1.4 billion to cover its administrative costs in monitoring $111 billion worth of deals done under UN sanctions by Saddam Hussein. The problems unveiled go well beyond those in the already much-discussed audits of the Oil-for-Food inspectors hired by the U.N. Secretariat to oversee Saddam's oil exports and relief imports, who according to the United Nations' own auditors too often charged too much and inspected too little.
One audit report that has so far received little attention describes at length the spectacular failures of Oil-for-Food's executive director, Benon Sevan, to adequately run even his own office and budget, let alone monitor what the program was doing in Iraq. Sevan is the one U.N. official who has been publicly accused of taking bribes in the form of oil vouchers from the Saddam Hussein regime, though Sevan denies this.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Through hard work, diligence, and a true Journalist's intellect, Claudia rocks and rocks. She has already rocked the UN. She will soon rock the world. Eat 'em alive, Claudia.
While barely registering a ripple in the Mainstream Media, several key senior people have been "resigned" by Kofi Annan in the wake of a series of scandals. The sudden departures also follow a Manhattan meeting with liberal friends of Annan's from the foreign policy establishment, we read about that here at Rantburg
and a meeting between Annan and Bush Administration officials in Washington. There may be more than meets the eye in this sequence of developments. snip
Annan has spent his entire career at the UN, and is the first Secretary-General in history to have risen through its ranks to the top. I didn't realize that.
Annan the apparatchik has been the willing puppet for these worthies. The ongoing revelations in the oil-for-food scandal have constituted a proverbial thread being pulled, which is unraveling the cloak which has shielded much of the UN from public scrutiny for decades. In the last few months we have seen a passel of disgraceful scandals revealed from Turtle Bay. [...Congo ... sex-for-food racket. ...UN High Commissioner for Refugees ... accused of sexual harassment. ...UN Refugee and Works Agency ...aware Hamas on ...UN payroll.] These disgraces follow upon previous scandals. [Durban Conference...submitting the issue of Israel's security barrier to the International Court of Justice.... Annan...complicit in the genocide in Rwanda and Bosnia by his refusal to act ...attempts to hide his negligence or obstructionism in those two massive slaughters.] His feckless response to the genocide in the Sudan seemed almost to be an attempt at a mass slaughter hat trick.
Actually, Annan may have already achieved that dubious hat trick by permitting Saddam Hussein to murder hundreds of thousands of his own people with nary a response from the Secretary General. The oil-for-food scandal was just the apotheosis of trends that have been gaining strength in the UN during Annan's reign: a sense of lawlessness and corruption, lethally combined with an utter lack of accountability, that pervades the UN and has caused great harm throughout the world. For a more complete list, those with abundant time on their hands are directed to google and these three search terms: scandal, UN, Annan. snip
Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) and Representative Henry Hyde (R-Illinois) have been among the Republican leaders in Congress trying to bring to light the facts behind the oil-for-food scandals. President Bush has challenged the UN to hold true and fast to its founding principles, peace, democracy, the prevention of genocide, if it is to remain relevant. There have been calls in Congress to cut funding to the United Nations unless ameliorative steps are taken. A recently established group, Move America Forward , is beginning a television advertising campaign urging the United States throw UN out of the United States. !!!
Nice idea, but I think it's too early. Then again, I thought the Orange Revolution was too early, too, so don't take my word for it...
Annan's cabinet will be left in tatters. While the Washington Post and the New York Times report on departures from the CIA and George Bush's Cabinet with an unseemly avidity, there has been a wall of silence regarding the mass exodus from the United Nation. Leaving aside the issue of media bias, what does this sequence of events say about Kofi Annan? That he would willingly sacrifice his friends and allies to preserve his title. That a man who has presided over the perversion of the UN is so frightened of exposure that he gleefully throws out to the lions people he has worked with closely over the years without accepting any personal responsibility himself. After all, these problems festered under his reign. Only pressure from George Bush and some key Congressmen has prompted him to take these steps towards reform.
We probably should never expect more from a man who, during his entire career at the United Nations, has been sacrificing and subverting the very principles and goals upon which the United Nations was founded: the spread of democracy, freedom and peace throughout the world. Throughout his rise in the UN bureaucracy, he willingly dispensed with these noble goals. He has diminished the stature of the United Nations. He has made it an accomplice in the greatest swindle in the history of the world. And he has made it an actor in genocides on two different continents. He has irreparably harmed the United Nations. So should we be surprised that he offers up others to keep his job? Why not add a few friends to the funeral pyre?
#1
Rest assured that these recently departed have signed non-disclosure agreements so as not to reveal insightful information about OFF.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 19:04 Comments ||
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#2
Anan has never been accountable to an electorate (or to shareholders, for that matter) for the results of his decisions or his actions/inactions. He is the quintessential bureaucrat and is way out of his depth.
#3
At least now he has adult supervision in the form of Mark Malloch Brown. Smart and capable Brit, friend of Wolfowitz, tapped into Blair's admin, now Kofi's handler chief of staff.
#4
true nuff---Not only Anan has no accountability, but the whole bloody UN has no accountablity. We are not politically ready for the Olde Heave Ho of the UN, but we damned well can hit the UN in its pocketbook to get its attention. The kleptocracy delegates need to know that going to the UN for a vacation away from their sh*thole countries and dumping on NYC is not acceptable behavior.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/18/2005 22:35 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON — An Iraqi-born American citizen will strike a plea deal with the Justice Department as part of the federal investigation into the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal, officials at Justice told FOX News. The Justice Department on Tuesday will announce the agreement with Samir Vincent, one of the men suspected of getting kickbacks as part of the multi-billion dollar scandal. The exact nature of the charges to which Vincent will plead is not yet known. Vincent will agree to help the prosecution as part of the deal, officials said.
"Spill your guts, Samir, or it's the big house for youz!"
This case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York. The Justice Department's probe also has included U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan's son Kojo Annan.
Vincent's name was listed in the CIA's Iraq Survey Group report released in October 2003, which cited the Oil-for-Food scandal extensively in its discussion of Saddam Hussein's schemes. According to the report, Phoenix was awarded 1.5 million barrels of oil in 1999 and 2000, netting Vincent $1 million. Vincent and Phoenix received vouchers for 7.9 million barrels of oil, for a profit of $3.6 million between 1997 and 2001, according to the report.
Vincent was described as one of three U.S. citizens who were allowed to profit by selling Iraqi oil or the right to trade it. In a faxed statement to FOX News in October, Vincent said his company, Phoenix International, legally received oil vouchers under the program. FOX News attempted to reach Vincent and Phoenix International on Tuesday for comment on the plea agreement.
In 2000, Vincent led Iraqi religious leaders on a tour of the United States to push for an end to sanctions against Iraq.
Well, that's what he was paid the $1M to do.
Among the people the group met with was former President Jimmy Carter. Vincent worked with Rev. Billy Graham on that tour.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/18/2005 11:45:27 AM ||
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This is one of the loose threads that, when pulled, should unravel a few more details about the Kofi and Kojo Show.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 14:40 Comments ||
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#2
Cool. Let's hope he spills dirt on Chirac and his cronies.
#3
He's smart. The OFF Scam will, indeed, unravel - in fact, I think a snowball will soon be more apt. Those who cut deals early will get the best terms.
#5
I've always been suspicious of the ol' Rev. Have you ever seen his house? Tammy Faye was probably so jealous that she thought she had red mascara on. Makes hers look like the guest house out back.
Pass the offering plate and buy the Rev aNOTHER limo. Reminds me of Jessie Jackson.... give to ME.me.me.me.me. Yeah...a real freaking man of God. Anyway...I hope I'm wrong -but considering the size of Billy's house, and his cars and his fancy clothes, it wouldn't surprise me one bit to find out he's a big fat fraud.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Monday he would not rule out military action against Iran if that country was not more forthcoming about its suspected nuclear weapons program. How about a promise we will. Or that we will not tolerate tehm getting nukes?
"I hope we can solve it diplomatically, but I will never take any option off the table," Bush said in an interview with NBC News when asked if he would rule out the potential for military action against Iran "if it continues to stonewall the international community about the existence of its nuclear weapons program."
Iran denies it has been trying to make nuclear weapons and says its nuclear program is geared solely to producing electricity. So clearly it's time to transition to Sy Hersh's Bag o'Lies
Bush's comments followed Pentagon criticism on Monday of a published report that it was mounting reconnaissance missions inside Iran to identify potential nuclear and other targets.
... I didn't feel like giving Hersh anymore air time, but there's lots more at the link if you need it.
Asked whether U.S. military forces had been conducting reconnaissance missions in Iran, Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Venable said, "We don't discuss missions, capabilities or activities of Special Operations forces."
