NEW YORK â Gennifer Flowers sings again.
The woman who says she had an intimate relationship with President Clinton will be joining "Boobs! The Musical," a revue currently running at a midtown Manhattan nightspot, on Jan. 21. You couldnât make this up if you tried.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/09/2004 4:55:49 PM ||
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Sorry. This is not an article. Itâs a question
For the benefit of argument and debate.
Can anyone please tell me how many lawsuits the ACLU has brought against the fed. Gov. or any of itâs entities that are directly related to the Patriot Acts????
Of course I would also need the source. If any!!
Posted by: Ron in Colorado ||
01/09/2004 12:29:27 AM ||
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#2
Thanks, tu3031 - now I've got Diet Coke all over my monitor!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/09/2004 16:37 Comments ||
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#3
"Did you get the memo about Illiteracy Day?"
"Yes, but I couldn't read it?"
Posted by: Mike ||
01/09/2004 16:52 Comments ||
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#4
LOL! This reminds me of a Larson cartoon showing a crowd of people marching with a banner that read something like "Equal rights for the, y'know, inarticulate!"...
#5
'Reminds me of the Gary Larson cartoon with the kid with schoolbooks at the top of the entryway stairs, trying to enter the "School for the Gifted" - the sign near the door handle reads "Pull" and the kid is .... you guessed it....
#6
Like the magazine cartoon of the dog at the typewriter with the man standing behind the dog, reading a page, with a scowl on his face. The dog says, "sure it's doggerel, what do you expect?"
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2004 21:24 Comments ||
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Police in Bahra city rescued a doctor from the enraged relatives of a Saudi patient who allegedly died because of a medical mistake on Wednesday night, Al-Madinah newspaper reported.
Normally, we just sue for malpractice. I guess it's a cultural difference...
The doctor mistakenly gave the 20-year-old patient two shots of an unknown substance instead of oxygen in an asthma emergency.
Needle... Oxygen mask... Yeah, I guess I can see how you'd confuse the two.
When Fayez Abdullah Al-Mabadi, a high school student, suffered a small asthma attack on Wednesday night, his brother Musfer took him to a nearby clinic to give him oxygen as they had done in the past. According to the brother, the doctor insisted on giving Fayez two shots in the arm instead of oxygen. He lost consciousness soon after. âI asked the doctor to do something to save my brotherâs life,â Musfer said. âHe told to me to be quiet. When the doctor saw that there was no hope, he asked me to take my brother to another hospital. He then left the room with the nurses and locked himself inside his office and called the police. We tried very hard to save my brotherâs life but there was no ambulance at the clinic to transfer him. He died even as the doctor remained locked up in the adjacent room.â
The words "incompetent fuck" spring to mind...
An eyewitness, Fayea Al-Bagamy, who was taking his sick daughter to see a doctor, confirmed the story of the two shots. âThe doctor threatened the victimâs brother and then escaped with his medical crew, leaving the young man to fight death alone,â Fayeh said. More than 20 police cars and emergency forces arrived on the scene to prevent dozens of the deceasedâs relatives from entering the clinic and retaliating against the doctor. Residents of Bahra city also surrounded the clinic to complain about several cases of incompetence negligence. Fahd Al-Harthy, another resident, said that the clinic was responsible for the death of five other people; the last case was a patient with a throat infection during Ramadan. The clinic and its owner have never been held accountable and all complaints are ignored. The police are still guarding the clinic in case of a possible attack from relatives of the victim.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 11:48 ||
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#1
yeah, that shot of oxygen in the vein is often prescribed. I see it on TV every time a hit man wants to kill someone in a hospital bed - beats the pillow over the face
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2004 12:21 Comments ||
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#2
This is the entire history of the middle east in 1 little parable.
#3
From his last intern review..."Not a great medical practitioner, but can recite the Koran forward and backwards from memory."
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2004 12:49 Comments ||
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Steve White, is it possible that the doctor gave him atropine?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 13:19 Comments ||
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Usually, well-connected Saoodi's go for non-life-threatening degrees, such as architecture (they must be the twits who design the "art" featured in every traffic round-about) or advanced idiotarianism. I guess when Daddy bought his diploma the new wing, the "University" actually took it seriously. Fayez apparently wasn't his first victim, nor will he be the last, given the "police" reaction.
In other words, the "Dr." title is customarily an honorary thing in the Middle East, such as Dr. Mohamed Elbarradai, Egyptian "Nuclear Scientist" cum scum-sucking Diplo-Politician.
#6
oh well one less Saudi, hope iraqi doctors don't came to practice in England.
Posted by: Jon Shep ||
01/09/2004 14:48 Comments ||
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You goes to the Dr. of Islam, you takes your chances....
On a more serious note, I remember reading that the average high schooler in the US has a better knowledge of medicine than the average Physician in the Middle East.
Posted by: Mark ||
01/09/2004 16:29 Comments ||
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#8
You see now Zionists? Where is your Ben CaseHistory now?
What? Oh. Sorry. This isn't the Millionaire? Where's Mike?
Posted by: Dr. Zorba ||
01/09/2004 17:57 Comments ||
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Finally! After all these months of ranting, I can rant on something IN MY SPECIALTY! Whoo-hooo!
Asthma: no, atropine wouldn't kill him. Wouldn't help much but wouldn't kill him. Initial treatment for a severe asthma attack includes inhaled albuterol (bronchodilator), oxygen, and solumedrol (corticosteroid). You can substitute injected epinephrine under the skin if you don't have a nebulizer machine for the albuterol; works about as well. I wonder if this was the "shot" times two?
Repeat albuterol x 6 or so. If this doesn't work and the patient deteriorates you give him shots of oxygen iv may need to intubate and provide mechanical ventilation. We then use lots of steroids and bronchodilators. There's more but that's enough for Dr. Hayami al-DumFuqui to get started.
I'm the director of our pulmonary fellowship here at the U. It boggles the mind that a doc could do something like this, even if daddy bought his degree at University of Jihad. We see a fair number of Arab docs in the US for training at different (mostly community) hospital programs, and while some of them are 7th Century stupid, most are generally decent and of average or better intelligence. They had to be to escape their miserable educational system and pass the exam that lets them into the U.S. A few of them are flat-out brilliant.
I've worked with a couple of Iraqi and Iranian docs -- smart, good people, and needless to say VERY happy to be here and not there. One Iranian doc (very careful to call himself "Persian" and not "Iranian") lost three brothers in the Iraq-Iran war, and he himself carried an AK for a while. He was even happier than Fred the day we bagged Saddam.
Perphaps Dr. al-DumFuqui was giving epinephrine shots, in which case I forgive him a teeny, tiny bit -- but locking himself away and lettingthe patient die should be sufficient cause to have him beheaded and his children sterilized just to make sure this particular gene line comes to an end.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2004 18:05 Comments ||
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Maybe he locked himself in so that the patient couldn't see him rifeling through his desk for the hanging folder on the treatment of severe asthma attacks.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 23:01 Comments ||
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The founder of Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam made comments on Arabic-language television that suggest the group was behind a March 2003 suicide bombing in Iraq that killed four people, including an Australian journalist, a transcript shows. The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, which reported the comments Friday, said they seemed to contradict Mullah Krekarâs previous statements that the group was not involved in any attacks in northern Iraq. He also sez heâs retired, but we donât believe that either.
Krekar was arrested at his home in Oslo a week ago on suspicion he plotted the attempted murders of political rivals in northern Iraq between 2000 and 2001 or encouraged terrorism by his groupâs members. A court ordered his release for lack of evidence, but he remains in jail pending a police appeal. Good.
According to transcript of the program aired on the Al-Jazeera TV network Dec. 2, Krekar said the suicide attack at a checkpoint was in response to U.S. led bombings of his group in northern Iraq. "When the Americans attacked us in our areas ... the next day, one of our brothers-martyrs ... booby-trapped himself and his car, and attacked the U.S. position," said Krekar, according to an Arabic language transcript posted on Al-Jazeeraâs Web site. "Damm infidels, who knew they could understand the holy Arabic language?"
Krekar does not specifically refer to Ansar al-Islam in the comments. Doesnât have to, the comment speaks for itself.
Krekarâs Norwegian attorney, Brynjar Meling, said he hadnât discussed the transcript with his client but wanted to get a copy of it first. Iâll bet, heâs in damage control mode.
Krekar, born Najm al-Din Faraj Ahmad, has repeatedly said he no longer has a formal role in Ansar al-Islam, and has denied allegations of terrorism and links to the al-Qaida network. "Lies, all lies!"
This week, Norwayâs Oekokrim, the elite economic crime police, submitted additional secret evidence to the Borgarting appeals court in Oslo, seeking an order to hold Krekar in jail for four weeks.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2004 12:58:44 PM ||
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The Swiss authorities have arrested eight foreigners in connection with suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia. No details on nationality released.
The detained are being held on suspicion of providing support to a criminal organisation, federal police said in a statement. "The police action was in the context of terrorism investigations... " the statement added. Twenty-six people - including one Swiss citizen - and nine attackers were killed in the Riyadh bombings last May.
"In the course of our inquiries related to terrorism - and in particular the attacks in Riyadh - an operation by the federal police took place simultaneously on Thursday in five cantons (regions)," Switzerlandâs public prosecutor said. The BBCâs Imogen Foulkes, in Bern, says the Swiss authorities have been very keen to work with the United States since the 11 September 2001 attacks. A little less keen on banking matters, but theyâre doing it.
