Hi there, !
Today Sun 06/01/2003 Sat 05/31/2003 Fri 05/30/2003 Thu 05/29/2003 Wed 05/28/2003 Tue 05/27/2003 Mon 05/26/2003 Archives
Rantburg
531687 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 34 articles and 138 comments as of 9:59.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area:                    
Guy named Greg, passengers, thump would-be hijacker
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
3 00:00 Dishman [1] 
1 00:00 mojo [] 
0 [1] 
0 [1] 
8 00:00 Bomb-a-rama [] 
1 00:00 ColoradoConservative [] 
0 [2] 
0 [] 
10 00:00 JP [] 
4 00:00 Yosemite Sam [] 
3 00:00 Dave D. [1] 
0 [1] 
1 00:00 mhw [] 
3 00:00 TJ [] 
3 00:00 tu3031 [] 
1 00:00 tu3031 [] 
2 00:00 Fred [] 
2 00:00 Steve White [1] 
3 00:00 tu3031 [] 
2 00:00 Lucky [] 
6 00:00 mojo [] 
0 [] 
8 00:00 mojo [] 
3 00:00 Steve [] 
8 00:00 eric [1] 
3 00:00 Flash91 [] 
20 00:00 Yosemite Sam [2] 
7 00:00 A [] 
8 00:00 G-Man in Chicago [] 
0 [] 
4 00:00 Celissa [] 
13 00:00 Katz [1] 
8 00:00 Dan [] 
3 00:00 mojo [] 
Afghanistan
Afghan Forces Arrest Two Taliban Fighters
Security forces arrested two Taliban fighters, including a local commander, and a senior Afghan police official said authorities gathered information that could help in the hunt for terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. Security forces made the arrests Wednesday during a routine security check on vehicles entering Spin Boldak, said Gen. Mohammed Akram, Kandahar's police chief. Akram said another Taliban commander, Mullah Janan, who was arrested in Kandahar over the weekend, had been the former regime's coordinator with al-Qaida and might have knowledge about the whereabouts of bin Laden. "He is very close to Osama and (former Taliban leader) Mullah Omar," Akram said. Janan was arrested with nine other Taliban members. Authorities seized AK-47 rifles, rockets and "important documents" and handed the commander over to U.S. forces.
Thank you very much.
One of the men arrested in Spinboldak on Wednesday was identified as Mullah Zarif, who Akram said was a Taliban commander in Kandahar province during the militia's rule. The other Taliban fighter was not identified. Three AK-47 rifles, two rockets and five hand grenades were found in the taxi the Taliban men had hired for the trip to Spinboldak, Akram said.
This being Afghanistan, the taxi driver didn't bat a eye.
It was not known whether they were planning any attack.
Elk season?
Zarif confessed to investigators during initial questioning that he was allied with another senior Taliban fighter, Hafiz Abdul Rahim, Akram said. A former chief of border security under the Taliban, Rahim is suspected to have led several attacks against government troops in recent months. On Tuesday, Afghan government troops killed a suspected Taliban commander and another fighter in a battle near Maradhow village, about 85 miles northeast of Kandahar. The local commander was identified as Ghausuddin.
Afghan forces have been very busy. Good job, guys.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 11:13 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Afghans Greet Karzai During Ghazni Visit
EFL.
GHAZNI - Cheering crowds stood atop buildings and lined the streets to greet Afghan President Hamid Karzai on a one-day visit Thursday. Karzai hopped out of a motorcade several blocks from the governor's mansion, moving through the crowd, his arms raised as the throngs pressed around him. He also mounted a horse to play the traditional game of bushkazi.
Wonder whose head was used? Hek, buddy, you all there?
It was a meaningful show by the populist president whose government controls only the capital, Kabul, which is patrolled by a 5,000-man international peacekeeping force. Karzai's chief of staff, Said Tayeb Jawad, said the Ghazni visit was part of the president's efforts to meet with his people and assess their needs. ``He came to find out how the reconstruction process is going and what the people need,'' said Jawad, who was with Karzai on the trip. ``We'll be doing this in all of the provinces.'' Security was extremely tight.
No, really?
Assuming they even announced it was going to take place, the jihadis were probably turning themselves inside out to figure how to bump him off...
Karzai arrived in a field outside town aboard a Chinook helicopter, which was escorted by two U.S. attack helicopters on the 30-minute flight. His U.S. bodyguards were omnipresent as the president moved through the town, and several armed bodyguards looked down from the roof of the two-story governor's mansion while Karzai was inside. After meeting with Gov. Asadullah Khalid, Karzai was to visit a television station and a school in Ghazni, 95 miles southwest of the capital, according to Malang Shah, a security official at the palace.
Show the flag, kiss the babies, whack the Taliban — yep, Karzai's a politican allright.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/29/2003 10:02 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  any word on what happened with the customs revenues?? Kabul was supposed to have more money in hand within a week or so - havent heard anything since the conference with the warlords -i presume its moving much more slowly, if at all.

this politicing is important - Ghazni is one of the Pashtun borderland provinces thats not under the contol of one of the big warlords the governors are actually (and not just nominally) appointed by Karzai - to the extent that the Taliban is chased out, these provinces add to the area around Kabul as the central govt's power base. Next step is pushing out Dostum, while maintaining alliance with Fahim/Attah Muhammed in northeast and Gul Aga Shirzai in South - but with growing weight for central govt. Then go after Ismael Khan.

Its going more slowly than would have hoped a year ago, but the plan seems to still be there.


Posted by: liberalhawk || 05/29/2003 12:57 Comments || Top||

#2  I guess they must have kicked in something. He had planefare to Ghazni. Dostum's moved to Kabul, so maybe that helped.
Posted by: Fred || 05/29/2003 15:04 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen gets suspected al-Qaida members from Saudi Arabia
Yemen has recently received from Saudi Arabia four wanted Yemenis suspected to be members in al-Qaida organization. A Yemeni security source told the Yemeni official daily al-Thawra yesterday that there are other suspected al-Qaida members, wanted by the Yemeni security, detained by the Saudi authorities and will be delivered to the Yemeni authorities later.
Interesting
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 09:59 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  hope they hold on to these....
Posted by: Frank G || 05/29/2003 10:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Frank, if I were a CIA/special ops kind of guy, I think I'd have a Hellfire-armed Predator orbiting a discrete distance above the prison. In case of a jailbreak, it would be weapons-free and who can I hit first.

If I were a CIA/special ops kind of guy, of course.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/29/2003 15:44 Comments || Top||


Report: Qaeda Vows Saudi Attacks if Clerics Dead
I thought they vowed attacks before the holy men were dead, too. Did we miss something?
DUBAI - A purported al Qaeda e-mail has vowed revenge attacks on the Saudi royal family over reports that Saudi police killed two Muslim clerics during a manhunt after the Riyadh blasts. Saudi Arabia has denied the reports and said the outspoken clerics, who have issued religious edicts against close Saudi-Western ties, were among suspects held after the May 12 suicide bombings that killed 34, including eight Americans.
"Come on guys, you know we hate to arrest such great leaders, but we have the pig-dog Americans breathing down our necks. Don't worry, as soon as the heat is off, we'll make sure they "escape"." Wink Wink
The London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that the e-mail, sent by unnamed persons close to Osama bin Laden, said the al Qaeda leader promised reprisals if the two were indeed dead.
I wonder why Usama isn't speaking in public. Plastic surgery? Rotting corpse?
"Sheikh Osama and the leaders of al Qaeda in Afghanistan are closely following reports of the deaths of Sheikh Ali al-Khudeir and Ahmed al-Khaldi," the daily quoted the e-mail as saying.
That'd seem to verify the DEBKAreport from yesterday...
The London-based Saudi opposition Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia has said that the two may have been killed by police Monday during raids in the holy Muslim city of Medina.
Islamic Reform... Isn't that an oxymoron?
"If it was especially confirmed that Sheikh Ali al-Khudeir was martyred then our response against the al-Saud family ... will be as great as the Sheikh is to us," the e-mail added. The clerics, who are popular among young Saudi Islamists, have urged Saudis not to cooperate with the manhunt for 19 people on a wanted list issued days before the Riyadh blasts.
Seems like anyone who holds a Qu'ran and tells young Saudis that Allah will reward them for slaughtering infidels is VERY popular in the land of hellish make believe Saud...
Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef said Wednesday that the two clerics and a third one, Nasser Ahmed al-Fuhaid, were alive and were among suspects detained in connection with the Riyadh attacks.
That's too bad...
He did not specify charges against the three. "I want to clarify none of them (clerics) have been killed. They are all alive," Arab News quoted Prince Nayef as saying.
"So please, please, pretty please with sugar on it, don't kill us, okay? Feel free to dispose of the Americans, however."
"Psssst, Ahmed. Here's the floor plan to their swanky new apartment building in downtown Riyadh..."

Al-Quds Al-Arabi said Khodeir and Khaledi had gone into hiding in the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, shortly before the U.S.-led war on Iraq and issued edicts against the Saudi leaders for helping U.S. and British military activities.
Posted by: Celissa || 05/29/2003 08:58 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  al-Fuhaid

El Fudd? Dat qwazzzy wabbit!
Posted by: Chuck || 05/29/2003 9:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Dire Revenge(R)
Posted by: mojo || 05/29/2003 13:03 Comments || Top||

#3  "well, your buddies have threatened us, so we officialy commute your sentence from 10 years to death by public impalement."

Saudi's would impress everyone by showing big flaming nads right about now.
Posted by: Flash91 || 05/29/2003 13:55 Comments || Top||


Britain
Britain freezes assets of Israeli Arab charity
LONDON - Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown Thursday ordered financial institutions to freeze all assets of the Al-Aqsa Foundation, saying the charity is suspected of having links with terrorist activity. The foundation, officially a charity supporting widows and orphans, is affiliated to Israel's Islamic Movement, which is led by Israeli Arabs. Israeli police arrested 13 Israeli Arabs belonging to the Movement on May 13 on suspicion of money laundering for Hamas. A statement from Britain's Treasury said the action against the Al-Aqsa Foundation had been taken in conjunction with the United States and other international allies. Israel's Islamic Movement, founded in the 1970s, has two representatives in the Israeli parliament and controls five municipalities.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/29/2003 03:51 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The noose continues to tighten. Read U.S. News and World Reports June 2 issue regarding the great strides made against al Qaeda.
Posted by: ColoradoConservative || 05/29/2003 16:37 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Guy named Greg, passengers, thump would-be hijacker
A man armed with two sharpened wooden stakes tried to hijack and crash a Qantas domestic jet with 47 passengers aboard shortly after take-off from Melbourne today, authorities said. The 40-year-old man stabbed two flight attendants and injured two other people before he was overpowered by crew and passengers aboard QF1737. Australian airport security will be reviewed after today's incident but authorities said the nation's worst aircraft hijacking attempt was not an act of terrorism.
Nutcase, yes. Terrorist, we'll see.
Shocked passengers later hailed a 38-year-old male flight attendant as a hero for helping to subdue the attacker, while being stabbed in the head. "The steward had a lot of blood on the back of his neck; he was good, very good, very brave," said passenger Joe Da Costa. Several passengers helped restrain the would-be hijacker with plastic ties, bundling him between two seats before the flight returned to Melbourne and made an emergency landing. The drama erupted 10 minutes after the Boeing 717, with six crew, took off for Launceston shortly before 3pm (AEST). Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon said the man — believed to be an Australian national — rose from his seventh row seat and proceeded towards the cockpit armed with two 15-centimetre wooden stakes.
Wood will not show up on metal detectors.
He said the male attendant and 25-year-old female attendant suffered gashes to the head and face during the struggle to subdue the attacker.
They remembered what happens if he gets to the cockpit.
Ambulance officers said the two were taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition with facial lacerations. Two passengers were also treated by paramedics at the scene for minor injuries. Federal Transport Minister John Anderson said the would-be hijacker had intended to crash the aircraft. "Very shortly after take-off ... the man started to become very threatening," he told reporters. "(He) apparently headed for the cabin, and seemed to be intent upon trying to force a nasty outcome. If you call an attempt to crash an aircraft, you might call that a hijacking.
That's what I'd call it, along with attempted murder
"I can only say that, on the information available to me at this point in time, it does not, although it looks like it was premeditated, it doesn't appear to have been an act of terrorism," Mr Anderson said.
Check his passport and see if he's made any trips to Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.
Federal agent Stephen Cato confirmed the incident was a hijack attempt. "We believe he was trying to take over the plane," Agent Cato said. He said no motive had yet been established. Mr Dixon said the cockpit door was locked but the plane did not have an enhanced security door, which are now being installed on all Qantas jet aircraft.
I'd get a move on if I was you.
Passengers on the plane were tonight offered counselling, onward flights and accommodation. Agent Cato said passengers who intervened and overwhelmed the man before he could get to the cockpit were "quite heroic". Passenger Keith Charlton was among those who helped overpower the attacker. He said he was seated in the third aisle of plane when a man in a "brown suit raced past me with his hands raised in the air". He said the man, who was holding aloft two sharpened wooden stakes, stabbed the chief flight attendant "Greg". "The fellow Greg, really was a hero ... if it wasn't for him we could've been in a lot of trouble," he told Sky News. "As he was being attacked, he put his head down into the man's chest and he pushed him back down the plane.
Good man, Greg. Keep him away from the cockpit.
"He had two severe injuries to his head; one was on the chin, one was on the top of his head," Mr Charlton said. Six men then rushed to Greg's aid.
They remember Sept 11th as well.
"Calm remained throughout the aircraft. There were one or two people who were quite angry about it but the aircraft was quite calm."
After the hijacked was stomped to a bloody pulp.
Mr Da Costa, of Melbourne, said the male flight attendant was covered in blood after being stabbed. "The steward tried to confront him and that's why he got stabbed," he said. Mr Anderson said the man went through metal detectors at Melbourne airport which failed to pick up the sticks. He said Australian airport security would have to be reviewed in light of the incident. "We are at world's best practice. It may well very be that there are lessons to learn out of this for Australian aviation and international aviation," he said. "If there's anything good to be drawn out of this very unfortunate episode it is that the safety of the aircraft and the people on it were secured."
Well done, people.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 08:54 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  God spoke to him?
Still no description or name for the guy that I can find.
Posted by: Kathy K || 05/29/2003 19:54 Comments || Top||

#2  After 9/11, anyone who is on an plane when a situation like this develops and does NOT help beat the perp to a pulp shouldn't be allowed to fly.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 9:21 Comments || Top||

#3  "Calm remained throughout the aircraft. There were one or two people who were quite angry about it but the aircraft was quite calm."