W answered the question asked, but won't rule out vs. won''t tolerat still looks like a slow motion climb down from his former agressive stance.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/18/2005 8:57:39 AM ||
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#1
C'mon, Mrs D - what did you expect? Reagan's "bombing will comment in 5 minutes"?
You're a hard one. Sorry he's not your bitch doing your bidding, on your schedule, with your script, lol, because I want precisely what (I presume) you do...
Aw, fuck it. I'm tired of trying to drag reality back into the equation for those unwilling to recognize that being The President of The United States does not mix well with knee-jerk instant-gratification thinking. You have a "feeling" he's bailing? Fine. Great. Cool. Awesome. Knock yourself out. Please. Use my hammer.
#4
The Euros don't seem to thinks so, CF. They are whining that their negotiations can't possibly succeed the US refuses to pay the price they want to promise Iran. (see the Bush Bad article below)
#5
bad cop? I'm thinking Harry Callahan - "well do ya feel lucky....punk?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/18/2005 11:07 Comments ||
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#6
Good cop-bad cop is play-acting. It doesn't work when the target is determined not to go along and when Good Cop is deadset against the Bad Cop's actually doing anything in response.
Here's the acid test for the E3: which would you prefer, a nuclear iran that buys your exports or an iran defanged by US-Israeli direct action? Isn't it obvious which outcome the E3 are driving toward?
AFP, Washington: Teams of US commandos have been operating inside Iran since last summer, selecting suspected weapons sites for possible air strikes, The New Yorker reported yesterday. The magazine's award-winning reporter Seymour Hersh, who last year exposed the extent of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, wrote that he was repeatedly told by US intelligence and military sources that "the next strategic target was Iran."
Would that be "former intelligence and military sources, now unemployed with a chip on their shoulders"?
President George W. Bush has signed a series of orders authorizing commando groups to conduct covert operations against suspected terrorist targets in as many as ten nations in the Middle East and South Asia, the New Yorker said.
I would certainly hope so
The Bush administration has been conducting secret spying missions inside Iran at least since mid-2004, gathering intelligence on declared and suspected nuclear, chemical and missile sites, it said. "The goal is to identify and isolate three dozen, and perhaps more, such targets that could be destroyed by precision strikes and short-term commando raids," Hersh wrote.
"This is a war against terrorism, and Iraq is just one campaign," a former high-level government intelligence official told the magazine. "The Bush administration is looking at this as a huge war zone. Next, we're going to have the Iranian campaign. We've declared war and the bad guys, wherever they are, are the enemy," the official said.
Works for me
A top government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon told the magazine that Pentagon civilians -- especially Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz -- "want to go into Iran and destroy as much of the military infrastructure as possible." Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz believe that Iran's clerical regime could not withstand a military blow and would collapse, the magazine reports.
International allies are helping the Pentagon with its Iran plans, according to the magazine. Israeli consultants are helping develop potential weapons targets inside Iran. Pakistan is also involved. Pakistani scientists are providing information to an American task force that is penetrating eastern Iran searching for underground nuclear installations, the magazine said.
In return, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has received guarantees that he will not have to hand over disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan to international authorities for questioning. Khan, the architect of Pakistan's nuclear programme, in February took responsibility for transfers of nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
The New Yorker article went on to describe how the Bush White House has solidified control over US intelligence operations and how the Pentagon has finagled new powers to conduct covert operations without oversight from the US Congress or involvement by the CIA.
Pssst! Iran, the US spies are pretending to be al-Qaeda operatives. Don't tell anyone, ok?
Posted by: Steve ||
01/18/2005 8:39:17 AM ||
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#1
I doubt that "Seeless" Hersh knows what's going on. An earlier article said he was working on some kind of historical hysterical novel which puts such reports in the realm of fiction. If indeed we had SF, CIA, or Commandos in Iran on intelligence gathering missions, Hersh would be a traitor for endangering the lives of these people.
#2
Pssst! Iran, the US spies are pretending to be al-Qaeda operatives. Don't tell anyone, ok?
actually it's just as easy to hide as Basij members...I'd purge em all along with the shifty AQ guys
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/18/2005 14:16 Comments ||
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#3
Maybe the Bush Team is using hersh. Why else would they give him ANY info whatsoever? They know he's a freakin' idiot, out to discredit them any way he can.
"....We've declared war and the bad guys, wherever they are, are the enemy."
If the countries of the world don't want Americans coming soon to a country near them, chasing terrorists, all they have to do is stop helping the terrorists and start killing them.
The mullahs in iran must be shittin' in their robes right about now. Ha ha ha..... They know our boys can put a 2,000 pound bomb right in their soup bowl at dinnertime. And, that's just eatin' at their insides.
TEHERAN — The United States would not dare attack Iran, Iranian Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani was quoted yesterday by the internet service of state-television network IRIB. "Neither the US not the Zionist regime (Israel) dare to attack Iran," Shamkhani said.
The minister's remarks came in response to the New Yorker article.Â
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/18/2005 12:16:01 AM ||
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#1
Sounds like he is aping old Saddam's lines.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 0:32 Comments ||
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#9
How many of these little outbursts does this make? The little dog yaps long and loud because it's askeered. It has good reason to be: Clinton's gone.
#10
You know, I've always been curious that if you use enough nukes in one spot, can you really blow a hole in the crust. I say we find out on Iran. Besides, it's cheaper than refurbishing all those nukes anyway.
#13
"The United States would not dare attack Iran" or we will unleash our powerplants upon them. Just a thought, it would be nice if every time one of these Mullah's open their mouth with this blather that Mullah suddenly disappears... poof. Would love to (not) see our coverts busy doing more than just recon.
REPORTS of an increasingly hard-line US policy towards Iran are starting to worry British generals and diplomats, who fear the 9,650-strong UK garrison in southern Iraq would be targeted by Tehran in retaliation to any strike by the Bush administration. The allegations of US covert operations inside Iran have added to the worries in Whitehall that the stand-off with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions could be moving into a more dangerous phase. Last summer's capture of eight Royal Marines by Iranian Revolutionary Guards off southern Iraq has convinced many senior British officers and diplomats that any increase in tension with Iran would result in 'blow back' against British forces in Iraq. The marines were eventually released unharmed but it later emerged that Iranian gunboats entered Iraqi territorial waters to abduct the marines' patrol boats. Revolutionary Guard naval forces conducted the operation, apparently on the orders of hard-line Mullahs, causing tension within the Tehran government which had been trying to cultivate the Europeans as a counter-weight to the Americans. "We now think the Iranians were sending us a signal," said one British officer. "They were saying, if you get too close to the Americans we can make life very difficult for you and you will pay a price."
Foreign Office sources are particularly worried that the departure of Colin Powell from the Bush administration has left the neo-conservatives in control of US foreign policy in Washington. British intelligence sources are becoming worried that the Iranians will employ a strategy to strike back at US interests and its allies across the Middle East. Here, the role of the large Shia population in southern Iraq will be crucial and this could make life very uncomfortable for the British garrison in the Basra region. Until now the Shia of southern Iraq have generally been co-operative with British forces, but the fear is that Tehran could activate "sleeper" cells to launch an all- out guerrilla war. There were credible reports that last summer Tehran concentrated troops along the border with Iraq in response to US sabre-rattling over the nuclear issue, raising the possibility that Iran might try to seize Iraqi territory.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 11:16:47 PM ||
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#1
Do I smell a change of wind direction on the British
Foreign Office ???
Dont the British understand that, left alone, the Iranians are going to strike sooner or later ?
#2
The British Foreign Office and the British Army are traditionally Arabophile, EoZ. The Foreign Office is also traditionally anti-American, in the common, stupidly elitist way. On the other hand, it seems to me the British forces are pretty nearly over-extended, between the Yugoslav countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, and their normal responsibilities. So maybe that sparked the comment.
#3
It's sad that fine troops are led by such a breed of losers and whiners. How far down the chain does the rot go? I'll leave that to the RB Cousins to say. I don't have any doubts about the men and women at the pointy end.
#6
Ok, would an anti-american body 1) have joined NATO, an american lead alliance 2) have allowed ICBMs and B52s, along with support staff / troops to be stationed on its soil 3) have supported the wars in afganistan and iraq (both of them) 4) allow you to use our radar installations 5) have lent you British Indian Ocean Territory in perpetuity for military purposes? As the foreign office is responsible for all decisions of this type it seems to have a fairly strong pro-american bias historically.
#7
Almost all of what you cite is from Days of Yore - co-security arrangements made when the Soviet wolf came knocking. Iraq and Afghanistan are more current - and yes, Tony Blair has been a marvel from the US POV regards Iraq, since on the domestic front he's a card-carrying looney.
