Assailing continued foreign interference in Afghanistan, India's External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha Tuesday evening said "covert activities" in the country should end to bring back the war-ravaged country on the path of stability. "We are aware of presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan. There is a lot of covert activities. Such interference in affairs of that country should end," Sinha said, releasing a book "Afghanistan in Transition" by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA). He couldn't possibly be referring to Pakland funding and running the operations of Hek and the Talibs in their continuing version of The Great Game, could he?
He said stability would return to Afghanistan only if "outsiders" ceased interfering and left its future to the people of the country. "We hope forces of darkness, extremism and obscurantism will not be allowed to cast their shadows on the people of Afghanistan," he said. Yep. I think that's them...
Pointing out that elections would be held there next year, he expressed the hope that a stable government will be formed to provide people a better life and preserve the country's territorial integrity to which India remained committed. "We want to see the people live in peace, prosperity and their sufferings end," he said, adding India would continue to extend humanitarian and other assistance for the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Sinha regretted the "world did not stir" when the Bamiyan Buddha were destroyed or when women of Afghanistan suffered and said "the moral of the story is clear â the world reacts when it is selectively touched. This has to change". Yeah. We agree. And thanks for your support on Iraq, by the way...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 10:31 am ||
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Last year when elections were held in Indian Kashmir, between the time that the elections were announced and held, almost a thousand people were killed by Pakistani, ISI, Jihadi Terrorist. I'd just like to ask where the hell was the US-UK when Pakland was busy killing Indians. I getting really pissed off when people on Rantburg keep going on about how India is not supporting US. The US frankly hasn't given a damn when it comes to Pak terrorism in India. It just a bunch of dark skinned savages killing each other to them.
#2
I have a better question. Where was the US when American citizens were being killed?
Beirut Marine Barracks - Response: a few bombing raids. Declare victory, go home.
Berlin Disco Bombing - Response: a few bombing raids. Declare victory, go home.
Khobar Towers - Response: a few Tomahawks. Declare victory, go home.
American Embassies, Kenya/Tanzania - Response: a few Tomahawks. Declare victory, go home.
USS Cole, Aden - Response: a few Tomahawks. Declare victory, go home.
You get the picture, so don't give us this Americans are racist because they didn't involve themselves in the bloodletting of Kashmir. We did a piss-poor job of defending our own, so how could we be expected to unilaterally involve ourselves in a conflict that even the locals probably couldn't even explain. India has a big army. Use it.
Two Kuwaiti Muslim extremists, accused of providing weapons to a man who allegedly killed an American contractor and wounded another in January, told a court Wednesday they confessed under duress. "Lies, all lies!"
"I swear I was tending to my sheep. ... I don't know anything about the case of the Americans," Khalifa al-Daihani said. "State Security hanged me (by my arms) and I have a hernia. I confessed and told them they can write whatever they want." "Ask my sheep, Betty. She's the one with the pretty eyes."
The other defendant, Badi al-Ajmi, told the court: "They threatened my honor and my wife. Had they threatened me with bodily harm, I wouldn't have confessed." "Had they threatened my wife with bodily harm, I wouldn't have confessed. But my honor is important!"
Sami al-Mutairi, the civil servant accused of shooting the Americans with a Kalashnikov rifle in an ambush on a road leading to Camp Doha, was silent in Wednesday's hearing. He denied the counts of murder and attempted murder when the trial opened March 12. Attorneys asked the court to dismiss their clients' confessions because they were given under duress. The lawyers also said the arrests were illegal because authorities did not have proper permits from the prosecution. "Permits? permits? We don't need no steeeking permits!"
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 12:13 pm ||
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#1
"I swear I was tending to my sheep. ... "
Just check for the wool pullmarks near the sheep's butt, and there's his alibi.
#2
"Awright, Mahmoud! Lemme see yer permit for that there bludgeon!"
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2003 12:32 Comments ||
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The other defendant, Badi al-Ajmi, told the court: "They threatened my honor and my wife. Had they threatened me with bodily harm, I wouldn't have confessed."
#4
The following scenario is plausible- US:"We're very angry about this [and there are 250,000 of us who are bristling with weapons, standing right here]!"
Kuwait:Oh shit! We're as clueless as you... round up some of the usual subjects, Achmed... *whack**thud* "Here you are, sirs, two subjects who have fully confessed!"
Bahrain announced Wednesday the expulsion of the first secretary at Iraq's embassy and linked him to an explosion outside a giant US naval base. Iraq's charge d'affaires Abdullah Jaburi was called to the foreign ministry and informed of the order against Nazem Jawad to leave, the state-run Bahrain News Agency said, quoting a ministry spokesman. The first secretary was "in contact with an Iraqi citizen, Abdul Amir Hasnun who is implicated in the explosion on March 24 and has carried out activities which are incompatible with his diplomatic work," the spokesman said. Explosives are not normally considered diplomatic, unless you are Iraqi. Or Iranian, Packistani, Algerian, etc...
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 08:01 am ||
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#1
wonder what these spies guys do when they're declared png? there's no civil flights into baghdad, and the other flights may, just may, have room for a duct-taped-up parachutist....damn shame if the AAA gunfire got him
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2003 9:47 Comments ||
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#2
He can always go to Jordan or Syria and catch the bus.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 9:49 Comments ||
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Bahrain's an island. Take him down to beach and tell him to start swimming.
Edited for length, this has to qualify as one of the worlds worst jobs.
A former double of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's feared elder son Uday said on Wednesday he was treated "like dirt" by immigration officers who refused him entry to Britain at the weekend. "Honestly, I never had this before," 39-year-old Latif Yahia, who survived nine assassination attempts while impersonating Uday, said of his detention at Birmingham airport after arrival from Germany. Uday has a double? Like father, like son I guess.
"At the beginning, they treated me like a piece of dirt. The police came, they were very suspicious," Yahia said, speaking by telephone from Dublin. He fled Iraq in 1991 and now lives in the Republic of Ireland where he runs a detective agency. Yahia, Private Eye
After a seven-hour wait in Birmingham, Yahia was denied permission to fly to the Northern Ireland capital Belfast, where he missed a scheduled appearance on a TV chat-show, so he flew back to the Irish Republic. Britain's Home Office confirmed the case, saying Yahia was held "for a few hours" because he did not have the right papers to enter Britain. "I am not aware of any allegations," a spokeswoman said of Yahia's claims of verbal abuse. As well as immigration problems, the Iraq war has revived unwelcome memories for Yahia of his traumatic four-year stint as a double, for which he was given new teeth and plastic surgery. In his autobiography "I Was Saddam's Son," and in past interviews, Yahia describes how, after being forcibly recruited for the job due to his similar features, he was made to watch videos of rapes and tortures to toughen him up to be like Uday. Saddam's elder son is widely accused by Western nations, Iraqi exiles and human rights groups of brutal abuses, including torturing Iraq's football team if they lost. Posing for Uday on occasions deemed to be risky, Yahia said he survived nine assassination attempts and witnessed many atrocities. Once, Uday shot him in the shoulder. Tough boss
"It wasn't easy for me when I came to Europe to get over it all," he added. "It took me five-and-a-half years of counseling, psychologists, doctors and medication." Around Europe, where he has lived in various parts, Yahia says he has been attacked four times and constantly dogged by Iraqi secret services who "work everywhere." In Austria, there was an attempt to shoot him and bomb his car. In London, in an attack he attributes to Iraqi opposition exiles, there was another shooting attempt. And in Norway, he said, "they stabbed me in the stomach." A really bad retirement plan.
Understandably, Yahia has vehement views about Saddam. But, perhaps more surprisingly for some, he is equally vehement in condemning the war on Iraq and says he would return to fight against American and British troops if he could. What's stopping you?
War should not be waged on the whole country due to one man, Yahia said. "Iraq is my country and it is called the Republic of Iraq not the Republic of Saddam Hussein." Get back on your meds, Yahia.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 12:21 pm ||
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#1
Is everybody over there insane? Or doing a good impression of insane?
#2
There's a freaking world war on, and this loser thinks we give a darn about his snivels. Hey Yahia, we care as much about you as you cared about the people in those tapes. Drop dead, maybe your mother will care - then again, maybe not.
A Norwegian appeals court freed an Iraqi Kurdish founder of the Islamist group Ansar al-Islam on Wednesday, overturning an earlier ruling to keep him jailed during an anti-terror investigation, police said. Mullah Krekar, who has had refugee status in Norway since 1991 and denies any terror links, had been detained for almost two weeks since a lower court ruled that police could keep him jailed for a month. The prosecution later on Wednesday lodged another appeal to the High Court, the highest Norwegian court. Krekar had told the court that he was no longer the leader of Ansar al-Islam, which Washington accuses of ties to al Qaeda, suspected of the September 11 attacks in the United States. Meling said Krekar was one of several founders of Ansar al-Islam and its first leader from December 2001 to May 2002. Krekar says has had no contact with the group since then. Changed your mind, had a falling out, or just setting up European operations?
"We will appeal to the High Court because we are not satisfied," said Erling Grimstad, in charge of the police investigation. "We are still investigating this case with full speed and will continue to do so even though (Krekar) has been let out of custody," he told Reuters. I'd keep an eye on him if I was you.
Norway's government has said it wants to expel Krekar due to national security concerns, but has not given any details. I think there's a waiting list of people who'd like to "talk" to him.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 03:08 pm ||
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#1
Why don't they just drop him down a fjord or something. This guy is really bad news.
#2
Nice to know Quisling's descendents are around.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/02/2003 16:25 Comments ||
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Maybe the Danes should take Norway back. At least they seem to have some common sense
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire ||
04/02/2003 22:46 Comments ||
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This isn't a bug, it's a feature. He's now free to return to northern Iraq. The US Air Force should volunteer to return him. We could strap him onto a Tomahawk and deliver him to his comrades in arms -- the few that are still alive and on the lam, that is.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2003 23:23 Comments ||
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Die Deutschen aint crazy about us these days
Nearly nine in 10 Germans have lost their respect for the United States because of the war in Iraq, according to an opinion poll by the Forsa institute published on Wednesday. Nine out of 10, huh?
The poll for Stern magazine found 89 percent of the 1,003 Germans surveyed said "No" when asked "Is the United States still a role model?" Only nine percent said "Yes" and two percent said they had no opinion. Which pretty much jibes with what the US thinks of Germany
Germans have long harbored an overwhelmingly positive image of the United States -- especially in the dominant western part of the country that was protected during the Cold War by a large U.S. military force. Was haben Sie fÃŒr mich kÃŒrzlich getan, huh?
Many also admire the United States for defending West Berlin during the Berlin Airlift and Berlin Wall standoffs with the Soviet Union. Close business and cultural ties have flourished between two of the world's three biggest economic powers. GroÃvater bores us to death with those stories about the Yankees and their chocolate bars.
But the German government and about four-fifths of the public have firmly opposed the U.S.-led war to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, harshly criticizing the United States for failing to get explicit U.N. backing for its action. Yeah. How dare we go after dictators without getting France's approval?
The Forsa institute found 62 percent of Germans surveyed expect the United States to emerge from the Iraq war weakened and only 19 percent see it emerging stronger. A further 19 percent had no opinion. Rerun this poll when the US, Britain, Australia and the rest of our allies are rebuilding Iraq and Schroeder takes the German economy even farther into the tank.
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
04/02/2003 02:58 pm ||
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#1
if being liked by the germans and the rest of the world means putting our security in the hands of the un then forget it. we must come to the conculusion that we have very few true friends in the world and our politics and diplomacy should reflect this. the world takes the united states for granted, we can protect our so-called allies but we cannot protect ourselfs. during times of crisis your true friends will show thier colours. thankyou britian, australia and spain.
ALL OF YOU WHO DRIVE BMW'S AND MERCEDES SHOULD BE ASHAMED OUR YOURSELFS. the german ecomomy is sinking and sinking fast, lets put another torpedo in her ship and stop buying their dammed cars!
Posted by: Dan ||
04/02/2003 15:50 Comments ||
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*sigh* I suppose this means no more braunschweiger, no more Moselblumschen (darn good white wine)... Ah, well. As for the US emerging from this war weakened, No. Bruised, maybe, weakened, no. Maybe 9 out of 10 service-men and -women will see it unlikely to come to Germany's defence, or France's for that matter, should the need arise. We'll get yelled at then, too. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. We'll begin as we mean to go on, then.
#3
As always I'm here to provide the details and the clarifications. First of all this poll was ordered by the STERN, a positively leftist magazine. Forsa, who did the poll, is Schroeder's favorite. So take all this with a grain, err spoon of salt.
Then, nobody was talking about "lost respect". The poll talked about the U.S. being a "role model" for Germany. Well, I don't know how you define that but if the Germans liked the idea of being the military superpower in the world I can just imagine how you would like that, right?
The war is not popular here, right, so the country leading it can't be extremely popular either... for the moment. Still you would be hard pressed to find a more "americanized" country than Germany. That won't change and U.S. visitors still get the same friendly treatment as always. Schroeder will not be able to sever these ties.
OK, now please go on and ask the citizens of Spain, Italy or Poland (coalition members) the same question about the U.S. being a "role model" for their countries. Then we talk again.
9 out of 10 Germans: I seriously challenge that result. It's rigged.
#4
What about Audis? Should I be ashamed that I drive one? Hell no, I shouldn't. Or anyone else who buys German cars. Why? Somehow they're able to make them like no one else can. Maybe it's because they're not busy thinking through moral and political issues. But who cares about that as long as they can produce things we want. We're overly sensitive when it comes to world opinion. The only opinions we should care about are those willing to blow themselves up to kill us.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/02/2003 16:49 Comments ||
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That won't change and U.S. visitors still get the same friendly treatment as always.
From what I hear Americans are spit at in Germany right now and refused to be served in restaurants, etc. Not all Germans of course but Americans just aren't liked.
Posted by: g wiz ||
04/02/2003 17:41 Comments ||
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As long as we get to rule the world, who cares what the germans think.
#7
From what you hear... I LIVE here and nobody spits at anyone or refuses service. You may always find a few idiots of course... anywhere.
I have been wearing a US flag pin since 9/11. Nobody has ever said a bad word to me. Sometimes I get into a discussion, but that's about it.
Also no Coke spilling into German gutters.
#8
I sure hope that those reports of rude treatment are isolated. I'd hate to think that Germany has changed that much since October. I went to visit my brother in the southern part, and the people couldn't have been nicer. I even thought of taking German lessons before I go back so I could talk to the locals more (picked up a little while visiting, didn't speak a word when I got there).
Posted by: Former Russian Major ||
04/02/2003 18:25 Comments ||
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Time to pull the troops out of the Fatherland and either bring them home or base them in Poland. While the Poles haven't really helped out that much they have helped. I can see it now. "Camp Kosiosko" outside Krakow. The Poles have a tradition as calvary, lets teach 'em how to be 21st century calvarymen. I can see a new center of power in Europe emerging centered on the Poles, Czecks and Ukranians. as for the French we will know the French have committed national suicide when Notre Dame is converted into a mosque.
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire ||
04/02/2003 18:34 Comments ||
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Leaving for Hamburg/Hannover Friday. Am I going to be confronted at the places I go to every 2 years when I attend Hannover Messe? Is my wife going to be bothered while there? I am in the auto industry, and have no choice about going unless I want to go bankrupt. Any help?
Posted by: Small Business American ||
04/02/2003 19:00 Comments ||
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"Is the USA still a role-model"? That's quite a stupid question to ask. What if the USA hasn't been a role model before? There weren't much people before who said that the German government should emulate the USA, as Germany was always very intent on independence.
I'd like to note again that the Stern is not only quite leftist, but also probably on the lowest level of all news magazines. It's more like a weekly tabloid with lots of pictures.
That set aside, it's not as much far from the truth as I'd wish it would be (the results of the poll). What would you expect from a country where all the rebellious students from '68 are now in leading positions in the government and media?
If Stern conducted the survey in the north,or in the former East Germany, I could believe those results. If they conducted it in Hesse, or Wurttemburg, or Bavaria, I'd bet the results would be far different.
I lived in Germany for a total of ten years between 1971 and 1990. It's a gorgeous country, with friendly people. However, the further north we went for visits, the less likely we'd be to find 'friendly' people.
BTW, if you want to read a more "middle of the road" magazine, "Der Spiegel" is a good one. Wonder what THEIR poll results would be...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 19:32 Comments ||
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Small Business American, you will be way safer in Germany than in the U.S. The worst that might happen to you is the exchange rate (and some serious rip offs in redlight bars..lol).
Old Patriot: Only believe in polls you rigged yourself (quote attributed to Winston Churchill). In the South people are friendlier, not just when it comes to politics.
#17
TGA - right on! Love the Bavarians, especially once you get out of the big cities - Munich, Stuttgart, etc. We met a couple in Fussen that helped us around the city, up to Neu Schwannstein, and all over. Never met them before I stopped to help them change a flat tire. Now we've been friends for 25 years. WONDERFUL people.
Wiesbaden is a gorgeous city, and has many friendly people who actually LIKE the US and its military people that came there.
As for Hamburg, I don't know - we only made one trip up there, and we just passed through Hamburg. Do know that Mohammed Atta and several of the 9/11 highjackers spent quite a bit of time there. Would love to see the raw data for that poll... 8^)
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 22:12 Comments ||
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ask the citizens of Spain, Italy or Poland (coalition members) the same question about the U.S. being a "role model" for their countries
Yeah, Poland. The country where they bitch & complain about having to pay US$150 for a tourist visa application, a visa that doesn't even guarantee entrance, yet they still come out in droves.
Most people would prefer to be somewhere other than in Poland. They're just waiting for the EU floodgates to open. TGA, be prepared to batten down the hatches.
#19
Southern Germany was occupied.. err liberated... by US troops. Obviously they did a good job, right? Maybe they should send some of the old folks to Iraq to show how it is done :-)
People in Hamburg (liberated by the Brits) are not more hostile, just cooler, more reserved, that's all. Guess which German states have a better economy.
Old Patriot, the people you know will not change even if they might not agree with you on certain political points. America is not the Bush administration and Germany not the Schroeder gov. It's true though that the South votes conservative, the North left.
#20
LOL, RW if the US military moves on to Poland, be prepared to hear an old German joke about Poland: "Come visit Poland, your car is already there."
Well we'll have to deal with "New Europe"... somehow. But know that they are the new allies of America, the U.S. will foot their bills, right? Or not?
#21
Well, they are getting 16 F-16s for free. Ok, they do have to pay for them but in return they also get $2 billion for defense spending and related contracts. It's not like Israel... yet.
#23
### Germany in it's ###. It's like during the Nazi holocaust when they all came out...surrounded by Russians and Americans and said "but we didn't know". German backbone runs about as far as the nearest pub. They've already bilked the US and it's WWII allies of enough money to rebuild their country from a burned out brick into a model economy. Thanks to us and our policies toward them. Who CARES what the Germans think of what we do next. They sure don't, because they don't "need" anything from us anymore. Anyway, you know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, France is accusing the US of arrogance and Germany doesn't want to go to war! Vell den grabben der beeren, mit der women, und sitten sie back, und watchen das blinken lights!
#24
Sorry but even if they didn't like me (my last name is Hess so I kind of think that would not hold true.) I still will drive German cars. Everyone need not love the US but right now staying out of the way is prolly a good idea if you are not going to help out. Some folks do need to get that clue. I drink Dutch, English or Irish beers anyway.
The chairman of Bosnia's three-member presidency resigned Wednesday after being implicated in a local company's violation of the U.N. arms embargo against Iraq, the speaker of the Bosnian Serb parliament said. Mirko Sarovic, a Bosnian Serb who currently leads the country's multi-ethnic presidency, oversaw the illegal export of refurbished engines for Iraq's military aircraft, according to a team of international investigators. Hope they got their money up front on those. I'm not even sure why Iraq had aircraft, all the use they got out of them...
The team's report was presented last week to Bosnia's top international official, Paddy Ashdown. Ashdown had ordered the investigation after finding that an attempt by Bosnian Serb authorities to shed light on the deal had failed to address the question of which political leaders approved it or knew about it. The prime minister of the Bosnian Serb mini-state, Dragan Mikerevic, told reporters Wednesday that it was in the public interest for Sarovic to resign "because of the violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution concerning Iraq." The investigation found that Sarovic knew about and failed to stop Bosnian aviation company Orao's illegal exports of engine parts for fighter planes to Iraq. NATO peacekeepers found evidence of the illegal trade during a raid in October of Orao, which is based in the Bosnian Serb town of Bijeljina.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 02:09 pm ||
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Me thinks this is just the first of many chickens coming home to roost vis-a-vis arms sales to Iraq.
