EFL
A Texas high school has apologized after the school band waved a Nazi flag during a performance on Friday, the start of the Jewish New Year holiday of Rosh Hashana. âWe had an error in judgment,â band director Charles Grissom told the Dallas Morning News.
I think that's Educationese for "Gosh, what a stoopid thing to do!"
DURING A HALF-TIME show, a student from Paris High School went running across the field waving a Nazi flag. At the time, the Blue Blazes band was playing the composition by Franz Joseph Haydn that eventually became known as âDeutschland Uber Alles.â Grissom said it was part of a show entitled âVisions of World War Two,â in which the flags and music were intended to represent the warring nations. The director said the musicians didnât anticipate the reaction of the crowd at Hillcrest High School. âWe were booed,â he told the newspaper on Monday. âWe had things thrown at us. We were cursed.â What an asshat
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
09/30/2003 1:55:21 PM ||
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#1
How could someone so idiotic even manage to get a job teaching young adults? This guy needs a brain transplant stat!
Posted by: Dar ||
09/30/2003 14:01 Comments ||
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#2
If you cheer the nazis, even in jest, expect to be booed. Unless you live in "Palistine" in which case if you boo the nazis you get a toe tag.
#3
âWe had an error in judgment,â band director Charles Grissom told the Dallas Morning News.
Students: "What's this 'we' stuff, kemosabe?"
The only possible explanation I can think of that involves an IQ higher than room temperature is that the director has seen "The Producers" and thought it was a documentary...
#5
um, they weren't "cheering the nazis". They were doing a WWII-themed show. Going to be kinda hard explaining to your children what all the fuss was about winning that one, after you've purged all references to the asshats who started it.
#6
and actually, Haydn's Jupiter Suite (containing the march that became D Uber Alles) was more of a WWI song and was suppressed thru much of the Nazi regime in favor of Nazi songs
#7
BH--Perhaps they could have chosen a better time and venue to present their little interpretive dance than halftime at a ballgame on Rosh Hashana. Sending a student running onto the field waving a Nazi flag is a good way to collect buckshot.
Posted by: Dar ||
09/30/2003 14:35 Comments ||
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#8
Yeah, didn't they remember that Texas is a concealed carry state?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 14:49 Comments ||
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#9
Dar - so if they had waited a day, it would have been okay? I'm not familiar with the bustling metropolis that is Paris, Texas, but I'll throw a swag that there are any Jews in the band that could have clued them. Your post suggests that EVERYBODY should know the Jewish holidays and suffer violence if they give offense. How do you say sharia in Hebrew?
#11
Er, the tune is still the German national anthem. Only now they use the third verse, about 'Recht und Freiheit'.
In fact the 'Deutchland' stuff was a later graft-on by people wanting to further the cause of German unity (hence, it was 'Germany' over local petty allegiances, not Germany over the rest of the world). Originally the tune was for the -Austrian- anthem, 'God Save Our Emperor (Franz)'.
What gets me, though: No one was offended by the hammer and sickle!?
#14
Hmm I'm just overwhelmed by the abundance of knowledge re: Nazi Germany to be found here! Yesterday the Waffen SS today the Deutschland Uber Alles tomorrow the art of Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph des Willens followed up by a panel discussion on the art of "Tiefland" ?
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
09/30/2003 15:26 Comments ||
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#15
BH--What I'm saying quite simply is there is a better place and time to cover controversial topics like Nazism than halftime at a football game! That it's on Rosh Hashana is extra icing on the irony cake--and I'm not advocating violence, but YOU try a stunt like this at school near you and see what kind of reception you get! Believe it or not, not everybody at a high school football game gives a damn about the half time entertainment, and they might miss the announcement about why you're running across the field streaming a Nazi flag in a triumphant manner, and they might decide to meet you at midfield and let you know what they think of your desecration of their field, their team, and their hometown!
Posted by: Dar ||
09/30/2003 15:28 Comments ||
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#16
NMM: Ever hear of the idea "know thine enemy"?
Does reading "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" make me a Nazi? Does reading Norwich's "History of the Byzantine Empire" mean I pine for the days of Constantinople?
WWII was one of the pivotal events of modern times. That people have knowledge of it -- even knowledge that borders on the trivial and obsessive -- says nothing about their allegiances.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/30/2003 15:33 Comments ||
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#17
Sounds like one a them there "bias crimes."
Posted by: (lowercase) matt ||
09/30/2003 15:49 Comments ||
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#18
The big problem with all this is that the people that planned and executed this had such a shallow understanding of the crowd they were playing TO!
Paris, Texas is the former home of a major US Air Force training facility during World War II. There are a LOT of local sentiments for the men who lost their lives in World War II in Paris, where many of the local sweethearts married airmen who later were killed. Texas football is only slightly below hunting on the topic of every member of every community from Brownsville to Dumas, from Orange to El Paso. Texas is also home to the 4th ID at Fort Hood, between Waco and San Antonio. I don't think I need to draw any relationships there - we read about it almost every day in the newspaper. Finally, Texas is one of the most patriotic states in the Union - population-wise, Texas is one of the leaders in providing the military with the men and women it needs to conduct its mission.
There are worse ways to mess up in Texas, but you really, really have to hunt hard to find one.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/30/2003 15:58 Comments ||
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#19
Robert--Well said! I was going to address Cyber Sarge's similar comment last night but it was way late and I figured I'd be the only one to see it.
I think it's critically important to study history so we don't repeat the same idiocy again and again. Thank God WWII was so well documented that we can study it, its causes, and its effects in depth. If we let that happen again, we're idiots for ignoring the lessons humanity learned at such cost.
One of those first lessons that many still choose to ignore: Appeasement doesn't work!
Posted by: Dar ||
09/30/2003 16:25 Comments ||
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#20
What is weird is this stupid occurrence has nothing to do with Jews or their holidays. The reporter is obviously an idiot, who can't figure out that the Nazis were not just the enemies of the Jews, they were the enemiew of America and for the concepts for which it stands.
The intuitively obvious fact is that many loyal Americans gave their lives fighting to save the world from these Nazi Bastards.
I never understood why the local VFWs didn't protest any American Nazi marches. IMHO, they owe it to their brothers in arms who died fighting these idiots.
#21
This reminds some of the bogus complaints about re-enactors dressing up as SS troops or swastikas on museum exhibits and historically accurate models. This was not a re-enactment, however, and the verisimilitude provided by the flag was not necessary for any legitimate historical purpose.
Nevertheless, I also think we should draw a distinction between booing the flag itself and booing its use in the show. The former without the latter would be consistent with the atmosphere of a half-time show.
Some years ago, I, a practicing Jew, was invited to participate in a WW2 re-enactment. It was a big deal with enough costumes for everyone. I got first choice for various reasons, and volunteered to dress up as an SS Standartenfuhrer, basically a Colonel, complete with fancy hat and death's head badges.
I was amused by the outrage this would cause to actual Nazis, and at the notion of Himmler and Skorzeny rolling over in their graves.
The presentation came off, but there was an awful flap over it, with some PC weasel of a state legislator representing the re-enactors as Nazi sympathizers. I felt like breaking the bastard's nose and might well have if I had caught up with him before I cooled off. The governor set him straight, and he admitted that he was wrong, but he refused to apologize, claiming that his heart was in the right place. Apparently, his lying heart has no problem with slander.
#22
RC & Dar my comments were meant to be a humorous reference to Cyber Sarge's remarks yesterday--and btw--Constantinople might be a better choice than Istanbul /sarcasm off
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
09/30/2003 17:17 Comments ||
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#23
Atomic Conspiracy--
With the SS Colonel uniform it sounds like it was more of a Star Trek convention re-enactment. Were you McCoy playing the SS doctor?
BTW I love ogling the Frauleins in the beer halls of Munich too.
#24
I would just like to say, for the record, that here in Wisconsin, we have, as every other state, a group that creates policies regarding our sports that the schools must adhere to. This year, one of the new policies was that we are not allowed to play on Jewish holidays. All the main teams in the conference played on thursday instead. Also, we have these student planners (again, the same type everyone else has) that state ALL religoius holidays. How can everyone in that school, esp. those in the band not realize what day they would be performing on? We would not be able to get away with that here, I hope the director doesn't get awway with it there.
Posted by: S ||
09/30/2003 19:45 Comments ||
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#25
"Hmm I'm just overwhelmed by the abundance of knowledge..."
Well, wouldn'cha know?! A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Maybe you should bone up a little yourself. Perhaps, perhaps, you don't know enough.
#26
S-
I am a bit familiar with northern Wisconsin. I bet you would be hard pressed to find many Jewish families in the rural areas of the state. I know, because I am from one. I think it is pretty silly for these schools to not be able to play sports on the Jewish High Holidays. Especially since observant Jews won't even play sports on Friday evenings or Saturdays.
I have to admit. This incident in Texas is bizarre.
#27
Penguin
I believe the rules only apply to the Big Eight conference schools, which are mainly larger communities. We all thought it was kind of silly too, I'm not quite sure why this rule was even put in place.
Posted by: S ||
09/30/2003 20:42 Comments ||
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#28
Buldog--this from the land that brought us Mosely?--gimme a break--at least the US of A doesn't harbor wanted Islamofascists wanted by France and wasn't the chief "Appeaser" in WWII--as Goebbels said "Britain is willing to fight to the last American" preserving their petrified class system! Americans need to realize that until Tony Blair--we were always looked at as the cannon fodder for their creaking "democracy"
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
09/30/2003 23:10 Comments ||
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Late at night, looking at HBO and asking the question âwhy do I pay for this?â I found a reason. I stumbled across a movie based on one of the most infantile, unfunny, shoddy and predictable creations of Western culture, a thing whose very name fills me with hot heavy stones of shame and anger. Its name summons up all the contempt some feel for Precious Youth, how theyâre content to serve up hogsheads of steaming tripe to goggle-eyed children who donât know enough to know better. And now theyâd made a movie about this . . . this thing. I was actually curious: how bad could it be? Could it be as bad as I wanted it to be?
Five minutes into it, Iâm impatient: câmon, start sucking more!
Ten minutes into it, Iâm dismayed: stop being intermittently aware of my expectations, and confounding them!
Fifteen minutes into it, I hit the TiVo record button and went to bed; weâll see if weâre still so charitable tomorrow.
The next night I watched the rest. And I enjoyed it, for what it was. Oh, the CGI was horrible in spots. Some miscasting, some eye-rolling grrl power moments. But damn: that dude was Shaggy.
(shocked gasps from the audience)
True. True. If youâve been with this site over the years, you know that thereâs little I despise more than Scooby-Doo, for all the reasons you might expect. Not funny. Sonny Bono cameos. Not funny. Two sound effects, three music cues, one plot. Hanna-Barbera dreck distilled to a lethal purity. I have long begged for someone to make a Scooby-Doo mod for Soldier of Fortune:
If you donât know, donât ask. Grown men are not comfortable explaining why they want to use the sniper rifle on fictional dogs with speech impediments.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 12:17:30 PM ||
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MINAS TIRITH (Gondor News Network) - Thousands of peace activists took to the streets of Minas Tirith and other cities of Middle Earth today to protest what they termed a rush to war with Mordor. "We need more time for diplomacy," said a key member of the Middle-Earth Security Council, Saruman the White. "I am not convinced by the evidence presented by my esteemed colleague, Gandalf the Grey, or that the Dark Lord Sauron presents an imminent danger to the peoples of the West."
Many of the people protesting war in Mordor agreed with Sarumanâs remarks. "Sauron says heâs destroyed his Rings of Mass Destruction (RMD) and thatâs good enough for me," said one fellow carrying a sign that said "Elrond is a Balrog." Another demonstrator urged, "Give the RMD inspectors more time. Thereâs no reason to rush to any judgment just because Mount Doom is belching lava, the Dark Tower is rebuilt, and Osgiliath has been decimated." A third protester piped up, "I havenât heard a single bit of convincing evidence connecting the Nazgul with Sauron. I think they destroyed Osgiliath on their own initiative without any support from Sauron. Besides, itâs understandable theyâre angry with Gondor. We havenât done nearly as much for the Orcs and Goblins and Easterlings as the Nazgul and Sauron have. Itâs understandable they throw their support to them. Itâs our own fault really."
As the protesters continued their march through the city, they chanted, "No blood for Mount Doom," voicing a common sentiment that the leaders of the Western peoples are really seeking to get their hands on the powerful Mount Doom, where the One Ring of Power was allegedly forged. Gandalf the Grey was unavailable for comment. A spokesman said he was in an undisclosed underground location, which sources have revealed is codenamed "Moria."
Posted by: Raptor ||
09/30/2003 10:30:02 AM ||
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Gimli's a racist, Legolas is a homophobe, and I hear Aragorn used to do cocaine though no one's been able to prove it.
A United States soldier has been killed and two others wounded in heavy fighting in south-eastern Afghanistan. "The soldiers were engaged in a combat manoeuvre against anti-coalition soldiers," US Colonel Rodney Davis told journalists at the Bagram air base on Tuesday. He said two enemy fighters had been killed in the exchange, which happened on Monday near the town of Shkin in Paktika Province. The name of the dead soldier has been withheld, pending notification of his family. The US base at Shkin has repeatedly come under rocket attack, and two US soldiers died there battling suspected Taliban gunmen on 31 August. Colonel Davis had earlier described Shkin as "the most evil place in Afghanistan" because more US-led coalition soldiers have lost their lives there than anywhere else in the country. Shkin being right across the border from you-know-who.
Afghan officials say Taliban fighters have seized control of the neighbouring border district of Barmal, and are using it to launch attacks. Five US soldiers have died in Afghanistan since August this year. As long as these assholes have a safe haven in Pakistan, this could go on endlessly.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 9:04:51 AM ||
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Afghan officials say Taliban fighters have seized control of the neighbouring border district of Barmal, and are using it to launch attacks.
Somebody want to tell Musharraf that he's no longer the President of the Barmal district?
Posted by: Charles ||
09/30/2003 11:25 Comments ||
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Afghan officials say they will deploy about 500 additional soldiers near the border with Pakistan, in response to an increasing number of attacks in the area blamed on Taliban fighters. The security commander in the south-eastern province of Paktika, General Daulat Khan, said the Afghan Government had decided to take control of the Barmal district, which has been the centre of recent fighting. About time.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 8:58:37 AM ||
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Actually, these troops are freshly trained in Western fighting techniques. Live fire should hone them into some pretty potent fighters. All the better for the inevitable clash with the local warlords.
Ten men have been arrested on suspicion of terrorism, police said. Six men were held in north, east and south-east London and four in Manchester, according to Scotland Yard. The men, who are all believed to be Algerian, were arrested in co-ordinated dawn raids. Been a lot of these "North Africans" arrested in Britain.
A police spokesman said: "This operation is part of our extensive and on-going inquiries into terrorism." At least five of the detained men are in their 30s. The six arrested in London are being held at a central London police station under the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of being involved in the "commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism". At about 0530 BST a 32-year-old man was arrested at a house in Manchester by officers from Greater Manchester Police. The man will be transferred to London where he will be questioned by officers from the anti-terrorist branch, said Scotland Yard. Three others were also arrested in Manchester in the same raid. Searches are currently being carried out at all residential premises. About 320 people have been arrested on terror-related charges since the 11 September attacks. In many cases, no charges were brought and the cases simply disappeared, according to BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw. Did the "suspects" dissapear as well?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 8:54:35 AM ||
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Making up news, itâs not just the BBC/NYT. Thanks to InstaPundit and Tim Blair. ABC is Australian Broadcasting. EFL:
Itâs not surprising that The Australian, which barracked so enthusiastically for the war, is still fudging the facts, but we expected better from the ABC.
Gina Wilkinson: When the Iraqi army retreated from Baghdad it left behind about one hundred Soviet era SA-2 missiles like these in an empty block in the suburb of Baladyat. The missiles are filled with volatile rocket fuel and two hundred kilograms of high explosives. Locals fear their children could be injured or their homes destroyed by these deadly weapons.
Saaed Hassan (trans): I often see children from the neighbourhood playing on the missiles or scrap collectors, dismantling them for metal and parts. Itâs very dangerous.
- ABC TV News, 19 August 2003
Itâs a tragic story and an important one, especially for an Australian audience that sent troops to join the coalition of the willing in Iraq. The broad facts as Gina Wilkinson reports are backed up in this media release from UNICEF.
In Iraq, unexploded munitions become childâs play
UNICEF says cluster bombs, left over munitions and hundreds of surface-to-air missiles are a deadly threat to the children of Iraq.
- UNICEF media release
Gina Wilkinson would have known that press release well because it was issued by her husband, UNICEF media officer Geoff Keele. But what concerns Media Watch is how this story was made. Weâve been given a copy of Gina Wilkinsonâs unedited camera tapes.
Whoopsie.
Hereâs what we saw on the news:
The missiles are filled with volatile rocket fuel and two hundred kilograms of high explosives. Locals fear their children could be injured or their homes destroyed by these deadly weapons.
- ABC TV News, 19 August 2003
But why were those children standing on the missile launcher? So Gina could film them. Hereâs what the camera tapes reveal.
- You want to show the children on there?
Gina Wilkinson: Yeah, that would be good. Yeah, if they donât mind.
- (trans) You want them to stand over there to be filmed?
- (trans) Come on sweetie. Whatâs her name?
- Noona
- (trans) Iâm worried about them.
- Sit. Sit on this.
- (trans) Iâm worried about them.
- (trans) Sit on the edge.
Gina Wilkinson: Please God, donât let this thing explode now.
- ABC Camera Tape
The whole point of the story was the danger these missiles pose to children. So why was Gina Wilkinson asking the kids to do this?
Gina Wilkinson: Mr Saadi?
- Yes.
Gina Wilkinson: Can we get these two kids to walk around underneath the missile?
Just around it?
- Mohammad. Mohammad.
Gina Wilkinson: And this one?
- (trans) Come here. Go up there. Go with him. Casually, casually. Walk behind him. Go with him.
- ABC camera tape
The ABCâs Head of International Operations, John Tulloh told us her behaviour was unacceptable.
The ABC finds Ms Wilkinsonâs actions in encouraging children to pose on and around unexploded ordnance to be a serious error of judgement. The ABC believes that, based on the descriptions in Ms Wilkinsonâs report about the dangers of unexploded ordnance, her actions could have put the children at risk. (It is worth noting that UNICEF had no compunction about taking the media to the sites.)
- John Tulloh statement to Media Watch
Now whatâs the word Iâm looking for? Oh, yeah, Bastards!