I'm heading off to Australia in a week or so. If I witnessed this sort of thing, I'd be so pissed off that my fellow passengers would have to restrain me just to ensure that the hijacker would survive long enough to be taken into custody at the gate.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/29/2003 9:34 Comments || Top||

#4  The problem is that if you really want to have a weapon on board, no regulations will stop you. Lots of things can be made sharp enough to cut throats.
The good thing is that since 9/11 the passenger's behaviour has changed. You see anybody behaving badly, you beat the *** out of him and ask questions later.
Note for airlines: Place the strongest guys just behind the cockpit door. Ummm you said that's business class? Well, ummm how much do you value security???
Posted by: True German Ally || 05/29/2003 9:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Memo to Qantas: Change Business Class area to Rugby Class.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 10:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Someone please give Greg a medal of honor. If that hijacker had succeeded…
Posted by: Katz || 05/29/2003 10:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Not to be too flippant, given the injuries, but just to make sure, we should see if Greg and the other passengers have reflections in mirrors and aren't averse to garlic.
Posted by: Just John || 05/29/2003 15:44 Comments || Top||

#8  And there is still controversy over arming pilots?

Posted by: eric || 05/29/2003 20:34 Comments || Top||


Europe
Rumsfeld nails the French.
You have to hand it to Big Dog (Rumsfeld). He knows how to hit 'em where it hurts. As WFB pointed out in a recent column, the French are most vulnerable in their pride.
It's not limited to the French, I might add.
Gallic pride — based on a past growing distant, grasping for any present reality — is a rather delicate illusion. In the past few weeks, Mr. Rumsfeld made two decisions that both galled the Gauls. The important one is about Red Flag and Cope Thunder.
Now it gets good...
Uncle is the sponsor of the two air war-games that anyone who is: (a) a good guy; and (b) serious about having an air force needs to attend. Red Flag — next scheduled for March '04 — is the bigger of the two. Held at Nellis AFB in Nevada (yes, Andrew, where Area 51 is, but not usually over it) Red Flag tests and develops tactics. The fly-guys get to do air-combat maneuvering at supersonic speed, and the threats that test their skills are unmatched except in combat. There you find the Aggressor Squadron, a highly experienced bunch of airborne pirates whose principal duty is to study how our guys fight, and find ways to defeat them in ACM. The Aggressors fly everything from our stuff to the latest aircraft of other nations whose birds fall into our hands by defection and, ah, otherwise. Surface-to-air-missile threats are very realistic, and lotsa classified stuff goes on. These days, Nellis runs the Predator and Global Hawk UAVs, so they're part of the exercise too.

The French air force has traditionally been on the limited invitation lists for Red Flag and its smaller cousin, Cope Thunder (which follows Red Flag by a few months and is held in Alaska). So when Rumsfeld told the Frenchies they were disinvited to both Red Flag and Cope Thunder, their air-force guys were shocked. Being excluded from the best war games sends two unmistakable messages. First, we don't need you. Second, we don't want you. Capiche?
If the French "get it", then there's still hope...

Less important but still fun is Rumsfeld's action on the Paris Air Show, one of the highlights of the business/political social season. This year, American military aircraft will be on display, but none will fly. And no American officer above the rank of colonel will attend. So the Paris social season will have far fewer bits of gossip about those ill-mannered cowboys who flew into Paris in all those smelly old aircraft. Our aircraft manufacturers will squawk about lost chances for foreign sales of aircraft, but anyone who wants the stuff that just kicked butt in Afghanistan and Iraq knows where to find it. In places such as Fort Worth, St. Louis, and Seattle, thank you very much. Or at the Farnborough Air Show next year in Britain. The USAF will be there with bells on, and all the guys with stars on their shoulders will have a year of absence to make up for in politicking.
We know who our friends are.

Read the whole article. Deliciously Juicy. Made my day.
Posted by: Ptah || 05/29/2003 07:14 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  TGA - i should of put this in my prior post but did not. just wanted say that over the last 6 monts or so i have read your post's and your are a true german ally.
Posted by: Dan || 05/29/2003 17:42 Comments || Top||

#2  It may not have been only to tweak their pride. Lack of this training will certainly make the French Air Force less effective. To wit: we didn't invite the Chineese either.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/29/2003 8:45 Comments || Top||

#3  We did invite the Japanese to the Alaska event.
Posted by: Chuck || 05/29/2003 8:56 Comments || Top||

#4  The Japanese may need their skills if Kimmy doesn't wise up
Posted by: Frank G || 05/29/2003 9:13 Comments || Top||

#5  Hope that German airforce guys will still continue to train in Texas. They do more for US-German friendship than all politicians. Great bunch of people.

Did I mention that only 25% support Schroeder's party SPD right now? (Latest polls)
Posted by: True German Ally || 05/29/2003 9:58 Comments || Top||

#6  TGA - it may be worth noting that while the anti-French attitude seems to still be at a boil, you rarely hear any anti-German voices lately. Now, should Gerhard or any of his ministers decide to opine again, that could change
Posted by: Frank G || 05/29/2003 10:01 Comments || Top||

#7  Frank, I can't vouch for this government. People do crazy things on their way out. And on this way they are, maybe this year already.

The problem is that Schroeder gets most of his electorate in the North and the East which also happens to be more reserved when it comes to the US. South and South West Germany is a completely different story (Guess who has 16% unemployed and who has 5%).

Yet you can't really "punish" Schroeder and wish Germany well. Any Bush snub in Evian will just drive Germany back into French arms. Do we want that? I can understand that Bush doesn't like Schroeder but when the leader of the world's first ecomony snubs the leader of the world 3rd economy that can't be any good. Talking to an opposition man (and not even the leader of this opposition) in the White House and not having talked to the leader of Germany since November.. this is not good politics, this is ...pardon me ... childish behavior. Politics doesn't mean that you only talk to people you sympathize with. If you want a stronger French-German alliance, that's the way to do it. Do you want it? Or do you even care?
Schroeder has at least tried to mend fences, he has acknowledged that he went too far in some respect (understatement but when do you hear politicians apologizing fully?).
No it doesn't have to be Crawford, but some talks in Evian could help.
After all, French might want to fall out with the US, Germany does not. At least not the Germany I bank on.
Posted by: True German Ally || 05/29/2003 10:51 Comments || Top||

#8  TGA - Schroeder ruptured a true friendship that was built on common values and common defense. And for what, for politics. Is it to much to expect a friend, who we have stood by even though we put our homeland at risk for 50 years, to support us?
If you ask me it was a very childish move for Schroeder to do this. And it was all about politics. This iraq thing did not start last november but that is when Schroeder jumped on the weasal bandwagon, for what ? for politics..because the German people do not want to be involved in any wars. In the end was this needed to keep Germany out of combat, no, but it was needed to get Schroeder re-elected.
As for a stronger Franco/German alliance - ask yourself is this really in Germany's best interest? You already have to deal with a snobbish France who flouts your own EU laws (at least when it suits them!) while Germany is mirred in economic stagnation because of its adherence to EU rules.
Posted by: Dan || 05/29/2003 13:15 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Columbia University Beauzeau Sounds Off.
Edited for length. You can find the whole thing at the link.
Written by Joseph Massad, assistant professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University

Whenever I open an Arabic newspaper these days, I am accosted by columns written by neo-liberals expressing much worry about the "primacy" of the question of Palestine in Arab politics. The columnists insist that it is to the detriment of Arab nationalism, the Arab regimes, and "the Arab Street", that Palestine remains central. While Arab nationalism as an organised political force has ceased to exist as a political project except in the hopes of believers, Arab regimes who might have paid lip service to it as the quintessential "Arab Cause", no longer even do so except as parody.
Well, assistant professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University beauzeau with a college job, maybe it's just that not every American and Israeli likes being blown up. And maybe, just maybe, Arafat would love to succeed where Haman and Hitler failed.
Since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the military defeat of the PLO, even that organisation, or its mere truncated shadow, the Palestinian Authority no longer believes the Palestinian cause is primary. As far as the PA is concerned, two of the three central elements of the "cause", namely, the millions of Palestinians living in forced exile or the over one-million Palestinian Israelis who live under Israeli institutionalised racism are no longer part of the cause. If for the Arab regimes, abandoning evil making peace with Israel and submitting to America's will is what has been primary all along, for the PA, it is obtaining political power for the corrupt Oslo elite and a mere semblance of rights to West Bank and Gaza Palestinians that remains primary. In today's Arab world, apart from the Palestinians themselves, it is only in "the Arab street" that their cause lives on.

While pontificating about "the Arab street", few of the commentators bother to even define it. It is not workers and professional unions, women's organisations, business associations, members of opposition political parties (legal and outlawed), men and women of letters, artists, students and faculty, government and private sector employees, the unemployed, and all kinds of people drawn from rural and urban backgrounds that are spoken of, but rather some amorphous entity known as "The Arab Street".

As the last and only bastion where the cause of an oppressed people remains primary, "the Arab street" has become the major target of subversion. It is not only the United States and its propaganda outlets (to which Radio Sawa was added last year and a new Arabic--speaking television station will be added this year) that is targeting it, but also the neo-liberal Arab intellectuals who aim to throw the Palestinian cause in the dustbin of history in the interest of making subservience to America and Israel the primary cause for "the Arab street" to espouse -- just as it has been for the Arab regimes.
As opposed to subservience to the terrorist supporters and kleptocrats?
The neo-liberals' resentment of the Palestinian people and the primacy of their cause for "the Arab street" is not a new phenomenon. It has been espoused by a number of Arab regimes and political currents since the 1960s. All the neo- liberal Arab intellectuals are currently doing is mobilise this resentment across the Arab world with the aim of dislodging the Palestinian cause once and for all. If some Arab nationalists and Islamists believe America is responsible for all the ills of the Arab world, neo-liberal Arab intellectuals believe that the primacy of the Palestinian cause is the main reason for all these ills. Thus, the idea is to mobilise resentment of the Palestinian people and rid the Arab world of the Palestinians in preparation for a long-awaited Arab embrace of America and Israel, otherwise known as "modernity and politics". In an article in Al-Hayat which he co- authored, Hazim Saghiyyah, the most prominent of the neo- liberals, has recently labelled what he calls "the Arabist ideology" in reference to Arab nationalism, as "pre-political". He often laments that the Arab world is yet to reach modernity!
You got that last right!
Hat tip LGF
Posted by: Katz || 05/29/2003 09:23 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whenever I open an Arabic newspaper these days (actually when I read one on the web), I wonder what they're putting in the water over there.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 9:45 Comments || Top||

#2  *sigh* Moonbats!
Posted by: Korora || 05/29/2003 9:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Prof Massad is "accosted by columns written by neo-liberals". Obviously he doesn't read Egyptian papers or Syrian papers or Libyan papers. Also its hard to image a newspaper column 'accosting' someone.
Posted by: mhw || 05/29/2003 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  This is what I mean when I say Arafat, his ilk and the surrounding muslim nations don't speak for the common palestinian. They were merely a 'cause' - for anti-Israeli and anti-American mobilization. Do you think for a moment that Saddam (the Saudis, Bashar, the Iranian zoo, etc.) gave a whit about those people in the camps? He didn't even care about his OWN people. The money he sent to boomers' families was just cruel enticement to more violence.