Russia summoned the U.S. ambassador to Moscow on Wednesday to protest against air strikes on Baghdad that it said had endangered the safety of its diplomats in the Russian embassy. "The Russian side demanded that American authorities take urgent and exhaustive measures to prevent such dangerous and unacceptable incidents in the future," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement after envoy Alexander Vershbow had been summoned. Referring to Wednesday's air strikes on a residential area near the Russian embassy, the statement said: "The safety of personnel of the Russian diplomatic representation was in immediate danger. "A U.S. embassy spokesman said the ambassador had explained that the air strikes on Baghdad used precision-guided weapons and were directed only at Iraqi military targets. "Sorry, we were looking for the French embassy. Don't happen to have their address, do you?"
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 08:41 am ||
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Guess those GPS jammers don't work for you either.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
04/02/2003 07:56 am ||
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the president's public commitment to persuading Britain and the US to accept United Nations administration for postwar Iraq.
What happened? Didn't they say we would be forced to come crawling back to the UN when the conflict was over? Now they're clearly pleading with us to come back to the UN after the conflict is over?
Posted by: g wiz ||
04/02/2003 8:29 Comments ||
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This American has a long memory, and France is near the top of my shit list.
#3
I know that it is spur-of-the-moment emotion, but after the desecration of Allied graves in France, I felt like saying, let the Yanks and Brits dig them up and bring them home. Scooter is right, though, we Yanks have long memories. Mr. Chiraq, you do not yet realize the depth of the damage you have done and will do to YOUR country. We will learn our lesson and go on to do great things--without you. I say, FOAD!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/02/2003 10:06 Comments ||
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#4
According to USS Clueless, one of the slogans spray-painted across a memorial, "Deterrez vos decehts, ils souillent notre sol.", translates out to:
#5
At this point, I'm ticked off enough to support really fouling their soil. Plowing the earth with salt isn't really appropriate. Better to plow it with Plutonium. Let's encourage some genetic diversity here.
#6
The only consolation I derive from this whole shameful mess, is the fact that in a few years, France will be under Shir'a laws, flattened under the thumb of the Islamonazis who have taken root in the stinking soil of that boil on the ass of humanity.
The destruction of the French nation cannot come quickly enough for me. After the disgraceful way these sub-human pieces of trash have defiled the graves of honorable Americans, I can only hope that bin Laden survives long enough to nuke Paris and give every man, woman and child of the cesspool called France burning nuclear death or radiation poisoning.
Hate does not begin to encompass the feelings I have for these inhuman creatures.
May they all rot in hell.
#7
MEMO TO GERMANY: Turn left at Belgium, you know what to do next. Third times the charm, all will be forgiven. We'll sit this one out, thanks.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 13:16 Comments ||
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Celissa---I know the feeling, but watch the hate fest. It's bad Karma for oneself, so to speak. France will reap what she sows, and we will move on. We must keep the high ground here. My feeling is to cut them off and go on our merry way, sans France. They can clean out the messkit that they shit in, this time.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/02/2003 13:50 Comments ||
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#9
Steve, France has the nukes, Germany hasn't. I guess we'll stay clear, sorry.
#10
5 million muslims in a country that already shuns soap like the plague, it must smell great in france....By the way i think france even with nukes can be taken out by six feisty American grandmothers waving viscious rolling pins...
#11
The French are offering us military advice? Did I read THAT right?
Isn't that like Sweden telling Panama how to grow bananas?
Posted by: Former Russian Major ||
04/02/2003 19:29 Comments ||
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True German Ally: Steve, France has the nukes, Germany hasn't. I guess we'll stay clear, sorry.
People, let's get serious: France has nukes and nuclear power plants. Combine with Belgium's nuclear re-processing plant, and there's REAL trouble ahead.
Here we are in Iraq, trying to stop a madman from building WMD, and here's a nuclear power BECOMING an Islamic state! Will Frogistan be as cautious as Pakistan?
#13
France has nukes and nuclear power plants. Combine with Belgium's nuclear re-processing plant, and there's REAL trouble ahead.
What the French have or don't have, whether they become an Islamic 'republic' or not, none of that matters: they will STILL be French, and will spend more of their time and energy fighting among themselves than they ever do looking outside their country. Why else do you think France is rated just below the bottom of the barrel now?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 22:36 Comments ||
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ILL-FEELING between Britain and France over the invasion of Iraq has plumbed new depths with the desecration of that most sacred of memorials, a war cemetery. The defilement of Commonwealth war graves in northern France coincided with a poll for The Times which found that 54 per cent of Britons no longer regarded France as a close ally because of its opposition to the war. Relations will be further rent by a second poll, in Le Monde, showing that only a third of the French felt that they were on the same side as the Americans and British, and that another third desired outright Iraqi victory over âles anglo-saxonsâ.
Eleven thousand Allied soldiers lie buried in well-tended peace at Etaples, on the Channel coast near Le Touquet, victims of the struggle by Anglo-Saxons to liberate the French from the German invaders during the First World War. Last week the obelisk raised in their memory was defiled by red-painted insults such as âRosbeefs go homeâ; âMay Saddam prevail and spill your bloodâ; and, in a reference to the long-dead casualties beneath the manicured turf, âThey are soiling our landâ. Local gendarmerie have launched an inquiry, but have so far found no clues. They say there had been no significant demonstrations against the war in that area of France. The graffiti have been scrubbed off, but the incident has provoked outrage among British politicians, war graves staff and the few remaining relatives of those buried at Etaples. French politicians have joined the condemnation.
Bruce George, Labour chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said: âRemembering what sacrifice these men made for the liberation of France, I cannot believe any mature, sane person would be so stupid as that.â David Uffold, 63, a Shropshire farmer, is the only surviving relative of Rifleman Frederick Uffold of the London Regiment, who is buried at Etaples. âI find it sickening that anyone would vandalise the cemetery,â he said. âIt is the last place they should be protesting about Iraq. These fellows were drafted in to fight for France. I canât see any connection between the men buried at Etaples and the war in Iraq.â Peter Francis, of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, said he was disgusted that a place remembering those who died defending freedom in world wars long ago should be dragged into a current political debate.
French politicians did their best to portray the desecration as an isolated act, but it nonetheless underlined anti-American and anti-British emotions running through France over what is seen there as a bungled invasion rapidly turning into a humanitarian disaster. President Chiracâs spokesman said: âWe are indignant and shocked by the desecration of the graves of soldiers who fought for our liberty.â Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Prime Minister, said: âThe Americans are not the enemy; just because we are against this war, it does not mean that we want the victory of dictatorship over democracy.â
Posted by: kgb ||
04/02/2003 01:50 am ||
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#1
It's worse. Over half of all leftists are supporting victory for the Iraqi dictatorship. And around 90% of academics oppose the war.
#2
You gotta remember that 50% of the population lives in public housing. France better resembles a communist block country, than a western capitalist country. France is not the same country it was 50 years ago; after WWII. A very large portion of the population is Arab or has Arab roots. These people don't care about who liberated France in the past. France has been definately going down the wrong road. The road to ruin.
Posted by: George ||
04/02/2003 3:47 Comments ||
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#3
I bet the gendarmerie are working real hard on it, too. How sad. Chiraq and de Villepin must be proud.
Posted by: Former Russian Major ||
04/02/2003 6:21 Comments ||
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#4
We've taken enough crap from these back-stabbing punks. If France wants to play in the big leagues and lead a hostile alliance against the US they should pay the price. It's time to invoke the Monroe Doctrine and kick them out of the Western Hemisphere (various Caribbean islands, French Guiana, St. Pierre-et-Miquelon, etc.). We should liberate their territories in the South Pacific too (Tahiti, New Caledonia, Marquesas, etc.). Ch'Iraq and De Villepin will just have to shiver at Club Med Kerguelen Island instead.
Posted by: Ned ||
04/02/2003 6:38 Comments ||
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"Please! I read the same poll at the source , and 1) the question is missing. 2) the answer is that 25% -- a quarter, not a third -- say that they feel "more on the side of Iraq." MORE on the side of Iraq. This, coming from a country where 4 out of 5 inhabitants disapprove of the U.S. and British intervention in Iraq. Which to me means that just 25% of the French feel more on the side of those being attacked in a war that 80% of the French feel is unjustified. Yes, I know, the famous French empathy for the underdogs and victims, etc. So, think what you want, but to me this poll in no way means that a third the French are actually rooting for the victory of this monster Saddam. Come on!!"
Posted by: kgb ||
04/02/2003 8:01 Comments ||
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#6
Given what I witness at my workplace, among my relatives or my friends,... I agree more with Anonon than with Kgb's quotes, sadly. Btw, I think that 50%+ "I love Saddam" among far-rightists should be about right, too. Honestly, only jews (especially after pro-peace militants were assaulted by muslims during a demonstration), some center-right christians and libertarians are not longing for the eviiil US imperialists to get a bloody nose..
#7
""Remembering what sacrifice these men made for the liberation of France, I cannot believe any mature, sane person would be so stupid as that.""
Two problems:
One,the people that did that were not "mature, sane persons". They were probably Arab teenagers.
Second, DeGaule brainwashed the French into believing they liberated themselves, without our help. What a pile of aardvark dung HE was!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 12:32 Comments ||
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#8
Anybody got word on how the "investigation" is going?
COLIN POWELL, the US Secretary of State, arrived in Turkey last night to salvage Washingtonâs relationship with Ankara before heading to Europe on a similar diplomatic repair mission. After weeks of criticism that Turkey has screwed the pooch America has failed properly to engage its allies and win their support for war in Iraq, General Powell will try to restore badly strained ties with Turkey, a former close ally for the past half-century. The US Secretary of State has been condemned for failing to consult Americaâs friends face to face and engage in the sort of shuttle diplomacy conducted by the first Bush Administration before the Gulf War in 1991. We have ambassadors for that.
British sources said that the most important element of the tour was that he would be talking to his French, German and other European weasels counterparts after weeks of frosty silence. Their strong criticism of the Bush Administrationâs policy has caused deep splits in the transatlantic alliance. Franco-American ties are so bad that President Bush has not spoken to President Chirac of France for eight weeks. "Karl!"
"Yes, Mr. President."
"Has the tech support person checked out the line for the personal telephone Mr. Chirac uses to reach me?"
"Yes, Mr. President, apparently it's still down."
"Good."
"Shall I file that work order now?"
"Not yet, Karl, I rather enjoy the peace and quiet."
Americaâs closest allies â Britain, Spain, Italy and Denmark â want Washington to try to repair the rift with France and Germany and help to reunify the European Union. "And all the King's horses, and all the King's men ..."
Although General Powell will be in Turkey for only one day, his arrival has been interpreted as a gesture of reconciliation. âPowellâs visit will be a turning point in overcoming the deadlock in US-Turkish relations,â the Turkish daily Radikal said. "Marvin, take notes."
"Yes, Mr. Secretary."
Diplomats in Ankara doubted that the Secretary of State would attempt to win any concrete concessions from the Turks, who last month refused to allow US forces to go through the country to open a second front in northern Iraq. As a result, the newly elected Government, headed by the Justice and Development Party, forfeited as much as £20 billion in US loans. "Marvin, you have the papers on that aid package we offered before?"
"Right here, Mr. Secretary."
"Make sure our friends in Ankara never see them again."
"In the shredder, Mr. Secretary."
Turkey even threatened to send troops into Kurdish areas of northern Iraq. It eventually backed down and 1,000 US paratroopers landed in the area at the weekend to pacify the region. More US forces are expected to arrive by air. âThere are bruises on both sides, but there is no need for long-term damage to the relationship if it is handled properly,â one Western diplomat in Ankara said. âThe Turks are very keen to have relations back where they were before.â "Marvin, you have the dinner menu planned with the Turkish Foreign Minister."
"Yes, Mr. Secretary, vin d'crow, highly seasoned."
"Make sure we serve it cold, Marvin."
"It will be properly chilled, Mr. Secretary."
General Powell will stop off in Belgrade after Ankara, before going to Brussels to meet foreign ministers from the hapless EU, Nato and Russia tomorrow. "Do you have my talking points on the matter of EU participation in Iraq after liberation day, Marvin?"
"Here, Mr. Secretary."
"And the proper translations of the phrase 'drop dead'?"
"In French, German, Russian, and Belgian, Mr. Secretary."
"Make sure the Polish and Bulgarian ministers receive their invitations to the Iraq Reconstruction Conference, Marvin."
"Engraved and ready, sir."
A spokesman for the Greek Government, which holds the EU presidency, said: âWe are not opposed to these meetings, but it would have been good if Powell had taken such initiatives before the start of the war even though they would not have done any good even so.â "Marvin, do we have anything for the Greeks?"
"Nothing, Mr. Secretary."
"Excellent. You've done well, Marvin."
"Thank you, sir."
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2003 12:51 am ||
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#1
"Americaâs closest allies â Britain, Spain, Italy and Denmark â want Washington to try to repair the rift with France and Germany and help to reunify the European Union."
If anything, this farce has exposed the divisions within Europe that make further integration practically impossible. Common foreign policy? Don't make me laugh. It's become obvious a geographical proximity doesn't necessarily indicate shared values and outlook. Time for the French to integrate themselves into the Arab league for a while. Maybe we could do an exchange - France for Iraq - for a few years.
#4
"Americaâs closest allies â Britain, Spain, Italy and Denmark â want Washington to try to repair the rift with France and Germany and help to reunify the European Union."
Okay, let me get this strait. ONCE AGAIN, America is supposed to get involved in Europe, to fix Europe's problems, only later to be blamed for interventionism in Europe's internal affairs?
#5
It would be instructive to remind the Cheese eaters that if it weren't for the cemeteries full of white crosses scattered across their country they'd be speaking German. I just hope Team Bush has enough sense to realize France has done nothing to demostrate any change of heart.
#6
Funny guys these Americans, they do everything reversed. At checkpoints they first shoot and then ask to stop, evenso in politics, you are itsy bitsy too late dear Powell, next time better.
Posted by: Murat ||
04/02/2003 8:09 Comments ||
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#7
>next time better.
"Better luck next time."
If your going to be flippant get it right.
The controversy over a Columbia University assistant professor who called for the bloody defeat of U.S. troops in Iraq refuses to die, with critics heaping scorn and supporters saying he has gone into hiding after receiving numerous death threats. A graduate student told the Columbia Spectator that Nicholas De Genova and his wife were "fearing for their lives" after receiving some 1,000 threatening phone and e-mail messages. The threats led De Genova to nix his two classes on Tuesday, according to the student newspaper.
De Genova told a campus "teach-in" last Wednesday that he wanted to see the U.S. defeated in Iraq and suffer "a million Mogadishus" â a reference to the 1993 Somalia ambush that left 18 Americans dead. "The only true heroes are those who find ways that help defeat the U.S. military," he said at an anti-war event attended by students and faculty. OK - the guy really is a puke, but death threats? I'm happy as long as he's fired from Columbia and comes down with a really nasty case of the crabs...
#4
if he's really getting death threats he should turn them in to the police for prosecution...I suspect it's not true.
But first, of course, he should sit down and think long and hard about why these people hate him, right? I mean, he should understand that real Americans have a different culture than his academic elites, and he should be sensitive to their cultural needs (/sarcasm off)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2003 21:25 Comments ||
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#5
Typical lefty. When the going gets tough, they get lost. Maggot.
#6
Hurumph. I seem to recall that the Founders didn't raise much of a din when tens of thousands of British crown loyalist were driven from the newly minted United States of America to Canada and other locations throughout the British Empire. Technically, a violation of the Treaty of Paris. Sad that they gave up that old past time of tar and feathering. Really, we need to start balancing the flow of people coming in with a flow of people leaving. This loser will fit right in at Havana or Pyonyang U.
Posted by: Don ||
04/02/2003 21:51 Comments ||
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#7
I doubt he's getting death threats, but there are some wackos on the right as well as the left.
The sad part is that he won't get fired from Columbia. I'm an academic, and I can tell you that when he comes up for tenure review this whole flap won't matter. No one will bring it up in the promotions committee meeting, and anyone who does will be shouted down with all the usual pious crap about academic freedom and free speech.
What will matter to that committee will be his publications and teaching record. Apparently he spends a lot of time blabbering talking about politics and the war in his classroom rather than his subject matter (Latino History). Naturally this will endear him to the promotions committee. I'm going to have to hit the citations index to see if he's publishing. I'm betting he's writing the usual bone-head crap.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2003 23:40 Comments ||
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#8
If true, it will give him a taste of how the Iraqi's have felt for the last 20 years.
And if he does get tenure, he'll have to endure a "little snot" in every future class throwing this in his face. The relentless humiliation will make his life slow water-torture, drip, drip, drip.
Following are two choice excerpts from a column by Arundhati Roy:
So far the Iraqi army, with its hungry, ill-equipped soldiers, its old guns and ageing tanks, has somehow managed to temporarily confound and occasionally even outmanoeuvre the "Allies". Faced with the richest, best-equipped, most powerful armed forces the world has ever seen, Iraq has shown spectacular courage and has even managed to put up what actually amounts to a defence. A defence which the Bush/Blair Pair have immediately denounced as deceitful and cowardly. (But then deceit is an old tradition with us natives. When we are invaded/ colonised/occupied and stripped of all dignity, we turn to guile and opportunism.)
[...]
In the fog of war - one thing's for sure - if Saddam 's regime indeed has weapons of mass destruction, it is showing an astonishing degree of responsibility and restraint in the teeth of extreme provocation. Under similar circumstances, (say if Iraqi troops were bombing New York and laying siege to Washington DC) could we expect the same of the Bush regime? Would it keep its thousands of nuclear warheads in their wrapping paper? What about its chemical and biological weapons? Its stocks of anthrax, smallpox and nerve gas? Would it?
Excuse me while I laugh.
----
I read the whole thing, pausing several times to wipe the vomit off my monitor.
1. The iraqis have "beat the spread"
Response - we've taken half the country in 2 weeks, and with only 4 divisions. And we'd have gone faster but we were being careful about civilians
2. They're being "deceitful" - well thats always what the outnumbered and outgunned to
Response - being deceitful isnt the problem - using (involuntary) human shields, and other techniques that violate the Geneva conventions is. These take advantage of our reluctance to harm civilians - they would be useless against a ruthless enemy - they weaken the protections civilians get, and lead to needless civilian deaths.
3. Regime is showing restrain about using WMD
Response - we dont why - could be they no longer have effective control, or that RG officers are frightened to be considered war criminals for using them, or that theyre waiting for the right moment. The swipe about US WMD's is a cheap shot - we have no bio weapons, and have been destroying our stocks of cold war era chem. weapons pursuant to treaty.
#2
It could also be that they know that doctrine calls for us to respond with WMD if WMD are used on us. There's nothing that says we'll use the same WMDs. We've effectively only got one type left...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2003 16:05 Comments ||
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#3
Arundhati - share the laugh with Saddam, seems you two already share other traits too.
Posted by: marek ||
04/02/2003 16:17 Comments ||
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Re:Arundhati
You know, the Julius Streicher memorial defendant's cage at the upcoming war crimes tribunal is getting mighty crowded.
#5
Not very long ago another nation whipped the US ass in Indo-China. And people have not forgotten the Ma-Ling massacres committed by the US there. All the cheap lies about preventing civilian deaths lays exposed in front of the Baghdad market bombing and the Maternity Hospital bombing.
The so-called brave US army keeps the Kurds and the British up front as cannon fodder and then talks big, as always. Close combat is not their bit and it is US which nuked innocent civilians in Japan when Japan was on the verge of surrender. Americans are a nation of incestuous assassins which fact you can corroborate by the racial killings there; the number of Presidents and would be Presidents assassinated; the hate campaigns against their own nationals who don't tow the establishment line (and they call themselves a free nation); they are the single largest users and possessors of WMD and with the highest number of gun related violence on the face of the earth. On top of all this, just see who is running the show around Bush, all of them selected and not elected people. Some democracy!
#6
FYI, its Me-Lai, and Lt Calley - those were intentional, the current casualties are accidental - were we to go after the civilain populace, we'd simply carpet bomb with the far cheaper "dumb bombs", and inflict 10's of thousands of casualties a day.
Similar verbal devastations can be done to the rest of your polemic but factless diatribe, but your argiments are soo transparent as to not need refutation for a rational audience.
Reductio ad absurdum, QED. You made it far too easy.