Wonder if John's going to do anything about it?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 11:26:03 AM ||
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if she'd partnered up with Al Jiz, they could've got the kids into an ambush on an American convoy! Wouldn't that make a great visual!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 11:43 Comments ||
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#2
Now whatâs the word Iâm looking for? Oh, yeah, Bastards!
#4
As Frank Barrone would say "Holy crap!" Do you recall the photographer who got fired for combining two photos? All it did was make the US soldier appear vaguely more threatening to the civilians he had under temporary custody. This is ten times worse- why does she still have a job with a news organization?
#6
You should remember that this is a 'made up' war by Bush and the everything bad in the world is connected with him, Haliburton, Enron, CIA, FBI, EIEIO. I noticed John Tulloh did not fire the reporter. What's a matter no backbone?
#7
The real headline we need to see in the papers: Media endangering Iraqi children for ratings!
I want to see this clip aired on primetime, but I bet it's "disappeared" by now.
Posted by: Dar ||
09/30/2003 13:17 Comments ||
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#8
Gina Wilkinson: Please God, donât let this thing explode now.
So what do you think was the primary motivation behind this statement?
A. Please, God, don't let these poor innocent children die while I dramatize their plight for the world!
-or-
B. Please, God, don't let these scrawny, little shits set this thing off before I get my story in. Helloooooo, Pullitzer!
Posted by: Dar ||
09/30/2003 18:42 Comments ||
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#9
Dar, I think you can download a clip off Tim Blair or NZ Pundit.
On your second post, add (C) Please, God, don't let these idiot kids get brain matter on my outfit.
Posted by: Matt ||
09/30/2003 19:32 Comments ||
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#10
She needs to be institutionalized. I don't think that an adult who could risk children this way can be rehabilitated. Maybe we can harvest her kidneys and save a human being with them.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/30/2003 20:17 Comments ||
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Domenic de Villepin throws the gloves down:
The French foreign minister says Iran must cooperate fully with international inspectors by the October 31 deadline or Or what, de Villepin?
or face possible U.N. sanctions. Thatâs not good at all. What do you want Iran to do?
Speaking to reporters, Dominique de Villepin urged Iran to comply with the request of the International Atomic Energy Agency and sign an additional protocol to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty by the end of October. He said he delivered the same message to Iranâs foreign minister. Whatâll happen if they donât, de Villepin?
Mr. Villepin said if Iran does not meet the October deadline, then the IAEA board of governors will have to decide whether to refer the matter to the United Nations Security Council. He said it would be up to the international community to decide if sanctions should be imposed on Iran. So. If Iran doesnât give in, youâll refer the matter to some organization whoâll refer it to another organization whoâll impose sanctions. Maybe. This should bury once and for all the idea that the French are wimps.
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
09/30/2003 5:57:18 PM ||
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M. de Villepin said if Iran does not meet the October deadline, the ayatollahs can expect to receive an official French >:-( in their courriels.
#2
Ah! The Inspections Schedule and Demands Subroutine!
So if the logical conditions are not met in the subroutine, it kicks it out into the
UNSC Sanctions Subroutine, which threatens Serious Consequences⢠if conditions are not met.
Once the UNSC Sanctions Subroutine is done, then it is kicked back to the the Inspections Schedule and Demands Subroutine, and so on, until.........
The Iranians build a Nuke and threaten it on Israel,
The Iranians use a Nuke and there is glass as far as the eye can see,
The good olde USA has to step in and kick some ass and get blamed for everything.
Hokay---I'm in.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/30/2003 19:21 Comments ||
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#3
I'm hoping the matter has already been referred to the IAF.
Posted by: Matt ||
09/30/2003 19:25 Comments ||
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#4
Ok, De Villepin.......you and what army? 'Cause ours is kind of busy right now. Maybe the Belgians are available....
Posted by: Baba Yaga ||
09/30/2003 19:31 Comments ||
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#5
Ok, De Villepin.......you and what army? 'Cause ours is kind of busy right now.
Another good reason to add two additional active duty divisions and four to six reserve/guard divisions, plus supporting units and military air (transport/cas/attack/air superiority)
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/30/2003 23:04 Comments ||
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A French 24-hour international news channel designed to rival the BBC and CNN should be on the air by late next year after state approval of a public-private consortium to run the broadcaster. "This channel will exist," said Bernard Brochand, as he released his report on what has become known as a "CNN a la francaise". State financing for the television channel - whose annual budget for the first five years has been put at EUR 70 million (USD 80 million) - would be fast-tracked, he said. Its programmes would not be available to homes in France, where TF1 has its own all-news channel, LCI, but would be beamed across the rest of Europe, as well as to Africa, the Middle East and to Central Asia. The French foreign ministry, currently headed by Dominique de Villepin, would likely be in charge of the channel, Brochand said, though he added that the government would formally decide that aspect later. Even though Brochand said "it is absolutely essential that this channel be independent," he also stressed that its vocation was to be "the voice of France." "This channel will encourage the expression of a French vision which is more necessary than ever in the world today," Raffarin said in a statement Monday.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
09/30/2003 10:52:06 AM ||
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#1
Other than one of them being in French, what will the difference be?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/30/2003 10:55 Comments ||
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#2
hahaha, can you say la propaganda network des frogs.......
#3
Even though Brochand said "it is absolutely essential that this channel be independent," he also stressed that its vocation was to be "the voice of France."
Why bother? The only words necessary are cheese and surrender. Don't need much of a voice for that.
#9
Tim Blair is holding a "Name That Network" contest
La frog de surrender.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/30/2003 11:28 Comments ||
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#10
There is another differnce with CNN: I
will have to feed the parasits journalists with my taxes.
While we are at it I will tell you the story of two movies. Once upon a time the producer of an American movie had to film the burning of Atlanta, so he picked all the backgrounds (it is that the name?) his copany had been accumulating for years in other movies and set them fire. Cost: negative. The savings in watch and insurance policies (against fire) more than compensdated for the hiring of local firemen
in order to keep a watch on the fire. The movie
was called "Gone with the wind", it made LOTS of
money and was a great artitical success (BTW, I have watched it over ten times). And the burning of Atlanta scene is in the memories of everone.
One upon a time there was french movie producer who wanted to film a ten second scene scene where the hero water-skies on the Seine at a very special in Paris, and while doing so sends a flying kiss to the heroine who is driving the boat. But since the real place was unavailable he spent ten million dollars of French tax payer money for building a fake reproduction of that well known spot of Paris. The movie was called "The amants du Pont-Neuf", very few people went to see it, it got no awards and it has been forgotten by about everyone. That was my tax francs hard at work for "exception culturelle".
Posted by: John F. Kerry (French looking Vietnam Vet) ||
09/30/2003 12:59 Comments ||
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#13
They'll be more competition for Al Jazeera than CNN
Posted by: g wiz ||
09/30/2003 14:25 Comments ||
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#14
Bernard Brochand is the brother of the director of french intelligence (DGSE), Pierre Brochand. Add the tutellage of Dominique Galouzeau ("De Villepin" being a nobility family name he bought), and you'll get perfect independence for this french CNN.
A trial in Belgium of 23 suspected Al-Qaeda militants has ended with convictions for all but five of the accused. The chief suspect - Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian who used to play professional football in Germany - was sentenced to 10 years in jail for plotting an attack on a military base housing US troops in 2001. A second Tunisian - Tarek Maroufi - was sentenced to six years in prison for organising the recruitment of al-Qaeda volunteers in Europe. Another 16 suspects received shorter sentences for a series of lesser offences - and five defendants were acquitted. Correspondents say the relatively modest prison terms reflect the fact that Belgium has no specific anti-terrorism laws. Memo to Belgium, you need to work on that.
Trabelsi was charged with attempting to destroy public property, illegal arms possession and membership in a private militia. The BBCâs security correspondent Frank Gardner says the case is being closely watched by prosecutors all over Europe, and the verdicts will have implications far beyond the Brussels courtroom. The court heard that Trabelsi, 33, met al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden several times in Afghanistan and asked to become a suicide bomber. He says he was ordered to go to Belgium, pack a bomb into a lorry and blow it up - with him at the wheel - next to the canteen of the Kleine Brogel military base outside Brussels. But Trabelsi was arrested in Brussels two days after the 11 September, 2001 attacks on the United States. "Everything points to the fact that on the evening before his arrest, he was determined to carry out this project," judge Claire Degryse said in passing sentence at the heavily guarded Brussels Criminal Court. Tarek Maaroufi, for his part, was accused of involvement in a fake passport ring linked to the 9 September killing of anti-Taliban Afghan military commander Ahmad Shah Masood. Massood died at the hands of two suicide bombers allegedly travelling on false Belgian passports. Must have been out of French ones.
Some of the co-defendants were tried as part of the bomb plot; others with recruiting volunteers in Europe for al-Qaeda. The Belgian authorities decided to combine the two cases in one huge anti-terrorism trial - the countryâs biggest ever.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 8:49:10 AM ||
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Steve:
Your comment is out of place. Since the 1995
bombings France is unhealthy territory for
Islamist terrorism. They have found safer
places in Belgium and in the UK who refused
extradition for people involved in the 1995
bombings and where GIA and their ilk were allowed to continued their activities in the open until
at least 9/11.
EFL/FU:
The Libyan embassy in Ottawa has been implicated in a plot to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars from Tripoli to American Islamic groups in violation of sanctions on the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. A criminal complaint unsealed yesterday claims the Ottawa embassy issued visas to Abdurahman Alamoudi, an Ethiopian-born American affiliated with several Muslim organizations being investigated for terror financing.
I've seen him as a Soddy, as a Yemeni, and now as an Ethiopian... Guess it all depends on which passport you're looking at...
The visas allowed Mr. Alamoudi to travel to Libya without obtaining the necessary approval from the U.S. government. During the trips, he allegedly secured large donations from Libyaâs "jihad fund."
Muammar, this is not going to help your case...
Mr. Alamoudi was caught in London last month trying to board a plane to Damascus carrying US$340,000 in cash, which he obtained from the Libyans in a clandestine drop, U.S. authorities allege. Canada established full diplomatic ties with Libya in 2001, despite continuing concerns about Tripoliâs sponsorship of terrorism.
"Oh, all that terrorism stuff's overblown. It's not like anybody's gonna attack Ottawa or Montreal. Maybe Saskatoon or Alberta, but they're out in the sticks anyway..."
Canada now operates an embassy in Tripoli and Libya has a mission in Ottawa. Guess it didnât concern them that much.
The revelation comes as Col. Gaddafi is trying to reinvent himself as a man of peace following years of sanctions imposed after Libyan agents bombed a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 270. I knew it was too good to be true.
Mr. Alamoudi, who is affiliated with several Muslim groups being probed as part of a massive U.S. terror financing investigation in Virginia, was charged with receiving thousands of dollars from the Libyans since 1999. Special Agent Brett Gentrup of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement branch, who has been investigating the terror financing allegations, said in an affidavit that Mr. Alamoudi had admitted he approached the Libyans for money in 1997. He met with the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, who told Mr. Alamoudi that if he could convince the Americans to release any Libyan assets frozen by the Americans, he would get a share. Which Iâm sure he would have donated to the cause. Minus shipping, handling, taxes, travel expenses, etc...
Mr. Alamoudi approached the White House, but was informed all Libyan assets were frozen due to the Lockerbie bombing. Libyaâs UN ambassador, Abuzed Dorda, then directed him to the Libyan Islamic Call Society. Using visas obtained from Ottawa, he travelled repeatedly to Libya to "negotiate" with the society, established by Col. Gaddafi "as a tool for exporting revolution abroad."
"Grab yer turban,
Grab yer gun,
Let's go have
Islamic fun!"
The Societyâs Jihad Fund is also used to help Palestinians fight Israel. Mr. Alamoudi soon began receiving cheques and wire transfers from the society. In August, he was told to fly to London to get a "sizeable cash donation" from the Islamic Call Society. On the morning of Aug. 13, he got a telephone call from an unknown man who spoke Arabic with a Libyan accent. The mystery caller said he had "something" for Mr. Alamoudi. The man went to the London Metropole Hotel, where Mr. Alamoudi was staying, and handed him a Samsonite suitcase. Inside were 34 bundles of US$100 bills -- US$340,000 in total. Sources say consecutive serial numbers, should be easy to trace.
Knowing it was illegal to obtain cash in such a transaction, he tried to take the money to the Middle East, where he said he intended to deposit it in a Saudi bank and feed it back to his accounts in the United States. The IRS doesnât like that.
The money was seized at Heathrow Airport, but he continued on to the Middle East, ending up eventually in Libya. Wonder how he explained that to his Libyan handlers?
"The gummint took the money."
"Yeah. Right. Where'd yez stash it?"
"No, really..."
"Mahmoud! Hit him."
He was arrested on Sunday as he returned to Washingtonâs Dulles Airport. He has admitted "he had been involved in other similar cash transactions involving amounts in the range of US$10,000 to US$20,000," the affidavit said. Now how are we supposed to defend you when you admit guilt?
Libya replaced Ambassador Dorda on Sept. 17. Cover blown.
Special Agent Gentrup said American citizens require special authorization from the U.S. State Department before they can travel to Libya. Mr. Alamoudi did not receive such permission. Instead, he skirted the requirement by getting his visas from the Libyan embassy in Canada. And thereâs another charge.
Mr. Alamoudi is founder of the American Muslim Council, and has been active in the SAAR Foundation and International Islamic Relief Organization, which both have Canadian branch offices. In a speech videotaped by Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Institute terrorism research centre in Washington, D.C., Mr. Alamoudi said he supported Middle East terrorist groups. "We are all supporters of Hamas! God is great. I wish to add here I am also a supporter of Hezbollah." But of course, he doesnât think they are terrorist groups
The United Nations formally lifted sanctions against Libya on Sept. 12, after Col. Gaddafi agreed to pay US$5-million per victim in compensation to the relatives of those it murdered in the bombing. The United States and France abstained from the vote. The families will get another US$5-million if the United States removes Libya from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Well, so much for that.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 2:47:20 PM ||
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....said in an affidavit that Mr. Alamoudi had admitted he approached the Libyans for money in 1997. He met with the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, who told Mr. Alamoudi that if he could convince the Americans to release any Libyan assets frozen by the Americans, he would get a share.
Got sucked in with the Lybian e-mail scam did he?
Posted by: john ||
09/30/2003 15:51 Comments ||
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#2
I've seen him as a Soddy, as a Yemeni, and now as an Ethiopian... Guess it all depends on which passport you're looking at...
#3
Notice the money was headed into the US? I'd love to know what it was to be used for! Yeah, I know--for the poor Muslim American Sleeper Cell Orphan Society
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
09/30/2003 17:29 Comments ||
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#4
I beleive that Kadaffy was secrettly sponsoring Dale Jarrett. The Col is a huge NASCVAR fan.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/30/2003 20:23 Comments ||
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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says his country already has "so much" to do, but heâll consider a request from the family of slain journalist Daniel Pearl to build a monument in his memory. "Building a monument on him now could be seen, Iâve never thought of it, really. Thereâs so much to be done in Pakistan. I could consider that," the president said. Yeah, go build a monument on him. Or on whatâs left of him. Iâm sure you would consider that.
It'll give the jihadis something to target...
Meanwhile, later in the same article:
The president denied the link made in Who Killed Daniel Pearl by French writer Bernard-Henri Levy, and suggested the journalist put himself at risk by investigating extremists. "Unfortunately, in his investigative capacity, Daniel Pearl came ... to Pakistan, stayed with a group that had contacts with all kinds of people and then he kept moving down into this world of extremism himself. And then whatever happened, happened." The author of the book had this to say:
"Musharrafâs comments were an outrageous slander on the memory of Daniel Pearl. Daniel Pearl was a journalist doing his job, and doing it fearlessly. He was not an extremist. This is the same thing that Musharraf had the nerve to say to President Bush at the time of the kidnapping, that Danny Pearl had been âover-intrusive,â as if he brought his own murder upon himself. I am astonished that Musharraf is allowed to get away with these comments as a way of avoiding discussion on Pakistanâs responsibility in this tragedy."
Karachi Police has arrested Muhammad Aslam Jhangvi a member of the notorious banned militant group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi on Sunday who was involved in killing 12 people in Mailsi three years ago when he and other Lashkar members opened fire on Majlis-i-Aza. The government had announced a reward for his capture of almost Rs 3 million. District Police Officer Syed Javed Ali Shah said, âA police team is being sent to Karachi to take Aslam Jhangvi to Vehari for interrogation. He was arrested in Karachi during a raid on a home in Saeedabad. Mr Shah said the reward money would be given to Karachi Police.
"Hurrah! Donuts for everyone!"
He said police had broken the organisationâs terrorist network in Punjab. He said more terrorists who were involved in sectarian killing would be arrested whenever they contacted their relatives.
"Hello, Ma? It's Mahmoud... Uhhh... Hello, officer! Cheeze, you got here fast!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2003 17:02 ||
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"Dats right. We gonna take our egos and walk. Bye bye. Dis is what our backs look like..."
JUP provincial Secretary General Owais Qadri told Daily Times on Monday that the MMA in its September 22 meeting had decided that the JUP would be given a ministry and an advisorâs slot in five days but the government did not do so. He said his party had decided to boycott all official and non-official meetings including the Nifaz-e-Sharia Council meeting till the MMA provincial cabinet meeting on October 20. Mr Qadri, who is also provincial deputy secretary general of the MMA, said his party would withdraw from the alliance if it did not accept their demands. âWe are sure the government will not accommodate us. However, we shall wait till the MMA meeting,â he said.
Mr Qadri said that the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and Jamaat-e-Islami, both majority parties in the MMA, controlled all government affairs while the rest were ignored. âSmaller parties have been also ignored in the Zakat committee,â he added.
Those are the guys that get closest to the charity money...
He said all development funds had been diverted to Bannu, the home district of the chief minister, whereas Peshawar and other areas had been deprived.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2003 16:57 ||
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Talking to BBC, he said his party has no contact with any Qaeda leader.
"No, no! Certainly not! Oh, we rent them a room now and then, but we don't have any contact with them. They pay their rent, they're quiet, except for the gun battles..."
He added the extremist organization should not interfere in the internal politics of Pakistan. He said such a call could create problems in the countryâs political system.
"I mean, Perv might actually have me bumped off this time! I gotta weak heart, y'know?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2003 16:50 ||
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LOL Fred...I'm picturing him clutching his chest and his turban at the same time...
A new audiotape attributed to Osama bin Ladenâs second-in-command was received via telephone from Pakistan, Al-Jazeera television said on Monday. âAn anonymous caller from Pakistan contacted us to offer Ayman al-Zawahiriâs message,â said Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout.