The paleos need to realize they 'ben played. Abbas needs to stiffarm Arafat (actually, have him shivved) cozy up to Bush, normalize ties with a recognized Israel and then ask for something bold - like Lebanon be placed under UN jursdiction (coalition would be better) and made host state for displaced paleos. The money we currently send to Israel and Egypt would be better spent relocating (and pacifying) the boomer draw pool.
Posted by: Scott || 05/29/2003 12:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Voices in "Palestine"
Arafat: blah blah blah the jews are pure evil blah blah blah
Hamas: blah blah okay mahmoud, go blow yourself up blah blah blah
Rachel Corrie: blah blah blah it's all about oppression- aaaaiiieee!
Drug Addict: I came because you seem to have the good stuff here in plenty.
Posted by: Katz || 05/29/2003 15:22 Comments || Top||

#6  note that he is using "neo-liberal" in a broader sense then that word is typically used in the US. Here in the US it was used for those who chose to pursue "liberal goals" but with greater flexibility of methods, including free market approaches. Used in regard to (and by) Gary Hart originally. Associated with Charles Peters and Washington Monthly. (obvious derivation from and contrast to Neo-conservative) Today we tend to use new democrat or third way, so term has gone out of use in USA.

Overseas it tends to mean revival of classical liberal approaches. In europe tends to mean more free market approaches - associated with Thatcherism. In arab world i presume it would refer to any positive attitude towards democratization, westernization, secularization, globalization.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 05/29/2003 15:35 Comments || Top||

#7  Among academic leftists in the US, "liberal" is a term of contempt and "neoliberal" is a term of villification (neoliberals, unlike plain liberals, never serve as "useful fools"). A neoliberal in this sense is anyone who stresses "liberty" (economic and social), which is seen by marxists as just another tool of exploitation.
Posted by: closet neo-con || 05/29/2003 22:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Time to re-pave the "Arab Street"...
Posted by: mojo || 05/29/2003 23:48 Comments || Top||


Claiming a partial victory
They can't go away. They've got nothing else to do in their lives...
Antiwar activists asked Americans to give peace a chance. Seventy percent of Americans said they would not.
Nobody wants to play sixties with us! What's wrong with you people?! Don't you know we know so much more then you?!
Initially buoyed by huge demonstrations held before the Iraq war began, peace activists were disappointed that they ultimately couldn't sway majority public opinion.Today, the movement is going through a period of reflection.
Which is about all they're good at. Hey, it beats working.
"We have to contemplate where we go from here," said Bill Fletcher, cochairman of the United for Peace and Justice campaign, in Washington. "We know it's going to be a challenge."
I've got to contemplate...contemplate...contemplate...
Hey! Lookidat! He fell right into his own belly button! Howdy do dat?
Activists plan a major demonstration in Philadelphia against somthing or other President Bush's policies on July 4, when Bush comes here to open the National Constitution Center. That and other possible activities will be mapped out at a first-ever convention of peace groups, June 7 and 8 in Chicago.
What's a presidential visit without "activists". What's that make everybody else, "inactivists"?
Grab one of his feet! Let's help him get out of there.
Antiwar activists say that even though they could not stop the war, or dissuade a majority of Americans from supporting it, they did not fail. They got their message out and showed they could fill the streets with people opposed to Bush's policies, activists say.
...and a lot of good it did.
I think he's holding on to something in there. Pull a little harder...
"The victory of the marches was to start a debate and get it into the mass media," said Karen Dolan, coordinator of the Cities for Peace project, also in Washington.
Have more die-ins and puke-ins next time. The media loves that.
Cheeze! She jumped right in there with him. Who'da thought a belly-button would have room in it for two full-sized people?
There is no doubt, however, that the war has embittered many of those who worked hard to decry and derail it. "I feel frustration and absolute hopelessness," said Frank Corcoran, a member of Veterans for Peace in Lansdowne. "We mobilized against the war in a way the world has never seen, and we had no effect. My daily routine is to figure out how to live with being so overwhelmed with hopelessness."
Frank. Buddy. Take a pill. Maybe getting a friggin' real job might help. Most of us "inactivists" do it. That's why we don't have time to protest shit.
If he didn't spend so much time hiding in a belly-button, maybe he could find a job, get gainful employment. Now what's he got? Lint!
Several antiwar activists say they have been upset with what they see as the United States' swaggering post-war posturing. "The triumphalism of the administration is unseemly, ugly and arrogant," Fletcher said. "Frankly, it scares the hell out of me."
... he said, poking his head out of the crowded navel. "I'm so frightened! I feel so... so... inadequate!"
I hope it scares the hell out of the Islamist maggots who want to put airplanes into our buildings, too. I really don't care what you think, Bill. If it was up to you, we'd roll over and die.
People say they fret, too, over a chilly zeitgeist that equates dissent with sedition and makes being antiwar akin to being anti-American."People don't realize that we who oppose war are not the enemy," said Ralph Young, a Temple University history professor. "War itself is the enemy."
They're not the enemy. They just support the enemy.
It's a good thing that's an inny. It's pretty crowded in there...
Having absorbed censure for opposing the war, activists also have been compelled to admit that many of their predicted catastrophes regarding the invasion of Iraq never came to pass. Antiwar people and left-leaning thinkers have been enduring the heat of a kind of Chicken Little-frying - ceaseless criticism for "baseless" doom-saying.
They haven't admitted shit. All they do is twist their positions around to make it look like they were right.
"Wolf! Wolf! Quick, hide in here with us!"
Last month, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal excoriated liberals for "anticipated disasters that haven't come true." Among them: house-to-house street fighting in Baghdad; a postwar refugee crisis; North Korea taking advantage of the war to attack us; and numerous Iraqi oil fields set ablaze. For months, conservative radio and television personalities have hammered antiwar celebrities such as Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins (he of the "What would Jesus bomb?" T-shirt). Diatribes against the couple were so strong and sustained that the Baseball Hall of Fame in April canceled a planned 15th-anniversary celebration of their movie Bull Durham.
"What would Jesus bomb?" I never saw that. That's pretty good. Maybe Tim can sell them in a little booth at the mall when he can't find work. And when did "Bull Durham" become the Greatest Movie of All Time? I missed that.
I liked The Natural better, even if it did have Robert Redford in it...
Despite the opposition, the antiwar movement is still intact, Dolan said.
"We all live in a yellow submarine!"
"The coalitions are staying together, the questions we raise still remain," she said. "It may not be visible. We're not on the streets. But we're still on campuses, on the Internet, in town halls and libraries, and all the activist conferences are continuing."
"Still in this damned belly button. Move over, dammit! You're taking up all the room. No, I meant over there. We can't all be on the left side of the belly button..."
Oh, they just can't wait for another shot. "We coulda been somebody... we coulda been contenders." Well there's always our friend Kimmie. Start thinking up catchy slogans. I think the oil ones are out though.
Chief among the worries of members of the peace movement is what Fletcher calls "regime change-itis" - a series of preemptive U.S. attacks against other sovereign nations. "We see a number of flashpoints ahead," he said.
Ooooooh. Flashpoints. Thanks for the in-depth analysis of the world situation, Bill.
Whether the antiwar movement can have any effect on future foreign policy is hard to say. These days, peace advocates are still trying to come to terms with what happens when a heartfelt message is largely ignored.
Maybe they can stomp up and down and hold their breath...
"We're regrouping," said Bob Smith, coordinator of the Brandywine Peace Community in Swarthmore. "We're in a bit of a lull. We did not stop the war. That was not a defeat for us, but for the country. We were successful because we brought out thousands who resisted the war."
Keep thinking that, Bob. Enjoy yourself in your own little Fantasyland if that's what gets you through the day.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 07:17 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The basic problem these folks have is that the US fought a war that killed less people in one month than the Saddam regime normally did and stopped his ongoing killing. Same thing happened in Afghanistan. These people are so oppossed to the US in anything it does they have taken an inhuman position and do not even see it.

If they had any integrity they would take out a copy of Amnesty Internationals report and start pointing at whom the US should free next on humanitarian grounds (Syria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Burma, Cuba)?
Posted by: Yank || 05/29/2003 17:10 Comments || Top||

#2  "What would Jesus bomb?"

After he got through with the moneychangers in the Temple?

Mecca. (since you asked)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/29/2003 9:31 Comments || Top||

#3  And if Jesus went ballistic on the moneychangers in the temple, just imagine what he would do if he found a mosque there....
Posted by: Dripping Sarcasm || 05/29/2003 10:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Fight for Peace! Fuck for Virginity! Who would Satan French-Kiss?
Posted by: mojo || 05/29/2003 10:07 Comments || Top||

#5  They're regrouping! For what now. No war, only peace. We're for peace, Peace brother. Strip for peace. HO HO HO, Ho Chi Mhin. War is always wrong, ALWAYS. Sheep for peace. Slaughter, I see no slaughter, I see only peace, Pierce your tounge for peace. Drag queens for peace. Professors for peace. Oil for peace, land for peace. Peace and security for me, UN protection for them.
Posted by: Lucky || 05/29/2003 11:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Oh, now I know why I should have paid attention to these cranks. Not because their message was coherent and relevant, but because it was "heartfelt." Yeah, that's it.
Posted by: DJ Joey || 05/29/2003 12:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Jesus. O.K. It always amazes me to hear what Jesus would or wouldn't do. If you take Revelation to be true prophecy, then one of these days Jesus is gonna put down that little lamb that He's always carrying, pick up a sword and kill 2/3 of the population of the world. Or at least take credit for it. And that will be merciful, it was 99%+ in the Noah thing.
Posted by: Scott || 05/29/2003 12:46 Comments || Top||

#8  "The coalitions are staying together, the questions we raise still remain," she said.

The "questions they raise," nobody with a brain or an ounce of moral clarity cares about. The left has become so completely morally bankrupt that all that's left of it is a bunch of empty slogans.

"War is the enemy." You wouldn't find too many holocaust or Saddam prison survivors who would agree with that position.

I think these cranks should rename themselves
"Slogan hurlers for peace" or
"Meaningless cliches united for total inaction" or
"Narcissim united to ignore the suffering of others" or
"Cowards united to avoid inconvenience."

Atleast then they would be honest about what the really stand for.


Posted by: Jonesy || 05/29/2003 13:11 Comments || Top||

#9  With the exception of the Quakers (whom I respect but disagree with), this has nothing to do with peace. Virtually all of these people have cheered on every marxist revolutionary movement the world has seen, no matter how bloodthirsty. They are not opposed to war at all -- only to wars waged by "capitalists." Ironies aboud. What about the anarchists now decrying anarchy in Iraq? I am reminded of Ronald Radosh, who saw the light while visting a mental hospital in Cuba after one of his then-fellow marxists informed him that he had to understand that "there is a huge difference between capitalist lobatamies and socialist lobatamies."
Posted by: closet neo-con || 05/29/2003 13:48 Comments || Top||

#10  Follow the money of the leaders and organizers, the ones who get the others to block traffic, break windows, deficate on the sidewalks and generally get others to do mayhem while they stay clear. Track, identify, arrest, harrass. Two can play the game as one.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/29/2003 14:18 Comments || Top||

#11  Several antiwar activists say they have been upset with what they see as the United States' swaggering post-war posturing. "The triumphalism of the administration is unseemly, ugly and arrogant," Fletcher said. "Frankly, it scares the hell out of me."

We won, Saddam (and you)lost. Get over it buddy.

Scott's not far from the truth. There's a time for everything under the sun: The imagery given by the Preacher in Ecclesiastes has God putting down in a little appointment book all the things he's got to get done. Cleaning up the F*cking mess we've made is one such entry.
Posted by: Ptah || 05/29/2003 14:59 Comments || Top||

#12  these people just don't get - even you send a cruise missle(or homicide bomber) up thier asses they would still be agaisnt going after those responsible. and in this war on terror it is a war agaisnt the terror organizations and the states that support them. hell the state dept has been listing the same goddam countries for 20 years!
and the say we see a number of flashpoints -
i have to agree with them on this - i also see a number of flashpoints - just count the number of countries on the state dept list!
Posted by: Dan || 05/29/2003 14:59 Comments || Top||

#13  Get out of that fucking navel and get into the real world! Unless we really muff it, Iraq will be a better land in a few years!
Posted by: Katz || 05/29/2003 15:32 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Love in Pashtunistan: "Want some candy, little bride?"
ISLAMABAD: A 10-year-old girl was married to a 60-year-old man when her grandfather sold her out for Rs 100,000. Pathani Bibi, from Nurwal village, in district Dadu, was kidnapped by her grandfather, Muhammed Qasim, and later sold out to a landlord of the same village for Rs 100,000. The father of the poor girl, Amin Phanwar, went to court and presented a petition against his father and the “buyers” but finally gave up after fighting for a year in the court. Meanwhile, the respondent forced him and his daughter to leave the village and take refuge in Islamabad. Mr Phanwar told a press conference along with his daughter at the office of the Progressive Women Association (PWA) here on Thursday.
I'll bet they get a lot of business in Pakland...
He did not have a single penny to feed his daughter and other children and he had to run from his home to protect his daughter. Phanwar said in 2002 his father got a loan of Rs 100,000 from a rich landlord in the village, Muhammad Qasim, and made a commitment with him that he would let his daughter, Arbab, Phanwar’s sister, marry Qasim. Arbab had already married her first cousin and her father forced her to get a divorce. But when she got divorced Amin stopped his father from selling Arbab to his creditor and arranged her marriage to another cousin without getting money.
Marrying them to close relatives is better, y'see, 'cuz you don't lose any genes. That's why they're so civilized.
Phanwar’s father, planned to sell Amin’s daughter, Pathani, for the money he had already borrowed and spent. On June 20, he went to Amin telling him that he was taking Ms Pathani with him to Dadu city on a picnic. He took the girl and handed her over to Qasim and his son, Jaffer, in the presence of a local Jirga including influential feudals Allah Bachayo, Naban Khan and an inspector of the Sehwan Sharif Police Station, Manzur. Qasim and his son arranged a Moulvi (name not known) and registered a nikkah. Qasim kept the girl in a lockup but she ran away home the next day and told her ordeal to the father.