Nice try at a troll - but you forgot to put LOTS OF CAPS and typos, and the usual spittle-flying multiple exclamations (!!!!!!).
Anyway, please dont feed him any more - he's so full of s**t he's bursting at the seams.
And by the way, troll, at least have the courage to post with a psedonym. Sheesh.
#7
Anonymous, anyone who ignores communist atrocities in Vietnam is a party to those atrocities, as you are a party to saddam's use of human shields and his other crimes when you support his propaganda line and conflate his thugs with the Iraqi nation in general. Indeed, lying pop-culture baboons like you are the whole reason terrorists believe that their evil acts will accomplish their goals, and the whole reason Saddam chose war in the belief that our threats could not be carried through. There is blood on your hands, and on the hands of the culture, worldview, and ideology of power-seeking rhetoric that you represent. You will be held to account for it.
#8
Americans are a nation of incestuous assassins...
Leave my family out of it, and you might be onto something. I was feeling kind of left out of the "gun related violence" scene, all loaded up with nowhere to go, until your post. Stop by for all the close combat you want.
Posted by: Mark IV ||
04/02/2003 18:53 Comments ||
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Anti-war movement: road-kill on the highway to victory.
#12
You know, it's absolutely child's play to keep track of where posts come from to a site like this. In fact, the information can pinpoint a particular COMPUTER. Yet these toads believe by posting "anonymously", they can hide.
There's no place left to hide, there's no place left to run. If you aren't willing to grant the rest of the world the same rights you wish for yourself, you're going to very soon be road kill - on the information superhighway, and on the local highway. Peace, prosperity, and freedom!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 22:03 Comments ||
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#13
....incestuous assassins which fact you can corroborate by the racial killings there; the number of Presidents and would be Presidents assassinated; the hate campaigns against their own nationals who don't tow the establishment line (and they call themselves a free nation); they are the single largest users and possessors of WMD and with the highest number of gun related violence on the face of the earth.
Anonymous, good thing you started that sentence with "Americans", almost thought you were talking about Saddam's family there.....
Posted by: Former Russian Major ||
04/02/2003 22:04 Comments ||
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Madonna didn't like the thought of being DixieChicked
Madonna has scrapped a video depicting her tossing a grenade at President George W Bush, fearing accusations of a lack of patriotism. Her move, four days before the release of the video for her new album, Smell the Glove American Life, comes after the miscalculation of another American act, the Dixie Chicks, at a concert at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in west London. AOL Time Warner, which owns Madonna's Maverick record label, was said to be growing anxious about the content of her promotional video, urging her to reshoot scenes relating to Iraq. Madonna said that, in ditching the four-minute film, she acted "out of respect for the armed forces, who I support and pray for". The move comes as the 44-year-old singer may be nearing the end of her career. Apart from being too old in a market where CDs are mostly bought by 11 to 25 year-olds, Madonna's last film, Swept Away , directed by her husband, Guy Ritchie, was a box-office flop. The new video showed her in military uniform, rapping in front of the American flag. At the end of a combat scene, she threw a grenade at a Bush lookalike. The weapon then became a cigarette lighter. Madonna explained: "It's my desire to turn a weapon of destruction into something that is completely innocuous."
Posted by: kgb ||
04/02/2003 01:39 am ||
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#1
Best title for this story:
DESPERATE HAS-BEEN SEEKS PUBLICITY
#2
Wasn't the video cancelled in the US, where it would be obiously unpopular (to say the least), but still going ahead in the EU, where it should be very popular?
#5
DixieChicked? Don't they have the number 1 album on the country charts this week? I have no doubt they hurt themselves, but it doesn't look like they're headed back to playing on street corners just yet.
#6
VAMark, I agree. It's disheartening. According to the Billboard charts they're still in the top 5 albums and still the #1 Country album. Bleh.
Posted by: g wiz ||
04/02/2003 8:22 Comments ||
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Madonna, Rosie, Janeane, et al.: You know, it's not too late to prove the courage of your convictions. I understand the Human Shields need to fill some holes . . .
Police in Pakistan-administered Kashmir have arrested more than a dozen Kashmiri snuffies militants over fears of a possible clash between two rival groups. Police said the arrests were made on Tuesday in Muzaffarabad, the capital of terrorism Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The arrested men belonged to two rival factions of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Police said they were tipped off about a possible rumbletong warritual bloodletting clash between the two rival groups and arrested 14 people, 7 from each side, as a preventive measure. The detained militants will be kept in custody till Friday. "Now, you boyz can jes' set here in jug 'til you cool off. y'cain't be fightin' amongst yerselfs when we gots Injuns to slaughter!"
Tuesday's police action against the militants is unusual and suggests that the split in the group is significant. A break in ranks became apparent last week when around 200 supporters of the group's former commander, Abdul Majid Dar, staged a protest demonstration in Muzaffarabad against the killing of their leader. Mr Dar was killed over a week ago by unknown assailants in his hometown of Sopore, in Indian-administered Kashmir. "Boss! Da deed is done! Abdul Majid Dar sleeps widda fishes!"
"You dumped his body in the river?"
"No. But we hid some catfish in his burial turban!"
The protesters publicly accused Syed Salahuddin, the GodfatherDuce head of another faction of the group, over the killing. A spokesman for Mr Salahuddin, Salim Hashmi, piously condemned the killing, but did not blame anyone for the attack. He said the group would conduct its own probe into Mr Dar's killing. "Yeah, yeah. We'll look into it. Big Achmed, here, he's gonna find out what happened and report back to me! Completely independent investigation, y'know? Ain't you, Big Achmed?"
"Duh. Yeah, boss!" Tufail Altaf, one of Mr Dar's leading supporters and former district commander of the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, told journalists last week in Muzaffarabad that a new faction of the group had been launched. He also said Amed Yaseen had been appointed as chief of the group and claimed they have the support of 40% of the militants in the group. Syed Salahuddin had expelled Mr Altaf late last year for supporting Mr Dar.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 03:19 pm ||
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BAKHAR (NNI): The police authorities have arrested a terrorist and confiscated huge quantity of arms and hand-bombs from him besides Rs 300, 000 cash from his custody. "The suspect terrorist Mohammd Khan son of Gulzar Khan has been apprehended and arms including 16 hand-bombs, two klashinkove rifles, six magazines, 900 bullets, 19 charger carthorse, rifles, pistal and Rs 300,000 also taken into custody from him," Bakhar Police Chief, Malik Naseem-ul-Haq told the reporters here Tuesday. The police suspects that big amount of money, according to initial investigation, "meant to bribe some locals for saboteur activities in the area." What sort of "saboteur activities", Chief?
Replying to the questions, the Police Chief has said, "we are investigating the suspect but apparently he might have some plans of sectarian violence in the area." Like, y'mean he's gonna kill a bunch of people because they might knot their woolies in a different manner than he does? Y'think he'd so something like that?
Last year in the same days, dozens of people were killed when an Imam Bargah (Shia Mosque) was bombed. The Bakhar Police was alert in the area and hearing information that Mohammad Khan of Mahlowala came in the vicinity with a huge quantity of arms and his activities are seemed suspicious responded promptly and booked him. It does sound like the prudent thing to do...
The raiding party headed by DSP Kalorkot, Ch. Mukhtar Ahmed and SHO Nawab Hussein had raided the residence of the suspected sectarian terrorist. "ASI Amir Ahmed had demonstrated courageous role in booking the criminal," SP Malik said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 01:15 pm ||
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Private American citizens currently in Pakistan should consider departing, according to a new travel advisory, a copy of which was received on Tuesday. "This Travel Warning is being updated to alert Americans to increased tensions in the region and continued high security concerns about terrorists in Pakistan," the advisor said. It said U.S. citizens who remain in or travel to Pakistan despite this warning are encouraged to register at the Consular Section of the US Embassy in Islamabad or the Consulates in Peshawar or Lahore and enroll in the warden system (emergency alert network) to obtain updated information on travel and security in Pakistan. They like to have next of kin information on file...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 10:55 am ||
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A top Pakistani defense analyst and former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence on Wednesday said the suicide bombers had disturbed balance of power in Iraq war. "The unjustified and unilateral war has taken a new decisive turn and the human life is up against machinery," General (Retd.) Hameed Gul remarked during an interview with IRNA here. Hamid, lest we forget, is a raving Islamist with a pathological hatred for the U.S. and Britain. My favorite quote: "It's not that difficult to obtain a suitcase-size nuclear weapon. Just the thing for retaliation against London or New York."
He maintained that the supremacy of latest weaponry had been neutralized with suicide bombing, sending shockwaves within the ranks of US-led usurpers and killers of humanity and forcing them to resort to indiscriminate bombardment on Iraq. It appears, he noted, the apparently helpless Iraqi people have decided to lay down their lives for the defense of their motherland instead of becoming targets of relentless bombardment. The war against Iraq, Hameed Gul said was a slap in the face of civilized American society and their values as the leading nation of the world. "The US respect for human rights and sovereignty of other countries stands exposed," he remarked. To a question, he maintained there were no two opinions that the unilateral military operation had resulted in diplomatic defeat of the US; democracy slaughtered and freedom of American nation trampled under the foot of George W Bush's barbaric policy. He came down heavily on the Western media for portraying wrong picture and lamented that instead of giving a true perspective of the imposed war, the media were trying to mislead the world. "I think, the despotic rulers have forced their media to tell blatant lie to the world and to their own people and conceal their colossal losses in Iraq," the analyst noted.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 10:52 am ||
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#1
This guy's telling the IRNA what they want to hear. He has no clue about what's happening, and he has no idea what's going on in this country. He also is deathly afraid of what's happening in Iraq. He's seen us get hit with the unexpected, take a deep breath, and pick up and go on. That scares him into needing Depends. As one novelist I've read recently stated, "he's a waste of good oxygen".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 12:56 Comments ||
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IN A SURPRISE STATEMENT BEFORE THE House Sub-committee on Asia and the Pacific on March 20, former US ambassador to Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlain, has described the involvement of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in opium trade over the last six years as âsubstantialâ. It was also the major source of funding for the Taliban, the Golden Crescent being home to more than half the worlds Heroin
Interestingly, the former US ambassador admitted that she never reported the information to Washington during her tenure as the US envoy to Pakistan. Her inability to report the matter during her tenure technically amounts to a dereliction of official responsibilities. Intriguingly, however, the sub-committee does not seem to have pressed this point. The ârevelationâ, therefore, raises more troubling questions than it answers, especially about the nature of US-Pakistan relations.
This is not the first time the ISI has been accused of trafficking in drugs. Stories about the agencyâs drug connections have previously appeared in the foreign and, also, Pakistani press. But most stories have relied on allegations and speculations rather than any conclusive evidence. The question of why Ambassador Chamberlain might have decided to âcome cleanâ on the issue at this point is important.
Is it an attempt to make a case to put pressure on Pakistan? Or did the ambassador not report the matter earlier because Washington was prepared to overlook narco-trafficking while extending covert support to the Taliban in pursuit of its then overriding strategic policy goals in Afghanistan: to contain Iran and exploit Central Asian oil reserves?
Opium cultivation and heroin production in Pakistanâs northwestern tribal belt and the adjoining areas of Afghanistan was an offshoot of the CIA-ISI led anti-Soviet resistance in Afghanistan. Heroin sales in the European and American markets, carried out through an elaborate network of drug czars, transport mafias and intelligence operatives helped the United States finance the decade-long âholy warâ in Afghanistan.
When the war in Afghanistan ended in 1989, the money and arms pipeline from the United States to Afghan mujahideen dried off. Stories connecting the ISI to drug trafficking allege that the agency, pinched for funds, was looking for alternative sources to sponsor the proxies in Afghanistan. The most damaging statement actually came from now exiled premier Nawaz Sharif. Mr Sharif has revealed that three months after his election as prime minister in November 1990, the ISI unveiled before him a blue print for financing covert foreign operations through drug deals. Sharif was reportedly assured that trustworthy third parties would carry out the whole operation, providing Islamabad with plausible deniability. According to Sharif, he ordered the operation to be called off.
The temptation to blame it all on the ISI, or ârogueâ elements within it, is likely to be high both within and outside Pakistan. But scapegoating the intelligence agency for what is essentially the armyâs larger institutional responsibility would be misplaced. Contrary to its deliberately created, and now widespread, image as a rogue agency, the ISI was and remains an integral part of the military hierarchy, typically operating under the army chiefâs command. Manned largely by career military officers, who are usually rotated in and out on a regular basis, it is merely an executing agency for the armyâs external and internal intelligence goals. An important point that is overlooked by many, and it kind of sheds new light on the involvement of the ISI in supporting Hek, the Taliban, the Kashmir Jihad and all the rest that is blamed on 'rogue' agents.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/02/2003 04:24 am ||
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#1
Now that the Taliban have been booted, the new fear is that the Afghans will start growing lots of poppies again. It's almost irresistable for the farmers; no other cash crop pays nearly as well. We should be buying off farmers if necessary, and making it clear to Karzai that our support evaporates if he can't get the opium situation under control.
And of courser, we need to squash the ISI like a bug.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2003 13:00 Comments ||
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#2
Reading this, following the "urging" of the State Department for our civilians to leave Pakistan, I'd say that Pakistan has finally made it onto the list of "Nations to be revived". Good place to stay away from for a few years. Pak has nukes, so the way we handle them would be different than how we're taking care of Iraq, and even more unique from what we're doing in Afghanistan. The list keeps getting longer... Looks like the ENTIRE Arab world will need a little "re-education" before we can live in peace in THIS nation.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 13:01 Comments ||
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#3
Like we always said growing up, "Cops got the best dope."
British journalists covering the war in Iraq have said their lives are being put at risk because of a decision by the British Ministry of Defence to hinder rather than help correspondents who are not attached to its units. In some cases, reporters who have made their own way into the country are being forced to sleep in their vehicles in still unsafe streets rather than allowed to park in some of the army bases, air strips and ports that the invading forces have seized. "My job is to make your lives as difficult as possible. You will get not help whatsoever," a senior army spokesman allegedly told one group of journalists.
Life's tough, ain't it? Why should the military go out of their way to take these guys in, when they might have other things to concentrate on? If you're going to drop in for dinner unannounced, at least bring a bottle of wine.
#2
"free-roaming journalists"
I rather like that; conjures images of a mindless scavenger pack despoiling the countryside, trampling gardens, and sending all other creatures fleeing in terror before its brutish quest for decaying bathos and recycled Vietnam imagery.
#3
Wow. The gall of these twits - "I came over even though I was told I would get no assistance, and I'm really cheesed that you won't protect my whiny hinder holster and feed me and give me a little reassurance that you'll remove my chestnuts from the fire when they start roasting, and WHERE'S THE LOVE?!"
They are outgunned, outclassed and have almost no air defenses, yet the Iraqi armed forces continue to fight the worldâs most powerful military force. Although the tide of battle has always been on the side of the coalition, the Iraqis have not been defeated in an often-cited âcakewalk.â Indeed, they have had some battlefield successes.
Ummm... No battlefield successes I can think of. Holding out in Basra, Nasiriyah, and Najaf, but not on the battlefield....
THE IRAQI armed forces, severely battered during the first Gulf War, were able to reform themselves fairly quickly into an effective fighting force. This was due to the fact that most of the destruction of the Iraqi military at the hands of the 1991 coalition was focused on regular army units rather than Saddam Husseinâs better equipped and trained Republican Guard... This "think piece" stinks, and must have been written 6 weeks ago...
More important than the reorganization of the Iraqi armed forces and the development of new missile systems following the 1991 war was the adoption of new tactics aimed at American ground forces, including their supply lines, judged to be the most vulnerable piece of the American war machine... Yup, brung the 3ID to its knees... and the genius concludes
"Now, lookee here, Mahmoud. Here's the plan: we're gonna fall apart and let these here Merkins outrun their supply lines. Then you and the boyz, you sneaks up on 'em from behind and explode!"
"Duh! Hokay, boss!"
... As American forces poured across the border from Kuwait, Iraqi forces did not try to take on American armored units in the field. Instead, they melted back into the cities, having learned the lessons of 1991 perhaps better than the Americans did. Dunno about you, but I'm surrendering to the next T-72 I see in San Diego.
Posted by: Mark IV ||
04/02/2003 06:29 pm ||
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More important than the reorganization of the Iraqi armed forces and the development of new missile systems following the 1991 war was the adoption of new tactics aimed at American ground forces, including their supply lines, judged to be the most vulnerable piece of the American war machine...
Translation: Supply convoys aren't staffed with combat troops of the character of actual fighting units, so that's what the Iraqi armed forces (or what passes for them) will go after.
#2
I chopped this baby down for brevity, it gets even better: Based on their successes in the use of ballistic missiles, specifically the modified Scud, or Al-Hussein, against Saudi Arabia and Israel, the Iraqis embarked on a missile development program that technically kept them in compliance with U.N. restrictions.
Now there was a good use of their time, and look what a runaway success the missile program has been for them this time around, with all those "lessons learned"...
Posted by: Mark IV ||
04/02/2003 18:56 Comments ||
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Dear God... what a load of nonsense. I realize this has been a long, long war (in another half hour, it'll be entering its third week) and I may have forgotten parts of it by now, but has anything gone Saddam's way so far at anything above squad or platoon level?
This sounds like it must have been written weekend before last, amidst all the hand-wringing over the first speed-bump.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/02/2003 19:41 Comments ||
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#4
Good God.. is there no limit to the ludicrously biased reporting at CNN and MSNBC? This is simply beyond belief.
#5
What bugs me about all this reportage on the Iraqi Army being Soviet equipped with Soviet tactics and doctrine, I have yet to read about the Iraqi Army reacting to this invasion using any Soviet doctrine and tactics. I saw one of Fox News' advisors/general tell the audience the Iraqis use Soviet doctrine. Where, for chrisrssake?
#6
I swear to Koresh this is the most idiotic echo chamber on the web. Because of the ridiculously incompetant diplomacy of this administration and their rosily ignorant strategic planning, we have already lost the political battle. All we can do now is quell the unrest and prepare for three generations of occupation. 2004 can't come soon enough. I only hope there will be something left to salvage from this catastrophe.
#7
Also included in the article, describing GWI,
"Force-on-force engagements and open desert fighting resulted in destruction of entire units due to the overwhelming superiority of the U.S.-led coalitionâs equipment, technology, tactics, training and logistics support."
Hmmmmm. Yep, that's what's happening in Iraq as we speak. So what have they learned? Not to mention the fact that the guy writing that statement above left out "well-trained, well-equipped, knowledgable, experienced soldiers". The only thing that's 'changed' is sadsack's use of "terror" squadies, who, once they've exposed their 'tactics', have been rounded up or crushed.
It's a good thing the 'author' of this piece of slime isn't 'embedded', or he'd be 'enbalmed'.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 20:52 Comments ||
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President Saddam Hussein has vowed in a letter that Iraqi forces will stop U.S.-led invaders advancing on Baghdad and will drive them out of Iraq, state television reported on Thursday. "Damn them, and by God, there will be thousands of soldiers fighting for what is right, virtue and faith in defense of the land of prophets and holy places, of belief and devotion," it quoted Saddam as writing in a letter to his niece on April 1.
That was April Fools' Day...
"They (Iraqi soldiers) will not let them reach Baghdad. They will cripple them until they return to their countries defeated, leaving our country for its people," Saddam was quoted as telling his niece, Thurayyah Barzan. If he's not dead, you'd think he'd have more pressing issues than the need to write a letter to his niece.
SADDAM: "I think I'll go for a walk."
COALITION: "You're not fooling anyone, you know."
#1
He still has the loyalty of his inner circle, those whose very survival depends on his continuing in power: Fisk, Pilger, Arnett, Al Guardian, Al Mirror, and the San Francisco Carbuncle.
#4
I wonder who is in Saddam's "Fuhrer bunker" writing this crap? Same mentality - talking about troops he no longer has, and offensives that are no longer possible, etc.
FYI 15 miles is an important distance: at that point, field artillery can range over the entire city. Very accurate - much more than aircraft. And the explosive load can be adjusted to destroy only what we want to destroy. Plus it reacts a hell of a lot faster: look up "counter battery" artillery if you want to learn more - its something the US Army has been the best in the world at since WW2.