One key area of investigation has been into whether Switzerlandâs banking systems could have been used in the funding of terror groups, our correspondent adds. But there has been no suggestion that the latest arrests are related to finance. Aside from banking, what else is there in Switzerland? Unless they were buying Swiss arms?
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2004 11:37:30 AM ||
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#1
"Aside from banking, what else is there in Switzerland? Unless they were buying Swiss arms?"
Hmm, with the huge international diplomatic presence in Geneva, probably there is also a ready-made support network for going underground ?
Switzerland is heaven for your modern terrorist: secret banks, shady diplomats, and right in the center of Europe...
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
01/09/2004 12:13 Comments ||
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One key area of investigation has been into whether Switzerlandâs banking systems could have been used in the funding of terror groups
Swiss banking has been used in funding all manner of facist, religious, mafia, embezzlers, NGO ripoffs. It wasn't oil for food, it was oil for a numbered account.
The Swiss have been playing this game forever. But now it's a nasty war, a real war, and the Swiss are in it up to their eyeballs.
If they don't open up their banking system then they are "with the terroist" and should be targeted just as much as Saddam was, equally!
But they are milky white people, they have wonderful chalets in the high mountains, they ski and ride bicycles, they are for peace, love peace, hate war, wont take sides, so honest. Just skimming off the top, No?
#3
I make it a point not to trust people who yodel.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2004 12:48 Comments ||
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My maternal grandfather's ancestors were Swiss. When he sold his small construction company here in the States, he bought the top of a small mountain nearby, refused to pave the driveway up (despite snowy winters) and posted signs saying "Trespassers Will Be Violated".
He meant it, too. I adored him as a kid but he was a really stubborn, uncooperative cuss with adults, I suspect. I also suspect a similar temperament still lurks in the cantons.
#5
From the movie, The Third Man [dir. Carol Reed]:
In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshedâthey produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock!
Harry Lime [Orson Welles]
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/09/2004 14:48 Comments ||
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Yes! thanks Eric. LOL.
Posted by: Dr. Zorba ||
01/09/2004 18:01 Comments ||
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Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has reiterated his plan to move the sport further into the Asia and American markets. However, this will come at the expense of some of F1âs European races. This is a multi-billion $$$ business that operates world-wide talking. What makes this so startling is that F1 started in Europe.
He told the German magazine, Max: âWe will have to cancel some of the European races sooner or later. Our sponsors want us in growing markets â and Europe isnât a growing market. As I see it, Europe will be part of the third world in 10 years, while Asia and America will be dominating the world. We must be established there.â Third World in 10 year!!!!
Posted by: SamIII ||
01/09/2004 11:08:57 AM ||
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But...but... what about the soaring euro? you mean that it won't continue on like this?
#2
Which ones F1 gonna axe? Spas already gone... Can't touch, Britain, Spain, Italy, France, Germany..... Hungry? It's a poor track. Brazil? Yep. A second US race? Road Atlanta maybe?
#5
Yeah, we'll see what happens when the Euro keeps appreciating, or when the 2004 Bahrain GP gets terrorized. Or maybe Bernie is even planning on living forever.
At the current time Spa is back on the schedule and Magny-Cours in France is off, but mostly due to financial issues.
Japan is on the schedule and at one point it was said that you could stage a whole season in Japan and have a different crowd at each race.
#6
I was under the impression that we in the US were more concerned with NASCAR and the CART (at least before it split into CART and IRL). In other words, the home grown racing.
Still, if there was hope of a Grand Prix race coming to Chicago we could get all the potholes fixed along Lake Shore Drive. :)
#8
If they bring it to Chicago they can run part of the race on 39th Street past the old El-Rukn gang HQ. They could call it "Combat F1 Racing." Draw quite a crowd.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2004 18:13 Comments ||
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If there were to be a second F1 race i the US it would have to be at the most appropriately named track. Road America in Elkhart Lake.
#10
As I see it, Europe will be part of the third world in 10 years, while Asia and America will be dominating the world.
All right, all right - I think we're getting a little carried away here. No way, no how, Europe is going to become part of the Third World. Whatever my occasional rants about Europe, it is still America's most dependable ally. In any life or death struggle, we will be fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Europeans, mainly because we share most (although not all) of the same values.
Victor Davis just gets better
Our Augean stables are 30 years old.
One of the strangest developments of the ongoing presidential campaign has been the creation of a new national mythology: The United States is alienating the world, losing the friendship of the Europeans, needlessly offending the Arabs, and generally embarking on a radically new foreign policy of preemption and hegemony. Would that "unilateralism," Bushâs drawl and Christianity, or Halliburton contracts were the cause of our problems â then we could fawn over the U.N., send Jimmy Carter once more around the world, have our president learn to drop his accent, and publicly chastise oil companies, and, presto, be liked! But unfortunately the current tension is far deeper than media strategies and insufficient "consultation" â and in fact goes back at last three decades.
Thirty years ago, during the Yom Kippur War of October 1973, most of the Europeans of the NATO alliance refused over-flight rights to the United States. We had only hours in which to aid Israel from a multifaceted surprise attack and were desperately ferrying tons of supplies to save it from literal extinction. In contrast, many of these same allies allowed the Soviet Union â the supposed common enemy from which thousands of Americans were based in Europe to protect Europeans â to fly over NATO airspace to ensure the Syrians sufficient material to launch and sustain their surprise attack on the Golan.
American "unilateralism" in those days meant acting alone not to let Israel perish. Had we gone "multilateral" and listened to our NATO allies â Germany, France, Greece, and Turkey all prohibited American planes from flying supplies in their space in transit to Tel-Aviv â there would be no Israel today at all. How odd that nations who asked for our protection from the Soviets would allow them to fly in supplies to the Syrian dictatorship, but not extend the same privilege of airspace to their protectors to save a democracy.
In exasperation at such a bad state of transatlantic relations, a furious â who else? â Ted Kennedy attacked Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, blaming us, not the Europeansâ peculiar taste for fascism over Israeli democracy, for "heedlessly creating a crisis in the Atlantic alliance." Again, this was 30 years before his most recent outburst about a fraudulent war being cooked up in Texas. The New York Times, of course, then as now, echoed his concern.
Nor is the present Chirac-Schroeder axis novel â much less is it the result of a new bellicose American foreign policy. Again, 30 years ago the French and Germans â then under the auspices of Messrs. Pompidou and Brandt â were attacking the United States for showing partisanship to Israel and endangering European commercial interests in the Middle East.
The Dominique de Villepin of that age was the globe-trotting Michel Jobert, Pompidouâs foreign minister. Shortly after the war he visited all the radical Arab capitals to ensure French oil supplies and weapons sales. He capped off his trip in Baghdad to lend support for Arab rejectionism â in hopes of sending a message to the United States by sabotaging American peace efforts to end the hostilities. Indeed, Villepinâs present-day chauvinism is simply rehashed Jobert, down to the whining about being a victim of superpower insensitivity, decrying unilateralism, and calling for a new muscular European unity under the cultural aegis of France.
We worry about the recent eruptions of Arab anti-Semitism, but shouldnât be surprised since that is the old stuff of the Islamic Middle East. Gamal Nasser, for example, once brought in 80 former Wehrmacht officers under Col. General Wilhelm Frambecher to refashion his army into something like Hitlerâs finest. Apparently he thought German officers would know best how to finish off the Jews who escaped the Holocaust.
Are we upset that the Palestinian Authority had something to do, either explicitly or by laxity, with the recent killing of American attaches who were seeking to interview Palestinian students on the West Bank? But again, what else is new? Thirty years ago, Yasser Arafatâs thugs murdered two U.S. diplomats in Khartoum.
What explains the depressing similarity to years past, when the Soviet Union â the ostensible troublemaker that supplied the Middle East with terror training, weapons, and state-run police states â is now gone? Well, after Communismâs demise, Europe chose to disarm and thus is even weaker than before â and, for that reason, still angry at not exercising global influence in a world dominated by the United States. The French still stew over faded and unrecoverable past glories, but now cannot even use their nuclear force to triangulate with another superpower. Meanwhile the Germans are still troubled that their population and economic clout for some reason do not win commensurate world status given their checkered past. In response, more of the same tired retreats into historical revisionism, rather than principled support for democracy and freedom, more often provide salve for German self-inflicted wounds.
True, after 1989 the Arabs lost their best arms supplier and terrorist support havens in Eastern Europe. And the entire Marxist dream of a Pan-Arabist socialist empire ended up with the Baathist Saddam Hussein in a hole in Tikrit, Arafat lording over his rubble pile in Ramallah, Khaddafi blabbering about peace from a tent in the desert, and another Assad as bombastic as he is weak. Yet despite the decline of these Soviet-created tyrants, the political system of the Middle East â hereditary autocracy â is unchanged from thirty years ago. Thus an array of third-generation calcified ideologues cling to the old ace-in-the-hole hatred: "The Jews did it"; "Jihad will save us yet from the Zionist entity and the Great Satan"; "Palestine will stretch to the Mediterranean"; and so on.
Is there anything we can do to change the strategic calculus of decades past, inasmuch as we still protect a militarily weak Europe, and the Middle East is still undemocratic? In fact, we have already made good progress in unleashing cleansing waters through these Augean stables: carefully downsizing our troops in Western Europe; seeking to implant consensual government in Afghanistan and Iraq; and isolating an Arafat who is no different from his past or his present front groups that now do his killing.