I'd wager the Foreign Office does not decide such things as NATO participation (Afghanistan) nor invasion of hostile regimes (Iraq) - independently as you imply. Straw is, last I checked, serving Blair, is he not?
The anti-American bias is, indeed, present in Blair's party - is it not? His cabinet has been, how shall I put it? - a colorful lot?
The historic reference is the key. Indeed, American and the UK are and have been strong allies, militarily, historically. Politically, however, the UK situation is far more nuanced and complicated, and I have no doubt that the UK regulars are far better equipped to respond regards the myriad nuances that have led to support in Iraq while the "voice" of UK public is decidedly and stridently anti-American.
#8
whoa! Please note that the article is from our good friend, and blood relative of Bagdad Bob, Sources Say. Not a single real quote to be found.
The Brits may not want to continue with Iran, but only the elusive "british officer" is whining. So before we start a transatlantic rift, let's all agree that it's a given that the British fighters (as opposed to some politicos - and please note - we also have plenty of those whiners here in the US) are very brave, competent and played a crucial role in the fall of Sadaam.
#12
I believe SH's real complaint was the use of "traditionally"... and that is probably valid to a degree. The current schizophrenia, and the incessant Beeb, Al Guardian, et al anti-American mantra has worn some of the armor from our alliance. I have absolute confidence the the UK troopers, but good reason to doubt the current collection of their superiors, given the UK political situation.
#14
I didn't phrase my comment (#2) as well as I thought. Sorry. What I meant is that the people who work in the Foreign Office generally don't like Americans (and haven't historically, going back to when we were mere Colonials), in the oh-so-common elitist way. For that matter, many in the American foreign service (aka the State Department) feel much the same as their British counterparts. I didn't mean that the Britain has been less than staunch ally.
But anyway, I was trying to find an explanation for the comment that, as 2b pointed out, came from anonymous Sources in the Army and Foreign Service complaining about potential ugly possibilities. What I was really hoping for from our cousins is commentary on the next sentence, about overstretched forces. Any takers?
#15
British forces are extended to the limit at the moment, and getting involved in an attack on Iran would exceed that limit, IMO - hence the apparent apprehension. Blair and Brown hacking at the Army - in order to scrape a few more pounds together to throw to out EU neighbours, buy comfortable chairs for employees of the MoD and generally piss up the wall - doesn't help. The British Army increasingly relies on its volunteer segment, the Territorial Army (TA), to fill the gaps, but that's a finite resource approaching a point where membership and holding down a day job is untenable for a critical number.
In short, the current UK Government is shafting the Armed Forces.
#18
Regarding Iran, the EU are not on our side. Their primary goal is not to contain Iran but to restrain the militarist US hegemon. Given the choice between 1) defanging Iran with a US-Israeli strike + covert action and 2) a nuclear Iran, the EU Three would clearly prefer the latter.
The "negotiations" with Iran are a farce. Iran and the EU 3 are on ths same side here.
#19
Doesn't it also run counter to the chief EU members' current approach towards Iran?
Yep. Blair got his fingers burnt over Iraq but I don't doubt he'd side with the US again if he thought the situation was unmanagable through jaw-jaw. When or if that'll happen, I don't know. But the resources with which to play an active role are thin. Still, we've got the subs if required.
Their primary goal is not to contain Iran but to restrain the militarist US hegemon. ... The "negotiations" with Iran are a farce. Iran and the EU 3 are on ths same side here.
That's certainly a gross exaggeration on the British part. It might apply to the French and Germans. Blair and his Straw monkey may be being played for fools, and overreaching in their efforts to mend some fences post-Iraq, but their guiding motivation is not to restrain the militarist hegemon. That's a tad absurd.
#20
So why are Blair and Straw actively participating in and perpetuating the farce, Bulldog? Either they believe in what they're doing or they don't. If the former, they're being played for fools; if the latter, they're a too cunning by half. What do they hope to achieve?
#21
This news, coming on the heels of the UK's caving in to France and Germany in arms sales to China, does not bode well for the Brits.
Very mixed signals at best.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 13:10 Comments ||
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#22
Lex one supposes they dont think a war against Iran is in their interest. Doesnt automatically mean their motivation is to restrain US power. Nations may have different reasons for disagreeing with us - we dont have to listen when their positions are not in OUR interest, but if we assume that everyone who disagrees with us on an issue like Iran is playing a Chirac, we really will unnecessarily alienate allies.
#23
LH - Given how many countries have been playing like/with Chirac, then in cases where they disaggree with the US for other reasons, they should perhaps make the effort to get the US to believe them (that they aren't Chiraq's lapdogs).
It seems like the same carping from the sidelines all the time.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
01/18/2005 13:34 Comments ||
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#24
The wrecklessness of France, Germany, the UK and let's not forget Russia (towards Iran) might well lead to wrecklessness on the part of the US. At the least, the EU approach puts a lot of faith into diplomatic means working with Iran. On what do they base that belief? Has Iran always been trustworthy with regards to those governments?
#26
LotR - Odd, isn't it? Much like with the Blue Staters, the US (Red Staters) "must reach out to", "must understand", those that act in opposition. Has the same faint odor of "The US Asked For It" regards 9/11.
We should clearly state and follow US interests - and those who wish us to follow a different path can approach us and explain their reasoning. Where it is deemed a superior avenue, we should join them and collaborate. Where it is not, we should thank them for their time, decline, and proceed with securing US interests. I don't think this needs to be as complex and nuanced as the game currently demands. Just a blunt person's take.
Perhaps that is precisely what's happening here. The E3 plays the soft card, it is verified that the Mad Mullahs are / are not dealing in good faith. And at the back of the parade is the US with Bush having in his pocket HCON 398 Joint Resolution authorizing all means necessary to gain Iranian compliance with their Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations...
Then, again, maybe the E3's being the wankers identified in #18, #19, etc... Or it's just the usual game and we're expected to do what we usually do - when everything turns to shit trying to deal with asshats like the Mad Mullahs, we go it alone. Did I miss anything. lol?
#27
.com - Exactly. Right after the election I remember all these Europeans saying how they hoped Bush would "make an effort" to "mend fences" with Europe in his second term.
Silly me, sitting here thinking that they should be the ones making efforts.
As for this situation, I don't really think there's much chance that the Europeans are playing a soft card, I think it's exactly what it seems like: obstructing the US from taking action against Iran. 'Cuz for some reason France seems to want them to have nukes.
Maybe they figure if everybody has them, then the US will be scared off from doing anything, anywhere, and our military advantage won't matter any more. Of course, that presumes that the lunatics won't start setting them off like firecrackers.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
01/18/2005 16:08 Comments ||
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#28
I will probably get flamed for saying this, but here goes...I think it would be a big mistake for the US to make a pre-emptive strike on Iran at this point in time for several reasons. For one thing I think there's a good deal of internal struggle in Iran right now and Iranians are lining up against the mullahs, particularly the young university students and the older intellectual elders who remember the good Western things that were present there under the Shah's reign. Unlike Iraqis who were not as outward looking, the Iranians are and I think if we can stabilize Iraq and have a decent elected government take the reigns, the Iranians will are ripe to rise up and over throw the fundamentalist mullahs with a little help of discreet Western funding. However if the US does a premptive strike and actually becomes an invader we play right into the mullahs hands. There will be collateral damage and the Iranian people will change their focus from over throwing the mad mullahs to lining up behind them to protect their country from "American imperialism."
We know for sure that Pakistan and North Korea have nuclear weapons and yet we're working through diplomatic channels to curb the chance that these 2 rogue nations would ever use the weapons against us or Japan or India. What's the rush to nail Iran when we're not even sure it has nuclear capability and when the mullahs' own people might over throw them in the not too distant future?
#29
2x - No flames. The problem is that you're new here, as far as I know. This topic has been hashed and bashed numerous cycles.
There are 5 generally agreed possibilities:
1) We do nothing, ever, and the Mad Mullahs get the nuke, a guidance system, and slap it on their Shahab 3 improved (Shahb4, actually) rocket. Link 1 Link 2
As you can see, this sucks and has caused some to get very unhappy because they're worried Bush will do nothing.
2) We try to invade a country 3x the size of Iraq with almost no troops. Duh. Won't happen, agreed?
3) We Try to knock out the Iranian nuke facilities via air. TLAMS, Cruise missiles, Stealth, etc. Most say this is very risky cuz we don't know where everything is, some is buried too deep even for bunker-busters, and / or some is co-located with innocent civilian sites. Who knows? Can out intel be trusted?
4) Some sort of thingy with a blockade. Strikes me that this accomplishes nothing without one of the others, but hey, what do I know, eh?