It bascially can rubble any building without endangering a pilot or tearing up anthing except what it is supposed to, with less chance of n error than an aircraft delivered munition.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2003 18:00 Comments ||
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#6
additional core Saddam supporters include Dennis Kuchinich, National Public Radio, Jacque Chirac, the faculty lounge of UC Berkeley, the Middle East Studies departments of about 20 'top' US universities, the Muslim Student Association, Pat Buchanan and Susan Surandon
Edited for length
The Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera announced Thursday that Iraqi officials are expelling one of its reporters from Baghdad and barring another from reporting. The station interrupted a regular newscast to announce that Iraq's Information Ministry had informed it that correspondent Diar al-Omari, an Iraqi, could no longer report for the network and that visiting correspondent Tayseer Allouni must leave the country. "Regretting this decision, Al-Jazeera has decided to suspend its live broadcast from Iraq and will only broadcast recorded items received from Iraq," the station announced. There was no immediate announcement of the move from Iraqi officials, who have taken similar actions against several Western networks, including CNN.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/02/2003 05:15 pm ||
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#1
Awww, it was fun while it lasted but the show is almost over. It really looked like they could have had something special going in Iraq but those damn coalition bombs and soldiers had to and ruin the whole thing.
Posted by: g wiz ||
04/02/2003 17:23 Comments ||
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#2
Guess they didn't want Al-Jazeera filming while the Republican Guard slipped into slacks and sport shirts.
#4
This is priceless.
I dunno.....maybe they think it's part of the Zionist controlled media?
Posted by: Former Russian Major ||
04/02/2003 19:14 Comments ||
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I think you're right. Even al-Jazeera's closer to freedom of the press than Sammy wants to go.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2003 19:30 Comments ||
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#6
My first thought is that Saddam (or whoever) doesn't want the outside world to see the Iraqis use gas. But another possibility is that things are getting shaky for the regime, and those in charge don't want the outside world seeing Baathist thugs murdering the citizens of Baghdad in order to keep them in line.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
04/02/2003 20:13 Comments ||
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#7
al Jazeera would never report Sammy whacking his own people, they only want to report the infidel Kaffir invaders "war crimes".
I am a little worried this is what anonymouse said: getting them out ahead of the gas....
it's gotta be coming soon and this weekend is forecast to be 46 degrees celcius in Baghdad - too hot for chem suits...
U.S. troops advanced to within 20 miles of Baghdad Wednesday in a multi-front assault that the coalition said destroyed much of the Iraqi capital's defensive force. Army units from the 3rd Infantry Division pushed past the city of Karbala after heavy fighting overnight and moved through fertile agricultural hinterlands to a point about 19 miles outside the city. Marines advancing from the southeast "destroyed" the Republican Guard's Baghdad Division near the town of Al Kut, Brooks said. They then crossed the Tigris River, 60 miles from Baghdad, and advanced to within 25 miles. The Marine vanguard found defensive positions abandoned, the ground littered with Iraqi military uniforms. There was no incoming artillery, and the light resistance raised commanders' fears of potential chemical weapons attacks. 19 miles...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 03:46 pm ||
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i presume that why theyre moving so fast - harder to hit when youre moving, and closing with the enemy means that if you get slimed, he gets slimed too, and hopefully you're beter prepared.
#5
I'm not convinced they are ready to use WMD for now. Their tactics is to lure the troops into the city and use guerrilla tactics, shooting out of mosques and hospitals. Chemical weapons won't help them much, they are facing troops that are well protected against them. The Iraqi idea is to bog the enemy down until summer gets hot. And who knows: Saddam may already be in Syria.
#6
One scenario that I keep coming back to is that the Iraqis wait until the coalition troops are inside Baghdad, then threaten to use chemical weapons, thereby holding the entire population (5 million?) as hostage against further advances. It plays off our greatest weakness (respect for human life) against Saddam's greatest strength (an absolute disregard for any life but his own). That's my most dangerous enemy course of action. My most likely (in order of likelihood) are that (1)the Iraqis just don't have any delivery systems left -- 95% plus have been destroyed by airstrikes and counter battery fire or (2) that our propaganda campaign, threatening to hang whoever uses WMD, has been _very_ effective.
#7
I'm beginning to wonder if there is enough command and control below the brigade unit level to even respond to commands to fire off HE rounds in the artillery units, much less chemical ones.
To get chems fired you have to
A) Have high-level command release
B) Have division commander release and orders
C) Have a Brigade/Regiment commander to give the command.
D) Have a battery commander accept the commnd
E) Have a battery capable of firing (training and right guns)
F) That a battery must also be supplied (troops and chem munitions)
G) Have proper targets within range
H) Have proper conditions for the weapons (wind, humidity, temperature, precipitation)
I) Have troops willing to carry out the battery commander's orders.
Any break in A to I results in a "no fire".
Given how the US has been pounding the "launch chems and become a war criminal" campaign, there is likely a lot of hesitancy at all command levels. Additionally, there has to be communications along the chain of command - which our bombing has taken out the ground component, and I would bet the jammers have all their freqs knocked off the air. Also, there is the practical matter of items E and F.
Also, US counterbattery gives an Iraqi artillery unit a lifespan of about 3 minutes from the time that enemy first fires to the time it is destroyed with MLRS delivered multipurpose munitions and tube counter-battery fair (our cannons shoot back).
The firefinder radars can track back an artillery launch, figure the firing units' coordinates, digitally deliver those coordinates to the counterbattery unit (Usually MLRS) and have the counterbattery fire launched on the enemy before the enemy artillery has impacted on friendly troops. I've seen those gun bunnies work - they have this stuff down cold - killing the other guy's artillery is their favorite mission.
Given that, there are probably very few field artillery units left in the Iraqi army that are operational.
Any chemical attack will likely only be 3-4 tubes, and only 1 volley (after which those crews and guns are dead). Not to minimize it, but thats not very much chemical agent on target, can simply be avoided.
So thats probably why we have noot seen chem warfare started - there are tons of things against it, and very little for it aside from blind, suicidal fanaticism that must be present fromthe top to bottom of the entire chain of command.
A little airborne, a little light, a little mech. A classic example of the Army's very successful program to make sure its officers don't get too good at anything in particular. I just came off a tour in support of Operation Noble Eagle. I'm back at my civilian job where I once had the responsibilities of a battalion commander but now have the responsibilities of a senior staff captain. Needless to say, I'm pretty bored and have lot's of time to screw off on the internet. 98C, that's a Signals Analyst Linguist???
SADDAM NOTE: Anne Garrells of NPR, one of the two remaining American reporters in Baghdad, noted this morning that Iraqi officials at press events have abandoned the formalistic obsequiousness with which they refer to Saddam. Till this weekend, every other Iraqi comment was Saddam this, our great leader that. Garrells just attended an Iraqi government press conference at which Saddam was never mentioned. To Best-Laid Plans it feels ever more significant that it's been twelve days since the "decapitation" attack and there has been no public image of Saddam speaking about any fact that has become known since then.
#1
Given that the Iraqis monitor all of the journalists' transmissions out of the country, it'll be interesting to see/hear their response to Garrells' report. Boot her out? Try to refute the conclusion? Start being obsequious again? Do nothing different at all? Watch and see...
#2
Well I'll be. Maybe they've finally given up any pretense that he still lives. One diligently hopes his corpse is busily feeding various types of insects and worms.
#3
If this was Survivor, I think Anne is very close to getting voted off the tribe. Assuming Arnett is the other one, do you think he can win a personalized J-Dam?
#4
I suspected Sodom was on life support in a bunker, too paranoid to see anyone except maybe his monster sons. Now that his bodyguard is looking for work, I think that first bombing was a BULLSEYE.
#5
I still think Uday is toe-tagged. Maybe (knock on wood) all three of them...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2003 20:30 Comments ||
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agreed Fred. If the intel was right - and it looks like it was, they might have scored a three-fer with that large a hit. What possible reason could Saddam have for not getting on TV to rally the troops? Other than that terrible skin decomposition thing going on? I hope we take Chem Ali alive though...let the Kurds have him to play with....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2003 21:09 Comments ||
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Coalition troops have taken a giant food warehouse complex near Basra previously under the control of Iraq's Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary force. The warehouse is stocked with hundreds of tons of food and had been used as a distribution center under the U.N. oil-for-food program. Also found were a cache of weapons and documentation that may help in the distribution of the supplies. What makes me think Sammy and Co. weren't handing out those groceries to a hungry and grateful populace?
U.S. Special Forces and British troops Wednesday entered the huge complex, located on the outskirts of Basra, northwest of the center of Iraq's second-largest city. Troops got to the center by pushing across bridges over a canal west of Basra. The facility had been controlled by the paramilitaries. Inside the facility, soldiers conducted a room-by-room search and found several hundred tons of food. Also found were large quantities of cash, weapons and documents relating to the entire food distribution system. The coalition hopes the material will help alleviate the food shortage problems if and when they take control of Basra. British troops are tightening the ring around Basra in a slow move into the city. The British are also building a back road to the food distribution center that will enable them to bypass roads on the outskirts of the city. Meanwhile the battle continues against "venomous" resistance from Iraqi fighters in the city. For two weeks, the British forces have been consolidating on the western flank of Basra and have been grouping for the past few days on the south. Basra seems to be giving more problems than anyplace else in Iraq at the moment...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 02:29 pm ||
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"Also found were large quantities of cash, weapons and documents relating to the entire food distribution system."
Wonder if any of these documents are in French?
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 15:25 Comments ||
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CNN 1:26 PM EST
U.S. ground forces closed in south of Baghdad on multiple fronts Wednesday after battling Republican Guard troops protecting key routes to the Iraqi capital, military officials said. As night fell in the region, the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division was pushing north after seizing the city of Karbala, while Marines moved up from Kut and coalition warplanes were pounding Iraqi positions in northern Iraq, where Kurdish fighters were reporting gains.
Elements of the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry â the lead force of the 3rd Infantry â had advanced to within 25 miles of Baghdad, said CNN's Walter Rodgers, who is embedded with the unit. That report was cleared by 7th Cavalry officials. Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division fought and defeated troops from the Republican Guard's Medina Division earlier Wednesday at Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad, U.S. Army officers said. "It's a very quick-moving, very fluid battle," said Capt. Brian McCort, the pilot of an Apache helicopter gunship. "The armor and mechanized infantry and artillery pieces on the ground are moving at rapid speeds." The 3rd Infantry's 1st and 3rd Brigades took Karbala with little effort, Army sources told Rodgers. The 1st Brigade faced only a few tanks and some mortars as it moved through town. The 3rd Brigade came in behind the 1st to secure the city. Report on the radio a few minutes ago said there haven't been any casualties reporting in the past 24 hours. Wotta job!...
To the east, U.S. Marines faced little resistance as they moved northward in "bumper to bumper" traffic, CNN's Martin Savidge reported. Marines took a key bridge near Kut, about 100 miles east of Karbala, and crossed the Tigris River after a bloody battle with Republican Guard troops. In a briefing Wednesday afternoon, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said the Republican Guard Baghdad Division in Kut and the Medina Division were no longer "credible forces." Sporadic fighting continued along the route of the U.S. advance.
In Najaf, south of Karbala, Army officers said Iraqi soldiers have taken over the gilded dome of the Tomb of Ali, a landmark venerated by Shiite Muslims as the burial site of the prophet Muhammad's son-in-law. U.S. forces have avoided firing on the mosque, Brooks said.
In northern Iraq, coalition airstrikes targeted Iraqi positions outside the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. CNN's Brent Sadler called it a "ferocious bombardment" with "heavy explosions." Kurdish forces have taken over Iraqi troop positions and are within 15 miles of Kirkuk.
After heavy coalition bombing, Iraqi troops have disappeared from a ridge line close to Kalak, about 27 miles to the east of Mosul and on the main road between that city and Erbil, residents said. It was unclear if the forces had been ordered to pull back, or if they had fled the fighting.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 02:01 pm ||
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#1
As an aside, I have been thinking about this and as I have seen no one make mention of it I will. The 3rd of the 7th is descended from the 7th Cavalry of General Custer fame.
Check out the unit history at
http://www.us7thcavalry.com/7-cav-3.htm
It makes for some interesting reading.
Lots of history there.
Posted by: Michael ||
04/02/2003 14:30 Comments ||
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#2
I believe also the unit featured in the movie and book "we were soldiers then and young"...
#3
Can anybody answer about whether we sure about Karbala being taken in the sense that we have what we need and bypassed the rest or do we control the whole city?
#4
Im pretty sure theyve bypassed Karbala, and Kut as well. Only cities we've really entered are Nassariya, and Najaf, in both cases because essential roads/bridges are inside the cities.
A hotel in Basra being used as a base by al-Jazeera's team of correspondents in the city was shelled this morning, the Arabic TV news channel has claimed. The Basra Sheraton, whose only guests are al-Jazeera journalists, received four direct hits this morning during a heavy artillery bombardment, according to the Qatar-based broadcaster. No casualties were reported in the incident, but al-Jazeera said it would be writing to the Pentagon again to provide full details of the location of all its journalists and bureaux in Iraq. "Dear al-Jazeera, we received your letter of 2 April 2003 detailing your positions. We forwarded it to the targeting cell at CENTCOM. They confirm that it matches what they have on file. Have a nice day."
The shelling of the Basra Sheraton mirrors a similar incident during the Afghan war, when al-Jazeera accused the US military of deliberately targeting its Kabul office, despite having told the Americans where its reporters were based. In November 2001 al-Jazeera's base in the Afghan capital was destroyed by a US bomb that also damaged the nearby BBC office. A twofer!
At the time the Pentagon denied it had deliberately targeted al-Jazeera, but said it could not explain why the Kabul office was hit. You would think they'd take the hint.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 01:29 pm ||
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al-Jazeera said it would be writing to the Pentagon again to provide full details of the location of all its journalists and bureaux in Iraq.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said a third of Iraq's armed forces have engaged in battle with the U.S.-led invasion forces so far. Brilliant! The other two thirds are sneaking up behind us, via Ecuador...
Iraq will be victorious against the U.S. and British invaders, Saddam vowed in a message read out in his name on Iraqi satellite TV on Wednesday, April 2, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). Still hasn't come out, huh? Is it the weather? Wonder if he's troubled by rheumatizz these days? Or rigor mortis?
In his new message to the Iraqi people, his second in days, Saddam ordered his people to "fight" the enemy. He pledged that "victory, thank God, is (near). We have only deployed a third of our army, or even less than a third." "Maybe only a sixth. Or a ninth..."
"Fight them ... God will make you victorious. They are criminals, aggressors," Saddam said. "The opportunity is there today to defend religion, honor and principles in the face of the invaders," he said in his message, dated April 1 and read out by a presenter in military uniform. "They're ugly, and we don't like them. Do we?"
The speech was greeted by a series of explosions shaking Baghdad during the morning as the southern, western and northwestern outskirts came under new waves of bombing. "Hey! Couldja keep it down? We're givin' a victory speech here, dammit!"
On Tuesday, April 1, Saddam called for Jihad and again promised victory, in a speech delivered on Iraqi television by Information Minister Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf. The latest call, the presenter said, was issued to salute the Iraqi armed resistance, especially near Nasiriyah, which lies on the road to Baghdad in southern Iraq. "Our family in Iraq and our courageous armed forces have been confronting the aggressions for the past 12 years," Saddam said. "You are fighting them and have held your ground all this time, inflicting, especially the 11th army, losses on the outskirts of Nasiriyah," he added.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 12:57 pm ||
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Could the call for "Jihad" have been mistaken for an April Fools joke?
#5
"The opportunity is there today to defend religion, honor and principles in the face of the invaders. You go do that. I'll be in St. Tropez, on the beach, ah . . . recruiting reinforcements, yeah, that's it."
Posted by: Mike ||
04/02/2003 13:26 Comments ||
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#6
" ...but the other 2/3rds all stared at the Ark when Uday opened it and they all melted. So that's a tough break right off the bat."
#7
whoever wrote the above is not far off, but drawing the wrong conclusions. Using only 1/3 of your force, while coalition employs ALL its forces, shows that due to your loss of command and control, and coalition control of the air, you can't concentrate your forces. The regime
is sending its troops in piecemeal, to be destroyed. Its most unlikely that the remaining 2/3rds can be concentrated either - most are held down in the north, or near Amara on the Tigris. So it is now clear that the regime cant win outside urban areas, it is slowly losing in the urban areas of the south. Its only chance now (other than WMD) is the "battle of Baghdad" - and Id say its chances in that battle look a lot worse today then they did 3 days ago.
#8
The speech was greeted by a series of explosions shaking Baghdad during the morning as the southern, western and northwestern outskirts came under new waves of bombing.
"Hey! Couldja keep it down? We're givin' a victory speech here, dammit!"
#9
Wasn't Sammy's 11th Army more or lest destroyed by day five? I can't remember - the days all seem the same: Bomb Baghdad, destroy an army, infiltrate a city, blow up a Baath party headquarters - it kinda gets monotonous after a bit...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 18:42 Comments ||
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#10
Still hasn't come out, huh? Is it the weather? Wonder if he's troubled by rheumatizz these days? Or rigor mortis?
An Iraqi military spokesman on Wednesday, April 2, repudiated claims about the destruction of the Baghdad division of the elite Republican Guard, as propagated by the U.S. Central Command. "These allegations have no foundation and are part of the hostile campaign against Iraq," the spokesman told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "Nope. Nope. Never happened. Nope."
"To the contrary, the Baghdad Republican Guard division maintains its cohesion and has a morale of steel. It has not suffered any losses and is ready to confront the enemy and destroy it," he averred. "That was somebody else you slaughtered without taking any casualties of your own..."
Commenting on the report, Gen. Mohammed Ali Belal, commanding officer of the Egyptian troops during the 1991 Desert Storm, told Al-Jazeera satellite channel that there is no Republican Guard units around or outside Baghdad. "The (U.S.) claims are mere liesâŠThere are only Iraqi reconnaissance patrols outside Baghdad," he said. "These advancing units are not from the Republican GuardâŠThe U.S. only wants to lower the morale of the Republican Guard and the Iraqi fighters," averred the war expert. He said "Egyptian general" and "war expert" in the same sentence. Then his lips fell off.
Earlier in the day, a senior U.S. commander alleged American invading troops destroyed the fortification of the Republican Guard, asserting that they were pointing a "dagger" at the heart of Iraqi President Saddam Husseinâs regime. "The Baghdad Division has been destroyed. The First Marine Expeditionary Force attacked the Baghdad Division near the town of Al-Kut and has crossed the Tigris River," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told a press briefing. "If it wasn't the Baghdad Division, whoever was there got run over..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 12:30 pm ||
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"That was somebody else you slaughtered without taking any casualties of your own..."
It was the women, children, puppies and baby ducks⢠of course.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2003 13:05 Comments ||
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The U.S. only wants to lower the morale of the Republican Guard and the Iraqi fighters
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammad Saeed al-Sahaf said in Baghdad Wednesday that the US and British planes had struck mosques in religious city of Najaf. Al-Sahaf told a press conference that "aggressive" forces were screeching low over holy sites in Najaf and Karbala in an attempt to insult holy Imams. He said after their pullout from Najaf and Karbala on Tuesday night, the invading forces' planes are now flying low around tombs of Imam Ali (AS), Imam Hossein (AS) and Hazrat Abbas (AS). He added that the planes are flying in a low altitude to provoke public sentiments and insult people. Or maybe to shoot up Baathists...
He claimed that Iraqi forces had on Tuesday night forced enemy out of Najaf and Karbala to deserts. The Miniter said coalition airstrikes on residential areas Tuesday night claimed lives of a number of civilians. He said Tuesday night air raids on provinces of Baghdad, Niniveh, Babylon, Muthana and Salaheddin left about 178 injured and 24 others killed. Moreover, al-Sahaf said the US and British forces had struck a historical monument, dating back to Summerian era.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 11:14 am ||
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Come to think of it. Airplanes have been flying insultingly low around my office all morning.
#2
Now matter how hard I scrub, I still feel dirty after a low flying plane buzzes my house.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/02/2003 12:01 Comments ||
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Wait a minute. This can't be right. How the heck did we get to Karbala? I thought we were still bogged down near Umm Qasr and our planes were getting shot down at a rate of 50 a day.
#4
Anything else the Iraqui disInformation officer needs to tell us? Perhaps that there are no Ba'ath HQ in any of the mosques or residences? The Fedayeen do not exist? Iraq has NO ties to Al-Queda? That US Forces are picking up Iraqui babies and octogenarians (sp?) and strapping them to the outside of their F-14's and other assorted planes for low-flying insults? "Nyah-Nyah!"
The coalition aircraft heavily bombarded Iraqi army's positions on demarcation line in Garmian region north of Iraq in two phases for an hour early Wednesday, forcing Iraqis to flee. A Kurdish official Azad Jondiani told IRNA on Wednesday that the air raids, heaviest since the start of the war on Thursday, March 20, have inflicted great damage and casualty on the Iraqi side but no detailed report is yet available. The Iraqi positions had on Tuesday too been targeted by the coalition forces.