Amin registered a police report against his father and other people involved in the matter. However, he could not convince the court as its proceedings had still to be completed. No action was taken against the culprits. Inspector Manzur, who was a member of Jirga and witnessed the illegal nikah, arrested Amin illegally on May 10 and tortured him with a demand to hand over the little girl to Qasim. Amin was finally released from the jail on the condition that he would hand over Pathani to Qasim. But he ran from his home and approached the human rights activist, Shahnaz Bukhari, at his PWA office in Islamabad. Phanwar said he and his daughter had escaped from many attacks attempted by Muhammad Qasim and Jaffer and that they now needed government protection. “I have nothing to protect my family and myself even I have not a single penny to feed my children under this critical circumstances. I want to meet the president and prime minister to get their help, because I can’t go back home as my enemies are following my daughter and me to kill my family,” He said as he was crying.
Hmmm... Yasss... I can understand that. If the sexagenarian can't have the 10-year-old to warm his bed on those cold winter nights, then he has to take Dire Revenge™. It says so, right in the Koran, someplace. You could look it up. Of course, the marriage probably wouldn't be legal anyway, because it doesn't look like they're close relatives...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/29/2003 06:03 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I believe the Koran would say, "Kill the girl". That way the old fart won't lose his "honor". Why is it that when you finally think you got it figured out how sick these f**king people are, they top what you've heard before?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 19:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Anyone care to hear my 18 B-52H 36 ALCM nuclear tipped cruise missile solution to Islamo-pedophiles?
Posted by: badanov || 05/29/2003 20:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Personally, I prefer the Trident solution.
"Chew on this."
Posted by: Dishman || 05/29/2003 21:25 Comments || Top||


JI warns of NWFP replay
LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Punjab has warned if signboards showing female models were not removed in the province the JI would be free to take the same action as in NWFP. Punjab JI General Secretary Azhar Iqbal Hassan, Deputy Secretary General Imran Zahoor Ghazi and Secretary Information Abdul Wahab Niazi said in a joint statement because of the signboards displaying female models vulgarity and obscenity and the blessed reputation of the females was under threat. They also urged the Film Censor Board to obey the code of conduct and play their role to strengthen the moral values of society. Mr Hassan added the JI reserved the rights to go to court against film directors and actresses involved in vulgar filmmaking.
"And don't let us catch any of you bastards smiling and having a good time, either."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/29/2003 06:03 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The secret fear that someone, somewhere..."
Posted by: mojo || 05/29/2003 23:46 Comments || Top||


New CID chief in NWFP
PESHAWAR: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA’s) government has brought in a close friend of Maulana Fazlur Rehman who played a key role in the arrest of several al-Qaeda suspects and other jihadi elements in collaboration with Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FIA). Police sources said, “Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani, in a bid to meet MMA’s General Secretary Maulana Fazlur Rehman wishes has appointed Salahuddin Masood as assistant inspector general (AIG) of the criminal investigation department (CID). This is a political appointment and the MMA government’s attempt to appoint its own blue-eyed boys on key posts.” However the move was also aimed at neutralizing the efforts for war on terrorism. Sources said, “Obviously, the new boss, who is close to the Maulana, will not go for something that the MMA would not like to happen.” Soon after its victory in the October elections, the MMA demanded an end to FBI-led operations against terrorists in the Frontier province. The chief minister time and again after taking oath of his office made it plain that no FBI people would be allowed in the province. However the arrest of a militant organization’s few members in southern Dera Ismail Khan few months ago really angered the chief minister. The arrested people were set free following Mr Durrani’s anger as to why the CID made these arrests without his prior approval.
Guess that shows us who's boss in NWFP. Not that we didn't know...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/29/2003 05:57 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Centre will disallow Hisbah Bill
PESHAWAR: The federal government may move the Supreme Court against the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) government in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) as the controversial Hisbah Bill that critics allege will ‘introduce the Taliban-style’ rule in the province. “The federal government will not allow this to happen,” a source told Daily Times on Thursday on condition of anonymity. “The MMA is likely to be confronted in the court of law on this issue,” he added. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-QA) central secretary-general Anwar Saifullah Khan said, “Possibility is there someone from the PML QA may challenge it in the Supreme Court.” Talking to Daily Times via phone from Islamabad, Mr Khan said the Frontier province did not need another such bill as in the 1973 Constitution Islamic laws were protected. “We don’t need new laws. What we need is implementation of the existing laws,” he argued to reject the MMA-tabled Shariah Bill 2003 in the Frontier Assembly on Tuesday. Mr Khan accused Akram Khan Durrani-led MMA government of introducing the bill for “political mileage.” He said the Hisbah Bill clashed with the Constitution. In the bill, all courts were barred from challenging vice and virtue department decisions and no court could stay its decisions.
This sort of thing would make Pakland a world laughing stock, if this sort of thing was remotely funny.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/29/2003 05:46 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Latest Lashkar e-Jhangvi head nabbed
An Islamic militant accused of helping to plan the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was arrested at a bus station in central Pakistan on Thursday, police said. The suspect, Qari Abdul Hai, who allegedly had close ties with the Taliban, is the chief of a banned militant group condemned by the United States as a terrorist organization, police said. The group has been accused of involvement in bombings at public places in Pakistan. Hai was captured in Muzaffargarh, 60 miles west of Multan, as he was about to board a bus for Karachi. Police refused to give more details about Hai's alleged role in Pearl's kidnapping. Four Islamic militants were convicted last year of involvement in the kidnap-slaying of Pearl. One of them, British-born Islamic militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was sentenced to death, and the three others were given life sentences. All four have filed appeals. Malik said Hai is head of the banned Sunni Muslim Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, which was designated a terrorist group by Washington this year. Malik said there was a $35,000 reward for Hai's arrest and that he had been linked to the murders of many Shiite Muslims in different parts of the country in recent years.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 03:45 pm || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Diaries from Hill Kaka show route, links and funds of Pak’s jehadis
Diaries recovered from the Pakistani militants killed by the Indian Army during Operation Sarpvinash in the Hill Kaka area in Surankote reveal their links with Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb e-Islami and operations in the Tora Bora mountains. Documents recovered from the 62 militants killed suggest that a majority of the jehadis in Surankote were Pakistani Punjabis from Islamabad, Karachi, Attock and Rawalpindi and not from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Apart from a sprinkling of Quranic verses, the dairies contain detailed accounts of jehadi operations south of Pir Panjal in Surankote.
Posted by: rg117 || 05/29/2003 07:09 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Hill Kaka"?????

Haaahahahahahaaaa.....
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/29/2003 9:25 Comments || Top||

#2  It's just east of Hill PooPoo.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 9:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Pork-chop Hill, anyone?...

Sorry, that was culturally insensetive wasn't it?
Posted by: mojo || 05/29/2003 10:17 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraq Airways Plans to Resume Service
EFL.
BAGHDAD - Iraq's national carrier, hard-hit by two wars and 13 years of U.N. sanctions, is preparing to resume service after a three-month hiatus, its management said Thursday.
Wonder if they can get contracts to fly UN personnel around the world?
In an announcement to employees, Iraq Airways officials said the once-profitable company was working with the U.S.-led coalition to get flying again. The statement said the U.S.-led Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance was working to complete the technical preparations that would enable flights to resume. ``After that Iraqi Airways flights will resume, but this will take some time,'' said the statement, from manager of flight operations Halid el-Quaisee.

On Wednesday, the U.N. committee monitoring sanctions against Iraq announced that flight restrictions in place since 1990 had been removed following the Security Council's decision last week to lift sanctions. The state-owned airline has been grounded since the start of the U.S.-led coalition offensive against Iraq in March. Several of its jetliners, maintenance facilities and offices at Baghdad International Airport — formerly known as Saddam International Airport — are said to have been damaged or destroyed in the fighting. Other aircraft remain parked at airports in Syria and Jordan. Its head office at the airport was taken over by the U.S. military in April, and the main terminal is still used as a makeshift barracks. American officials haven't said when they will hand over the airport, or those in Basra and Mosul, to civilian aviation authorities. The fortunes of Iraqi Airways declined steadily over the past two decades, and it was not clear how soon it will be ready fly again. ``Nobody seems to be in charge anymore,'' said Hassan Dixon, a flight engineer who reported for work at a downtown building that used to house the airlines' staff club. ``We have no instructions from management.''
We could send them some managers from United, but that might make things worse.
Southwest would probably be better. Maybe some Air America execs, if they want to branch out into other things. Diversification, y'know...
In the 1970s, the state-owned airline was considered one of the fastest-growing in the Middle East. Its aircraft — with their distinctive green-and-white paint scheme — included Boeing 707s, 727s, 747s and Russian-built Il-76 cargo jets. That expansion ended with the start of the Iraq-Iran war in 1980. Just before the 1991 Gulf War, the airline's 15 Boeings were flown to Jordan, Iran and Tunisia. The airline has not been able to retrieve all of them, and Baghdad claimed Iran's national carrier put some of those planes into its own fleet.
Good luck getting them back!
I think they just added another one, from Angola, today...
Iraqi Airways was grounded for several years after the war because of U.N. sanctions that made procuring spare parts impossible. The company's in-flight catering department sold meals and pastries at Baghdad supermarkets to raise money. The airline resumed limited domestic service in the mid-1990s when spare parts again became available under the oil-for-food program. Flights linked Baghdad with Mosul and Basra, but they were again suspended in March as the latest conflict began.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/29/2003 09:54 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OK but how much range do you get out of wound up rubber bands. Of course if they could find the Bahgdad Bob he could supply enough hot air to keep the bird's engines running
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire || 05/29/2003 17:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, you see, in the koran it's Allah will to keep your neighbors power tools when it's a valuable thing unto yourself. Ask any mullah. Yes, yes, you just have to read it.
Posted by: Lucky || 05/29/2003 11:25 Comments || Top||


Middle East more secure, Blair tells troops
EFL.
The Middle East is already benefiting from the regime change in Iraq as the region escapes its history of instability and terrorism, Tony Blair told 400 British troops on the outskirts of Basra today.
As always, Tony lifts his vision and his voice above that of the snarling cocker spaniels like Robin Cook.
Paying tribute to the British army, the prime minister conceded: "There are a lot of disagreements in the country about the wisdom of my decision to order the action." However, he went on to argue that the war had led not only to an opportunity for a better Iraq but also for a more peaceful region, including for Israel and the Palestinians. Speaking outside one of Saddam's former presidential palaces, which now serves as the headquarters of 1 Division, Mr Blair said: "Iraq is one of the wealthiest countries potentially in the world yet its people live in appalling poverty. In the years to come, as a result of what you have done, we can rebuild that country and we will help in that." And he went on to add: "Something else is happening right throughout this region. This area of the world has been a source of more instability, more terrorism, more difficulty in managing world affairs than any other region in the world." Now, he argued, it was possible to see the changes that were happening as a result of the removal of Saddam Hussein. "You can see in relation to countries like Syria and Iran where there are big issues we need to discuss with them and resolve with them, that we can do that in a completely different atmosphere than was possible a few months ago."
Tony, like GWB, understands that diplomacy works better when you're holding a large stick.
They could now also see, for Israel and Palestine, the first chance now for several years of the beginning of hopes for a different way forward for the future. "When people look back at this time and this conflict, I honestly believe they will see this as one of the defining moments of our century," Mr Blair concluded.

