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-Short Attention Span Theater-
After Years of Socialism Chinese Lack all sense of humor
EFL from Guardian

In the history of comical flops, few pranks can have gone down quite so badly as the fake-genital skit performed by three Japanese students in China’s Northwest University. That fake genital stuff is kind of edgy. I don’t know that the Chinese audience is ready for that, yet. Camping it up in red bras and knickers bulging with paper cups, the performers must have been expecting guffaws or at least shy giggles from the freshmen and faculty they were entertaining at a welcoming party for new students. Should have gone for the standard pillows under the big tee-shirt sumo gig. It’s an old oone, but the Chinese probably don’t see much TV.

Instead, they sparked an anti-Japanese demonstration by thousands of fellow students, internet death threats, and articles in the national media accusing them of attempting to humiliate China and its people. The Chinese people should consider themselves. I’m sure this whole episode involved a couple of bottles of rice wine. It could have ended up with poorly sung Elvis Kayoke. No one should be subjected to that kind of treatment.
The outcry sparked by the innocuous display of student humour this week is the latest and most bizarre in a series of public demonstrations against anything Japanese - one of the few issues on which the Chinese government appears ready to tolerate large-scale protests.

According to the state-run news service Xinhua, the performance at the party for foreign language students in Xian, western China, included three Japanese students and a teacher wearing brassieres and false genitals made from paper cups hanging from their waists. They danced "obscenely" and threw scraps of paper pulled from their underwear at the audience.

The audience of conservative students and professors called a stop to the high jinks. If the performers had been Chinese, Russian or European, that would probably have been the end of the matter. But the fact that they were Japanese turned a cultural misunderstanding into an international incident. Notice to Carrot Top and Gallgher - Sight gags don’t go over well in Beijing, but you may do fine in Tokyo.

Several thousand Chinese students gathered in front of the university’s foreign students’ dormitory on Thursday to demand that the Japanese offenders apologise. Yesterday hundreds continued to protest, shouting anti-Japanese slogans and waving banners, according to witnesses. Hate to be some poor Cuban kid living down the hall from these jokers.

After the performance was given prominent coverage in the media, internet chatrooms filled with calls for the culprits to be deported. Deport them? Why are they still there? Maybe they understand that the Chinese use students to lubricate tank treads.

Anti-Japanese feeling has lingered since the second world war, when Japanese troops used Chinese civilians as sex slaves and guinea pigs for biological experiments. But its expression has undergone a change recently, with calls for financial compensation.

A newspaper published front-page stories about a sex tour by 400 Japanese men who allegedly hired 500 Chinese prostitutes. Come on - it was a joke. Don’t you get it? There were more hoolers than there were guys. Don’t you get it? Tough crowd.

On the whole the Japnese appear to be challenging our throne as the world’s most unwanted guests - at least in China.

Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 9:30:41 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Kuwait Times: This years Halloween Celebration Sort of Sucked
Europe and other parts of western world celebrate the Halloween festival on November 1 every year. Many countries in the world, including Kuwait celebrate this festival. This festival has been passed from one culture to another, from the Roman’s Pomona Day to Celtic’s Samhain festival and Christian’s All Saints and the Souls Days. The history says that Celtics started this festival with its New Year on November 1 to mark the end of the ’season of the sun’ and the beginning of the ’season of darkness and cold’, which is known now as winter.
I bet 15 years ago the Kuwaitis would have stoned anyone who decorated an X-mas tree.
Said Julie Brookes, office co-ordinator at the Sultan Centre. She said that this year’s Halloween festival was not so attractive compared to the past celebrations in the country. "I think it is because this year’s festival falls in the Holy month of Ramadan. I think it is not appropriate to celebrate," she commented.
Ramadan = bad for sales unless you are selling Khat to the Yemenese.
The Halloween festival in Kuwait is usually filled with vibrant and colourful partying, especially in schools and western restaurants. But last night on the eve on Halloween it was a different story in one of the common places for partying. "Usually in this restaurant on the eve of Halloween, we have considerable numbers of guests from local to western nationals. But this year with due respect to the holy month of Ramadan we do not agree for such a big gimmicks and it is haram. I think the customers are not coming for Halloween. They usually visit this restaurant because of our good food and service. They also want to spend time with their friends and is attracted by our discount charges for our menus," said Muhamad Salah, manager of a restaurant.
Translation - please don’t blow up our business.
It was a different story for an American restaurant at a seaside. At the restaurant, the waiters and waitresses were instructed to wear the Halloween costumes. "This Halloween costume contest was not exclusive for the employees. Our guest can also join for this competition. They are actually active on joining the fun, especially the guest from western countries," said the restaurant manager on condition of anonymity. "This is not for anything else. We just want them to feel the real atmosphere of the American hospitality in a dining restaurant," he said when asked about the month of Ramadan.
We tried to market Ramadan by forcing everyone to smoke in the bathroom, but that hurt bar sales.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 1:29:44 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  After 9/11, I read that Kuwait had decided against instituting shari'a.
Posted by: Anonymous-not above || 11/02/2003 23:30 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Row over Peace Prize for Ashrawi
The row over the awarding of the 2003 Sydney Peace Prize to Palestinian activist Hanan Ashrawi has brought to Australia a conflict that some migrants left the Middle East to get away from. It’s the first time the award has been controversial.
Previous recipients have included Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu...
Australia demands immigrants ditch old ethnic and religious grudges on their arrival. The trading of barbs over Ashrawi and her fitness for the prize is seen as a new and worrying departure. Ashrawi will receive the prize from New South Wales Premier Bob Carr, but Mayor of Sydney Lucy Turnbull is boycotting the ceremony. Turnbull says Ashrawi is not a peacemaker but a hardliner who criticised the Oslo peace process in 1993 and who has condemned Washington’s “road map to peace” initiative. Prime Minister John Howard, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and other members of the cabinet have also said Ashrawi’s record makes her underserving of a peace prize. But Carr is standing firm. “I’ve never been more resolved to attend a function in my life,” the leader of Australia’s biggest state said. Sydney Peace Foundation director Stuart Reed is also adamant that Ashrawi should be honoured, alleging that the city’s powerful Jewish community had “campaigned to vilify her, and to ridicule the status of the prize.”
Ahah! It's them danged Jews!
Jews Against the Occupation spokeswoman Angela Budai characterised Ashrawi as a “Palestinian moderate who has fought for democracy and human rights.”
And if you can't trust Angela Budai, who can you trust?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 11/02/2003 11:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  “I’ve never been more resolved to attend a function in my life”

"I'm the biggest jackass in Australia and damned proud of it! Besides, there aren't 10 registered Jewish voters in NSW! What? There are lots of them - and they're actually good citizens and they vote? Oh shit. Uh, nevermind." -Ex-Premier Bob Carr

Wotta maroon. Mebbe Lucy will decide to run against him and wax his ass.
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 11:50 Comments || Top||

#2  And if you can't trust Angela Budai, who can you trust?
I think I'd rather trust Ted Kennedy or Hillary, but then, I'd never turn my back on either one of THEM, either.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 11/02/2003 11:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe while Hanan is in a modern country she can get that hairy mole removed from her face.....eeeewwww.
Another tribute to a terror apologist from the loony left.
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 12:22 Comments || Top||


Brigitte recruited terrorists
As startling new information that Frenchman Willie Brigitte was recruiting terrorists in Sydney continued to emerge, the Attorney-General has backed the view that the al-Qaeda sympathiser had been working with others while here as a tourist. Philip Ruddock told The Sun-Herald in an exclusive interview: "It is quite clear that we believe there were some people here who had links to Jemaah Islamiah." The strength of Brigitte’s terrorist connections and activities have now been confirmed by Australian and French sources, who have pointed to strong evidence that the one-time Aussie tourist had been planning an attack on Sydney. A French judicial source revealed yesterday that the Caribbean-born Brigitte had been in contact with Islamic extremists in Pakistan and may have been preparing to recruit jihad volunteers in Sydney. The Frenchman was whisked out of Australia on October 17 after Australian authorities became aware of his terrorist connections. He is being held in a Paris prison, where he can be detained for questioning for up to three years under tough French counter-terrorism laws.
Good. Keep him until you've wrung him dry. Then let him have an "unfortunate accident" on the way to the airport.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 11/02/2003 1:01:44 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shouldn't the human rights guys be all over that 3 year stuff.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 8:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Ha, dat's a good one...
Posted by: Raj || 11/02/2003 9:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Caribbean-born Brigitte recruiting Aussie Jihadi wannabees:

"Ya, mon. Dis craazee jihadi teeng bee gettin all da wymynz sportin' craazee tatas, mon. Dat be da shor teeng, bro."

Where do I sign?
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 11:33 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
IC 814 INVESTIGATION : An Insider Speaks
The source is paid/registration only so I’ve got the entire article here.
The CBI’s grilling of the former Taliban foreign minister confirms Indian suspicions of an ISI role in the Kandahar hijacking.

December 31, 1999, Kandahar airport. An Indian delegation is preparing to exchange three terrorists for 154 passengers of IC 814. As A.K. Doval of the Intelligence Bureau remembers, "Three incredible things happen: when the hijackers forget to turn off their receivers we hear the voices of three high-ranking officers of the ISI telling them what to do, what to answer ... When we proceed with the exchange, it is the ISI guys who come to check their identities ... And ... the ISI officers (took) charge of the prisoners." Doval said this to Bernard-Henri Levy in his new book, Who Killed Daniel Pearl?, highlighting the Indian conviction of Pakistani involvement in the hijacking. That received a boost when CBI investigators questioned the chief negotiator for the hijackers and Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, at a safe house in Kabul last month.

Muttawakil tells India what happened next. The terrorists-Maulana Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh and Mushtaq Zargar-and the five hijackers-Ibrahim Athar, Yusuf Azhar, Zahoor Mistri, Syed Shahid Akhtar and Shakir Mohammed-drove into Kandahar town for a sumptuous meal at the house of Taliban leader General Usmani (who remains out of US reach), and then, accompanied by the ISI officials, slipped back into Pakistan.

During his interrogation, Muttawakil revealed the depth of the nexus between the ISI and the Taliban, gave glimpses into its role in the hijacking, disclosed that Ibrahim Athar, brother of Masood Azhar, was the leader of the hijackers and confirmed that Pakistan was their destination. According to the CBI, Muttawakil also named several Taliban leaders and ISI officials involved. For India, however, crucial evidence in the form of records of the ATC at Kandahar is still missing and, officials say, has probably been destroyed.

Besides, the Indians are yet to be allowed a peek into the US interrogation records, which might provide more clues. The next step in the investigation will be to pressure the Bangladesh Government to let Indian investigators into Dhaka-the hijacking plot was reportedly hatched at a house in Subzi Mandi in the city. A second ploy will be to ask for Muttawakil’s extradition which is a long shot because the US needs him now to attract what they call the "moderate Taliban" elements.

