"As a family member, you canât imagine the horror of finding your loved oneâs last words," said Carie Lemack, whose mother, Judy Larocque, was on American Airlines Flight 11 and was killed when it hit the North Tower. "What is the reason for releasing these tapes? If itâs safety, thatâs fantastic. But if itâs entertainment, then weâre very concerned."
I don't think the release of the transcripts or tapes will have that much relevance for safety purposes. I think we've pretty much absorbed the lessons and applied them, at least as well as we can.
Nor is there any entertainment value to be found, unless you're a devotee of the Marquis de Sade or Osama bin Laden. It takes a special kind of sickness of mind to be entertained by the deaths of 2600 people who could do nothing to save themselves.
The purpose the release serves me is as a reminder. No, I'll never forgive. I'll never forget. I'll never "understand."
Almost 3000 of our people were slaughtered in a single day. They weren't soldiers. They weren't targeted for something they'd done. They were targeted for what they were. Any one of them could have been any one of us.
As much as I approve of George Bush's actions since that attack, the one thing I fault him on is that we don't hear those tapes, read those transcripts, see those videos on a regular basis. We as a nation need reminded, over and over again, lest we forget. We've already gone back to Britney's breasts and who killed Lori Peterson. Jon Benet's still dead. Our attention span is too damned short, and that's something the enemy counts on.
Let's not forget. Our enemy declared war on us. They didn't say, "We have disagreements with you. We should sit down and discuss them and see what kind of accomodation we can work out." Instead they killed 3000 of us. They killed 200 mostly Australians. They kill Hindus by the dozen. They absolutely revel in killing Jews by the dozen. They kill each other by the dozen. The death toll from yesterday's blast in Najaf is up to 75, and expected to climb still further. To them, it's a war of extermination, with success measured in the number of lives snuffed out.
We'd better make it a war of extermination ourselves. If we've learned a lesson from Afghanistan and Iraq, it's that if a country harbors terrorists it's not worth our dollars and our men and women to try and rebuild it. They're part and parcel of the society. If we pulled out of Afghanistan tomorrow, I wouldn't turn a hair; they want to have their Islamic state, let them have it. If we pulled out of Iraq tomorrow, I'd weep no tears â as long as the understanding was that as soon as the subsequent government harbored a single terrorist group we'd go back in and decapitate it.
Lebanon? They're determined to harbor Hezbollah and they refuse to control Ein el-Hilweh. Hezbollah's part of their national structure. That makes them a terrorist state. Decapitate the national structure. Let them worry about putting the place back together when we leave.
Syria? It's Terror East. They harbor Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP-GC, and all those nice jihadis swarming into Iraq to try and kill our men and women there. Destroy Assad and his Baathist cronies. Let the Syrians worry about what'll replace them â but make sure they understand that if they harbor a single terror group, we'll be back and give another bunch another chance.
Iran? That's where the money and the ideology comes from for Hezbollah and the Paleogroups. Kill the ayatollahs. Level Qom, if need be. String up every Basij and Revolutionary Guard we can lay hands on. Then leave, immediately. Let them build their own successor regime. And decapitate it if they go back into the terror business. Eventually they'll catch on.
Paleostine? Kill Yasser. Decapitate Hamas, starting with Sheikh Yassin. Throw out all of the "Palestinian Authority" structure, including Abbas and Dahlan and Rajoub and Barghouti. Let the people who remain worry about putting together a government for their truncated "state," assuming they want to. But the first time somebody blows up, do it again, sweep the entire place clean. Kill all the politicians and all the holy men.
Pakistan? As far as I'm concerned, it's West India if they don't start stringing up their jihadis and the "holy men" behind them. I don't care that it's a cesspool of ignorance and self-imposed poverty. I care that the place is swarming with terrorists, that it exports terrorism.
And Soddy Arabia? It would make a nice collection of emirates. Or a parking lot.
It's been almost two years. We've made a lot of progress. The Taliban are gone. Saddam's gone. We're killing terrorists every day. But our people are starting to forget. I'm ashamed that's happening.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 00:55 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Nothing to argue with here.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
08/30/2003 1:07 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Thanks for clearing things up for me, Fred.
When I first heard about the release of the tapes I was way put off, asking myself, "What kind of ghoul wants to listen to that shit?" And I know I'll never listen to 'em, for the same reason that I don't look at pictures of Nazi death camp victims any more than I have to-- they just tear too hard on my heart. But all the same, it's a good thing that those pictures are "out there"-- not 'cuz they titilate the ghouls among us, but because we good-hearted guys need to have reminders that there are also black hearts in the world and that, like it or not, the very good-heartedness that makes us love our friends and families also forces us to fight the black hearts tooth and claw.
#4
What I would like to know is whether observing a minute of silence on each Sept. 11 will wane as time goes by. Probably yearly observances will disappear, with only major anniversaries being observed. Though I could be wrong. I'm of the opinion that these attacks were as big, if not bigger than Pearl Harbor, as historical events go, and a minute of silence should be observed every year.
#5
Fred, with all due respect--and brother, the respect is due you!--I think you're being unduly pessimistic here.
The media elite--which is much more Lefty and European in its thinking than the population at large--wants to move on. The media prefers to spend time on Britney's breasts and all, mostly because that's all they're capable of understanding. Remember, it's the media that's declining to replay the 9/11 video because it's too "upsetting" and "inflammatory."
I think the American people are well out ahead of the media on this one, and perhaps even a little ahead of the Administration.
There is reason for optimism. Uncommon valor appears to be a common virtue in this country.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/30/2003 8:05 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I'd like to see the WTC stories/video on every year. If they can do it with "Wizard of Oz", Charlie Brown specials, Emmy awards, Oscar awards, and the NHL All-Star game, they can surely show what is the defining moment for the next 100 years of American conflicts. We Americans do have short attention spans, but the media is even worse...especially when they just want to move on. The media, elites, academia see the replay of the videos as rebuilding the kind of anger and national security concerns that "keeps Bushitler in power", and they certainly don't want that
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 9:34 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Sept 11 is my birthday...last year, the first anniversary, I took my daughter to NY to pay our respects....this year, my wife and I will go to NY to pay our respects. I wont forget, I will never forget...every year when the 11th rolls in, how can I forget? I am no linked to this forever...and by the way, even though I was in Texas when this happened...because it was my birthday, it has a "special" meaning to me now and will forever. When I go to NY in a couple of weeks, I think I will take the thoughts of you Rantburgers with me...and pay respects for myself and for all the folks that cant be there. It is an amazing experience to be there on the 11th...it gets inside you and never leaves.
So, never forget, I know I certainly wont...
Posted by: Dan ||
08/30/2003 11:21 Comments ||
Top||
#8
I totally agree. But I am not sure it will work. Didn't we try something like this in GW I? (*We should have taken Soddy's head then).
As for the media refusal to run the transcripts and tapes because they are too 'upsetting' and we need to 'heal' and 'move on'. That is a load of crap. We need to remember and keep up our resolve.
I mean God forbid that they interrupt the Husky Football Opener or take 15 seconds from the Sports | Human-interest section of the news to give some coverage to what is really going on there. (The huskies are the University of Washington Football team).
I just watched KOMO-TV news. They spend 0 time covering what is happening in Afghanistan and Iraq or the war on Terror (except to say we are to blame for the bombing...) about 5 mins on the husky opnener and 10 mins for Sports, 5 mins for some guy whinning because his wife is still in Iraq...
American Media sucks. Period.
So what do they show? Gepheart(less) saying that he is ashamed of the 'humiliation' of being in Iraq. Kerry saying that we should stop now. Hollywood wierdos stars dissing the United States for not giving 'instant solution and not finding WMD (but the UN should have been given farking YEARS to do the same).
Posted by: Tom ||
08/30/2003 11:29 Comments ||
Top||
#10
People are afraid of the U.S. now. We're over-reacting cowboy pre-emptive WW-III unilateralist gun-crazy Texan bullies. Unh hunh. They better be scared because if we get another attack here at home, most of what Fred suggests will happen. I will personally start the campaign to throw Peter Jennings back into Canada.
#11
I will personally start the campaign to throw Peter Jennings back into Canada.
Actually, Jennings is now a citizen of the United States. I personally would prefer seeing him report - in person - on the Shia/Sunni war that's about to erupt in Iraq (and elsewhere - remember, you read it here first). Canada - or at least, Canada's current government - is part of the problem. Sending Jennings back there would do nothing to solve the problem, and will probably make it worse. I'd like the US to shut down the US/Canadian border for three days, just as a wake-up call to Canadians about how their "foreign policy" with their southern neighbor can escalate into something extremely nasty. If we cannot trust Canada, then the "longest undefended border in the world" may have to close.
At the same time, we really, really need to plug the US/Mexico border, and start pounding Fox to keep his people in his country. If that means doing things that are hard, he'd better roll up his sleeves and get to work. The American people are finally getting fed up with "business as usual" from Washington and the political segment of our society.
If it has to, it may just get nasty - not only "there", but here as well.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/30/2003 13:01 Comments ||
Top||
#12
I want to say something on this subject, but everybody has already said it. So I'll just say this.
God bless America.
Posted by: Charles ||
08/30/2003 13:29 Comments ||
Top||
#13
What Fred said.
Something the folks in the Islamic world should take into account: right now we're trying awfully hard to distinquish between peaceful Muslims and Muslims with (as Fred notes frequently) turbans, beards and rifles. We're doing that even as it causes us to take casualties, it forces us to slow down the important work of rooting the terrorists out, and it brings us no credit with the left-liberals of the Western world.
One more major attack -- one more WTC, one more Pentagon, one Bali in the US -- and the gloves will come off. You think we're a bunch of out-of-control crazy cowboys now, just attack us one more time.
Few things are more frightening than a western, advanced democracy that has decided to wage total war.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/30/2003 14:17 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Fred
I appreciate your thoughtful comments. We all have been thinking about 9-11 and its aftermath and have been verbalizing these thoughts, feelings, and reactions for almost two years together on Rantburg, thanks to you and your dedication.
I think about 9-11 alot. I have a colleague and his wife that have a picture of themselves on top of the WTC two days before it was toppled.
We should take time to memorialize those people that were denied their lives by those Islamic societies waging jiihad with their punk agents. However, we cannot keep having memorial services and wringing our hands and looking inward all of the time. We have to reflect, but we have to clean up the mess that started it.
Afghanistan was the right thing to do. We denied a base to the enemy. Iraq was the right thing to do. We established a beachead right in the middle of the problem. We need to make our best effort in turning around the problem and making things more rational in the middle east. According to the recent RAND article on nation building, we will need 0.5 million troops and 7 to 10 years for this gig. I think that we should make the effort. The arabs have been stagnating for only 13 centuries, so what's a decade?
We also must not tolerate the kind of terrorism that the Israelis and Lebanese have suffered with. I agree with your Paleo cleanup.
In short, our challenge is to make things better, knock off the gunnies, and raise everyone up to a higher level. If there is no hope after we make our best effort, then the parking lot solution is our last resort.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/30/2003 15:42 Comments ||
Top||
#15
AP? Don't know if you've checked your email, but thanks for the hat! Same baby blue as the Chargers throwback jersey I had on watching the game (preseason, but still gotta get my fix) against the 49ers last nite
Frank
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 15:54 Comments ||
Top||
#16
Steve White> "Something the folks in the Islamic world should take into account: right now we're trying awfully hard to distinquish between peaceful Muslims and Muslims with (as Fred notes frequently) turbans, beards and rifles."
Do you have another choice? You can opt to not distinguish between peaceful and hostile Muslims, but that would pretty much mean indiscriminately attacking every Muslim country in the world. Not even America can attack *at the same time* Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egpyt, Sudan, etc, etc, etc.
You say that the gloves will come off, but what do you actually mean by that, other than America doing the impossible?
If another 9/11 happened, perhaps USA will overthrow the governments of Syria+Iran next. But even there you'll still have to try and distinguish between peaceful Muslims and the other kind. Because not distinguishing means killing them all. And you can't do that, for obvious reasons (e.g. genocide as huge as that will turn the whole world *truly* against you, and not just the Muslim nations for that matter). And by "truly against you", I don't mean France-style-against you, I mean Al Qaeda-style-against you.
I don't think anyone (except for the Qaeda affiliates and the Reds) accuses us of indiscriminately attacking those who aren't involved in attacking us. Those who do, do so for political ends.
Turkey and the Central Asian countries don't harbor terror groups -- they suffer from them the same way the rest of us do.
"The gloves come off" refers to ruthlessly and mercilessly hunting these bastards down and killing them. Overthrowing the governments of Syria and Iran will also relieve the yoke from the citizens of those countries, who're being kept in the realm of the primitive by their self-proclaimed betters, who know what's best for them.