He is the first western leader to visit the county since hostilities ceased six weeks ago. The trip has been billed as a chance to give the prime minister's and the nation's thanks to the British forces - about 20,000 of whom are still deployed in Iraq. Before speaking Mr Blair was met in Basra by the Commander of 1 Division, General Peter Wall. He will also hold talks with the UK's special representative, John Sawers, and the head of America's office of reconstruction and humanitarian assistance, Paul Bremer. Mr Blair flew by helicopter to the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr today. He arrived by Chinook helicopter after a 15-minute flight from Basra to see the UK servicemen and women who captured and held Iraq's only sea port.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/29/2003 09:48 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Troops Find No Bodies at Saddam Site
U.S. troops have found no sign of bodies or even a bunker at the site where intelligence had said Saddam Hussein was sleeping on the war's opening night, a senior officer said Thursday. Acting on an intelligence tip, U.S. forces launched their campaign on March 20 by firing more than 40 Tomahawk missiles on Dora Farms, a neighborhood south of Baghdad where the Iraqi leader was said to be with his sons. "We looked real hard," Col. Tim Madere, an unconventional weapons specialist with the Army's V Corp, told The Associated Press. "We didn't find any bodies or bunkers," he said a day after visiting the site.
Bad intel or deliberate leak by Saddam?
Madere is part of the U.S.-led search for Saddam-era weapons of mass destruction. Looking for underground bunkers is a large part of the job, and weapons teams are occasionally also sent to gather evidence on the former regime and crimes it may have committed. The source of the CIA tip that launched the war's opening salvo is a closely guarded secret. Officials will only say the intelligence was regarded as extremely reliable.
Better check your sources
Initially, a source told the CIA that Saddam's sons, Qusai and Odai, and possibly their father, would be spending the night at a residential compound in Dora Farms, located along the Tigris and shrouded among rows of trees. The source's information was deemed so credible that CIA Director George Tenet personally took it to the Pentagon, where he described it to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld before the information was taken to the White House. The mission was not believed to have been successful. A disheveled Saddam appeared a day later on Iraqi TV and made a second appearance a week later. He was last reported seen in Baghdad on April 9. The United States doesn't know whether Saddam is alive or dead. Several messages released in his name have surfaced since major hostilities came to an end but there was no way to confirm their authenticity.
I've read stories that Saddam went out the back door of that Baghdad resturant and left his bodyguard out front to make people think he was there in order to smoke out a leak. He then wacked those who knew he was going to be there after the bombing. He may very well be alive.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 08:42 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What I find interesting is that we haven't caught any of his doubles either (or at least it hasn't been announced that we have).
My personal opinion is that Saddam's working in a Burger King somewhere, alongside Elvis and Osama.
Posted by: Kathy K || 05/29/2003 19:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Perhaps he shaved off his moustache and no coalition soldier could recognize him without it. :)
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 05/29/2003 19:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Steve, the restaurant was the second strike, I believe.

For the first strike, I thought that I heard that we had actual people on the ground reporting him there. For the second strike, I thought I heard that we had people, real-time, like on the phone, and also imaging overhead.

Saddam has spent his life ducking and dodging. 50/50 on whether we got him at his point, I'd say.
Posted by: Chuck || 05/29/2003 8:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Chuck, the restaurant was the second strike. That's where we had a witness see him go in. We had the overhead imaging on the first strike, that's when we were told they had pictures of someone they thought was Sammy being carried out. The CIA has never said what the intel on the first strike was, only that they thought it was credible. Guess it wasn't.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 9:21 Comments || Top||

#5  This story is suggesting that Saddam wasn't injured on the opening night. What then to make of that first video? Was he just hungover? LOL
Posted by: Dave || 05/29/2003 10:54 Comments || Top||

#6  This story doesn't make sense. The 1st strike was from aircraft not Tomahawks and certainly not 40. This also doesn't mesh with the report of frantic digging and the removal of someone who was severly injured in the 1st strike. The 40 tomahawks was probably the follow up to that 1st impromptu strike. I'll say this - 40 tomahawks don't leave too many parts - probably just lots of jelly. Anyway....that's how I remember it...either that or it's dementia setting in.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 05/29/2003 12:57 Comments || Top||

#7  I think that after searching for Saddam Hussein and his two sons for over a month now without coming up with anything, we have to conclude that they never existed in the first place. They were fictional people made up by the CIA as an excuse to invade Iraq.

I'll think I'll take the blue pill after all ...
Posted by: A || 05/29/2003 14:10 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Cambodia shuts Muslim school
Update on yesterdays story, EFL
Cambodian police shut down an Islamic school near the capital on Thursday as part of a crackdown on outside Muslim influences prior to a visit in June by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. The closure of the Om Al-Qura Institute and the planned expulsion of 28 overseas Islamic teachers came after an Egyptian and two Thais from the school were charged with suspected links to Southeast Asian Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah. Making good on direct orders from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to shut down the school, 40 km (25 miles) east of Phnom Penh, police moved in on Thursday to kick out some 500 students from Cambodia's ethnic Cham Muslim community. Carrying their bags through the steel gates of the school, identified by Cambodian authorities on Wednesday as Al-Mukara, few of the teenage boys had any idea what had happened.
"I know nothing. They just told me to take all my luggage and then they came to disperse us," said Mu Sof, 16, who has been at the school for the past four years. Police, some armed with AK-47 assault rifles, made a half-hearted show of searching their bags, which contained everything from clothes to Korans to English-language textbooks. Inside the well-manicured four-hectare (10-acre) complex, complete with two mosques, a basketball court, soccer pitch and classrooms and dormitories, a small bonfire of Arabic papers blazed in the middle of a courtyard.
Hello?? That's evidence burning over there, you might want to collect it before, oh, never mind.
The school's 28 remaining teachers, from Yemen, Thailand, Sudan and Egypt according to Cambodia's Interior Ministry, have been given until Saturday to leave the country. "I don't know where I will go," said Hassan Mohammed, a bearded and balding 46-year-old Sudanese who said he had been teaching Arabic at the school for the past eight months. "I am very sad for the students and for Muslims in Cambodia."
"Now I got to find a new gig."
"And I'm too old for the infantry. Knees are gone, y'know..."
Hun Sen said the crackdown had been ordered on the basis of intelligence operations with the United States, which has long been concerned at Cambodia's growing number of Islamic schools, mostly funded from the Middle East.
It's funded by Saudi Arabia, that's what you said yesterday.
"We have been investigating with the U.S. since the terrorist attacks in New York," Hun Sen said in a speech broadcast on national radio. "From the investigation with the U.S., we have found out there is a network of terrorists hiding in Cambodia." Cambodia's porous borders and lax law enforcement have led some security analysts to think it would be an obvious hiding place for an Islamic militant cell. However, the authorities vowed to root out alleged extremists. "We are continuing our investigations and cooperation with the U.S. to track down other suspects," an Interior Ministry official told Reuters. "We have a list of their names."
Goody
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 10:55 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe we should invite the Cambodians over here and we could then shut all the Saudi funded Islamic schools that teach hatred.
Posted by: mhw || 05/29/2003 12:02 Comments || Top||


Thailand Admits Presence of Militant Muslims
Thailand publicly acknowledged the presence of home-grown Muslim militants Thursday, saying it was monitoring the movements of a handful of Thais with links to international terror groups. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose government has repeatedly rejected suggestions that his tourist-reliant nation is a likely target of a terror attack, made the admission after the arrest of two Muslim Thais in neighbor Cambodia this week.
"No, no, no. Well, yes, but don't say it too loud."
"We've been following those who have links with international terrorist groups, but there are only a few of them and they have been inactive so far," Thaksin told reporters in the Thai capital Bangkok.
Better take action before one of those "inactive terrorists" drives a truck bomb into a sex club. That'll sure put a crimp on your tourist trade.
Fellow Southeast Asian nations Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore publicly cracked down on suspected Muslim radicals in the wake on the Sept. 11, 2001 suicide attacks on the United States and the Bali bomb blasts last October. Thaksin and his government have dismissed suggestions that Thailand, which relies heavily on tourist dollars, is a breeding ground for Islamic militancy. He said Thursday that countries with Muslim communities such as Thailand could have a certain number of militants trained overseas and with connections to international networks. About six million of mainly Buddhist Thailand's more than 60 million people are Muslim.
Out of that six million, I'm sure you'll find more than a few fundiwackjobs. Check the mosques in the poor neighborhoods.
Thaksin, speaking in the Thai capital Bangkok, said security agencies were investigating whether the two Thai suspects in Cambodia had links with Muslim militants at home.
Someone get the ClueBat.
Cambodia charged an Egyptian and the two Thais with suspected links to Southeast Asian militant network Jemaah Islamiah Wednesday.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 10:34 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I just hope the 'Thai Mafia' gets worried. I'd bet on them against the Islamist fanatics. If theey get worried, the terrorist cells will quietly disappear. Bones might be found later.
Posted by: Kathy K || 05/29/2003 18:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Thailand has replaced Malaysia as the Vegas of terrorist conventions. The large number of Western tourists who show up in Thailand present an attractive target to Muslim terrorists. The Thais would have to be stupid to ignore the danger at their doorstep. Thailand needs those tourist dollars, but I suspect it's going to be the site of the next Bali-like incident, if the government persists in its lackadaisical attitude.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 05/29/2003 11:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Bangkok was labeled "sex capital of the World" by Playboy magazine several years ago. Sex junkets are a regular item with sexual enthusiasts from Japan and Australia, taking advantage of the large number of sex emporiums in the country. Perfect targets for Islamist extremists. Right-on comment about a bomb in a sex club...look how the tourist industry in Bali is now irreversibly destroyed.
Posted by: TJ || 05/29/2003 12:30 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Two Palestinians killed in Gaza Strip, Jenin
Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian during an incursion in the southern Gaza Strip Thursday and a member of the Islamic Jihad group in the West Bank. The violence came on the same day as Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas is set to meet with his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, to discuss implementation of an internationally drafted Middle East peace "roadmap." Mohammed el-Kadra, 24, died when Israeli soldiers backed by tanks searched houses in the Gaza town of Khan Yunis. Relatives said Kadra had been wounded and was being carried to his house when Israeli soldiers intervened and shot him dead in a nearby street. The Israeli army said 29 people were arrested in the Khan Yunis sweep.
But not Mohammed...
Earlier, in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a gunman belonging to Islamic Jihad was shot dead by Israeli troops. Saed Fahmawi, 23, was hit during heavy clashes that broke out as more than 20 tanks and jeeps pushed into the town and its neighbouring refugee camp, the Jihad leader said. An army spokesman said the incursion was aimed at "dismantling in Jenin the infrastructures of terrorist organizations, who were preparing attacks.
Saed also seems to have been dismantled...
The army also said nine wanted Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank overnight.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/29/2003 04:13 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How does the Rachel Corrie brigade respond to the allegations/evidence that Arafat ordered the torture and execution of two of our diplomats?
Posted by: MusicMan || 05/29/2003 16:34 Comments || Top||

#2  MusicMan, they'd probably bury their heads in the sand.
Posted by: Korora || 05/29/2003 16:51 Comments || Top||

#3  CC & VRWC, after checking with my Zionist overlords, they tell me Arafat has killed many westerners. Not himself (he would NEVER soil his hands) but he has financed many radical organizations that have killed U.S. Citizens. Now I am not sure what Alfred Nobel had in mind about this peace prize, but I am sure that Arafat does not fit that description. After this year when they gave it to Dimmy Carter for his Anti-U.S./Pro-Castro spewings, I can pretty much say that it's political. I heard that Saddam is in the race for next year (if he is still alive).
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC California Chapter) || 05/29/2003 17:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Faster please...
Posted by: Celissa || 05/29/2003 18:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite. You know what he had in mind when he designed the "peace prize."

Arafat and his ilk certainly spurred enough export-driven demand for his product...
Posted by: Brian || 05/29/2003 19:46 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm reading David Frum's book on the President and came across a sentence stating that Arafat ordered the execution of our ambassador to Sudan, Cleo Noel, in 1973. This came as a revelation to me. Has this not been widely discussed of late or did I just miss it all? This continues to buttress my view that the Nobel Peace Prize, won by Arafat, is entirely driven by crass politics.

Here's a link that goes into detail about it: http://middleeastinfo.org/article2094.html
Posted by: ColoradoConservative || 05/29/2003 16:26 Comments || Top||

#7  Goes to show you that some in the US Department of State have their head up their crass.
Posted by: VRWC Colorado Chapter (Vast Right Wing Conspiracy) || 05/29/2003 16:30 Comments || Top||

#8  This came as a revelation to me. Has this not been widely discussed of late or did I just miss it all?