In late 2001, when Muttawakil surrendered to the US authorities, India took the opportunity provided by the war on terrorism to demand access in order to question him on the IC 814 hijacking. For the next 18 months the Americans stalled, even after India reminded them that a US national Jennie Moore had been among the hostages. The US, it seems, did not want to let India in on the nexus between the ISI and the Taliban-it would have confirmed Indian suspicions.

But by October 2003, the US along with Afghan President Hamid Karzai had begun to court the moderate Taliban in the hope of securing some stability. And the first one to be let off the hook was Muttawakil who was moved from the US centre at Bagram airbase to house arrest in Kandahar. India demarched the US and Afghan governments yet again but this time the US responded positively. Senior officials admit that if the US had stalled again, India was preparing an Interpol notice to access Muttawakil. Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Vivek Katju received a call from the US officials on October 11 night and a CBI team was in Kabul on October 13 morning.

So why has the US given India access to the Taliban leader after all this time? Indian officials reckon that after the notification on Dawood Ibrahim, Washington is a little more sensitive to Indian concerns about Pakistani role in terrorism. Having questioned him for 18 months, the US, they feel, now has little use for Muttawakil’s revelations. Therefore, giving India the chance to talk to him doesn’t cost the US much. But on a more positive note, officials say, it points to growing synergies with the US.
Posted by: rg117 || 11/02/2003 10:38:30 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I suppose the courtship of the moderate Taliban is an inevitable development. I wonder if they have a to answer a questionaire to confirm their moderate views.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 11:17 Comments || Top||

#2  IIRC, Muttawakil was on poor terms with the rest of the Taliban starting in June-July 2001. He's got a history that is worth considering.
I'm ok with him being let off the hook.
Posted by: Dishman || 11/02/2003 15:42 Comments || Top||


Americans in Nepal Warned of Rebels
The U.S. Embassy has urged Americans in Nepal to practice more caution and maintain a low profile after recent threats were made by communist rebels against U.S.-linked organizations. An Embassy notice issued Saturday warned of possible attacks, despite assurances from the top rebel leader that his forces would not attack any Americans, unless they were connected to Nepal’s military.
Richard Gere, call your travel agency.
The rebels have criticized Washington for giving the Nepalese government millions of dollars in military and development aid, and training Nepalese soldiers. Last month, the rebels threatened to target U.S.-backed organizations in Nepal. Washington responded by advising its citizens not to visit the Himalayan kingdom. ``Americans in Nepal are urged to maintain a low profile, and to exercise special caution during the upcoming time period,’’ the embassy notice said. There have been no reports of attacks against Americans by the leftist guerrillas, but some Western trekkers have been stopped and frisked mugged held up asked for money. Rebel leader Prachanda, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, said last week Americans are safe in Nepal, as long as they are not part of any military operation. Prachanda said it has never been rebel policy to harm foreign citizens.
"We save that for later!"
Posted by: Steve White || 11/02/2003 2:25:08 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tell Pushpa that all the Americans will be wearing dayglow like we wear for deerhunting. Don't shoot our guides either as we might get lost.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 9:00 Comments || Top||



and Jihad goes on
Maulana Masood Azhar’s recent countrywide tour to address a number of widely publicised ’jehad conferences’ surprised many. Particularly those who thought that the days of propagating jehad were over after General Musharraf had declared a ban on militant and jehadi organisations last year, are now having second thoughts. The ban was seen as a major shift in Pakistan’s decades old policy of supporting jehad in Kashmir and Afghanistan. But the recent resurgence of jehadi outfits — even those which were banned — and sudden spurt in their activities has created doubts about the Musharraf regime’s seriousness in taking on the jehadis. Masood Azhar’s tour — widely considered as a major proof of the resurgence of jehadi activity — not only defies President Pervez Musharraf’s claims made in his speech on January 12, 2002, but also raises questions as to whether it could have taken place without the government’s consent. "It’s astonishing that on one hand Musharraf says he is against jehadis and on the other hand he has given Masood Azhar free hand to hold jehad congregations throughout Pakistan," says Iqbal Hyder, former minister for law and parliamentary affairs and executive council member of Human rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). "Masood has been operating under complete patronage of government agencies."
Comes as a surprise, huh? Yeah. It floored me, too...
Maulana Azhar, freed from an Indian jail in exchange for a hijacked Indian passenger plane and the chief of now banned Jaish-e-Muhammad, is still considered the most wanted person in India. In his home country, he is treated as a jehadi hero by a section of the society, particularly by those who support jehad in Kashmir and elsewhere in the world.
That seems to be everybody who owns a turban...
In Karachi, his jehad conference was held on October 18, 2003. Followed by wide publicity though pamphlets, posters and banners all around the city, the conference was able to attract thousands of people to come and listen to him. Even the city government headed by Jamaat e-Islami’s Naimatullah Khan, which otherwise is very quick in removing unauthorised advertisement banners and hoardings, gave the organisers free hand for the publicity of the conference. Though the banners were removed after the conference ended, the pamphlets and the posters are still there, occupying a large space on the walls of private and public buildings in Karachi. These pamphlets and posters describe Masood Azhar as a jehadi hero and the ’conqueror of Indian Jails’.
All it took was a hijacked Indian jet to Kandahar, a few dead people, and there it was — Pak heroism.
Contrary to past practice when Jaish’s functions were closed for many people especially media, Masood Azhar’s jehad conference in Karachi was an open event. The way it was publicised clearly showed that the organisers wanted to draw as many people as they could. Masood Azhar, who has renamed his organisation as Pyam-e-Islam, has addressed similar conferences attended by thousands of people in Hyderabad and Nawab Shah in Sindh and Lahore and other cities in Punjab. The focus of his speech at all these conferences was the ’noble notions of jehad’ in Kashmir. Besides addressing the conferences, Masood Azhar also held closed door meetings with his party cadre on how to make the organisation more effective, says a source.
Feeling the competition from the splinter Jaish, I take it?
Analysts believe the tour was aimed at strengthening Masood Azhar’s relationship with the Jaish cadre split in two groups some time ago. The other group being headed by Abdullah Shah Mazhar. Those who believe that allowing Masood Azhar’s tour is a manifestation of the government’s reaffirmation of its undeclared support to jehad in Kashmir, also fear that this policy of ’one step forward, two steps backwards’ will harm Pakistan’s interest locally as well as globally. There are others who think that the government is serious in restricting the activities of the jehadis but at the same time they point out the enormity of the task. "It is not going to be an easy task," says Dr Muttahir Ahmed, professor at the department of International Relations at University of Karachi. "These people (the jehadis) have roots in the society. They have been active for the last 15-20 years. So it’s not easy to root them out immediately," he adds.
"It takes even longer when you don't do anything at all..."
Government consent or not, in an international scenario which puts Pakistan in a difficult position vis-a-vis jehad and the jehadis, the resurgence of the jehadi activities is sure to create more problems for the country.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 11/02/2003 12:44:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The spiral gets a bit steeper. As Twain said, all lies are acts - and words have no part in them. I had Perv down on my list as a clinical schizophrenic - but this story indicates I was a tad too optimistic. Sigh. Pakiland = Sibyl, on a binge.
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 6:49 Comments || Top||


Kashmir Korpse Kount
Close on the heels of the surrender of 19 top terrorists, 11 hardcore terrorists, including three top commanders of Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami were killed in separate gunbattles in Jammu and Kashmir since Friday night, official sources said in Jammu on Saturday.
Hurrah! Nice shootin', Mukkerjee!
Army troops launched a seek and destroy operation in Surankote area of Poonch district on Friday night following intelligence inputs that a jehad council meeting was taking place in Mohra Bachie forest belt in the district. Terrorists fired on the troops, who retaliated, the sources said adding in the exchange of fire four terrorists were killed and two others escaped. In the continued operation, two more terrorists, were killed on Saturday afternoon. Those killed included three top commanders. The terrorists were identified as Huji platoon commander Abu Kamraz, Hizb area commander Hamza Turki and LeT district commander Mustaq Khan, both residents of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 11/02/2003 12:38:18 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All the fewer to screw up the peace process.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 9:10 Comments || Top||


Iraq
U.S. mulls activating Iraqi units for stability
Some American military officers in Iraq are pressing to reconstitute entire units of the former Iraqi army, which the U.S. disbanded in May. They say the change would speed the creation of a new army and bring stability. Ideas under discussion at the military’s headquarters in Baghdad include proposals to identify former Iraqi officers and weed out those still loyal to Saddam Hussein. Those who pass the screening would be asked to track down troops previously under their command, to reassemble complete companies and battalions rapidly.
I dunno about this.
"We feel we could contact a midlevel officer—say, the rank of captain or major—who knows where all the members of his unit are today," said one senior military officer at the occupation’s Baghdad headquarters. The talks are at an early stage and do not represent a plan. The crucial decision by U.S. administrator Paul Bremer to dismantle the defeated 500,000-member Iraqi army, has been criticized as a mistake. It marked a turning point in the postwar occupation, but some say it has contributed to the instability and increasing attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. The decision reversed the approach of Bremer’s predecessor, Jay Garner, a retired Army lieutenant general, who advocated paying members of the former Iraqi army as a way to keep their units intact for reconstruction and to prevent them from turning hostile.
I thought sending them home was a good idea, too. As an army they were pretty useless, much more of a danger to the citizenry than to other armies. Except Arab armies, or the Medes and Persians, of course...
Senior military officers in Iraq and Washington say they are considering ways to make up for lost time by putting an Iraqi face on the occupation forces’ efforts. "We don’t see a solution without co-opting the former military to some degree," said one senior military officer in Baghdad who has reviewed what needs to be done to field a new Iraqi army quickly. Iraqi combat units, in particular Republican Guard and tank units, would not be among those reconstituted, officers said.
But the regular army was pretty poorly led and motivated. Might take as much time and effort to ’reconstitute’ these units properly as to get new soldiers enlisted and trained.
That was my thought, too.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/02/2003 3:49:23 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I had the impression that the "regular" Iraqi army (not Republican Guards or Special Repl. Guards) were mainly conscripts -- but that might be a lingering memory from 1991...
Posted by: snellenr || 11/02/2003 16:24 Comments || Top||

#2  No.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/02/2003 18:19 Comments || Top||

#3  The stuff I've read indicates that Iraqi basic training program was fine. We can activate as many units as we can train E-4's and above to lead.

Many of the active duty folks were really engaged in non-military activities. The construction industry, for instance, was part of the military. Those units should probably be reformed in the private sector.

Old Patriot suggested that the troops that are currently shooting up the jehadis on the border will probably gain enough experience to fill in the mid-level of the enlisted ranks and lower echelon of the officer corps.