"Mr. Ballout, I have an anonymous caller on line one..."
âThe message was recorded by telephone and broadcast immediately,â he added. Rival Arabic channel Al-Arabiya also aired the same tape on Sunday night, but the Dubai-based news station refused to give any details about the tapeâs source.
Recorded it off al-Jazeera's broadcast, did they? Tusk tusk...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2003 16:44 ||
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Anyone interested in forging a Al-Q 'tape'? Just call their office and ask for Mr Ballout.
Elders in South Waziristan Agency, where Al Qaeda members are believed to be hiding, said on Monday they would punish anyone harbouring members of the terror network by destroying their houses and imposing hefty fines. A jirga (tribal council) was held on Sunday 115 km north of Wana, a town near the Afghan border 400km southwest of Islamabad. The meeting decided anyone sheltering Al Qaeda suspects should be punished. Nasir Lala, chieftain of the Taji Khel sub-clan of the Wazir tribe, said the agreement had been reached between elders from different tribes in the area and government representatives. âBesides the demolition of his house, the culprit would also be fined one million rupees and expelled from the area,â Lala said.
Right. I'll be waiting to see the crumbled houses and the stream of wailing turbans on their way to exile...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2003 16:40 ||
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The consulate of the republic of Germany in Karachi on Tuesday announced the reopening of the visa section from October 1. The consulate had closed its visa section after the terrorist attacks in Karachi following 9/11 and the war on terror in Afghanistan. Most Western countries have closed their visa sections on security concerns, and reduced the number of diplomatic staff. The United States and other Western countries have issued travel advisories to their citizens warning them of travelling to Pakistan. Getting the visa is the easy part...the hard part is deciding which passport you want the visa to be stamped in.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
09/30/2003 10:56:53 AM ||
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From Asia Times, salt to taste. Edited for new stuff:
The release on Monday of another audio tape purported to be from Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No 2 to Osama bin Laden in al-Qaeda, in which he calls Pakistanâs President General Pervez a "traitor", has severely rattled Pakistani intelligence officials. In the tape, aired by the Qatar-based al-Jazeera Arabic TV channel, al-Zawahiri said that people should topple Musharraf as "the president will hand you [army officers and soldiers] over to the Hindus and flee to enjoy his secret bank accounts" if India attacked their country. Pakistani intelligence circles read the messages as a clear signal for al-Qaeda and its allies to take up arms against Musharraf, and to help sympathizers of radical Islamic groups in the country. I donât think it could be any clearer, do you?
Since the release of the first tape attacking Musharraf, he has adopted a number of special security arrangements, including the erection of extra barricades around Army House in Rawalpindi, where he lives. Bet he doesnât walk the streets in disquise anymore.
And since the first tapeâs release, al-Qaeda has become more active in Pakistan. One of its members, Hadi al-Iraqi, is known to operate in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas near North Wazirstan Agency, along with one Amjad Farooqui, a suspect named in the case of slain US journalist Daniel Pearl. Intelligence sources now tell Asia Times Online that Hadi has traveled into Pakistani cities, including Rawalpindi, and lately even as far as Karachi. These sources say that Hadi, although an Arab, can speak good Pashtu, Dari, and also some Urdu, so he is able to mingle well. They add that al-Zawahiriâs exhortation is aimed not at common Pakistanis, but those who have in the past interacted with al-Qaeda, but under the previous bin Laden orders prohibiting any act of terror on Pakistani soil. Not that thereâs any lack of terror from other groups.
This could all change now. In the past few days, a local network is learnt to have grouped to plan attacks, similar to those on US embassies in Africa, and the Bali and Riyadh bomb blasts. These attacks will target not only Musharraf, but also prominent aides. Humm, donât want to lose Musharraf, but a few aides going boom would stir things up.
However, key Islamic political and jihadi groups have been quick to piously denounce the tapes. The chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami and a member of the national assembly, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, said in an interview with the BBC World Service that al-Qaeda leaders should not intervene in Pakistani politics. They see where that would lead, and they donât like it.
The prominent jihadi outfit, Jamaat ud-Dawa (risen from the ashes of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba), has questioned the authenticity of the tapes. "Theyâre fake, the Jooooos made them"
Intelligence sources also point out that following the arrest or killing of several key al-Qaeda operators in Pakistan, few of its planners remain in the country, apart from Hadi al-Iraqi. Fewer planners, plenty of gunnies.
The Asif Ramzi group of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) has been the prime force behind attacks on Western targets in Pakistan. However, it lacks the terror expertise and the finances to carry out sustained attacks. Now, the sources suggest that those al-Qaeda members still holed up in Pakistan, if they linked with the LJ, would be able to form an effective network to answer al-Zawahiriâs calls. Right up to the point they become a threat to Pervâs life, then he will try to crush them.
He's had the opportunity to crush them for the past two years. In each and every case he's passed on it. Qaeda's done its part by pretending to a truce with its latest host country. When you pick and choose among terror groups, you're only fooling yourself. There's no qualitative difference between al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Tairba, and Hizbul Mujaheddin. It's all the same disease, and it'll kill Perv (and Pakland with him) in the end.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 10:46:54 AM ||
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Perv can also crush any MMA/splinter group by publicly connecting them to AQ. Opens up a can of worms for the fundos. Could also lead to a housecleaning at ISI...or Perv dead...interesting
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 11:02 Comments ||
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#2
The release on Monday of another audio tape purported to be from Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No 2 to Osama bin Laden in al-Qaeda, in which he calls Pakistanâs President General Pervez a "traitor", has severely rattled Pakistani intelligence officials.
Iraq is up for sale, but not everyone is entitled to bid. A study by the George Soros-backed Open Society Initiative sheds some light on the current auction for Iraqâs cellular telephony infrastructure, a market that it is estimated to be worth $6 by 2008. And it concludes that the bidding process - subject to several amendments already - has been geared to exclude local talent.
Itâs not, as first suspected, a no-bid stitch up. But Iraq Revenue Watch has noted that restrictions prevent nationalized telecoms companies from bidding, which excludes some of the largest European and Asian carriers, and more pertinently, local Arab carriers including the company which has already activated a network in Iraq. And thereâs no requirement that bidders employ local talent.
(This conflicts with the Q&A helpfully provided by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) to the press which states "There is no restriction on who can apply". The new strings were attached after the initial bidding round closed, on August 8.)
The Coalition Provisional Authorityâs stipulation that no carrier in which more than a 10 per cent stake is owned by a national government rules out Bahrainâs Batelco, the Emiratesâ Etisalat and Kuwaiti MTC-Vodafone, as well as Orange (now owned by France Telecom) and Deutsche Telecom-owned T-Mobile, amongst others.
Showing admirable entrepreneurial zeal, Batelco activated a stealth GSM network in June, but was asked to stop after two days.
The bidding also requires that carriers demonstrate five successful implementations. Rather harshly, Iraq Revenue Watch views this as a strike against national carriers. But this cuts both ways, and equally, it can be said to penalize inexperienced cellular networks such as MCI, which had no experience of building a mobile network when given the job of implementing the emergency network for occupation forces in a no-bid award back in May.
More damagingly, says the report, the telecoms bidding process gives lie to the claim that Iraqi infrastructure will be left to the Iraqis. The state telecoms company ITPC is excluded from bidding, although we note that the Request for Proposals allows bidders to use the 350 towers that the ITPC erected.
And thereâs no requirement to employ local contractors - even though local knowledge could prevent the contractors from being shot. The reason for this is that such a stipulation would deter foreign investors. Itâs true that the bids for the networks are unusually short - two years a piece. But as perhaps the one place on earth with a wireless infrastructure more primitive than the United States, the huge potential of the Iraqi market is surely enough not to deter an investors, especially once they have a foot in the door.
And Batelcoâs success in starting a GSM network without the occupation even noticing shows the value of local knowledge.
"If US companies dominate in telecommunications services, this will lend credence to Iraqi cynicism regarding the economic motives for US intervention in Iraq."
The OSI report touches on the thorny question of air interface standards. The Middle East is a GSM stronghold, and a poorly-informed Senator Darrell Issa (CDMA, San Diego) was mistaken in asserting that US companies would lose out if the GSM standard was adopted. Nortel and Lucent, to name two, would beg to differ. However the CPA bid document requests that CDMA suppliers provide an alternative costing for a mixed CDMA/GSM network, and makes the same request of GSM suppliers.
#3
CDMA issues. This should result in a good post from Den Beste soon.
BTW, Krugman seized on this to call Bush and the CPA leaders "Crony Capitalists" and "War Profiteers".
He had an interesting comparison to Truman's policy and the Marshall Plan. But he's such a raving partisan that no one should trust his analysis. Anyone with knowledge of this area willing to tackle this issue? (or agree with Krugman)
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
09/30/2003 22:37 Comments ||
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#4
This sounds awfully iffy. Isn't the physical infrastructure there already, and pretty much intact? Wasn't there a problem with jihadis using cell phones to detonate their roadside bombs?
What are we really talking about here, in terms of actual up-front costs to get the network up and running? (if it's not already)
#6
Wait a minute, let's see what this thing is actually saying:
1. The Coalition Provisional Authorityâs stipulation that no carrier in which more than a 10 per cent stake is owned by a national government rules out Bahrainâs Batelco, the Emiratesâ Etisalat and Kuwaiti MTC-Vodafone, as well as Orange (now owned by France Telecom) and Deutsche Telecom-owned T-Mobile, amongst others.
So the CPA rules out government-owned "businesses"
and favors privately owned companies? And this wrong, how?
2. Showing admirable entrepreneurial zeal, Batelco activated a stealth GSM network in June, but was asked to stop after two days.
How about this interpretation instead: showing an admirable willingness to cheat and lie, the Bahrain government owned cell monopoly tried to sneak into Iraq.
3. And thereâs no requirement to employ local contractors - even though local knowledge could prevent the contractors from being shot. The reason for this is that such a stipulation would deter foreign investors.
And there is no requirement NOT to hire local contractors either. In otherwords, the company that does the business can pick any contractor, foreign OR local.
4. "and a poorly informed Senator Darrell Issa..."
How about, and a poorly informed Iraq Revenue Watch author. Issa is a CONGRESSMAN, not a Senator, dimwit.
Another passing of marsh gas out of Soro's fever swamp of "institutes." Say, George, what's next free drugs to all Iraqis so you can show what a great place you can if there aren't any drug laws?
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
10/01/2003 0:53 Comments ||
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satire at its finest - visit Scrappleface.com for more:
2003-09-29) -- The Cable News Network (CNN) today announced a new series of special reports on the positive news from Iraq. CNN producers acknowledge the series comes in response to critics who say the news media report little but shootings and turmoil.
The new series, "Iraqâs Silver Lining," will focus on "the few good things which have resulted from the overthrow of Saddam Hussein."
Here are brief summaries of this weekâs "Silver Lining" reports...
Monday: U.S. troops teach Iraqi orphans how to play American football. These children were not orphaned during the American invasion which brought devastation upon so many Iraqi families due to errant bombs and trigger-happy soldiers. These are just orphans whose parents died of natural causes, or abandoned them, like the U.S. abandoned the world community and acted unilaterally to attack Iraq even though it has not been proven to have weapons of mass destruction.
Tuesday: U.S. soldiers rebuild and repaint a Baghdad elementary school, where little children used to hear of the greatness of Saddam Hussein, who apparently didnât have any weapons of mass destruction. In the new curriculum, children will learn about George Bushâs oppression of the Iraqi people, and his miserable failure as a world leader.
Wednesday: Sewer line repairs can be dirty work, but an Army Corps of Engineers unit has jumped in with both feet to help the local people restore sanitary conditions in Mosul. The work serves as a daily reminder of the stench of the U.S. occupation of Iraq where frustrated, peace-loving men reluctantly carry out sniper attacks on Americans just to free their women and children from the heavy hand of oppression. More than 80 Americans have been killed in such attacks since George Bush landed in a tax-funded military jet on the deck of an aircraft carrier and claimed that the war was over.
Thursday: On the streets of Baghdad customers jam markets which overflow with everything from food to consumer electronics. Itâs another sign of American cultural hegemony leaving its stain on this ancient tribal civilization. Soon this great people will be reduced to a bunch of slack-jawed video gamers and "Iraqi Idol" worshipers.
Friday: U.S. Marines restore power to a small community which hasnât had reliable electric service for years. This allows local Muslims to attend peaceful night-time religious services where the Imam demands the immediate retreat of the satanic infidel who overthrew the democratically-elected government to impose his brand of Christian immorality upon the followers of Mohammed
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 12:18:32 PM ||
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Actor Bruce Willis has performed before US soldiers in Telafar, northern Iraq, and offered $1m (£603,000) to the man who captures Saddam Hussein. "Weâre here to support you," the star told troops as he sang a set of blues songs with his band, the Accelerator. "If you catch him, just give me four seconds with Saddam Hussein," he said. (Nice Bravado)
Willis will next fly south to visit US soldiers in Tikrit - Saddamâs home town - before performing two concerts for troops in neighbouring Kuwait. "Somebody that supports the military like he has and that comes to visit soldiers - thatâs important to us," said Greg Pagan, from 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division based at Telafar. "Itâs awesome," said commander Col Michael Linnington. "Itâs great for morale. "Heâs a macho actor. Soldiers identify with action movies and action actors. Heâs a guyâs guy." (As opposed to a Girls Guy)
During an interview Willis said: "Peculiar thing back home is that the liberal media was trying to portray it as a bad war. But being over here just a couple of days, seeing how well our troops and the allied troops are being received here, (I) think the Iraqi people are happy weâre here," the Hollywood star said. "Children are being taken care of, starting being inoculated, starting being looked after. Wherever these guys go they get thumbs up. They no longer have to contend with the terrorist leader."
(OMG Good News in Iraq?)
But the star later admitted he had not met many Iraqis because he had been travelling the country by helicopter. Willis, a Republican party supporter, was one of the few celebrities to publicly back the USâ stance during the recent war on Iraq. Willis recently played a US special forces commander sent in to rescue medical staff in war-torn Nigeria in the film Tears of the Sun. (This has to have the Hollow wood elite spinning! I remember when I was in the service and the USO shows used to come. Sometimes it was a big star and sometimes not. But it was always something from home. ^5âs to Bruce and the band for supporting our troops.)
EFL
Sitting inside a dusty office in a shrapnel-damaged building, Gerald Fox stares intently at his laptop, juggling the cost of electrical wiring, pipes, brick and mortar. In recent weeks, the 34-year-old U.S. Army sergeant has been working on a proposal to have nine schools rebuilt in Saddam Husseinâs hometown of Tikrit, at a cost of $243,300. He already has contracts for repairs to 14 other schools and has assessed 92 others. His work is part of a project designed to repair some of the 2,000 schools in the three Iraqi provinces controlled by the U.S. Armyâs 4th Infantry Division. The aim is to have some schools ready by Oct. 1, when students go back to class.
"Operation Pencil Box" will also help provide many of the schools with pens, notebooks and other supplies gathered during a charity drive around Fort Hood, Texas, where the 4th ID is based. "We had an adopt-a-school program in towns surrounding Fort Hood, where soldiers help out at schools. We thought, why donât we do this here?" Maj. Josslyn Aberle said. The idea came from the divisionâs commander, Maj. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, and was initially aimed at having units build a small number of model schools. It also sought to more closely involve soldiers with Iraqi society. "Itâs engaging families at home and the soldiers here in something other than raids," said Maj. John Williamson, of Exeter, N.H., who is with the Armyâs 443rd Civil Affairs Battalion. He said the troops were so enthusiastic about the project that it mushroomed and grew to 309 schools.
Many of the 4th Infantry Division troops in Tikrit have found themselves in an odd situation â they came to fight and are instead trying to restore order and repair public services. Unable to invade Iraq from the north as planned because of Turkish objections, the 4th ID instead found itself trying to win hearts and minds while working to suppress an active Iraqi resistance in Tikrit and surrounding provinces. Engineers maintained oil pipelines, water and electricity, signals officers took over telecommunications and doctors have been helping out with public health. They are trying to repair damage caused by neglect, 13 years of U.N. sanctions, Americaâs war to oust Saddam and the looting that followed the U.S.-led invasion. "Maybe this is part of the infantry now. Helping people who didnât create this mess, deal with this mess," said [Captain Daryl] Carter, of Jacksonville, Fla.
Jay Nordlinger of National Review, to whom a hat tip is due for flagging this article, had this comment:
Let me remind you of something you already know, ladies and gentlemen: This is a most unusual nation, the United States. We are a most unusual "conqueror," a most unusual "occupier." Few Americans realize how exceptional we are in the history of the world. You donât hear that kind of thing much in our schools â at least I didnât, back in dear old Ann Arbor, where the posters of Che Guevara were plenteous and the air was thick with reefer.
What he said.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/30/2003 12:12:18 PM ||
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Of course, the Loony Illiberal Left and the Loony Arabic Right will claim that those are really bombs, but who can they fool?
#2
And notice the source of the article, a very small publication. You won't read this in the NYTimes, even though it's actually news the way our soldiers behave at the front...like no army ever has.
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
10/01/2003 0:56 Comments ||
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Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkeyâs prime minister, is wavering in his commitment to send troops to Iraq because he has not received firm assurances from the US that it will round up secessionist Kurds hiding in northern Iraq. General James Jones, commander of US forces in Europe, visited Turkey earlier this month to discuss the possible deployment of about 10,000 soldiers, but Mr Erdogan has continued to insist an agreement on Kurdish Workers party (PKK) separatists should be part of any deal. Hmmm the war on terror includes only Taliban and everyone who is not with the Bush regime
Krazed Killers are krazed killers, regardless of what they call themselves. Wipe them all out.
"This is the key to the whole troop deployment business," the official said. "If the Americans do something about the PKK, the problem can be unlocked." Turkey is one of four countries Washington has been soliciting for a 10,000-strong division to take over from the 101st Airborne in central Iraq. Colin Powell, US secretary of state, admitted at the weekend that the US had given up on one of the countries, India, and Pervez Musharraf, Pakistanâs president, last week indicated that hostile domestic opinion made it unlikely he could commit troops other than as part of a UN-endorsed Muslim force. Callâm lovers of the dictatorial Saddam regime (damn Pakis and Indies for not following the American just cause: oil Liberation
I'm glad in both cases. Having the Indos and the Paks patrolling the same territory doesn't make sense to me. Having the Paks in presents a mechanism to introduce even more religious nut-casery. I'm not too happy about having the Turks in — the Kurds don't like them, for reasons both valid and invalid, and the Kurds are the only party in Iraq that seem to wear their thinking hats regularly. Certainly they're the only group that's taken to democracy and free enterprise and are giving individual liberty a try...