5) My favorite, of course. Collaborate with the native Persians who are progressive, predominantly young, quite liberal for the ME, elders are still alive who probably have filled them with happier tales of pre-Mullah days, they have shown a distinct dislike and distrust of the Mullahs, the heavy-handed way Khomeini slapped down Khatami - who the normal people had elected and felt was their man, etc... If our CIA isn't utterly worthless, it ought to be a cinch to find the elements who would welcome assistance in toppling the Mullahs. Give them arms and do a full decapitation strike on the Mullahs, Rev Guard, the Doodah Council, the Basij and back it up with SF to protect important facilities. Also, hit all known nuke sites. If coordinated, the Persians should be able to take control of their country - and I hope if it goes this way, the Black Hats are wiped out.
#30
LH - Lex one supposes they dont think a war against Iran is in their interest. Doesnt automatically mean their motivation is to restrain US power.
OK, let's analyze the interests at stake here. Given the manifest determination of the Iranians to rip up agreements they sign, it's obvious that this approach means Iran goes nuclear. Then war with Israel becomes very likely. At the same time this approach will likely result in large contracts in Iran for EU multinationals such as Renault and Siemens.
In other words, the EU are willing to sacrifice Israel's security and risk its survival rather than risk a US strike that would hurt the EU's relations with the muslim world. No problem, no problem at all.
#31
So you and I agree, #28, about the most favorable option being #5 and that there would be a sequence of events over a number of years for the ultimate goal of mullah over throw to be accomplished.
Maybe I have misunderstood the article. When I read "to any strike by the Bush administration", I assumed a military strike was imminent. I don't think that option is appropriate now because the majority of Iranians are not on the same page about co-operating with the US to over throw the mullahs.
#32
2x - The key, of course, is time and timing. I have many personal sayings and one applies here: You can't wait for good timing, that's an oxymoron.
Either there's time to coordinate or there's not. If not, then #3 is all that's left to us.
The other possibility, of course, is Israel. They cannot afford to let this happen. Period. Full stop. Personally, since it would probably be a one-way trip without US refueling assistance, I would much prefer we do it. But, as insurance, we sold them 500 bunker busters. I don't think they're considering deepening the Suez with them.
I really have no doubt that #3 will happen, either alone or as part of #5. I hope we have the time to do it right - or we'll have to come back and do it again. I think Iraq is a good lesson in getting it right on the first pass.
#33
"...the EU are willing to sacrifice Israel's security and risk its survival rather than risk a US strike that would hurt the EU's relations with the muslim world..."
Lex-At times, one can only stand back and watch. Nicely done.
#34
com, I would like to see some creative options to muddy the waters further...
Maybe direct at TV frequencies broadcasts on all Iranian channels of western entertainment and News (not just US -- porno, first run movies, church services, buddhist messages everything...) so that on every channel they get the world and not the Mad Mullahs. Jam the Mullah's channels on Radio and TV when they appear or just overpower them from the sat. (give the sat a nice reactor to give it enough kilowatts...)
America has hobbled an effort by Britain and other European countries to persuade Iran to freeze its nuclear programme. Senior officials said privately that the US would not offer economic or political concessions to woo Teheran. President George W Bush is trying to improve relations with Europe and will visit London and Brussels next month. But in private, American officials are furious at the European Union's "engagement" with Teheran. They say they will not co-operate with what they see as the dangerous policy of giving the regime "rewards for bad behaviour".
The New Yorker magazine reported yesterday that teams of US special forces had infiltrated Iran to scout suspected weapons sites that would be targeted in future air strikes. Seymour Hersh, the magazine's award-winning journalist, quoted a US official as saying that after Afghanistan and Iraq "we're going to have the Iranian campaign". However, a senior US administration source said Mr Bush was unlikely to take any decisions on dealing with Iran for the next six months, while the issue was "blocked" by the European diplomatic initiative.
Another well-placed US source said "military action is only the last resort after other options have been exhausted". He said Washington wanted first to exert pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear programme through an escalating series of diplomatic and economic sanctions at the United Nations Security Council. Iran is widely believed to be pursuing a secret programme to build a nuclear bomb. The nation says it only seeks to develop nuclear power to save its oil reserves. Under an agreement in November between Iran and Britain, France and Germany, Teheran was spared a referral to the security council after it agreed to suspend "voluntarily" the most sensitive parts of its nuclear programme: the enrichment of uranium and the reprocessing of plutonium. In return, the Europeans made a commitment to improve relations.
Working groups met in Geneva yesterday to discuss three issues: Iran's nuclear programme; improved technological and economic co-operation; and "firm commitments on security issues". The EU has agreed to move ahead with co-operation even before an overall agreement is reached and has resumed talks on a trade pact with Iran. But many of the benefits that Teheran seeks - advanced technology, investment in its oil industry and greater international acceptance - can be provided only with US agreement. The Europeans hoped to entice the new Bush administration into the diplomatic process. American officials dismiss the idea out of hand. One said the European effort was "comical". Another said the Iranians would break out of whatever constraints the Europeans imposed.
Washington believes that any concessions made by Teheran are temporary, and often imposed by their own technical problems. British officials admit their initiative is running into the sand. Without US support, the Europeans believe their initiative is doomed and it will be only a matter of time before the Iranians resume their nuclear activities. The US will not publicly denounce the initiative but appears content to watch it collapse. It then hopes to bring the issue to the security council. Britain says such a move would be pointless because any sanctions would be blocked by Russia and China. Bad Bush bad, trying to block soft bribery power
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/18/2005 9:37:57 PM ||
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#1
Ah, the final chapter in this scripted and staged bit of performance art by the E3: blame America / Bush for their failure.
This all about appearances and image - for internal consumption. Substance plays no part, anymore, in European Foreign Policy. It's just a show for their masses, a continental straw-man performance.
The Europeans dream up endless toothless and pointless exercises, spend months shuttling various bigwigs all over the planet, loudly proclaim success and progress in their pet press, and then fall on their faces at their imagined "finish line" - and blame it on a lack of US cooperation - which they knew they needed and yet failed to secure before Opening Night. "Why?" one might ask - reasonably. They look stupid and absurd to those outside of the influence of their furiously spinning press. Even toss in the US MSM's complicity - and it is still obviously a fool's errand. So why in the world did they proceed with a flop that they knew would be a flop?
The 8 years of Clinton have spoiled Europeans into believing the critics love them. Eight long years of Big Hugs and Big Conferences and Big Shows. Eight years of self-congratulatory success on Broadway, in Piccadilly, Gay Paree, and Berlin.
The run is over, children. The Clinton Bubble has burst, the World has changed, and there's a new Sheriff in DC who won't read the lines you've scripted. Grab the handrail, steady yourselves, get back on your feet, and shake off the dream-state. Stop wasting what few resources you have on asinine performance art. Shitcan the authors of this rehashed hash - it sucked the first time around and it won't make it to syndication. After a year of pleasant indifference followed by three of snickers and muffled laughter, a sane man would expect you'd have figure it out, by now. The next sound you hear will be jeers, muffled no longer.
Since your realpolitik cupboard is bare, why don't you start working with the new team, instead of expecting us to join you on your misty-eyed Magical Mystery Tour? That dog is dead. We'll do it without you if you're not intelligent enough to figure it out and gutsy enough to fire the old cast of losers who have wasted the last 4 years.
#2
American officials dismiss the idea out of hand. One said the European effort was "comical". Another said the Iranians would break out of whatever constraints the Europeans imposed.
It was comical but it's not funny anymore. The mullahs have insisted, again and again, on their right to rip up any agreement they sign and develop nukes. Obviously, they have no desire whatsoever to drop the nuclear drive.
Neither can these kleptocrats, all of whom are millionaires, be bribed. They don't give a flying f*** about their people's economic welfare. Were that true, the mullahs would have diverted less oil money into their pockets and billions more into the development of domestic industries. Iran is not hurting for cash or trade. The obvious reality here is that it's Germany and France that are being bribed here: it's their battered export sectors that are desperate for contracts, not Iran's.
Black is white, night is day. At this point it's more an absurdist drama than a farce.
#3
IMO it's a mistake to think European leaders are simply naive in (apparently) thinking Iran will honor any agreement it makes.
A full century of experience has conditioned Europeans to believe that they can refuse to take any responsibility for reining in dictators, because if a madman does emerge, the U.S. will spend the blood and treasure to put things right.
So I suspect France and Germany *want* to give Iran time to develop nukes, because that will force the U.S. to act--in which case we become the warmongers, while the Euro's emerge as voices of reason.