This has been known for a while. Why nobody is willing to string up Arafart for this is a mystery as well...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/29/2003 20:48 Comments || Top||


East/Subsaharan Africa
Armed police run riot in Harare
Armed riot police yesterday stormed into the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA)’s Workington Power Station and beat up workers holding a meeting on the premises. Riot police yesterday also broke up a lunch-hour prayer meeting called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). They arrested three women while others were assaulted in the First Street Mall in Harare.
Grabbed a little nookie to take back to the cop shoppe, did they?
In Workington, over 70 striking ZESA workers sustained serious injuries after they were beaten up and others were injured in the stampede that followed the arrival of the armed policemen. Shepherd Mandizvidza, the ZESA spokesman, however professed ignorance of the police action. But he said: “Personally, I think the police are well positioned to justify why they took that decision.” Mandizvidza said He said according to the Labour Court order issued on 23 May, the workers should have returned to work while their representatives and management negotiated. Some workers had returned to work “under protest” after their strike was declared illegal at the end of last week. They met in Harare yesterday to discuss the Labour Court ruling.
And the coppers beat up the rest...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 05/29/2003 03:46 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Television Show for Cats Set to Debut
This is insane...the Apocalypse IS coming. Soon, I think.
Balls of yarn, little plastic toys with bells inside and the occasional whiff of catnip simply aren't enough to satisfy the entertainment needs of today's sophisticated, high-tech felines. Cats need television. And now they have it. "Meow TV," which bills itself as being for cats "and the people they tolerate," debuts at 7:30 p.m. EDT Friday on the Oxygen network.
OH! How did I KNOW!!!! Oprah's got cats, right?
The tongue-in-furry-cheek comedy mixes video of squirrels and fish with segments titled "Cat Yoga" and "Cat Haiku." An interminably perky host on "The House Cat Shopping Network" urges kitties to "use those paws — you've seen your owners do it, you know how to dial a phone." And an ad for a collection of favorite feline songs includes "Spay You, Spay Me" and "Mice, Mice Baby."
Lazy, lasagna-loving Garfield had his own animated series for a while. So did the cranky comic-strip cat Heathcliff and the animated troublemaker Felix. Then there was Salem, the spooky animatronic talking cat on "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." And of course, there was the "Toonces the Driving Cat" sketch on "Saturday Night Live."
The ones I've heard of, I'm trying to forget...
"Meow TV" executive producer Elyse Roth likened her show to "Cat-urday Night Live," and said at least two more episodes are in the works. Actress Annabelle Gurwitch, formerly of TBS' "Dinner and a Movie," plays host while sitting on the couch with her 9-year-old black cat, Stinky.
You two women should be committed. Or on very strong medication.
Isn't that what they used to come up with the idea?
"The artistic mission was to create programming you could watch with your cat," Roth said. "I don't know that you're going to park your cat and do whatever." A recent advance showing of "Meow TV" at a Brooklyn loft, however, failed to hold the attention of a certain pair of overfed 11-year-old cats. Cali, the calico, licked herself the whole time, while Silver, who's gray and white, stared blankly out the window, then slinked away for food about halfway through.
NO SHIT!!!!They're FRIGGIN' CATS!!!!
But some cats really do watch television, insisted Pat Marengo as she cuddled her brown-and-orange Persian, Maggie. "She watches anything that's fast. She likes sports, she likes cartoons. She likes to see other cats on TV," said Marengo, who lives on Long Island with her husband and a family of cats who act and model. "We have a cat perch near the television, and she goes up, looks at it and tries to touch it."
Pat, get in the meds line with the other two.
Marengo and Maggie were at the "Meow TV" launch party on Tuesday night. Also in attendance was Vincent Pastore, who starred in "The Soprano" as Big Pussy.
Usually, I'm a big proponent of free speech. But this? What's next, Dog TV? Bird TV? Gerbil TV? EEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 01:53 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I used to have a snake that watched television. For some reason, it would only watch Star Trek (original series). Anything else on the TV, it ignored.
I think it was the jerky acting that attracted attention. (It was a black racer, if anyone cares.)
I demand equal time for snakes! All Star Trek, all the time. (I can think of some humans that would probably go for that too...).
Posted by: Kathy K || 05/29/2003 18:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Liberalhawk won't like this posting one bit.
Posted by: Anonymous || 05/29/2003 14:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Sorry, LH, but this insanity must be exposed!
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 14:21 Comments || Top||

#4  "Okay. This is WMEW News. Our leadoff story is the debate on catnip... Coming up next on WMEW, sixty-four different ways to have fun with yarn... Dogbusters! Premiering Saturday!...Tom and Jerry: Revenge of the Food! On Friday, October 31st!... Only on WMEW!"
Posted by: Katz || 05/29/2003 14:32 Comments || Top||

#5  This is exclusionary and discriminatory. I am deeply offended.
Posted by: A Dog || 05/29/2003 14:45 Comments || Top||

#6  But wait! There's more!

Actress Sandra Bernhard narrates mock infomercials geared toward humans, such as "The House Cat Shopping Network."

Tough getting work these days, you piece of skank meat?

Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 15:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Gerbil TV - Richard Gere's new gig?
Posted by: Raj || 05/29/2003 15:15 Comments || Top||

#8  im mellow today.

Let a thousand flowers bloom, let a hundred schools contend.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 05/29/2003 15:24 Comments || Top||

#9  Turns out that the Oxygen network, geared for women (says Oprah) is going to have some competition. Bruce Willis, Arnie, Tom Arnold and a couple other actors are starting a network by and for men. In keeping with the same naming theme, this network will be called, "Methane."

That's a joke, LH, and perfectly on topic :-)
Posted by: Steve White || 05/29/2003 15:41 Comments || Top||

#10  What -- no mention of Ren and Stimpy or Itchy and Scratchy? Has this writer no class?
Posted by: JP || 05/29/2003 15:54 Comments || Top||


East/Subsaharan Africa
Plane disappears after take-off
A BOEING 727 passenger jet, grounded at Luanda airport a year ago, has disappeared after a mysterious unauthorised take-off, Angola state radio reported today. The plane, chartered by the Angolan airline Airangol, was grounded after being banned from overflying Angolan territory on account of a series of irregularities, said Angola civil aviation director Helder Preza. A witness to the plane's departure on Sunday, airport employee Luis Lopes, said he saw a white man start the empty plane and then take off after a few dangerous land manoeuvres.
White loner alert
Airport chief Celso Rosa said there was some evidence to believe the Boeing had been fuelled up at Luanda airport, and said he would provide this information to the transportation ministry's investigation into the incident.
Somebody left the keys in the ignition, so he just hopped in and drove, ehrm, flew it away...

My money is on a repo man.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 11:32 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Airplane parts are worth a lot of money, and counterfeit plane parts are big business. Wherever it went, odds are this 727 has already been chopped into little pieces that are worth more than the whole. B
Posted by: Bean || 05/29/2003 17:57 Comments || Top||

#2  "Most people spend their lives trying to stay out of tense situations. Repo man spends his life getting INTO tense situations."

Don't look in the trunk...
Posted by: mojo || 05/29/2003 14:14 Comments || Top||

#3  A guy who repo's 727's probably doesn't work much. But I wouldn't think he has much competition
either.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 14:41 Comments || Top||

#4  I think it was Elvis
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 05/29/2003 15:30 Comments || Top||


Korea
N.Korea Accuses South of Sending Warships North
Edited for ranting:
North Korea accused South Korea of sending warships across a disputed sea border and warned Seoul further moves could lead to "irrevocable serious consequences," ratcheting up tensions on the divided Korea peninsula. The North's warning, carried by the official KCNA news agency, followed what the South Korean Defense Ministry said was three successive days of incursions into southern waters by North Korean fishing boats, most recently Wednesday. Last June and in 1999 there were deadly naval gun battles in the same Yellow Sea area off the west coast -- prime fishing grounds especially during the June crab catching season. KCNA said a series of South Korean naval vessels of various types had crossed into what it said were northern waters in the past three days. "The ceaseless infiltration of warships into the waters where serious military conflicts occurred last year cannot be construed otherwise than a premeditated and deliberate provocation on the part of the South Korean military to spark one more new shocking incident in these waters, joining the U.S. imperialists in their desperate 'nuclear racket'," it said. The KCNA report added: "The South Korean military authorities should not misjudge the self-restraint of soldiers of the (North) Korean People's Army, but stop running amuck, well aware that any slightest military provocation may entail irrevocable serious consequences."
The "running amuck" guy is back.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 11:21 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The South better watch out! I hear Kimmie is talking to the French about a Mutual Difference Treaty. If the South attacks the North, France will surrender too. So if they are not careful they will have to Garrison Paris and Euro-Disney!
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC California Chapter) || 05/29/2003 18:12 Comments || Top||

#2  OK - but when they start promising "Insane Destruction" we should lock and load
Posted by: Frank G || 05/29/2003 13:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Screw that, let's lock n' load anyway. I've been listening to these looney bastards for 54 years and I'm tired of it. Enough is enough.
Posted by: Dave D. || 05/29/2003 14:14 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Sharon, Abu Mazen to meet on Thursday: Zionist officials
No bias here.
Beirut, May 29, IRNA -- Political officials of the Zionist regime were quoted on Wednesday night as saying that the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is scheduled to meet the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, alias Abu Mazen, in Jerusalem (the occupied holy Qods) on Thursday. Announcing the news in its Wednesday night news edition, Radio Tel Aviv added, "... It is yet possible that the time of the Abu Mazen-Sharon meeting will be changed."
Paleobomber alert
In a meeting with the Spanish foreign minister in Ramallah, the PA premier said on Wednesday that he will have a meeting with Sharon in "very near future" to discuss with him the Mideast Quartet's proposed "roadmap", that also has the backing of the Arab League. The PA's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nabil Sha'th, too, expressed hope later on Wednesday that the Sharon-Abu Mazen meeting would lead to taking effective and practical steps toward the implementation of the roadmap.
Watch out for those speed bumps.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 10:17 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the Zionist regime
They just can't help it. The Jew hatred runs so deep that even a simple news article can't transcend it.
Posted by: Celissa || 05/29/2003 11:32 Comments || Top||

#2  What do you bet that a lot of boomers will take to the streets and take out a number of civilians when the summit occurs? Hamas has proven very able to get sheep to their flock homicide boomers.
Posted by: Katz || 05/29/2003 11:48 Comments || Top||

#3  If an Israeli paper printed "Sharon To Meet With Ragheads", what kinda stink do you think it would cause?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 11:50 Comments || Top||


East/Subsaharan Africa
Geldof strikes back at critics while on Africa tour
EFL & to just the new (today) stuff.
Heedless of the dismay caused to international aid agencies by his support for Washington's Africa policies, Bob Geldof heaped more praise on the Bush administration yesterday. The Live Aid founder, who is visiting Ethiopia for the first time in nearly 20 years to highlight the danger of another famine, hailed President George Bush's signature on a $15bn (£9bn) plan to fight Aids in Africa and the Caribbean, saying: "That is extremely radical and welcoming ... and will take the fight against Aids to new heights."

Earlier, Mr Geldof startled the aid world by describing Washington as one of Africa's best friends in its fight against Aids and famine. He compared Mr Bush favourably with his predecessor, Bill Clinton, who he said talked passionately about Africa, but did "f*** all". As for the EU, its response to Africa's humanitarian crisis was "pathetic and appalling". Aid agencies have generally welcomed the $15bn US commitment against Aids, but believe it does little to counteract the Republican administration's hardline approach to trade and debt questions. Justin Forsyth, Oxfam's director of campaigns and policy, said: "The international trade rules are a major obstacle to developing countries and America is a big impediment to resolving these. "The harm that European trade rules do to the developing world is worth much more to African countries than the American aid budget will ever be."
The US isn't the one stopping African countries from feeding themselves.
Undaunted by the controversy, Mr Geldof visited a feeding centre in the Awassa region of Ethiopia yesterday, one of the areas worst hit by more than two years of severe drought, where dozens of children lay waiting for high-energy food to keep them alive. He said it brought back memories of his first visit to Ethiopia in 1984, when nearly a million people starved to death. "The situation is worse than I expected," he said, taking an emaciated child from the arms of its mother. "We are condemning these drought-affected people to death. Why do all this elaborate work in bringing all these people back to health if all we are going to do is send them back out to nothing? It probably isn't a famine yet. I keep going on about it, and I don't understand why we don't learn."
Gotta like this guy. Gets into the trenches and says what he thinks.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/29/2003 10:11 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He's also not big on Zimbabwe Bob...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-694964,00.html
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 15:00 Comments || Top||


Korea
U.S. Jet Crashes in SKorea, 1 Said Hurt
SEOUL - An American F-16 fighter jet crashed in South Korea on Thursday, but the pilot ejected safely, a U.S. Air Force official said. One person on the ground was reportedly hurt. The plane crashed soon after taking off from the Osan Air Base, 30 miles southeast of Seoul, Sgt. Norma Terry said at the base. The lone pilot ejected, she said. A news release issued by the base said one South Korean was believed injured by the crash.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/29/2003 10:01 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  U.S. out of Vieques! SKorea!
Posted by: Frank G || 05/29/2003 10:02 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sure the SKors are crying because hundreds of Americans weren't killed.