South Korea, the fourth country approached, is weighing the request.
I think they're too scared of Kimmy to actually do anything. I wonder why we haven't asked Taiwan for troops?
Senior US generals have said the Pentagon will be forced to call up additional reserves to replace the 101st if no additional international troops were committed soon.
That's the most painful course for us, but in the long run it's the best course...
On Friday, Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defence, mobilised two army national guard brigades, or about 10,000 troops, for service in Iraq. The army said it had notified another brigade it could be activated as well. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, published on Monday, Abdullah Gul, Turkish foreign minister, said he was optimistic about a Turkish deployment. Heheh, yeah me too
However, the official said on Monday: "Let us not forget that it is not only the Americans who have demands; we have demands too. The Americans must deliver on the PKK/KADEK terrorists Kurds."
So far we've been juggling krazed killer Sunnis in central Iraq, Moqtada Sadr and his nut-case followers, Iranian spies and saboteurs, jihadis from Syria, Soddy Arabia, and any other place that has high level of in-breeding, and Ansar al-Islam remnants; chasing down and either arresting or killing, stuffing and mounting Baathists; shutting down MKO; turning the water and the power back on; burying assassinated government officials — after establishing the government; building an army and a police force from next to scratch... Sure. We'll put the PKK on the list and we'll get around to them...
Analysts believe that, in addition to the Kurdish issue, Mr Erdogan remains concerned he may not be able to win parliamentary approval for the deployment.
If not, then tough. It won't be the first time.
Seven months ago the Turkish assembly rejected the governmentâs plan to allow US troops to invade Iraq from Turkish bases. "He is not sure he can get a motion through the assembly," said a western diplomat. He was defeated once and cannot risk a second defeat. There is still no agreement with the Americans over the conditions under which Turkish troops will operate once they are in Iraq."
If it's not worth it, don't push it...
A recent loan agreement signed between the US and Turkey includes provisions ensuring Turkeyâs co-operation on Iraq, according to US embassy officials in Ankara.
Ted Kennedy describes it as a bribe...
Although US officials said Turkish peacekeepers were not a condition for determining Turkish co-operation, a local Turkish newspaper reported it had obtained documents which showed Ankara had promised not to intervene unilaterally in northern Iraq.
Posted by: Murat ||
09/30/2003 6:43:20 AM ||
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I do agree thee PKK needs to be eliminated.Like any deal goods or services have to completed for the deal to go through.Kiss that 8.7 bill goodbye.Didn't expect anything from the Paks/Indians to begin with.
If SKor dosn't want to help,thats ok we have 37,000 troops that are helping protect their ass we can always pull out of Korea.
You're too smart to be falling for the "it's all about oil" nonsense. If this were "all about oil" we wouldn't be helping the Iraqi people--at great monetary and (for the troops on the ground) personal sacrifice--to build a decent country out of the ruins of Saddam's thugocracy. We'd be occupying the oil fields and carpet bombing the rest.
The Kurds of Iraq suffered greatly under the prior regime--in part because two previous U.S. administrations and the UN left Saddam in power when we had the ability to remove him--and Kurds are God's children just like anyone else. Whether they end up as jujst another part of free Iraq, or have some sort of autonomy within a federal system, or create an independent Kurdistan, is up to them (and the rest of Iraq) to work out. It should not be decided in Ankara, or Washington--and definietly not Paris or Brussels!
As far as the PKK is concerned, I do not think anyone here has a problem with going after them. They're just another terrorist group, and whatever the justice of the Kurdish cause, the PKK is an enemy of civilization.
As for Kurdish issues north of the border, that is something your country needs to work through. Just keep in mind that Kurds--and Turks!--are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, [and] among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," and you'll do fine. However, resolution of Kurdish issues north of the border does not require Ankara to exercise hegemony south of the border.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/30/2003 8:30 Comments ||
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There are enough Pakistanis in Iraq already, they're the ones wearing the "We love Mullah Omar" shoulder patches and attacking our convoys. Indians troops in Iraq would have drawn these to them like flies to honey, so they would have been a liability. PKK is a terrorist group, the problem is that every Kurd looks like a PKK member to the Turkish military. Turkish forces in the Kurdish zone would be a disaster waiting to happen. Thanks, but no thanks, we have enough problems.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 8:37 Comments ||
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Steve, Mike,
Ever heard of a Kurd named Turgut Ozal (big buddy of Bush senior) and former prime minister and President of Turkey. Seems that we can differ between a normal Kurd and PKK member, your conclusion is crap.
Commenting on the Turkish deployment of troops requested by Washington, I am very glad that foreign and military issues there are run by a squad of morons. Any skilful politician in Washington could easily get Ankaraâs cooperation to send up to 100.000 troops, but the current Washington dodoâs cannot even manage to convince Ankara on 10.000 troops. But this is of no surprise since they fail globally accusing almost everyone of siding with Saddam.
Posted by: Murat ||
09/30/2003 9:10 Comments ||
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The final cure of the US foreign policy, mrs Laura Bush can help to lap up the battered US image. Hehehe :)
Anyway, she'll defenitely will sure do a lot better than that bunch of morons!
Posted by: Murat ||
09/30/2003 9:21 Comments ||
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Please don't feed the troll....
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 9:39 Comments ||
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Screw waiting for South Korea to make a decisioon. The 2ID would make a great replacement and does not require anyone else's approval. The SK's in general hate the US and have lips that are addicted to Lil Kimeeeee's ass. It would be a very good move on our part and save us much irritation in Korea.
Posted by: Michael ||
09/30/2003 10:29 Comments ||
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Turkish forces in the Kurdish zone would be a disaster waiting to happen.
And you figured that out all by yourself mr. Wiz kid? What about the approx. 3.000 troops which are there since 1998, why is there still no disaster (except the Americans).
Posted by: Murat ||
09/30/2003 10:29 Comments ||
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I was in Korea once. All of the 50 & over population can't thank us enough for being there because they remember. The under 30 SKor crowd can kiss my as^. No sense of history. I agree w/pulling out of Korea, if they can't see why we're there then I say bye. Same w/Okinawa, mainland Japan, Germany and definitely Puerto Rico. Bring the rest of the lads home. We can redeploy them on our own southern border for counter drug ops and illegal immigrant prevention.
#11
*Yawns* 27 Billion greenbacks says you, and every other liberal terrified of a democratic Iraq, is wrong about it being "all about oil", murat. Care to match and raise?
Iâm happy Moâ got his raisins. EFL. Mohammed Salem Abu Bakr, devout Muslim and seller of religious books, reached inside a wooden cabinet and took out a large knife, a present from a friend in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan. "Do you think itâs sharp enough to slaughter an American?" he asked, running his fingers along the blade. Killing Americans was an obsession of Abu Bakr, a Sunni Muslim who sold his wares from a rickety stand outside the mosque of the al-Imam al-Azam in the cityâs al-Azamiyah district. The 35-year-old father of four was killed Aug. 29 - not by the Americans but in a gun battle with Shiite Muslims. Beers at Jimmyâs Tap for those Shiites!
While much attention has focused on the zeal of Iraqâs Shiite Muslim majority, Abu Bakrâs death highlights another side of the picture, and the potential for further violence and score-settling between Shiites and the Sunnis who were dominant as long as Saddam Hussein was in power. The clash that claimed his life was one of the first of its kind in the Iraqi capital since the collapse of Saddamâs regime in April. Abu Bakr, who spoke to The Associated Press many times between January and July, had a stricture on his brain strict interpretation of Islamic teachings. As an Arab and a Muslim, he was deeply offended to see non-Muslims running his country. "You know why we in Iraq are occupied?" Abu Bakr asked in June. "Itâs because Saddam became an intolerable threat and was a murderous thug we abandoned our religion. Our dignity and glory are in jihad (holy struggle) and our weakness is in loving life and dreading death. Why should I linger in this world when I can seek martyrdom and meet my maker."
Maybe because He put you in this world to do something other than make faces and brag about killing people?
His appearance bore the hallmarks of a devout Muslim - beard, baggy trousers and a dark mark on his forehead which Muslims call a "zibiba" or raisin. It comes from the forehead scraping the carpet during prayer. I think the 1st Armor guys have a different name for his mark, particularly when a red dot dances on it.
Neighbors said Abu Bakr was a Wahhabi - a follower of an austere and stark raving nuts brand of Sunni Islam practiced mostly in Saudi Arabia. When the Americans overran Baghdad in April, his militancy grew, they said. He spent the final weeks of his life writing a book about his experiences in a government militia along with fighters from Syria, Libya and Morocco who formed a line of defense against approaching U.S. troops. Guess the little woman will be cashing the royalty checks.
After Baghdad fell, friends say, his militancy became directed not only against Americans but against Shiites, many of whom felt that Saddam was ousted. "Lately he was very abusive to Shiites in the area," said Jawad Kazim, 25, a neighbor. "He was fine until Saddamâs fall and then he changed completely and began to say that Shiites are âkafara,â" — infidels. "He was a quiet man."
Word spread among neighborhood Shiites that Abu Bakr had defaced a poster of a Shiite cleric. A mob, including his old schoolmates with whom he played soccer as a youth, attacked his house in the hours after the Najaf bomb. Neighbors said Abu Bakr had gloated over al-Hakimâs death. After an intense 2 1/2-hour battle, Abu Bakr was dead, probably from a grenade. He was found on the roof of his house clutching a Kalashnikov when U.S. troops stopped the battle. Couldnât have happened to a ... except for Uday and Qusay, of course.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/30/2003 2:22:38 AM ||
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Abu Bakr, who spoke to The Associated Press many times between January and July
I'm sure there's an interesting story behind that. Did he seek them out, or did they seek him out?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/30/2003 8:03 Comments ||
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his experiences in a government militia along with fighters from Syria, Libya and Morocco who formed a line of defense against approaching U.S. troops
Whoah! Waitaminnit!
If I read this right, this guy was Fedayeen. The AP was getting quotes about Iraq from a Fedayeen?!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/30/2003 8:06 Comments ||
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That shows how insensitive you are, Robert. He's not a Fedayeen to the AP, he's a source.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 8:41 Comments ||
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You know why we in Iraq are occupied?" Abu Bakr asked in June. "Itâs because we abandoned our religion. Our dignity and glory are in jihad (holy struggle) and our weakness is in loving life and dreading death. Why should I linger in this world when I can seek martyrdom and meet my maker." His appearance bore the hallmarks of a devout Muslim - beard, baggy trousers and a dark mark on his forehead which Muslims call a "zibiba" or raisin. It comes from the forehead scraping the carpet during prayer.
May all sick, twisted, murderous death cults be abolished.
Islam delenda est!
Not that they did very much good while they were there.
More than 30 foreign employees of the United Nations left Iraq over the weekend after Secretary-General Kofi Annan sent them home because of security concerns, leaving just 50 non-Iraqi workers behind, a U.N. spokesman said Monday. The number of foreign workers will continue to fluctuate, spokesman Fred Eckhard said at a news briefing. 50 non-Iraqis on UN per-diems ought to keep a couple of restaurants going, at least.
The United Nations had 300 foreign employees in Baghdad and another 300 elsewhere in Iraq before an Aug. 19 car bomb killed 22 people at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. Annan later ordered the number reduced to 42 in Baghdad and 44 in the north. Annan ordered further cutbacks last week following a second bombing, but did not say how many of the remaining staffers would leave. Eckhard has said the United Nationâs humanitarian work should continue, with limited international supervision, using its 4,233 Iraqi employees. Now thereâs an idea, letting the Iraqis work for themselves.
But Annan has indicated that if security does not improve, he might not allow the world bodyâs international staff to return in sufficient numbers to do more, adding that the United Nations would be prevented from helping Iraq write and adopt a new constitution and hold elections. Darn. Drat. Shoot. Heck. Fudge.
The U.N. Staff Union, representing 5,000 staff members worldwide, has called for the suspension of U.N. operations and the withdrawal of all U.N. staff in Iraq because of the "unacceptable risks." Officials running the U.N. oil-for-palaces food program say the staff cutbacks have made it difficult for them to get ready for the phasing out of the program by Nov. 21. I think Mr. Bremer knows how to phase it out. Benon Sevan, who runs the program that gave the French Iraqis lots of loot a lifeline when the country was under U.N. sanctions before Saddam Hussein was ousted, said the United Nations would meet the deadline and hand over any remaining activities to the U.S.-led coalition. Iraq exported 3.4 billion barrels of oil under the program, generating some $65 billion in revenue, according to the United Nations. Nearly $27 billion in humanitarian supplies were delivered to Iraq under the program. And the remaining $38 billion? Where did that go? Wonder what it will take to get an AP reporter to ask that question?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/30/2003 2:11:40 AM ||
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Electric probes, probably...
Call for Ludmilla Kropotkin! Dr. Ludmilla Kropotkin!
#2
Reading this article, I have a newfound belief that we can actually do something RIGHT in Iraq - the UN won't be there to screw it up. With each new twist, the United Nations is sealing its doom as the most useless bureaucratic pimple on the (other) face of humanity. I hope enough honest, intelligent, hard-working people are watching, and drawing the proper conclusions - the United Nations has become supurfluous and should be given a decent burial.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/30/2003 14:13 Comments ||
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Heh, we CAN'T hand over control of Iraq to a non-existent UN administration!
Follow-up on previous stories. EFL.
US military intelligence has concluded that almost all the claims made by Iraqi defectors about Saddam Husseinâs alleged secret weapons were either useless or false, it was reported yesterday. The assessment by the Pentagon defence intelligence agency (DIA), leaked to US journalists, amounts to an indictment of the Iraqi National Congress, which brought the defectors to Washingtonâs attention, adding to the momentum towards invasion. A DIA official would not confirm or deny the reportâs existence yesterday, saying any such document would be classified, but adding: "Any intelligence we get from an individual we never use as a sole source but we add it to our database. We donât make decisions or take action based on sole sources." More and more evidence that the INC is pretty useless.
The leak reflects a growing backlash by the US intelligence agencies â principally the CIA, DIA and the state departmentâs intelligence arm â whose findings and recommendations on Iraq were overruled before the war in favour of far more sensational assessments made by ideologically driven groups in the Pentagon and the vice-presidentâs office. "All this is coming out now, because they didnât have the political spine to do it before," said Vincent Cannistraro, a former head of CIA counter-intelligence operations. "Now the tide has turned internally in terms of the use of intelligence before the war." Then again, we have more info now that we can read Saddamâs paperwork and can cross-check everything we knew before.
The DIA report strikes at the heart of administrationâs justification for going to war: that the Iraqi regime represented an imminent danger to the US because of its development of weapons of mass destruction. GWB never said "imminent danger", he said "gathering storm": it was the whole basis for pre-emption, that one couldnât wait for imminent danger. But that would require the AP reporter to read GWBâs speeches.
A report by a CIA-led search team, the Iraqi Survey Group, due to be delivered to Congress this week, is expected to confirm that no stockpiles of such weapons have been found after a six-month hunt. Much of the US and British case against Saddam was built on the testimony of defectors, and in Washington at least, most of those defectors were shepherded out of Iraq by the INC. DIA officials interviewed about half a dozen defectors in European capitals and in the Kurdish-run northern city of Irbil in late 2002 and 2003. They brought with them claims that Saddam was continuing to build biological, chemical and nuclear weapons underground and undetected by UN inspectors. But according to the DIA report, only a third of the information they provided was of any interest, and most of the leads arising from the rest proved groundless. The INC defectors were largely spurned by the CIA and state department, who believed they were concocting stories in the hope of being resettled in the US. Sounds like they wanted to make sure we liberated their country, so they "embellished" their stories.
But they won an enthusiastic audience in the Pentagonâs office of special plans (OSP), set up after September 11, which became a parallel civilian channel for intelligence on Iraq, operating independently of the uniformed officers running the DIA. The OSP has been disbanded since the war, but its staff remains at work under different titles in the Pentagon. Could someone remind the AP reporter that removing Saddam did not cause the earth to stop spinning?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/30/2003 1:57:37 AM ||
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Beware: former Pravda journalist now working at al Guardian.
#2
JFM -- how can you tell the difference between the Guardian and Pravda?
Pravda at least gets the spelling right.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/30/2003 8:07 Comments ||
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Robert:
The difference between Al Guardian and Pravda is
that Guardian is more expensive due to the
translation costs. (From an old french joke about
the main communist newspaper)
WTF?
By Devi Asmarani
Schools are the new breeding grounds for violence in Indonesia if the murders and acts of brutality at colleges and universities over the last month are anything to go by. These unconnected incidents reflect the stark realities of campus life these days - physical toughness coupled with total submissiveness to seniors is the only way to social acceptance. sounds like good future muslims
The state-run Institute of Public Affairs (STPDN), where freshman Wahyu Hidayat was beaten to death by senior students earlier this month, is an extreme example of violence breeding violence. Senior students there brutally bash new students, most of whom are being groomed for promising posts in the civil service. It is part of a twisted âcharacter buildingâ programme that freshmen are subjected to during their first two years. By the time they reach their final year, they are out for blood themselves. great - train the "civil service" to beat the crap out of each other...anyone else see irony here?
Many students who cannot take the abuse end up fleeing the sprawling complex that houses their dormitories in West Java. Some unfortunate ones who decide to stay suffer permanent injuries. At least three have died since the collegeâs inception in 1992. For years, faculty members and officials have looked the other way, often hushing up incidents to prevent police investigations. "He fell down the stairs...all 14 flights"
Those who come to STPDNâs defence say its military-style education system makes it unique, but that is not how it looks. Earlier this month, a student was killed in a clash between two rival organisations in the Indonesian Muslim University in Makassar, South Sulawesi. At the Veteran University in Jakarta, a fight between students from two different departments left three severely wounded. Two people have also died in as many years in college initiation rites. There have been endless calls on the government to ban such practices at universities. But in a country where even teenage boys slug it out with students from rival schools in a sort of rite of passage, a campus ban is not going to stop the culture of violence. Said noted psychologist Sartono Mukadis: âViolence has become the lingua-franca of our people. It is the most communicative language because it gets attention, rather than civil talks.â
Two threads — the turbans, and the legacy of the Japanese occupation in WWII — meet...
But the language of violence has spread too far. People here have seen too much of it at every level of society. They want that to change, and the college which produces civil servants looks like a good place to start. Teach 'em blood lust and fighting skills and then put 'em in a civil service job? Smart
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 10:16:45 AM ||
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missed that one:
"At the Veteran University in Jakarta, a fight between students from two different departments left three severely wounded"
undoubtedly the Philosophy and Religious Studies Departments
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 10:29 Comments ||
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A Chinese nuclear scientist has been given a suspended death sentence for planting radioactive materials in the office of a business rival, sickening the man and 74 other people, official newspapers reported Monday. 74 other people - sheesh.