--s
Posted by: sf ||
01/18/2005 12:53 Comments ||
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#4
I'd agree with that. The E3 get to posture endlessly as friends of the muslim world and offload the dirty work to us and the Israelis.
Isn't this more or less a fair summary of French middle east policy for the last thirty years?
#5
America has hobbled an effort by Britain and other European countries to persuade Iran to freeze its nuclear programme.
Let me be as brutal and brisque about this as I can be.
1) The mullah are at the final phase of aquiring nukes.
2) They have publicly addmitted that they are enriching Uranium.
3) We all know what weapon grade uranium is good for.
4) The Mullahs have publicly and repeatedly declared that they want to destroy the state of Israel (and maybe they wouldn't mind to do so to a couple of large American cities while they are at it).
6) There is NO WAY, I repeat NO WAY Israel can allow Iranian nukes !
Therefore if the Merkin's wont do it, we will have to do it.
Q.E.D.
P.S. I truely hope there is currently an intense binational effort to avert the nightmare of an Islamic nuclear thugocracy on the loose.
Re: #3 & #4, France in particular would like to see Israel disappear, I think. And the Euro posturing w/ the muslim world isn't posturing -- they have backed themselves into a bad spot re: energy.
Yes, It's All About the Oil (for Europe, anyway). And not likeing Israel, which is as bad as the US or worse when it comes to having the audacity to defend itself.
Plans Described as Almost Complete Despite Continuing Violence, Threats
The voting lists have been checked, the ballots printed. Red stain is ready to mark the finger of each voter, and the poll locations and names of candidates -- until now secret -- soon will be published. Despite threats, a rushed timetable and the murder of eight election workers, preparations for Iraq's elections are almost finished, according to the U.N. representative on the country's elections board.
"Everything is on track," Carlos Valenzuela, a veteran election organizer for the United Nations, said Sunday. "It was a very tight time frame. Luckily, there was no slippage."
Iraqi election workers distribute campaign posters in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood. Valenzuela disputed reports that many election workers, intimidated by insurgents, have quit.
Valenzuela, who has helped carry out elections in such places as East Timor, Cambodia and the Palestinian territories, said he was surprised that logistics for the Jan. 30 elections have been assembled in less than a year. He shied from questions about whether the threats of violence that are expected to keep large numbers of voters home would irreparably mar the results.
"There isn't a yardstick" of turnout to pronounce the election valid, he said. "There is no magic number. At the end of the day, you have to leave it to the Iraqi public as to whether they believe this process was credible or not." snip
Valenzuela and a team of about 20 U.N. experts are advising the Iraqi election commission, which includes eight Iraqi members and Valenzuela.
"We have not had mass resignations" of election workers who feel threatened, he insisted, despite some reports of wholesale quitting. "I am surprised there have not been a lot more resignations because the level of intimidation from insurgents is quite high."
The election workers are "some of the most courageous people I have seen," he said. Despite the deaths of eight workers, the election commission has been able to recruit workers to staff the polls and supervise the elections, he said. More than 3 million Iraqis went to election officials to correct errors in the food distribution rosters that were used as a base for preparing the voter lists, and another 1.2 million Iraqis made new registrations, he said. snip
#1
Valenzuela and his team didn't do Venezuela, did they?
He actually said a couple of intelligent things. This stands out as common sense: "There is no magic number. At the end of the day, you have to leave it to the Iraqi public as to whether they believe this process was credible or not."
He'll probably get fired by the UN High Commissioner For Rigged Bullshit, er, Elections for being so normal and sensible.
#4
I don't even see why UN representatives are opening their big mouths. These idiots should simply do their damned observing when the time comes and keep their yaps shut in the meantime. After all, that the Iraqis are now at a position where they can actually have an un-rigged election sure as hell didn't come about because the UN finally decided to give Saddam the hook. Remember, ol' Goo-fi himself said that the war to depose Hussein was "illegal".
Not very well done Islamist apologetic that's approximately six miles long (I can't believe I fisked the whole thing!)
During the last two decades in particular, the concept of "Islamic terror" has been often discussed. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on targets in New York and Washington which caused the death of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, this concept has once again returned to the top of the international agenda.
It's at the very top of the American agenda.
As Muslims, we completely condemn these attacks and offer our condolences to the American people.
I'm glad to hear you do. Thank you for the condolences...
In this article, we will explain that Islam is by no means the source of this violence and that violence has no place in Islam.
And I'll politely disagree...
We strongly condemn the cruel terrorist acts which targeted the innocent people of the United States. One point that should be stressed at the outset is that the identities of the perpetrators of the acts of terrorism which targeted the United States are not yet determined.
Yes, they are. Bin Laden's accepted responsibility for the attacks. He's mentioned Mohammad Atta by name. Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammad have both referenced their parts in it. Judge Garzon continues his investigation and finds more links. Denying an Islamist role in the attacks is a specious argument, a denial of reality or it's a conscious lie.
There is a chance that these horrible attackers are linked to quite different centres. It may well be a communist organization harboring rage and hatred against American values, a fascist organization opposing federal administration or a secret faction in another state.
It could be the Illuminati or invaders from Mars, but taking a quick slice with Occam's Razor, it's Osama bin Laden and his Islamist cohorts. That's the same Islamist cohorts who've been responsible for the Nord Ost Theater outrage, the Bali bombings, Beslan, bombing the U.S. consulate in Karachi and the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen, the Madrid train bombings, and most of the other atrocities being committed in the world in the past three and a half years. It's the same Islamist cohorts who're cutting people's heads off in Iraq, Soddy Arabia, and Pakistan, the same guys who shot up the Indian parliament, and the guys who murder little kids in their beds in Israel.
Even though the hijackers have Muslim identities, the questions regarding by whom and for what purposes these people were used will probably remain to be a mystery.
This seems to be a weak and ineffective way to say he doesn't agree with terrorism. Ok. Good.
He skirts the edges of many a good point, never quite hitting the mark. But the problem with Islam is that it is based on blame. I suppose it's a step forward that he's blaming "the terrorists" rather than the Jews or other infidels, but his ability to face reality falls short of the mark.
#5
Ignorance is bliss or the salvation for a guilty conscience is denial. In either case Ahmed here needs some updating on the facts. Muslims have a violent past which conversion by the sword and shield continue in that familiar manner today. They cannot peacefully coexist in Thailand, Philappines, Holy Land, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, The Caucasian Region, The Balkans, Kashmir, Turkey-Greece, Turkey-Armenian, Nagorno Khabarkh, Lebanon, East Timor, and many other places which warfare is not overt but a cultural war which will enable the fundamentalist to take root and radicalize these people into violent masses which in turn will continue to push democratic governments into adpoting their line of thinkig whether it be through adoption of Sharia as in Nigeria or dividing the population as in Ivory Coast.
2) Support should be provided for the spread of "True Islam", which is a religion of love, friendship, peace and brotherhood, and for its true understanding by Islamic societies.
Somehow, I knew this would turn into a f*cking infomercial. Shoo, allah-pimp! I'm not in the market for a psychotic death cult right now.
#8
Oh yeah, waitaminnit... will I also get a set of Ginsu knives - perfect for cutting tin cans and sawing the infidel's head off - free of charge? Then I'm your man. Just feed me the lines and gimme my AK.
President Robert Mugabe hailed Iran as a "critical partner" and vowed to take cooperation to "new heights" as he played host to President Mohammad Khatami, the state-run newspaper reported. Khatami, who arrived here late Monday on the penultimate leg of a seven-nation African tour, visited the National Heroes Acre in Harare where those who fought in Zimbabwe's liberation war against British colonial rule are buried. Although he was scheduled to hold talks with Mugabe Tuesday morning, Khatami instead met the country's two vice presidents, Joseph Msika and Joyce Mujuru. No reason was given for the cancellation of the meeting with Mugabe but the two vice presidents said they discussed Zimbabwe's land reforms and ways of getting rid of Bob bilateral trade opportunities. Khatami also met Islamic religious leaders based in Zimbabwe and local business people and industrialists.
It's the "Islamic religious leaders based in Zimbabwe" part that interests me. Failed states do seem to attract them like flies.
He flew out to Zimbabwe's prime resort of Victoria Falls, where he was also to visit a crocodile breeding farm. Speaking at a banquet in Khatami's honour late Monday, Mugabe hailed oil-rich Iran as a key partner in Zimbabwe's drive to shun the West. "We attach great importance to this visit as it will enable us to work towards strengthening and diversifying our relations," Mugabe was quoted in the state-run Herald newspaper as saying. "Your visit affords an opportunity to raise our bilateral cooperation to new heights as my government has embarked on a deliberate 'Look East' policy in which your country is a critical partner," he said. Iran is one of the countries Mugabe has been warming up to as part of this policy, partly forced by Zimbabwe's isolation from the West over controversial land reforms and allegedly fraud-marred elections in 2000 and 2002. Khatami said although the two countries were miles apart geographically, they shared a difficult past. "I share your historical suffering and grief and I value the victorious struggle of heroic people of Zimbabwe," Khatami said in response to Mugabe's speech.