FOLLOWUP, also from IRNA...
US and British aircraft heavily bombarded Iraqi positions north of the country on Wednesday, compelling Iraqis to withdraw as well as enabling coalition forces to advance towards Kirkuk and Mosul. An IRNA correspondent north of Iraq says US B52s and British warplanes dropped bombs on positions of Iraqi forces between the cities of Dahuk and Mosul, forcing them to pull back and abandon positions. Peshmargas, affiliated to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), took the positions of Iraqis in the area as a result. Based on a related report, 25 trailers, loaded with equipment and munitions for US forces, headed for Harir, where the US forces are deployed, via Zakhu. Fierce battle has been underway between Kurdish and Iraqi forces in the region since the start of the Iraq war nearly two weeks ago.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 11:00 am ||
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"Based on a related report, 25 trailers, loaded with equipment and munitions for US forces, headed for Harir, where the US forces are deployed, via Zakhu."
Zakhu (Zakho) is a Kurdish controlled town on the border with Turkey. Looks like that deal with Turkey to supply our troops via a overland route may already be working.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 11:57 Comments ||
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Not far from Baghdad, the Marines transformed one of Saddam's modern highways into a runway for massive C-130 cargo planes that have already started landing there. And they did it all in 24 hours. The newly created 3,500-foot landing strip in the midst of marshy terrain is perfect for delivering fresh ammo, fuel, food and even Rice Krispies Treats to U.S. forces pushing north to the capital. "This is really going to accelerate our tempo," predicted Lt. Col. John Broadmeadow of the 1st Division. "This gives a lot more flexibility to bring the war forward."
The makeshift airstrip was built to handle the C-130 â which has proven to be the best way to move large quantities of supplies a long distance in a short time. Trucks have been breaking down in the sand and on Iraq's substandard roads, and helicopters can carry only a limited amount of supplies. To create the strip, the Marines had to "shave" the highway of all obstructions. That meant clearing away everything from 3-feet-high median dividers to towering 30-foot lamp posts, said Col. John Pomfret, commander of Combat Support Services Group 11, which oversaw the project. Early yesterday morning, a special military bulldozer set to work ripping up the lampposts, small trees and essentially smoothing out everything else standing more than an inch off the ground. Once the highway was as smooth as the head of a Marine recruit, the ground crew went to work placing pink neon markers along the center line and hooking up pumps and inflatable fuel pods. With the first C-130 scheduled to land, Cobra helicopter gunships circled the area barely 50 feet off the ground, on the prowl for any Iraqis intent on blowing up the fuel-laden plane with a shoulder-fired rocket. Other troops patrolled the area on high alert, aware of the risks involved in bringing such a plane deep into a battle zone where firefights are common.
Then, late yesterday afternoon, pilot Mark Graham, who had taken off from a base in Kuwait in his C-130, touched down with a load of fuel. He flew one low pass over the runway before circling back and making a perfect landing. After about 25 minutes, the 8,000 gallons of fuel were pumped out and he prepared for takeoff. Graham, whose radio call sign is "Cracker," said he'd never done a landing quite like it, but called it "a piece of cake." "Coming in was strange, but after that it was just like any other landing," said Graham, a reservist attached to Marine Aerial Refueler/Transport Squadron 452 in upstate Newburgh. Now, what was that about supply problems?
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 10:57 am ||
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I am amazed, only a 3500 ft runway! Damned, have we gots us some capabilities.
#2
You only need a 7,000 foot runway for attack and fighter jets. We had a long runway in Nam Phong, Thailand (Marine Air Group 15) in '72-73. One day the air traffic controllers, who worked out of tents about halfway down the runway, kept an Air Force C-5 waiting for 15 minutes before authorizing takeoff. In retaliation, the C-5 stayed on the runway until near the air traffic control tents, and then lifted off, with the resulting air blowing all the tents down. One lesson learned from this is that our transport planes, including big ones like the C-5, don't need a lot of runway.
#3
Your're coming in heavy and going out light, so 3500 ft is OK with a load and reversing the props for braking. It isn't FAA approved (they want 5000 ft) but this is wartime. We did alot of mine development support in NW alaska using these birds. Our motto was, Herc it--don't jerk it! Hats off to all the team!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/02/2003 15:15 Comments ||
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A fully loaded C-130 can take off in 2800 feet at sea level, 4500 feet at 6000 feet above sea level. Landing is between 3000 and 3500 feet.
Really don't need to land the bird, if you use a Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System drop, just come over some smooth, empty ground at 220Kt, open the back tailgate, and pop the lead chute. The six pallets get jerked off, one at a time, and slide forward to a stop. Not very good for fragile material, but anything rugged is no problem.
We had some De Haviland C-7 Caribou in Vietnam that could take off fully loaded (not a lot, but it pulled my young a$$ out) in less than 1700 feet.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 18:54 Comments ||
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There is one thing that has had me wondering the past few days. If the call is going out for Jihad and Allah is on their side( and I don't think that God is really on anybodies side )WHY ARE ALL OF THESE FREAKING COUNTRIES SUCH GO****N CRAPHOLES. For nations blessed with an aboundance of natural resources they sure have made a mess of themselves. Even though they played their political card for home consumption I say we let Mexico administer Iraq.
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire ||
04/02/2003 23:01 Comments ||
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The Iraqi regime has transferred its military bases and anti-air pads in Mosul to the city's mosques and holy sites, it was announced on Wednesday. Muhammed Haji Mahmoud, Secretary General of the Iraqi Kurdistan Socialist Party told IRNA correspondent that the decision is aimed at making the US and British forces attack the Muslim holy sites. A missile launched by the Iraqi army fell on a village in the vicinity of Mosul on Tuesday but it did not explode, he added. The Baghdad regime also attacked two villages near the city of Arbil on Tuesday inflicting great damage on the defenseless villagers, Mahmoud further announced. The Iraqi army artillery also attacked regions in southern Arbil yesterday, killing or wounding a large number of civilians there, he said. Meanwhile, every day dozens of Iraqi militarymen flee the army and surrender to the forces of the Iraqi Kurdistan Socialist Party. I didn't realize the Iraqis were within artillery range of Arbil. The move of command posts to mosques parallels what's going on in the south, though.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 10:59 am ||
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Iraqi military centers transferred to (former) holy sites (which are now legitimate military targets).
Iraq managed early Wednesday to draw aggressive British forces out of certain parts of Shia dominant city of Basra. IRNA correspondents in western border city of Shalamcheh say British forces attempted to move into Basra, the second major Iraqi city, both on western and southwestern fronts early Wednesday. Basra has reportedly been passing toughest days over the past few days for resisting British aggressive forces. The US war planes are said to have been dropping bombs or launching missiles on positions of the Iraqi forces to clear the way for their British mates in the operations. British forces wait expedition of fresh reservists into the region to start yet stronger and more decisive operations against Iraqis on the hope to capture Basra. Tanumeh township south of Basra has over the past 14 days been captured or lost by the enemy and is prone to collapse. Fierce battle goes on in two major parts of Basra, namely Tanumeh and Abulkhasib. Iraqi forces claim to have inflicted heavy casualties on the aggressive coalition on Tuesday. Iraqis say they killed 500 British forces in Basra on Tuesday, inflicting heavy damage on them. Somehow I doubt the accuracy of that 500 killed figure...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 10:26 am ||
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The United States is preparing a government with 23 ministries, each headed by an American, to rule Iraq once President Saddam Hussein steps down, The Guardian newspaper said on Tuesday. Areas of Iraq declared "liberated" by US commander General Tommy Franks will be transferred to the temporary government, which will be under the overall control of former US general, Jay Garner, appointed to head a military occupation of Iraq. In anticipation of the Baghdad regime's fall, members of this interim government have begun arriving in Kuwait. Under the plan, each of the new government's ministries would have four Iraqi advisers appointed by Washington. Decisions on the government's composition appeared to be entirely in US hands, particularly those of deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. This has annoyed Garner, who is officially in charge but who has had to accept a number of Iraqis favoured by Wolfowitz in advisory roles. This will also annoy the bejabbers out of the Frenchies, the EU in general, and the UN, all of whom think they should be in charge.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 10:04 am ||
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U.S. B-52 bombers dropped six new precision-guided 1,000-pound (454 kg) "cluster" bombs on an Iraqi tank column defending Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. The U.S. Central Command's air component command said the CBU-105 bombs, which each dispense a number of armor-destroying bomblets, were dropped on Tuesday for the first time ever "to stop an Iraqi tank column from continuing its route" toward American troops fighting the Iraqi Republican Guards. The CBU-105 is the new version that corrects for wind drift. It's full of these little jewels: The Sensor Fuzed Weapon [SFW] is an unpowered, top attack, wide area, cluster munition, designed to achieve multiple kills per aircraft pass against enemy armor and support vehicles. After release, the TMD opens and dispenses the ten submunitions which are parachute stabilized. Each of the 10 BLU-108/B submunitions contains four armor-penetrating projectiles with infrared sensors to detect armored targets. At a preset altitude sensed by a radar altimeter, a rocket motor fires to spin the submunition and initiate an ascent. The submunition then releases its four projectiles, which are lofted over the target area. The projectile's sensor detects a vehicle's infrared signature, and an explosively formed penetrator fires at the heat source. If no target is detected after a period of time, the projectiles automatically after a preset time interval, causing damage to material and personnel. The left, of course, is already screaming about these horrible weapons.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 09:58 am ||
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Let lefty scream. In fact, add napalm to the SFW's and really get them screaming.
#2
Reactionary wife-beaters Mennonites and matriarchal power-cultists Quakers in particular have an organized campaign to outlaw cluster bombs. This depends crucially on a variety of half-truths, mythical assumptions, and outright lies about the nature of these weapons. They also support a campaign to ban aerial bombing in general, but go out of their way to justify Palestinian and other suicide bombers. To qualify as brutal and unlawful to these people, it seems only that a weapon must provide a decisive advantage against terrorist and totalitarian revolutionary forces.
#5
Dreadnought - Don't forget the sharp stick. Do you know how many people are injured by sharp sticks every year? It's terrible. Terrible. Something must be done...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2003 12:40 Comments ||
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and no running with scissors either
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2003 13:26 Comments ||
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Wadded up paper can also be quite injurious when hurled with sufficient force.
#8
These munitions aren't all that new. I remember reading about that type of weapon back in the late 80s, launched as a missle over advancing Soviet tank columns. The little submunitions are the size of tuna cans and have a little fin sticking out that makes them wobble as they spin and drop to the ground. The infrared scanner in the base thereby scans in an spiral pattern and fires at the first heat source it sees. The amazing part is how the projectile somehow forms itself form a lense shape to an arrow head shape by the heat and pressure of the detonation.
Posted by: John ||
04/02/2003 19:40 Comments ||
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BREAKING
The Turkish Government has agreed to give passage to the US to resupply its forces through Turkey's south-east border with Iraq. The agreement was announced in a joint news conference with visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. Speaking in Ankara, Mr Gul said providing supplies to US forces would not require the approval of parliament. This will help, freeing up airlift for other operations. Thanks, Murat.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 09:20 am ||
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More details: The United States reached agreement with Turkey today to upgrade Turkish support of American military actions in the war with Iraq by permitting use of Turkish territory to supply food, fuel and other necessities to American military forces operating in the northern Iraqi theater. Turkey also agreed formally for the first time to let American military planes in distress and American service personnel wounded in battle land in Turkish territory, although such help is reported to have occurred informally before now. Details relating to the exact nature of supplies for American forces in northern Iraq were withheld. It was unclear whether the supplies would include weapons, for instance.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 9:44 Comments ||
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There are signs that more & more entities over there are seeing the writing on the wall. Soon they will see the big picture.
#3
This should make Murat happy. Now the Turks are helping us commit "Genocide" against the Iraqi people. Those Turks just can't stand a "Genocide" happening that close to them with out getting a peace of the action. I wonder if Ali Bin-Murat Hussein will post articles acusing the Turds of "Genocide" too.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
04/02/2003 10:06 Comments ||
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I thought $8.5 billion in loan guarantees was a lot for just overflight rights. Now I'm beginning to see what we paid for.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2003 13:13 Comments ||
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Details on the agreement indicate aid does not include weapons or ammo. Also, some support had already been going on: On Wednesday, 27 trucks carrying 20 U.S. jeeps and food passed through Turkey and arrived in Irbil, in northern Iraq, according to sources there. The jeeps had mounts in the back for machine guns, but did not have the weapons.
The Turkish military said later Wednesday the passage of jeeps was not related to the new agreement. It said the military had allowed 204 jeeps to cross the border since last month and that they did not contain weapons.
Jeep = Hummers. That's handy, won't have to fly those in. Most likely trucks are OK too. Saves space on the airlift for stuff that goes boom.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 14:19 Comments ||
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Most important is that fuel can move in by land, thats the most bulky item, IIUC, for a heavy division.
Explosives sniffer dog Buster unearthed a hidden cache of arms from an enemy camp in the southern Iraqi village of Safwan writes Nick Parker of The Sun, in this shared report from the front line. The Springer Spaniel's find was followed by the arrest of 16 Saddam Hussein gunnies supporters. Brown-eyed Buster, who is five, took part in a raid launched by 200 troops. His handler, Sergeant Danny Morgan, 37, of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps said: "The soldiers had found nothing so I unleashed Buster and sent him in. The rule is that the dog always goes first in case there are booby traps and I was obviously concerned for him as he started his search. Within minutes he became excited in a particular area and I knew he'd discovered something. The Iraqis we spoke to had denied having any weapons. But Buster found their arms even though they'd hidden them in a wall cavity, covered it with a sheet of tin then pushed a wardrobe in front of it. I'm very proud of him." Buster's haul included AK47 assault rifles, a pistol, grenades, ammunition and bomb-making equipment. Suitcases full of cash, a suspected stash of heroin and crack cocaine and pro-Saddam Hussein Ba'ath Party literature were also discovered in the buildings used by the mafia-style gangs. Buster's a hero, Sgt. Danny's a hero, and a bunch of Baathists are shown up as cheap drugheads.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 09:14 am ||
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Good boy, Buster! There'll be LOTS of Milk Bones for ya when this is all over...now go sic 'em!
Posted by: Bent Pyramid ||
04/02/2003 11:14 Comments ||
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#2
Change Buster's name to Busted!
Posted by: Timmy the Wonder Dog ||
04/02/2003 11:33 Comments ||
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#3
Good dog!
The Brits brought the dogs and we brought the dolphins. Who needs the surrender monkeys?
Posted by: Former Russian Major ||
04/02/2003 19:52 Comments ||
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A Kurdish military source told United Press International Wednesday at least 27 Iraqi troops, including six officers, surrendered to Kurdish forces in north Iraq in the past 24 hours. The source from the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Masud Barzani, said the Iraqi troops turned themselves in to the pershmerga fighters near the region of Kalak on the road linking Erbil to Mosul, some 210 miles northwest of Baghdad. The source said among the surrendering troops were 21 soldiers and six officers, including a lieutenant colonel, belonging to the fifth infantry battalion of the Iraqi army. Kurdish forces who transported the Iraqi troops to a military camp near Erbil, also sent leaflets to troops and officers stationed in nearby positions, encouraging them to desert. One of the surrendering soldiers said Iraqi positions were heavily bombarded by U.S. and British warplanes in the past days, inflicting severe casualties, and that many troops were sleeping in the open to flee the shelling. An Iraqi officer aide said after being moved to Erbil that "the majority of soldiers preferred to surrender but feared the firing squads" led by Saddam Hussein's youngest son, Qusay. More afraid of their own leaders than the Kurds.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 08:58 am ||
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The other thing is that the The Kurds (at least so far)have been acting like a professional Army rather than an angry armed mob.
Posted by: Dave ||
04/02/2003 10:54 Comments ||
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A Muslim fundamentalist source claimed Wednesday that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network captured five coalition troops in Iraq. The source who requested anonymity told United Press International by telephone that the kidnapping of four U.S. troops and a British soldier, took place last Saturday in al-Zubair region of southern Iraq, close to the Kuwaiti border. He said the "kidnapped troops will be equally treated as al-Qaida prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay." He said al-Qaida will soon release a videotape of the captured soldiers and will ask to swap them with al-Qaida suspects being held by the United States. Now, tell me again about how there is no evidence of al-Qaida operating in Iraq?
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 08:54 am ||
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Indeed. It's all one war.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
04/02/2003 9:11 Comments ||
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He said the "kidnapped troops will be equally treated as al-Qaida prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay."
#4
Have we seen any evidence that this is actually true? I know a "Muslim fundamentalist" would never lie, as it would be an affront to the Prophet (Peace be upon him), but maybe he was misinformed.
Edited for length:
In the village of Biyara nestled in the mountains near the Iranian border in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, men were busy this weekend shaving their beards and smoking â reveling in their new freedom. A woman stood in the center of town and tore off her enveloping black abaya. She tossed her hair in the sun for a moment, smiling broadly, before donning a simple headscarf. At least 700 Ansar militants had established Taliban-like restrictions on about 30 villages here, forcing the local residents to practice a narrow interpretation of Islam that was alien to the moderate Muslim traditions practiced among most Kurds. "They are al Qaeda," said Commander Ghafur Darwish, sunning himself on a roof after his peshmerga soldiers retook control of Biyara. "Ansar was using Islam as a cover. They are terrorists." Ansar's leaders praised Osama bin Laden and sheltered his so-called mujahideen, or holy warriors, that were run out of Afghanistan last year, so it seemed only a matter of time before America took notice. Finally, the fight began late last week, and within days most of the Ansar fighters had fled to Iran or were killed. Some snuck across the border with the help of smugglers, but Iranian authorities, once thought to be Ansar's main benefactors, are now detaining more than 100, including four leaders, Kurdish officials say. That's good if true.
Wahab lost his house and two shops in the recent airstrikes, but says it was worth it to be rid of Ansar. "We thank God they are gone," he said. "Even having nothing is better than living with Ansar. Now we are free." For several years Ansar had fought to overthrow the secular Kurdish government via unsuccessful assassination attempts on its leaders and sometimes deadly artillery and mortar attacks on peshmerga soldiers. Their tactics were brutal â Kurdish soldiers who surrendered or were captured were summarily executed, their bodies mutilated and displayed on the Ansar Web site and videotapes, and left on the side of the road in warning. An Ansar member killed an Australian journalist two weeks ago in a suicide bombing attack, but most of their victims have been other Muslims.
Islamic scholars generally agree that both suicide attacks and war against other Muslims is forbidden under Islam. In fact, most of Ansar's precepts are unrecognizable to the average Muslim. Pilgrims from as far away as Turkey and Jordan had visited the graves of the Muslim leader Neqishbandi buried in Biyara 300 years ago. But the Ansar fighters considered such devotion to be apostasy, and paved over the graves with concrete under their new mosque.
Even after American and Kurdish agents swept the grounds, evidence remained in their Biyara headquarters that Ansar spent as much time killing as they did praying. Among the ruins of the mosque, scattered among torn pages of the Koran and broken turquoise tiles, were more sinister items â two rocket-propelled grenade launchers, green plastic canisters of gunpowder, detonators, and paraphernalia for underground operations: forged identity cards and spare license plates.
All across the territory once held by Ansar al-Islam, Kurds were busy reclaiming their religion. At Sergat, the site identified by Colin Powell as a chemical weapons and terrorist training facility, Kurdish soldiers spray-painted the initials for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan on the dome of a mosque. In the Biyara prison, others were gathering up green leather-bound Korans for their own use. Tariq Said Sadiq, 25, a peshmerga soldier, walked through the ruins of Ansar's mosque headquarters in disgust. "I graduated from an institute of Islamic law. These people were not Islamic, they were against Islamic principles. Islam is for peace, for health, for faith, not for killing." Wish more people felt like you do, Tariq.
Tariq is likely a Sufi. The Naqishbandi Sufi sect came in for severe disapproval by the bigots of Ansar. At one point, they actually dug up the graves of the founder of the International Naqshbandi Movement and moved the remains â presumably these are the ones paved over by the mosque. Ansar, and it's Qaeda father, are nothing but pure malevolence with a veneer of Islam that keeps getting thinner and thinner. I sure hope this bunch is all dead or jugged. But another bunch just like them should be popping up anytime now, in some other out-of-the-way region where they can pretend to be insignificant yokels, lord it over the "natives," and run and international terror operation. The press, by the way, hasn't a clue as to the value of destoying Ansar. Not a clue.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 08:12 am ||
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Here's a little piece from Newsday: A U.S. Special Forces commander said several dozen Ansar fighters have taken refuge in the mountain slopes near the Iranian border, with a striking view of the Halabjah Valley below.