Nuclear medicine researcher Gu Jiming stashed a case containing pellets of iridium 192 above ceiling panels at a hospital in the southern city of Guangzhou, the Beijing Evening News reported. Soon after the victim -- identified only by his surname, Liu -- began complaining of fatigue, loss of appetite, headaches and vomiting, the paper said. A medical checkup two months later revealed serious irregularities in his white blood cell count. At that point his office was searched with detection equipment and the radioactive materials discovered. Makes you want to start wearing a dosimeter to work even if you are a frycook at Shoneys.
Others at the hospital also complained of fatigue, memory loss, bleeding gums and other symptoms, the report said. A nurse who was five months pregnant nearly suffered a miscarriage because of the radiation exposure, it said.
Bad boy... Okay. We got it...
Guâs research institute and Liuâs hospital had cooperated in forming a laser treatment center in 1997, but the two men had feuded over management, bonuses, economic benefits and other matters. Glad this guy found his calling in medical research — where he could help quite a few people ... minus 75 ... overall Iâm sure that he had a net positive effect on the public health.
"Gu held hatred for Liu in his heart, and lay in wait for a chance at revenge," the Beijing Evening News report said.
Ahah! Dire Revenge™!
Suspended death sentences are usually commuted to life in prison after two years of good behavior. Guâs assistant, Fang Zhenhua, who had only a primary school education, was also sentenced to 15 years for helping Gu transport and place the iridium.
Tough, being a loyal henchman, isn't it?
Gu obtained the substance by falsifying documents to buy an industrial machine that uses iridium 192 to check welded joints, the paper said. Scientists say iridium could be used to create a radiological "dirty bomb," and its possession is usually tightly controlled. Glad that these two chumps showed the bad guys how its done. Kind of like John Wayne Gasey sliding some tips to Adolph Hitler. Now we have iridium in the overhead to watch for.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/30/2003 9:15:20 PM ||
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Heh, for second, I thought this had something to do with the Motorola satellite phone service.... :)
The Two Fronts of the "Targeted Bombings" War
19:23 Sep 30, ?03 / 4 Tishrei 5764
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee issued a strong condemnation today of the 27 rebel pilots who wrote the infamous letter to Air Force Chief Gen. Dan Halutz. The pilots wrote that they will refuse "unethical orders" to bomb terrorists if these involve risking Arab civilian lives. The signatories have been widely criticized for putting the lives of Arabs above those of Israelis who are liable to be killed by the terrorists? murderous schemes.
The committee accepted the proposal of Chairman Yuval Shteinitz to define the phenomenon of "refusal" as an "attempt to rebel during war time, and [as] a blow at Israeli democracy." The MKs resolved that the signatories should be discharged, and that the IDF Prosecutor?s Office should try them in court.
A retired Air Force pilot, currently working for El Al Israel Airlines, informed Halutz last night that he retracts his signature from the letter. He explained that he was abroad when he was contacted to agree to the letter, and was unaware that it called to "refuse orders." The pilot explained that he is against the policy of "targeted killings," but opposes just as strongly the call to refuse orders. He was the second pilot to withdraw his signature - although another one joined in the meantime.
Another front in the above "war" was opened this morning when a group of writers, musicians and actors - together with the extreme left-wing group Yesh Gvul [There?s a Limit/Border] - filed suit demanding a criminal investigation into last year?s bombing of terrorist leader Salah Shehada. The Israel Air Force raid in July 2002 claimed not only the Hamas terrorist, but also nine children, including three of his own, and his wife.
Posted by: Bruce ||
09/30/2003 5:47:57 PM ||
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The pilot explained that he is against the policy of "targeted killings,"..
I'm pretty sure that the Palestinians really, REALLY appreciate that. Especially while they're plotting to kill more of his countrymen.
#3
So up 'til now the Paleo terrorist mindset was:
I will surround myself with innocents while plotting the continued murder of Israeli citizens, and while I may be martyred the cause will be furthered by the international outcry over the deaths of my unwitting human shields.
Now it's:
I will surround myself with innocents while plotting the continued murder of Israeli citizens, and I will be invincible! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
What a refreshing change...
Posted by: Dar ||
09/30/2003 18:37 Comments ||
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Palestinian non-government organizations have refused to sign a U.S.-sponsored commitment that they will not transfer funds to individuals or groups that engage in attacks against Israeli civilians.
"Nope. Nope. Won't do it..."
Palestinian sources said social welfare groups within the Palestinian Authority as well as independent NGOs have organized a campaign against signing a so-called anti-terror clause. The sources said the United States has demanded that Palestinian social welfare groups sign a commitment that they will not transfer money to those deemed terrorists. So far, the sources said, about 30 NGOs have declared that they would not sign the anti-terror commitment. Many of the groups obtain funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development and American philanthropies. Earlier this month, representatives of 29 NGOs in the area of the West Bank city of Bethlehem met and issued a statement that they would not cooperate with a U.S. AID demand not to transfer funding to any individual or group deemed terrorist. The meeting was attended by PA security and intelligence officials. The Interior Ministry regulates NGOs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"Let's face it: Paleostine is a terrorist state in the making. Of course we're going to transfer money to terrorists! If we didn't, there wouldn't be anybody to transfer money to!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2003 16:28 ||
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The Interior Ministry regulates NGOs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"We will say what you can and cannot do, and you cannot sign this agreement!"
#6
So - how much do we save when we cut these mooks off?
Better question is, how many fewer attacks can we be assured of by cutting the umbilical chord feeding these idiots.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/30/2003 23:44 Comments ||
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#7
Frank G, interesting that you raise the point of communists, wouldn't dispute the fact that they did receive aid from the soviets but I would argue that that was purely because the 'west' had a soft spot for the South Africans and would not support any group that was opposed to them, the soviets abviously being rather opportinistic jumped in instead. This sort of scenario was repeated all over the world
Iran sought to obtain a significant amount of enriched uranium from Austria in a deal scuttled by the United States. Western intelligence sources said the Iranian effort took place in 1999 and disputed Teheran's claim that it never sought to purchase weapons-grade fissile material and related equipment. Iran has denied assertions by the United States of an illegal uranium enrichment program, traces of which was discovered by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Iranian effort took place in 1999 when Teheran launched negotiations for the acquisition of an Austrian nuclear research reactor built in the late 1950s. Austria offered Iran its Astra reactor at the Seibersdorf nuclear center in an effort to unload an aging U.S.-origin heavy-water reactor. Austria's offer stemmed from its assessment that giving away the nuclear facility was cheaper than dismantling the reactor. The cost of dismantling the reactor was estimated at $6.7 million.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2003 16:24 ||
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*blinks* Only Canada uses and sells heavy water reactors.
From WORLD TRIBUNE.COM....
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat appears to have recovered from exhaustion. Palestinian sources said Arafat was concerned that he had been poisoned as part of an assassination plot by Israel and the United States. They said that Arafat sent for a medical team from Jordan when his own physicians could not determine his ailment. All of our diagnostic equipment was broken. The funds for repair were encumbered, but were spent on other things, whoops... disregard
"He was very tired and alarmed that he had been poisoned," a source said. "After a few days of arrest and a thorough examination, heâs back at work again. The crisis is over." Level 1 of the crisis is over. Proceed to Level 2, please.
Over the weekend, Arafat, 74, complained of nausea and canceled virtually all of his meetings. The exception was a brief session with Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qurei on Monday, Middle East Newsline reported. The absence of Arafat over the weekend sparked rumors that he had been incapacitated by a heart attack. After he completed his tests on Monday, Arafat emerged from PA headquarters in Ramallah smiling. I beat the Grim Reaper this time. It was only exhaustion. No sweatskis!
Palestinian sources said Arafat resumed his normal schedule on Tuesday after three days of relative inactivity. The sources said the PA chairman was given a clean bill of health by a team of physicians who arrived from Jordan in an emergency visit on Monday. Local GPâs busy with patching up Hamas rabble.
The team of Jordanian physicians arrived by special plane on Monday to examine the PA chairman. The team included leading Jordanian coronary specialist, Yusef Kasus and Arafatâs personal physician, Ashraf Kurdi. The Jordanian team gave Arafat a range of tests and left Ramallah on late Monday. The team was said to have found that Arafat was merely exhausted and was not poisoned. In June, Arafat accused Israel of trying to poison him. Sorry, Arafish, the Poison Ploy⢠did not work.
Arafat was said to have come under great stress over the last month after he forced the resignation of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and searched for a replacement. Sources said that as early as two weeks ago, Arafat was unable to stand up for more than a minute when meeting Palestinian dignitaries. And it is only going to get tougher...
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/30/2003 3:56:35 PM ||
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the stress of knowing he's in the crosshairs if one of the "militants" booms anything seeems to disagree with the Arafish...either that or he has Ich
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 16:02 Comments ||
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#2
Bad Falafel! Somebody needs to refill the soap dispenser at the Ramallah House of Pancakes!
#5
"Mr. Tenet? We need your permission to increase the intensity of the Death Ray that is currently focused on Mr. Arafat's compound. Apparently, the current setting wasn't high enough."
#6
Yellow dog, yellow dog, this is Blackjack.
Mission successful. The initial test of the ray works. Level two induces extreme fatigue and causes some system slowing. We will begin increasing power at 0.5 levels per day until we have success. Will report as necessary. Blackjack out.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/30/2003 21:26 Comments ||
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#7
" Mr. President, the ray is working on Mr Arafat. "
" AraFISH! I will not say his name in respect unless I have too. Now, has he started getting boils from the radiation yet? "
" No sir, apparently instead of the boils we predicted, it's going to cause his eyes to slowly melt over the course of a month. "
" Excellent, inform the blogs at once. Everything is going according to plan. "
Posted by: Charles ||
09/30/2003 22:35 Comments ||
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#8
Sprinkle iridium over compound as required, salt to taste........
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/30/2003 23:03 Comments ||
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FindLaw.com has the criminal complaint against Abdurahman Alamoudi posted on their site. Look under Featured Documents, right hand side if my above link doesnât work. LGF links as well. 29 page PDF file.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 3:26:44 PM ||
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EFL.
A United Nations human rights investigator has denounced a controversial barrier Israel is building in the West Bank as illegal.
"Nope. Nope. Can't do it..."
John Dugard, a South African law professor, said the wall was tantamount to an "unlawful act of annexation" which should be condemned by the international community. "All have the right to self-determination except the Jews."
Israel, which says it is building the wall to stop suicide bombers crossing from Palestinian areas, dismissed the findings as "one-sided, highly politicised and biased". Which they probably are.
The report by the special investigator comes a day before the Israeli Cabinet is due to decide on the route of the next stage of construction. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said the fence will be built around two Jewish settlements - Ariel and Kedumim - reaching deep into the West Bank. The Palestinians have described the fence as a "Berlin Wall", which traps some Palestinian towns and villages and has cut off farmers from their land. And boomers from the Jews they want dead.
America has also raised objections and are considering withholding loan guarantees to Israel in line with the money the Israelis spend on the barrier.
#3
A "UN Huan rights investigator'? In other words an
employee of the "Human Right Committee" isn't it?
That committee chaired by Lybia and with such
prominent members than Saudi Arabia and Syria isn't
it?
Now I get it. What I don't get is why the Beeb
forgets to mention the preceeding points.
#5
I should have put the sarscam marks. The reason
the Beeb did not mention those points is because
they are bunch of liars trying to manipulate the
people and to tilt the very principle of democracy
through distorted information.
That beauzeau Chris Hedges was at it again. This time it was a book about Gaza. Tom Palaima takes his book apart with a hacksaw.
JPost. Registration reqâd.
A court case has begun in Jordan involving 13 people who are accused by the kingdom of planning military attacks on US interests. The group of defendants include three Saudis â who are to be tried in absentia â and Jordanian Muslim cleric Muhammad Chalabi, also known as Abu Sayyaf.
Catchy nom de guerre. If I was an Islamic fanatic, I'd probably use that one, too. Everybody else does.
The pro-government daily al-Rai newspaper, quoting the official list of charges, said the group initially wanted to go to Afghanistan to fight US troops there.
"Hey, Abu Sayyaf! Let's go to Afghanistan and pot some Merkins!"
"When the group found difficulty in travelling to Afghanistan they swapped the idea of travelling there with a plan to carry out the same attacks on Jordanian land," al-Rai said.
"Whaddya mean, 'you can't get there from here'? Cheeze. Why'n't we just kill somebody here at home?"
A school the Pentagon relied on to train Muslim military chaplains is under investigation for possible ties to al-Qaida, ABC News reported Tuesday. Just when they thought it couldnât get worse..
For the last six years, the Pentagon used an unaccredited school in Leesburg, Va., to train and certify most of its 13 Muslim chaplains. Unaccredited? I had to attend accredited schools to get my CCAF degree, but these guys get to be officers?
But in the last 18 months, the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences also has been part of a federal investigation into possible financial ties to al-Qaida, ABC reported. I wonder if the FBI told the military?
One of the chaplains mentioned in correspondence between the Pentagon and the school is Army Capt. James Yee, who was arrested by military authorities last week over possible security breaches at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba.
In an April 2000 letter obtained by ABC, the schoolâs executive dean, Ahmed Alwani, wrote to the office of the Armyâs Chief of Chaplains saying while Yee was never a student at the school, the academic qualifications he had earned elsewhere were the equivalent of courses offered at the facility. "Yes, we just transferred his credits from Jihadi University in Damascus."
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 3:08:56 PM ||
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Heh Heh - 2 today!
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 15:58 Comments ||
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#3
2 for you and 1 for Fred. But never fear, the Steve Front for Beer and Call for Pizza will return!
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 16:10 Comments ||
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#4
It is too early to see the breadth and depth of the damage to Gitmo by all the recent revelations of the duplicity of the RoPâ¢. However, this mess may be a blessing in disguise because it shows everyone what kind of people we are up against. So let the truth will out, and it, in a colvoluted way, will make us free.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/30/2003 16:21 Comments ||
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#5
A school the Pentagon relied on to train Muslim military chaplains is under investigation for possible ties to al-Qaida, ABC News reported Tuesday.
Wouldn't have been better to probe the school before commissioning chaplains into teh military?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/30/2003 20:26 Comments ||
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A Tunisian has crashed a van into a perimeter wall of the United States embassy in Tunis, in what he said was an attempt to commit suicide.
"I just couldn't take it no more..."
Nabil bin Jab Allah, 39, âhad set light to a gas canister but was only slightly injuredâ when his van caught fire after slamming into the embassy wall overnight on Monday, said officials on Tuesday.
"Ouch! Ooch! Ow! Hot! Argh! My lap!"
Bin Jab Allah told investigators that he âwanted to commit suicide after he failed to obtain a visa which would have allowed him to return to the United States and be with his American wifeâ.
"Maudette! I pine for you!"
"Why wouldn't you give him a visa?"
"He's too emotional."
Consular staff confirmed to AFP that there had been an accident outside the embassy premises overnight, but made no further comment.
"Ummm... Yup. That's what happened, all right..."
The perimeter wall bore no signs of the accident on Tuesday, but security had been stepped up outside the embassy.
Dontcha hate that, when the wall's sturdier than the car?
Two extra police cars and members of Tunisiaâs national guard were deployed, along with the usual security outside the embassy, which lies on the road linking Tunis to the northern suburb of La Marsa.
"Park here, Mahmoud, and wait for awhile. He might have relatives."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2003 15:01 ||
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Bin Jab Allah told investigators that he âwanted to commit suicide after he failed to obtain a visa which would have allowed him to return to the United States and be with his American wifeâ.
Well that was brilliant. I wonder who was gullible enough to marry this winner?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 15:59 Comments ||
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#3
Looks like the officer in charge of Visas made the right decision on turning down this one.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/30/2003 16:15 Comments ||
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#4
Couple of pointers for my main man:
1. Just run the van in the garage with the door closed. You'll go quietly without annoying the rest of us.
2. If you must drive into a wall to make a specatacle of yourself, disconnect the airbags and unbuckle the seat belt.
3. Buy a motorcycle; they are easier to total. Running into a wall at speed on a murdercycle will enure that you are treated to a close casket funneral. Go with the leather jacket and no helmet model. Take a picture of yourself wearing dark sunglasses before you take the fatal ride so that your honey can remember you looking cool.
Personally, I am against assisted suicide, but this guy's effort was pitiful. He needs some help.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/30/2003 20:08 Comments ||
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The oil-rich but mentally politically unstable nation of Venezuela is emerging as a potential hub of terrorism in the Western Hemisphere, providing assistance to Islamic radicals from the Middle East and other terrorists, say senior U.S. military and intelligence officials. Bush administration aides see this as an unpredictably dangerous mix and are gathering more information about the intentions of a country that sits 1,000 miles south of Florida.
One thing thatâs clear is that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is fast becoming Americaâs newest nemesis, U.S. officials say. He has forged close ties with Cubaâs Fidel Castro and has befriended some of Americaâs other notorious enemies, traveling to Saddamâs Iraq and Qadhafiâs Libya. Now, after surviving an attempted coup and a nationwide petition demanding his recall, Chavez is flirting with terrorism, and Washington is watching with increasing alarm.
"We are not disinterested spectators," says Roger Noriega, the new assistant secretary of state for Latin America. "Any actions that undermine democratic order or threaten the security and well-being of the region are of legitimate concern to all of Venezuelaâs neighbors." U.S. officials are monitoring three sets of developments:
Middle Eastern terrorist groups are operating support cells in Venezuela and other locations in the Andean region. A two-month review by U.S. News, including interviews with dozens of U.S. and Latin American sources, confirms the terrorist activity. In particular, the magazine has learned that thousands of Venezuelan identity documents are being distributed to foreigners from Middle Eastern nations, including Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, and Lebanon.
Venezuela is supporting armed opposition groups from neighboring Colombia; these groups are on the official U.S. list of terrorist organizations and are also tied to drug trafficking. Maps obtained by U.S. News, as well as eyewitness accounts, pinpoint the location of training camps used by Colombian rebels, a top rebel leader, and Venezuelan armed groups.
Cubans are working inside Venezuelaâs paramilitary and intelligence apparatus. The coordination between Cuba and Venezuela is the latest sign that Venezuelan President Chavez is modeling his government on Castroâs Cuba.