Contrary to the proclaimed belief of those who oppose us, we don't like killing people, and we like killing innocents least. That's why we go out of our way not to do it. But if it comes down to a choice of having our innocents killed, as happened 9-11-01, and killing their innocents because they're standing between us and the Bad Guys, we'll feel real sorry.
Afterward.
We don't "do" genocide. I and the rest of my countrymen (with the exception of the usual proportion of the mentally defective) feel revulsion at the very idea. But I have nothing against exterminating entire organizations, down to the last foot soldier, horse-holder and spear-carrier, and anyone trying to protect them.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2003 17:26 Comments ||
Top||
#18
My comment was in response to Steve White, who did speak about the gloves coming off as opposed to the current state of distinguishing between peaceful and non-peaceful Muslims.
I don't think that your interpretation is what Steve himself had in mind. If it was, and your meaning indeed coincides with his, I hope Steve will say so.
#19
I do not think that people forget so easily. Not when horror on such magnitude occurs. And contrary to what some people in the U.S. think, 9/11 isn't forgotten in Europe either.
Yesterday night German TV showed rare footage of a U.S. film crew that shot the last days of Nazi Germany in color. It was a painful reminder of something I have never forgotten: Completeley destroyed cities, people walking streets full of rubble, the liberation of Buchenwald. It's not gone, it will never be.
Why am I ranting about this. Because in war, there is no "good people" and "bad people". When Dresden went up in flames, they all suffered alike. Because the "good people" didn't act, they went down with the "bad people". And one billion of Muslims should be reminded of this: You can't just sit there being "good", you will have to rise and act against intolerance and terror that is committed "in your name". Maybe you didn't like 9/11 but I can't remember a major demonstration in any Arab street protesting against the mass murder of innocent people (including Muslims btw) committed in "the name of Islam". All you did, my good Muslims, is to blame it on others, on the CIA, on the Zionists and whoever. And yes I remember my fellow Germans in 1945 who, as the U.S. speaker in that movie nicely commented, "were not depressed that they started the war but that they had lost it".
Yet Germans have learned from history. Muslims (and yes I mean ALL MUSLIMS) will have to learn, too, and pretty fast. They will have to stand up against their ruthless antisemitic and anti-American rulers, against fanatic turbans, against terrorists. If they don't, they will go down like all these beautiful German cities in WW2. And no, they won't be able to blame anyone else than themselves.
You won't get away with "I didn't know", "I didn't approve", "It wasn't me".
#20
Aris, my line of reasoning was more like Fred's than what you suggested. We would take the gloves off and wipe out the terrorists, their sponsors and supporters if we suffered another 9/11. We won't do genocide, but we'll hunt the rat bastards down without mercy.
However, a caution to both you and Fred: provoke us enough, kill enough of us, attack us enough, and that restraining line against genocide is going to slip some. It won't break but it will slip. Ask the Japanese about WWII. There was a savage, no-quarter, no-holding back war. Don't think about Hiroshima, think instead what we did to Tokyo. And that was without a nuclear device.
Fred is right -- we won't do genocide. But right now we're taking extreme care to distinguish peaceful from threatening Muslims. Stage a couple more WTCs, and our care won't be so extreme. TGA is exactly right -- remember Dresden. Remember Tokyo. Remember what a democracy can do in total war when sufficiently provoked.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/30/2003 19:58 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: michael ||
08/30/2003 22:38 Comments ||
Top||
#23
TGA shows once again why I respect him so much.
I agree with fred but yet have been of the opinion that we SHOULD forcibly rebuild the ME in the fashion of TOkyo/Berlin post WW2 so we can crush the culture of honour-shame and Islamofascism.
If we bring the enlightenment to the ME, then the ME should cease to be a problem for us.
But nothing less than total and absolute defeat and subjection to imperial rule is needed to accomplish that as the traditions and culture are too strong to break by anything less than absolute and dictatorial power.
And western nations in the current culture cannot apply this.
SO I'm coming round to agree with Fred: decapitate and invade every time a boomber booms or a terrorist strikes.
And yet, this too will only be tolerated by the homefront up to a point: usually it is tolerated as a reaction to an outrage, then nothing happens until the next outrage.
There is no easy solution for this problem but the reason for that is the homefront still has not girded its loins, does not have a metal rod for a spine or a ruthless attitude to those who wish it harm.
And the Arabs will neither change their behaviour nor respect anything less than total ruthlessness and total control.
The Greek Cycle of Violence TM
An 11-year-old boy in Greece is to stand trial after falling off his bike during a race. The boy on the eastern Aegean Sea island of Chios has been ordered to stand trial on October 13 for allegedly violating eight articles of the penal code and one traffic violation for falling off his bicycle during an annual race. The boy - identified only by his first name as Manolis - was taking part in last yearâs Chios bicycle race when he suddenly fell off his bike. He was not injured in the accident, nor did he cause any injuries to other riders taking part in the race, according to reports. Scum.
The islandâs prosecutor said the boy fell because he was "not driving carefully and with constant rapt attention" and ordered him to appear in juvenile court. They should throw away the key! Right, Aris?! Those zany Greeks and their crayzee system of justice!
Didn't mean to leave the 'Anonymous' tag on my post above. I actually thought that was a pretty mild joke and one I'm sure I wouldn't be afraid to tell you to your face.
The fact is I'm neither homophobic nor an 'ethnoracist'. That's why I support my President and my nation in this war against enemies that are homophobic, religiously intolerant, anti-democratic, murderous, and smell like shit.
I've read your comments slagging off America, Britain, and their allies so I see no need to apologize for hurt feelings.
By the same token, I don't leave comments just to be provacative, hurtful, or silly. It was only a joke so don't get so self-righteous. I actually like Greece, Greeks, Greek food, music, culture, etc., just as I'm sure that there are aspects of America that you (perhaps secretly) admire.
So...Q: Why did the Greek not immigrate to America?
A: He couldn't bear to leave his brother's behind.
#5
Ouch! except I've heard the same or worse, especially after Deliverance, re: American rurals...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 22:05 Comments ||
Top||
#6
JDB> *rolls eyes* If it was a joke and not a real insult, then you really don't need to be so apologetic about it. And my comment in response can be taken as lighthearted and joking an insult as yours was.
And I love several parts of American culture, and not at all secretly: Separation of church and state. Foundation of a country on principles rather than on common ethno-racial descent. Longest unbroken democratic heritage in the modern world. These are very cool things.
Prayers to Allah to take out LGF, one of The Great Satans... Iâm sure Charles is mighty proud!
This is some seriously funny shit, folks. If the rest of his blogs measure up to the LGF post, this is one to track... Fred - I couldnât help myself, honest. It was a coffee alert from the very beginning - and then it kept getting better. Heâs got the lingo and style pretty well down. Worthy, IMHO, but trash this puppy if itâs too far out of line.
Ok, Rantburgers.....have at it. I can?t wait to see what snarky comments you post on this! ;)
If you?ve never heard of Transnational Republic, the Kingdoms of Elgaland and Vargaland, Ladonia, or the State of Sabotage, the first Summit of Micronations and Modelstates in Helsinki will be a chance to brush up on the world of virtual countries. These entities exist only on the Internet or in the theoretical and philosophical worlds, explained Mirva Pulkkinen, an organiser of the summit. "They have the right to be heard too, and this is their chance to reach the public," she said.
High on the agenda will be the relevance of virtual nations to our own societies, the organizers said. "We are very interested in the phenomenon of micro nations, there are hundreds of them, and we wanted to look closer at the topic," Tellervo Kalleinen, on of the persons behind the event, told AFP. But the three-day summit is meant mostly to parody and question the way humans organise their lives, Pulkkinen stressed. While its opening took place on Friday at Helsinki's famous conference center Finlandia House — home to many important international meetings — the rest of the summit happens on a small island just off the Finnish capital. The summit is part of the art festival Amorph, which takes place in Helsinki every other year. "It?s a political art performance, the whole weekend. We are not criticising, but commenting on the current society," Pulkkinen pointed out.
During the event, participating nations will set up embassies in Helsinki and carry out deliberations with each other, all under the watchful eyes of artists and intellectuals, who will "excavate the questions relevant to the phenomenon of micro-nations", the festival's program announced. "As this is the first such meeting ever, there is no set agenda, and we will seek to find some common ground among the states," Tellervo said. She did not rule out some fiery debates however, as many of the founders of these states see them as art projects, while others take themselves more seriously, with their own flags, national anthems, money and passports. On Saturday and Sunday the micro states embassies will be open to the public, Tellervo noted, adding that the delegations will accept applications for both citizenship and political asylum while they are open. Wonder if any of them are going to apply for an EU development grant while they are at it?
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
08/30/2003 3:05:56 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
And, in its own way, what is Rantburg, if not an internet community cum virtual nation? We have our firebrands and curmudgeons and ideologues and cross-dressers trolls and lightening rods and prevaricators as well as experienced hands and non-elitist intelligentsia and honest brokers and debunkers and fiskers. It strikes me as a working model of the objectivist philosophy
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivist_philosophy
and, thus, feels like home.
Fred's editorial piece today is a perfect example - I would give $50 to have written it myself (That's the deal, right Fred? $100? Wha? Inflation? There's no inflation anymore, whaddya mean doubling the price, geez...) because I wouldn't change a word. Home. And if we can get him a big fucking EU grant, well why the hell not? It's not like they're going to do anything constructive with it anyway. Fucking bunch of Zeropeans. Fools and their money! Ha!
The Absolutely Free Virtual Republic of Rantburg. Melike.
#4
While a lot of this is pure fantasy, there IS something growing on the Internet, and it's not a fungus. It's the same kind of revolutionary spirit that sparked the Declaration of Independence and our current Constitution. It's called the free and equal exchange of ideas. It's the discussions taking place between people from any country in the world with people from any other country in the world - at least, those that allow unrestricted Internet connections. The prissy French can be slapped down by the Montana cowboy, while the irreverent Greek can be bludgeoned with facts by the former East German commieslave. This is the true promise of the Internet - the free exchange of ideas, opinion, rant and psychosis between people without intervening government-imposed walls or filters. THIS, more than anything else, will eventually lead to first, Internet "communities", later Internet "political/social/economic" groups, followed by Internet "nations", and eventually to a world community - not one based on economics, politics, or culture, but one consisting of free indidivuals working together for the common good. It will probably never include everyone - there are still going to be bas$$$$$ out there - but there will be enough of us to shape what the rest do, and to restrain the excesses of those who wouldn't recognize a clue delivered by a fleet of B-52's. I'm happy to be a part of it, and especially proud of Rantburg for its leadership role in helping develop that new world.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/30/2003 11:23 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Patriot is right. While I'm not so sure Rantburg had a big impact, the exchanging of ideas has become a regular occurence. Half a century ago, it would take weeks, if not months, to reach the other side of the world. And Telephones went only as far as the wires.
Now obese intellectuals can discuss peace and harmony with the idealogical cowards French. Or molesters appreciative men can talk with the young victims children, without parents interferring.
Does anyone see what I'm getting at?
Posted by: Charles ||
08/30/2003 13:43 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Can't wait to see the coups, putches, overthrows, and recalls for the Kingdom of Steve....question is, which of you guys gets the crown first
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 16:12 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Frank G - Oh they'll all want their own kingdoms of course. Then they'll ally themselves to fulfill the Conspiracy of Steveâ¢. Sooner or later, we've got to start taking this threat seriously. It's pretty obvious that the Al Steve cells are replicating, even now, while you innocently prepare yourself for idle activities such as watching the Chargers get plastered. ;-)
EFL and News
Afghan soldiers swarmed over remote mountain peaks in an ongoing battle with Taliban holdouts Saturday, killing and capturing several enemy fighters.
U.S. planes, meanwhile, launched a second night of bombing on the area in southern Zabul province, where a joint U.S.-Afghan operation has met with stiff resistance, provincial intelligence chief Khalil Hotak told The Associated Press from his command center in Qalat, 45 miles south of the fighting. stiff resistance = rigor mortis for Taliban left fighting... thereâs no running away to Pakland this time
"Our forces are on the tops of the mountains. They have laid siege to the area and the Taliban hideouts," Hotak said, adding that intense U.S. bombing was called in over the Chinaran mountains and two nearby areas. About 200 additional Afghan soldiers were called in from a base in the neighboring province of Kandahar to help in the assault, joining about 500 already on the ground, Hotak said. He said 60 to 70 U.S. soldiers were also on the scene to help direct the Afghan fighters. Hotak said eight suspected Taliban fighters were captured late Friday and an unknown number were killed in the fighting. There were no new casualties among Afghan or U.S. troops, he said.
One U.S. special forces was killed while rapelling from a heli...