"You're a pretty nice guy, for a infidel."
Mugabe also slammed Western powers opposed to his land reforms, saying they were the same ones who had branded Iran part of an "axis of evil", a reference to the policy outlined by President George W. Bush in 2002 that put Iran, Iraq and North Korea at the top of a US list of so-called rogue states. "They have demonised my leadership and government while feverishly working to effect a regime change," Mugabe said. "We cherish your unwavering support during the land reform process and look forward to its continuation as we empower our people," he added. Iran -- which has provided a 15 million-euro (19.5-million-dollar) credit line to Zimbabwe to purchase tractors, combine harvesters and medical equipment -- will extend a further 20 million euro credit line for agriculture and communications, the newspaper reported.
So, what's in it for Iran?
Zimbabwe embarked in 2000 on a controversial land reform scheme that saw some 4,000 white farmers lose their land to landless blacks. Khatami is due to depart Harare Wednesday morning after signing several protocols expected to boost trade between the two countries.
Zimbabwe has something to trade?
The Iranian leader arrived in Zimbabwe from Benin where he signed two cooperation agreements on agriculture and trade. He also visited Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. From Zimbabwe, he is due to travel to Uganda.
Other than some mining interests (coal, gold, copper, nickel, tin, clay, numerous metallic and nonmetallic ores), I can't see much for Bob to trade other than a base for Iranian backed terrorists.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/18/2005 2:11:10 PM ||
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Whoa, lol! Birds of a feather and all that. Has Chavez visited, yet? Castro?
Sounds like a valid TFA* litmus test: Have you been to tea with the Mad Mullahs, yet?
#4
Anon4724 - Well there we have it! Two bona-fide card-carrying UN Member States recognizing Whack-a-Bob. I guess that means he's a swell guy. Of course, while in Iran, they made him ride in the trunk - being a Kufr and black and all.
Got a spiffy sword, huh? And a medal - so that's where those come from! I've always wondered where these tinhorn Dictators who've never been on a battlefield got all those spiffy medals. They give them to each other! *slaps forehead* Friggin ingenious!
A4724, I cannot express to you how disgusted and disappointed I am with what has happened over the last 6 months in Venezuela. Where Carter contributed is especially appalling and offensive to me. I fear that Venezuela is "lost" for some years - maybe decades. There is only one answer, of course, and the time is almost past for that: bloody revolution. If the armed forces will support it, it could still happen, but it would've been so much easier 6 months ago. Sigh.
You are absolutely right! The Opposition greatly underestimated Chavez and thought that Carter (spit) could save the day. We are not counting on the Venezuelan Army to do anything since he has been buying them off for almost 6 years now.
One way to hurt him and his "revolution" is to starve him of the money he gets from oil exports, especially to this country. If the US could find an alternate source, he will have to sell it to China or Europe at a much cheaper price. Venezuela oil is high in sulfur and it is always at least $4 dollars cheaper than Saudi oil. That combined with transportation charges will greatly reduce the price per barril and a lot of his social programs (read handouts) would come to an end. It is then that his supporters will rise up against him. There is a very narrow window of opportunity for the latter to happen and that window is closing fast.
The Case for Boredom
A roundup of the past two weeks' good news from IraqAlso available at http://chrenkoff.blogspot.com/. Just keep scrolling.
A brief summary: Things continue to improve in Iraq, despite the violence reported by the news media. The Iraqis are taking on more responsibility for their own security, and the population continues to turn against -- and turn in -- the anti-democracy forces. And it sounds like the election will be a resounding success, with voter and politician enthusiasm like that seen in Afghanistan.
Construction/reconstruction is booming, both local efforts and those sponsored by the Coalition. Infrastructure and education continue to benefit from international support and donations. Unemployment is down slightly, despite continuing flows of returning refugees. And so on... Go and read the whole thing :-)
Having teamed up with the US to help eliminate Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Pakistan is once again proving its worth in the "war on terror", this time in Washington's quest against Iran.
Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker has reported that since at least last summer, US teams have penetrated eastern Iran, reportedly with Pakistan's help, to hunt for secret nuclear and chemical weapons sites and other targets in the hardline Islamic country, which features prominently on the Bush administration's "axis of evil", along with now "liberated" Iraq and North Korea.
Exclusive information gathered by Asia Times Online shows that Pakistan has provided extensive facilities to special United Kingdom and US units to train them in commando operations in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, which in many ways resembles the Iranian towns of Tehran, Shiraz, Isphan and other urban centers. Special forces from the US and Britain have staged unannounced exercises in Karachi. With its maze of high rises, communication networks and the division of the city (Sher-i-Bala and Sher-i-Payien), Tehran and Karachi are very similar.
"Pakistan's support to the US against Iran is logical as Iran did not hesitate to hand over all evidence of Pakistan helping Iran in developing nuclear technology to the international agency [International Atomic Energy Agency]," commented one analyst.
During the exercises, the troops got to know different localities, residential areas, roads and exit points of the city, including railway and bus stations and the airport. For the exercises, the troops were provided with detailed maps of Karachi, including important buildings. The exercises, which started several weeks ago, ended on January 17, highly informed sources revealed to Asia Times Online. The troops were barracked at Malir Cant, the cantonment area of the Pakistan army adjacent to Karachi airport.
On January 11, the troops conducted anti-hijacking exercises on a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft at an isolated yard several kilometers from the main terminal and runway, although they were provided with detailed maps of the airport.
While confirming the exercises, a spokesman of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Colonel Tahir Idrees Malik, said they were anti-terrorist drills. He said it was an honor for Pakistan to be able to give training "to these friendly countries". When asked why Karachi had been chosen, and why the troops did not do the drills in their own countries, he said exercises always took place where action was expected.
He refused to mention the names of the countries participating in the exercises, and repeatedly said that they were simply meant as preparation for anti-terrorist activities. He also confirmed the anti-hijacking exercises took place on a A-300 PIA aircraft, saying they were part of a long program for troops which included railway and bus stations. Any crowded place could be a target for terrorists, Idrees said.
This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that armed forces, including the Pakistan army, have been known to stage exercises in city areas. Traditionally, they exercise in areas resembling the borders, including deserts and mountains, to prepare for assaults from forces such as India's. Pakistan has fought three wars with India.
Asia Times Online sources maintain that for practical reasons it is difficult to accept the ISPR official's statement that the drills were meant for anti-terror activity in Karachi or in Pakistan. Karachi has been an exit point for Arab-Afghans to their countries of origin in the past, and almost all of the top al-Qaeda operators arrested were captured in or around Karachi, and their network effectively destroyed. Now, official handouts from the government of Pakistan or the US maintain that other al-Qaeda figures are likely to be moving around the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas, while others have been tracked to the northern Punjab or North West Frontier Province.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/18/2005 10:05:02 AM ||
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Who were the US and British Special Forces hunting in Karachi, I wonder? Only the mention of Hersch's New Yorker article in paragraph 2 spoils it.
#2
TW: Who were the US and British Special Forces hunting in Karachi, I wonder? Only the mention of Hersch's New Yorker article in paragraph 2 spoils it.
This is Asia Times, home of Asian and Muslim fantasists. I wouldn't waste any time reading it.
#4
Assuming that this is true, it is interestingly counter-intuitive. That is, most of the Iranian nuclear production facilities are not located in the cities, so why train for extensive urban operations? The answer to that, I would guess, would be an unconventional assault on the command and control infrastructure. But this leads to another question: would that attack be limited to the military forces command who would protect the nuclear sites, or would it also be to decapitate the Iranian government? Such a force could also throw a major city into chaos, attacking its water, power, communications and transport; but to what end?
January 18, 2005; The death toll from anti-government Sunni Arab violence continues to rise. There are now 100-150 deaths a week. That may sound like a lot, especially the way each incident is breathlessly reported in the media. But for a country of 26 million, that comes to a rate of 14-20 dead per 100,000 population per year. Other countries are more violent, like Columbia and South Africa, but these are not considered news. Iraq's death rate is about the same as was suffered by Thailand's rebellious Moslem provinces last year. The Japanese army suicide rate last year was 39 per 100,000.