I'm with you Frank. Get us out of that hellhole. My mommy-in-law lives there with her hubby (Korean), and the SKors are so afraid that the NKors will degrade their newly attained high standard of living, they will give them anything.
Of course, they tend to forget who fought to allow them the freedom they have now...
Posted by: Celissa || 05/29/2003 11:25 Comments || Top||

#3  KCNA will call this an "imperialist warmonger suicide attack by a bush administration running amuck and bent on world domination". A new organization will be formed. The Osan Working Peoples Committee For The Removal Of Dangerous Running Amuck F-16 Cowboy Pilots Of The Oppressive Warmongering Bush Forces Bent On World Domination. I'll read about it tomorrow.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 11:35 Comments || Top||


North Africa
Three people involved in Casablanca plot confess
EFL
Three people arrested in connection with the terrorist attacks that hit Casablanca on May 16th confessed having trained to carry out suicide operations, said on Wednesday the prosecutor of the Casablanca Court of Appeal.
That was fast.
That's 'cuz they pounded that other guy's liver to paste. Good example...
In a statement to the press, the prosecutor said the three suspects, who were brought to trial on Tuesday, confessed their membership to a group led by a man called Abdelhak, alias "Moul Sebbat," who was "the major coordinator" between Mohamed El Omari, alias, Abou Zouheir (watchman), Rachid Jalil alias Abou Anas(welder) and Yassine Lahnech alias Abou Ibrahim (street hawker). Mohamed El Omari was wounded when he was rounded up close by Farah Hotel, one of the five targets hit by the terrorists, says the Prosecutor, adding the plotter was carrying a plastic bottle containing powder and a wick, as well as knife stained with blood. Investigation found that El Omari was ready to commit a suicide bombing operation inside the Farah Hotel, "as he himself confessed," the prosecutor revealed.
Plastic bottle containing powder and a wick, that's a pretty low rent bomb. Can't even afford C4 and nails.
Rachid Jalil was, on his part, one of the 14-member suicide bombers' group, who was supposed to blow himself up at the Jewish social club, said the prosecutor, revealing that the would-be bomber told investigators that the violent explosion he heard in the Positano restaurant, another target of the terrorist plot, dissuaded him from fulfilling his own suicide mission.
Chickenshit, no virgins for you.
The third suspect, Yassine Lahnech, who belongs to the same group, was actually a reserve suicide bomber for similar operations in other cities of the Kingdom, said the prosecutor, noting that the would-be bomber gave "important clues" on other accomplices.
Singing like a bird.
The three people also revealed that they had proclaimed Abdelhaq alias "moul sebbat" their emir (leader), owing him thereby submission, the prosecutor told the press announcing that Abdelhaq, who was arrested in Fez on May 26th, died as he was transferred to hospital. The Casablanca prosecutor ordered a post-mortem autopsy that was undertaken by a team of forensic pathologists who concluded "a natural death resulting from an advanced chronic disease." The man suffered from a heart disease and swollen liver. "It was established that this disease results from taking a certain type of pills," he went on. "Unfortunately, his poor health didn't allow interrogators to complete their investigation," said the prosecutor.
"Dammit, Abu, I told you not to hit him so hard!"
The magistrate also announced that another group of people involved in the spate of terrorist attacks that shook Casablanca claiming 43 lives and dozens of injured, would be referred later on Wednesday to the prosecutor for investigation.
Casablanca prosecutors have been busy boys.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 09:44 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
The third suspect, Yassine Lahnech, who belongs to the same group, was actually a reserve suicide bomber

Reserve?
You mean there's a second string?
The lunacy of Islamonazis knows no bounds...
Posted by: Celissa || 05/29/2003 18:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't ya just hate it when you gotta sit the bench?
Posted by: Chuck || 05/29/2003 19:36 Comments || Top||

#3  The third suspect, Yassine Lahnech, who belongs to the same group, was actually a reserve suicide bomber...

Not today, Yassine. But you stay ready. Rachid's fuse might not light and we'll need you to suit up...

No "masterminds " in this crew , I take it?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 10:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Still cracks me up how he died in the ambulance due to liver disease. Certain type of pills. Oh yeah!!
Posted by: Michael || 05/29/2003 13:42 Comments || Top||

#5  It wasn't the pills that killed him. It was the casings...
Posted by: Fred || 05/29/2003 16:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Just in case the front-line splodeydope is a dud, I guess.
Posted by: mojo || 05/29/2003 23:54 Comments || Top||


Iran
Revolutionary guards host al-Qaeda leaders, says US
The tough line on Iran contemplated by the United States is partly driven by intelligence reports that Iranian revolutionary guards are sheltering al-Qaeda leaders at one of the former shah's hunting lodges. The leaders suspected of taking refuge in Iran include Saif al-Adel, the alleged mastermind of suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia this month, and Abu Mohammed al-Masri, a suspected organiser of the 1998 US embassy bombings in east Africa. They may also include Saad bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden's sons. Intelligence sources said this week that the Egyptian-born al-Adel, believed to be No. 3 in the al-Qaeda leadership, has been seized in Iran.
Seized or house guest?
The trail of clues that led to a grand hunting lodge - now a military base - in the eastern highlands near the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan surfaced after an air crash in February outside Kerman killed 200 soldiers from the revolutionary guards. A Washington source claimed the crash produced intelligence that the revolutionary guards were "hosting" the al-Qaeda leaders.
We've been listening to their radio traffic.
The White House was prepared to accept Tehran's assurances that it was dealing with al-Qaeda infiltration, and that terrorism suspects in Iran were all in custody, until the bombings in Saudi Arabia. US officials claimed that electronic communications about the attacks were traced to Iran and to the al-Qaeda leaders.
NSA has been busy
The reports led the White House to urgently reconsider the US containment policy towards Iran. That review was already under way in light of mounting evidence on the progress of Tehran's nuclear program. The Iranian Government has said that al-Qaeda officials are in custody and are being questioned, but the United States rejects those assurances. In answer to US allegations that Iran was failing to combat the al-Qaeda network, Iran's Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharrazi, said that certain members of the group under arrest could be put on trial in Iranian courts. He insisted Iran was serious in fighting the group.
I'll believe it when it happens
Iran's supreme leader has ruled out any compromise with the US, accusing it of seeking to strip the Islamic republic of its values through a campaign of intimidation. "The United States is pressuring Iran in order to make the Iranian Government and nation give in," state media quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying. "Those who are intimidated by the enemy's demands will retreat step by step and finally surrender. But nobody has the right to do so, and the nation will not allow it," he said in a meeting with MPs.
"So there!"
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 09:25 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to send in a Predator. Hellfire anyone?
Posted by: john || 05/29/2003 12:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd like 3 - well done, please
Posted by: Frank G || 05/29/2003 13:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Now let's see, where did I leave that MOAB? I know it's around here somewhere.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 13:59 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Islamic expert: Take off veil
Before and After
Before and After, courtesy The Smoking Gun
Not looking good for Sultaana...
A Muslim woman who refuses to unveil for a drivers license picture should do so to further the state's interest in public safety, an Islamic law expert testified at her civil trial Wednesday. Khaled Abou El Fadl, a law professor at the University of California-Los Angeles who specializes in Islam, the Middle East and human rights, said he believes Sultaana Freeman could uncover her face for a drivers license photograph because it serves a specific, limited purpose.
So the state of Florida has to fly this guy in from UCLA to testify in this rinky dink trial that shouldn't even be in court? How much did that cost? When she loses, either send her or the ACLU the bill.
If she's gonna have a veil over her face, why bother to take the picture? It won't show anything. Might as well just borrow one from somebody else...
El Fadl, who discussed Shariah, or Islamic law and Middle Eastern customs, said there are times when veiled Muslim women uncover their faces and bodies out of necessity. Exceptions include aging women and marriage seekers and for medical reasons, voter registration, test taking, writing wills and burial. "Accordingly, she would clearly be able to show her face" for a drivers license, El Fadl said.
Maybe Sultaana's like, really, really UGLY! Anybody think that might be a possibility?
Maybe she just decided to quit shaving. Maybe she's not, ummm... female? How do we know she's not a cross-dresser with a moustache?
Howard Marks, Freeman's attorney, sought to disqualify El Fadl as a witness and had sharp exchanges with him because he said El Fadl does not know Freeman and cannot address her deeply held conviction that she wear a veil at all times. "I don't know what motivates her," El Fadl said under oath.
Maybe she's one of those "look at me" people like Pledge of Allegiance guy last year. Who's to say. But it got me a nice Florida vacation for a couple of days.
Shariah doesn't take into account anybody's "deeply held convictions." If it's in the book or the hadith, you do it, otherwise they cut something off.
El Fadl was one of three state witnesses who testified during the second day of Freeman's non-jury trial, which ends today in Orlando. Circuit Court Judge Janet Thorpe must decide whether law-enforcement issues outweigh personal silliness civil liberties in a contested case that is being televised nationwide on CourtTV.
Hey, Sultaana! You're on CourtTV! Next come the talk shows!
Under cross-examination, El Fadl said there are minority groups within Islam's two prominent sects — the Sunni and Shiites — that wear veils because of their interpretation of Islam. On Wednesday, Freeman said she is a member of the Salafiyyah group. "In the long run, his testimony supports our position that Sultaana Freeman is exercising her right to freely exercise her religion," Marks said. "I still don't think he's relevant. I wish he was, but I don't think he hurt us at all."
So why'd you try to get his testimony tossed? ACLU guy knows he's dead. But he's on CourtTV! Next come the talk shows!
Maybe even a book deal. "Gaming the System: How I burned Florida taxpayer dollars and got to be on the teevee"...
El Fadl's testimony contradicts that of Saiful-Islam Abdul-Ahad, a U.S. Muslim convert and University of Central Florida academic adviser who testified on Freeman's behalf Tuesday. Abdul-Ahad, 54, a friend of Freeman's husband, said Freeman's interpretation of the Quran justifies her wearing a veil at all times except when facing death or danger.
This is the best they got? A buddy of her husbands is an Islamic expert? Fly me down. I'll testify for her. I could use a couple of days in Florida.
El Fadl has testified as an expert witness on behalf of Muslim-American women fighting for their right to wear a hijab, or head covering, at work. However, on Wednesday he said Freeman's insistence on wearing a veil was "rare."
"Yep. Even in Islam, we rarely see that particulary combination of vanity and dim-bulbery...
"I've never seen someone decide to wear the niqab [full-face veil] the way she claims she should," said the Kuwaiti-born naturalized U.S. citizen, who has addressed Muslim women's issues extensively in academic journals and as an imam, or religious leader, for the past 20 years in the United States.
Yeah, but her guy's an academic advisor at UCF. So, there!
Marks loudly protested El Fadl's description of Muslim customs in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries. "We do have a constitution here. We do have a Bill of Rights and a Florida Constitution with a Religious Freedom Restoration Act," Marks told Thorpe.
I love it when ACLU lawyers, like, totally panic!
Jason Vail, one of two lawyers from the Attorney General's Office representing the state, later praised El Fadl and called his 16-page curriculum vitae "impressive." "What Islamic law is all about as it relates to veiling, we've only scratched the surface," Vail said outside the courtroom. "The relationship of Islamic law to Islamic practice is a very complicated issue."
"This trial could last years, burning dollars every day..."
El Fadl's testimony followed that of Sandra Lambert, who oversees the highway safety agency's drivers license division. Lambert admitted that internal agency policies — not state statutes — sometimes specify requirements for obtaining a drivers license. Marks has argued that the law is vague and does not require someone to uncover their face for a photograph or prohibit people from using mustaches, beards or wigs.
Or maybe they could just substitute a photo of a can of pineapple. Who'd know?
"Santa Claus could come in and have a photo taken, right?" Marks remarked with sarcasm.
If she wins, he'll be by for his picture. Along with the Easter Bunny and Groucho and whoever else wants to come...
Lambert replied: "We don't allow costumes." To which Marks asked, "Where's that in the statutes? You don't know what's policy, and you're making this up as you go along," Marks said.
If it's not written down, it's meat on the table for an ACLU lawyer. Unless it's a gun control law. Point: ACLU.
"I stand by might right to wear a cape and a funny hat to have my driver's license picture taken! We have a constitution in this country, and I have a right to look like an idiot! Right this moment, I'm wearing ladies' underwear, and you can do nothing, nothing about it!"
Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Col. Billy Dickson, a 39-year veteran who has worked with Lambert on a new digital drivers license database for law-enforcement agencies, argued that security concerns mandate full-face photographs that are "essential" for identification purposes."The drivers license must and should contain a photograph that gives a true representation of the person who holds that license," Dickson testified.
Otherwise "this space intentionally left blank" on the license would do...
According to state records, one other Florida Muslim woman was issued a state photo ID card with a veil in 2001. Like Freeman, former Jacksonville resident Mattie Glover was asked to return to a drivers license office for a new picture in 2001. She never went back, and the state also canceled her ID card.
But they can't go pick it up from her, because nobody knows what she looks like, do they?
I'm sure she's glued to Court TV.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 08:25 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While this really is a tempest in a teacup the veil do wonders for looks
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire || 05/29/2003 17:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe someone should look into Howard Marks, the ACLU attorney and see where he has been and what he has been doing. It would be interesting to see what kind of cases he has been handling and who he as been hanging out with.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/29/2003 20:02 Comments || Top||

#3  This is all a bunch of crap, and a waste of taxpayer money. If she insists on keeping the veil, then she gets no driver's license. End of story. (maybe afterwards her wages can be garnished to recover the costs of this fiasco, assuming she works)
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/29/2003 9:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Maybe someone could remind her that Islamic women must not drive at all. At least not in Saudi Arabia. Forgot how many lashes though...
Posted by: True German Ally || 05/29/2003 9:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Why is this nonsense taking up more than about 30 seconds of court time? Do they castrate their judges in Florida when they're elected/appointed?
Posted by: mojo || 05/29/2003 10:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Me thinks this is probably a black gal seeking to get back at The Man. Yawn.
Posted by: Hiryu || 05/29/2003 10:21 Comments || Top||

#7  The judge is a woman.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 10:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Well, she has a child battery charge in her past.
Posted by: Katz || 05/29/2003 10:42 Comments || Top||

#9  Well, that answers a few questions I had. Careful what you wish for, Sultaana. Because people will get up your ass with a microscope these days if you put yourself in the position.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 11:26 Comments || Top||

#10  "Me thinks this is probably a black gal seeking to get back at The Man."