Hotak claimed that 35 Taliban were killed on Thursday and Friday, and the provincial governor said a similar number of insurgents were killed earlier in the week. The U.S. military has refused to comment on the details of the fighting, though it did confirm Friday that a special operations soldier died in an accidental fall rapelling from a chopper IIRC
during a nighttime assault, the second American soldier to die in less than two weeks in Afghanistan. The area in the Dai Chopan district of Zabul has been the scene of intensifying clashes all week as insurgents have hunkered down to face the coalition assault. Hotak on Friday described the area as a Taliban stronghold, from which the insurgents direct their operations into the neighboring provinces of Kandahar, Ghazni and Uruzgan. Hotak said his forces believe hundreds of Taliban have taken up positions in the area. He said there were at least 15 Taliban hideouts, the largest in a range called Hazar Buz, about four miles from the latest ground fighting.
Could this be Mullah Omar's last stand? I'm not holding my breath...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 10:53:16 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'm not holding mine either. I think he's too important and holy bigga pussy to expose himself to harm. But you'd think someone back in Pakland would notice all this fodder that does such heroic deeds and astounding victories....never comes home...or if they do, it's in bits and pieces? gotta do wonders for recruitment
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 15:49 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Naw... not even US Special Forces can penetrate the dreaded honeycombed hideout.
Afghanistan, Pakistan and the UN refugee agency will close four refugees camps near the border and relocate or repatriate some 50,000 Afghans residing there, officials said yesterday after a two-day meeting in Kabul. Afghanistanâs Deputy Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Mohammad Naeem Ghiacy told reporters Kabul, Islamabad and the UNHCR agreed that the number of camps close to the border should be reduced for a lack of proper facilities.
Couldn't have anything to do with the Afghans bitching about them being chock full of Taliban, could it?
Two camps in the Chaman area of Balochistan province bordering southern Afghanistan and the two Shalman camps on the Khyber Pass in North West Frontier Province established after the US-led assault to topple the Taleban regime would be closed. Hasim Utkan, head of UNHCR operations in Pakistan, said 50,000 people will be affected by the campsâ closures. âBut since we are in a voluntary repatriation mode itâs either repatriation or relocation,â he said.
I doubt if they'll repatriate. That could cut them off from their ammunition resupply lines...
He said the camps had been established as close as five kilometers to the border in the emergency situation following the fall of the Taleban. âThis is not in line with international principles; camps have to be at a certain distance from the border and something which is acceptable in an emergency situation is more difficult to acceptâ two years later, he said. UNHCR coordinator for refugee repatriation Salvatore Lombardo said the process of closing the camps would begin in February 2004.
The sooner, the better, I'd say...
âRefugees would be offered two options, either assistance to return to Afghanistan or relocation to another camp where they would continue to be offered assistance by the UNHCR,â he told AFP. He said the four affected camps were unsatisfactory both in terms of security and quality of life, as even water must be trucked in to some of the camps. Some 200 refugee camps dot the Pakistani landscape.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 01:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well, if the closure of the camps does have something "to do with the Afghans bitching about them being chock full of Taliban"-- that's a good thing, isn't it? Maybe just another small sign that the Perv Regime is being forced to "get it"? And if the UN guys are also with the closures, that's a good sign too, it seems to me. It suggests that they "get" that the U.S. is not about to tolerate the creation of UN-sponsored breeding grounds of fanatacism to threaten Afghanistan a la the so-called "refugee camps" that threaten Israel.
Funny how a well-applied two-by-four seems to clear some jackass minds...
#2
Where are they going to be relocated?
If they move into Afganastan,that's good.Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket.
If moved farther from the border into Pakistan would make for a more secure"Al Quedda" (translation:base camp,if I remember)
You know, the one that's several miles in diameter and in the middle of the desert. No mountains blocking the bombers peoples view, it would be perfect!
Posted by: Charles ||
08/30/2003 13:48 Comments ||
Top||
British police said on Saturday they arrested three men, called out the bomb squad and closed the southern port of Dover after discovering a suspect device. "Three men are being held in custody at a station in Kent in connection with terrorism offences," police in the County of Kent said. "A bomb disposal unit is dealing with the device," a spokeswoman added.
The port was reopened early on Saturday morning and began the task of clearing the backlog of ships carrying thousands of passengers stranded in the English Channel after the discovery of the device in a car at Doverâs eastern docks. "The port will be functioning as normal quite soon," said a Port of Dover Police spokesman. Dover is one of the main ports for ferry services shuttling passengers and vehicles across the English Channel to France and continental Europe. A spokeswoman for Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. plc told Reuters four of its passenger ferries had unloaded, with another three still waiting to disembark. So, what are their names? Liam, Nigel, etc? Or something with a lot more consonants... Inquiring minds want to know.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/30/2003 1:12:58 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
came over on the Dover ferry from France, so I would assume it's one of the popular French names, like Abdul , Al-Ghamdi, or Moussoui
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 9:38 Comments ||
Top||
A German court rejected Turkey's bid to extradite a militant Islamist on treason charges, saying it feared he would not face a fair trial if he returned home. Turkey accuses Metin Kaplan of planning a failed plot to crash an aircraft loaded with explosives into the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish state, in 1998. The administrative court in the western city of Cologne said on Wednesday it had turned down Turkey's bid to extradite Kaplan, citing concern that a Turkish court might use information extracted from witnesses who had been tortured. The ruling upholds a decision from a lower court in May that blocked Kaplan's extradition because of doubts about whether a trial in Turkey would comply with international law. A spokesman for Interior Minister Otto Schily said the German government did not consider Kaplan welcome in Germany and would do everything it could to ensure his expulsion. He said the ministry was examining the court ruling. Kaplan, who wants to establish an Islamic state in Turkey, is the leader of a Cologne-based group known as the Kalifatstaat (Caliphate State) that was banned in 2001 to stop what the German government called its extremist activities.
The court rejected a similar attempt back in May...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 12:11 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
His name is Kaplan? That's a little odd....
Posted by: Brian ||
08/30/2003 12:48 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I'm sure TGA will have more news on this issue later. At the moment, I'm sure something else is on the minds of the court system in Germany - the fact that Kaplan could well lose his head (literally) if sent back to Turkey. The Germans do not like capital punishment. In the meantime, the Germans had better watch Herr Kaplan closely, or some Turkish "militant" (I.E., one of Turkey's SF troops) might just slip in and take care of the issue once and for all.
There comes a time when nation-states need to grow up, and the current clash of civilizations is one such time. This man is not a "criminal" that can be "rehabilitated" - he is a reactionary of the first cloth, hell-bent (literally) on forcing HIS will upon the entire world. He not only should be snuffed, but his body imbedded in clear epoxy and put on display at Frankfurt International Airport, as a reminder of what happens to jihadis in Germany. Otherwise, the problems will continue to escalate into a shooting war that will kill tens of thousands.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/30/2003 13:09 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The existence of the death penalty hasn't spared the US from terrorist attacks by Islamists, I don't see how you can believe that it would do anything to spare Germany or any of the rest of Europe (or Turkey for that matter) from any such attacks.
#4
The fact is the death penalty has helped keep terrorist out of the US. They still attack us by gathering explosives and training at base camps in other countries. It's easier to attack someone when it's a one-way trip.
Which is why the EU are so idiotic. Germany is a safe haven for terrorists, as well as the rest of the EU. You don't have to worry about being killed before reaching your target, just old age.
The Terrorists have started attacking their own people, so it's only a matter of time before they attack the EU like they did us.
You live in Greece, right? Guess where the 2004 olympics are being held? That's right, Greece. Jews, Americans, British, and everyone else will be there. I wonder if the terrorists will have any concern for the Greek civilians watching the events?
Posted by: Charles ||
08/30/2003 13:56 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Concern for Greek civilians? The greater the carnage amongst infidels, the better.
I don't see the logic in claiming that the death penalty deters Islamist nutjobs whatsoever. Russia, the US, Indonesia: all have the death penalty and have been the locations of the most destructive acts of terrorism outside the Middle East in recent years. The death sentence cannot by its nature be a disincentive for a death-wishing fanatic, if anything it's a guarantee of martyrdom and the heavenly 72 flatchestees.
Many European countries are guilty of harbouring terrorists and their cells (including my own), but the problems allowing that to happen are lack of political resolve to confront the issue and/or inadequate anti-terrorism legislation, coupled with pathetically short sentences when the few who are caught are eventually brought to justice. The type of sentence passed down is irrelevant if terrorists are permitted to remain at large.
#6
Actually this is a court decision (that can and will be appealed), not the German government's idea. Interior Minister Schily wants to send Kaplan on his way as soon as possible and the German press (except the far left) is rather upset about the court's ruling.
The background of this decision is that some of Kaplan's friends captured by the Turks in 1998 were in fact tortured and denied a "fair trial". The German court could not accept that Kaplan would be tried in Turkey with evidence and confessions used that stem from torture. This would go against the European Human Rights Convention as well.
Germany is not a safe haven for terrorists. We have just decided not to bend our laws because of them. Not yet, maybe. You bet Kaplan will be watched day and night. And I guess we soon get some "guarantees" from Turkey and he'll be sent there. And then he might not be watched THAT closely by Germans.
#7
"The fact is the death penalty has helped keep terrorist out of the US. "
*blink* How is that a fact? Neither Timothy Mcveigh, nor the Islamist fundies were either deterred or "kept out" of the US. And Bulldog mentioned the other countries, such as Russia and Indonesia - not much of a deterrent there either.
And the rest of your post Charles is ten times more incoherent than the worst of *my* rants.
#8
Nothing deters insanity. However, the recidivism rate, including coordination, planning, etc. for further attacks even from a prison cell (e.g. AbdulRahman in first NYC WTC bombing), is a perfect zero with capital punishment.
"Oops, there goes another nuclear sub" apologies to the Chairman of the Board
A Russian nuclear-powered submarine sank in the Barents Sea on Saturday morning as it was being towed to a scrapyard, killing at least two of the 10 sailors on board, the Defense Ministry said. The nuclear reactor of the 40-year-old K-159 was shut down at the time the vessel sank at about 4 a.m. about 3 miles northwest of Kildin Island, the Defense Ministry said. No weapons were aboard the sub, the ministry said. How about the reactor vessel?
FoxNews said the core had been removed...
One sailor was rescued, the bodies of two dead crew members were found and the fate of seven others were unknown, the ministry said. Condolences to the families of each and every one.
The K-159, a November-class attack submarine, was decommissioned on July 16, 1989. It was being towed on four floating hulls from its base in the town of Gremikha to a plant in Polarnye to be scrapped. The hulls were torn off on Friday night during a fierce storm, and the submarine sank in 560 feet of water, the ministry said.
Memo to: CinC, Russian Submarine Services
Subject: moving decommissioned submarines
Body: Donât move decommissioned subs in a fierce storm. Thanks.
November-class submarines entered service between 1958-1963, according to Janeâs Fighting Ships. They carried 86 crew members and low-yield nuclear torpedoes. Russia has about 200 decommissioned submarines, which clutter harbors and pose an increasing environmental risk. Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Sardinia for meetings with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It was unclear whether he had been informed of the subâs sinking.
Posted by: Steve White & Pete Stanley ||
08/30/2003 2:59:37 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Doing some Googling -- An attack submarine NATO designated November Class. Russians call them Leninskiy Komsomol Class. Commissioned 4 November 1963. Decommissioned somewhere between '89-92. Were they stripping it for spare parts and/or removing the nuclear material?
Posted by: Pete Stanley ||
08/30/2003 2:15 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Russian Ambassador: One of our submarines, an Alpha, was last reported in the area of the Grand Banks. We have not heard from her for some time.
Nat'l Security Advisor: Andre... you've lost another submarine?
#5
Well atleast it's reassuring to know that they are going to recover that nuclear reactor... they are going to recover it, right? note to self: cancel the Barents Sea fishing trip
#9
He's not playing Jack Ryan anymore. Although, I wonder if this means that Putin will be beaten in the next election? Losing two submarines, 100-200 sailors, and towing a obsolute vessel in a bad storm doesn't look very good.
Posted by: Charles ||
08/30/2003 14:01 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Are you sure that the Arafish was not once a submariner on a Russian sub with a leaky reactor?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/30/2003 15:50 Comments ||
Top||
#11
The 2003 Fickle Finger of Fate award for Bad Trim on a Submersible goes to...
At least four Islamic rebels and an Indian soldier died on Saturday when troops raided a Kashmir building they believed housed a mastermind of the 2001 attack on Indiaâs parliament. One rebel remained in the house in the summer capital Srinagar with troops due to launch a final assault seven hours into the gunbattle, said Vijay Raman, a senior officer of Indiaâs paramilitary Border Security Force. "We got information that Gazi Baba of Jaish-e-Mohammad, suspected mastermind of the parliament attack, could be inside," Raman told Star News television.