But for Iraqis, there has been a large increase. While the United States death rate from violence is 5-6 per 100,000, under Saddam, the death rate from crime and government terror was 10-20 dead per 100,000 per year. It was at that rate a year ago, but the death rate from this violence has nearly tripled since then. Moreover, the deaths fall disproportionately in Sunni Arab areas. That means the death rate among Sunni Arab civilians is much higher than it is among Kurds or Shia Arabs. While the anti-government groups try to make attacks in non-Sunni Arab areas, this is much more difficult. The Kurds and Shia Arabs are armed and alert to any strangers in their midst. The police are recruited locally, and Kurdish police in particular are not intimidated by Sunni Arab violence. A disproportionate number of the police on SWAT teams and in riot police units are Kurds. Many Shia Arabs join the police out of a desire to get back at the Sunni Arabs who killed a family member. Shia Arab police are much less likely to flee in the face of massive Sunni Arab violence.
Another strange pattern is that, while 75 percent of the attacks are made on American troops, Iraqis suffer 80 percent of the deaths. This is because the American troops are much better at defending themselves. Most attacks on American troops fail, or result in a deadly counterattack. The anti-government forces know that the attacks on Iraqis are unpopular with Iraqis. And Iraqis don't like to make attacks on other Iraqis, nor do the foreign volunteers for al Qaeda. However, the damage is already done. The Baath Party was always hated by most Iraqis, including most Sunni Arabs. The violence of the last year has made Baath even more hated. Same with al Qaeda, which is behind most of the car bomb deaths, and some of the most prominent atrocities (like attacks that killed many school children.)
The anti-government forces are using naked terror to try and impose their will. Resisting this effort is indeed a war on terror. Europeans, and some Americans, insist that all this fighting is just training more terrorists, like in Afghanistan. But that is a myth. Very few Arabs saw combat in Afghanistan during the 1980s. Many more went to Afghanistan, hung out in Pakistani refugee camps and absorbed the atmosphere, then came home and have been telling tall tales ever since. The Afghans saw the Arab "volunteers" as a source of money, but totally inept as fighters. It was safer to leave the Arabs in the camps, drinking coffee among the women and children, who could protect these rich guests. Thousands of Arab volunteers returned from Afghanistan with imaginary skills, and fantasies of world conquest. That's why they've been more of a nuisance, than anything else, for the last two decades.
Most of the enemy experts in Iraq are thugs who previously worked for Saddam, and they are being killed off. Same with the foreign volunteers, which their home countries were glad to be rid of. Al Qaeda takes these inexperienced, but excitable young men and gets them killed, either as a suicide bomber, or in a shoot out with American troops. Most Iraqis now understand that getting into a fight with American troops is not a good thing, and is generally fatal for the attacker. Thus most of the attacks are with remote controlled bombs, or hit and run ambushes. The Americans with their UAVs and thermal imagers, and Allah knows what else, will find you quickly if you are shooting at them, and kill you.
American intelligence has identified hundreds of individual gangs or terrorist cells in the Sunni Arab areas. Key individuals, usually those supplying large amounts of cash (most attacks are still "paid for"), are also identified, and constantly being sought. Saddam was not the only Baath Party leader caught, several are nailed each month. Same with the al Qaeda organization in Iraq, which is intertwined with Baath (which supplies technical assistance, money and sanctuaries). Most of these gangs are tied to a specific town or neighborhood. Put the gang out of business, and the neighborhood becomes a much safer place for everyone. But the intelligence does not age well, and if you cannot get Iraqi police into the neighborhood quickly after one gang is smashed, another will form. The gangster psychology is popular in Iraq. During Saddam's time, the gangsters were seen as a cross between freedom fighters and Robin Hoods. Most were just thieves, but compared to Saddam's thugs, common criminals looked good. Now the gangs make extra money by planting roadside bombs, kidnapping or attacking American troops. Kill an American soldier and the cash rewards sets you up for life. Saddam always knew how to motivate people, and his legacy continues.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/18/2005 9:49:43 AM ||
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Most of the enemy experts in Iraq are thugs who previously worked for Saddam, and they are being killed off.
So how many were there to begin with, and how many are still alive? Are we 10% of the way there, 50%, more? Does anyone know?
#2
Moreover, the deaths fall disproportionately in Sunni Arab areas. That means the death rate among Sunni Arab civilians is much higher than it is among Kurds or Shia Arabs
Nature has a cruel way of achieving equilibrium and Darwin is even more adept- Al Qaeda takes these inexperienced, but excitable young men and gets them killed, either as a suicide bomber, or in a shoot out with American troops.
love the lines about leaving the rich Arabs with the women and children. heh, heh...ouch.
#3
Moreover, the deaths fall disproportionately in Sunni Arab areas. That means the death rate among Sunni Arab civilians is much higher than it is among Kurds or Shia Arabs
Nature has a cruel way of achieving equilibrium and Darwin is even more adept- Al Qaeda takes these inexperienced, but excitable young men and gets them killed, either as a suicide bomber, or in a shoot out with American troops.
love the lines about leaving the rich Arabs with the women and children. heh, heh...ouch.
I think they might mean something "Now or never." My money's on "never."
JERUSALEM: Israel will not accord new Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas any 'grace period' and expects him to institute an immediate crackdown on armed militants, a source close Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday. "Abbas must fight against terrorism and deploy his forces to try to stop the firing of Qassam rockets and mortars," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity. "Israel will not grant him any grace period to carry this out," the source added.
Firing rockets and mortars at people is usually considered an act of war. Either knock off with the war or expect a two-sided war. That sounds pretty fair to me...
Sharon told the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that he had the army carte blanche to crush militants in the Gaza Strip who regularly fire rockets and mortars at settlements and southern Israel. The Israeli town of Sderot, a regular target of the rocket attacks, was staging a one-day general strike Monday to highlight their plight. Three Sderot residents were also among the six victims of an attack on a Gaza border crossing on Thursday night which prompted Sharon to order a freeze on all contacts with the Palestinian Authority until further notice. "Our forces will continue to operate day and night, without any time limit, to put a stop to these attacks," the source added. "Abbas must take action and not content himself with mere words: he must use the forces that he has at his disposal in order to prevent the firing of Qassams and mortars," the official added. "Until now, he has not even lifted a finger... "
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Why do I perceive the smell of large scale violence wafting in the air ??
One more multi casualty act of terror and I think Abbas is going to learn the true meaning of following in Arafat's footsteps.
#2
This moment has been long in coming, with no surprises except that Arafat finally fucking died. Why on Earth would anyone think there should be some grace period? Everyone knows what they are going to do - or not - already. Let's just tell the Paleos to get on with failure, the marching about, the seething, the internal struggles for Chief Murderer, etc.
#3
I'm not sure I can take more of this "threaten raid" and "raid" in retaliation for terrorist attacks. Nothing Israel does is ever going to get the rest of the world to like them, so screw it.
Just announce that the next terrorist attack results in a total war of expulsion of all Jordian and Egyptian squatters in these "territories" and then the next time some knucklehead takes a shot at somebody, do it.
Then tell Egypt and Jordan that any cross border attacks by their citizens will be taken as an act of war. The last war.
Syria can be told the same thing regarding the Hizbolla armpit in Southern Lebanon.
Grrrr.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
01/18/2005 9:14 Comments ||
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LotR - Lol! I just got thru ranting about Iran and how the Prez can't just fly off the handle and whack 'em cuz I (we) want him to... and you go and post something similar for Sharon - and I find myself agreeing with every word! Shit! Lol!
I hafta take my anti-instant-gratification pills. BeBackL8r. ;-)
#6
.com - LOL, sorry about that. I was reading about that family in NJ on another thread and resisted posting something really nasty, then came down here and it looks like I vented some. :)
Go on and try to be reasonable, though. I'm just raving in the corner this morning. Pass the coffee and ammunition, though. *g*
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
01/18/2005 10:02 Comments ||
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Lol - sounds like a good plan to me, bro! Sigh. So much shit, so few actual options out there in the *cough* real world. Clearly, however, Sharon should do whatever needs doing - he has everything to gain and nothing to lose. ;-)
#8
There was a small news snippet on the local TV news last night that claimed that Mazen has said he was going to crack down on terrorism and terrorist groups operating on his territory. Well, he better get a leg up, 'cos time's a wastin'....
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has given orders for members of resistance group al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades to be incorporated into the security services, a senior security official says. "The decision has been made to put members of the al-Aqsa Brigades in the Palestinian security services," the official said. "Abu Mazen [Abbas] told us that this must happen as soon as possible."
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Abbas' own Fatah movement, is the second largest of the Palestinian armed factions and has been behind hundreds of resistance attacks. A Palestinian cabinet minister later said Abbas had ordered his security apparatus to prevent attacks on Israeli targets. "Abu Mazen and the cabinet gave clear instructions to the security chiefs to prevent all kinds of violence, including attacks against Israel," minister without portfolio Qadura Faris said.