The Venezuelan government denies supporting Middle Eastern terrorist groups and says that no Cubans are operating inside its intelligence agencies. Venezuela has long denied providing aid to the Colombian guerrilla groups.
Venezuela is providing support--including identity documents--that could prove useful to radical Islamic groups, say U.S. officials. U.S. News has learned that Chavezâs government has issued thousands of cedulas, the equivalent of Social Security cards, to people from places such as Cuba, Colombia, and Middle Eastern nations that play host to foreign terrorist organizations. An American official with firsthand knowledge of the ID scheme has seen computer spreadsheets with names of people organized by nationality. "The list easily totaled several thousand," the official says. "Colombians were the largest group; there were more than a thousand of them. It also included many from Middle Eastern `countries of interestâ like Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon." The official adds: "It was shocking to see how extensive the list was." U.S. officials believe that the Venezuelan government is issuing the documents to people who should not be getting them and that some of these cedulas were subsequently used to obtain Venezuelan passports and even American visas, which could allow the holder to elude immigration checks and enter the United States. U.S. officials say that the cedulas are also being used by Colombian subversives and by some Venezuelan officials to travel surreptitiously.
Hmmm... That might be the most tasteless headline I've ever written...
A Moroccan court has sentenced twin teenagers to five years in jail for plotting attacks in the north African country. The twins' co-defendant, 14-year-old Hakima Rijlane, was acquitted on the same charge by judges at the juvenile court in Rabat on Tuesday.
"Get the hell out of my courtroom, Hakima, and don't let me see you back here!"
The three girls had been arrested earlier this month and were accused of plotting with 18 adult accomplices to carry out attacks in a Rabat supermarket and against the royal family. Prosecutors had called for maximum penalties in the trial of the twins, named by a local newspaper as Imane and Sanae al-Ghariss.
AKA The Twins of Delight, from their hooker days...
The twins are also accused of contemplating a plot against Moroccoâs King Muhammad VI.
Couldn't just stop with blowing up a grocery store or two...
The three girls were tried in a juvenile court, separately from their alleged adult accomplices.
Since the adults aren't juveniles...
The juveniles will likely be sent to a young offendersâ institution, then to an adult prison when they reach 18, to serve out the rest of their sentence. The defence pleaded for leniency in light of what they said was the difficult social environment in which the girls had grown up and the alleged exploitation by the girlsâ suspected adult accomplices of their âyouth and naiveteâ.
Meaning when they weren't firing them up with hellfire and brimstone they were doinking them...
The twinsâ mother, Rashida TâRiae, accused one of the girlsâ alleged accomplices, a plumber named Abd al-Kadar Labsir, of having influenced the twins.
And where the hell were you all the while, Rashida?
In Mondayâs closed-door hearing, the twins admitted to five juvenile court judges that they had planned to blow themselves up in public places, said defence lawyer Saad Guennou. One of them planned to explode herself in the wines and spirits section of the a supermarket.
Next to the peculiarly Islamic checkout counter...
The third accused girl, Hakima Rijlane, had denied any involvement in the plans.
"Shucks, no! Wudn't me. Wanna see my dimple?"
The twinsâ mother on Monday thanked Muslim cleric Rashid Nafae, who preaches at a mosque in the poor neighbourhood where the twins live, and to whom the girls allegedly wrote to ask if carrying out a suicide attack would be in line with Islamic teachings.
"Are you two twits outta your minds?"
Nafae replied it would not and informed the authorities who arrested them in early September, days before the girls planned to carry out the attacks, said police. âIf the preacher had not denounced them, there would have been a tragedy,â said their mother. A local newspaper said that the twins had dabbled in begging and prostitution in Rabat before being âfascinatedâ by the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States.
That's what the world needs: more teenage Islamic exploding hookers...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2003 14:53 ||
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A Muslim cleric stopping terrorism? Stop the presses!
#2
"First we're gonna blow ourselves up in the grocery store, then we're gonna blow up at the Palace, then we're gonna blow up at the...."
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 15:41 Comments ||
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#3
Makes a lot of sense. As hookers, they would have been condemned to hell for eternity for their moral transgressions. As martyrs slaughtering infidels, they would have been guaranteed a place in paradise. Of course, you have to be moronic enough to take the risk of martyrdom in the face of any deity whose existence is a matter of faith alone.
#4
Of course, you have to be moronic enough to take the risk of martyrdom in the face of any deity whose existence is a matter of faith alone.
Not to mention martyrdom in the name of a deity that supposedly supports suicide bombings, when the majority of deities of all the other major (and minor) religions of the world explicitly condemn suicide. Only a few less condemn murder.
#5
Wonder what Islamic girl martyrs get in the afterlife? 72 John Holmes's?
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
09/30/2003 17:21 Comments ||
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#6
I actually saw this mentioned somewhere. IIRC, they get whoever they married and their pick of several (not as high as 72) unattached Muslim guys that didn't earn virgin access rights.
Hat tip to drudge
A school the Pentagon relied on to train Muslim military chaplains is under investigation for possible ties to al-Qaeda, ABC News reported Tuesday. gee? dâya think?
For the last six years, the Pentagon used an unaccredited school in Leesburg, Va., to train and certify most of its 13 Muslim chaplains. But in the last 18 months, the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences also has been part of a federal investigation into possible financial ties to al-Qaida, ABC reported. One of the chaplains mentioned in correspondence between the Pentagon and the school is Army Capt. James Yee, who was arrested by military authorities last week over possible security breaches at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. In an April 2000 letter obtained by ABC, the schoolâs executive dean, Ahmed Alwani, wrote to the office of the Armyâs Chief of Chaplains saying while Yee was never a student at the school, the academic qualifications he had earned elsewhere were the equivalent of courses offered at the facility.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 2:50:07 PM ||
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A battle between Chechen separatists and Russian troops raged for a third day in eastern Chechnya on Tuesday, ahead of a controversial presidential poll in the war-torn republic. At least two soldiers were killed when the firefight first broke out at dawn near the town of Alleroy on Sunday, after a remote-control bomb exploded in front of a military column, a spokesman with the Russian Interior Ministry said. Four soldiers were wounded and taken to a hospital at a Russian military base north of the capital Grozny, he said.
"Grozny" is Russian for "terrible." Really.
Following the explosion, the column was bombarded with grenades and returned fire, he said. By Tuesday morning, about 1500 soldiers had been sent to the area to crush the 40 fighters the military said were holed up there. The Russian military said three soldiers and 13 fighters were killed, but the separatists said six soldiers and two fighters died in the fighting. Access to the area has been barred. Alleroy is the birthplace of Aslan Maskhadov, a separatist commander who fought Russian forces during the first Chechen war in 1994-1996, and who was elected president of a de facto independent Chechnya in 1997.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/30/2003 14:42 ||
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You know, the funny thing is, Moscow could care less if the fighting in Chechnya continues for a hundred years. That's the difference between Moscow and Washington. The Washington administration embarked on a war against terrorism with the goal of crippling the entire global infrastructure, including cutting off the heads at the top (or atleast they are trying to). Unless Moscow does the same thing, Grozny will continue to be the bombed-out-bullet-ridden capital of the world.
Posted by: Rafael ||
09/30/2003 19:54 Comments ||
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Scrappleface again
(2003-09-30) -- Retired General Wesley Clark, who recently said he believes in time travel, today announced that he has won the 2004 election, and re-election in 2008. "Iâve been to the future, and Iâm sitting in the big chair in the Oval Office," said the retired four-star general. "In 2013, I signed a $14 million book deal and broke ground on my presidential library." Mr. Clark refused to reveal further details about his future political victories, referring inquiries instead to future White House Press Secretary Clinton.
#1
Well General Clark is getting well deserved ridicule for saying he believes in faster than light travel. However, one set of theories using a little used solution to Maxwell's equations, do require photons to go faster than the speed of light.
#2
The Wired article has been changed...
The part about time travel was an error on the reporter's part.
As are as FTL is concerned, neither 'Tachyons' nor 'Warp' have been proven impossible.
Relativity doesn't say that FTL is impossible, it simply says that you don't get there by going faster.
I helped remedy the reporter's error. Reading the Clark quotes, I couldn't see where time-travel entered into the story. Here was my e-mail:
>I'm no fan of Clark's (to put it mildly).
>I disagree with your interpretation of his words as
> indicating he believes
>in the possibility of time travel. I take his
> words as meaning he
>believes faster-than-light (FTL) is possible. That
> is a very different belief.
>
>Relativity does not preclude FTL per se. It only
> states that you cannot
>achieve it by simply going faster. If FTL is
> possible, it is equally
>likely that it could be achieved from 'standing
> still'.
>
>In summary, while I believe that Gen. Clark has at
> least his share of
>loose screws, I don't think he's quite as crazy as
> your article seems to
>indicate.
I believe that any improvement in the accuracy of reporting is a good thing.
#3
Proven impossible? Can you prove a negative now?
The Lorentz transformation does seem to indicate that, since distance in space = distance in time (c being constant), FTL travel does involve moving backwards in time. That's one of the "little problems", along with having infinite mass and 0 length...
#5
The Lorentz Transform is a tool for translating the space-time coordinates of events from one inertial frame to another. It does not in any way describe the actual events.
Einstein's equations produce a number of interesting results. All mass we know of exists in the vc with imaginary mass. Typically, these are called Tachyons. Nobody has ever found one, nor is there any solid evidence that they cannot exist. There are simply no good models for how they would interact with solid matter.
I don't think Clark is actually all that far out on a limb on this one. It's my understanding that NASA is actually devoting some small amount of money to researching various possible techniques.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt released 900 goonsthugsIslamogunnies members of an Islamic militant group that killed 58 tourists in 1997 and helped plot the murder of president Anwar Sadat, security sources said on Tuesday.
Analysts said that freeing so many members of the outlawed al-Gamaâa al-Islamiya (Islamic Group), whose jailed leaders renounced violence six years ago, would help the movement gain a political voice and could strengthen the hand of more moderate Islamists in the Arab worldâs most populous country.
News of the mass release came two days after Egypt announced it had freed Karam Zuhdi, the influential head of al-Gamaâaâs policy-making Shura council.
The security sources said the 900 included other leaders such as Mamdouh al-Youssef as well as rank-and-file members, but were not able to say exactly when they were set free.
One of the sources saw a strong chance for other members of al-Gamaâaâs Shura council to be freed in the next few days.
"This shows the Egyptian government is sure now there is no threat of problems from the group. They are sure of its transformation from violence to a political group," said Diaa Rashwan, an expert on Islamic militant groups at the Cairo-based al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
Al-Gamaâaâs violent history stretched back for decades before jailed leaders, including Zuhdi, called for a truce in 1997, dividing the movement. Several al-Gamaâa leaders were imprisoned for their role in Sadatâs 1981 assassination.
The group also participated in a six-year campaign in the 1990s to overthrow Egyptâs government and install an Islamist regime, and gained infamy for the murder of 58 tourists in the town of Luxor in 1997 by a faction opposed to the cease-fire.
There have been no militant attacks in Egypt since then. Could tehre be a connection?
Rashwan said over 5,000 al-Gamaâa members had been released since the cease-fire, with human rights groups estimating that about 10,000 members remain in jail.
Egyptâs official MENA news agency said on Sunday that Zuhdi was freed because he "had completed his term in prison" but also cited humanitarian reasons, saying he suffered health problems.
Analysts said it was more likely he was released to allow his more moderate views to influence budding Islamists.
They say that although Egyptâs tough crackdown on militancy has wiped out the organizational capacity of Islamic groups, the Islamic world has become more radicalized since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and the U.S.-led war on terror, giving birth to a new generation of potential militants.
Partial transcript with Richardâs thoughts supplied by me
Per Richard Boucher, Spokesman Washington, DC September 29, 2003
MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I donât have any particular statements or announcements, so Iâd be glad to take your questions. Oh God, here we go again....
QUESTION: Do you have any comment on the Chinese preparations for a manned space flight?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, obviously, itâs -- a Chinese -- Space flight? China? Sweet Jesus what are these people talking about?
QUESTION: A stunning event --
QUESTION: Was that NASA?
QUESTION: That was a stunned reaction.
(Laughter.)Evil communist reporter laughter, that is
MR. BOUCHER: It shows you how excited we are about it...A Chinese manned space flight would obviously be an important event in space launch history and we wish them every success and we wish their astronauts a safe return. I really could use a whiskey sour right nowOkay. Follow-up?
QUESTION: Do you have any concerns that it might have military implications?
MR. BOUCHER: I donât have anything right now. Of course there are military implications, you dullards! Have any of you ever been to China?
QUESTION: Currently, the U.S. has missile technology control regimes, and other export controls regulations prevent the transfers of, like, space launch technology to China. And we know that in May, State Department imposed a $32 million fine on Boeing for supplying China the rocket and satellite data. Can you tell us the U.S. policy in this area?
MR. BOUCHER: U.S. policy has been and will continue to be to meet international standards ourselves with regard to what we might sell, and to look to China to meet international standards with regard to missile exports. Those crazy bastards will sell weapons and weapons technology to just about anybody, you idiots! Donât you read your own papers?
Itâs important to us that all nations in the world cooperate and prevent nations from acquiring missile technology that can improve their ability to deliver weapons of mass destruction and other armaments at great distances. So there is an international control regime that we participate in, and that we have looked to China to apply -- the regime -- or at least similar restrictions to that.
China said numerous times it would do so. Where we have found that China has not done so or Chinese firms have exported materials that would contravene Chinaâs own stated intentions, we have also imposed sanctions and restrictions under U.S. law, and will continue to follow our law.
QUESTION: Can you comment on the potential for the U.S. and China to cooperate in the manned space exploration?
MR. BOUCHER: I donât think I can comment on that at this point. Iâd have to leave that to NASA or somewhere else. Anybody but me! The Chinese is space.... God, maybe Dennis Kukunich is right! Iâm off for that whisky sour before the nukes start to fall like rain drops....
I'm currently away from being able to send email, and I figured others might want to know too... this is the only web site I know of run by an alleged former spook. So Mr. Pruitt... what do you think is the truth in the current controversy about the former Amb. Wilson and his wife? Looking at other websites, there seems to be a great deal of heat and very little light. I've seen conflicting accounts as to whether Ms. Plame was supposed to be a covert agent, whether her identity actually was covert, and who might have leaked it. Do you care to comment yet? Or are you waiting for more details?
Per my comment, below, I have no opinion â few hard facts and not a lot of interest in the matter on my part. However, if Mrs. Ambassador was an operations type in deep cover, she didn't pick a very inconspicuous persona, did she?
#1
If Fred tells you, he'll have to kill you--so, Fred, please don't post your answer here! Think of the children! Oh, the humanity!
Posted by: Dar ||
09/30/2003 13:20 Comments ||
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#2
Sorry to disappoint, but I have no opinion. If she's an operative, somebody should go to jail for divulging sources and methods. If she's an analyst -- closest I ever got to being a spook, and I wasn't with CIA -- it's a tempest in a teapot. Novak has said he wasn't tipped by the White House, and most of the other things I've read have been speculation or hyperbole.
Wilson sounds like a politically motivated weasel who got a politically motivated slap back. But it's not WoT, so I'm not very interested.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/30/2003 13:42 Comments ||
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#3
Point opf order: She is not an operative as the Dems would like to believe. She is simply an employee of the CIA (A weapons analyst) but a civil servant. Mr. Novak has stated (at least twice by this time) that there 'WAS NO LEAK FROM THE WHITE HOUSE.' Since it was Mr Novak that published the name of Ms. Plame he would be in a position to know. This is another mole-hill/mountain conspiracy scenario made up by the left. Also Mr. Wilson has also stated that he (LIED) made up the Karl Rove connection. Can't anyone sue for slander anymore?
Posted by: John F. Kerry (French looking Vietnam Vet) ||
09/30/2003 14:11 Comments ||
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#4
This blog speculates logically that Ms. Plame was a collections management officer. Apparantly, this role serves as a bridge between intelligence officers who run agents and the analysts who need to know stuff. It might explain the confusion regarding whether she was an analyst or field officer.
Interestingly Ambassador Wilson's bio from his Saudi funded think tank (an oxymoron if ever there was one) mentions his wife and family by name so it is doubtful that her maiden name was her cover name abroad (not that that would make much sense anyway).
I suspect that she worked her way up the ladder as a CMO and is now a higher ranking official who will never have to return to the field. That would explain why the leaker thought it was no big deal to release her name as she was just another CIA official to him/her and not some sort of undercover asset. It would also explain why the CIA did not lean to hard on Novak not to reveal her employer.
Even if no damage was done, we need to make an example out of somebody as such sloppiness is not acceptable in wartime. I am also concerned that a ranking CIA WMD expert would be married to a guy who is so outspokenly hostile to US policy. If I were a counterintel type, I would wonder what she told her hubby before he went to meet with his Saudi funded buddies.
#5
This is just another ploy by the Dems to attack the President on the WOT in the Iraqi theater. The dems need to be roundly defeated in the coming elections, both in Congress and in the Presidency. The Republicans need to grow a set of cojones and LEAD THE COUNTRY. The dems see what they perceive as a soft underbelly of weakness, and they are probing with a dagger.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/30/2003 14:34 Comments ||
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#6
Thanks for the comments. You're right, that is an atypical cover.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/30/2003 14:45 Comments ||
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#7
In case you want the link to Mr. Wilson's comments: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/9/29/143328.shtml
"In one speech I gave out in Seattle not too long ago, I mentioned the name Karl Rove," Wilson told GMA. "I think I was probably carried away by the spirit of the moment."
So another 'Made for Democrats' conspiracy has been put to rest.
#8
Mr, John F. Kerry (French Looking Vietnam Vet) I think you misread Novak's statements about NO LEAK FROM THE WHITE HOUSE. Novak said he was not phoned by the white house but a high ranking official dropped the info during an interview and a second high ranking official confirmed in a followup interview and the CIA confirmed in further followup.
That's not the blanket denial you're making it out to be. He doesn't say how high ranking the officials are or even if they are officials with the US or Niger government but he never said there was no leak.
#10
Yank, Novak said that it was the CIA that named Wilson's wife as a CIA EMPLOYEE (Not a SPY, a civil servant). Also it was Mr Wilson who admitted he lied about the accusation (vis-a-vis Karl Rove). Points to take home: 1) far from a 'conspiracy' there were no laws broken and 2) the Dems (Sad Sad Tom) have overblown this. They really need a new playbook the old one is too well worn.
But sources told CNN that Plame works in the CIA's Directorate of Operations -- the part of the agency that spies on others -- and was in the field for many years as an undercover officer.
"If she were only an analyst, not an operative, we would not have filed a crimes report" with the Justice Department," a senior intelligence official said.