That would be enjoyable, wouldn't it?
He said four rebels and one BSF trooper were killed but did not specify if Baba was among the casualties.
Probably would have if he had been, assuming there's enough of the body left to recognize...
Jaish-e-Mohammad and another Islamic radical group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, were blamed by India for the December 13, 2001 attack on its parliament that left 15 dead including the five assailants and set off a military stand-off with Pakistan. Islamabad one month later banned the two militant groups.
Raman said BSF troops would soon storm the building in Srinagarâs Danamazar Safakadal area after all civilians were brought to safety. BSF spokesperson Tirtha Acharya earlier said two women and four children had been rescued from the house.
The obligatory women and children...
The tension between Indian and Pakistan set off by the parliament attack began to recede in April when Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited Srinagar and offered Islamabad a "hand of friendship." But Vajpayee on Friday ruled out talks with Pakistan until "normalcy" returns to Kashmir, following a three-day violence-wracked visit to the disputed province.
By now, a daily Korpse Kount is "normal"...
A gunbattle broke out between Islamic militants and security forces late Wednesday at the Greenway hotel, just five kilometres from the venue of a conference of state officials chaired by Vajpayee and his deputy Lal Krishna Advani. Four people including one rebel were killed and 11 injured in the gunbattle and ensuing fire that torched the hotel.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 2:23:43 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
FOLLOWUP: FoxNews says Gazi Baba's dead.
I'll be outside firing off my AK for the rest of the night.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2003 20:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
nice pre-emptive title chg - I bow to the web/psychmaster
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 22:12 Comments ||
Top||
Police in India say they have found a large quantity of explosives at the main railway station in the capital, Delhi. A police spokesman said a bag containing more than 20 kilograms of explosives was uncovered during a routine check. "It was an unclaimed bag and contained about 150 gelatin sticks weighing about 21kg (46 lb)," the spokesman said. The find in Delhi comes six days after 52 people were killed in twin car bomb blasts in the Indian financial capital, Bombay, also known as Mumbai.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
08/30/2003 9:19:35 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
âGod will destroy the US in Iraq and Afghanistan and wherever it will try to go from there,â General Hamid Gul, identified as âstrategic adviserâ to the MMA, was quoted saying on Friday. Gen Gul, known for his colourful language and what many consider âimaginative theories,â
In other words, he's a nut...
went on to declare, âThe Muslim world must stand united to confront the US in its so-called war against terror which is in reality a war against Muslims. Letâs destroy America wherever its troops are trapped.â
And in return, perhaps we'll get around to destroying as many Pakistani generals, retired and otherwise, as we can...
If President Pervez Musharraf concedes President George Bushâs demand to send 15,000 Pakistani peacekeeping soldiers to Iraq, it would amount to âpolitical suicide,â according to The Washington Times. The report alleges that jihadi organisations are once again actively recruiting in the name of ending US aggression in the two countries where US forces are battling Iraqi and Afghan terrorists. Gen Musharraf is conceding ground to the extremists now crowding the Pakistani government. Anyone who tries to crack down on extremist activities is told to stop, says the report by Arnaud de Borchgrave.
We've noticed this...
According to him, âThe latest example came in Balochistan where the governor, Gen Qadir Baluch, a former corps commander in Balochistan, attempted to curtail anti-US demonstrations called by the MMA. The president asked Gen Baloch to back off while Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) negotiated with the MMA. Gen Baloch flew to Islamabad to confer with Gen Musharraf. The president urged him to follow the new rules or resign, which he did.â
The Washington Times claims that the new governor, Awais Ghani, a former federal minister of labour and religious affairs, has proven to be âa pliant instrument that heeds the advice of ISI and lets the MMA (now derisively known as Musharraf-Mullahs-Army) consolidate its hold on Balochistanâs regional government. Pakistani moderates are shocked by Gen Musharrafâs appeasement of the religious extremists who are now in charge of the province under the guidance of Gen Gul and his former ISI colleagues.â Borchgrave writes that Quetta, the provincial capital, is now a âvast privileged sanctuary for former Taliban officials and their fighters.
They are known locally as new mohajirs. They possess Pakistani identification and are free to conduct business and buy properties all over Balochistan. The MMA, with generous subsidies organised by the ISI, is now free to hold constant rallies and processions against âthe US, desecrator of Islamâ.â He claims to have been told by his âinformants in Islamabad and Quettaâ that US agents are unable to tell the difference between Balochis, Pathans and Taliban, and that most people are convinced Osama Bin Laden and Mulla Omar, the former Taliban chief, are hiding safely somewhere in Balochistan under the protection of the ISI and its extremist allies in the provincial government.
I think that possibility's been mentioned here a time or two, as well...
âHamid Gulâs agenda â which he barely conceals â is to create a deadly nexus between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Those who know Gen Gul say his objective is to widen the nexus to include Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia,â the report adds.
That'd be Qazi's Grand Islamic Alliance...
The report alleges that the Pakistani nuclear establishment is, to a large degree, of the fundamentalist persuasion, adding âfrom these geopolitical building blocks, it is not too much of a stretch to conclude, as the US intelligence community now seems to believe, that Pakistani nuclear know-how has found its way, not only to North Korea, but also to Iran. The CIA has also identified Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria as the leading supporters of the Sunni insurgency against the US military in Iraq. The Saudi government is clearly not involved, the CIA concluded, but Osamaâs Saudi followers and members of the Wahhabi clergy, harassed for the first time by the government, have evidently organised desert crossings for volunteer guerrilla fighters.â
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 01:54 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"The Washington Times claims that the new governor, Awais Ghani, a former federal minister of labour and religious affairs, has proven to be âa pliant instrument that heeds the advice of ISI and lets the MMA (now derisively known as Musharraf-Mullahs-Army) consolidate its hold on Balochistanâs regional government. Pakistani moderates are shocked by Gen Musharrafâs appeasement of the religious extremists who are now in charge of the province under the guidance of Gen Gul and his former ISI colleagues.â
This is part of what I have been saying for years, that there is essentially no difference between the Mullahs and the military in Pakistan. The top Generals and the top Mullahs have way more in common than their differences. They both oppose any attempt by both Liberals and Conservatives to moderate Pakistan and cut down on the Talibanisation that has been occuring there since before there was a Taliban. They both desire India to go the way of the Soviet Union, and Pakistan becoming the heart of a new Moghul Empire stretching from Central Asia to Bangladesh.
In the months leading up to the election in Pakistan last year, it is a well known fact that the ISI political division did everything possible to weaken the mainstream parties - the PPP and PML, from disqualifying their candidates, to paying off the members to switch sides to a pro-Musharaff party. At the same time, the same people did everything possible to bring about the MMA, the first time in Pakistan's history that the fractured Islamist parties were able to form an electoral alliance. To facilitate this, hundreds of criminal cases against MMA politicians were lost, the pro-Musharaff PML-Q party entered into a coalition government with them in Baluchistan, and due to other manipulations, the MMA got around a third of the seats in parliament, even though they only received 11% of the popular vote.
It is inconceivable that the ISI did all this without the knowledge and permission of Musharaf, so obviously he wanted the MMA to come to power in the provinces bordering Afghanistan. It is also obvious from the activities of the members of the MMA, that despite all their tough rhetoric, Fazl, Sami and the rest are just as corrupt as the rest of Pakistan's politicians, and are willing to deal with Musharaf.
Only Qazi's party is hardline enough to be causing problems with this arangement, and may lead the ISI to create a split in the MMA to alleviate these problems.
Musharaf may well be willing to turn over al-Qaeda Arabs and tone down the level of Jihad going on in Kashmir, but the only real difference that seperates him and Fazl from people like Qazi and Hamid Gul is that the former are pragmatic and will do what they can to stay in power, while continuing the business of Jihad which has worked so well for the army and Mullahs for the past two decades; while the latter are hard core ideologues who are against any sort of collusion with the Infidel west.
The one thing that consumes all of them, is the dispute with India, which is at the source of everything that Pakistan's military does. The reason they supported the Taliban was to give themselves "strategic depth" in a future war with India. The reason why the ISI has been giving covert aid to the regrouped Taliban and Hek is because they feel the Northern Alliance, which dominates the Karzai government, is a puppet of India. The reason they allow Hafiz Saeed and Massod Azhar to openly recruit hundreds of young men and turn them in AK wielding fanatics, before sending them to the deaths in Kashmir year after year after hear, is a low cost Proxy war that serves to bleed the Indian army. The reason that the Madrassas are allowed to continue brainwashing millions of kids, and the training camps are allowed to train Jihadis throughout Pakistan's hinterlands, and the reason why members of the puratanical Deobandi sect have been put in charge of 80% of the countries mosques, despite being only 10 or 15% of the population, is that in war with India, Pakistan will have a huge resovoir of committed Jihadis which will be able to even the odds against the much large Indian population.
Just like Hamid Gul, Musharaf was promoted by General Zia, the former dictator of Pakistan who ordered the Islamisation project in the country which has continued ever since. Musharaf didn't actually bring himself to power in a coup, the former government was actually overthrown by Islamist generals, who then put Musharaf in power because they knew the world would never accept Islamists in charge of a Nuclear state. But although he is a pragmatist, and even secular in his private life, Musharaf has never done anything to end the Mullah-Military alliance, or the Jihad industry in Pakistan in the past 4 years of his reign, and I am confident that he won't do anything to end it in the next 4 years either.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
08/30/2003 7:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"America will destroy Hamed Gul wherever he tries to go," God was quoted saying on Friday.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/30/2003 7:44 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Allah, as has been the case for the 1424 Islamic Calendar years since he supposedly had a series of talks in Aramaic with Little Mo [7 centuries later mistranslated to Arabic and declared the "literal" and "absolute" Word of God (sic)... Ed] had no comment, yet again, as he could not be located, yet again.
Prolly counting & conserving his raisin allotment.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2003 10:31 Comments ||
Top||
#9
If Hamid keeps this up, Musharaf is going to put a bullet in his head. Why? Because having a General incite anger in the worlds only superpower, which has spared them destruction for the sole reason that they are cooperating, is a bad idea.
Cruise missles also have a habit of suddenly appearing around Government buildings.
Posted by: Charles ||
08/30/2003 14:09 Comments ||
Top||
#10
which has spared them destruction for the sole reason that they are cooperating, is a bad idea.
I expect we have a logistical trail set up by now in the Northern 'stans. Perhaps we can do without the Paks.
Six members of a gang were killed in a police encounter on Thursday night at Batagram, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Ishtiaq Marwat told reporters on Friday. He said the police also found rocket launchers, eight hand grenades and four Kalashinkov rifles from the gangâs hideout. The SSP said a police team took up positions on the Dawarh Bridge after being tipped and opened fire on the proclaimed offenders, killing six, when they tried to cross it. He said the outlaws returned fire but the police did not suffer any casualties.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 01:45 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
A man believed to be an al-Qaida operative, found with 11 surface-to-air missiles, has been arrested in Iraq by U.S. troops and has acknowledged that he had been training with Ansar al-Islam fighters to use the weapons against American forces, a senior U.S. official said Friday.
"Oh, the missiles... Ummm... I was waiting for duck season to start..."
The arrest marks the first time the U.S.-led coalition has apprehended someone believed to be a member of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network who is operating in Iraq. The unnamed suspect was captured during an Aug. 20 raid in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, along with two other unnamed men, said the official. At least one of the other two men was believed to be a member of the extremist group Ansar al-Islam. Intelligence officials said they found the suspected al-Qaida member's account, given during interrogation, "credible." They declined to characterize how senior the alleged operative was or whether he had directed attacks on U.S. troops or other sites before his capture.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 12:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Four men have been arrested in connection with Fridayâs car bomb blast in Najaf which killed at least 95 people. The local governor said two of the suspects were members of the former regime from Basra, while the others were non-Iraqi Arabs subscribing to the puritannical Wahhabi Muslim faith. This sounds about right. Moqtada might be a very bad boy, but I didnât think he would be reckless enough to have a car bomb detonated so close to the Imam Ali mosque as to damage it, it sounds more like the work of people who think of Shias as "heretics"
The four men are said to have confessed to the bombing and to other plots intended to destabilise the country.
FOLLOWUP, from Sky News...
Four people have been arrested after a car bomb exploded outside a mosque in Iraq, with the death toll now standing at 107.
That's a little over half the toll from the Bali bombings...
A senior official in the central city of Najaf said the four all have ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network. There was confusion over the nationalities of the four. One report said two were Iraqis and the other two were Saudis, while another said all four were non-Iraqi Arabs.
All four Soddies?
Three other suspects in the bombing were said to be on the run from police.
Back to Soddy Arabia? Stop by and say hello to Adel when you get home, boyz...