We can do still more â remembering that the problem can only be slightly ameliorated, but not altered by sugarcoating what we say to the Europeans, inasmuch as the tension is deep-seated and arises from our own insistence on subsidizing much of their defense, when their land is larger, their people more numerous, and their enemies fewer than Americaâs. Despite the risks involved â the continent is still the graveyard of thousands of American soldiers who died to stop its perpetual internecine killing â only by allowing Europe to take care of its own security will we ever have a real friend and partner rather than a perpetually dependent adolescent in his forties, whining that he can take out "his" car whenever he wants, as long as his parents make sure that it is paid for, insured, gassed, and runs.
At some point, Mr. Villepin will realize that he has led France into near disaster, his puerile dash as appealing to American intellectuals as it is suicidal to his countryâs interests. Indeed, Eastern Europeans now win far more global respect than France for their integrity and courage in promoting not arms sales or oil concessions, but democracy under fire, in Iraq. And at precisely the time Mr. Chirac has offended the radical Islamic world by his banning of scarves in the French school system, he has also eroded in an era of danger and crisis almost all public support for France in the United States, which, instead of playing the role of a high-school principal in prohibiting Islamic dress, has been a historic agent of global change promoting democracy among Muslims.
Indeed, America has no time to worry about dress codes. Instead it is has embarked on the most radical policy in the history of the region â one whose unorthodox nature has stymied even our worst critics from the mullahs in Iran to Muammar Khaddafi. Power â destroying and humiliating the Baathists in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan â coupled with idealism in supporting indigenous democracy rather than a shah-like strongman, offers some chance of ending the old way of doing business.
We must continue hacking away the terrorist Hydra in the Sunni Triangle, and hope that the ongoing cultural, economic, and military fallout from Iraq begins to erode fascism and theocracy in Syria and Iran faster than such nearby pathologies can ruin us in Iraq. We are in a race for civilization like none other since World War II. And yet, due solely to the courage and skill of an amazing generation of American professional soldiers battling in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are winning â as this difficult war is beginning to resemble 1944 far more than 1939.
As the Europeans talk, the Palestinians explode, and the Arab dictatorships threaten, the fence creeps on in Israel â the most radical old idea in a half-century. It is not a perfect solution, but a forced solution of sorts nonetheless, prompting hysterical reactions from the terrorists, but strange silence from most capitals of the Arab world. Many outside of Ramallah secretly wonât be unhappy to see the situation gradually quiet down into a de facto settlement â along the lines of readjusted borders in a present-day postwar Germany or Japan, whose citizens are not blowing up Poles or Russians a half century later for occupying home soil lost after failed wars of aggression.
The Palestinians, who get their state and will see lots of settlers leave, hate the barrier not because it slices off some security slivers from the West Bank, but rather because it simply promises an end to their entire parasitic relationship with Israel. Suicide bombing was predicated on weakening Israeli will, ruining the economy, discouraging immigration to Israel, encouraging Jewish flight, tapping into latent anti-Semitism in Europe, and thus hoping that terror and demography would one day win what arms never could. In contrast, early indicators suggest the fence will make it very hard for suicide bombers to continue to traffic in death â apparently the sole bargaining chip left to a corrupt Palestinian Authority.
Arafatâs thousands of hangers-on will now be free to take their billions in European, American, and Arab bribe money and either build a successful society on their own side, or continue the squalor that results from their robbing and stashing millions in foreign banks as they claim perpetual victim status. And the whole world can watch the verdict on a Palestinian state that shares open borders with several Arab nations without blaming Israelis â a quandary for liberal Europeans, since for decades their inexplicable support for Palestinian autocracy has served as a convenient and useful vehicle for entrenched anti-Semitism adroitly masked by concern for supposed refugees and an oppressed "other."
Arabs themselves canât so easily encourage another 100,000 Palestinian Arabs to sneak across an open border to live in the only sanctuary for Arab human rights in the region â as they caricature Israel as a racist nation. And with a fence Israelâs own one million Arab citizens will find that they really must now be Israelis, not "Palestinians," and thus eventually might be subject to four years of public service rather than the old way of rock-throwing and protests of solidarity with "deprived" and "stateless" kin a few kilometers of easy access away. The world is long tired of the juvenile "We hate you â let us in" and "Destroy the Zionist entity â but let me earn some cash there first."
Downsizing in Europe, seeing a wall rise on Israelâs border, and trying to create democracy in places like Afghanistan and Iraq are not pleasant, easy solutions. Indeed, such tough efforts to end the familiar status quo will prompt greater outrage. Expect more adolescent "I hate Bush" articles, gloomy, end-of-the-world scenarios in the New York Review of Books, and hysterical appearances from an array of ex-NATO apparatchiks, worried former Saudi ambassadors, out-of-work Clinton State Department "crisis-managers," and frowning Washington insiders. Anticipate also more invective about "neoconservatives," "unilateralism," "ideologically driven policy," "hegemony," "squandered good will" â and all the other meaningless buzz words and third-hand catch-phrases that now are regurgitated daily in lieu of thoughtful analysis.
Yet in truth we are witnessing a radical change in the worldâs landscape, a much-needed honesty that will soon curtail both the deceitful rhetoric and hypocritical behavior that have insidiously warped us all in the West during the last 20 years.
So let the waters wash on through the stables of our corruption.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/09/2004 11:03:25 AM ||
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I have my own theory on the maniacal nature of the hate Bush campaign. I think it stems from his ability to start the ball rolling in the other direction. For example, there has been no real movement towards restricting âabortion rightsâ until Bushâs administration chose to frame the partial birth abortion procedure in a way that prevented a reasonable counter-argument.
In similar fashion, eventual privatization of Medicare has begun. The taboo issue of the transition of Social Security from a Congressional slush fund into an investment account has been breached. Now I can see an open path to the Flat Tax, to a Supply Side economic policy and to some type of specie standard. The path may stretch out 12 to 16 years but the âtax cut into prosperityâ has convinced many Americans to put a sock in the Keynesian stuff.
The current immigration proposal is brilliant, as well, but not because it panders to Latino voters. Through open public discussion that frames this issue within the purview of national security, Bush has prevented any million person amnesties to increase DNC voter rolls. Can anyone imagine a serious politician proposing that type of amnesty in the foreseeable future?
Also if the proposal is studied closely, it is apparent that the goal is to destroy the market for illegal labor by attacking the corporations that hire illegal aliens â like Walmart â and encourage the lawbreakers to sneak in. Economically speaking, there is a market for the labor that legal immigration is not satisfying. I wish we could attack the War on Drugs on the demand side. The alternative is to militarize the borders through hiring even more federal workers. Our government leach is large enough already.
Once all the guest workers are documented and fingerprinted, locating, and jailing the remaining illegals and terrorists becomes economically and mathematically feasible.
The Hose is optimistic as well as verbose and OT. My apologies.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 12:00 Comments ||
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#3
This post and Europe's Arab Gambit seem to complement each other as no other in explaining the why in EU behavior the last year.
Posted by: Barry ||
01/09/2004 13:37 Comments ||
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#4
a de facto settlement â along the lines of readjusted borders in a present-day postwar Germany or Japan, whose citizens are not blowing up Poles or Russians a half century later for occupying home soil lost after failed wars of aggression.
#5
When are we going to stop picking at the nits and worrying about the odds and ends? Time for attacking the disease, instead of the myriad symptoms.
The links to some (all? many? most?) previous RB articles are broken, so I can't just refer you to them, but VDH gets it dead right in the second paragraph. If you think about it, everything else hinges upon it.
Since 1973, the US has been at war with the entire "Arab World" (the Persian Black Hats have had a separate game afoot since their "revolution" in '79) since that is when the Saudis, which fund almost the whole fucking thing, declared their war on the US. Until the timeframe of the African Embassy bombings, the USS Cole, and 9/11 it was a slow-burn diplo-economic war, fought under the table and below the radar. When it truly became hot, on 9/11, we were surprised to find ourselves at ground zero.
Intentionally misled by our willfully-blind State Dept (hoping for those lucrative deals after leaving the "service") in loose cooperation with the elitists of both US and Euro intellectuals (courtesy of the cult of Edward Said and his ilk) and all flavors of anti-semitism bubbling beneath the surface of many countries and societies, we have been indoctrinated with the notion that the Saudis, and by extention the Arabs who follow their cash lead, were our friends and allies. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it takes time to wake up a giant who has been asleep for 30 years to the hard facts. Now that some are coming around, we have begun to take the measure of the problem... what it will lead us to is obvious, but unpalatable politically and in our near-comatose PC-istic state. It will inexorably lead us to the conclusion that our greatest enemies are the Saudis and the Black Hats. The subversion of the socialists, still busy as bees trying to undermine American individualism and freedom of action, are a trifle - just as the tentacles of Wahhabistic Islamist Caliphate terror, they are primarily funded by Saudi oil and fueled by the ideologically convenient convergence of Shi'a and Sunni interests, i.e. Islam, with communism, maoism, Euroism, multilateralism, and other flavors of idotarianism. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, indeed.
All flavors of tyranny, fearing no actual retribution in this PC touchy-feely age of words over might, have solidified in rhetoric and methodology. Anti-Freedom interests have melded and combined to fight the last outpost of individualism and free-thinking. Anti-Freedom has evolved to become Anti-American. What a shock Afghanistan and Iraq have been for them. Though the benefits will come, eventually, they were still merely symptoms... the process grinds exceedingly slowly toward solution. You can measure it -- but in generations.