Earlier, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) called on other resistance groups to halt their attacks, saying they gave Israel an excuse to block the peace process. But Hamas quickly dismissed the call to halt attacks, saying such a move helped Israel justify its military operations in the occupied territories. "We are sorry to say that some people are using this name [the PLO] to issue a demand which is at odds with the aims of the Palestinian people," spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2005 00:00:00 ||
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They're just arranging the political field for their own suicide a full-scale war with Israel.
#2
The internal pressure and frustration within Israel is on the brink of an explosion. Sooner or later we will have to deliver a serious blow to the Hamas and Al Aksa Brigades because even the Israeli left now perceives the situation to be so fucked-up as to permit the serious consideration of a second Nakba.
Abbas is playing into the hands of the extremists by doing nothing to curb their rabid attacks. He will not last long with this type of double speak.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, under growing pressure to rein in militants, ordered his security forces Monday to prevent attacks on Israel and investigate a deadly shooting of Israeli civilians last week. But Palestinian security officials were short on details about possible actions against armed groups, and a spokesman for Hamas said his extremist group would continue attacks.
So that ends that discussion...
The order by Abbas, approved by his Cabinet, was the Palestinian leadership's first step against militants since six Israelis were slain Thursday at the Karni crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. "A decision was taken that we will handle our obligation to stop violence against Israelis anywhere," Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said. While Israel's government cautiously welcomed the announcement, it remained unclear how far Abbas was willing to go. He has insisted he will use persuasion, not force, to get militants to halt violence.
So it's the same old poop, in a new diaper.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/18/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Think he has problems ordering a coffee , let alone persuading hundred's of armed militia retards to throw down their weapons . They are all too busy jerking each other off celebrating their latent gay manhood by carrying ak-47's anyway .
#3
While I know this is all just useless bloviating, I can't help but think that maybe Abbas could accomplish something. He seems different to me than Arafat, in that Arafat was just a party boy interested in other party boys and keeping the Palestinian people down so that elections would never knock him from power - and to assure that the foreign money flowed through his pockets first.
But Abbas seems to have an interest in REAL power, to lead a real country and a real army.
Who knows - but new leaders always bring new opportunity.
#5
Message from Earth to 2b.
Palestinian entity is not a nation, it's an invention of people (Arabs and others) who simply cannot accept the idea of a Jewish state.
As such, there isn't a chance of a paper doll in Hell, that "Palestinians" accept the existence of Israel --- in particular, stop terrorism except as a temporary, tactical measure; as long as they exist as a concrete entity.
Now, how the hell are you gonna expel Sami from the JUI-Sami? It'd be like taking the "ass" out of "embarrass", the "oodle" out of "dipsy doodle."
Addressing a news conference, Gul said that he enjoyed the support of quite a few JUI-S members and said that it would be better for Maulana Samiul Haq to rejoin the MMA. He said Haq and his son, Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani, were trying to tarnish the image of the MMA. Statements issued by the two were a conspiracy to damage the unity of the MMA, he added. He said Maulana Fazlur Rehman, MMA secretary general, was his (Qari Gul Rehman's) true leader because he was wise and honest. He added that Qazi Hussain Ahmed was also his leader because he tried to keep the MMA united.
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The government is prepared even to amend the Constitution to satisfy the Baloch people, said Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), on Monday, Online reported. Talking to Voice of America, Shujaat said the government had no plans to start a military offensive in Balochistan and would sort out all problems with the Baloch through dialogue.
Toldja the crisis would pass...
Shujaaat said the government wanted Balochistan to prosper and progress and was currently carrying out major development programmes in the province to bring it at par with the rest of the country. Shujaat said that though he was in close contact with tribal chief Nawab Akbar Bugti, some people were instigating him against the government and military. He said some elements in Islamabad also opposed a political solution to the Balochistan problem. "It will be our effort that they do not succeed in their nefarious designs."
... and their deep-laid plots...
"We will never compromise the country's national interests and can even relinquish power for the purpose," Shujaat said. In an interview to Geo TV, Shujaat reiterated that the problems in Balochistan were political and would be resolved politically, APP reported. "Political issues can be resolved through political means and we are trying to resolve it," he said. Shujaat said the parliamentary committee on Balochistan he chairs has representatives from all political parties and will finalise its recommendations very soon, then present a report to the government in two or three days. To a question, he said the provincial government had requested the federal government for help to secure the Sui area, but there is no military operation in Balochistan. He said an inquiry into the gangrape of the woman doctor is underway and the rapists will be punished.
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Tribal clerics were negotiating with former Guantanamo Bay inmate Abdullah Mehsud and his fellow militant Baitullah Mehsud for their surrender on Monday amid growing hopes for an early settlement, a government official told Daily Times here. The same clerics met the Peshawar corps commander, Lieutenant General Safdar Hussain, on January 11 to get an extension to a deadline for the surrender of Abdullah Mehsud. The general agreed to extension in the January 15 deadline to January 26. "Baitullah is expected to surrender to the political administration of South Waziristan before or just after the Eid," the official said on condition of anonymity. Gen Hussain had said Baitullah would be pardoned if he laid down his arms and surrendered to the government, but the same offer is not open to Abdullah.
Abdullah was asked to "surrender to the law", meaning he would be tried in court for kidnapping two Chinese engineers in October. One of the hostages died during the rescue operation by army commandos. The official declined to give details of the negotiations between the clerics and the two Mehsud militants, but said the clerics were trying to persuade the militants to give up armed struggle and "live peacefully".
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
More than 50 years after he directed a brilliant amphibious invasion that repelled North Korean forces during the Korean War, Gen. Douglas MacArthur is no longer welcome. The focus of the latest outpouring of South Korea's anti-Americanism is on a bronze statue of the general, mounted on a massive 16-foot slab of concrete in this port city's Freedom Park. Police have guarded the statue 24 hours a day since it was targeted three years ago by protest groups angry with American policies. 
A human rights group claimed Tuesday that it has obtained video footage showing dissident activities in North Korea, with demands for freedom and democracy written over a poster of North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il. If authentic, it would be the first time images of dissent in the highly secretive North have come to light. But there was no way to independently confirm the validity of the footage. The 35-minute videotape, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, shows written statements posted on a wall, urging North Koreans to fight to retrieve freedom and democracy. A man is heard, but not seen, reading a statement, demanding Kim Jong Il be removed from his post. ``The North Korean people are suffering from hunger and poverty because of Kim Jong Il's dictatorship and dogmatic politics,'' the man says.
WASHINGTON: President George W Bush is drawing heat over a $40 million splurge on inaugural balls, concerts and candlelight dinners while the country is in a somber mood because of the Iraq war and Asian tsunami. As Bush prepares for his second-term inauguration on Thursday, his supporters plan to celebrate with fireworks and three days of parties, including a "Black Tie and Boots" ball and nine other balls. Critics say the lavish celebrations are unseemly when US troops face daily violence in Iraq and Americans are being urged to donate money to alleviate the suffering in Asia, where the Dec. 26 tsunami killed 163,000 people. "I just think that the sobriety of the times dictate that we be mindful of the imagery of these things," said Democratic Rep. 
Iraqi prisoner abuse suspect Pfc. 
A massive turnout is expected this morning at the funerals of a Jersey City family. The family was found bound, gagged and slashed to death on Friday. The police are talking about robbery and religious hatred as motives. But ABC News has learned the FBI sees a possible link to a terror trial now underway in New York. The bodies of 
While barely registering a ripple in the Mainstream Media, several key senior people have been "resigned" by Kofi Annan in the wake of a series of scandals. The sudden departures also follow a Manhattan meeting with liberal friends of Annan's from the foreign policy establishment,
America has hobbled an effort by Britain and other European countries to persuade Iran to freeze its nuclear programme. Senior officials said privately that the US would not offer economic or political concessions to woo Teheran. President George W Bush is trying to improve relations with Europe and will visit London and Brussels next month. But in private, American officials are furious at the European Union's "engagement" with Teheran. They say they will not co-operate with what they see as the dangerous policy of giving the regime "rewards for bad behaviour".
President 
JERUSALEM: Israel will not accord new Palestinian leader 
Palestinian leader 
Palestinian leader 
Maulana 
The government is prepared even to amend the Constitution to satisfy the Baloch people, said Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the president of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML), on Monday, Online reported. Talking to Voice of America, Shujaat said the government had no plans to start a military offensive in Balochistan and would sort out all problems with the Baloch through dialogue.
Tribal clerics were negotiating with former Guantanamo Bay inmate 