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
08/30/2003 9:16:24 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
That wraps it up in a nice, tight ball.
The Baathists and Wahhabis are in bed together.
Something for everyone to hate.
Posted by: Pete Stanley ||
08/30/2003 14:03 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I think the second mission for our new Iraqi Legion (after we clear up Iraq) would be to assist Saudi Arabi in removing those pesky radical elements that they can't seem to get a handle on. Of course, it might take a while and it would be a shame that so many of the royal family got caught in the crossfire.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/30/2003 15:32 Comments ||
Top||
#5
It's up to 19, now where have we heard that number before? And from where? All of the 19 men arrested in the car bombing that killed scores of people at the Imam Ali shrine have admitted links to Usama bin Laden's terror network, according to a senior Iraqi investigator. Two Iraqis and two Saudis grabbed shortly after the Friday blast gave information leading to the arrest of the other suspects, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The others include two Kuwaitis, six Palestinians with Jordanian passports, Iraqis and Saudis, according to the official. "Initial information shows they (the foreigners) entered the country from Kuwait, Syria and Jordan," the official said. U.S. officials have not confirmed any details of the arrests. They also have not taken an active role in the investigation because of Iraqi sensitivity to any American presence at the Najaf shrine, the most-sacred Shiite shrine in Iraq and the third holiest in the world after Mecca and Medina. The Iraqi official said that all of those arrested belong to the Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam. âThey are all connected to Al Qaeda,â said the official. The investigation was being handled entirely by Iraqi police in Najaf, but the FBI would assist if asked, coalition spokesman Charles Heatley told reporters. "It's clearly in our interests that those responsible be brought to justice," he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/30/2003 19:07 Comments ||
Top||
Iraqi police have arrested four men in connection with the bombing of Iraqâs holiest Shiite Muslim shrine, and all have links to al-Qaida, a senior police official told The Associated Press on Saturday. Who woulda thunk it?
The official, who said the death toll in the bombing had risen to 107, said the four arrested men â two Iraqis and two Saudis â were caught shortly after the car bombing on Friday. When caught, they were covered with mysterious bruises, cuts, and cattle-prod injuries, and all had bamboo shoots underneath their fingernails. The official was at a loss to explain why they were so willing to talk.
The bombing killed one of the most important Shiite clerics in Iraq, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, who had been cooperating with the American occupation force. On Saturday, 4,000 mourners chanted for vengeance in Najaf.
Gotta pick somebody to have vengeance against, guys...
In Baghdad, about 3,000 Shiites protested at the gates of the U.S.-led Coalition headquarters in Baghdad, complaining that the coalitionâs failure to provide security led to al-Hakkimâs death. "When we told you that we wanted you to stay far away from the mosques in Najaf & Karbala, we were just playing hard-to-get!"
U.S. military helicopters hovered low overhead, but the demonstrators dispersed peacefully after an hour. The police official, who led the initial investigation and beatingtorture interrogation of the captives, said the prisoners told of other plots to kill political and religious leaders and to damage vital installations such as power plants, water supplies and oil pipelines. The official said the bomb was made from the same type of materials (called "explosives") used in the Aug. 19 bombing at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad in which at least 23 people died and the Jordanian Embassy attack on Aug. 7, which killed 19.
Just tripping lightly, from site to site, like little explosives butterflies...
The FBI said the U.N. bomb was constructed from ordnance left over from the regime of Saddam Hussein, much of it produced in the former Soviet Union. Pretty weak attempt to shift blame, if you ask me...
The police official said the men arrested after the attack claimed the recent bombings were designed to keep Iraq in a state of chaos This part works
so that police and American forces would be unable to focus attention on the countryâs porous borders, across which suspected foreign fighters are said to be infiltrating. This part doesnât work so well
The four men arrived in Najaf three days before the bombing and were staying with a friend who did not know their intentions, the official said. "I know nuthink", said Mohammed Shultz, who was a formerly sergeant and prison guard in the Iraq Army.
American officials believe militants from Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iran are infiltrating Iraq to attack Western interests. President Bush said earlier this month that more foreign "al-Qaida-type fighters" have moved in. Last week, a shadowy group that takes its name from the alias of Mohammed Atef, Osama bin Ladenâs top deputy, claimed responsibility for the U.N. bombing. The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades â one of three groups to claim responsibility for the attack â made its claim on a Web site, but U.S. officials said they could not authenticate it and it remained unclear if the group exists or has any link to al-Qaida.
Think false nose and moustache...
In Baghdad, 150 U.N. employees held a somber memorial service on Saturday to remember their colleagues killed in the Aug. 19 bombing of the U.N. office. Security for the memorial was enhanced to the new U.N. "Standards for Protection in War Zones" by the addition of the TeleTubbies.
Meanwhile Saturday, thousands of angry mourners called for vengeance as they gathered outside the Imam Ali shrine, site of the bombing in Najaf. "Our leader al-Hakim is gone! We want the blood of the killers of al-Hakim!" a crowd of 4,000 vampires men chanted while beating their chests.
"Dire Revengeâ¢! Dire Revengeâ¢! Dire Revengeâ¢! Dire Revengeâ¢! Dire Revengeâ¢! ..."
The bombing was certain to complicate American efforts to pacify an increasingly violent Iraq. A moderate cleric, al-Hakim was seen as a stabilizing force in Iraq. He repeatedly asked the countryâs Shiite majority to be patient with the United States.
Makes it very complicated. If they want the blood of the killers, they've got to help us hunt them down...
Al-Hakim was the spiritual leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. In Baghdad Saturday, a member of the groupâs politburo, Ali al-Ghadban, said the bombing would not deter it from cooperating with the Americans. We really think you ought to reconsider the "politburo" stuff... it has some unpleasant connotations...
I'd think the bombing would reinforce the desire to cooperate with the Merkins. We've got the same enemy, regardless of whether we get together to play cards on Wednesdays...
"We will continue in our dealing with the Americans, but the Americans should now be more aware of the fact that the Iraqis only are capable of preserving the security in the country," al-Ghadban said. A fact recently demonstrated in the Iraqi city of Najaf â GOTO TOP_OF_STORY.
"They (the Americans) are responsible for the incident because of their failure to provide security in Iraq." He said the group would press the Americans for more powers for Iraqis. Ummm... didnât you just say that only Iraqis could provide security? So why bag on us? L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. occupationâs coordinator for Iraq, was out of the country on vacation and had no plans to return early because of the bombing. While many here had blamed the attack on the Sunni Muslim followers of Saddam Hussein, there has been fighting between Shiites as well. Najaf, 110 miles southwest of Baghdad, is the headquarters of Iraqâs most powerful Shiite rivals, including followers of Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Ishaq al-Fayyad, Ayatollah Ali Hussein al-Sistani and Moqtada al-Sadr.
Posted by: snellenr ||
08/30/2003 9:15:54 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So now that al-Qaeda has basically attacked the Shi'ite version of the Vatican, any chances that the Iranians are going to be more inclined to turn over the leaders that they're hosting?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/30/2003 9:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
But...but..but...there's no proof of any connection between Iraq and al Qaida! All the moonbats, er, I mean leftists, say so! It's obviously a Zionist plot! (/sarcasm off)
...any chances that the Iranians are going to be more inclined to turn over the leaders that they're hosting?
No. Blaming the Great Satan is far more important.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/30/2003 9:34 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Seems to me the Saoooodis were just claiming that there were none of their jihadi shitheads going to Iraq - and Addled Jubair was demanding proof. Well, if this be true, then he gets to each a shit sandwich, I'd say. 24 hrs later dinner's served.
As for the dipshit "protesters" and their typical contradictory demands for protection and staying off their "holy ground" and blaming us for everything short of instant Paradise, well, so what's new? They're Arabs. SOfuckingS.
To me, that makes sense. They're not there to get next to the girlies...
Yet Sgt. Sean Blackwell, 27, and Cpl. Brett Dagen, 37, were determined. "Iâve done two years overseas on active duty, and I never thought this would happen," Blackwell said. "I love her." Obviously he never deployed to the Phillippines or Korea.
When I was in Thailand, I used to fall in love several times a week...
Now, he is trying to figure out how to bring his wife — they are married under Iraqi, but not yet under American, law — to the Pensacola area, where the couple plans to hold a larger wedding with friends and family.
Sounds like a job for... Embasssy Man!
As the romances blossomed, one superior officer began to oppose the liaisons. Another — lower in command — took an opposite tack and wrote a letter on Blackwellâs behalf to the U.S. Consulate, asking for assistance with a visa for the couple. The more junior officer took care of his men.
And the more senior officer was looking out for his mission...
Opposition to the romances also came from Iraqis. Blackwellâs wife and her friend said they resent the common suspicion that they are seeking soldier-husbands as tickets to America. They said they do not need American husbands to flee Iraq because they already have relatives and friends in Canada, Ireland and Australia. They said they also were disappointed that some Iraqis accused them of betraying their country. "You are marrying the occupation," Blackwellâs wife recalled being told. But hey, can we go with you?
Circumventing the militaryâs orders forbidding the soldiers to go to court, the two doctors persuaded an Iraqi judge to perform the ceremony along a patrol route.
Oh, they're physicians? Since when do physicians go on patrol? Since when are physicians sergeants? Or is the Journal-Constipation merely guilty of a typo?
Y'know, that might be why they don't let you take your wife or girlfriend to a combat zone. I could be wrong...
Blackwell is trying to gather information on the visa process and said heâs not worried about telling the world about his marriage. Iâm no expert, but I see several UCMJ violations. To me, what will really matter is what the other guys in the platoon think. I would be pissed if I had to draw some other guys patrols because he got married.
And regardless of violations, the ladies should get head of the line priviledges for visas etc. since they are the spouses of military personnel.
Questions:
1) What kind of bachelor parties do Muslims throw?
2) Did they fire their M-16s in the air after they were married?
3) Does kevlar armor limit a guyâs ability to consumate his marriage?
4) What did they get for a wedding present? A goat?
Posted by: Penguin ||
08/30/2003 1:42:16 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Answers:
1) They're married now, hence no bachelor parties.
2) Why fire M-16's when you've got tank rounds?
3) The Army's issuing kevlar condoms now???
4) Each couple got a goat, some mint tea, and one of Saddam's lesser palaces...
Opposition to the romances also came from Iraqis
Yeah, I bet it did.
"You are marrying the occupation,"
"...but just remember us at Christmas & Ramadan, OK?" "...and no gifts, only money." "...and only US dollars or Euros, no dinars please!"
#8
I can't see the military telling GIs that can't get married. Love is VERY forceful and you can't regulate it. These guys seem to want to do the right thing by these women and that should be the main concern. The Commander may rant and rave but he will do little to affect these GIs (wouldn't be good PR).
__________________Flashback to the also described as nervous judicial official who married Adolf and Eva...at least the Iraqi judge didn't demand papers proving racial purity... :)) Or then again, maybe he did inquire about any latent Zionist or Z.O.G. affiliations?
The Egyptian government-appointed head of Islamâs highest seat of learning yesterday suspended a senior cleric who had called on Muslim states to boycott Iraqâs US-appointed governing council. Al-Azhar chief Sheikh Mohamad Sayyed Tantawi said Egyptian cleric Sheikh Nabawi Mohamad Al-Ish âdoes not represent Al-Azhar.â
"Roll up your prayer mat and get the hell out!"
âNo Egyptian cleric has the right to pass verdict on the affairs of another country,â Tantawi said in a statement carried by the official MENA news agency. âI cannot overstep the Iraqi sheikhs and proclaim fatwas (religious edicts) on matters that concern them. Iraqi ulema (clerics) have to pronounce their opinion on this matter as they are more familiar with their own affairs.â The Egyptian cleric had sparked a storm on Wednesday by telling the Cairo opposition daily Al-Wafd that Iraqâs governing council âhas no legitimacyâ and that âArab and Muslim states should not deal with it.â
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 01:31 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
WOW! Looks like Mumbarak wants to keep his little kingdom alive a bit longer. Note that ALL clerics are puppets in Arab states. I wonder/hope this is a trend to tone down the Anti-U.S. crap they have been spewing.
A car bombing killed 75 Iraqis, including a top Shiite Muslim leader, on Friday in an apparent assassination that dealt a grave blow to the U.S. occupation and left carnage at the holiest shrine of Shiism.
An "apparent" assassination?
The blast tore through worshippers as they streamed away from Friday prayers in the Imam Ali mosque in the holy city of Najaf. It was by far the worst such atrocity in Iraq since the U.S.-led war toppled Saddam Hussein in April. Some supporters of the slain Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, 63, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), blamed Saddam loyalists. But some commentators pointed to bitter faction-fighting among Iraq's long-repressed Shi'ite majority that has raged in Najaf since the end of the war.
Meaning Moqtada Sadr. If he's not dead in three months or less, SAIRI's a nest of squats...