The policy of pre-emption is grounded in the obvious fact that the lethality of weapons has reached the point where the time-honored tradition of letting the bad guy take the first shot is no longer intelligent. We must discard it, no matter how painful. This is the first truly useful policy change directly attributable to the recent wake-up call. The world has become very dangerous very suddenly. We do not have the luxury of time for generations to pass while the Arab world dithers over the revolutionary concept of freedom. We do not have time for them to change their customs incrementally. Tough shit.
After the oil money, all the rest is window dressing and secondary currents of self-interest. Eeewww subversion? Syria? Palestine? Yemen? Indonesia? Malaysia? Chechnya? African Islam, such as Somalia? Pfeh. All backwater pools of elitist socialism over espresso, rear-view mirror jingoism, or poor illiterate cannon-fodder - what a combination of losers. Without the money, they seethe in silence or bubbles of toothless fury - or at home waiting for their US immigration lottery number to come up. Only Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan (with its nukes) matter. Much of the bubble Of frantic factionalism and hatred implodes without the cash of the Saudis. North Korea and Sudan / Chad are separate considerations - tiny little zits on the tip of the tail of the dog. We can take another compass-reading when the dust (sand) settles after.
It comes down to this: kill the Saudis and the Black Hats. You can have it half-way with the Saudis if you take away the oil, but no more polite arguments. Give the Iranian people a one-shot offer: stand up on your hind legs and overthrow the Mad Mullahs - or go down with them. No more half-measures. No more trying to get people to accept the obvious with a spoonful of sugar. Fuck it. Kill them.
#6
.com, I guess I opened up a can of verbose whoopass upon myself. Do you think that the Europeans and Jihadis miscalculate Americans because in the short run they deal with superficial trani punks from DC, LA and NY while eventually through slow seepage the rest of America gets the picture. Things change when a rather determined, camouflage-faced man from Blackburg, Virginia or Ashland, Kentucky kicks in your door and doesn't want froth on his latte.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 23:14 Comments ||
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I wonder what Ireland did wrong that Karma has dumped this eruct from the EU in thir laps
Europeâs foreign policy chief has called on the Irish EU Presidency to put the Unionâs first joint security strategy into practice.
Faith! And who better than the Irish?
Speaking in Dublin today (8 January), Javier Solana pushed Ireland - traditionally a neutral in security matters - to implement the strategy which was finalised late last year. The security document was agreed by EU leaders during last monthâs summit in Brussels and sets out massive terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, failed states and organised crime as the major threats to European security.
Most of these are closely tied together, different faces of the same malignant god...
Mr Solana described the strategy as representing a "new strategic approach" to the EUâs external action. "It will fall to Ireland to put the strategy into practice", Mr Solana said.
"So yez best be gettin' on with it..."
But with polls consistently showing Ireland some of the lowest levels of support for common defence policy in the EU, the matter is a delicate one for the Irish presidency. In Dublin Mr Solana sought to reject accusations by some Irish MPs that the common security strategy represents a militarization of the European Union. "The EU is not a military bloc - it has not been and it will not be", said the EUâs High Representative. "I think we are trying to construct a better world", he said adding that Europe could not afford to close its eyes to what is going on around it. He also denied that the EU was trying to compete with the US in terms of power and military strength.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
"I would not recommend anybody to do that", he said before adding "the US is todayâs dominant military actor it cannot tackle todayâs complex and multi-dimensional problems on its own". But with Mr Solana emphasising the need to "develop a strategic culture that fosters early, rapid and when necessary, robust intervention", the debate in Ireland looks set to continue.
And such a debate it is. The boyz are already choosing colors for their sides...
Mr Solana spoke of Bosnia as a test case for a general coherent European strategy when the EU takes over peacekeeping responsibilities from NATO. It will be the first case where the EU deploys economic, trade, humanitarian, military and humanitarian instruments to transform a post conflict society, he said. "Bosnia will be a concrete test of our ability to ensure that our trade, development, political and security instruments can follow the same agenda".
How many years has it been already?
Posted by: tipper ||
01/09/2004 2:14:16 AM ||
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Mr Solana emphasising the need to "develop a strategic culture that fosters early, rapid and when necessary, robust intervention"
Did his lips then fall off? Besides the Brits, who in Europe has led a successful early, rapid and robust intervention somewhere? Bosnia was a complete Charlie-Fox until Clinton stepped in (he was late but I agreed with him as to the need at the time). Kosovo is a quadmire, Macedonia is going to explode one day, and the French can barely keep a lid on their African colonies partners.
Solana might actually have foresight and courage enough to see where the EU has to go on security. But it isn't going to happen.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2004 10:33 Comments ||
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EFL
The poll conducted recently by the EU which found that Europeans consider Israel to be the single greatest threat to world peace shocked many and caused the EUâs political leadership to cringe with embarrassment. And yet, according to Geneva-based historian Bat Yeor, the results are the culmination of a European policy now three decades old. "After the [1962] French withdrawal from Algeria, [French President Charles] De Gaulle, who up to that point favored Israel, completely changed Franceâs policy toward the Arab and Muslim world. There was a convergence between Franceâs embrace of the Arabs and its attempt to weaken the Atlantic alliance with America. The Arabs were to give France strategic independence from the US. Franceâs attempt, first through the European Economic Community and now through the European Union to create a unified European foreign policy, in competition with the US and led by France, sees European alliance with the Arab world as one of the primary sources of this strategic independence."
While, in Yeorâs view, "De Gaulleâs strategy was in the abstract," the European embrace of the Islamic and Arab at the expense of Israel and the US became a concrete policy in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the subsequent OPEC oil embargo of the West. In November 1973, French president George Pompidou and German chancellor Willy Brandt met in Paris and proclaimed a joint resolution aligning EC policy with the Arab demands against Israel. This, according to Yeor was the first official European declaration of a unified foreign policy. "After this proclamation, the Arab League opened a formal dialogue with the EC. It was not a simple exchange between elites from the two sides. It established three bodies that would regulate European-Arab relations regarding the US, Israel and Arab immigration to Europe."
The Arab League's been going downhill ever since. I wonder if they've noticed that?
THE AIM of these joint policies was to force an Israeli withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines, to enable free immigration of Arabs to European countries and to apply consistent pressure on the US to end its support for Israel, she says. The main organ of this new framework was the European-Arab Dialogue, or EAD. The EAD encompassed political, parliamentary and cultural dialogues and also oversaw the European agreement to allow unimpeded immigration of millions of Arabs to Europe. According to Yeor, "the volume of this population flow was unprecedented in the history of European colonialization. And also unprecedented was the European decision to allow and encourage the new immigrants to maintain their ties to their countries of origin and thus prevent their integration into European society."
Has "unprecedented" become a synonym for "stoopid"?
In a continuous flow of joint resolutions, Arab and European officials called for the diffusion of Arabic and Islamic culture in Europe through European universities. A pinnacle of these efforts, Yeor argues came during French President Jacques Chiracâs 1996 visit to Cairo. "During that visit Chirac proclaimed that Europe and Muslims should write history together."
As to Arab cultural autonomy in Europe, the resolution of the 1975 conference of the Parliamentary Association for Euro-Arab Cooperation anchored this effort by calling for the European governments to facilitate "the creation of generous means to enable immigrant workers and their families to participate in Arab cultural and religious life." The results of these policies on Europe have, according to Yeor, been nothing short of disastrous. "What the Europeans did not realize at the time was that their embrace of the Arab and Muslim world did not simply involve their abandonment of Israel. What they were actually destroying was themselves. Europe is a continent built on the roots of Judeo-Christian traditions and history and values. By allowing unlimited Arab immigration and the Islamization of their universities, they were destroying their own culture. The new culture that has taken form in Europe is one of subservience to Islam. The new religion, in the post-Christian Europe is âPalestinianismâ whose core belief is the need to destroy Israel and replace it with a Palestinian state. Palestinianism replaces a Jewish Jesus with a Muslim Jesus."
Or perhaps simply pure hatred...
FOR ISRAEL, the European decision to merge its foreign policy with the Arab world has led to diplomatic isolation and demonization, according to Yeâor. It was in the wake of the Yom Kippur War and the increased European cooperation with the Arab League that European countries began voting against Israel in the UN and seeking to isolate it in international bodies. The 1975 UN General Assembly Resolution that equated Zionism with racism was a capstone of these efforts. "Since the intifada broke out in 2000, the rejection of Israel and the embrace of Palestinians has taken on cult-like attributes," Yeor notes. "Every manifestation of public and political life must take up the Palestinian cause. In a very real way, the embrace of the Palestinians provides a mask for the expression of traditional European anti-Semitism."
Europeâs embrace of the Arab political agenda for Israel lies, according to Yeor, at the root of European unwillingness to cooperate with the US on the war on terror. "Until September 11, Chirac and Villepin always said that the root cause of terrorism is the Israel-Arab conflict. This is of course the Arab-Islamic view. Like the Nazi vision of the centrality of Jews as the root of all evil, it is a vision long developed and adopted by Europeans. When George Bush said, after September 11 that âyouâre either with us or with the terrorists,â he didnât understand what was going on in Europe. The truth is that for 30 years the Europeans were with the terrorists. They canât fight the Arabs; they have allowed the Arabs to dictate their policy since 1974. It is a huge problem. Part of the reason is also that they are terrified of terrorism. Their decision was to be subservient, not to fight and that has been their policy for 30 years. By attacking Israel, they believe they are saving themselves, but really, they are destroying themselves... Increasingly, the European-Arabian alliance has led to the increase in European anti-Americanism. For the Arabs, President Bushâs quotations from the Bible and allusion to the Judeo-Christian roots of America is anathema."