"We still got a couple of them holed up in caves,â said the commander, who asked not to be named. "We got guards outside. They'll either come out, get blown up or starve to death.â
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 9:33 Comments ||
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Don't know if this is a new action or a repeat of previous reports. Suleimanyah, Iraq, Apr 2 (DPA) Kurdish forces today killed 24 Islamists belonging to the Ansar al-Islam group in northern Iraq, the KURD SAT television reported. Militias of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of Iraq's two main Kurdish groups, took three Islamists as prisoners of war, the report said. Amongst the PUK forces, one person was killed and four wounded during the clashes in the Hurman area, the report said.
It's good news anyway.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 15:46 Comments ||
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American forces, which crossed the Tigris River in the drive toward the Iraqi capital, destroyed the Baghdad Division of Iraq's Republican Guard, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday. U.S. forces had entered what U.S. commanders call a "red zone" near Baghdad, and Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks warned that it might be an area where the Iraqis would consider using chemical or other weapons of mass destruction. "There may be a trigger line where the regime deems (there is a) sufficient threat to use weapons of mass destruction," he said. "It's a conceptual line across which there may be a decision made by regime leaders." He said U.S. forces seized the strategic town of Kut and routed the Republican Guard division force that had been guarding the highway leading to Baghdad. "The Baghdad Division has been destroyed," Brooks said. Not degraded, not defeated, Destroyed!
He said that two other Republican Guard divisions had been engaged around the city of Karbala and that coalition forces had seized control of a dam on Lake al-Milh. Some analysts had feared the Iraqis would try to destroy the dam and trap U.S. forces with the resulting flood. "They're in serious trouble, and they remain in contact now with the most powerful force on Earth," Brooks said, referring to the other Republican Guard units. Soon to join the former Baghdad division.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 07:41 am ||
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This is all good news, and it's good to see it, but I'm getting more and more nervous now as the battle for Baghdad approaches. We know they've got WMD, and the time is nigh for them using it.
I don't want to be the spoil sport--I'm glad to read reports of the Iraqi civilians warming up to the US and British troops, and I'm glad to read the reports of the Rep. Gd. divisions getting hammered, but before I get too giddy I have to remember we're there because we know they've got WMD, and "use it or lose it" time is fast approaching.
Posted by: Dar ||
04/02/2003 9:59 Comments ||
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#3
Fox reports that Medina division now largely destroyed, focus shifting to Nida and hammurabi divisions.
#4
Maybe Im delusional and I hope some of you will help me realize that,but having a daughter over there I have followed this conflict almost exclusively on the net. The way the Iraqi tv is claiming victory is near, and considering they have made statements asking for other Arabs to come to Bagdad to be martyrs, and the fact they KNOW our troops have defenses against chemical warfare, and given the absolute bruality of the regime, has it occured to anyone except myself that the victory they are referring to is a nuclear one?
Obviously, one can't say without absolute certainty, but one has to think that if there was a nuclear ace-in-the-hole, it would have been played before this point.
This late in the game, command and control facilities have been wrecked, missile delivery systems have been targeted and systematically destroyed, and as you run out of territory, it grows more difficult to conceal any remaining assets.
Iraqi television has to claim victory is at hand because if the general populace becomes convinced that Saddaam is finished, the light poles will be decorated with many a Baath party official.
#6
It's my opinion that WMDs were not used up to this point because Saddam (or whoever's in charge now) did not want to risk the wrath of the rest of the world before seeing if his city-fighting and human-shield-taking tactics paid off. That being said, I thought his best time to use them was before the deadline expired (Mar. 19) when our troops were concentrated in Kuwait.
However, giving the total absence of the Iraqi air force and the progress of the Coalition, my suspicion is he's going to use what existing air power he has to deliver one last desperate attack--including chemical weapons--hoping that launching everything at once will temporarily overwhelm the Coalition air assets at that time long enough for them to get through.
This is just pure conjecture on my part. I just can not believe that Hussein's regime will go down without using every means at hand, and the absolute no-show of the Iraqi air force to date tells me something is brewing.
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg ||
04/02/2003 16:07 Comments ||
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How would Will Shakespeare give voice to Saddam? from M.E. Forum via AtlanticBlog
To bomb or not to bomb: that is the question:
Whether âtis nobler in the end to suffer
The threats and lies of outrageous madmen,
Or to take arms against a latent evil,
And by opposing depose him? To kill: to reap;
No more; and by a reap to say we prevent
The terror and the million possible deaths
That region seems heir to, âtis a reformation
Devoutly to be soug't. To kill, to reap;
To reap, perchance to glean: Ay, there's the rub;
For in our reap of death what gleanings may come
When we have scalpel'd off this human boil,
Must give us pause. There's the defect
That allowed the travesty of such a reign;
For what world would bear the quips and scoffs of slime,
The oppressive wrongs, the proud king's palaces,
Among throngs of unfed children, justice's delay.
The arrogance of this offal, and the wounds
For him his imprisoned population takes
When we ourselves might its terminus make
With a spare warhead? Why our leaders bear,
To try and speak with this soulless blight,
Save the dread of some worse arising,
The unreleas'd populace that once released
No containment remains, induces a chill,
And makes us work this lunatic we have
Than move to chaos we know not of?
Thus fear can make diplomats of us all;
And thus our former cheer of coalition
Is trickly'd sour from the stale cask of doubt,
And battle plans of fist and torrent
With this concern may set the goal aside,
And miss the call to action.
Jonathan Calt Harris, 2003
Posted by: kgb ||
04/02/2003 02:39 am ||
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A look at how the Baath Party manages to hang on within the encircled cities in the south of Iraq.
In conversations with bus drivers (at the Karkh bus station), families traveling to and from Baghdad and relatives who have stayed in contact by telephone, stories are recounted of isolated and fearful residents, dependent on dwindling government rations, terrified by relentless U.S. air assaults. In more candid moments, they complain of being trapped in the middle -- between a U.S. attack they fear will lead to an occupation and a brutal, unpopular government flashing an iron fist in the traditionally restive south. We need to be very careful in how we handle occupation. I lean pretty strongly in favor of a limited duration, with a clearly stated end date. Past that end date, we're gone.
Without exception, they insisted that the ruling Baath Party remains in unyielding control -- "at least 90 percent," in the words of one -- with thousands of cadres deployed with green uniforms and Kalashnikovs block by block, intersection by intersection to prevent the fall of cities such as Basra, Nasiriyah, Hilla and the sacred Shiite Muslim town of Karbala. The Royal Marines have emphasized targeting Baath party headquarters and leaders in Basra. Our own forces have picked up on that tactic as well. One good sign is that the locals are beginning to show a willingness to point out the Baathist officials.
"If you take your shoe off and throw it outside, it will land on one of the Baath Party guys," one relative told a traveler here. Tell you what, we'll try to throw something more effective than a shoe. Just give us a direction where to point it.
The conversations shed light on the loyalty of Shiites in southern Iraq to President Saddam Hussein. They provided insights, too, into the fragility of their fealty. Residents say the Baath Party's numbers in the southern cities burgeoned in the 1990s -- the $15 a month members received was one of the few sources of income in the miserably poor region. Their ranks have, in part, allowed the government to saturate the streets with an almost blanket control that has yet to show any fissures. For how long remains a question. "They didn't know they would have to fight a war," one relative said. When that control finally breaks down, the south will see a blood-letting of incredible proportions as the treachery and brutality of the Baath party is repaid. It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for US/UK forces to maintain control because of the relatively small size of our forces.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
04/02/2003 02:01 am ||
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#1
"When that control finally breaks down, the south will see a blood-letting of incredible proportions as the treachery and brutality of the Baath party is repaid. It will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for US/UK forces to maintain control because of the relatively small size of our forces."
Based upon our experience in Afghanistan of the thugs returning from the woodwork, that's a feature not a bug.
Posted by: Don ||
04/02/2003 9:23 Comments ||
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#2
We should just let them get it over with. At least we'll know most if not all of them are gone.
But, right out of the box we need to tell them the sooner they get their act together, the sooner we leave.
And the best revenge against your neighbors is living well. The Iraqis have the opportunity to do that with oil as their base. Just so long as they diversify and not rely on oil for their economy. Plus, it's going to drive the mullahs of Iran nuts.
In Umm Qasr, thirsty Iraqis celebrate their liberation, worry that Saddam will escape again, and plead with coalition forces to bring them water.
Umm Qasr, Iraq STANDING IN THE CENTER of Umm Qasr, a small group of American soldiers, accompanied by three Iraqi-American soldiers working with coalition forces, was quickly surrounded by Iraqi civilians. Many welcomed them. But one man, who bore a strong resemblance to Saddam Hussein, berated the American soldiers and their Iraqi colleagues. "You have destroyed our town," he said, addressing Ali, a member of the Free Iraqi Forces. "You have destroyed my property. Americans and British go home. No one wants you here. We never had these problems with Saddam Hussein."
His rant drew loud and violent protests from the dozens of Iraqis gathered around us. Without warning, a bearded, middle-aged man in tribal robes lunged at the Saddam defender. He grabbed the other man's shirt around the collar and began screaming. "What property? They did not touch your property. Where's the damage? Do not say these things. We want the Americans. We need the help. You work for Saddam Hussein." Others joined in, harshly criticizing the Saddam look-alike. One young man who spoke some English took me aside to assure me that everyone in Umm Qasr supports the Americans and British. They are worried, though, that anyone who rises up will be crushed if Saddam survives.
As we talked, the second man dashed from the scene and returned 30 seconds later. His younger brother, carrying a heavy metal pipe, accompanied him. The man's wife came too, wailing loudly and begging him to walk away. Ali, backed up by his commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dan Hammack, tried to settle the group, at one point reminding them that the Americans had powerful guns that would have to be used if the situation worsened. The crowd, now several hundred people, struggled to keep the combatants apart. After several tense minutes, the pro-Saddam Iraqi left--alone--walking slowly back to his house. The others quickly reported that he was well-known as a former Baath party official, one of a handful remaining in this section of liberated southern Iraq. Even as we left, the bearded man told us that he would exact his revenge that night. "I will kill him," he said.
ROLLING INTO Umm Qasr earlier Sunday afternoon, our four-vehicle convoy was greeted with the kind of reception the White House and Iraqi Americans had long predicted. Iraqis here lined the streets--waving their arms, giving thumbs-up to American soldiers, cheering. "America good, Saddam bad," yelled one elderly man in tribal clothing from the side of the road. Graffiti on a wall sent the same message--"Dun Saddam, Good U.S.A." Sixteen people--11 American soldiers, 3 members of the Free Iraqi Forces, and 2 reporters--drove through the port town for about an hour, assessing the situation here several days after the first combat units moved through. The reception was universally favorable. Tributes to Saddam Hussein have been defaced: Tile edifices were splashed with red paint; paintings of the dictator were ripped down from walls; the Baath party headquarters had been vandalized, epithets scribbled on the front wall.
But as the street fight in Umm Qasr suggests, the time we spent in southern Iraq was not all jubilation. Many Iraqis here, unaccustomed to their newfound liberty and the harsh reality it presents, seemed to be battling their own emotions, lurching unpredictably from gratitude to desperation to apprehension. It was evident that the residents of Umm Qasr needed water. Even as we circled the town in military Humvees to the ovations of locals, the children were practicing their elementary English. "Mister . . . water," they said, cupping their hands in front of them. "Mister . . . water."
We drove around long enough that we began to pass the children we'd already seen, still lining the roadside. Their cries grew more frequent, as if they were calling someone by name. "Mr. Water, Mr. Water, Mr. Water." When our convoy stopped, many Iraqis rushed the soldiers to shake their hands, thanking them for liberating the town. The Iraqis gathered around the three members of the Free Iraqi Forces--Iraqi exiles working with coalition troops--to talk about the long-term progress of the war and their short-term survival needs. Although the Iraqis appeared grateful to have Arabic-speaking American soldiers, they immediately began venting their frustrations about food and water. "My children have not had water for seven days," said one man, waiving off a reporter trying to snap pictures. "We do not want people to see us like this. We need water."
Their desperation was clear--much as one might expect from people in a desert with no immediate water source. Although the residents here salted their complaints about life's necessities with an appreciation for coalition efforts to get rid of Saddam, the palpable sense of panic wiped smiles off of the faces of coalition soldiers who moments earlier had been welcomed as liberators. And many Iraqis told us that they did not believe Saddam would be eliminated. "How do you expect us to believe that you, the world's two superpowers, can get rid of Saddam, when you can't even get water to a small town on the border?" asked one man. We returned to our Humvee, but were unable to leave for several minutes. The crowd from the town square had amassed outside of the passenger-side front door. They wanted to know more from Ali. One man who couldn't make his way to the front of the cluster ran around to the back seat, behind the driver, where I was sitting. He leaned far inside the vehicle, over my lap, and grabbed Ali by the shoulder.
"How do you know Saddam Hussein will be gone?"
"He will go. I promise you. 100 percent."
"But how can you be sure? He will live."
"I promise you with my life, he will go. 100 percent."
The four of us in the Humvee rode in silence as we left the center of Umm Qasr for the port. Finally, Ali wondered aloud why the coalition couldn't get water to the town. On the trip into Iraq, he noted, we passed several semi-trailers filled with water. Why was it taking so long? His frustration grew when we arrived at the port. Secured and now guarded by the British, it sits just two kilometers from the town center. As we were given a quick tour, we were stunned to see boxes upon boxes of bottled water lying around. Ali spoke up again. "Why is this water sitting here? What can we do?" One of the soldiers--an American who had not been part of the Free Iraqi Forces group--offered an answer that he must have imagined would be reassuring. "It's being taken care of," he said. "All of the stuff is being taken to warehouses for storage."
Ali said nothing. We made another pass through Umm Qasr two hours later. "Mr. Water, Mr. Water, Mr. Water."
The Pentagon reported late yesterday that a water pipeline between Kuwait and southern Iraq had finally been opened. The 610,000 gallons of water it will pump daily should wash away the concerns Iraqis here have about their own survival, and allow them to focus on the survival of the dictator in Baghdad.
Posted by: kgb ||
04/02/2003 02:08 am ||
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02-04-2003 Glad to have you back, Jessica!
US forces have rescued a young female soldier who was held as a prisoner of war in Iraq, reports said. Army supply clerk Jessica Lynch, 19, had been missing since her 507th Maintenance Co. convoy came under attack on March 20. The rescue of Lynch was confirmed by Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks at US Central Command in Qatar but refused to provide any further details. "Coalition forces have conducted a successful rescue mission of a US Army prisoner of war held captive in Iraq," he said. "The soldier has been returned to a Coalition-controlled area. More details will be released as soon as possible." The Pentagon confirmed the soldier was private Lynch, of Palestine, West Virginia. The Pentagon has listed seven Americans as captured by Iraq since the outbreak of the war.
Posted by: kgb ||
04/02/2003 01:33 am ||
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#1
From the BBC warblog--more detail on the rescue-- Southern Iraq, near Nasiriyah :: Adam Mynott :: 0522GMT
The operation to rescue Jessica Lynch looks to have been very sophisticated. The US marines that I'm travelling with set off very shortly after it became dark, in a huge convoy of 30 or 40 vehicles. Their intended target was a suspected Ba'ath party safe house, somewhere just south of the river Euprhates in Nasiriyah - they were also going to take a bridge near by. This was meticulously timed to coincide with an operation in the north of the town to rescue Jessica from the hospital where she was being held. The hope was that action down near the bridge in the south would draw Iraqi militia down to mount a defence, while the Delta forces went north to rescue her.
They found her in a fairly bad condition. She had suffered multiple gunshot wounds, but she was whisked out very quickly. We're told she's now being looked after and is in a stable condition.
During the course of the last hour news has filtered out - and the Marines have been cheering and punching the air - there's real joy.
Posted by: kgb ||
04/02/2003 2:27 Comments ||
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#2
Update from WP: Eleven bodies - at least some of them believed to be Americans - were found with prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch when she was rescued in a U.S. commando raid on an Iraqi hospital, a military spokesman said Wednesday.Navy Capt. Frank Thorp, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said that during the rescue operation, 11 bodies were recovered in and around the hospital. "We have reason to believe some of them were Americans," Thorp said. He said the 11 were not killed during the rescue operation. "We don't yet know the identity of those people," Thorp said. "And forensics will determine that." And how they died. Latest word is Jessica has 2 broken legs and a broken arm.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 7:52 Comments ||
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#3
It's nice to see Rangers and Seals working well together. Usually there's a lot of pushing and shoving in the lunch line.
I'd wait on the body issue. The best way to make a POW disappear is to put his uniform on a dead body then move him.
#5
I had to admit that I got a little misty when I heard the news and saw the pictures. God bless those who went in there and got her out. If I'm ever in a bar with you, you will not be able to pay.
#6
For some unknown reason, the few TV reports I saw about the rescued POW had the odd habit of prefacing the initial mention of her name with "nineteen-year-old", and failing to mention her rank until later, a couple of times not at all.
IRAQ is planning to attack two of the holiest cities in Shia Islam in an attempt to blame coalition forces and provoke Shia Muslims, allied commanders believe. The coalition has, therefore, issued strict orders that American and British forces must steer well clear of the holy sites of Najaf and Karbala, even though they lie directly in the path of the advance on Baghdad from the south. "If it's a holy war, then blowing up holy sites by our holy warriors is, well, holy, aint it?"
The British and American Governments have told the Muslim world that they will respect the neutrality of the two cities. The move is an attempt to ensure that Iraq cannot launch missiles or detonate bombs in the cities and then blame allied forces. Last night American soldiers edged through the outskirts of Najaf, trying to flush out an estimated 2,000 troops loyal to President Saddam Hussein and irregular fighters. However, US special forces operating around the city have told army chiefs that Iraqi defenders have set about converting the cityâs holiest site into a paramilitary stronghold. Fedayin militias are firing rocket-propelled grenades and mortars from the streets around the shrine, which is near a market, according to US forces. Everything seems to happen around a market in Iraq.
The defensive set-up presents a potential nightmare for American troops, who regard Najaf as a key target. US military chiefs were hoping to be able to turn over control of the city to the leaders of the Shiite community, believing that it would send a signal to other cities across the south. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, received a telephone call from Kamal Kharrazi, the Iranian Foreign Minister, on Sunday and assured him that General Tommy Franks, the US commander in the Gulf, had ordered all forces to avoid Najaf and Karbala. Iran has expressed deep concern about the two holy sites, which are visited by thousands of Muslims each year. For many Shia Muslims, these visits are more important than the pilgrimage to Mecca. Clergy at the holy city of Qom in Iran issued a statement last week calling on the belligerents to avoid damaging shrines in Iraq. Allied sources told The Times that they had evidence that the Iraqi Government had ordered an atrocity in one or other of the cities, such as the targetting of the mosques, the killing of pilgrims or the shelling of a marketplace. Peaceniks will blame us, natch.
Najaf is the site of the venerated tomb of Imam Ali, the father of Imam Hussein, whose death in AD680 led to the creation of the Shia branch of Islam. The imposing mosque in Karbala has a golden dome and the city has become a centre of Shia scholarship. The destruction of Husseinâs tomb at Karbala by puritanical Wahhabi Muslims from Arabia two centuries ago has led to lasting suspicion between the religious establishments of Iran and Saudi Arabia. Mistrust of Wahhabites goes a long ways back!
British officials claim that troops are now making steady gains in winning over the suspicious Shia population in the south. Some 300 Shia militia fought alongside US forces in an attack on Iraqi positions at ash-Shatraf, north of al-Nasiriyah, last week. This is seen as evidence that Shia fighters are losing their fear of Saddamâs regime. Might want to let the Shia milita take the lead in digging the Fedayeen out around the holy sites.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2003 12:41 am ||
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#1
Fortunately these scumbags won't end up in Cyprus.
Edited to focus on the outrage.
Iraqi Fedayeen paramilitaries used children as human shields during a battle with British troops, a British tank commander has claimed. Sergeant David Baird, who commands a Challenger 2 tank from C Squadron of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards battle group, said he had witnessed at least four or five children, aged between five and eight, being grabbed "by the scruff of the neck" and held by Iraqi fighters as they crossed a road in front of his tank. Sgt Baird said he had been "sickened" by the tactics of the Iraqis, who moments earlier had been firing rocket-propelled grenades at his tank. He said he had been forced to halt any retaliatory fire because of the danger to the children's lives.