"There is a very serious chance that what we are entering here is a Shi'ite civil war akin to what happened in Iran in 1979-80 with rival factions jockeying for power," said Ali Ansari, an expert on Iran at Britain's Durham University. "The repercussions within the Shi'ite community will be problematic for the British because they are in control of the south."
Of course, if we kill Moqtada, then we'll be simply awful...
At the scene, some called for a stronger American presence around holy places where a few months ago Shi'ites demonstrated to keep the troops away. "The world is going to be turned upside down after this. This is our holiest site," said Qusay Jaber. "If the Americans don't secure our sites anything is possible. We will stage an uprising."
The body count actually had my sympathy meter twitching until Qusay said that. Having a hard time making up your mind? Guess you have to have one to make it up, huh?
FOLLOWUP, from Pak Daily Times... The death toll's up to 82 dead, 229 wounded. But, yeah. Keep bitching about the Americans.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 01:19 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Let me see,
U.N. refuses U.S.secruity and gets blown-up,
The Shia's have screaming fits about the presense of U.S. troops in thier Holy City(find me a city,town,village,hamlet,outhouse in Islam that is not holy)and thier most holy site,the Ali Mosque,gets blown-up.
And it is all America's fault for not provideing enough security.
What fools be these?
Well you can start at the Syrian border and knock off anybody coming in without a valid visa. Then you can move to the Saudi border and knock off anybody coming in to setup "religious" schools. Then you can move east to the Iranian border and... well, just shoot anybody with a black hat. That should do it. Come back to the center for resupply, and start again.
#3
Fox News says the Iraqi police have arrested...wait for it...2 Soddys with ties to Al-Qaeda! Reporter in Najaf says the Shiites on the street are skeptical
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 9:06 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Gen Sanchez should look into putting the Iraqi tribesmen on border patrol. And the GI's can coordinate them. The borders are like a sieve. If Sanchez doesn't use the tribesmen, the bad guys will keep coming in, and it'll never end. Enough with the sieve-like thing!
#7
"If the Americans don't secure our sites anything is possible. We will stage an uprising."...and if that don't work, we'll hold our breath til we're blue in the face.
Yeah, foreign troops right outside the mosque doing crowd control. Yeah, I can just see it. Najafers: Mourn your dead and help in capturing the perps and turn in foreign moujahideen. You won't get far without our help, nor we, without yours. Are you capable of it, or will you resort to being "a little people"? - Peter O'Toole
Posted by: michael ||
08/30/2003 23:07 Comments ||
Top||
#8
The borders are like a sieve. If Sanchez doesn't use the tribesmen, the bad guys will keep coming in, and it'll never end. Enough with the sieve-like thing!
I think that's the point. They come in and we kill them. If we block them off, they do things like September 11. Let 'em come.
Philippine Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes has resigned, becoming the second government casualty of last month's military mutiny. He said he hoped his action would give the president a free hand to deal with alleged coup plotters. The resignation on Friday was the latest blow to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who the day before accused "disgruntled and disenfranchised politicians" of trying to destabilize her government. The mutineers, who ended their July 27 rebellion peacefully after 19 hours, had accused Reyes of corruption and masterminding a deadly bombing in the southern Philippines early this year to get U.S. anti-terrorism funding.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 12:55 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The mutineers, who ended their July 27 rebellion peacefully after 19 hours, had accused Reyes of corruption and masterminding a deadly bombing in the southern Philippines early this year to get U.S. anti-terrorism funding.
Sounds like these are corrupt soldiers preemptively accusing Arroyo of corruption to score points. Probably the same group of people opposed to a US role in wiping out the terrorist groups, since this would dry up the flow of bribes to the mutineers.
#2
Oh this is the tip of the iceberg as far as the Philippines go. A couple of weeks ago a senator accused the First Gentleman (The president's husband) of having secret bank account under aliases and accepting bribes to those accounts as well as funneling funds and contributions there. The Senator's 'star whitness' (a former courier of the first gentlemen) was either abducted or rescued from the senator's offices. Hmm... its a regular soap opera...
Meanwhile they cant seem to capture 150 odd terrorists.
As for this the problem is that there ae accusations of military generals accepting bribes and kickbacks from the terrorists and kidnappers.
The above mentioned Senator is under investigation for being involved in kidnapping and corruption himself. That missionary who was kidnapped and finallly rescued (I dont remember her name...) noted in her book that the terrorist were in contact with the military and would get 'tips' before a raid and could escape.
The mutineers accused the military of staging a deadly bombing in Davo City in order to get more military assistance from the United States. Now the government is saying that the mutineers were 'misguided' by politicians for political gain.
I love the Philippines. The people there are great (I married one and love her family) but the government is corrupt.
Myanmar's military government will resume long-suspended work to draft a new constitution, which will pave the way for an elected government, the country's new prime minister said on Saturday.
"Yep. We're gonna get right on it..."
But General Khin Nyunt gave no timetable for the process, and didn't say whether pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi or her party would be allowed to take part in the drafting or any future government. Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won a national election more than a decade ago, but the junta has refused to yield power. Speaking to government and military leaders at the Parliament building, Gen. Khin Nyunt said a body called the National Convention would restart its constitution drafting work, which was suspended in March 1996. The draft constitution would then be placed before a referendum and, if approved, would form the basis for a 'free and fair' parliamentary election. A new government would follow.
Unless the junta guys lose. If that happens, they'll have to come up with another constitution...
He said his seven-point road map would finally lead to 'a modern, developed democratic country.' But he hinted that democracy was not around the corner, blaming this on Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and countries opposed to the junta. Gen. Khin Nyunt blamed Ms Suu Kyi, who has been under detention for the past three months, for scuttling the National Convention when her party withdrew from it in 1995, saying it was a tool of the ruling junta. The convention was suspended the following year. "Due to the NLD's attempt to derail the National Convention under foreign pressure, the political developments and political process sputtered to a stop," he said. Gen. Khin Nyunt was named Myanmar's premier days ago in a major Cabinet reshuffle that changed more than a dozen ministerial posts.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 12:47 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Great! I'll call my travel agent.
Well, maybe not.
The Israeli army has killed 10 members of the militant group Hamas in helicopter missile strikes in the Gaza Strip since a suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Aug. 19:
* Saturday: Two Palestinians, both members of Hamas, killed by Israeli strike. Two bystanders also injured.
* Thursday: One Hamas activist killed by missile strike in southern Gaza. Three others injured.
* Tuesday: Two Palestinian bystanders killed in helicopter strike in Gaza City.
* Aug. 24: Four Palestinians, all Hamas activists, killed in Israeli helicopter strike in Gaza City. More than a dozen bystanders injured.
* Aug. 21: Three Hamas members, including prominent leader Ismail Abu Shanab and two bodyguards, killed by helicopter missile strike. Fifteen bystanders injured.
Never underestimate the Paleo ability to miss the cause/effect thing. If these bastards would avoid hiding among innocent Paleoâs trying to get on with their lives, there wouldnât be any collateral damage. Good shooting Avner!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 4:15:58 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hamas members are "activists"? That's news to me.
Apologies if this was referred to on Rantburg before, and I missed it...
Israel has made plans to bomb an Iranian nuclear power plant if it begins producing weapons grade material, it was reported today [Friday]. Military commanders have mapped out a route Israeli fighter jets would take to destroy the Bushehr reactor on the Persian Gulf, officials told the Washington Times.
Russia has been helping Iran to build its first nuclear plant for eight years in a deal worth about £500 million to Moscow. Both countries say it is purely for civilian purposes. But the US claims Iran could use the technology to build a nuclear bomb, and President George Bush is expected raise the issue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at next monthâs Camp David summit. Russia said this week it would stop building the plant if the UN nuclear watchdog presents "concrete evidence" that Tehran is secretly developing banned weapons. Iran has tested 600-mile-range ballistic missiles that can reach Israel and carry nuclear, biological or chemical warheads.
#1
Debka had it/posted earlier, but still, I think it's good that the option is out in the public/on the table....keep the blackhats wary. It would be a lot easier to do it with a SLCM from the gulf, than expose aircraft and pilots...but that would be us, not Israel. If we do it, I hope it's soon, before dispersal of components can happen
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 15:52 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Saddly I think it is only a matter of time before one of the Asshat Brigades gets their hands on a bomb or more than one. Between the NKs, Pakland, Iran and now Indoamnesia it is only a matter of time. Then their problem will be who to strike. The US or Israel. Now is the time to make it plain to these clowns. The US and Israel should announce that if there is ever the use of nuclear weapons by these groups against them the retaliatory targets will be Mecca and Medina. Not the cities so much but the "Holy Sites" that are situated in them. Low yield presicion guided nukes. Very dirty nukes. Extremely dirty Nukes. Nukes contaminated with all of the worst sludge from Hanford. They would not even have to be nukes, J-DAMS sheathed in waste could do the job too. Followed up with crop dusters spaying liquified lard. But this would only happen if THEY start the process.
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire ||
08/30/2003 20:27 Comments ||
Top||
The Man From Brussels he wags finger, uses threatening, resolute language, walks away, visibly determined.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has given Iranian leaders a stern warning to accept snap inspections of its nuclear programme. He said at a news conference with the Iranian foreign minister in Tehran that it would be "bad news" for Iran - and for the EU - if it did not sign an additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. "Do as we say, or we canât be held responsible for our actions. Oh, I mean Americaâs actions."
A leaked report earlier this week revealed the International Atomic Energy Agencyâs unease at finding traces of highly-enriched uranium at the Natanz nuclear facility. Last month, the EU warned it could review its ties with Iran in September in light of the issue. Mr Solana said that only if there were rapid progress in Iranâs discussions with the IAEA would it be possible to avoid what he called unwelcome effects on the EUâs relations with Iran. The BBCâs Jim Muir in Tehran says that means not only signing the additional protocol, but also coming up with answers to a number of questions raised by the IAEA, especially relating to evidence that Iran may have been processing weapons-grade uranium. If progress is not made soon on those and other issues, some EU member countries have made it clear that negotiations towards a trade and co-operation agreement with Iran will go on hold. Hmm, a nuclear weapons arsenal, or rug trade rights with the Low Countries? Tough call, Europe! Can we get back to you?
Earlier this week, Iran said it was ready to start negotiations but wanted guarantees that inspectors would not be given total freedom of movement or violate military secrets. "...And certainly no oneâs allowed anywhere near the silos onion domes of the holy complex of Natanz. Any weapons developments facilities are off limits. Secrets, yâsee!"
Tehran insists its programme is to generate electricity and is for peaceful purposes only, to satisfy its growing demand for power and prevent long-term energy shortages. "Weâre just like Iraq, see? Oil, oil everywhere but not a drop to burn."
Two top members of Ivory Coast's deposed military junta were arrested for allegedly participating in what authorities said Friday was a plot to assassinate President Laurent Gbagbo, raising fears that civil war may re-ignite. A top government official said on condition of anonymity that the former junta leaders are among more than 60 people detained since the weekend in Ivory Coast and France, where authorities said they blocked the assassination attempt by arresting 10 people in Paris. The alleged plot involved attacking Gbagbo's convoy with a rocket launcher as he traveled to his presidential palace in this former French colony either Wednesday or Thursday.
If that had happened, it would have re-ignited the violence, wouldn't it? Pay me now, pay me later...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 13:04 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
JPost - Reg Reqâd - Back to Byzantium
A meeting of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) meant to take place on Monday has been postponed until next Thursday due to intense US and Israeli pressure on the Palestinian Authority not to topple the government of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).
Sources in Jerusalem say the US administration has delivered a message to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, saying that the end of Abbasâ government would mean the end of the âroad mapâ peace process. US officials from the American Consulate in Jerusalem met with senior Fatah leaders and delivered the White Houseâs position. No Abbas = gloves off, since Arafatâs shown he wonât do anything positive
Abbas has urged Palestinian ministers to support his demand to take control of all the PA security forces, most of which remain under Arafatâs tight grasp. Abbas reportedly told them they should threaten to resign if Arafat does not cede control. Information Minister Nabil Amr, a close ally of Abbas, Security Minister Muhammad Dahlan, another Abbas loyalist, and Abbas himself have been pushing for a crackdown on Hamas and other rejectionist groups.
Arafat, however, is opposed to any drastic measures against them. His aides said he is prepared to take only limited measures against Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and unruly Fatah gunmen.
The US, sensing that the âroad mapâ would be seriously jeopardized if Abbasâ government were to fall, also told Arafat that the Palestinians could forget about attaining their own state in the near future if Abbas were to be removed.