Posted by: tipper ||
01/09/2004 1:17:28 AM ||
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The Arabs were to give France strategic independence from the US. Franceâs attempt, first through the European Economic Community and now through the European Union to create a unified European foreign policy, in competition with the US and led by France, sees European alliance with the Arab world as one of the primary sources of this strategic independence."
#2
"the volume of this population flow was unprecedented in the history of European colonialization. And also unprecedented was the European decision to allow and encourage the new immigrants to maintain their ties to their countries of origin and thus prevent their integration into European society."
Welcome to U.S. immigration policy regarding Mexican illegals.
I am a HUGE fan of legal immigration in part because America is strengthened by the natural cultural diversity that results from immigration and the assimilation of motivated, talented people from all over the world, and also because my own ancestors escaped starvation and slaughter when they came to this great nation. The difference is that they came here to become Americans, as do the vast majority of foreigners who apply for and receive American citizenship.
Mexican illegals are here to make money and send it home, not to become Americans. They expect to be Mexicans in Mexico while in America, thereby morphing America to be more like Mexico.
Chinese proverb: put a frog into boiling water and it will jump out. Put a frog into cool water and slowly bring it to a boil and the frog will die, not noticing the slow incremental rise in temperature until it is too late.
Through negligent immigration practices (which totally differ from our immigration laws), our politicians have de facto allowed and encouraged the chipping away of America and itâs proud culture, and turned the USA into a pot of slowly warming waterâ¦
#3
This whole thing points out how absolutely stupid Bin Laden was for igniting a war with the US. Another decade and half of Europe would have been Islamic at the rate they were going.
Heck, if the Muslims in England, France and Germany moved into Spain and Greece they could add them back to the Dar al-Islam almost immediately. It looked like they were going for a longer term demographic shift in Europe and Bin Laden went of prematurely.
ruprecht - IMHO, you're dead right about OBL's "CharlieFox" (as Dr. Steve so colorfully pointed out elsewhere today) strategy. Not only did he attack the one entity who could and would fight back, but his minions have added dropping turds on the living room floor of several nations who were doing the wink, wink, nudge, nudge routine with the jihadis. Doh! I think he and his ilk are remarkably stupid. In parallel, if the US institutions and agencies who are responsible for going after financing terrorism were doing their job worth a shit (they are half-assed, IMHO) - and publicly excoriating the foreign states which are not cooperating, OBL & Co. would be limited to hand-carried cash... and all that physical handling would give us far more opportunities to bag 'em. OT, we could also kick some Feeb and Pentagon ass over the translator issue which is obviously working against us. Just a few little fixes here and there would make a huge difference in the cumulative difficulty factor we face.
Four soldiers have been killed and three others injured in an attack on a Pakistan army camp in the remote tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. The attack late on Thursday occurred near the town of Wana in South Waziristan province, where Pakistani security forces had launched an operation against "foreign terrorists".
I think I'd call it a counterattack...
A local official said four soldiers were killed and at least three were wounded when unidentified attackers fired rockets at their camp. Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said only one or two soldiers were killed, while two were wounded. "The attackers fired a couple of rockets at the camp near Wana," he said. "Unfortunately there were one or two casualties." Witnesses in Wana, the capital of South Waziristan, said they had heard firing for about 45 minutes.
So it wasn't just the usual light-the-fuse-and-run operation like we see in Afghanistan...
The military's operation ended on Friday without any terror suspects being found. "The army search which was backed by helicopters has concluded and no foreign suspects have been found," Sultan said.
"Yeah. We knocked, but there was nobody home."
Local officials said helicopter gunships had fired at five houses during the operation when troops came under fire. Three houses were damaged in the aerial action but there were no casualties. During the offensive launched on Thursday, the troops searched Kalu Shah village near Wana, around 40km from the Afghan border. Sultan said the search operation was launched after a few locals were taken in for questioning in connection with intelligence reports about the presence of foreign terrorists in the area. Last year, the Pakistani military carried out two major operations in South Waziristan, which borders Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 11:27 ||
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bet those pakistani soldiers are in for a very rough 2004, just hoping India will nuke em soon and have the problem over and done with.
Posted by: Jon Shep ||
01/09/2004 14:52 Comments ||
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Just throwing this out there, although it would be kind of funny if it was true.
Some months ago, a few weeks after the US issued a clear warning to Pakistan to back out of its support of the guerrillas in Afghanistan, the US presented Pakistani authorities with a list of 23 Pakistani scientists said to have assisted Iran in its nuclear program. The details were comprehensive, including names and travel records. The International Atomic Energy Agency revealed recently that Iranâs sensitive uranium enrichment program had been facilitated with Pakistani connivance about 16 years ago. As a result, several of Pakistanâs retired and serving atomic scientists were investigated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, including the father of Pakistanâs atomic program, Dr Abd al-Qadir Khan. This development once again rattled Pakistanâs decision-makers, and it was at this time that they developed a plan to stage-manage an attempt on Musharrafâs life (December 14) to disseminate the message that "extremist elements" were out of control because of the US presence and influence in the country and Musharrafâs support for Washington. In an ironic twist, though, another, and apparently real, attempt was made on Musharrafâs life on December 26. A federal minister very close to the president told this correspondent on the condition of anonymity that the second attempt was totally unexpected, and highly sophisticated.
I can actually buy this. The first attack had a manufactured feel to it, as several of us commented at that time. It probably flat ruined their day that Sammy was captured the same day. I haven't seen anybody suggest the second attack wasn't genuine. Despte having similar circumstance and techniques, it lacks the odor of fine antique herring that lingered over the first.
Investigations into this attack were conducted jointly by Pakistani civil and military agencies, and they concluded that a few Afghan and Pakistanis were involved. Further, they maintain that the conspiracy was planned by Afghan and Indian intelligence agencies using a renegade faction of the banned militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed as a front. According to the minister, the leader of the faction, Maulana Abdul Jabbar, was already under detention when the attempt on the life of Musharraf was made. The minister adds that Pakistan avoided pointing a finger at India as the SAARC summit was imminent, but now that the event is over, reaction, and even retaliation, has not been ruled out. That doesnât bode well
They always make that charge that RAW was involved. I haven't seen a single incident so far that's actually been shown to involve them.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/09/2004 12:43:59 AM ||
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Could you imagine a Pakistan-China effort to Mars countered by an India-Russian push to the dark side of the moon. (thats where the diamonds are at) That leaves the RoP boyz holding the reigns to middle earth. Hiho silver away!
#3
This reminds me of the old story about bringing your own bomb aboard the plane, the statistical probability of having two bombs on any flight is just about nil. But Perv's people apparently think there is merit in the allegory.
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2004 14:52 Comments ||
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A few months before the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amalâs recent deal with the government on the Legal Framework Order, some leading businessmen in Karachi told Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Amir Jamaat-e Islami, that they would not become a party to any anti-Musharraf agitation. Insiders say the Jamaat had approached the business community to ascertain the level of support the MMA could draw from it. âItâs good they have reached an agreement and have accepted Musharraf. I am glad the MMA leadership has shown maturity,â a prominent businessman at the Karachi Stock Exchange told TFT, adding: âThe business community would not have backed the MMA and the message was clearly communicated to them in âmany waysâ.â
However, serious differences have already surfaced within the MMA component parties. While the alliance has suspended membership of at least three of its MPAs from the Punjab for voting in favour of President Musharraf, it has failed to take any action against Prof Sajid Mir, chief of the Jamiat Ahle-Hadith. Mir not only voted against Musharraf and spoke against the deal, he believes that the alliance leaders have deviated from their stand. Sources said the relationship between the two Deobandi parties of the MMA, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam JUI (Fazl) and JUI (Sami) has been tense for the past year.
JUI-S sources say the party chief Maulana Samiul Haq has frequently reminded the MMA leadership that his party has been ignored on several occasions and kept out of the loop. âFor all practical purposes, itâs not a deal between MMA and the government, but between JUI-F/JI and Musharraf,â a JUI-S leader told TFT.
Hard to muscle in when the big dogs are growling, ain't it?
The madrassah students, not exactly thrilled with the deal, say the MMA has legitimised Musharraf. âFor the past three years we have been told by them that he is an agent of America, a friend of the infidels. Today, they say they have no other choice and have reached the best possible deal,â Osama Razi, a madrassah student who fought in Afghanistan, told TFT. Even in the tense scenario, with talks breaking down off and on, the MMA never threatened to quit the Balochistan government or allowed any confrontation between the NWFP government and Islamabad to get out of hand. Despite all kinds of strong statements coming from leaders like Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman they never wanted to lose control in the two provincial governments. Sources said the MMA-led government in the Frontier and its coalition in Balochistan kept a âmysterious silenceâ over the operation against the Taliban and Al Qaeda activists, a clear deviation from its principled stand. âAll these indications for the past few months gave clear signals that the MMA was never serious about the agitation,â said a political observer. But observers believe the MMA has achieved two things: first, they wanted to consolidate their position in the Frontier and Balochistan, which they now can after the deal. Second, they realised that the people were not ready for the movement.
I'm betting the MMA is being given the opportunity to dip into the till to the same extent the secular parties did...