"We were just to the south-east of Basra and were being fired on by rocket-propelled grenades. I could see the Iraqis ahead of us at a crossroads. They were wearing black jump-suits with red shamaghs â they were Fedayeen and I was preparing to fire at them. They were crossing the road to try and outflank us on the left and, as they crossed, four or five of them grabbed kids by the scruff of their necks and dragged them across with them. They were using them as human shields so that I had to stop firing. The children were only five to eight years old. There were lots of women and children there. It was a busy crossroads, but they didn't seem to care." Sgt Baird said that when the Iraqi fighters had crossed the road the children were freed and allowed to run back to their mothers. He then fired at the building in which they were sheltering, destroying the building and killing about six of them. Bravo. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch of scum.
Sgt Baird witnessed the children being used during a battle on Sunday fought by Royal Marines and tanks from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards which resulted in two villages, Kut Ibrahim and Kuj al-Mun, being captured. Both are suburbs south of Basra. Gunner Stuart Ferguson, 23, from Glasgow, also witnessed the children being used as human shields. "The Iraqis were walking across the road with AK-47s and RPGs in one hand and kids grabbed by the back in the other. I couldn't believe it. I was dumbfounded. I couldn't believe that they were going to such lengths. I could see they were kids, wee girls and wee boys, they were really young." Wonder how the peaceniks feel about this sort of 'human shield'.
The lefties will deny such a thing ever happened. Or more specifically, they'll ignore the fact that it ever happened. If you don't acknowledge it, it didn't take place, did it? It's called selecting your facts to back up your theories. Eye-witness testimony is always discounted when it doesn't fit the ideology â it's not like there have't been enough stories of Baathist cruelty and disregard for human life.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2003 12:25 am ||
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#3
People's ideologies almost always blind them, it's tragic that the passion that is often needed to affect change tends to overwhelm the rationality to effect a "correct" change.
What I would like to see are photographs of children used as human shields, something to plaster on newsweek.
#4
in the 1930's there were a significant number of Americans, especially intellectuals, who supported Stalin (either as Communist Party members, fellow travelers, or sympathizers). From 1936 to 1939 they were confronted by a series of events, from the "show trials" and purges to the Nazi-Soviet Pact. By 1940 most had ceased to be Stalinist, largely shifting to the anti-Stalinist left (either Trotskyite, Social Democrat, or liberal) A handful shifted all the way to the right (neo-cons ahead of their time). A significant number (especially in Hollywood), however, remained pro-stalinist - when party membership became less tenable, they shifted towards communist-ympathizing "progressive".
So events DO change minds, even extremist's minds (think of some of the human shields who have returned from Baghdad) but some minds are not open to change.
Two U.S. Navy aviators have been rescued after their F-14A "Tomcat" crashed because of mechanical failure, a statement by U.S. Central Command released late on Tuesday said. A combat search and rescue team successfully recovered the pilot and radar intercept officer on Monday and took them to an allied air base, the statement said. It said initial reports indicated neither crewmember was seriously injured. A combat search and rescue team flew a rescue helicopter to recover the downed crew. Full details of the F-14 incident are unknown at this time, including where the plane crashed. An investigation is under way. Welcome back, guys, glad you're okay.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2003 12:13 am ||
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Of course you realise, Lt. Dunsel, that we will have to deduct the cost of the lost aircraft from your pay......
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
04/02/2003 14:40 Comments ||
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A bomb hidden in a food stall killed 15 people on Wednesday near a wharf in the southern Philippine city of Davao, where 22 people died in an airport blast a month ago, police and hospital officials said. The explosion outside the ferry passenger terminal sprayed the area with blood, shattered windows and blew a crater in the pavement underneath the barbecue stand. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said she had ordered the military and police to "take all appropriate measures," including checkpoints and visibility patrols, against "these lawless elements and terrorists. "Police at the scene of Wednesday's blast said there were 13 people dead and 53 wounded. But the Davao Medical Center issued a statement saying 15 had been killed and 44 wounded. A nun, four policemen and several vendors were among the dead, police said. National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said it was too early to speculate about who was responsible. Too many suspects, but we can guess.
The MILF said on Wednesday night it was not responsible for either the airport bombing or that at the wharf. "The MILF vehemently denies any involvement," the group's spokesman, Eid Kabalu, told Reuters. "We are offering our goodwill assistance in the investigation to manifest our desire to stamp out criminalities like this." Me thinks they doth deny too much.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 08:48 am ||
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solve the problem: outlaw Islam, close the mosques.
make critical thinking, comparative religion and argument evaluation a compulsory component of compulsory high-school education
Ann sent me a question about Bounder's war blog ("The Iraq War covered from somewhere in the Middle East"), which I hadn't seen before, but will be visiting again. What caught my eye:
Publisher Talal Salman of the Beirut daily As-Safir, writes that one of his relatives, a former explosives expert in the Lebanese Army, is one of the 6,000 Arab volunteers who have flocked to fight for Saddam in Iraq. He says Iraq is easily reachable by volunteers thanks to the "courageous position" taken by Syria's President Bashar Assad. "They route is so quick they're in Mosul already, along with volunteers from Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Yemen and Jordan who are now in Baghdad or on the way."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 10:19 pm ||
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You notice Mosul and not Baglady. Get all of the would be rats in one place and let them see the error of their ways. When will these people get it through their thick heads that the average American could care less if you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Budhhist or like to bay at the moon. Do what ever what you want just don't F*CK with anybody else
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire ||
04/02/2003 22:51 Comments ||
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President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is not interested in U.S. defeat in Iraq but wants to return the Iraq issue to the UN agenda. Translation: Now that Saddam is dead, we can settle this another way...
"Russia is not interested in the United States' defeat in Iraq for political and economic reasons. We want the Iraq issue to be brought back into diplomatic channels," Putin told journalists after a session of the State Council's board in Tambov on Wednesday.
#1
Vlad, if it's not political or economic, then for what reason are you interested in the Coalition's defeat? You slept with the French, now you have to live with the disease...
#5
Putin's delusion of Russian relevancy is the natural byproduct of paying a decade-and-a-half's worth of 'multilateralism' lip service to our vanquished cold war foe. Can somebody in authority finally explain to these people that, in 2003, Russia is basically Paraguay with a navy?
Interfax. Wednesday, Apr. 2, 2003, 6:41 PM Moscow Time
MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - Moscow intends to seek to have the UN humanitarian program Oil-for-Food fully resumed, with the interests of Russian exporters met as far as possible.
Donât forget the hopeful importers (of oil)!
"The Russian Foreign Ministry, pursuing comprehensive efforts on returning the situation surrounding Iraq onto the political settlement path under UN auspices as soon as possible, intends to seek to have the humanitarian program fully resumed, with the interests of its foreign participants, including, naturally, Russian exporters as well, taken into account as much as possible," reads a Russian Foreign Ministry statement obtained by Interfax on Wednesday.
âJust because we refused to back you is no reason to turn churlish.â
In connection with the situation surrounding the UN humanitarian program for Iraq and the passage of UN Security Council resolution 1472 on its temporary technical adjustment, the Russian Foreign Ministry hosted a meeting with representatives from a number of Russian companies involved in the humanitarian program.
The Russian exporters were thoroughly briefed on priority measures taken by the UN to enforce resolution 1472. These measures are aimed at "securing the most urgent needs of the Iraqi population and preventing the piling up of new problems in implementing the give us oil humanitarian program, including those for exporters suffering losses because of the continuing military operation led by the U.S. and Britain against Iraq," reads the statement
What about âNot being blown up by your leader for disagreeingâ? How far did the UN go towards meeting that urgent need?
#3
Apparently for the French and Russians, it's all about the cash.
I say, let them in, as long as they can be paid in Iraqi dinars. Not the new ones that will be printed soon, but the "classic" version.....the ones with Saddam's picture on them.
Rossiya, tebya nye yeboot, ti nye podmakhivai! (sorry, no cyrillic on this keyboard....."Russia, mind your own f***ing business!")
Posted by: Former Russian Major ||
04/02/2003 18:38 Comments ||
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#4
There's that $40bil sitting in escrow in France. Looks like the vultures are circling .
Posted by: john ||
04/02/2003 19:26 Comments ||
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This is nothing more than a ruse to divert people's attention from the fact that Russia was one of the top suppliers (if not THE top supplier) of arms to ol' Saddy.
President Robert Mugabe's residence and offices were under heavy police guard Monday as an opposition deadline expired for the government to introduce democratic reforms. The security measures were taken to thwart any attempts to cause anarchy, said Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi. The opposition has said it will resume mass protests if the government does not start sweeping democratic reforms by Monday. The opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai vowed to make good on the ultimatum, telling supporters to be on alert for when protests are called. "This will be the final push that will restore our sovereignty, liberty and freedom," Tsvangirai said. "It will be a struggle that calls for extreme sacrifices, indeed even the supreme sacrifice" of death. The government has threatened to arrest Tsvangirai and other opposition officials if they call more anti-government protests. Tsvangirai, however, made clear that the protests would be peaceful, saying "even at this late hour, we seek no mortal combat ... we have no weapons of war and we do not need any." Bob's thugs are going to beat the livin' hell out of them...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 02:58 pm ||
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... we have no weapons of war and we do not need any
#2
think Jimmy or Nelson or Desmond will monitor the protests or let out a peep when the head-crackin' begins? Me neither.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2003 18:10 Comments ||
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#3
Same principle as dismissing the fact that the Northern Alliance was Muslims and the Kurds are Muslims. If they're remotely pro-western, they're outta the Third World Club.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2003 20:41 Comments ||
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Al-Khalil, April 2, IRNA -- Palestinian villagers in the al-Khalil region have reported seeing American soldiers training for urban warfare in the hilly areas west of the city. Eyewitnesses said soldiers wearing US army uniforms were seen practicing parachuting from black helicopters near the town of Dura,12 km south west of al-Khalil. So that's where all the black helicopters went. I noticed they hadn't been following me lately.
Earlier, Palestinian sources in the northern part of the West Bank reported citing American soldiers not far from the Jenin Refugee camp, the site of the bloody Israeli rampage last year which resulted in the death and mutilation of hundreds of Palestinian civilians and the destruction of hundreds of homes. I think this guy has been seeing black helicopters for quite some time.
Some American and Zionist sources have confirmed reports that the US army was seeking to benefit from the Israeli experience in combating Palestinian resistance fighter in the current Anglo-American aggression on Iraq. Nothing like a little zionist training to get your Anglo-American aggression skills ready.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 01:51 pm ||
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This is the second time I've heard about this. I don't buy into this the second go around either.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
04/02/2003 14:03 Comments ||
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#2
"Maybe if we change the location they'll buy it."
"noo... not convincing enough. It needs more menace."
"I know! We'll add black helicopters!"
"Yes! Black is certainly a menacing color. Evil, too. Throw in something about Zionists, though. You can never be manacing enough without throwing in the word Zionists."
The Palestinian Authority has asked representatives of a number of local media institutions to lower the tune of their coverage of Palestinian popular support of Iraq. Officials of the PA interior and information ministries held meetings with representatives of those media institutions asking them not to broadcast vast coverage of popular demonstrations organized in solidarity with Iraq in face of the Anglo-American aggression. The PAâs request fell in line with what it called attempts to calm down the Palestinian street in anticipation of promised American settlement plans. The PA had previously pressured local media during the Aqsa intifada so as not to air the real image of events. "Don't show our real face to the civilized world, brothers! If you do, we'll never get support. Well, except for France. And Belgium. We can always count on Belgium...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 12:18 pm ||
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"If you get everyone stirred up and they go off to defend Saddam, where'll we find boomers to blow up those pesky zionists?"
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 12:40 Comments ||
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#2
Let them throw sweets around and have women ululate and dance if they want. WE remember their celebrations after 9-11 and they are permanently on our S--t List, along with France, et al. So don't expect help or handouts. They have a leadership problem and need to get rid of the present leadership before we parlay.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/02/2003 15:39 Comments ||
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Edited for length
The South African government has rejected a request from the United States to close Iraqi missions and to expel senior officials in this country. Speaking to journalists at Parliament after Cabinet's fortnightly meeting, government representative Joel Netshitenzhe said South Africa's actions would be guided by decisions taken by the United Nations. "And because there has not been any such decision by the United Nations, we do not see any reason to break our diplomatic relations with the state of Iraq. A formal response to this effect will be communicated as soon as possible to the US administration." Hey, no skin off my fore. Just as long as we know which side you're on...
The US approach was based on the premise that the Iraqi government was both illegal and illegitimate, and needed to be overthrown. "On that account, they believe that other countries should not have relations with them (Iraq). But, as I have indicated, we will be guided on this by positions of the United Nations, and, most critically, Iraq remains a member of the United Nations, and the issue of the legality of the Iraqi state has not arisen there," he said. South Africa is one of more than 60 countries petitioned by the US government to shut Iraqi missions, pending the outcome of the US and British-led war in that country. Netshitenzhe said the vast majority of those countries had taken the same position as South Africa.
Posted by: Anonymous ||
04/02/2003 11:27 am ||
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"We want to keep our Iraqui idiots diplomats. They amuse us have the right to keep their asses out of the line of fire maintain an embassy here."
Honestly, what are these governments going to do with all these diplomats and embassy's once Saddam's government has fallen, set them up as the legitimate government-in-exile of Iraq? That'd be a laugh riot...
#3
good question, especially if Iraq Interim Authority doesnt take power for several months. In afghan only 3 countries recognized the Taliban, and all backed off shortly after war began. What will happen after Iraqi govt collapses in Baghdad and can no longer claim to be de facto govt?? Expect much grinding of teeth among the various weasels.
Russia is likely to send its navy to the Arabian Sea near the Gulf region where the United States is leading a war against Iraq, the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports. Russian navy officials had earlier announced that at least two fleets — the Pacific and the Black Sea, would stage exercises in the Indian Ocean next month. However, there had previously been no mention of the Arabian Sea, which is on the Indian Ocean's northern tip and washes the shores of India, Iran, Oman and Yemen. The newspaper, which has developed a reputation for its good military ties, reported that Black Sea fleet commander Yevgeny Orlov recently came to Moscow to receive instructions over the mission. The paper said it was likely Commander Orlov received his orders not only from Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov but also from President Vladimir Putin.
It was not immediately clear how many vessels would take part in the exercises. An official in the navy press service refused to confirm the report and said more detailed information about the mission might be released at a later date. The Nezavisimaya Gazeta added Russia's strategic forces were put on heightened military alert following the March 20 launch of the war, which Russia has vigorously opposed. The Russian military successfully launched a test intercontinental ballistic missile on March 27, but officials at the time stressed the exercise was not linked to Iraq.
Separately, Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that Chief of Staff General Anatoly Kvashnin was in southern Russia to oversee the largest military exercises staged by the country's strategic air forces in 10 years. "The unprecedented military activity confirms that Moscow is worried about the situation in Iraq," the newspaper wrote. I wonder what this means...
Posted by: Tadderly ||
04/02/2003 11:11 am ||
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Hot diggity dog, the italics worked! Thanks OP!
#3
Is there any chance the Russian Navy can move that far without sustaining at least one tragedy on a level of the Kursk?
Posted by: Matt C ||
04/02/2003 11:23 Comments ||
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#4
Who loaned them the money to do this?
Posted by: Michael ||
04/02/2003 11:26 Comments ||
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#5
"The unprecedented military activity confirms that Moscow is worried about the situation in Iraq," the newspaper wrote.
What, pray tell, does Russia have to worry about in Iraq? It's not like the U.S. military brass has Russia in its sights after Iraq is taken care of. Iran, NK, and Syria has them beat handily when it comes to being at the head of the line.
#6
Does this mean they're paying their Navy? With what?
Posted by: Matt ||
04/02/2003 11:47 Comments ||
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#7
This is not good. They have many assets active in Iraq right now. This is probably an insurance policy. Still, a most unwelcome development. Considering the cost of putting such significant force in the theater, they mean business. Keep it up and they'll get schooled like the rest.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/02/2003 11:54 Comments ||
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#8
We should set up a betting pool on how far they get before:
A. One of them has to be towed in with a major breakdown.
B. A crew mutinies, tosses its officers overboard, and puts in to Haifa to request asylum.
C. The US Navy has to provide them with fresh water because their condensors have broken down.
D. They panic and open fire on an unarmed merchant vessel.
E. One of them blows up and sinks for no apparent reason.
#9
Well the last time a Russian fleet left port on a long cruise they almost got in a war with England by firing on fishing boats in the English channel (they thought they were Japanese torpedo boats) and were sunk at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. I hardly think they would fare any better against most of the US Navy today.
Ignore 'em.
Posted by: Chris Smith ||
04/02/2003 12:10 Comments ||
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#10
AC,
You're right on the money.
The real question is how many tugboats are part of this fleet movement? I figure one per ship should be just about right.
#12
Russia has sold too much modern military equipment to Iraq, hoping the Iraqis would "test" it for them. There are also several billions of dollars in other "sales" that will probably be defaulted on, once the Iraqi government loses this war. If Russia tries to interfere with US military actions in Iraq, it could really lead to a huge disaster. One favorite tactic of the Russians is to place a vessel in the way of our task forces, forcing them to do some wild maneuvering. If that occurs during launch operations, it could make a few American admirals very, very unhappy. Some of the Russian naval equipment is as good as any of ours, and cannot be dismissed easily, especially their "Akula" attack submarines. I'll bet there are now a number of US 688-class attack subs getting re-routing orders to the Arabian Sea.
I do NOT like this!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/02/2003 13:08 Comments ||
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#13
What part of the Russian fleet are we talking about? The part that has been rusting away for the last decade; the part that has been sold to Red China or the part that doesn't have crew or fuel. I'll believe it when they get to the Indian Ocean.
#15
The Russian fleet is a disaster, especially the Black Sea Fleet. They've sold most of their best boats still afloat to China and North Korea (most notably the Kiev class helo carriers and that big carrier they were building plus the battlecruiser they almost finished - all of those to China). The rest are old rustbuckets barely capable of staying afloat at dock let alone for a long sea voyage. Even most of the once-vaunted Russian submarine fleet is lying at anchor, unable to put to sea for lack of repairs, radiation belowdecks, or simple lack of crews.
I doubt this will be a "serious" show of force or seapower.
The Kingdom said yesterday that Adnan Gulshair Muhammad Al-Shukrijumah, sought as an Al-Qaeda suspect by the United States, which says he could pose an imminent threat, was not a Saudi but a US citizen. The Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency that the manâs father, Gulshair Muhammad Al-Shukrijumah, had lived in Saudi Arabia for 27 years until 1986. That year, the family left to the United States and the younger Shukrijumah now holds US citizenship, the statement said. Translation: They know he's guilty as hell and are cutting all ties with him.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on March 20 that Adnan, 27, was a trained pilot who may be connected with Al-Qaeda and could pose âa serious threat to US citizens and interests worldwide.â An FBI spokeswoman said Al-Shukrijumah was born in Saudi Arabia and had a passport from Guyana, but could also be traveling on a passport from Saudi Arabia, Canada or Trinidad. Or Yeman, Mars, Egypt, Algeria, Atlantis, Kuwait, Pakistan, Insertcountryhereistan, etc...
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 10:13 am ||
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What is the word I'm looking for? Revokation... close ... expulsion ... closer ... extermination! Yes, that's it. Extermination.
Indonesia said the United Nations was in dire need of restructuring while none of the members of its Security Council (UNSC) should have veto rights. Speaking at a function marking the 50th anniversary of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)'s youth wing in Jakarta, Vice-President Hamzah Haz said the veto right held by a select number of UNSC members gave them dictator-like powers that could not be tolerated. "Therefore, the UN should be restructured as soon as possible. None of its members should have veto rights because it only legitimizes dictatorial ways. There must be the courage to abolish it," he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency on Wednesday. The veto right is held by the UNSC's five permanent members, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China and France. A restructurization (sic) of the world body has become more relevant since the United States and its allies took unilateral military action against Iraq, Hamzah said. He noted that whereas most nations in the world were urging the UN to stop the military aggression against Iraq by the U.S. and its allies, the U.S. was already talking about post-war Iraq. "It seems that to the U.S., the war in Iraq is already over with victory in its hands and itself leading efforts to rebuild the damaged nation that has suffered through the war," he said. That kinda sums it up, I guess. The UN didn't back us, we did it anyway, we'll clean up the mess. We're now paying the costs, we'll reap the benefits. Hamzah Haz, Indonesia, and the UN can all go whistle.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/02/2003 10:14 am ||
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I have to agree with comments I've read elsewhere that we're better off anyway without UN sanction, because right now Kofi and Co. would be pressing for a ceasefire, putting us right back to 1991 and changing nothing.