I still think the CMO theory I mentioned in a previous comment best fits the fact pattern, since CMO's apparantly are in the DO and are often female.
Still, this might be getting ugly in that it looks like disenchanted CIA types are taking advantage of this incident to weaken the Bush administration politically.
It's no secret that many in the agency object to the aggressive approach to the WOT we favor here at Rantburg. I suppose our (and essentially Bush's) approach makes it tougher for them to get cooperation from various intelligence agencies in the Middle East. Some jackass in the Bush admin just gave these guys an opening to tarnish our WOT policies. Hope I'm wrong.
#12
"A Guardian reporter said that other reporters have named...." Cheezus k. Reist - so this is how news is generated? Sounds more like a playground on an all-girls school.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/30/2003 18:58 Comments ||
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#13
Been a collections manager, so I can make some pretty informed comments on this. Basically, there are two jobs a collections manager performs: determining what collections are possible, and how to schedule them most economically, and verifying that a particular collection requirement has been met. It takes a knowledge of how various types of intelligence is collected, and what constitutes a successful collection. I dealt with imagery. A friend of mine dealt with humint. Another acquaintance used to work with sigint. Collections management was the same in each case, just the type of intelligence varied.
The only "sensitive" portion of the job is that you're dealing not only with collections means, but also are determining which collection has priority. The latter can give a counter-intel guy a lot of information on what your government considers to be its biggest threats, and also give you an indication of when counter-intelligence activities have failed. It's a hard job, and it often drives people to drink, which is why the Air Force doesn't keep anyone in collections managerment more than a couple of years before moving them.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/30/2003 20:07 Comments ||
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#14
Old Patriot
I saw Daschle and Pelosi on the news saying that this was the most appropriate case they had ever seen for an independent cousel. While I am not against the appointment of an independent counsel in this case, I always felt that Filegate was one of the more serious breeches of security I had ever seen short of what seems to happen routinely at Los Alamos. Do you think that this is as serious as Filegate?
I would like to see an independent counsel only if establishing one will allow FBI assets to remain focussed on teerorism.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/30/2003 20:43 Comments ||
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#15
A republican sits in the White House and the Independent Counsel comes back in vogue among Democrats. How surprising. Someone should get Ken Starr on the phone...
#16
Independent counsel for what? What security has been breeched? What laws have been broken? The CIA publishes a Fact Book every year that lists all its Washington/McLean staff, by job title. Seems to me someone is trying to make a criminal charge here, but doesn't have the necessary criminal acts being committed. If there's been no crime (and certainly, there doesn't SEEM to have been one), then all of this is political maneuvering to try to 'score points'. It's stupidity at its lowest. The person that is pushing this should get an axehandle across the bottom and told to grow up and stop whining.
When I was in Germany the second time, someone got a list of US operatives in East Germany and sold it to one of the major European papers. They were smart enough to return the list to the US government, and the guy that sold it was "imposed upon". Otherwise, it could have been the death of up to sixty people. No one is going to kill the Ambassador's wife because she's a collections manager for the CIA. It's not a state secret. It's not anyone's life on the line. The Ambassador is probably perturbed because there could be some indication of impropriety on HIS part. The whole thing is overblown and way, way over-reported.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/30/2003 23:15 Comments ||
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edited by me for length
Excitement and tension is mounting as the liftoff of the first ever Chinese manned spaceflight is rapidly approaching. Barring from major technical issues and inclement weather, the historic Shenzhou-5 mission (SZ-5, Shenzhou means "Divine Vessel" or "Magic Vessel") would likely be launched between Oct. 11 and 17, Wen Wei Po reported here last Wednesday (Sept. 24).
Unidentified sources told the newspaper that the widely reported launch date of Oct. 10 was "a speculation [and] incorrect." Itâs no secret to those who are "concerned" about China that they have been putting together a pretty impressive (by 1960âs standards) space program over the last decade. This is the crucial moment for that program.
These sources added that based on the current status of the launch preparation and the average weather conditions at this time of the year, the daytime liftoff would happen "within a week after Oct. 10."
Launch processing has been progressing well. Lin Wenjie, a designer of the control system on the Changzheng-2F (CZ-2F, or Long March-2F) rocket, told Wenzhou Evening News on Sept. 17 that launch processing crews at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre (JSLC) in the northwestern Gansu Province had just completed the integration of SZ-5 with CZ-2F.
Both SZ-5 and its CZ-2F launcher, which the former President Jiang Zemin dubbed "Shenjian" ("Divine Arrow" or "Magic Arrow"), arrived at the Chinese manned flight spaceport in late August. The two vehicles underwent integration and further testing in a vertical fashion at the massive Vertical Assembly and Testing Building (VATB).
The launcher had passed all three stages of testing prior to integrating with SZ-5. The first stage involved testing of five major electrical subsystems on CZ-2F: control system, utility system, telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) system.
The second stage included coupling tests to verify the working of various subsystems together.
The last stage was a comprehensive testing of the entire rocket.
Due to the significance of the mission the General Armament Department of the Peopleâs Liberation Army (PLA), which has the sole responsibility for the launch of SZ-5, has implemented unprecedented strict security measures.
A successful SZ-5 mission would elevate China to join the exclusive club of becoming the third nation with the capability of launching its own people into space in its own rocket.
Yang Chen Ning, the first Chinese scientist to receive a Nobel Physics prize (in 1957), said that even though Russia and U.S. had long achieved manned spaceflight, the research and development of SZ-5 and its successful launch would carry a very significant meaning to China in two aspects.
In an interview with the local newspaper Ta Kung Po on Sept. 16, Dr. Yang said that the making and launching of a manned Shenzhou spacecraft would signify a great achievement and a new height in the development of science and technology in China. Top of the world, Ma!
Dr. Yang also said that a successful mission would raise the prestige of China and increase the self-confidence of its people. He believes that this kind of intangible benefits should receive more consideration than the actual results of the mission. Look guys, communism does work! Kinda.
Chinese all over the world are eagerly awaiting the launch of SZ-5. The dragon descendants have long sought to reach space. The dream is alive and perhaps in two weeks it will become a reality. Dream? Dream of.... what exactly? Nevemind: we already know.
#1
Hope they have as good a recovery system as they THINK they have launch system. Going up isn't the hard part - even Orville & Wilbur knew that. It's the coming back down in one piece that's the real prize winner. We'll wait and see...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/30/2003 16:07 Comments ||
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#2
The real significance of this mission isn't the guy they send into space - it's the commitment they're demonstrating in reaching for the ultimate high ground. From a defense perspective, this Chinese effort bears watching. We need to revive funding for NASA and put some real money into Space Command so that it's not simply a glorified talking shop for new ideas.
#3
I wonder if the Chinese will make the same mistake as the Russians and forget about pressurizing precautions. I sure hope they do!
Posted by: Charles ||
09/30/2003 21:51 Comments ||
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#4
I wonder if the Chinese will make the same mistake as the Russians and forget about pressurizing precautions. I sure hope they do!
I doubt they'll make the same mistake, largely because the people working on the project are largely former employees of the Russian space program. Not that you'll see Russian faces in any official Chinese photo-ops - after all, the Chinese have their racial pride to think about.
Hat tip to Drudge
Three men caught with camera equipment on the grounds surrounding the nuclear power plant were arrested and interrogated by federal and local authorities. The trio, who police say came to the United States as teenagers from Iran, were spotted at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Saturday morning walking along a restricted beach near the plant. They were arrested on trespassing charges. The men told authorities they were hiking. uh huh...in those shoes?
"It sounded at first a little ominous," said David F. Tarantino, spokesman for Entergy, owner of the plant. "The beach is very difficult to navigate. It is not like a stroll along a sandy beach. It is a beach with big boulders and rocks. It is really a tough exercise to navigate." The men told authorities they were touring Plymouth, he said. "They said they like to hike and they were hiking along the shore," he said. Fariborz Motamedi, 42, of 23 Panettieri Drive, Lakeville; Amir M. Lashgari, 41, of 2001 Marina Drive, Quincy, and Hamid H. Ahmadi, 49, of 7 Brahman Drive, Norton, were arrested, charged and later released after extensive questioning by authorities.
Attempts to reach the three men this morning were unsuccessful. A phone number listed to Motamedi in Taunton was disconnected and there was no listing for him in Lakeville. There was no phone listing for Ahmadi in Norton. The number of Lashgari in Quincy was nonpublished.
Plant security staff first noticed the three men as they neared the posted restricted area and stopped them when they got in, Tarantino said. "They had been under constant surveillance," he said. Plymouth police and the FBI were called in and digital camera equipment the men had with them was confiscated, he said. Authorities examined all the photographs, he said. There were no known photographs of the plant taken, he said. The men told police they parked at White Horse Beach and hiked onto the grounds. Police said the men had been in town before in the last two weeks. Tarantino said security surrounding the plant has been increased since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. There have been several arrests of people who have crossed into the restricted area, either by land or water, he said. Those cases included a person in a kayak who landed on the beach and fishermen who strayed into restricted waters. "Our policy is to arrest," Tarantino said of anyone who strays into the restricted area surrounding the plant. shoot first might be better? maybe not...but at least surveillance and securityâs working
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 12:34:48 PM ||
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#1
2001 Marina Drive - about 1 mile from my old place. Does anyone remember the Ptech, Inc bust back in December? It's in the same area, a block or two from another, and it's not a low-rent district.
"They had been under constant surveillance," he said.
#2
Would have been nice to keep them under surveillance a little longer--to at least see what they were going to take pictures of particularly and what parts of the plant they were focussing on, and even possibly get them on a more serious charge. Now they'll probably just get small trespassing fines and released, although they'll likely be under surveillance everywhere for some time.
Posted by: Dar ||
09/30/2003 14:00 Comments ||
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#3
Sure do remember Ptech ... it caught my attention because I remember how much their software tools were used in the late 1990s.
#4
Do NOT f*ck around with nuclear facility security personnel: They are the meanest, deadliest, best paid civilian paramilitaries with some SWAT training. The NRC penetration tests facilities using Special Forces personnel on loan from the Pentagon, so if a facility passes, they're being guarded by some pretty competent people.
And unlike other security personnel in other jobs, they know that an attack on their workplace has the potential consequence of harming their families and friends, not to mention sending the property values of their homes plummeting. Talk about incentive to kick ass!
A Church member works as a guard at the local nuclear plant south of Vidalia, and he said that the nuke plants in Georgia were the first to pass the hightened standards Prior to the Olympic Games in Athens.
#5
Look at their ages. They would have been around 20 years old when the embassy was stormed. Their houses need to be searched on probable cause. They are dirty.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/30/2003 20:48 Comments ||
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Capital Flight Moving Faster, Survey Finds
by Kim Young-jin (hellojin@chosun.com)
Signs of capital flight have loomed larger recently, as overseas transfers of funds and expenses have shot up, and more ethnic Koreans overseas are taking out their financial reserves held in Korea. There are some Koreans that have a little bit of sense
According to a survey conducted by the Chosun Ilbo, the amount of "donation-style" fund transfers overseas from seven commercial banks in the first eight months of this year reached US$3.27 billion, approaching the US$3.74 billion in similar overseas transfers throughout last year. We are not quite ready to bow down to Lil Kimmmmeeee
A donation-type fund transfer refers to money sent overseas by Korean residents for living expenses or for housing purchases for family members living overseas. The survey showed that the amount of donation-type fund transfers has increased sharply, from US$1.1 billion in 2000 to US$2.23 billion in 2001. In addition, Koreans took out a total of US$417 million for their relocation abroad during the eight-month period, far surpassing the US$498 million in relocation funds taken out last year. Lil Kimeee with the Poof Hair is coming
A bank official said that on top of the snowballing money transfers abroad, a greater number of company workers in their late 30s have been immigrating overseas, taking a lot of relocation funds with them. We are not all totally stupid
Posted by: Michael ||
09/30/2003 10:21:53 AM ||
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#1
But where are they putting it? Canada, like the Hong Kong exodus?
#2
From what I hear, the top three destinations are the US, Canada and New Zealand with some even going to Brazil!
I know that the Korean population here in NY has really grown the last little while. My friend is an immigration attorney and he says the number of visas and residency applications from South Korea has skyrocketed the last two years. There are a lot of Korean out of status and illegals here as well, but the Government does nothing about them (and I have no problem with that, really) because theyâre productive and cause no problems.
Canada was Hong Kongâs primary choice because it was much easier to gain citizenship there compared to other countries. I think all you have to do is pay something like $250,000CAN (about $175,000US) bond and the residency is essentially yours. After the waiting period, many Hong Kongers went back as Canada is not such a good place to make money, especially compared to HK. Many HKers had this money, but Koreans donât so this isn't really an option for them.
A few more details, more later today after his hearing. EFL:
A prominent U.S. Muslim political activist has been arrested for making unauthorized trips to Libya and violating sanctions Washington had imposed on the Arab country, according to newly released court documents Monday, September 30. Adurahman Alamoudi made a brief appearance at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, one day after he was arrested at Dulles International Airport upon his return from an extended overseas trip. "He received, transferred and otherwise dealt in, funds from the Libyan permanent mission at the United Nations, an instrumentality of the government of Libya," Brett Gentrup, a special agent of the U.S. immigration service, was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) as summarizing the charges before the judge. Al-Amoudi was specifically charged with violating the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, which prohibits U.S. citizens from visiting Libya without special approval. He was also charged with violating a portion of the act that forbids U.S. citizens from receiving money from Libya. According to the affidavit, al-Amoudi made at least 10 trips to Libya using two American and one Yemeni passport. âThe stamps indicate al-Amoudi has been traveling to and from Libya regularly since May 2002 through July 2003 with the length of stay averaging approximately five days," said the affidavit. Multiple passports being SOP for muslim "activists".
It said British customs officials stopped al-Amoudi at Heathrow Airport last month when he was attempting to travel to Damascus, Syria. Syria, huh? Theyâve been in the news quite often lately.
They found and seized about $340,000 and questioned him. During the questioning, al-Amoudi explained to British investigators that he had received the money from a man "with a Libyan accent" and, in order to avoid U.S. Customs, was planning to deposit it in Saudi banks and then "feed it back" into the United States in smaller amounts. I do believe thatâs against the law as well.
âHe also recalled a 1997 conversation with a Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, who (allegedly) expressed readiness to pay al-Amoudi a commission if he succeeded to win release of some of the Libyan funds frozen in the wake of the Lockerbie bombing.â That would make him a unreported lobbyist, also illegal.
The affidavit claimed that al-Amoudi received funding from the Libyan mission at the United Nations, some of which was in connection with some of his trips to Libya. It said that law enforcement officials raided al-Amoudiâs house in Virginia in March as part of an investigation into financing of âterrorist groupsâ. Al-Amoudi was a visible player on the Washington political scene, as he has been received at the White House more than once and lavishly contributed to various politicians during the 2000 election campaign. All of whom gave the money back, except for former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney.
U.S. citizens are banned from any financial dealings or travel to Libya under sanctions imposed by former President Ronald Reagan in 1986 in response to bombings in Rome and Vienna, in which the North African nation was accused of playing a role. Earlier this month, the United Nations lifted sanctions slapped on Libya in the wake of a 1988 bombing of a Pan American airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. But the administration of President George W. Bush has kept the U.S. penalties in place. Looks like those sanctions wonât be coming off anytime soon.
The probe has uncovered that in addition to his U.S. passport, al-Amoudi, a naturalized U.S. citizen since 1996, had a Yemeni travel document, which he used for flights to Tripoli. Naughty, naughty.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 10:19:52 AM ||
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Sounds like he's violated his naturalization oaths, along with committing multiple crimes. Squeeze everything he has out and deport him to Yemen - at 25,000 feet. Asshole's a Hamas, Hezbollah, Syrian, and Libyan supporter...maybe the Israelis would like a shot at him?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 10:34 Comments ||
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#2
Do we get to burn his citizenship documents now? Or do we staple them to his forhead as we throw him out of a plane over Libya?
Posted by: Charles ||
09/30/2003 11:35 Comments ||
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#3
Is anyone else getting fed up w/dual passport holders?
Wonder if this has anything to do with NKâs threats - see below - possibly hoping this would encourage appeasement?
EFL/FU
South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun yesterday said he will quit the embattled Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) in a move widely expected after a group of parliamentarians loyal to him broke away to form a new party because of internal feuding.
The party's not big enough to hold their egos, huh?
âPresident Roh has decided to give up his MDP membership,â his spokesman Yoon Tai Young said, adding that legal steps would be taken soon to formalise Mr Rohâs departure from the party. Though a minority party in the National Assembly, the MDP has been considered the ruling party until now because of the Presidentâs membership. That will no longer be the case, Mr Yoon indicated, saying the party would no longer receive exclusive briefings on policy from the government. âI made up my mind to stop my MDP membership from causing any further political debate,â Mr Roh said through his spokesman, adding that he would stay aloof from party politics and concentrate on state affairs. The spokesman said Mr Roh would stand unaffiliated with any party, at least until the end of the year, although he has expressed sympathy for 37 reformist MDP lawmakers who bolted from the party nine days ago to form their own group. It is scheduled to be launched this week. His loyalists had struggled to reform the MDP, hit by corruption scandals and bitter factional bickering, ahead of parliamentary elections in April next year.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 10:09:44 AM ||
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He was elected on a totally anti
American platform. The majority of S Kor's voted for him because of that. The US needs to get the hell out and see if they like what the get when they get what they voted for.
This guy is a total disater in every aspect ot what he does.
Posted by: Michael ||
09/30/2003 10:34 Comments ||
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North Korea said it was taking âconcrete measuresâ to boost its nuclear capabilities, reiterating that it was no longer interested in holding further negotiations with the United States. Well, thatâs it, then. Start loading the B-1âs, B-2âs and B-52âs
A spokesman of the communist stateâs Foreign Ministry also told its official news agency KCNA late on Monday that if the US tried to force North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons programme before it provides Pyongyang with a non-aggression treaty, it would lead to âwarâ. âwarâ? How about war? Whatâs with the scare quotes?
North Korea has made the threats before, and its Stalinist government tends to escalate its harsh rhetoric when it wants to extract concessions before crucial talks with the US. "OK, how about ânoâ?"
The latest comments, monitored by South Korean news agency Yonhap on Tuesday, came as the US and others were trying to coax the North to return to six-nation nuclear talks that ended without agreement last month in Beijing. North Korea had already said it was no longer interested in further talks when the Beijing meeting ended a month ago without setting a date for the new round of talks. Sounds like the 150,000 Yalu campers need to have some military exercises?