Finally, the businessmen were solidly behind Musharraf. âThe problem is now with the PPP and the PML-N. Can they pose a serious challenge to Musharraf?â asks a political observer. He answers his own question by saying: âThey can if one or both the leaders risks returning to the country. But that is unlikely to happen.â
The seculars have been brought to heel, I think, and the MMA set up with a similar fall in its future. Maybe Anna Comnena could keep track of the ins and outs if she was still around, but I have a headache.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/09/2004 12:40:32 AM ||
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Pakistanâs army launched a major offensive against suspected terrorists in a mountainous region near the border with Afghanistan believed to be used by Al Qaeda fugitives, senior officials said yesterday.
It was not clear whether any major arrests were made during the operation, said Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
Guess no details yet...
Brig. Mehmood Shah, a security official in the tribal areas, said authorities were focusing on three compounds in Kalosha, a tiny village near the town of Azam Warsak, where 15-20 foreign terror suspects are believed to be holed up. The area is in the primitive deeply conservative tribal region of South Waziristan.
That hasn't changed much since yesterday...
Authorities were also looking for three Pakistani men — Naik Mohammed, Sherdil, and Sharif Khan — believed to own the dwellings, Shah said. He said soldiers had already searched the home of Sherdil, who goes by only one name, and were in the process of leveling it with bulldozers after finding nobody inside.
Leveling it with bulldozers seems pretty drastic. Sounds like they either found something inside that cheesed them off or that they had some pretty hard intel on Sherdil's activities. Or both. Personally, I always find that if you're running away to avoid arrest and interrogation it's not a good idea to leave booby traps behind in your house. It only makes them mad.
An intelligence official said authorities received information three days ago that a group of armed men, believed to be foreigners, were in an area called Azam Warsak, near Wana. Tribal elders were contacted and asked the men to surrender, but they refused, prompting the military action.
"No, no! They are our guests! They... Where are you going with those tanks?"
Troops stormed the compound where the men were believed to be holed up at 3 am yesterday. He said there had been an exchange of fire and that several army helicopters were involved.
"I'll hold 'em off, Mahmoud, while you sneak out the back way!"
"There's a helicopter overhead! They'll zap me in a Peshawar minute!"
"The tunnel! How 'bout the tunnel?"
"There ain't no tunnel. I was still tired from Rafah."
"Hostages?"
"Only the cat."
"Mahmoud, we're in deep trouble."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2004 12:13:44 AM ||
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During the last 24 hours, Task Force âAll-Americanâ conducted 187 patrols, including 9 joint patrols with the Iraqi Police and Border Patrol Guards. Soldiers of the task force denied entry to 50 people at the border crossing at Trebil because they lacked passports.
Paratroopers from 3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, while conducting a patrol, identified a vehicle and two individuals emplacing an improvised explosive device (IED) along the road. Soldiers engaged the enemy with direct fire, killing one, wounding the other, and destroying the vehicle. The wounded individual was evacuated for treatment and is in stable condition. Paratroopers found a large propane tank with wires protruding from it. An explosive ordnance detachment secured the device. That could have been a heck of a bomb.
Paratroopers also conducted a cordon and search near Nassir Wa Al Salaam to kill or capture members of a Former Regime Element (FRE) cell operating in the area. The operation was successful and resulted in the capture of six of the eight primary targets and numerous small arms weapons.
Members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) in Ar Ramadi continue to conduct independent combat patrols to disrupt enemy activity and prevent enemy forces from emplacing IEDs and selling black market fuel along Highway 10 east of Ar Ramadi. This operation will continue for several more days and they will begin to conduct limited visibility operations.
An ICDC class of 168 graduated this morning and another ICDC class of 487 recruits will graduate tomorrow. We also graduated 220 border police candidates today at Al Asad.
#2
An explosive ordnance detachment secured the device.
Does anyone know the specific answers to questions on the Minnehaha Multi Mulla Test that could get you job in munitions disposal? I want to make sure to avoid even seeing those questions.
"Grab your turban and your briefcase, and come on down for the Trial of the Century™!
A group of Arab lawyers are planning to defend Saddam Hussein if the former Iraqi president stands trail for alleged crimes committed in office.
I think I'd find somebody named Cohen or Shapiro, myself...
The Union of Arab Lawyers invited legal experts from Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan to Cairo on 4 January to discuss forming a defence committee. At the end of the meeting, they concluded that Saddam should be treated as prisoner of war, and his whereabouts must be disclosed.
Obviously well-grounded in their profession, aren't they?
They demanded that the International Committee of the Red Cross Thingy be allowed to visit him to ensure proper imprisonment conditions. And they agreed that as he is still the constitutional president of Iraq, the US cannot legitimately incarcerate him.
Guess you don't need the visit by the Red Thingy, then...
The lawyers also accused the US of breaching international law by occupying Iraq and arresting Iraqi citizens without a warrant from an international body. Hasan Umar, the Egyptian international law counsel told Aljazeera.net that according to international law, US forces had kidnapped the Iraqi president.
Brilliant! Sign him up for O.J.'s next trial...
"In 1960 the UN criminalised occupation by military force, and considered occupation as an anti-human rights act. Resolution 3013 of the General Assembly considers any foreign forces on another country's soil as mercenary units." He added: "Accordingly, such units are not allowed to take prisoners of war, so what they are doing is actually kidnapping people."
A vertiable Blackstone...
Daniel Joyner, an international law expert at Britain's Warwick University, told Aljazeera.net that he agreed the Iraq war was illegal. But he is not convinced there is any authority the Arab lawyers can appeal to.
Try the UN. Or Belgium, maybe...
He said: "It's a serious point that I understand, but who can they make this point to, the International Court of Justice? First of all, it would have to be the government of Iraq bringing the case. "If Saddam Hussein from his jail cell were to write a letter to the Hague saying he wanted to bring a case then you would get an interesting legal battle. They would first have to decide if he was still the legitimate leader before they studied the legal merits of the case." However, Joyner dismissed the assertion that Saddam was kidnapped because UN General Assembly resolutions cannot proscribe international law. But he agreed that Saddam should be afforded POW status. "The US has so far denied any POW status," he said. "The reason is obvious - it's so they can interrogate him longer. But I think he should be protected by the 1949 Geneva Convention."
Not as a head of state nor in his capacity as a member of the regime...
He added: "International law is not one big regime - there are different sources of law. The question of the legality of war itself can be separated from questions about what happened after the occupation began. As long as Saddam Hussein is afforded POW status his arrest should be governed by international humanitarian law."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 11:46 ||
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Anyone remember this level of concern for the people Saddam's government shoveled into graves?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/09/2004 13:33 Comments ||
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"In 1960 the UN criminalised occupation by military force, and considered occupation as an anti-human rights act. Resolution 3013 of the General Assembly considers any foreign forces on another country's soil as mercenary units."
Ah, the golden age of makin' stuff up. Leaving aside the UN's inability to "criminalize" anything, given that it has neither popular mandate nor law enforcement agencies, and the complete stoopidity of the definition of "mercenaries", it's simply not true. According to this, GA resolution 3013 was passed in December 1972, not 1960, and simply urges member states to adopt three conventions on narcotics. In other words, it's about the drug trade.
I couldn't find anything about occupation in the resolutions for 1960. The only thing vaguely resembling it is Cuba whining that the nasty Americans are picking on them, and the GA resolution that all member states should work to resolve problems peacefully, 'K?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2004 14:33 Comments ||
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#4
Arab Loyers, do such people exist? i thought arab justice was decided by Allah and the punishment by the local stone throwers.
Posted by: Jon Shep ||
01/09/2004 14:46 Comments ||
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#5
Giving legitimacy to UN sanctioned laws and rules would depend on 1) a powerful enough sovereign to enforce the law if you are talking about Austinian-type jurisprudence, or 2) immutable natural laws if you are talking about the common law jurisprudence that is the bedrock of international law.
There is no way the UN is a powerful enough sovereign to enforce international law as an Austinian-type sovereign. The US, however, is powerful enough--and under Austinian-type arguments, the UN should be listening to us. The US will only lose the high ground if it is voluntarily relinquished.
Under basic common-law principles, which are the bedrock of international law, the US is entirely justified in the WOT. Again, the UN cannot dictate terms to the US in the WOT.
Oh, and what about the Iraqi people, what would the vast majority like to do with Saddam? Maybe he could succeed in a âprison breakâ down in, say, Basra . . .
#9
Shipman, you're right. How can a defendent get a fair trial in a country where he summarily executed a million people. (I guess I should have tried to fit an allegedly in there somewhere.)
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 23:35 Comments ||
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At least five people have been killed and dozens of others injured in a bomb blast at a Shia mosque in the central Iraqi town of Baquba.
Has Lashkar e-Jhangvi arrived in Iraq?
The blast occurred on Friday after the end of the main weekly prayers. Local police and witnessess said the bomb exploded outside a small mosque in a residential area. Officials at a nearby hospital said they knew of 39 people injured. It was not clear whether it was a car bomb. Mosques have been the target of violent attacks in the past. A car bomb outside the main mosque in the Shi'ite holy city of Najaf killed more than 80 people after Friday prayers last August. An explosion near a mosque in the mainly Sunni town of Falluja in June killed nine people.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 11:23 ||
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What strikes me about these mosque bombings is that they are mostly Shia mosques and Shia parishoners being attacked. The conventional wisdom prior to GW2 was that the Shi'ites (post-Saddam) would not hesitate to give Saddam's Sunni brethren a good ass-kicking and score-settling; but from what is reported here and elsewhere in the Blogosphere, the Sunnis are still busy being the aggressive troublemakers, and the Shia are taking it in the neck.