My only reservation is that these new tropps are effectively swearing to uphold a constitution that hasn't been written. These units need to be carefully controlled.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 18:55 Comments || Top||


Foreigners heading to Iraq for jihad: NYT
Hundreds of militants from Europe and the Middle East are heading to Iraq to fight the US-led occupation, the New York Times reported yesterday, citing counterterrorism officials in six countries. “The intelligence officials say that since late summer they have detected a growing stream of itinerant Muslim militants headed for Iraq,” the Times said.
I think we've noticed that. The Euros might be a new addition...
The influx does not appear to be coordinated, but rather a movement of “young, angry men” heeding the calls of Osama bin Laden and other militants to wage war on occupying forces in Iraq.
I'm sure they're helped along by al-Muhajiroun and Hizb ut-Tahrir and similar organizations, but also by their friendly local imams. But they don't let you buy tickets to Damascus without money. Wonder who's providing that?
Most foreign fighters captured thus far in Iraq hail from Middle Eastern countries like Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, or from North Africa, a senior British official told the Times. But signs of a movement to Iraq have also been detected in France, Germany and Saudi Arabia, the report said.
The Soddies, of course, say it ain't so...
The assessments are based on surveillance of mosques and Islamic centres and on interrogations of suspects captured in Iraq, it said. The report comes as the number of attacks in Iraq increases and amid troubling new signs that foreigners are involved in carrying them out.
Military officials suspect that Izzat Ibrahim, a senior official in Saddam Hussein’s now toppled government, is recruiting foreign fighters and was a key organizer of recent attacks on foreign and Iraqi targets, the report said. In all, as many as 15 militant groups may now be operating in Iraq, officials said. “Iraq is a magnet for jihadists just as Afghanistan was,” a senior US official said. “But the bigger question is whether the leadership is evolving or coordination. So far we haven’t seen it.”
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 11/02/2003 11:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perrrrfect! [rubs hands together] Everything is proceeding according to our plan. [Manical laugh...]. Brahahahahaaha...

Better to have them in Iraq facing the fully armed and trained soldiers then in the US or UK facing apathetic and innocent civilians. And as a bonus -- those who survive and are captured can be give insight into the organizations in France and England.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/02/2003 12:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Izzat Ibrahim organising things? If the accounts about him (a retard Saddam tolerated because he was too stupid to be disloyal) are true this could prove to be the mother of all fuck ups (inshallah!)
Posted by: Dave || 11/02/2003 18:19 Comments || Top||


NYT: Saddam playing role in Iraq attacks?
From MSNBC... EFL and Fair Use
In its favorite canard, the New Yellow York Times plays its Aces & Eights hand, yet again. It’s tripe, but you don’t get a reasoned response to the assertion until most lazy readers have tuned out — say 3 or 4 sentences paragraphs into the article. So, as they say, read the whole thing...

Saddam Hussein may be playing a key role in coordinating and directing attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq, The New York Times reported Friday, quoting senior U.S. officials.
Who? How senior? Conveniently, the rumor mongers don’t say. Wotta surprise.
The unnamed officials cited intelligence reports showing
really? If there is proof, let’s see it
that Saddam was acting as a catalyst or a leader in the armed resistance, probably from somewhere near his hometown, Tikrit. The Bush administration has said Saddam was on the run and insignificant, it noted, adding that the latest intelligence lent urgency to the hunt for the former dictator.
Urgency is a good word. Urgent! My coffee’s cold! It’s an office quagmire!
The officials cited by the Times acknowledged that the reports of Saddam’s playing a leadership role could not be corroborated, and one official quoted in the story said intelligence reports offered conflicting views.
Tap, tap... nothing.
The Pentagon had no immediate comment on the report. But a U.S. official told NBC News on condition of anonymity that the report “overstates what’s known.”
"F**king Duh!"
...More...
Way down, long after the BS, it gets good - touching on the mimics of Al-Q techniques and the obvious flypaper effect. I still say this is the appropriate killing ground for the jihadis... much better than in Chevy Chase or Baltimore Harbor. Let’s not lose sight of that fact.

Directly reading the NYT is a sporting proposition where one must weigh and balance everything speculated reported against the known. It’s a lot of work... and apparently well beyond the capacity of their regular readership. Thank the Grid for the Internet in general, and Rantburg in particular. Thx, Fred. Time to hit the tip jar again!


Good reporting from the Times. Good, solid data. We now know for certain that Sammy might be leading the attacks, that he might not be, or that he might be somewhat involved. Glad that's cleared up.
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 9:35:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hmmm... it appears that these intelligence reports regarding Saddam were written by the "Tom Clancy" division of the intelligence services (all-knowing, all-seeing, all-doing) -- as opposed to the "Can't Find Their A** With Both Hands" division that the Times says "misled" us about the Iraqi WMD.
Posted by: snellenr || 11/02/2003 10:01 Comments || Top||

#2  Why I'm appalled (shock-ed!) - are you implying that they want to have it both ways, when convenient? How, uh, um, insightful! (snicker) Good call! ;->
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 10:31 Comments || Top||

#3  When you adopt every possible point of view in your analysis, you can always claim that you were right.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 11:35 Comments || Top||


13 dead as US helicopter shot down
A US Chinook helicopter has been shot down in Iraq, killing at least thirteen people on board and wounding 20. The helicopter, which was hit as it flew towards Baghdad airport, came down near the village of Baisa, south of Falluja. A US spokesman said that the helicopter was one of two Chinooks heading towards Baghdad carrying personnel on a rest and recreation trip. He said that the helicopter, carrying 30 people including five crew, had been "shot down by an unknown weapon". Witnesses said that two surface-to-air missiles had been fired but that only one hit its target. Troops kept reporters back from the crash site as another military helicopter with a red cross sign landed.

Another US soldier died when his vehicle drove over a bomb planted on a road in Baghdad. The soldier, who was from the 1st Armored Division, was evacuated to hospital after the explosion but died a few hours later.

More, from CNN, courtesy Rafael...
Anyone up for resumption of major combat in Iraq? I’d say it’s time to do some major ass kicking.
The U.S. death toll from a downed Chinook helicopter near Fallujah, has risen to 13, military officials said. The helicopter was shot down by a shoulder-type ??? probably French-made missile, about 60 kilometers west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, at 8 a.m. Sunday, witnesses told CNN. It was one of three separate attacks Sunday, which saw at least one other U.S. servicemen killed in a convoy attack in Baghdad at about midnight. It is the deadliest combat day for the U.S. since March 23, the day 28 American troops died in battle. Between 32 and 35 people from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division were traveling on the Chinook, which was one of two flying to the Baghdad International Airport from a U.S. base camp. A second convoy was attacked in Fallujah, about an hour before the Chinook incident, but it is not clear whether any injuries were sustained. CNN’s Matthew Chance said crowds of Iraqis gathered quickly in the "flashpoint" city chanting anti-U.S. slogans. The attacks came as coalition forces were on alert for a threatened "day of resistance," following a warning from the U.S. Consulate Office in Baghdad. The consulate said U.S. military patrols, hotels, markets, and non-governmental organizations could be among the sites attacked.
"could be"???
In a bid to boost security and stability, U.S. administrator for Iraq Paul Bremer said the United States is stepping up efforts to hand over more responsibility to Iraqis themselves. Coalition forces will speed up the training of Iraqi police and military, he said, and the size of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps will be doubled by March. "We will have over 200,000 Iraqis involved in their own security forces by September next year," Bremer added. Despite the attacks, the U.S.-led coalition had been able to reopen justice courts, build jails and recruit 50,000 Iraqi police officers.

A coalition military official said 33 attempted attacks are made against U.S. troops every day. Coalition officials blame forces loyal to ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, terrorist groups and other insurgents for the attacks. Bremer said officials believe Saddam is alive and in Iraq, though there is "no indication" he is behind the attacks. But he added: "His capture, or killing him, is one of the top priorities."
Yes I’d say so. I’m surprised he’s managed to evade capture for this long, if he’s still in Iraq.

If I was in charge — and luckily for us all, I'm not — I would be meeting with every prayer leader from every mosque in Fallujah at this moment. I would be telling them that unless the killers, their controllers and their paymasters are produced within 24 hours, the mosques will close and remain closed.

When that decision produced the usual rioting, I'd round up the rioters. Any of them who were armed, to include having a handful of rocks, would be considered unconventional combatants and would go to the nearest POW camp, or to an interrogation facility in Jordan until they had said everything they had to say that I wanted to hear. At that point, I would either jug them or return them to civilian life, depending on the case. I'd give them $20 and tell them to have a nice time reestablishing themselves in Basra or Kirkuk, because they were never, ever going back to Fallujah. The rioters who weren't armed could skip the trip to the POW camp or Jordan on the way to the bus station.

While they were in interrogation, I'd be rounding up their relatives and moving them, too. And they wouldn't be back, either. Let them petition the Iraqi civil government we leave behind, assuming we ever leave.

And more detail, from Chi Tribune, courtesy of Steve White...
Insurgents shot down a U.S. Chinook helicopter in central Iraq on Sunday as it carried troops headed for R&R, killing 15 soldiers and wounding 21 in the deadliest single strike against American troops since the start of war.
Damn!
The aircraft was hit at about 9 a.m. and crashed amid cornfields near the village of Hasi, about 40 miles southwest of Baghdad and just south of Fallujah, a center of Sunni Muslim resistance to the U.S. occupation.
Fallujah, the new parking lot for the US Army in Iraq.
At the scene, villagers proudly showed off blackened pieces of wreckage to arriving reporters.
Round up each one and beat ’em with clubs. NO ONE displays wreckage where our soldiers die.
"This was a new lesson from the resistance, a lesson to the greedy aggressors," one Fallujah resident, who wouldn’t give his name, said of the helicopter downing. "They’ll never be safe until they get out of our country," he said of the Americans.
But before we leave, we’re going to deal with you and your pals.
Should be deporting them, one by one or in batches. Send 'em to Sudan. Or Zim-Bob-We. Maybe if we ask the Russers nicely they'll make some land available for them to settle, say, about 120 miles north of Khabarovsk...
"It does appear that a U.S. helicopter was probably shot down from the ground and it crashed, and a large number of Amercians, possibly 12, 13, maybe more even have died," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in Washington. Rumsfeld called it "a tragic day for America and for these young men and women. I must say, our prayers have to be with them and with their families and their loved ones."
I hope to hell the Fallujah pissants have reason to be praying fervently at the moment...
Witnesses said they saw two missiles fired from a palm grove at the heavy transport copter. The missiles flashed toward the helicopter from behind, as usual with heat-seeking shoulder-fired missiles such as the Russian-made SA-7. The old Iraqi army had a large inventory of SA-7s, also known as Strelas.
Dammit, we have to get all the ammo dumps secured.
The 10-ton Chinook — the military’s heavy-lifting workhorse used primarily for moving troops and equipment — was the biggest U.S. target yet shot from the skies. The downed craft belonged to the Army’s 12th Aviation Brigade, supporting the 82nd Airborne Division Task Force. A U.S. military spokesman, Col. William Darley, confirmed the casualty count of 15 dead and 21 wounded. Some of the American troops killed in the downing were believed to be from Fort Carson, Colo., post spokesman Lt. Col. Thomas Budzyna said. The helicopter was part of a formation of two Chinooks carrying a total of more than 50 passengers to the U.S. base at the former Saddam International Airport, renamed Baghdad International Airport, which the military calls BIA. "Our initial report is that they were being transported to BIA for R&R flights," a U.S. command spokeswoman in Baghdad said. She said at least some were coming from Camp Ridgway, believed to be an 82nd Airborne Division base in western Iraq. Command spokesman Darley said he didn’t know whether the troops were bound for leaves at home or abroad outside Iraq.
Fox News said they were up for R&R. This was a bit personal, as my best friends' son is coming home for R&R from 4th ID on Tuesday...
One villager, Thaer Ali, 21, said someone fired two missiles from the area of a date palm grove about 500 yards from where the stricken copter crashed. Another witness, Yassin Mohamed, said he ran out of his house, a half-mile away, when he heard an explosion. "I saw the Chinook burning. I ran toward it because I wanted to help put out the fire, but couldn’t get near because of American soldiers." Witnesses said the second copter hovered over the downed craft for some minutes and then set down, apparently to try to help extinguish a fire. The downed, 84-foot-long copter was already destroyed. At least a half-dozen Black Hawk helicopters later hovered over the area, and dozens of soldiers swarmed over the site. Injured were still being evacuated at least two hours later.
Time to clean out the Sunni triangle. Bastards.
Posted by: Bulldog || 11/02/2003 7:35:09 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The missle was most likely French made. I think we should impose sanctions on France for this.
Posted by: Charles || 11/02/2003 8:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Fred - your commentary makes far more sense than our current ROE. I wish you were in charge -- this approach is what they would understand and respect / fear - the same thing in Arabia. Sooner or later, and I hope it happens here in Iraq and very soon, indeed, we will realize that our legacy of chivalry is ours alone. They not only do not share it, few of them even understand it. Those that do just use it against us - these are their "leaders" and spokesdink apologists. Those that don't, well, they are the cannon fodder who do the killing and dying. When we get a clue, they will do a lot more of it.