Think again.
Posted by: Anonymous || 05/29/2003 13:00 Comments || Top||

#11  True German Ally: Good point, that where she would have to stay veiled she'd also have to eschew the driver's spot.
Posted by: Korora || 05/29/2003 13:10 Comments || Top||

#12  Katz: Thank you for that piece of news. If you link to the story and look at the photos on the side bars, you will see a blow up of her mug shot in the hands of a ADA. I wondered what it was all about. Again, thanks Katz because her criminal record raises all sorts of interesting psychological questions about her conversion.
Hiryu: She looks white to me, but her husband is black. Is he Nation of Islam or something less radical, like a follower of Wahibism? I hope for our sakes, it's something mild like Wahibism.

Hate to generalize, but the black American converts I met over the years, especially in Saudi, really value the power that the Koran and Hadith (their interpretations, not mine) give them over women. I can see this fragile white woman under this guy's spell and his telling her she has to get back at The Man for him through her being discriminated against. I'd like to be a fly on the wall for her therapy sessions.
BTW, the Muslim expert, al-Fadl, is despised by the Wahibites the world over. Too liberal, it appears.
Posted by: Michael || 05/29/2003 13:29 Comments || Top||

#13  Now it turns out the husband has got a record. What a couple!
Posted by: Michael || 05/29/2003 14:32 Comments || Top||

#14  I agree with Hiryu...she is a black woman, previously with a hyphenated name--isnt that so cute---with previous criminal charges, probably on welfare, has 6 kids, not married legally, no education, a very recent convert to Islam, looking for a way to make a buck off the system...anyone know if this judge is by any chance a black woman too? If so...watch this story...it aint over by a long shot...she has an excellent chance of winning this....another example of the bullshit the Muslims and the blacks--oh, arent they the same?--are using to subvert the system. I'm glad I'm almost dead, dont want to be around when the Black Muslims do take over..
Posted by: Fed UP || 05/29/2003 14:46 Comments || Top||

#15  this is such a load of crap! if you imigrate to another country you follow that countries laws - period!
Posted by: Dan || 05/29/2003 14:46 Comments || Top||

#16  I told you so! I knew this wench had some sorrid past. She is just trying to get her 30 seconds of fame. Prediction: Within 12 months she will be in a Playboy/Penthouse/Swank photo shoot. It will be called 'Wow! Look behind the veil!' Get that air brush ready this is going to needs some work.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 05/29/2003 14:57 Comments || Top||

#17  More info: Apparently Florida bit it's own leg with a feel-good "religous freedom restoration act"

http://www.google.com/search?q=Florida+state+Religious+Freedom+Restoration+Act
Posted by: mojo || 05/29/2003 15:26 Comments || Top||

#18  Whoa! Airbrush? Try sandblaster.
And Fed UP? Take deep breaths. She ain't gonna win.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 15:34 Comments || Top||

#19  I think that she is partially right. She should be allowed to have her picture taken with the burkah and she should not be allowed to have a driver's license. Solomon would have liked it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/29/2003 16:33 Comments || Top||

#20  Do you think she swore on the Bible to tell the truth before testifying???
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 05/29/2003 16:34 Comments || Top||


Clinton calls for third term
Former US President Bill Clinton has called for a change to the constitution's 22nd Amendment which prevents a person from being elected president more than twice. "I think since people are living much longer... the 22nd Amendment should probably be modified to say two consecutive terms instead of two terms for a lifetime," he said. Speaking at the John F Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, the former president said such a change probably would not apply to him but would benefit future generations.
It would sure benefit future Republican fund raising.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 08:30 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bill Clinton, the "dope from Hope"

[sarcasm]Yeah, Bill, there's a real chance that amendment would get through.[/sarcasm]
Posted by: Chuck || 05/29/2003 8:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Actually, not only has life expentency increased since the 22nd amendment was passed but also, younger people were elected (JFK, Clinton and W. Furthermore, medical advances allow older persons to be more active (e.g., Cheney). I presume btw, that if a mod of the 22nd passed, it would also prohibit W from a 3rd term as well as Clinton.

Clinton may have done some dopey things but that doesn't mean all his ideas are dopey.

Posted by: mhw || 05/29/2003 9:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Speaking at the John F Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, the former president said such a change probably would not apply to him but would benefit future generations.

The guy's full of shit. If an allowance for a third term were enacted tomorrow, it's a sure bet that Bubba would shoot for it. Now whether the public would be stupid enough to elect this scumbag again, after everything that went on during his watch, would be another story.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 05/29/2003 9:24 Comments || Top||

#4  What I think Bubba would really like is a deal like Kimmie has in North Korea. Dear Leader for life? He'd love it.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 9:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Bill's discovering it's harder to get laid as a civilian.

On a serious note, just because people are living longer, that doesn't mean we should want the most powerful political office in the world to be handed to ANYONE for longer than eight years - ever. A system wherein the most powerful man in the world needs to be constantly looking over his shoulder is a good system. I personally hate the idea of presidents getting too comfortable in office.
Posted by: FormerLiberal || 05/29/2003 10:06 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm tell'n you people that you've got Mr Bill all wrong. He's a party animal. Hangs with all the cool dudes. Peace activist. Loves African people. He was even in those strip for peace photos. The one in NorCal man. Hey Jude, don't bring me down. I know he looks like the court jester but he's hip.
Posted by: Lucky || 05/29/2003 11:32 Comments || Top||

#7  I personally think 8 years is long enough, and I'm a big G.W.B. supporter. The presidents' chronological age isn't important, it's worse what the years in office do to them. Look at pics of Bush 1, Clinton, GWB at the start of their presidency and (even a current GWB pic) at the end of their terms. These people really show the wear and tear - I think GWB will welcome the end of 8 yrs in office, especially if they're like the first couple.
Posted by: Frank G || 05/29/2003 13:02 Comments || Top||

#8  "the 22nd Amendment should probably be modified to say two consecutive terms instead of two terms for a lifetime" How convenient for YOU, Bill. If this suggestion came to pass, the Slick One could run in 08 but Dubya couldn't. I think ol B.J. Clinton knows Dub would "smoke" him, er, I mean "beat the pants off him", pardon me, I mean defeat him handily. Since the propects of becoming first-man are dwindling, its time to get creative.

Posted by: G-Man in Chicago || 05/29/2003 13:35 Comments || Top||


Latin America
Colombian rebel extradited to US
Colombia has extradited a Marxist guerrilla to the United States to face charges of murdering three American activists who were campaigning for the rights of indigenous people. The US is also requesting the extradition of many top commanders of the FARC or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for their alleged involvement in drugs trafficking. The bodies of the American activists working with an indigenous tribe in Colombia were found by the Venezuelan border in 1999. Their corpses were hooded, with shots to the head and chest, and the bodies bore signs of torture. The man who has been extradited, Nelson Vargas Rueda, is one of six FARC guerrillas indicted in the US for the killings. The FARC initially denied involvement. But an intercepted radio message proved they had carried out the murders.
Oops! Memo to FARC; schedule refresher course on COMSEC.
The rebels said the killings were a mistake and that they would punish those responsible, although they refused to hand them over to Colombian authorities. Instead, they issued their own punishments: forced labour and learning to read.
That'll teach them.
Mr Vargas Rueda was captured by police in the eastern province of Arauca earlier this year. The extradition marks the first time a guerrilla has been sent by Colombia to face American justice. But the US also wants to extradite top FARC commanders on charges of drugs trafficking. Mr Vargas Rueda is a very junior member of the FARC - the senior commanders are well hidden in the deep jungles of the 40% of Colombia dominated by the rebels.
The senior guys will only come out feet first.
Posted by: Steve || 05/29/2003 08:22 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Korea
U.S. war against Iraq dismissed as unjust
The United States describes its Iraqi war as a war for "freedom" and "peace" but it can never justify the injustice and criminal nature of the war, says Rodong Sinmun today in a signed article. The article brands the Iraqi war as a war of aggression against independence and peace, a war unilaterally perpetrated by the U.S. in disregard of international law and the UN and typical state-sponsored terrorism in the 21st century.
I think our NK friends know a little bit about disregarding international law and the UN. Not to mention state sponsored terrorism.
Iraq has never infringed upon the interests of the U.S. nor threatened it. Therefore, there was no legal justification for the U.S. to mount a military attack on Iraq as unanimously claimed by the world public, the article says, and continues: The inspection of weapons in Iraq was conducted according to the UN resolution at the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Therefore, the Iraqi issue should have been settled according to the UN resolution. However, the U.S. unilaterally perpetrated military invasion of Iraq without any approval or resolution of the UN.This has brought into bolder relief the despicable true colors of the U.S. imperialists who go arrogant, disregarding and mocking at the UN and international law.
"Go arrogant"? I thought we "ran amuck"? The Japanese and the South Koreans "go reckless". KCNA better get the Anti-Imperialist War Monger guys together and have them get their cliches straight. And when did the NK's get to be such sticklers on international law and obeying the UN? I missed that.
The absurd pretext put up by the U.S. during the war helps clearly understand the injustice of the war. When invading Iraq the U.S. cited the Iraq-laden ties and the "Iraq's possession of weapons of mass-destruction" as pretexts. But any objective material evidence which can testify to those things has not yet been discovered, to say nothing of the period of the war. As claimed by the world people, the true aim sought by the U.S. In its Iraqi war was to have a monopoly on Iraq's inexhaustible oil resources.
The Evil Bush and his lackeys strike again!!!Operation Engulf and Devour marches on!!!
The U.S. is, indeed, the world's biggest oil thief and a rogue state. With nothing can the U.S. cover up the unjust and criminal nature of the war and its selfish aim sought in it.
Well, it's over. And we won. Looks like you paid attention. Dig 'em deeper, Kimmie.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/29/2003 08:00 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey Kim Jong Ill! Look which one of your characteristics you're projecting onto one who lacks them!

This beauzeau is allergic to reason or something. Step off, Kimmie.
Posted by: Katz || 05/29/2003 9:04 Comments || Top||

#2  And we should care what this a**hole thinks....why, exactly?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/29/2003 9:12 Comments || Top||

#3  I've been thinking..
Short guy with high heels and a bad perm..
it's Frank-n-kimmie! (with apologies to Tim Curry)
Posted by: Dishman || 05/29/2003 11:18 Comments || Top||

#4  I think these 'tards seriously need to invest in a dictionary.
Unilateral, imperialist/ism, colonialist/ism, unjust, criminal, and selfish; that's just the short list of words they obviously don't know how to define.
Not to mention a really, really, poor case of reading comprehension when it comes to UN resolutions.
I'm beginning to think the NKors were educated at Berkeley.
Maybe my mother-in-law should cross the DMZ and give some pro bono English lessons...
Posted by: Celissa || 05/29/2003 11:30 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
34[untagged]

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2003-05-29
  Guy named Greg, passengers, thump would-be hijacker
Wed 2003-05-28
  Alleged Casablanca Mastermind Caught, Dies
Tue 2003-05-27
  PI snags bomb Big
Mon 2003-05-26
  Trucker nabbed in U.S. Al-Qaeda Bust
Sun 2003-05-25
  Morocco arrests 3 over Casablanca blasts
Sat 2003-05-24
  14 Russian troops killed in Chechen attacks
Fri 2003-05-23
  Pygmies want UN tribunal to address cannibalism
Thu 2003-05-22
  NYC Cabbie Sought to Buy Explosives
Wed 2003-05-21
  Saudi Suspects Accused of Plotting Hijack
Tue 2003-05-20
  Turkish toilet bomb kills one
Mon 2003-05-19
  Fifth Paleoboom in three days
Sun 2003-05-18
  Jerusalem blasts kill 7
Sat 2003-05-17
  Qaeda Top Computer Expert Arrested
Fri 2003-05-16
  At Least 20 Die in Casablanca Blasts
Thu 2003-05-15
  Lebanon Foils Anti-U.S. Attacks

Better than the average link...



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.
3.239.162.98
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
(0)    (0)    (0)    (0)    (0)