#2
Seal off the Sunni Triangle,give 24hrs to turn in thier weapons,go trhough yard by yard,house by house using dogs,ground penetrating rador,ultra-sound and clean the damn place out.Anybody caught carrying,hiding weapons is immediatly arrested.If the resist they die.
Clips
Over the past week there has been an average of 18 engagements against coalition military daily, slightly more than two attacks against Iraqi security forces, and slightly more than one attack against Iraqi civilians on a daily basis. Today the coalition conducted 1,601 patrols, 28 offensive operations, 19 raids, and captured 47 anti-coalition suspects in the past 24 hours.
-------
Baâath Party weapons turn-ins continue. A Shuaâbah-level Baâath Party member from Tall Afar turned in a total of 76 AK-47s and 108 AK magazines. A Shuaâbah-level Baâath party member from Zumar turned in 98 82mm mortar rounds and one complete 82mm mortar system and a sandbag full of mortar fuses. The weapons turn-ins are continuing in the north, and evidence of the former Baâath party membersâ willingness to support coalition activities and assist in the reconstruction of a new Iraq.
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Coalition forces conducted a raid near Tikrit, capturing Sulwan Ibriham Omar al-Musslit (ph), a former regime-element leader. Coalition forces conducted another joint raid south of Dibs, detaining Salah Shahab (ph). Salah (ph) is wanted for murdering eight Iraqi soldiers who attempted to desert during the ground-combat operations phase of the war and is now believed to be involved in terrorist acts.
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I can tell you that the process for releasing the prisoners that Ambassador Bremer announced yesterday is under way. He said that approximately 100 prisoners would be ready to be released today. They are ready. That, of course, is conditional upon commitments from the guarantors. This is the tribal leaders, the community leaders that he discussed. We are in the process of contacting those guarantors and waiting for them to step forward. Theyâve been notified, but weâre waiting for them to step forward. And so the process is under way. Itâs going to take a couple days, we think, for all the guarantors to step forward. But as Ambassador Bremer said, we have 100 prisoners that are ready to be released.
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As we said yesterday, and have said numerous times from the platform, we have roughly today somewhere over 9,500 -- just under 9,500 detainees -- that are being held in the coalition detention facilities, and then the other 3,400 to 3,500 of the MEK whose status is being determined at this time.
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The initial few months to get the training process moving for the new Iraqi army had as much to do with developing a training program, getting trainers in place and building the training infrastructure. Keep in mind, when the old Iraqi army disbanded, it wasnât just the army that disappeared. All the barracks, all the equipment was either looted or destroyed, right down to the pipes and tiles in the barracks on the bases. So we had to build up the infrastructure shortly after the war. Now, the U.S. Congress has appropriated over $3 billion -- $3.2 billion -- for security forces in Iraq, for the training of security forces in Iraq. With these resources deployed, and with the equipment deployed, and with the training facilities built out, we are in a position now to really ramp up the training.
And one key component of the training is to have Iraqis training Iraqis. Once we had Iraqis who had gone through the system, Iraqis who became officers or senior members of the new Iraqi army were in a position to train other Iraqis, we knew this schedule could move very quickly. And thatâs why training the first couple battalions took as long as it did. But once we have more Iraqi trainers deployed, weâll be able to move that much more quickly. And I would say, the 1st Battalion is deployed, the 2nd Battalion has now graduated, the 3rd Battalion has already begun training, the 4th Battalion is already recruited. Weâre on track to get to 27 battalions by next fall.
EFL
Syria plans to return $200 million to Iraq that former leader Saddam Hussein stashed in Syrian banks, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview during a visit to Turkey. Getting nervous, eh?
``Itâs being worked out,ââ the Syrian leader told Bloomberg News in Istanbul, where heâs meeting with businessmen as part of an effort to boost investor confidence in Syria and open a Damascus stock exchange. ``Itâs a technical issue, not political.ââ âTechnical issue...â Translation: We are moving as fast as we can. Now, can you please put that laser down and stop painting me!
U.S. authorities have identified more than $1 billion of Iraqi cash in banks in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan after examining records recovered from the Central Bank of Iraq, the Washington Post reported last month. Syria, check! Lebanon and Jordan, next. Painting targets one country at a time.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
01/09/2004 7:28:42 AM ||
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soflam painting--who says there's no arab islamic figerative arts tradition?
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
01/09/2004 11:45 Comments ||
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#2
The real question is...will Syria also return the WMD's it is hiding for Saddam?
Posted by: andrew k ||
01/09/2004 22:48 Comments ||
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Tip oâ the hat to Drudge. EFL. THIS appears to be the moment Saddam Hussein was dragged from his hole and exposed to the world â but it is a snapshot the US military did not want the world to see. The photograph, apparently taken in the seconds after Saddamâs capture near Tikrit last month, appeared for the first time yesterday on a military-related website. The image shows a US soldier posing for the camera as he pins the bearded dictatorâs body and face to the dirt. Drudge has the picture, but I canât find it at the military.com site.
A clearly-distressed Saddam lies on his stomach as members of the US 4th Infantry Division surround him. "Please donât kill me, you imperialistic infidels!"
US military officials refused to confirm if the photograph was genuine. Dirty? check. Scruffy? check. Pleading? check. Looks like a homeless bum? check. Must be Saddam!
The photo was published on the US website Military.com after it was supplied to one of the siteâs contributors, former journalist John Weisman. "This photograph of Saddam Hussein in the moment of his capture was e-mailed to me by a friend in special forces who was damn proud of what his former colleagues in Iraq had accomplished when they pulled the dictator out of his hole," Mr Weisman said. "I thought the photo deserved wide dissemination." Mr Weisman said he had refused military requests to remove the photograph from the site. The officials had claimed it was a security risk. Military.com spokesperson Anne Dwane insisted the picture was genuine. "Much of our material comes in anonymously and, given our military membership, we have no reason to doubt it,â Ms Dwane said. "It certainly looks like Saddam." If the authenticity of the picture is proved, it would have been taken by a member of the 600-strong force that captured Saddam at a farmhouse near Tikrit. Although official army photographers were on hand to record the moment, the picture may have been snapped by a soldier, many of whom were known to carry small cameras while on patrol. Iâm betting thereâs more of these.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2004 12:30:01 AM ||
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Iâm betting thereâs more of these.
I'm sure there are.For the life of me I can not figure how a picture of Sadsack with his face in the dirt is a security risk.
#2
Steve, You mentioned you can't find the picture? I found it at http://images.military.com/Shock/0%2c%2cSA_Saddam_040106%2c00.html. I snagged a copy yesterday, so if I'm just reading cache and it's not there now, I'll email you a copy. Alternatively, I can email Fred a copy and he can post a link, if he's willing. Fred?
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
01/09/2004 7:14 Comments ||
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U.S. soldiers late Thursday launched one of the biggest raids since the American-led war was started, arresting 13 Iraqis wanted for bombing or shooting at coalition forces in Saddam Hussein's hometown. More than 300 soldiers launched a series of raids on 20 houses and three shops across half of this city shortly before midnight Thursday seeking 18 men and teenagers suspected of attacking U.S. soldiers. Thirteen Iraqis were taken into U.S. military custody early Friday for interrogation. Some of those detained were brothers.
Isn't that sad?
Since April, insurgents in Tikrit have killed five American soldiers and wounded 52, making the city one of the toughest places for coalition forces to control following the collapse of Saddam's three decade-long dictatorship. ``We see this as a good sweep of the area,'' said Lt. Col. Steve Russell, commander of the U.S. Army's Tikrit-based 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division. Assisting Russell's soldiers in the raids, which The Associated Press accompanied, were helicopters, Bradley fighting vehicles and humvees.
Really? Where were Steve's Bradleys and Humvees?
Men and teenage boys were dragged out of their homes by soldiers into the drizzly Tikrit streets during the overnight curfew. Of those caught up in the sweep, nine were later turned over to Iraqi police after being found to have played no role in the attacks on U.S. forces. ``Tikrit will be a safer place tomorrow as a result'' of these operations, Russell said after returning to the U.S. Army base following the four hour-long operation. He said the operation had targeted individuals ``operating in a cell ... involved in attacks on coalition forces'' and counterfeiting identification papers, including fake police identity cards. Other items involved in bomb making, including wireless door bells commonly used as triggers to detonate roadside bombs, plus computers and a handful of weapons were seized.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 23:26 ||
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It's the Army of Steve⢠:-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2004 0:09 Comments ||
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That sounds like a reasonable move...
In a decisive response to Muslims for what the authorities call acts of subversion and separatism, the Thai army was sent to scoop scores of âinnocentâ Muslims tagged as terrorists and jailed for seven days without trial, sources in Thailand told Islamonline.net Friday, January 9.
Gosh. The Thais say they're tagged as terrorists. Islam-OnLine sez they're "innocent" Muslims. Oh, who are we to believe?
"It just occurred! For no reason!... Cause? What's a cause?
Newspapers in Bangkok confirmed the massive operation that took place Thursday adding that some 40 people were arrested since they are suspects in the recent spate of violence in the southern part of Thailand. In a furious response, several of the more than 500 Muslims packed into prayers Friday at Pattaniâs main prayer hall seethed fumed in particular at the detention of a local Islamic scholar in connection with attacks in the region this week. âOf course we're furious," retired elementary school teacher Yapa Barahaeng, 56, told Agence France-Presse (AFP), in the doorway of the main hall of the Pattani Central Mosque, southern Thailand's largest. âMuslim groups haven't done this. It seems the government itself or the police or military have done it," he said, referring to attacks since the weekend which left six dead.