Islam started this drive to their goal of Global Domination Insanity, we didn't. Islam is trying, very very hard, to commit suicide by throwing its adherents on our swords. As an unabashed lover of Freedom and pragmatic man, I believe the least we can do is stay out of their way and ease their passage to Paradise. Along the way, we should take those steps which they will understand - and which will reduce the loss of our Freedom Loving Soldiers. I hope that "someone" out there is listening to you.
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 10:20 Comments || Top||

#3  I would delay an ROE change in Fallujah until the next bombing in Baghdad so as not to appear to be reactive. I recommend a surpise cordon of whatever area Al Sadr controls. Time to make an example of someone.

Jarhead outlines a great technique of widely varied responses to confuse the enemy.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 11:42 Comments || Top||

#4  There is a better way. Surround Falluja with barbed wire and cut off its water. Force all people to leave the town through limited exits, and allow them to leave with one empty car or one small suitcase. Allow no one back in until terrorists are caught or given up to US forces. Do not back down to human rights groups who will scream "abuse", etc. Stand firm, and if necessary make Falluja a deserted city as an example to others residing in the Sunni Triangle.
Posted by: Anonymous || 11/02/2003 11:47 Comments || Top||

#5  "Making a desolation and calling it peace."

I like it.
Posted by: Fred || 11/02/2003 11:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Actually, it sounds like the commander of forces in Iraq, Sanchez, needs to be replaced. Ever since he signed on, casualties have been going through the roof. The brass may have felt that Iraq was stable enough for officers to go through the usual ticket-punching exercise for aspiring military leaders. It appears that we are going to need our best seasoned men in there until the situation truly stabilizes. Note that we have not lost a Chinook in this manner in Afghanistan despite two years of operations. Sanchez is in well over his head.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/02/2003 13:09 Comments || Top||

#7  i agree with bush...this copter downing shows we r winning in Iraq and that they r really desparate now. Now all we need is more deaths to show we r truly really winning.
Posted by: stevestradamus || 11/02/2003 13:30 Comments || Top||

#8  Draw them out of the cities and urban centers, and f&ck them. It's obvious they have an itch that needs scratchin'. Folks, I know we believe that our troops are superior in training, equipment and morale to the Russians, but what makes anyone think this doesn't have the potential to turn into another Chechnya, with foreign jihadis flooding in from all over. If someone doesn't start using their full intelectual capacity on this the jihadis will continue to take advantage.
Wasn't it Bush himself that said American troops are for fighting wars and not keeping the peace? So what the hell are they doing there now? Trying to keep the peace while jihadis take shots at them.

BTW, whatever happened to Ramadan???
Posted by: Rafael || 11/02/2003 13:37 Comments || Top||

#9  BTW, whatever happened to Ramadan???

This is how Ramadan is celebrated -- killing the kaffir.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 11/02/2003 14:02 Comments || Top||

#10  Turn in the weapons now.... Boom! Well said Fred and I totally agree.
Posted by: Lucky || 11/02/2003 15:08 Comments || Top||

#11  On July 10, 2001, Lt. Gen. Sanchez became commanding general of V Corps' 1st Armored Division. He held that position for nearly two years before assuming command of the corps on June 14, 2003.

OK, it looks like Sanchez was appointed in June, not in August, as I suspected, which means he was the head honcho through the quiet period. My mistake.

My understanding of the reason for the lack of helicopter mishaps in Afghanistan was that (1) our helicopters always took off at night, (2) airbase security extended out for miles and (3) helicopters went straight up to cruising height in a spiral pattern over the airbase, instead of gradually reaching that height over the badlands. I wonder if base security has been truncated, choppers are taking off during the day or helicopters in Iraq are not taking precautions against hand-held SAM's.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/02/2003 15:10 Comments || Top||

#12  Is it time to have another look at the V22 Osprey tiltrotor?
Posted by: Bulldog || 11/02/2003 17:25 Comments || Top||

#13  Bulldog - the V22 Osprey has more bugs than a Microsoft product, and needs some more R&D before it's completely trustworthy. The better solution is to have these R&R flights escorted by a pair of Apaches. NOBODY is gonna mess with that killing machine, not if he's got an IQ higher than a sand flea's.

As for Fallujah, we need to impose an 8PM to 8AM curfew, and whack HARD anybody that breaks it - no questions asked. Then slowly start dismantling the town, a block at a time. I think you'll probably find some surprised in the area if you look hard enough. We've been too "sensitive". Now it's their turn to be sensitive, or be stomped.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 11/02/2003 19:24 Comments || Top||

#14  May God bless the 15 families that just suffered the unbearable loss. Their sons will never return. The families will live in denial that the unbearable has happened. Some will continue to speak of their sons in the present tense patiently waiting for them to return - only to eventually face a very hard unchanging reality. Nothing that we say can console them. Those families will never heal.

The funerals will have closed coffins. When helicopters crash - they burn. Mothers in denial will be convinced that some horrible mistake has been made - that could not possibly be their son - God could not be so cruel. Why would God test them so? My prayers tonight are with those families.
Posted by: JP || 11/02/2003 22:28 Comments || Top||

#15  Stevie says we need more deaths?
Fine. Let's all hope that Stevie dies next.
Posted by: Uncle Joe || 11/02/2003 23:58 Comments || Top||

#16  I agree surround Fallugah(and all the rest of the towns where this crap is coming from)Go through the town house by house,lot by lot,building by building(using dogs)every home in wich automatic weapons found arrest every male over the age of 15 years.Nothing in nothing out,if the residents need food,water,medical they can report to check points.This PC,touchy/feely make nice crap is costing lives.
Posted by: Raptor || 11/03/2003 9:06 Comments || Top||


U.S. Administrator Imposes Flat Tax System on Iraq
The flat tax, long a dream of economic conservatives, is finally getting its day — not in the United States, but in Iraq.
Shades of 1950 Hong Kong!
It took L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Baghdad, no more than a stroke of the pen Sept. 15 to accomplish what eluded the likes of publisher Steve Forbes, Reps. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) and Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.), and Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) over the course of a decade and two presidential campaigns. "The highest individual and corporate income tax rates for 2004 and subsequent years shall not exceed 15 percent," Bremer wrote in Coalition Provisional Authority Order Number 37, "Tax Strategy for 2003," issued last month.
There are certain advantages to rule by fiat, aren't there?
Voilà! Iraq has a flat tax, and the 15 percent rate is even lower than Forbes (17 percent) and Gramm (16 percent) favored for the United States. And, unless a future Iraqi government rescinds it, the flat tax will remain long after the Americans have left. Bremer’s new economic policy for Iraq will slash Saddam Hussein’s top tax rate for individuals and businesses from 45 to 15 percent. Of course, since Hussein’s government, like others in the Middle East, almost never enforced tax collection, there is no real history of paying taxes in the country.
That has to change.
John B. Taylor, undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs, said the Iraq flat tax was discussed before the war as preliminary planning was done with the help of some Iraqi exiles. After major combat ended, the discussions continued with Iraqis in Baghdad, with emphasis on tax policies adopted by other countries making the transition from controlled economies. "One was Russia and subsequently Ukraine, where we heard good things after flat taxes were adopted," Taylor said.
You didn't hear about them from the Noo Yawk Times, though...
On Sept. 22, Bremer told the Senate Appropriations Committee: "Iraq’s new tax system is admirably straightforward. The highest marginal tax rate on personal and corporate income is 15 percent." Iraq’s new finance minister, Kamil Mubdir Gailani, is considered a follower of Ahmed Chalabi, the Western-oriented banker who has closely adhered to the Bush administration’s economic policies, according to one expert on the Iraqi economy. Gailani presented the new Iraq finance program, including the flat tax, at a recent international meeting. "A piece of social engineering is being done on Iraq, but it has almost no support from other members of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council," said a Middle East expert who heard Gailani’s presentation.
"We, of course, prefer our old tax farming system, where members of the government deputized close relatives as tax collectors, allowing them to keep a moderate percentage — usually not more than 80 or 85 percent — to cover expenses. That way, the only administrative cost to the government was what it cost to buy them their masks and guns, and then the occasional check processing fee when they paid anything into the treasury. Hey! It worked for the Romans, didn't it?"
Proponents of the flat tax have long favored this kind of tax system for Iraq. Without much of a framework to start with, Iraq "need not worry about all the political and transition problems that have made adoption of fundamental tax reform here so difficult," Bruce Bartlett, an economist in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, wrote this spring. "It is gratifying, therefore, that leaders of the new Iraq are said to be looking at a flat rate tax system for their country."
"Reforming" the tax system implies that there's a tax system in existence...
"Such low rates will put Iraq on a par with Hong Kong and flat-tax-land Russia," editorialist Amity Shlaes wrote in the Financial Times. "They contrast favorably with the onerous regimes of some neighbors."
Especially the ones who use the tax farming system, which doesn't have a set rate:
"Ummm... Pay my taxes? Yeah. I guess. Put down the gun. How much is it?"
"How much you got?"
The 15 percent rate does not take effect until January. In the meantime, Bremer has abolished all taxes except for real estate, car sales, gasoline and the pleasantly named "excellent and first class hotel and restaurant tax." Even while leaving these Hussein-era levies in place, Bremer exempted his coalition authority, the armed forces, their contractors and humanitarian organizations. Exempting occupation personnel leaves only the Iraqis to pay taxes, as well as journalists, business people and other foreigners.
If they can make this work they’ll have predictability in taxation and enough revenue for the government. And the people will start demanding that the government work.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/02/2003 2:31:18 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Geez, I'm soooo jealous.