Posted by: Dar ||
04/02/2003 10:43 Comments ||
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#2
It seems the one thing everyone can agree on is that the UN is fundamentally flawed.
"Get the USA out of the UN and the UN out of the USA."
#3
I'm in favor of it! Without vetos, even the French will have no use for the UN. Look for a lot of resolutions by Burundi and Cameroon while all the countries that matter go their own way.
Posted by: Chris Smith ||
04/02/2003 12:05 Comments ||
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#4
"A restructurization (sic) of the world body has become more relevant since the United States and its allies took unilateral military action against Iraq, Hamzah said."
Since the US and its allies took what???
Posted by: John Phares ||
04/02/2003 13:11 Comments ||
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#5
John---We took unilateral action in a multi-national kind of way. In other words, they did not get what they wanted.....heh heh. UN: Check out sharia law and write a fatwa if you want, or veto your way through a rolling donut. The UN cratered itself. Happy Restructurization, world body.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/02/2003 16:45 Comments ||
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Monir Mari'i, allegedly a Hamas commander in the Hebron region responsible for the deaths of numerous Israelis, was caught last night by IDF troops. The IDF confirmed this morning that Mari'i was captured during an operation of elite units of the IDF during the night. Mari'i is believed to be responsible for the organization of the attack on the Jewish settlement Adora on April 27, 2002, in which 4 Israeli civilians were killed- inluding a 4-year-old infant. Mari'i is a Jordanian citizen who enlisted, trained and directed terrorists that executed numerous other attacks in the area of Hebron and Kiryat Arba, including a shooting attack on June 20, 2002. Iman Jumjum, an additional member of Mari'i's terrorist cell, was also captured. Another top bad guy in the bag. The IDF has been busy, here's a bit from another story:
The IDF mounted a massive arrest raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Wednesday, detaining 2,000 terror suspects and another seven men on the wanted list. The raids come several days after Sunday's suicide bomb attack in Netanya, whose bomber came from a village in the Tulkarm area, which is in the northern West Bank. Palestinian sources reported that the IDF rounded up Palestinian males between the ages 14 to 40 in UNRWA school buildings and interrogated many. Sources estimated that 2,000 Palestinians have been detained since early morning, while the IDF said it was holding seven men wanted in connection with past terror attacks. Nice work, sweep up everyone, keep the big fish and throw back the small fry.
FOLLOWUP: Here's the same thing, courtesy of Hamas...
Israeli occupation forces, backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, on Wednesday attacked the Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern West Bank. The incursion, the biggest since the onset of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq, is apparently aimed at arresting or killing suspected Palestinian resistance activists. Palestinian sources in Tulkarm said crack Israeli soldiers violently raided homes and vandalized property, after forcing women and children out at gunpoint. Eyewitnesses said the invading troops came under fire from a few Palestinian fighters at the camp. The Israeli occupation army reported that at least a thousand Palestinians between the age of 18-40 were interned at the local school. That's a whole bunch of gunnies. Not as many as the IDF claimed, though. Guess that's attributable to never admitting all the casualties you've taken...
In Tulkarm itself, Israeli occupation troops demolished the family home of a Palestinian guerilla who last week carried out a bombing operation in Netanya, north of Tel Aviv. Earlier, the occupation forces dynamited four other homes in the town belonging to the families of suspected Palestinian resistance activists. Israel routinely destroys homes belonging to families and relatives of Palestinian guerrillas. But they never seem to catch on to why the IDF does that... It's that cause -> effect thing...
This is from Hamas' British website, in case you missed the flavor. I liked the part about "forcing women and children out at gunpoint," though they did leave out the part about the puppies, kittens, and baby ducks. A thousand or two gunnies sounds like a really major roundup, though.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 09:05 am ||
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"Palestinian sources reported that the IDF rounded up Palestinian males between the ages 14 to 40 in UNRWA school buildings and interrogated many."
What, the UN sanctions terrorism? Can't be.
Posted by: john ||
04/02/2003 15:27 Comments ||
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#2
"forcing women and children out at gunpoint,"
Heh, heh, Zionist meannies! Forcing the women and children out before blowing up the house. Apparently in Islamofanatic culture, it would be preferable to allow them to stay inside.
Now this is a rant...
The U.S. continues interfering in the internal affairs of the DPRK, talking about its "suppression of religion" and "human rights issue." The U.S. not only groundlessly accused the DPRK of "suppressing religion" but adopted a "bill on the human rights in North Korea" at congress and referred it to the UN commission on human rights recently. The DPRK strongly protests against these actions. We worship Kimmie. Kimmie is God. As for human right's, we all have the same, which is none. Unless you're a party hack. Then you have some. But not a lot.
The U.S. is citing the "nuclear issue" and "religious and human rights issues" in the DPRK, fictions, as pretexts to increase pressure upon the DPRK and launch a military attack on it. Such crafty trick can never be tolerated. Ah, those "crafty tricks"...
The people of the DPRK are single-heartedly united as a big harmonious family because religious freedom and human rights are fully guaranteed by law. It's Paradise on Earth here, I tell ya!
With nothing can the U.S. justify its groundless accusation against the DPRK and it will only invite condemnation of unbiased world public. As the international community is unanimous in denouncing the U.S. over its religious and human rights issues the U.S. is not in a position to fault other countries over those issues. And now another KCNA Social Commentary...
The U.S. has, indeed, the poorest human rights record. In the U.S. murder is committed once in every 24 minutes, rape once in every 5 minutes and violence once in every 18 seconds. The U.S. human rights abuses are clearly evidenced by its war moves for carrying out its strategy to dominate the world. We're going to dominate the world? ALL RIGHT!!!
Its wars against Islamic Afghanistan and Iraq are a clear proof of its typical religious and human rights abuses as it regards heretics as a group of satans on the basis of Christian fundamentalism. It is universally known that an infringement upon the sovereignty of a country by a military attack is the gravest violation of human rights of its people. The U.S., which is killing innocent people after violating the sovereignty of Iraq, is faulting other countries, behaving as if it were a human rights judge. How brazen-faced and ridiculous it is. Time out. Gotta get the Windex...that's better.
The Korean people, deeply aware of the superiority of Korean-style socialism chosen by themselves and regarding it as their life and soul, are increasing the self-defensive capacity by all means. The DPRK will certainly frustrate the U.S. military moves to stifle it and protect the socialist system to the last. They've been kind of tame lately and mostly going after the Japanese. Maybe their anti-American guy was on vacation...
Posted by: tu3031 ||
04/02/2003 08:24 am ||
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"... on the basis of Christian fundamentalism."
Does this mean I can't call them, what was it, a group of satans, because I'm a pagan? Does this mean I am not allowed to support our troops? What a bummer, man. This wasn't included in the booklet ... My religious rights are bruised.
#3
KCNA....like a dose of that Old Time Religion. Just when the daily grind of war seems to dragging one down, along comes KCNA to deliver a single hearted unity spittle baptism...and this one was a real barn burner. Looks like someone had their bi-monthly ration of oatmeal.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
04/02/2003 12:12 Comments ||
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#4
what happened to "army-based policy"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2003 13:45 Comments ||
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#5
I think Army-based Policy guy's on vacation this week. But I think The Anecdote About Kim Il Sung guy is in. Does that help?
#6
Well, I'm an atheist, and I think they're a bunch of satans, too. My Zoroastrian neighbors agree with me, so does the family of Tibetan yak-cultists on the next bloc and that eskimo shaman I work with.
Thaer Hussein Othman, a Palestinian born in a refugee camp in Lebanon and living in Denmark, died on the journey from the Syrian border, on his way to support the Iraqi forces. The bus in which he was travelling was attacked by a US Apache helicopter, and he later died of his wounds in a Baghdad hospital. Tap, tap, tap...Nope.
At his funeral in Beirut on Tuesday, volleys of shots were fired into the air and shops were closed as a sign of respect. The dead man's brother said that Othman had left Denmark on the day that the US attack on Iraq began, "on a tourist trip to Syria. We didn't know he was in Iraq." Another wannabe misses out on his virgins. Wonder how many were on the bus that got zapped?
This is a redo from yesterday. I'm leaving it in for follow-up and comments. The main question we have, of course, is what happened to the other bloodthirsty goobers on the bus? Did they survive? Or are there similar quaint local ceremonies being conducted in fifty or sixty other places in Paleoland? If we only got one wannabe krazed killer, some Cobra or A-10 pilot's going to be disappointed.
Posted by: Anonymous ||
04/02/2003 08:30 am ||
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No refunds on bus tickets purchased on this route.
#2
Note to boomers at milepost 100: we're using the highway as a runway of resupplying C-130's. you will never make it to Baghdad alive, and that A-10 in your rearview mirror is larger than it appears. have a nice day
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2003 12:47 Comments ||
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#3
Put on Iraqi satellite TV around midnight T night, W-morning, Chicago time. Who pops up but Taha Ramadan with his interpreter right next to him. Speech/press conference was at the Palestine Hotel.
Man, what a show! Just have time for two things. One, he told Saud al-Faisal to go to hell since everybody knows that he and the other royal family members are on Uncle Sam's payroll. Two, and this concerns article, he kept going on about all the volunteers who would be/are flooding into Iraq to martyr themselves for Islam, Arab Nation, blah, blah. Yesterday, I saw a photo of a bus out of Beirut full of volunteers. Yes, yes, take them out on the road. They are beligerents acting on the command of the Saudi regime. No doubt. I was thinking before about arresting and vetting them would be better. No more. Search their buses, verify who they are, let the bus go a couple of miles. In meantime, radio to Apache or Spooky who's coming down the road. This is the system Moroccan cops use to catch speeders, minus fireworks and search, but cops hide in bushes. Anyway, martyr them in the west of Iraq before they get to green country. Give them satisfaction. After all, we aim to please.
You troops are
Posted by: Michael ||
04/02/2003 15:59 Comments ||
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The Clueless Wonder of the Day
With his sister carrying his duffel bag and his mother holding his hand, a 20-year-old Marine reservist surrendered to the military Tuesday and declared himself a conscientious objector. His mommy held his hand. Here's a kid with "issues".
Wearing camouflage fatigues, Lance Cpl. Stephen Funk turned himself in at the locked gates of the Marine Corps reserve center where he was assigned, weeks after refusing to report when called up to active duty. "Ultimately, it's my fault for joining in the first place," said Funk, who didn't show up when his unit was deployed to Camp Pendleton. "It wasn't as well thought out as it should've been. It was about me being depressed and wanting direction in life." Again, "issues"?
Funk said he's attended every major San Francisco Bay area anti-war rally since finishing his military training last fall. He insisted his decision had nothing to do with the war in Iraq. Oh, I'll bet it didn't...
Those applying for a conscientious discharge must submit a detailed letter explaining how their feelings have changed since joining the military. Then there are interviews with a military chaplain, a psychiatrist and an investigating officer. The final decision is made by top military commanders. Applications for conscientious discharges always increase during wartime. There were 111 granted during the 1991 Gulf War. Only 28 were granted last year, military officials said. "The Marine Corps understands there are service members opposed to the war," said Capt. Patrick O'Rourke, spokesman for Funk's unit, adding that he hadn't received Funk's application yet. "He'll be treated fairly." Funk, who grew up in Washington state, enlisted when he was 19 and living on his own for the first time. He said he caved in to pressure from a recruiter who capitalized on his vulnerability. Yep, don't blame me. Mean Mr. Recruiting Sgt. sucked me in.
"They don't really advertise that they kill people," Funk said. "I didn't really realize the full implications of what I was doing and what it really meant to be in the service as a reservist."Funk said he began doubting his fitness for military service during basic training last spring when he felt uncomfortable singing cadence calls that described violence and screaming "Kill, kill, kill." Has this kid been in a bubble for 20 years? They're MARINES. Did he ever here of them before he signed up? Has he heard they actually have been in one or two wars?
Funk's father, Robert Funk, enlisted in the Navy reserves and was called up to active duty in 1970 to serve in Vietnam. He said he wishes his son hadn't joined in the first place. "I don't think he realized how close we were to getting involved in this conflict," Robert Funk said from his home in Everson, Wash. "I thought his views didn't line up with military service and he should wait and really look at it." Did you tell him that dad? Doesn't sound like dad thinks the kid's wrapped too tight either.
Posted by: tu3031 ||
04/02/2003 07:31 am ||
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From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.
Main Entry: funk
Pronunciation: 'f&[ng]k
Date: circa 1739
intransitive senses : to become frightened and shrink back
transitive senses
1 : to be afraid of : DREAD
2 : to shrink from undertaking or facing
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
04/02/2003 7:52 Comments ||
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#2
What did he think the word "Armed" stood for in the Armed Forces of the US. What did he think US Marine stood for? This is just a clueless dork.
Posted by: Jim ||
04/02/2003 8:08 Comments ||
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#3
Probably another "victim" of the anti-gun, keep-no-score, mushy-headed public education system. Even the most obtuse has a clue about what the Marines do in war time after going through basic.
#8
Funk said he's attended every major San Francisco Bay area anti-war rally since finishing his military training last fall. He insisted his decision had nothing to do with the war in Iraq.
As the old saying goes, "Monkey see, monkey do."
"They don't really advertise that they kill people," Funk said. "I didn't really realize the full implications of what I was doing and what it really meant to be in the service as a reservist."
#9
Does "johnny dumbass" realize that being a CO doesnt relieve him of his duties, just reclassifies him into non combatant roles, such as medical corpsman. So instead of shooting people in a combat zone, he gets to help put them back together. I loved his statement " The marines to advertise that they actually expect you to kill people". He makes it sound like he meant to go into the carnival cruise lines office and walked into the marine recruiting office instead.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
04/02/2003 10:41 Comments ||
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#10
Teresa Panepinto of the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors in Oakland, which runs the hot line, says in today's mostly volunteer military there is "economic conscription" as young people join the forces for job skills or tuition -- not to fight wars. Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors in Oakland
Central Committee and Oakland, you just can't make this stuff up.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/02/2003 10:42 Comments ||
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#11
Economic conscription?
I fail to see how a lack of money forces someone to sign up for military service. Hell, if some bum wants a damn handout, why not go to San Francisco and panhandle like all the rest of them?
#13
Funk's argument attitude would almost make sense if he were in the Coast Guard. I can see a naive teenager thinking that he was going to spend his days pulling shipwrecked boaters out of the water and then being surprised when his cutter was shipped off to the Persian Gulf and he was handed a gun and told to keep an eye out for minelayers and suicide-bomb speedboats. But a Marine? Don't recruits have to pass a basic intelligence test to join all the services?
Posted by: Dr. Weevil ||
04/02/2003 16:54 Comments ||
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#14
Dr Weevil-- Maybe his mommy or sister took the test for him, too.
Posted by: Former Russian Major ||
04/02/2003 20:11 Comments ||
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#15
the latest? on NPR just a half hour ago they said he was claiming to be gay
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/02/2003 20:22 Comments ||
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#16
Mom must be really proud to have a son who's not as much of a man as someone named Jessica.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/02/2003 20:57 Comments ||
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#17
FrankG. HAHAHA! Man, he's got all his bases covered, huh? No Iraqi ever called me honky.
#18
Anyone remember the DD Form 214 spin number for coward?
Posted by: Don ||
04/02/2003 21:56 Comments ||
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#19
Gay? Robert Schimmel had a great line about that. "I told the sergeant at the induction center I was Gay. He said "Oh yea? Give me a blow job and I'll give you a deferment". He lied.
South Korean lawmakers on Wednesday authorized the dispatch of non-combat troops to support the U.S.-led war on Iraq. The decision by the National Assembly came hours after President Roh Moo-hyun said the deployment would strengthen the U.S.-South Korean alliance, thereby helping to peacefully resolve the nuclear standoff with North Korea. The one-house National Assembly voted amid anti-war sentiment in South Korea and concerns that the United States might eventually attack North Korea. Outside parliament, hundreds of anti-war activists waved "Stop the War" signs as they kicked, punched and hurled water bottles at riot police. Pacifists the world over again show the same quirkily ironic sense of humour...
Police beat them back with plastic shields. At least two demonstrators were injured, blood streaming down their faces.
Ah, those witty South Korean police â how well they respond to the Jerry Lewis gags of the dovish!
Roh has struggled to muster parliamentary support for the deployment of 600 South Korean military engineers and 100 medics in the Gulf, as the parliament dithered wavered and delayed voting on the bill twice last week. Speaking to parliament, Roh told lawmakers that the deployment of South Korean troops would strengthen Seoul's alliance with Washington. "The fate of the country and the people depends on my decision," he said. "I came to the conclusion that helping the United States in difficult times and maintaining friendly U.S.-South Korean relations will help a lot in peacefully resolving the North Korean nuclear issue." Roh said there would not be a war on the Korean Peninsula if South Koreans don't want it. Someone's been teaching this man the noble art of perennial French defence policy.
"The United States will not deal with the North's nuclear issue unilaterally," Roh said. LOL Kimmy might do, though.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
04/02/2003 04:13 am ||
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Edited for relevance and length Another axis of evil dictator stays out of public places SEOUL â Where is North Korea's "Dear Leader"? For nearly seven weeks, the government-run media of the communist state has not mentioned the whereabouts of Kim Jong-il.
His last reported appearance was Feb. 12, when he celebrated his 61st birthday party at the Russian Embassy in Pyongyang. But there has been nothing since on North Korea's airwaves or in its newspapers, which dutifully chronicle the "brilliant revolutionary feats" of the dictator. Mr. Kim was absent last week from the biannual convention of the Supreme People's Assembly, a meeting he normally attends. South Korean officials don't believe he is ill or that a power struggle is under way. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry said Mr. Kim could well be channel-surfing on his television, watching the war in Iraq.
Mr. Kim has good reason to keep a close eye on the Gulf. The North says it fears it may be invaded once U.S. forces are done fighting in Iraq. Washington says it has no such intention, despite tension over North Korea's reported nuclear-weapons programs. One South Korean newspaper, Dong-A Ilbo, said this was the longest Mr. Kim has not appeared in state media in years. He kept a low profile for several years after the 1994 death of his father and predecessor, Kim Il-sung, prompting speculation that his hold on power was shaky. The spokesman said they were most likely bunkered down taking notes on U.S. military tactics in Iraq while watching U.S., British and Middle East news networks. "He is watching very carefully the developments in Iraq. That is what we know," he said. "They will be doing a case study of the war."
Posted by: kgb ||
04/02/2003 03:19 am ||
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#1
Hopefully he's hiding in a bunker somewhere with a TV coverage of the war, drinking that liquor that he favors and muttering to himself, "It could be me, it could be me ..."
Posted by: Scott ||
04/02/2003 4:52 Comments ||
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He's probably wondering why he didn't opt in for the extra-deep bunkers when he bought his package.
The Jordanian authorities have arrested four Iraqis in connection with a plot to bomb a hotel in Amman used by journalists and foreign diplomats, according to reports yesterday. There were also reports that Jordanian security forces managed to prevent another plot to poison the water supply of a base being used by US soldiers in the country.
It was not clear how seriously the reports, which were attributed to "diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity", could be taken. The Jordanian government refused to comment other than to say there had been Iraqi attempts to "undermine Jordanian security". Lessee: two plus two equals ...
The hotel involved in the first alleged incident appears to be the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Amman, although the reports did not name it. A small fire in the Hyatt last week was blamed on an electrical fault, but it is now suspected this may have been the incident in question. The hotel is packed with foreign journalists. Unnamed American "officials" are also reported to have stayed at the hotel in recent days.
The second alleged incident apparently involved a plot to contaminate a water supply pumped from Zarqa, near Amman. Zarqa supplies several desert villages with water, and, it is believed, a military base at Khao which is being used by American soldiers. Unnamed sources said this incident was connected to the recent expulsion of five Iraqi diplomats from Jordan. At the time, it appeared more likely that the expulsion was in response to a request from the US to some 60 countries to expel Iraqi diplomats.
The Iraqi government has recently made threatening noises towards Jordan, accusing the kingdom of assisting the US war effort. Maybe it was the Esquimaux.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/02/2003 12:28 am ||
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#1
I was surprised that a mullah from Jordan "defended" America's side in the van shooting by saying he got his info inside Iraq.
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.