Israel has also delivered a sharp message to the Palestinian Authority saying that Israel would not recognize or negotiate with a Palestinian government led by Yasser Arafat. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said during a meeting with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yuriy Fedotov that Arafat and his newly appointed national security advisor Jibril Rajoub (the former West Bank commander of the Preventive Security Service) are embarking on a move to replace the Abbas government, and that this could come to a head during a confidence vote expected to take place at the PLC session on Thursday.
Many Palestinians said both Abbas and Dahlan are fuming over Rajoubâs appointment, a move seen in the context of Arafatâs attempts to retain control over the dozen or so PA security forces.
One Israeli official said that although Israel is unhappy with Abbasâs performance, in that he has not fulfilled commitments to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, Jerusalem does feel he is genuinely opposed to the continuation of terror. Israel doesnât want to see anything happen in the PA that would strengthen Arafatâs position, such as the removal of Abbas and Dahlan and their replacement with Qurei and Rajoub.
The special session of the PLC was called by its chairman Abu Ala at the behest of PM Abbas in an effort to gain support for his leadership after being in power for 100 days. Arafat loyalists from his Fatah movement have increased their opposition to Abbasâ leadership in the past few days, saying that the Palestinian Prime Minister had not achieved anything significant in his dealings with Israel in his term of office so far. Some of them said Arafat is seriously considering replacing Abbas with PLC Speaker Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala).
Kadoura Fares, a Fatah legislator, said he and some of his colleagues are tired of the power struggle between Abbas and Arafat. If it continues, "one of them will have to be pushed aside," Fares was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. He added that in this case Abbas should step down, as he was appointed, not elected like Arafat.
Fares and other Fatah legislators said this week that Abbas had to understand that "he was not in Arafatâs league."
"Abbas is now fighting for his political survival," a Palestinian source told The Jerusalem Post ,. "The countdown to his resignation has started," the source added.
Khaled Abu Toameh and Herb Keinon contributed to this report.
Well, Arafat will either A) Call this as a bluff, in which case the gloves come off, or B) Heâll marginally give Abbas a face-saving bone...I predict B, as thatâs how Arafatâs stayed alive and in power so far
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 12:33:30 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He added that in this case Abbas should step down, as he was appointed, not elected like Arafat.
Uh huh. Just like the last "election" in Iraq not too long ago where Saddam Hussein "won".
The US, sensing that the âroad mapâ would be seriously jeopardized if Abbasâ government were to fall, also told Arafat that the Palestinians could forget about attaining their own state in the near future if Abbas were to be removed.
There is no reason to tell Arafat anything. It's pretty damn obvious that it is Arafat himself that is a big problem (if not THE problem), and the sooner someone puts a bullet into his skull, the sooner some sort of peace process can get underway.
Americans express growing concern that things are not going well for the U.S. in Iraq. More now than at any time since the war ended think things are going badly for the U.S. there, and an increasing number see U.S. control of events there slipping away. Americans continue to support the United Nations having a lead role in Iraq.
That's interesting. It reinforces what I was saying above. But if I take my car to a mechanic, I don't think I need a poll to see whether the mechanic knows what he's doing...
Although the public expresses more concern about U.S. involvement in Iraq, and American troops continue to experience casualties — the number of American lives lost in Iraq since the war was officially declared over has now surpassed the casualties experienced during combat — the public still supports a U.S. troop presence. Only a third want U.S. troops brought back home.
We're in it, we've said what we were going to do, now we can't back out. Next time we take a regime apart, though, I think it would be a good idea to just get the hell out and let the locals pick up the pieces...
As they have for many months, Americans support a multilateral approach to rebuilding and governing Iraq, and that support has grown in this poll. 69% of Americans think the United Nations, and not the United States, should have the lead responsibility for setting up a new government in Iraq, even more than felt that way last April. 25% want the U.S. to be responsible for building an Iraqi government.
Worst of all possible ideas. The UN gave us Ein el-Hellhole and Congo. And their performance in Rwanda was... ummm... not stellar.
Democrats are strongly supportive of this multilateral approach; 83% want the United Nations to have the lead role in Iraq. A smaller majority of Republicans (56%) also prefers the U.N. to lead the government rebuilding effort. The desire for U.N. involvement may be fueled by the growing perception that the U.S. is having difficulty in Iraq. Nearly half of Americans now think things are going badly for the U.S. in Iraq. That number has continued its rise since early last month.
The opinions of people who aren't paying attention on a subject for which specialized knowledge is needed mean nothing. What a waste of time and money.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 12:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
CBS news? they want a war that lasts from one Nielsen ratings period to another, and that's it...the house that Cronkite built, and Gunga Dan resides in, has no stomach for real national security
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 12:35 Comments ||
Top||
#2
As usual, the questions are probably slanted in a way that emphasizes what the pollsters feel are the benefits of UN administration. If you look at Hollywood portrayals of UN actions, you will find that these are uniformly positive. It's not surprising that respondents would be in favor of a UN role. As usual, we'll have to wait for the administration to finish its late summer deliberations and come out swinging once Bush returns to DC.
#3
A telephone poll of a "random sample" of 930 adults -- yeah, right. That's 930 adults who will answer the phone and be polled -- not necessarily representative of anything except people who don't hang up on pollsters and telemarketers. Certainly not representative of informed adults who have considered the issues.
Reminds me of one of my favorite books: "How to Lie with Statistics" by Darrell Huff. W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1954. Probably out of print, but if so it's a damned shame.
Posted by: Tom ||
08/30/2003 12:46 Comments ||
Top||
#4
69% of Americans think the United Nations, and not the United States, should have the lead responsibility for setting up a new government in Iraq...
You mean the same UN that cuts and runs as soon as the shit hits the fan? That wants to run the show from Amman? That's so naive that they can't believe that someone would actually target them? That UN, right?
#6
Terrific! It's a $7 paperback reprinted in 1993 and on their website.
Posted by: Tom ||
08/30/2003 13:05 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I wouldn't believe anything a CBS 'poll' said. Their bias is so bad they can't even report good news about anything, for fear of "helping" Bush get re-elected. They not only slant the news, I personally believe that occasionally they even make it up out of thin air in order to promote their personal leftist agenda. This particular poll comes just after another which showed strong continued support for current US efforts, conducted by a marketing research firm in Birmingham, Alabama. Who you gonna believe???
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/30/2003 13:22 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Birmingham, Alabama.
There's a reason that CBS has been losing viewers during the evening news hours. That and every Democratic poll is either CNN or CBS.
Posted by: Charles ||
08/30/2003 14:03 Comments ||
Top||
#9
"Americans continue to support the United Nations having a lead role in Iraq." Well, as goats staked out to draw in the tiger... No, sorry, I welcome the involvement of the UN and its agencies only under US/Coalition command, not vice-versa, which probably agrees with the actual words but not the implications of this statement.
"69% of Americans think the United Nations, and not the United States, should have the lead responsibility for setting up a new government in Iraq, even more than felt that way last April." That's what I most fear, and I hope we do not go back to making policy by polls - especially polls polluted by inadequate coverage of the situation.
"The desire for U.N. involvement may be fueled by the growing perception that the U.S. is having difficulty in Iraq. Nearly half of Americans now think things are going badly for the U.S. in Iraq." And things are just spiffy for the UN there? Those 'perceptions' are fed by bubbleheads who read news scripts, rather than read news.
Posted by: John Anderson ||
08/30/2003 16:21 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Tom
You're right. Phone polling is no longer random. In fact it is a tainted sample, regardless of the number of calls.
Algerian-backed rebels in a region claimed by Morocco are said to have lost much of their military capability. A report asserted that the Polisario has experienced a drop in its fighting ability. The group's fighters, drawn from the 160,000 Sahrawi nationalists in Western Sahara, have aged and its weapons have not been upgraded. "While Morocco's standing army has developed over the years of ceasefire, Polisario's guerrilla fighters have mostly been stood down," Middle East Report, published in Philadelphia, said. "Veterans are now too old to fight, and the weapons stock is likely to have deteriorated." Authored by London-based analyst Toby Shelley, the report said the Polisario has few options amid United Nations efforts to resolve sovereignty over Western Sahara. The report, entitled "Behind the Baker Plan for Western Sahara," said Algeria might no longer provide Polisario with safe haven and a supply of weapons.
Maybe Algeria's sick of dealing with "freedom fighters." That's an interesting strategy on the part of Morocco, though — waiting until the enemy dies of old age.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 11:57 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
From an editorial in Beirut Daily Star...
Cooperation between international intelligence agencies has proven one of the most effective tools in thwarting terrorist attacks. That is why Iranâs refusal to grant access to over a dozen senior Saudi-born Al-Qaeda suspects is disturbing. On Monday, press reports, citing Iranâs ambassador in Riyadh, suggested that Iran had handed over to Saudi Arabia a number of Al-Qaeda members. However, the individuals, like the 16 Saudis Iran turned over last year, are merely foot soldiers.
Nope. Surprise meter didn't even twitch...
What the Saudis want are the ringleaders of one of the last functioning Al-Qaeda cells with regional command and control powers. Intelligence officials also believe that members of this group know the identities of dozens of Al-Qaeda operatives dispersed in Saudi Arabia, Europe and the United States. That is why Saudi officials are keen to interrogate the suspects. In the last few months, however, Iran has hindered this effort. To be more precise, radical Iranian clerics have hindered these efforts.
The old "dual government" phenomenon rears its ugly head...
Iranâs ineffectual moderate president, Mohammad Khatami, has promised to hand over the Saudi Al-Qaeda suspects. However, Saudi security officials were twice rebuffed when arriving to pick them up. In the most recent attempt, Prince Mohammad bin Nayef, the assistant minister of interior for security affairs (the highest civilian administrator of the Saudi Arabian General Security Service), was told he would not be allowed to see the prisoners. A senior general in the Saudi General Intelligence Presidency who oversees coordination with Iranâs Intelligence Ministry was furious. According to him: â(supreme leader Ayatollah Ali) Khameneiâs people are holding up the extradition because they fear theyâll be implicated.â
Thereby implicating themselves, whether they've got something to hide or not. Which they do...
This episode highlights the strength of Khamenei and the radical clerics who follow him. Khamenei controls several powerful state security organs, including Iranâs Revolutionary Guards and the newly created Foreign Intelligence Service. Both report directly to Khameneiâs Office of the Supreme Leader, entirely bypassing Khatamiâs government.
Because that's where the real power lies. It took a few hundred years for Eurpean parliaments to finally control this sort of thing by taking control of the purse strings...
In the past few years, American, Saudi and other regional intelligence services have compiled a detailed dossier on the extremists within these institutions and their connections to international terrorism. The 1996 Khobar bombing in Saudi Arabia serves as an example. Ali Fallahian, the former Iranian intelligence minister who is believed to have orchestrated the attack, now serves as a top adviser to Khamenei. General Ahmad Sharifi, the âcase officerâ who oversaw the group that carried out the bombing, is an adviser to the Revolutionary Guards military operations chief. And Ibrahim al-Mughassil, the Saudi Shiite who organized the operation from Saudi Arabiaâs Eastern Province, has found refuge in Iran with his two main accomplices.
They've demonstrated how devout they are. Now they're reaping their rewards...
Since the demise of the Taleban, Iran has become a sanctuary for Al-Qaeda, making it the only place in the world where both Shiite and Sunni terrorists have found haven.
At the risk of repeating myself, it's not the religion, it's the mindset. ELF or ETA would be given shelter just as willingly. And the IRA periodically pops up giving bomb lessons to people who have trouble remembering whether it's red to black or red to white...
US, Saudi and Pakistani intelligence officials have concluded that the radical wing of Iranâs Revolutionary Guards has harbored numerous top Al-Qaeda operatives, of which the three most dangerous are Saif al-Adel (Osama bin Ladenâs chief of global operations), Saad bin Laden (Osamaâs son and a regional Al-Qaeda leader) and a third man who is yet to be identified.
Not to mention Suleiman Abu Gheith and our old pal Zarqawi...
With help from Revolutionary Guards radicals, the so-called âTehran trioâ masterminded the recent suicide bombings in Riyadh that killed 34 and injured over 200. Since the bombing, Saudi intelligence officers have uncovered much information about Al-Qaedaâs operations within the kingdom and the groupâs connections to Iran. One of the leaders of the cell that carried out the attacks, Ali Fagasi al-Ghamdi, has been talking to Saudi agents since he turned himself in last June. Ghamdi identified the Tehran trio as the masterminds of the bombing and Turki al-Dandani as the main leader of his cell (a cousin of Dandani is the unidentified third of the trio). Dandani was killed in the northern Saudi province of Jouf while attempting to flee to Iraq. Saudi intelligence officials believe he was heading to Iran, to reunite with his comrades.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 11:37 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"...it's not the religion, it's the mindset." How true. I meanm, WTF do the Paleos have to do with FARC and Sinn Fein???