"...excellent and first class hotel and restaurant tax."
LOL - I love the sound of the sour grapes at the end... I wonder if that came from the reporter or - more likely - the WaPo Editorial Staff. Pfuck 'em - they can help pay for Iraq's reconstruction, too, since it's providing them with employment. Hmmmm. Come to think of it... How about a $10K USD fee for Press Credentials? LOL! Y'know, there might be something there!
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 6:26 Comments || Top||

#2  The hardest part of the taxing will be keeping bribery out of the equation. Glad the UN has beat feet and isn't around to participate in the training for the Iraqi IRS.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 9:09 Comments || Top||

#3  I guess that rules out having them trained by the European Commission's statistical bureau - Eurostat, huh?

There is so much that we poor Merikens have to learn from our betters. Just think how valuable being a cellmate with one of these guys would be regards your future finances! A waiting list will need to be set up. Oh, wait, my bad. They won't be going to jail. Hell, they might not even lose their jobs. The wagons are circled and "mum's" the word. We have so much to learn!

This is just too sophisticated for us - and I'm sure we'll impose our crass and simplisme approach on the poor Iraqis. Oh well, we shouldn't lose hope -- they'll pick it up from the NGOs later.
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 9:50 Comments || Top||

#4  I love the idea of a $10,000 fee for press credentials. It should be an annual fee, applicable only to a single reporter, and non-transferable. Oh, and support staff each require their own set of credentials, so each sound man, each camera man, requires their own set. Oh, and charge $50,000 a month for any group that employs a guide or translator who worked for Saddam's government.

Oh, and exempt anyone who wants to take part in the embed system. Wave it off as their being attached to the military.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 11/02/2003 11:38 Comments || Top||

#5  How about a $10K USD fee for Press Credentials? LOL! Y'know, there might be something there!

At least it'd be out in the open and benefiting the people, instead of the clandestine payments and 'gifts' Saddam and his cronies were getting from the news organizations.
Posted by: Pappy || 11/02/2003 21:37 Comments || Top||


Kirkuk celebrates first Kurdish head of state in Iraq
Yes.
KIRKUK: Hundreds of Kurds marched late Friday through the streets of this northern city, firing into the air to celebrate the month-long rotating presidency of Jalal Talabani, the first Kurd to head Iraq, which began on Saturday. Tribal leader Sheikh Said al-Bazrashi, 52, told AFP that “this is the first time in the history of modern Iraq that a Kurd takes the responsibility of ruling Iraq, a fact that shows the importance of the Kurds."
Too bad it's only for a month...
"This is a historical day in the lives of the Kurds who have been seeking hard to achieve their dream to rule Iraq and let their voice be heard in the world,” said businessman Serdal Sader.
Ummm... I think the idea is to govern, not to rule. A problem with translation? Or a problem with the concept?
Hiwa Fateh Ahmad, 46, called on Talabani “to seek to allow the Kurds to regain their due rights and grant them compensation for the years of repression and killings.”
This article actually contains two stories...
Meanwhile, Talabani himself revealed on Saturday that he had unsuccessfully mediated for the surrender to US troops of Saddam Hussein’s top aide Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri. He told Al-Rai Al-Aam daily that the ousted regime’s number two offered to surrender provided he is not handed to Kuwait and he receives a pardon. “One of his relatives requested us to mediate with the US government that he (Douri) gives himself up provided he is not handed to Kuwait and that he gets medication,” Talabani, in Kuwait on an official visit, said. “I relayed to him that the Americans will not hand him over to Kuwait but he will be tried like other Iraqis. I believe he refused because he wanted to be pardoned,” he said.
So he’s admitting guilt and copping a plea already?
Talabani said he believes Douri is currently inciting people to carry out suicide attacks against the US troops in Iraq, adding credibility to US suspects that the former vice president may be coordinating the attacks.
Posted by: Seafarious || 11/02/2003 12:45:45 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who's supplying his medication??? What is it?

(Geez, that's from a B5 plot as to how the bad guys found the father of the top good guy.)

--up provided he is not handed to Kuwait and that he gets medication,”-
Posted by: Anonymous || 11/02/2003 0:59 Comments || Top||

#2  We're not any good at this bartering thing. We should have come back with an offer of quailty toilet paper for his cell and a subscription to People magazine.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 9:03 Comments || Top||


Africa: Central
UPDF kills Kony No2
Uganda Sunday Vision - EFL

THE LRA overall commander, ‘Brigadier’ Charles Yardin Tabuley has been killed by the UPDF. Tabuley, Joseph Kony’s number two, was shot in Teso after a 30-minute battle at midday on Wednesday. Three of his escorts were also killed, the army announced.

The army commander, Maj. Gen. Nyakairima, Aronda yesterday said, “After surviving better hits and battles, Tabuley was killed in a simple running battle.” I laugh at his stupidity for falling in a battle that only rated a 7.8 for difficulty.

Aronda said soon after the battle, UPDF soldiers discovered four bodies, but Tabuley’s was not there. “Later intelligence sources heard that Tabuley was shot in the head and died instantly. His body was reportedly taken away by his fighters,” he said. Didn’t want Tabuley to become somebody’s entre.

Army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza said, “Tabuley’s body is wanted by Kony in Sudan and I have heard that they (the rebels) are moving about with it.”

Bantariza said another rebel officer identified as Oprah Opara who survived the ambush had his legs shattered. Don’t expect he’ll run too far. He said Kony had appointed one Abudema as Tabuley’s successor.

“Tabuley’s death has thrown the rebels in into disarray. A day later we killed 14 rebels at Awera in Amuria county in Katakwi,” Bantariza said.

“Tabuley’s death marks the beginning of the end of LRA,” he added. I’m sure this marks the beginning of the end for all guerilla fighting in Uganda. Yeah, right.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 9:00:16 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
Palestinians condemn US reward for info on Gaza bombing
JPost Reg req’d
The Palestinian Authority on Sunday condemned the US for offering a reward of up to $5 million for people providing information about the attack on American convoy in the Gaza Strip on October 15. Three US security guards were killed when a remote-controlled roadside bomb was detonated near their convoy in the northern Gaza Strip.
"How dare they defend themselves with filthy lucre!..er....how much are they offering?"
The offer, on the State Department’s Web site http://www.rewardsforjustice.net, is for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the people responsible for the attack.

Col. Rashid Abu Shabak, commander of the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Service in the Gaza Strip, lashed out at the US for making the offer, saying the PA was continuing delaying its investigation into the case. "We strongly condemn this decision," he said. "This is an insulting announcement because it deals with a people whose mouth does not water in the face of financial temptations."
rrrriiiggghhhttt. Have something to worry about Rashid?
Abu Shabak, whose force has been entrusted with investigating the attack on the US convoy, said the Palestinians and their security forces refuse to play the role of mercenaries for the US or any other party. "We don’t work as mercenaries for anyone even ourselves ," he added. "We operate according to our own security lack of vision, which is to serve the interests of the Palestinian people and to provide them with security and calm."
We dispense Prozac by the bucket
He said the PA was continuing to investigate the incident, but declined to say whether any progress has been made. It’s also not clear what happened to the eight Palestinians who were detained shortly after the attack. Sources in Gaza City said most of the detainees have been released.
damn screen doors on the jails!
The suspects belong to the Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of different militias, including Fatah, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Popular Resistance Committees intitially claimed responsibility for the killing of the three Americans, but backtracked after the PA strongly condemned the attack.

A senior PA official in Ramallah described the US offer as "imprudent" and a "flagrant intervention in Palestinian affairs." He added: "The offer is a stab in the back of the Palestinians, who are doing their utmost to capture the culprits."
speaking of stabs in the back, did we mention we replenished the IAF Hellfire inventory? Enjoy, asshole!
An FBI delegation dispatched to investigate the incident met twice with members of the PA investigation team near the Erez checkpoint. Gen. Abdel Razak Majaydeh, the highest-ranking security official in the Gaza Strip who heads the PA investigation team, claimed on Sunday that the FBI delegation was diplospeak coming satisfied with the cooperation of the PA security forces in the investigation.

The PA media has accused Israel of standing behind the attack on the American convoy with the aim of driving a wedge between the Palestinian Authority and the US. Senior PA officials have also accused Israel in private of being responsible for the attack.

right...the Israelis, those known users of bombs and roadside mines, did it....that rings true.....
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 4:42:11 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The big question is whether Arafat got more than $5 million from the Syrians to conduct the attack.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 11/02/2003 16:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front
’Electrical Tower’ Fugitive Caught
A man sought by the FBI for allegedly loosening bolts on electricity transmission towers in Northern California was arrested Sunday after he walked into a California Highway Patrol office looking for directions.
Say, can you direct me to the nearest electrical power towers? Ouch! Hey! That hurts!
Michael Poulin, 62, of Spokane, Wash., was taken into custody after an employee recognized him from a wanted poster, said patrol spokesman Tom Marshall.
An ’Employee’? Not an officer?
"Hey, chief! The cafeteria lady sez she wants to talk to you!"
"I wish they were all this dumb easy," Marshall said. Poulin said he was looking for directions to the FBI office in Sacramento and did not resist arrest, Marshall said.
Yeah! I was asking for the FBI office really. You only thought you heard ’electrical towers’.
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Sunday morning, Poulin said he only meant to highlight the nation’s insecurity at electrical towers by loosening and removing bolts at eight towers in four states.
Yeah... Right....
Poulin said he intended to turn himself in to the FBI Sunday afternoon.
Thats why he told them where they were. Oh you didn’t get my telepathic broadcasts?
A federal arrest warrant was issued last month for Poulin, charging him with damaging an energy facility. Poulin told the AP he was a little apprehensive about the outcome of the case and had tried, through his attorney, to arrange a surrender. "The attorney general, because this covers any number of jurisdictions, refuses to tell me what I’m facing," Poulin said. "Because the threat of a terrorism charge hangs over me, I could end up in Guantanamo Bay."
Sounds just about right to me.
Poulin is accused of removing and loosening bolts from the legs of a high voltage transmission tower near Anderson on Oct. 20. Bolts also have been loosened or removed from the legs of other transmission towers near Sacramento; Benton City, Wash.; and the Oregon cities of Madras, McNary, Klamath Falls and The Dalles.
This guys isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer is he?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/02/2003 3:10:07 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As Steve informed us a few days ago, this Poulin moonbat is a high-profile member of the cynically named "Peace and Justice Action League" and has a history of "violence for peace" that dates back to 1971. He did eight years in prison for setting off a bomb at a peace riot in Fresno, which must have seemed a pretty high price for all those skanky hippy chicks he was trying to impress.
The media will obviously soft-pedal this connection now, just as they did Ted Kaczynski's rock-solid LLL credentials.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 11/02/2003 16:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, the cops have him, so who cares about the media? Squeeze this aging maggot for all he is worth.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/02/2003 16:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Personally, I think it is important to understand that Kaczynski, Poulin, and the animal rights lawyer who murdered Pim Fortuyn are not the isolated nuts they are commonly represented to be. Nuts they are, isolated they are not.
Their actions are entirely consistent with the values, philosophy, and objectives of the mass movement to which they all belong.
Thanks to media collusion, the general public is not aware of these connections, and the LLL continues to escape critical examination of its totalitarian core beliefs.
Contrast this with the complete demonization of the militia movement and second-amendment activists that resulted from the constant emphasis on Tim McVeigh's vague or non-existent associations with any organized element of these groups.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 11/02/2003 17:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Sometimes I think it would be a good idea to let loose a D-5 on Berkeley just to demonstrate our lack of a creditable ABM system.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/02/2003 18:06 Comments || Top||