The talks stalled over strident differences between the the two countries. Washington demands that North Korea first dismantle its nuclear programmes, while the North says it will do so only if the US signs a non-aggression treaty, provides economic aid and open diplomatic ties. "Give us money"
Aside from the two countries, the six-way talks comprised representatives from South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Tuesdayâs statement was the first time since early September that North Korea said it was already taking those measures. North Korea has 8,000 spent nuclear fuel rods, from which it can extract enough plutonium to build several atomic bombs within months. North Korea is already believed to have at least one or two bombs. Soon to get more delivered, apparently, via air freight USAF Fedex
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 10:04:37 AM ||
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I wonder what China is doing with the 150,000 troops they moved to the border? It would be interesting to know.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
09/30/2003 10:18 Comments ||
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#2
Washington demands that North Korea first dismantle its nuclear programmes, while the North says it will do so only if the US signs a non-aggression treaty, provides economic aid and open diplomatic ties.
#4
'Bout time to shut off that oil to NK, too, China? It's going to be cold enough soon with the dreaded NK winter coming on. Raise the heat (figuratively only) on Kimmy
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 12:02 Comments ||
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#5
Here's how we can help: we can irradiate their food supply....permanently.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
09/30/2003 13:08 Comments ||
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Israeli troops on Tuesday dynamited the home of a Palestinian gunman who killed two people, including a seven-month-old baby, in an attack on a West Bank settlement on the eve of the Jewish New Year. Quick action
Soldiers demolished the two-storey house that the militant, Mahmoud Hamdan, 21, had shared with his mother in the village of Dura near the West Bank city of Hebron. Hamdan infiltrated the Jewish settlement of Negohot on Friday night as Israelis sat down for festive holiday dinners marking Rosh Hashanah, or New Year. Knocking on the door of a trailer, he shot dead a man who opened it and killed a baby girl inside. Security forces guarding the settlement then killed Hamdan. Family members and Palestinian officials said he was a member of the Islamic Jihad group. Israel has routinely demolished the family homes of gunmen and suicide bombers during a three-year-old Palestinian uprising for independence. Israeli officials say the policy is meant to deter future attacks. Palestinians and human rights groups condemn the practice as collective punishment.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 9:57:52 AM ||
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The attack dealt a fresh blow to U.S.-backed peace plan stalled by a cycle of violence, including Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli air strikes on militant leaders.
A "fresh blow" can only happen when the entity being beaten is still alive.
#2
The "Road map" is currently flat-lining and everyone is trying too resussitate(Spelling?) it. Except the Paleo's who continue to incite retaliation from Isreal.
Posted by: Charles ||
09/30/2003 11:45 Comments ||
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#3
Israeli troops on Tuesday dynamited the home of a Palestinian gunman who killed two people, including a seven-month-old baby
A physician working as a translator at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was arrested Tuesday, authorities said, in the latest of a series of apprehensions that have raised questions about security at the center for terror suspects. Dennis Murphy, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the arrest came at Bostonâs Logan International Airport. A senior law enforcement official, discussing the case on grounds of anonymity, identified the suspect as Ahmed Mehalba. This source said that Mehalba had stopped in Boston Monday after arriving on a flight from Cairo. Wonder if he was in Egypt on "vacation", or he just changed planes there.
Agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement noticed documents that appeared to have come from the prison camp and that they suspected of being classified. The FBI was called in to interview Mehalba, who denied the documents were his, the official said. Iâm thinking that whoever is in charge of INFOSEC at Gitmo will soon be picking up trash at McMurdo Station.
After the interview, the FBI arrested Mehalba on charges of making false statements. He was being held in Boston and further charges are possible, said the official, who declined to describe the nature of the documents in Mehalbaâs possession. "I can say no more."
Army Lt. Col. Pamela Hart, a spokeswoman for the base, said last Friday that military authorities strengthened security at Guantanamo Bay in the wake of the arrests. She said that officials were making certain that restrictions on handling documents, making phone calls and sending e-mails are being followed. Something about a horse and a barn come to mind.
Posted by: Steve and Frank G ||
09/30/2003 9:36:56 AM ||
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#1
Damm, beat me by that much.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 9:38 Comments ||
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#2
I suggest that we train the detainees some basics in international sign laguage. It looks like there will be few translators left when this all shakes out.
#3
Bwahahahah! The conspiracy of Steve's cannot prevail! well, at least ....er...this time
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 9:41 Comments ||
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#4
A few more details: A civilian translator who worked at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp has been arrested, suspected of taking classified information from the camp where hundreds of suspects in the war on terror are being held. The latest arrest occurred Monday, when Ahmed Mehalba arrived at Boston's Logan Airport on a flight from Cairo. Homeland security, customs and border inspection agents decided to conduct a random search of Mehalba. According to senior government officials, after the request for a search, Mehalba began to act nervously. Officials said they discovered he was carrying CD-ROMs and other documents that appeared to contain classified information about the prison camp. Mehalba denied the documents were his, but this morning law enforcement and military officials are scrambling to figure out how far the security breaches at Guantanamo may go.
The old "It's not my stuff" routine wears thin after a while. Sounds like Homeland Security was on the ball this time. Unless they were tipped off to check our pal Ahmed.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 10:00 Comments ||
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#5
The FBI was called in to interview Mehalba, who denied the documents were his, the official said.
"Those are not mine, and I have no idea how those documents got into my bag."
#8
This is not looking good for the Muslims here in the US.
" You can trust us, we're not like the terrorists! That? Oh, that's just a.....glow in the dark box! Yeah..... "
Posted by: Charles ||
09/30/2003 11:40 Comments ||
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#9
If the Office of Homeland Security was doing its job--would he have arrived at Boston's Logan Airport on a flight from Cairo? Sounds like the damage is already done.
Posted by: Not Mike Moore ||
09/30/2003 11:51 Comments ||
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#10
More details on FoxNews: The suspect, identified as Ahmed Mehalba, was initially pulled aside by homeland security agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, who did a routine search and found military identification. He was routed for a second inspection. During that second inspection, agents found several CDs. When they asked Mehalba about them, he responded that the CDs were just music and videos, an official told Fox News. But one of them was labeled in reference to detainee information, an official said. Other documents in Mehalba's possession contained information about the prison camps. Some of them were labeled "secret," officials said. Because Mehalba appeared to have classified information about detainees at Gitmo, other authorities, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the Department of Homeland Security and the Boston Joint Terrorism Task Force responded and arrested Mehalba, DHS said in a statement. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts authorized the arrest.
Mehalba, who DHS officials said acted nervously when questioned, denied the documents were his, authorities said. Mehalba, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Egyptian descent, was stopped in Boston on Monday after arriving on a flight from Cairo, Egypt, via Milan, Italy. Mehalba is being charged with making false statements to government agents. The FBI is getting a warrant to search the computer found in his possession. He is being held in custody; an initial court appearance was scheduled for 2:30 EST Tuesday in Boston. The FBI is now getting warrant to search his computer. More charges are pending. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ricciuti in Boston refused to discuss the case. He would not say whether making false statements was the only charge against Mehalba or whether additional charges would be filed. Documents outlining Mehalba's arrest were sealed by Swartwood on Tuesday morning. Defense Department officials described Mehalba as a civilian contractor who provided translation services, but it was unclear if he had fulfilled his contract or was still working at the camp.
Another amateur spy, openly carrying documents marked "secret" and a CD with a label referencing detainees. How stupid can you get?
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 13:24 Comments ||
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#11
f the Office of Homeland Security was doing its job--would he have arrived at Boston's Logan Airport on a flight from Cairo? Sounds like the damage is already done.
JPost Reg Reqâd - AI loses all sense of morality Amnesty International issued a statement on the third anniversary of the outbreak of the Al Aqsa intifada, accusing both sides of wanton killing and claiming that all the peace initiatives so far have failed because they ignored human rights abuses. Condemned the killing of Paleo "collaborators" lately? Paleo children used as human shields? Storing of weapons and bomb factories in civilan residences? Thought not
According to Amnesty International, of the more than 2,200 Palestinians who have been killed over the past three years, 400 were children, while of 800 Israelis killed, 100 were children. Tens of thousands of civilians have been wounded, and many of them have been maimed for life. 400 Paleo "children"? Molotov and rock throwers as old as 18? I bet
"The vast majority of those killed and injured on both sides have been unarmed civilians and bystanders," wrote Amnesty. "Both sides have knowingly targeted civilians and shown utter disregard for the most basic principles of human rights and humanitarian law." The human rights organization charged that both sides were equally to blame for the civilian casualties. make me ill
"While claiming that it seeks to avoid harming the Palestinian population, the Israeli army tanks and aircraft continue to shell densely populated Palestinian refugee camps and residential areas, knowing that such reckless fire will cause heavy civilian casualties," wrote Amnesty International. "Palestinian armed groups, for their part, openly proclaim their determination to kill Israeli civilians. Suicide bombings and other attacks on buses and other public places carried out by Palestinian groups, including the armed wing of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, deliberately aim to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible.
Thereby making them identical with the Israelis, who... ummm... don't.
Amnesty International repeated its charges that the IDF commits a wide range of other human rights abuses. These include "the destruction of vast areas of cultivated land, factories, workshops and other private and public properties and stringent restrictions on the movement of Palestinians within the Occupied Territories [which] impose insurmountable obstacles on daily activities. Hundreds of checkpoints, closures and curfews make going to school, to work, for medical care or to visit relatives, burdensome if at all possible."
They kinda put a crimp in the movement of explosives, too...
The statement also criticized the separation barrier currently under construction by the Defense Ministry, which "cuts off Palestinian towns and villages from each other and/or their land and essential services." and cuts them off from their intended targets - Israeli civilians
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 9:26:10 AM ||
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#1
The statement also criticized the separation barrier currently under construction by the Defense Ministry, which "cuts off Palestinian towns and villages from each other and/or their land and essential services."
And what, pray tell, are these "essential services" that they would be cut off from? Seminars on how to strap on and operate a TNT belt? Palestinian Authority-provided explosives training? Department of Jihad counseling?
#2
Those folks at AI who are decent would change their tune if the Palis get their way. Those who aren't decent would demand that the Israelis load themselves onto the trains.
If the United States is unable to recruit significantly more international troops or quell the violence in Iraq in the next few months, it could trigger an exodus of active and reserve forces, the head of the U.S. Army Reserve said Monday.
Perhaps they should work on a recruiting campaign, then. I think there are probably lots of people who're patriotic enough to sign up who aren't impressed at the thought of garrison duty at Fort Riley when the shooting dies down. If I still bent in the middle, I'da done it a couple years ago...
Lt. Gen. James Helmly, chief of the 205,000-member Army Reserve, said he and other Pentagon leaders will be monitoring retention rates closely next year, when problems could begin to become apparent for full-time and part-time soldiers coming off long tours of duty in Iraq. "Retention is what I am most worried about. It is my No. 1 concern," Helmly told USA TODAYâs editorial board. "This is the first extended-duration war the country has fought with an all-volunteer force." Helmly described the war on terrorism as an unprecedented test of the 30-year-old all-volunteer military. Historically, he said, the National Guard and Reserve were designed to mobilize for big wars and then bring soldiers home quickly. Today, he said, they have "entered a brave new world" where large numbers of troops will have to be deployed for long periods.
Signing up for an extended stint in the regulars implies they get to keep you even when all the Bad Guys are dead. When you're no longer needed as a reservist, you get to go back to being a civilian most of the time. It has its attractions...
Counting training time and year-long tours in Iraq, some Army Reserve soldiers could be mobilized for 15 months or more. Helmly described the situation facing soldiers in Iraq as "stressed" but said he could not characterize it as at a "breaking point." The stresses facing the nationâs reservists were demonstrated again this week when the National Guard announced it had alerted a combat brigade from Washington state that it could be sent to Iraq next year if a third block of international troops cannot be recruited to join the British and Polish-led divisions now in Iraq. Guard officials said Monday that the 5,000-member 81st Army National Guard brigade from Washington state has been notified that it could be called to active duty.
This is the weekend warriors' opportunity to show they can pull their weight. It's also the regular army's opportunity to treat them as well as it does the regulars, which means to quite screwing around with 179-day limits...
Helmly said a huge factor in Iraq will be the Pentagonâs ability to train an Iraqi army and security force. The Defense Department recently announced plans to accelerate the development of an Iraqi army, pushing the goal from 12,000 troops to 40,000 troops in the next year. The Army National Guard and Army Reserve have about one-fourth of their troops â nearly 129,000 soldiers â on active duty. The active-duty Army and the Army Reserve both met their recruiting goals for the fiscal year that ends today. The Army National Guard, however, is expected to fall about 15% short of its recruiting goal of 62,000 soldiers. And Iâll wager theyâll be the ones hurt most by retention losses.
Although the Guard and Reserve say their retention rates have not suffered this year, the figures could be misleading. Under an order known as "stop loss," soldiers on active duty are prohibited from leaving the service until their tours end. Yeah, that kind of skews the numbers.
Active-duty and Reserve commanders fear that when U.S. soldiers on yearlong rotations come home next year, many will choose to leave the service. The Reserves will be hurt most, those folks who leave active duty will also be less likely to join the Reserves or the Guard. Expect the state governors to scream about the Guard as well. We need to bring a couple more AD light divisions on line.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/30/2003 9:20:28 AM ||
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#1
I've served in both the Active military and in the Reserves. My uncle was the Sergeant Major for an Army National Guard unit that's currently on active duty in Iraq. As a retiree, I'm also plugged into the local gossip here in Co. Springs. I've been listening to a LOT of speculation along these lines. Unfortunately, there's no clear concensus of what MAY happen in the future.
Some of the Guard and Reserve units see the Iraq and Afghanistan demands as the biggest affirmation of their commitment to the United States that could ever be expressed. Quite a few of those who have been deployed and have returned to CONUS admit readily they learned far more about their specilaty by participating in what they classify (and which I have to agree) is a strong combat role. There is a portion of these soldiers that signed up to be weekend warriors, or for the educational benefits, or because it impressed their bosses, and had no expectation of ever being deployed. The majority of these people will leave - their ideal of what Reserve/Guard duty has been shattered, and they want no part of war. Some will stay, having developed a sense of pride and patriotism that cannot be denied, and who feel they're doing something for their nation above and beyond the simple demands of citizenship. There's also a group in the middle - not only in the non-active components, but in the active forces as well - that are going to be doing some serious soul-searching. They will have to decide whether they want to make a serious commitment to military service, or if their lives should lead them elsewhere.
Right now, we're forced to rely too heavily on Reserve and Guard units, because the Active force was cut too severely, and too quickly. The Government also needs to make a commitment - to developing an armed force that can support this nation's role in world affairs, whatever that role may be. Right now, we're about two active divisions and a few air wings short. The Navy has too few ships to both patrol sea lanes and support deployments overseas, especially extended deployments. Our President and Congress will both have to do some serious planning, and commit to the level of miitary might we NEED. That means a fight over funds. The Democratic Party faces a dilema - they're going to have to cut social spending and transfer that money to military commitments, and they're going to have to reverse themselves on some of the social experiments they've forced on the military, or they're going to become irrelevant. This nation needs a strong two- (or more) party political system in order to meet the needs of all citizens. It also needs a political concensus that the military will be funded at an adequate level to meet the requirements the president and congress have saddled them to meet.
I think this coming presidential campaign is going to get "very interesting".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/30/2003 11:00 Comments ||
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#2
Old Patriot's right on the money. We need to define our mission better. Everything can't be a priority. The WOT I understand and fully support (obviously). Nation building is a messy business though. This was something the president didn't want to get into initially. Hopefully Iraq & Afghanistan will be the exception rather then the rule. We also need a third party - the partisan politics are so far old it's pathetic and hurting our country. Some of the politicos act like third grade kids.
#5
A volunteer force drawn from the Democracy it protects is the very best insurance against adventurism. This kind of worrying about being able to retain people to have an effective force is desirable: you do not "waste" people like these on irrelevant missions.
One of these days, the Left is going to figure that out, and is going to start verbally attacking individual military personnel, hoping to discourage them from resigning, and to discourage others from signing up. Ironically, the strictures put on them by the principle of civilian control of the military prevents them from responding. Thus, it will be up to us, as citizens, to step in and confront the lefties when we see them jeering our military men.
EFL/FU JPost - Reg Reqâd; Difference between the Paleos and the Israelis: The Israeli prison doors lock
Three members of the Bat Ayin Jewish terror cell, who were found guilty earlier this month of attempted murder, were sentenced Tuesday to 12 to 15 years in prison. The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Shlomo Zeliger Dvir and Ofer Gamliel to 15 years, while Yarden Morag, was handed a 12-year term since he cooperated with the police. Earlier in the month, the three members were found guilty of trying to set off a bomb in front of an Arab girlsâ school in Jerusalemâs Abu Tor neighborhood. Psycho killers come in all flavors, donât they?
According to the indictment against them, Morag and Dvir were arrested outside the girlsâ school at 3 a.m. on April 29, 2002. A police squad car found them after they had attached a cart loaded with explosives to an electricity pole outside the school entrance. The bomb was timed to go off at 7:30 a.m, when the area would be crowded with students arriving at school. After questioning, Morag admitted that the locked cart was booby-trapped and explained its mechanism. Police sappers were called to the site and detonated the bomb. Gamliel was arrested four days later and the three were indicted on May 28.
During the trial, the defendants maintained that they had not intended to detonate the bomb, but only to attract media attention and frighten the Arab population, to serve as a deterrent.
Anybody buy that one?... Didn't think so...
But the judges, Yaffa Hecht, Moshe Ravid and Yaâacov Tsaban, unzanimously rejected their claim.
After squirting coffee out their noses...
âThe defendants decided to carry out a major attack which would cause heavy losses to the Arab residents of Jerusalem,â they wrote. âThey planned to do so using a booby-trapped cart which they had prepared and parked on a teeming street in front of the entrance to a girlsâ school and the Mokassed Hospital. The defendants worked hard for two months to prepare and assemble the bomb. They held discussions on what it should contain, overcame difficulties in creating the electrical circuit which was assembled after very hard work, went to the trouble of driving through the area to find an âattractiveâ target and determined the right hour in which there would be many passersby.â If this had happened in the West Bank or Gaza, and they were trying to kill Israeli girls, theyâd be celebrated on wall murals, celebrated with candy and ululating, and congratulated by the Arafish
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/30/2003 9:19:49 AM ||
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If this had happened in the West Bank or Gaza, and they were trying to kill Israeli girls, theyâd be celebrated on wall murals, celebrated with candy and ululating, and congratulated by the Arafish
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