Fred-- is it at all interesting that this piece was printed in a Lebanese periodical?
Also, does this not suggest that even if the Qaeda
suspects in Najaf are the real perps, that doesn't exonerate the Iranians?
The Military Tribunal Friday postponed the trial of 32 Lebanese and three Palestinians accused of forming a group and bombing several US restaurant chains, to Sep. 13, 2003. Thirty-one suspects attended a session presided over by Brigadier General Maher Safieddine, who noted that the suspects were not represented by a lawyer, which caused the postponement of the trial. The Military Tribunal sent a letter to the North Lebanon Bar Association, calling for defense lawyers to be appointed. Before the session was adjourned, suspect Haitham Said Bassem complained about the âbad situation of prisoners in the military policeâs prison in the Noura in Sin al-Fil.â Bassem said the prisoners were put in isolation and were not allowed to meet, and were subject to psychological pressure. Safieddine promised to look into the issue. The list of charges includes an attempt to assassinate US Ambassador Vincent Battle and creating a laboratory to manufacture bacterial weapons.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 11:19 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Military Tribunal sent a letter to the North Lebanon Bar Association
Now that's just damn funny in any context. I wonder if the South Beriut Rotary Club has any input in this matter.
A delegation from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine on Friday called for Palestinian refugees here to be given their full rights and reconsidering of the law of expropriation of land by foreigners. Ali Faisal, who spoke on behalf of the delegation after a meeting with Beirut Orthodox Archbishop Elias Aoude, said that such a law would allow the Palestinians to own a house or an office, until they return to their homeland, and the refugees insisted on their right of return according to UN Resolution 194. Faisal denounced the plight of Palestinian refugees, who are deprived of their right to own a house, to work and import construction material and suffer from other measures as well. According to the Lebanese law, Palestinians cannot acquire property here.
That's what keeps the refugee industry running, giving rise to places like Ein el-Hellhole. It also keeps the Paleos relegated to the status of being a tool to be used in regional politix...
Lebanon's a weird place, where the DFLP becomes the voice of sweet reason...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 11:17 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Lebanon's a weird place, where the DFLP becomes the voice of sweet reason
The DFLP is composed of Christians turned Marxists. These appeals are what they should have done years ago. I think it is finally sinking in that (a) Muslims are no friends of Arab Christians and (b) Palestinians have zero percent likelihood of being able to drive the Jews into the sea in the foreseeable future. So they want property rights - the question is whether the Lebanese will allow this. Given that Arab relationships are primarily tribal in nature, I doubt that it will come to pass - it benefits the locals too much to have the Palestinians at their mercy.
Apologies if this has already been posted, but I hadnât seen it. Norbert Vollertsen, a German doctor and human rights activist, was encumbered by a neck brace and crutches when he welcomed this reporter at his secret residence on Tuesday. His injuries began last Friday when he and a group of human rights activists tried to send balloon-tethered radios to North Korea from Cheolwon, a town near the border. The police stopped the balloon launch, and Vollertsen was wounded in an ensuing scuffle. Then last Sunday, while rallying in Daegu with activist groups, protesting against the North Korean regime he was knocked down by a group of North Korean reporters and briefly lost consciousness.
Well, that's certainly permissible. They're communists. It's a cultural thing...
Vollertsen, who is now at the center of the countryâs attention, started the conversation. "I was amazed at the treatment I received from the police of a democratic country, considering that I had never been beaten by the police in North Korea," he said.
"By their journalists, yes. The cops, no..."
When asked about possible setbacks in inter-Korean relationship over the long term as a result of the provocative ways in which he chooses to demonstrate, he said, "Of course we organized those events to provoke the North Korean government. How can we expect a change to come when we just sit down and smile under the Nazi regime? We decided to politically provoke the North Korean government for the sake of North Koreansâ human rights."
That kind of talk will make him "human scum" on KCNA...
"In Daegu, I was only holding the pictures of starving North Korean children, nothing violent at all," he said. "I am a doctor and a nonviolent activist. But an ax handle a stick came out of nowhere and hit me in the back. I was so disappointed at the Korean media describing it as a scrimmage."
Barely a tap, by NKor standards...
Critics call Vollertsen an enemy of the sunshine policy. When asked about this, Vollertsen cited the cash-for-summit scandal, calling it a "criminal act." He said he would refuse to recognize any policy that is unconcerned with North Koreansâ human rights. Vollertsen will leave Korea on Wednesday for Southeast Asia, where he will continue his efforts at helping North Korean refugees. He will then map out his later plans after the six-way nuclear talks in Beijing are over. "I will keep working on my mission and will definitely come back to Seoul and Korea, where work still remains to be done," he said. "However, my ultimate destination is Pyongyang, where my young patients suffer." I know South Korea is irrationally committed to reunification at all costs, but this is really ridiculous.
Posted by: lkl ||
08/30/2003 9:59:29 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
JPost - Reg Reqâd
An Israeli helicopter fired four missiles at a car traveling between two Palestinian refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip on Saturday, killing at least one person, witnesses and rescue workers said. Firefighters and rescue workers rushed to the scene and evacuated wounded from the vehicle that was travelling on a busy road between the Nusseirat and Bureij refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip. Sounds like another Hamas snuffy scratched
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 9:28:10 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
2 dead now, according to Fox, and the usual video of Paleos doing the Car Swarm⢠looking for body parts and blood
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 9:36 Comments ||
Top||
#2
2 leading Hamas snuffies are getting their 72 raisins according to Fox/Reuters - Hamas vows Dire Revengeâ¢
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 9:45 Comments ||
Top||
#3
2 is good. 20 would be better. 200 would be mahvelous. I hope Allah has a serious raisin supply on hand. More! Lots More!
Hospital officials identified the dead as Farid Mayet, 40, and Abdullah Akel, 37. Hamas sources said both were members of the Hamas military wing.
"I was riding my bicycle toward my shop when I heard the sound of F-16s circling over my head," said an eyewitness, Balal, who declined to give his last name. "Suddenly I saw the car coming from the side of the street, and a missile came and hit the car from the front, followed by another two."
He said he saw a passenger hit by a fourth missile and killed after he jumped from the Peugeot van. The other man in the car was "completely burned," he said. He died later, hospital officials said. Two male bystanders, ages 40 and 45, were wounded by shrapnel, hospital officials said.
Akel is known to be a central figure in Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has vowed to avenge the deaths.
Firefighters and rescue workers rushed to the scene and evacuated wounded from the vehicle that was travelling on a busy road between the Nusseirat and Bureij refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip.
Flames quickly engulfed the car and angry crowds gathered, yelling together, "God is great
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 10:55 Comments ||
Top||
North Korea angrily dismissed the possibility of further negotiations over its nuclear program on Saturday, one day after the end of landmark six-nation talks where the isolated regime indicated it might be willing to retire in Europe reach a compromise. Kimmie didnât want to be mistaken for being willing to negotiate.
"This round of talks was nothing more than empty talks," an unidentified North Korean delegation spokesman told reporters at the airport, spraying spittle reading from a statement as the envoys were leaving Beijing. "We no longer have time interest, or expectations either, for this kind of talks," he said. "We are left with no grass option." Less than two hours earlier, Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, who represented the United States in the talks, said all parties had gotten off to "a productive start." Anyone want to place bets on an ABM test in Japan in 10 days?
Posted by: Dishman ||
08/30/2003 4:59:03 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Assistant Secretary of State
Well now we know why they were so pissed. They wanted Colin Powell.
#4
It was Madeline, Warren Christopher (the Stiffus Maximus), Jimmy Carter and Slick Willy who got us into this mess in the first place. That's who they want!
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
08/30/2003 10:30 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Spoiled 'em with pushovers, huh? Well, I think they're shit out of luck for at least 5 more years, Grid willing.
"In Tokyo, Japan's Defense Agency unveiled plans to seek $1.2 billion for U.S.-designed systems to defend against ballistic missiles. The request is part of a major defense initiative spawned by concern over North Korea's long-range missiles.
The agency's annual budget proposal calls for buying two U.S.-developed weapons systems -- one sea-based and one land-based -- to provide a double shield against missiles with a range of up to 600 miles. Delivery could start as early as 2006.
Japan has been conducting joint research with the United States on missile defense since 1999 -- a year after the test-launch of a three-stage North Korean Taepodong missile that flew over Japanese airspace. The incident showed that virtually all of Japan could be targeted by North Korean missiles."
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/30/2003 10:43 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I had in mind a test against a true hostile missile, aimed at the Pacific east of Japan. The real question is, can we get one of the prototypes in placed and prepped in time?
Iran sees no reason to help the United States in its war against Al-Qaeda so long as Washington fails to fully clamp down on the armed Iranian opposition, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told CNN yesterday. âCooperation has to be reciprocal. Thereâs no reason why we should cooperate with the Americans while the Americans do not cooperate with us,â Kharrazi said, in reference to the continued presence of members of the Peopleâs Mujahedeen in US-controlled Iraq. âThere must be some reason to have such cooperation which is very sensitive with Americans. The US have not shown their cooperation toward those terrorists who have been making attacks against Iran.â
A reason... Golly. What kind of reason can we offer? How about, if you don't turn over a new leaf immediately, we overrun your country, hang all the ayatollahs and politicians, and then let somebody else take a whack at running the place?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
08/30/2003 01:24 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Keep waving your arms. Yeah, that's good. Stay on the radar screen and mishandle every pitch that comes your way. Excellent. You're all naturals.
You demand a quid pro quo, huh? Heh. Sure thing. Coming right up.
#3
Hiryu - If you mean the boots shortage, I think Iran is a special situation - and extremely vulnerable: an apparently rational populace ready and willing to take their country from the Black Hats... they only need a little help with the decapitation & disruption of the C&C. That be a remote-controlled op, bro. Can do.
I do believe the mullahs have misplayed everything to come their way for the last couple of years. I'm glad, too - if they'd kept their mouths shut or played semi-nice and seemed cooperative - and done their nuke deeds vewy vewy quietly under the table, they might've pulled it off and made it a fait accomplis, ala NorKland.
If you're referring to something else, I missed your point - please clarify for the dunce! :-)
#4
Obviously, the Tehran Tight Turban crowd is not part of the solution, so they must be part of the problem.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
08/30/2003 10:28 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Talk is cheap. Bomb their Nuclear Reactors like Isreal did too Sadaam, then let them come at us in Iraq like sheep to the slaughter. Seeing Iran invade Iraq will also help bolster support for us there. ( AKA " They're defending us from the invaders, Praise be to Allah for sending the Americans!" )
Posted by: Charles ||
08/30/2003 14:14 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Eh, boys, let's not get too exuberant with the decapitations here. Yes, a substantial majority of the populace in Iran, particularly the younger ones, would like the Black Hats to get out of the way. But that doesn't mean that they want us to separate the Black Hats from their necks. National pride is a funny, prickly thing. A highly visible move by us to whack the Black Hats (JDAMs, etc) could inspire some substantial backlash.
Personally, I'd prefer a few grams of digitalis slipped into the food and drink of each of the Black Hats.
"Cheez, lookatthat, Mahmoud! Another heart attack victim!"
"Cripes, Abdul, it's an epidemic. Must be all that lamb they eat!"
We ought to thin the herd of Black Hats quietly and carefully. There's a certain talent level there as in any endeavor, and once you remove enough of them the populace will bubble up and take what's theirs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/30/2003 14:33 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Ah, yes Steve White, we call it predator control in Alaska, heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/30/2003 15:58 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Steve White - I put the John Clark approach out there a coupla weeks ago and nobody seemed to bite. Nooooo. But now you want a nice quiet solution, hmmmm? I've had it with you young man. First you want this, then you want that. What? Do you think I'm made out of money? Sometimes we don't get everything we want in this life!
Sure. Sounds good to me! *rolls eyes* *snicker* ;->
#9
Who besides Khamenei is a viable target?
It seems to me that within the leadership dynamic, Khamenei probably isn't even the best target.
Digitalis is nice and all, delivering a clean quick death. Lingering painful deaths from general organ failure have been shown to be much more effective. I'm particularly thinking of the Brezhnev-Chernenko-Andropov-Gorbachev sequence. If memory serves correctly, early on Gorbachev fell ill and spent two weeks in the Crimea recovering. After that, the collapse of the USSR followed a logical and rather rapid progression. Generally, nobody wants to commit themselves to a painful, lingering death.
#10
.com: I put the John Clark approach out there a coupla weeks ago and nobody seemed to bite.
Ah, the John Clark approach lacks, er, finesse. The bad guys know they got whacked. My approach means that the bad boys never really figure it out. As Dishman, just a bunch of old codgers dying. A lot. Frequently.
AP: predator control indeed. Does the pack of hyenas know or care when one of them runs into a cheetah?
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/30/2003 20:05 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