#5  What a sap. Did he forget how to make a bomb? I bet he used two cresent wrenches because he could figure out the whole socket innovation. When a washed up bomber settles for loosening bolts on electrical towers that's not sabotage, its a pitiful cry for help.
The guy must have missed the jailhouse food and loving. He a piss poor zealot when he gets arrested ordering donuts at the local caf. A little to fat to take to the woods and survve on wild berries and nuts.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 18:42 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Troops arrest Hamas fugitive, foil suicide bombing
JPost Reg req’d - Hat tip to LGF which has a pic
A Hamas fugitive arrested by Shin Bet and IDF forces of the armored corps in the village Hizme near Jerusalem on Thursday, admitted to investigators that he planned to perpetrate a suicide bomb attack in Israel. He also disclosed the location of the explosives belt he planned to use in the attack, which was hidden underneath the bed of his baby daughter in his home.
nice
Sounds like somebody fired a .45 off by his ear...
Security forces who searched the suspect’s home, found the belt and blew it up. Details of the arrest were released by the Shin Bet and IDF on Saturday. Officials said they could not confirm that the suspect planned to perpetrate the attack in Jerusalem but said the proximity of the village where the suspect is from makes it most likely that he had planned to perpetrate the attack in the capital.
Paleo parenting fever! Catch it!
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 1:16:26 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  check out the pic at LGF - the ladies' hands are huge! lol
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 13:18 Comments || Top||

#2  IDF shoulda kept the whole family INSIDE their house when detonating the explosive belt.

"Do under others," and all that, or "let the punishment fit the crime," y'know....
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 11/02/2003 13:46 Comments || Top||

#3  better yet, sew it to him (literally), replace the manual detonator with a remote controlled one, then drop him off at far end of Gaza.
Posted by: snellenr || 11/02/2003 16:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Frank---If she was a man, the NFL would have her (him) signed up as an end!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/02/2003 18:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Sounds like somebody fired a .45 off by his ear...

The Shin Bet? Nothing so thugish. Naw.... they just looked sternly at the perp and cleaned their dental tools.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/02/2003 18:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Is it safe?
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 20:54 Comments || Top||


Africa: North
Sudanese government rejects as unfair the renewal of US embargo
The Sudanese government Thursday angrily cited a decision by the United States to renew economic sanctions against Sudan as "unfair".
Its just tough love. All fair in love and war.
Mutrif Sadiq, a senior Ministry of Foreign Affairs official stated Thursday, that the renewal of sanctions imposed by the U.S. in 1997 was "unfair, unrealistic and contradictory to the previous pledges made by the USA". Sadiq said U.S. President George W. Bush’s Wednesday extension of sanctions against Sudan, applied for another year would strengthen the position of the Sudanese government. Sadiq however did not specify how this would come about, although he said the embargo would never make Sudan submit to U.S. demands to sign a peace deal with Sudanese rebels.
Make peace or don’t make peace. World trade is like a giant salad bar. The US is just forgoing the garbonzo beans until you behave. I’m sure somebody else will trade with you.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during a visit to the site of peace talks a week ago reiterated the U.S. intention to lift the embargo once a peace deal was signed between the warring parties in the Sudanese conflict. Sadiq, who is also member of the government negotiating team to the peace talks with rebel Sudan Peoples Liberation Army, said his country’s foreign policy always regarded terrorism as a global threat.
Threatening the world by hosting international terrorists was good for our self-esteem.
Sudan has been on a U.S. list of countries supporting international terrorism since 1993.
We ought to make a new list of countries that engage in slavery.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 1:01:26 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We ought to make a new list of countries that engage in slavery.
Ooh, lets start with Pakistan shall we?
After all the Sudanese have freed Dr Hasan at-Turabi, we can be sure a man of God like him will condemn the slave trade can't we? And of course once once he does that it'll be the end of said trade trade, Muslims always obey their leaders even if the edicts go against their interests...
Posted by: Dave || 11/02/2003 18:32 Comments || Top||


Africa: West
Congress seeks $2m for Taylor’s capture
The US Congress has attached to the Bill approving President Bush’s plan to spend $87 billion rebuilding and securing Iraq and Afghanistan, an unexpected $2 million ‘for the capture’ of the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor.
Somebody's been paying attention...
Taylor left Liberia in August after prolonged negotiations, and is currently ensconced in a villa in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, provided to him by the country’s President, Olusegun Obasanjo.
One of those little professional courtesies...
With his whereabouts far from a secret, the US bounty has raised fears that mercenaries may take up the challenge to kidnap and bring in the exiled Liberian warlord.
Oh, I'm all a-quiver with fears of just that...
In June, Taylor was indicted on war crimes charges by the United Nations tribunal that is trying Sierra Leoneans alleged to have committed atrocities during the country’s long civil war.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 11/02/2003 11:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just think of the wardrobe $2M would buy! And you could accessorize all your friends! And oh, what a boon for African haute couture! Gay Paree is all a-twitter with the news!

Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 12:04 Comments || Top||

#2  $2M might attract someone to kill Chuck but its not much for getting a gang together and shooting their way in to Chuck's hideout and then out of Nigeria. One stray bullet hits Chuck and the payday is over and you have jail time staring you in the face. The jail would probably make Joe Arpaio's operation look like Kindercare.

The $2M must be either to encourage an insider to turn or to discourage Chuck from hitting Monaco for a vacation.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 12:35 Comments || Top||

#3  SH, I can fix this [waves magic wand]: $2 million DEAD OR ALIVE.

There, how's that?
Posted by: Steve White || 11/02/2003 15:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Steve, don't candy coat it. Make it $2M Dead. It will save on overhead. What would we do if some bozo delivered him alive?
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 18:31 Comments || Top||

#5  SH - I've got a loooonngg list of things I'd like to conduct a 'live' test of. Most of them are very, very painful. The rest are just deadly.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 11/02/2003 19:06 Comments || Top||


Middle East
’Jewish bomb engineer’ indicted on treason charges
JPost Reg Req’d - every society has their Judas
Hanan Yadgarov, suspected of selling explosives to criminals and possibly terrorists, was indicted Sunday on charges of assisting the enemy in a time of war and for producing illegal weapons. The Jerusalem district court indicted Yadgarov on charges of attempted murder (he allegedly placed a bomb under a car in Jerusalem), attempting to assist a foreign enemy in a time of war, production of illegal weapons, and illegal arms dealing.
lovely
Yadgarov, known as the ’Jewish bomb engineer’, was arrested earlier this month after selling a three kilogram bomb to an undercover police officer, who identified himself as an Arab, for NIS 25,000, and then replying in the affirmative when asked if the bomb could be used on buses.
He must drive his own car, huh?
Yadgarov, a 28-year-old father of three who immigrated from the former Soviet Union 13 years ago, told reporters that he never meant to blow up buses.
no, just the car you placed a bomb in...he meant for someone else to blow up a bus...
He tried to kill himself in his detention cell a few days after his arrest. He slit his wrists late at night in the Russian Compound lockup, but guards who noticed his suicide attempt provided medical assistance.
why???
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 10:35:47 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Yadgarov, known as the ’Jewish bomb engineer’"
That's now ex, ahem, EX-Jewish bomb engineer. If they had let him bleed to death, he could be the FORMER-EX-Jewish bomb engineer. Since his end is in sight, now, perhaps he should pick some goofy / inane symbol like ¡ for his name - to indicate his end was not a surprise - to be engraved on his headstone. What an asshat.
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 10:58 Comments || Top||

#2  guards ... provided medical assistance.
why???

Because it's far more instructive to the population - both Israeli and Arab - to see that anyone who goes around making bombs and blowing up things will get whacked, regardless of who or what they are.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 11/02/2003 12:11 Comments || Top||

#3  "Treason"?

Damn, I seem to remember that word. I also seem to remember that it should be applied to a hell of a lot of wannabe jihadis we've caught in the US.

So why the hell isn't it being used?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 11/02/2003 14:05 Comments || Top||


Palestinians let into Israel for work
From MSNBC... EFL and Fair Use
10,000 laborers allowed from Gaza for first time in a month
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip, Nov. 2 — Israel permitted 10,000 Palestinian laborers to cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel early Sunday, allowing them to return to their workplaces for the first time since Israel tightened restrictions a month ago in response to a deadly suicide bombing.
Better than they deserve, since they are stupid enough to support those whose actions forced the crackdown.
The Palestinian workers crammed through the Erez crossing before dawn Sunday, succumbing to tight security checks but thankful to return to their jobs for the first time since a female suicide bomber blew herself up in a Haifa restaurant on Oct. 4, killing 21 people. Israel also gave 1,000 Gaza merchants permits to work in Israel.
"Succumbing"? Surely you mean submitting? I doubt if the security checks killed them. Oh, maybe a few didn't survive the biopsy part, but I'm sure most did...
All the permits were given to men 35 and older, because Israel says that married men over this age are less likely to carry out attacks. For most Palestinians who are celebrating the month-long holiday of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and then hold lavish feasts, the timing could not have been better.
Profiling WORKS.
“It is a miracle from God because I was running out of money due to the holy month of Ramadan and I was thinking how I would manage to feed my children in this very bad economic situation,” said Mohammed Salman, a 42-year-old construction worker who has seven children.
Ah, Islamic Family Planning in action.
"Hey! I'm a devout Muslim! I got nothin' to do but read the Koran and hump. An' I need lotsa kids, 'cuz you know half of 'em are gonna explode before they have a chance to spawn..."
However, Salman was unhappy with the security checks he was forced to undergo.
Gosh, those nails are tough, ain't they?
The strict checks make a trip from Salman’s home in the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza to Tel Aviv take several hours instead of less than an hour. “This step is not enough because they are treating us like animals at the borders. They are humiliating us. We want real free movement and we want good living conditions and peace for all of us,” Salman said.
You want. You demand. You are humiliated. Tough shit, fool. You fuck mess with the bull, you get the horn.
...More...
Any unilateral acts of kindness or civility are met with derision, renewed jihadi blather, and more attacks. Just recall that attacks were carried out by Israeli-released detainees during the hudna. This will never end until one side or the other is wiped out - that’s utterly wiped out for the weak-minded reader.
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 9:08:12 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  don't hold back - say what you really think and quit candy-coating it!

lol
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 10:10 Comments || Top||

#2  How long will it take for this to bite Israel in the ass?
Posted by: pill || 11/02/2003 14:57 Comments || Top||

#3  "how long will it take for this to bite Israel in the ass?" ...about as long as it takes for the U.S. to get bit in the ass by allowing illegal immigrants into our country; which is to say, immediately.
Posted by: Uncle Joe || 11/03/2003 0:02 Comments || Top||


Home Front
California Fires Reignite Forest Thinning Debate
From Fox... EFL and Fair Use
By Steven Milloy
Posted on behalf of Frank G and the other Rantburgers affected by the recent fires — and the fact that some jihadi had suggested recently that they should take credit for them...

"Our forests are detonating like napalm bombs. We need to remove dead and dying bug-killed timber," said Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif.

Is this Monday-morning quarterbacking spurred by the wildfires now raging in California? Hardly. Rep. Herger uttered those words in August 1994 as part of his demand that Congress declare a state of emergency in federal forests to permit quick removal of dead trees, fallen branches and other debris that fuel wildfires — like those that burned 3 million Western acres and killed 14 firefighters that year. A spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council responded at the time by calling Rep. Herger’s demand “a pretext for accelerated logging in the Sierra Nevada.”
The usual response. Actually, they don't care so much about the logging as people making money from it...
Nine years later, though, Rep. Herger’s demand is looking pretty prescient. Over 700,000 acres have burned so far this year in California alone, along with the loss of 20 lives and more than 2,600 homes destroyed. Last year, wildfires burned nearly 7 million acres, killed 23 firefighters, destroyed more than 800 homes and cost taxpayers more than $1.5 billion.
I'd say Herger's vindicated...
So what do the environmentalists have to say? A spokesperson for the Natural Resources Defense Council called President Bush’s proposed plan to prevent forest fires by thinning excess growth “a Trojan horse” for sneaking through logging projects.
Still clueless after all these years...
Notice they attack the motives, rather than the proposal?
As the Western forests burn — and people die and homes are destroyed — environmentalists and their political allies in Congress only seem concerned that some “old growth” trees may be cut in the process of thinning the nation’s tinder traps. Their nonsensical opposition to thinning only makes it easier for wildfires to spread out of control. That’s positively cuckoo.
...More...
EcoPolitics: where green and greed are reversed.
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 8:42:36 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wish Jesse Jackson would take over the enviro business. Then at least we could just pay the guy off and agree to interview black candidates for all forestry positions. The status quo is killing people.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 8:52 Comments || Top||

#2  the ecos are on the defensive around here right now - I'm sure they'll rebound, but their response seems to be that their policies were correct, and it was people's faults that they built suburbs and ranch houses in the hills - we should all be huddling in NY style highrises and leaving the backcountry alone. The drought over the last couple years (2" of rain in all of the '01 rain year) led to tree susceptibility to bark beetles, which left scores of big 'ol matchsticks standing. The ecos are against haul roads - they want to helicopter the trees out.....riiiiggghhhtt
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 10:01 Comments || Top||

#3  I should add as well, that there are no large scale lumber mill ops in Southern California. There is no chance of logging for commercial gain, these a-holes just refuse to see the forest for the trees, so to speak
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 10:29 Comments || Top||

#4  But it's about the oiiiiilllll owls pink-eyed three-toed salamander one-eyed one-horned flying purple people-eater profit! Surely there's evil corporate profit hiding behind every tenet of good forest management? My professor said so! He's written lots of books 'n stuff, so it has to be true! LOL!
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 10:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Interestingly, Eucalyptus trees survived amidst scorched earth conditions. In some cases, they even served as a firewall. I wonder if the tree's oil could be used as a fire retardant?
Posted by: Anonon || 11/02/2003 10:50 Comments || Top||

#6  That's weird - must indicate the temperature of the fire was rather low... When I lived in Sammy Dago an Aussie friend of mine there said that the eucalyptus trees explode when they burn - spreading flaming sap for several meters around - she had seen it in the fires around Sydney. Anyone know more about this - it sounds a little odd that they would be helpful in this case!!!
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 11:03 Comments || Top||

#7  If you keep the trees thinned, then a controlled burn zaps the undergrowth. That policy will be a hardsell to teh kook who consider weeding the garden an afront to bio-diversity.

Their logic alludes me. I think it is the Sierra club that sells oil from a well on its property to fund anti-drilling advocacy.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 11:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Thinning the forest has nothing to do with the fires, as Super Hose kind of points out. Big trees like the ones the logging companies are interested are actually fireproof (the bark is much too thick for them to burn down). In the past, natural fires used to come through, burning out the undergrowth while leaving these trees, and in the end, making the forest healthier. Taking out the larger trees is not going to do anything, and the reality of a "controlled burn" can be seen in the western fires of a decade ago.
Posted by: Anonymous || 11/02/2003 11:18 Comments || Top||

#9  Eventually, I would like to see the process of controlled burns contracted out. I may misunderstand the current system, but I think it has been abused in the past. For example, the training and burning budgets of the Forest Service were re-routed into land aquisition in the nineties. I beleive there was a large wildfire that same year in Arizona. I'm a little fuzzy as there have been so many fires.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 11:31 Comments || Top||

#10  Big trees like the ones the logging companies are interested are actually fireproof
What planet do YOU live on? I can walk up into the foothills west of here and see Ponderosa pines three feet thick where all that's left is a bit of the lower trunk and the stump. The Hayman fire burned them quite well, thank you. The only time large trees don't burn is when the fire temperature is low. Underbrush, closely-packed trees, and dead trees have a tendency to raise the temp of most forest fires from around 450 degrees to well over 2000 degrees. NOTHING is immune. This is just another bit of nonsense to try to 'convince' people old-growth forests aren't in danger. It's bullshit.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 11/02/2003 12:02 Comments || Top||

#11  The eucalyptus burn like giant matchsticks - see: Scripps Ranch, burned to the ground, et al

it's all about the fuel - we've had way too much undergrowth (controlled burns prohibited) and not enough removal of dead trees
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 12:25 Comments || Top||

#12  OP -- the "big trees don't burn" myth probably came from people watching parkland burn. In a park, the dead wood is typically cleared, and the grass under the trees doesn't burn very hot. Grass fires won't even hurt smaller trees, so you can see how the myth was born.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 11/02/2003 14:00 Comments || Top||

#13  After seeing some of the fabulous homes that burned I think some balance may be coming. Those that built in those areas thought little about the fire danger. Probably thought the trees were there for shade. After insurance companies get done paying out claims you can bet that it will be a whole new enchilada getting fire insurance in places that go poof.
Posted by: Lucky || 11/02/2003 14:46 Comments || Top||

#14  After insurance companies get done paying out claims you can bet that it will be a whole new enchilada getting fire insurance in places that go poof.

Actually, once a place has gone up in smoke, there is little danger of it burning up again. Forest fires need fuel, and once the fuel is gone, it'll be a while before those areas present a fire risk. In this respect, forests are different from flood plains, hurricane zones or earthquake zones.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 11/02/2003 14:59 Comments || Top||

#15  We have the same problem is south central Alaska (kenai peninsula and Anchorage). Millions of acres of dead beetle-killed spruce trees stand like flambeau ready for a light. The enviro-weenies have been fighting logging for years, so the value of much of the timber has been lost due to rot. Hopefully their self immolating attitudes will be overcome soon after SoCal fires. My son and I dropped over a hundred dead trees in our neighborhood to give some defensible space. Sensible people need to take charge of their lives and get policies in place that protect the forests and the people. The enviroweenies have the same nonsensical hysteria about energy, oil, food, and the WoT. They have big lungs and vocal chords, but it is time, for the purposes of our survival as a nation, to tell them to STFU and G.O.O.D!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/02/2003 17:07 Comments || Top||

#16  Bechtel's loading up willie pete in those old Electras... it's true. Those forests are covering up valuable oil fields. Reagans tax cut caused the sprawl and the Beatles.
Posted by: Shipman || 11/02/2003 18:12 Comments || Top||

#17  Uh, Shipman, by the time Reagan cut taxes, the Beatles were pretty washed up anyway. Ringo'd already quit, and I think the group had disbanded. Have to blame that on either Nixon, Ford, or Carter - MUCH before Reagan's time.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 11/02/2003 19:14 Comments || Top||


Dennis Miller: ACLU Hasn’t A-C-L-U-E
From Fox
By Dennis Miller
Dennis, who has nearly perfected the art after which Rantburg is named, has a go at the Not-a-Clue ACLU
Hey, get this...I want to talk about the ACLU which, quite frankly, doesn’t have an A-C-L-U-E anymore.

The ACLU worked to postpone the California Recall, is fighting to get rid of public displays of the Ten Commandments, fighting against the Boy Scouts and for NAMBLA, the North American Man-Boy Love Association. Working to defend their rights! In short, on the wrong side of almost every issue. The American Civil Liberties Union is imploding and the wide array of life options it endorses seems to no longer include a belief in the traditional American way.

They have no use for common sense; they think it’s common. The big ACLU push during the holidays now is to get rid of public depictions of the Nativity Scene during Christmas. Yeah, that’s what’s wrong with the country, plastic depictions of Christ’s birth. The ACLU has now degenerated to the point where they’ll fight against your right to erect a Nativity Scene but they’ll fight for the right of the local freak who stumbles into the scene and fondles one of the sheep.

Not that they’re always wrong. The ACLU is now helping to overturn a Mississippi state law that prohibits homosexual couples in that state from adopting children and I believe that is a fair-minded cause. But you know folks, while I’m not an expert on the subject, if you’re gay and you’ve chosen to set up shop in Mississippi, well even I’m reasonably sure that you’re not equipped to adopt children.

ACLU lawyers love to lounge around in the self-righteous ether until the ’atrocity alarm’ goes off and then it’s down the fire pole, into their Bass Weejuns and right out the door to provide immediate succor and aid to the worst humanity has to offer, gallingly, all in the name of humanity.

And they always bring up our forefathers and say they were civil libertarians. C’mon, our forefathers would have never tolerated any of this current-day crap. For God’s sake, they were blowin’ guys’ heads off because they put a tax on their breakfast beverage! And it wasn’t even coffee! Imagine how nuts they would have been on a 4-shot espresso.

Let me get this straight. We don’t hate people who prey on children anymore? Did I miss a meeting? Well, if we’re not gonna go sling blade on predators just tell me cause if that’s the case I’m gonna go live in Alec Baldwinia.

Got that?
LOL! I give it a 7.8...
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 8:33:05 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sure they do all their work on tax-free dollars.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 8:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Dennis is getting an evening political talk show on CNBC - I hope he still gets to do commentary on Fox, but that looks unlikely
Posted by: Frank G || 11/02/2003 10:11 Comments || Top||

#3  That's too bad. I haven't watched CNBC in years. Geraldo was still on...
Posted by: Fred || 11/02/2003 11:36 Comments || Top||

#4  The ACLU has an annual budget of $60 meg. They have a big endowment, so they can do alot of damage for a long time, if unopposed. The IRS needs to shut them down, but like it was said in a recent posting on Rantburg, not alot of hope of that happening.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 11/02/2003 17:12 Comments || Top||


Central Asia
Russia settles in for second act of Kremlin power struggle
From ChannelNewsAsia... EFL and Fair Use
As the political dust settles in Russia after a frantic week of rumor and bombshell announcements, Moscow is preparing for the second act of a power struggle between warring Kremlin clans.
Is Putin the new Russian Dictator?
The plot and characters are in the best tradition of Kremlin intrigues — ex-KGB agents battling big business advocates for the president’s ear as businessmen the world over hold their breath.
And we know who’s got the upper hand in that struggle...
Add to the mix a jailed tycoon, one of the world’s largest oil companies, suspense about the direction of a former superpower shaking off its Communist past, and the stage is set for quite a drama.
A made-for-TV Movie plot if I ever heard one...
The first act climaxed last week with the arrest and detention of Russia’s richest man, the resignation of the Kremlin’s "gray cardinal," a stock market tumble and a prosecutor’s move to effectively seize shares in the country’s largest oil company.
Gray Cardinal - man, that’s a cool image... As usual. the key is to follow the money...
It began when Vladimir Putin, a one-time KGB agent, was suddenly annointed successor to the Russian presidency by his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin. When he assumed the office in March of 2000, the political neophyte kept many people from the Yeltsin regime in his administration. They became known as "the Family."
How remarkably appropriate!
The Family was closely linked to the oligarchs, men who got super-rich during the tumult of post-Soviet years by snapping up huge companies for tiny prices in shadowy privatization deals.
In the best tradition of corruption...
In Putin’s administration, this practice was personified by presidential chief of staff Alexander Voloshin, a quiet-spoken man with a Mona Lisa smile, steel will and political skills so deft that he was nicknamed the Kremlin’s "gray cardinal."
Is this a novel - or reel life? Read the rest and know the players...
...More...
I don’t have much good to say about Prez Putty, his record over the last 18 months has proven to be self-serving and self-aggrandizing - a statesman or People’s Advocate, he’s not. Just how corrupt is he? Just how much latitude will his pop-idol fan club (a.k.a. the Russian electorate) allow him? This little tempest should clarify things quite a bit.

They keep coming back to the fact that Putin's an ex-KGB man, but that's hitting on the wrong key. I haven't followed Russian politix in detail for ten years, so I'm not an expert. But my guess would be that Putin's power base includes the FSB — successor to the KGB — but isn't limited to it.

There had to be "understandings" made for him to get to the position he was in when Boris stepped down. If he hadn't, he'd have gone the way of Lebedev, a true hero who was used (as Yeltsin's vice president at the beginning of this second term) and then tossed aside. Yeltsin gave up his chance at greatness after the August Coup by allowing his "family" — both his immediate family and his cronies — to pretty much rape the Russian economy. The Soviets raised them with stories of rapacious capitalism, so when they became capitalists they also became rapacious. Gangsterism, personified by "mafias" was rampant when Putin took over.

Say what you will about the KGB, but the operational ranks were mostly good Party men, and I suspect a substantial percentage had an instinctive aversion to the mafia idea. It was the antithesis of their education and indoctrination. When the organization was rebuilt much of the model came from the FBI — which spent years fighting the American mafia. Russian went from the near-anarchy of the Yeltsin era — the Russian Far East was ruled as a virtual satrapy by its warlord, for example — closer to the "strong hand at the helm" model under Putin. But Putin's won my respect by working, for the most part, within the constraints of the Yeltsin-era reforms. He plays by the rules most of the time, even when they're not to his advantage. I don't think he's going to morph into a dictator, and the Russians themselves seem to like him, probably because he does negotiate that delicate middle ground. I think his historical reputation will be very good, assuming he keeps going the way he has been. But one of the things he absolutely has to do is clean out the Yeltsin deadwood, which, remember, hasn't stopped being rapacious.
Posted by: .com (aka The Black Cardinal) || 11/02/2003 8:16:29 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There also seems to be a basing poker game in progress in the stans, the Korean situation, and not to forget the channel argument with the Ukraine. Add in Chechnya and you have some real stew warming up in Russia.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 8:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Fred - sure hope you're right about Putin. His reversal and outright opposition regards Iraq, after buddying up to Dubya in Crawford, is when I realized there was a serious opportunist component. Russia needs a strong hand, indeed - it needs a George Washington who'll be consistent in turning down the crown every time it's offered, and forgoing the idolatry. I'll shut up and keep watching - maybe he can pull it off. Thx for the BG!!!
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 10:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Russia under Putin has been consistently losing all freedoms and civil rights. I find no reason to be happy or optimistic about where he's taking his country.

Non-state controlled businesses are now being shut down even as non-state controlled media were shut down a little while ago. We are heading for Soviet Union Jr, it seems to me.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 11/02/2003 11:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Putin seems to get the same bad rap that Bush gets from those who desire light switch solutions to all problems. I can't imagine trying to straighten out the Russian economy after the way they privatized the national industries. I hope that the coalition follows a model simular to the break-up of Ma Bell, where that model fits.
Posted by: Super Hose || 11/02/2003 11:24 Comments || Top||

#5  [heart palpitations] almost agree... [seizure] with... [gasp] Aris... [shudder] [groan]
Posted by: .com || 11/02/2003 11:37 Comments || Top||

#6  However, the guy Vlad put in chains is one bad mofo. While he's been "charitable" with some millions, he and his pals grabbed up a big chunk of Russian oil assets all for themselves in the Yeltsin era. I'm not weeping for them.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/02/2003 15:21 Comments || Top||

#7  Possibly enlightening article from 2000 in the Asia Times:
http://www.atimes.com/c-asia/BF06Ag02.html
Posted by: mojo || 11/02/2003 15:22 Comments || Top||

#8  A Russian friend once told me that what Russia needed was not democracy but a tsar-like figure to lead the people. Putin fits that description pretty well. He hasn't screwed up too badly, and brought in some semblance of order to the country.

Aris: Russia under Putin has been consistently losing all freedoms and civil rights.

Putin will be re-elected again and again and again, unless someone more tsar-like appears on the horizon. If this will be the case, Aris, the self-proclaimed champion of people's right to choose (remember the EU referendums??), then shouldn't you accept that your assertion about the freedoms and civil rights in Russia simply does not hold? In other words, ask the ordinary Russian what he thinks about Putin, freedom, and civil rights, and I bet you'll get a surprising answer. Surprising to you, that is.
Posted by: Rafael || 11/02/2003 17:50 Comments || Top||

#9  A Russian friend once told me that what Russia needed was not democracy but a tsar-like figure to lead the people.

Perhaps. But I've got a friend who says they need a great conductor and someone who can whip up on Deep Blue
Posted by: Shipman || 11/02/2003 18:02 Comments || Top||

#10  Rafael> "A Russian friend once told me that what Russia needed was not democracy but a tsar-like figure to lead the people. Putin fits that description pretty well."

I too know fascists who feel that nations don't need democracies but tyrants. Your point is what exactly?

"He hasn't screwed up too badly, and brought in some semblance of order to the country."

Like the Taliban brought order to Afghanistan? Or Hitler to Germany?

If this will be the case, Aris, the self-proclaimed champion of people's right to choose (remember the EU referendums??),

Yes, I remember the EU referendums. And like every democrat I understand that the rights of the many to decide end at the point where the inalienable rights of the one begin.

Which is quite unlike the nationalists' and fascists' version of democracy -- In that version the many have the right to vote only as long as they defend the absolute nationalistic sovereignty and racial genetic ethnic purity of our god-blessed nation, may our divinely-appointed president rule for ever, hooplah!

Aka, the version of democracy which *you* support and in which version those EU referendums are somehow invalid, given how they produced results you disliked.

then shouldn't you accept that your assertion about the freedoms and civil rights in Russia simply does not hold?

Are you actually telling me that you feel that human and civil rights have to do with what the *majority* feels they should be? That they are not fundamental and inalienable for all human beings? That elected officials have the right to violate them?

What the ordinary Russian feels about Putin becomes less and less relevant given how all non-state media have been shut down, and Putin's most vocal opponents have been exiled, imprisoned or assassinated.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 11/02/2003 18:06 Comments || Top||

#11  Your point is what exactly?

That Putin will be re-elected. And the fact that you are having a fit about it underscores your lack of understanding of the Russian people.

You have a double standard Aris. No use in arguing anything with you.
Posted by: Rafael || 11/02/2003 18:47 Comments || Top||

#12  A Russian friend once told me that what Russia needed was not democracy but a tsar-like figure to lead the people. Putin fits that description pretty well. He hasn't screwed up too badly, and brought in some semblance of order to the country.
He has, but so did the Taliban (& were they more brutal than Dostum, say?) The Russkiys have had this thing about great men & absolute power ever since the time of St Vladimir, I really don't think it's a good idea to encourage them in this delusion (...the shops were full under Stalin - yeah cos there weren't so 'eaters' then were there? And when the shops were empty who'd have dared to complain?) I blame the Byzantines myself...
Posted by: Dave || 11/02/2003 18:49 Comments || Top||

#13  "That Putin will be re-elected."

I know that.

"And the fact that you are having a fit about it underscores your lack of understanding of the Russian people."

What lack of understanding is that? I think of him a tyrant who is resurrecting what he can of the Soviet Union. You are constantly talking about what the Russian majority wants, which is, if I understand you correctly, to smash the minority under its boot.

Fine, you may go on ahead liking that scenario. But how does that dispute my point? I consider it a nightmare. If the Russian people want a tyrant, then how is that any better than the Afghani people wanting the Islamofascist Taliban?

You seem to be truly enjoying and supporting the idea that certain nations need tyrannies to work. Even if you are right, how the *hell* is that a happy knowledge to have? If Russia is *destined* to forever and ever be an enemy of democracy and freedom, as you are claiming, how in the world does that make the global situation one iota better, than in *my* opinion? In my opinion the Russian people had a chance for democratic reform, like most of Eastern Europe, and they lost it.

In your version they never had a chance at all. If anything you are describing an even more horribly pessimistic worldview than mine is.

As for the double standard, what double standard is that? I very consistently don't like tyrants (elected or not), or violations of human rights, or slides into autocracy. When have I shown a different standard?
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 11/02/2003 19:37 Comments || Top||

#14  I know Khodorkovsky's son so that biases my outlook but this crackdown is not in America's national interests. Aside from all that money being on the line and Exxon wants to buy his shares, I do not see how America gains from seeing Russia take control of more industry. We need an increase in oil output, that can only come from the private sector.
Posted by: Brian || 11/03/2003 1:07 Comments || Top||



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Fri 2003-10-31
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Thu 2003-10-30
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Mon 2003-10-27
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