"Or the Jews! Prob'ly it was the Jews as dunnit, and they pinned it on us! We wuz framed!"
Suspicion has risen dramatically, he said, following Thursday's detention of two men including an Islamic scholar who Defense Minister Thammarak Ayutthaya said was being questioned about involvement in the incidents. "Today I'm praying for the two of them. They didn't do it," Yapa said.
"They couldn't have dunnit!"
However, the Bangkok Post Friday, citing Thai officials, claimed the two Islamic religious teachers are believed to have aided a separatist group which raided the army camp in Narathiwat Sunday are being detained for questioning. According to official statements, the military operation is designed to flush out those behind Sundayâs deadly raid on the army installation in Narathiwat. Muslims in the region, however, had earlier warned that the authorities would use the burning of the schools and the arms heist of Sunday last to attack Muslims.
Was that before or after the schools were burned?
Thailand Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the suspects were picked up from three predominantly Muslim population provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani. âThey will only be detained for questioning for up to seven days under Thailandâs martial law. After that they will be released if they have nothing to hide. I am pleased with the progress of the investigations and we are getting closer to unraveling the case and recovering the stolen arms,â he said.
Good idea... Meanwhile, out in the Islamic Caliphate of Lalaland...
âThe arms were stolen not by Muslim Mujahideen or by separatists, but with the help of the soldiers in the camps, and the schools were burnt by pro-government elements,â said Abdullah. He added that it was clear that the authorities needed a reason to attack Muslims and humiliate them, their schools and their religious leaders, showing his anger against the current operation. âAll this will only bring more anger and the response by Mujahideen will be swift, I can only see it this way,â he said.
"But when it happens, they won't be the ones who dunnit!"
He told IOL that his turban was too tight the authorities are not pressing Malaysia to close borders and to check on all Thai Muslim residents in Malaysia with the idea of deporting those they think are suspects. The teachers, Muhamad Hayeewea Sohor, 44, and Santi Sama-ae, of Suwannakorn school, were Thursday taken by soldiers and police to Ingkhayud Boriharn military camp. In follow up operations, more than 200 soldiers in six trucks left the command center to round up more people at undisclosed locations. The Southern 4th Army division director of development project and secretary of public affairs, Maj Gen Chalorkingthorn, said a bounty of 1mil baht (US2500) had been offered to anyone with information leading to the arrest of the leaders and group members, reported the Malaysian newspaper The Star. He added that another 500,000 baht (US12,000) would be given to those with information leading to the arrest of their lieutenants. On the other hand, more than 500 Muslims attended a solat hajat (prayer of request) in front of the military camp which was attacked by an unknown group in Narathiwat Sunday killing four soldiers, reports the Star. Imam Abdul Fatah Awang, a religious teacher from Kampung Dalam Cherok, led the prayers, which lasted for 15 minutes. Abdul Fatah said the prayers were held with the hope that no suspicions would fall on the Muslim community here that they were behind the attacks. He said it was to show that Islam was a religion of peace⢠and that the community was with the government in efforts to quell the unrest.
Even though the gummint did it and set it up so the turbans got blamed...
Thai Defense Minister Ayutthaya and other top army officers also attended the prayer session. The minister thanked the residents for arranging the prayers and said the government would continue with the physical and economic development in the area. Narathiwat Islamic Council mufti Abdul Rahman Abdul Samad also appealed to all mosques in the province to perform the solat hajat after the Friday prayers.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 13:16 ||
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He told IOL that his turban was too tight
Interesting sidenote: On an episode of National Geographic's Mummy Roadshow, they examined an Incan infant mummy that had apparently died from having its head bound too tightly.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/09/2004 13:42 Comments ||
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The (Buddhist) Thais are a peace-loving people who will go out of their way to avoid confrontation, but when you push them too far, watch out! The Muslim sepratists in the south have been burning down schools for decades, but I think this time they've gone to far.
#3
The (Buddhist) Thais are a peace-loving people who will go out of their way to avoid confrontation, but when you push them too far, watch out!
The same, IMHO, is true of Indonesia--which was first ruled by Buddhists, then Hindus, then Muslims, then by Christian colonialists who segregated the country into little ethnic pockets to avoid any consensus-building. Officially, the Indonesians are Islamic, but they (at least the vast majority) are hardly fundamentalists. They will overlook and put up with a lot (NOTE: look at how long they tolerated the corruption associated with Suharto), but push them too far and they will not have qualms making the rivers run red . . .
Al Qaeda linked terrorists helped a Muslim insurgency carry out attacks on schools and security forces in southern Thailand, the countryâs new security adviser told The Associated Press.
Gee. Golly. Thaksin and I thought they were local bandidos...
It was the first acknowledgment by a senior Thai official that foreign militants have helped local separatists stage hit-and-run attacks over the past two years, resulting in the killings of 56 police and soldiers. The government had previously dismissed violence in the Muslim-dominated south as the work of "bandits" and criminal gangs. But the organization of the firebomb strikes on the schools early Sunday indicate the attackers are foreign-trained extremists, officials and experts said. "At present international terrorists are linked together like a network, with al Qaeda at the core," retired Gen. Kitti Rattanachaya, a special security adviser appointed after the assaults, told AP. "They might give moral, ideological or tactical support to each other. These groups know each other well, they were comrades-in-arms in Afghanistan."
My guess is that the bad guys in this case are a start-up, an independently owned and operated local affiliate that has the eventual objective of merging with or being acquired by the international giant in the field...
Kitti, a former army commander for the southern region, said he believes the school attackers were from a local separatist group, Mujahideen Pattani. The assailantsâ organized manner show they had help, possibly from the Kampulan Mujahideen Malaysia, which has ties to the al Qaeda-linked regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah, he said.
As well as to PAS, which is its legitimate political face...
Even Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, long worried about tarnishing Thailandâs image by association with terrorism, acknowledged the perpetrators of the school attacks were insurgents rather than common criminals. He has played down, however, any foreign links. The genesis of new terrorism in Thailand lies in the Afghan war when many Thai Muslim youth went to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet-aided communist government in the 1980s, Kitti said. After the war ended in 1989, Thai fighters returned home and "formed their own organizations" to conduct insurgencies, Kitti said. The Thai government took no notice of the development, said Kitti, who retired seven years ago. "So we have come to the current situation. This problem happened because they do not accept the truth," he said.
As Lenny Bruce once said, "What is, is. What should be is a dirty lie."
In Sundayâs attacks in Narathiwat, 21 schools in a radius of about 6 miles around an army engineers camp were set ablaze almost simultaneously with military precision. The attackers then moved on the camp, firing automatic rifles to keep troops pinned down. Four soldiers were killed. Roads leading to the camp were blocked by felled trees, tires and nails to slow rescuers. After 20 minutes, the attackers vanished into the night with more than 100 stolen assault weapons.
The number of schools attacked implies a fairly large force, not your local bandido gang.
Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert and author of a book on al Qaeda, offered a grim analysis: "Itâs difficult to identify the exact perpetrators but certainly these are violent Islamist groups," he said by telephone from Singapore. "The fact that they have taken weapons shows they will use the weapons against the Thais." Most southern Thais interviewed by AP said they want only to lead peaceful lives. Many who visited the burnt-out hulls of the schools this week were shocked at the devastation. In one school, only the concrete frame of the two-story building remained. A pile of charred Arabic and Thai-translated textbooks lay in one corner, still wet from the water used to doused the fire. Jehissmail Jehmong, an opposition Democratic Party member of Parliament for Pattani province, said some Thai militants who have returned home could be training young Thais in jungle camps in Thailand.
That's to be expected. The Afghan-trained gunnies are the seeds from which jihad is supposed to grow.
He said that Muslim youths are disaffected partly because of the governmentâs insufficient funding for education in the south.
If you look hard enough, you can always find some reason to be disaffected...
Religious schools in the south are overflowing because there arenât enough government schools, which continue to emphasize the Thai language instead of Yawi, the Malay dialect spoken by local Muslims.
That could be because they're in Thailand, where they speak Thai, not in Malaysia. What language do they expect to speak under the caliphate? I guarantee it won't be Yawi.
"The people who donât go to school here, go abroad," Jehissmail said. "Then the influence from abroad seeps in." In a bid to thwart such problems, Thailandâs justice minister on Thursday won agreement of Indonesian authorities to monitor Thai students attending Islamic schools in their country in order to keep tabs on possible terrorist recruits.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2004 12:11:34 AM ||
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Alrighty I'm gonna bite here...I've been seeing a huge spate of attacks lately in Thailand have been reported here. What the heck is going on out there? Are we having opium wars with Al Quaeda trying to wrest control over there of the supply? Dan could you provide some insight if you got any?
Posted by: Val ||
01/09/2004 4:02 Comments ||
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#2
The "drug dealers" and bandidos involved will be local boyz of the sort you'd find hanging on street corners - sellers, not producers. They're there only to provide muscle, and they'll be discarded once there's a sufficient crop of madrassa graduates available.
Opium production's not a factor - that's way to the north and west. This is a purely ideological/political war. At this stage there's probably only minimal Saudi money flowing it, and that through the KMM. Look for the "brains" of the operation in Terengganu, in Malaysia.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2004 9:01 Comments ||
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#3
Also, while Mahathir may be nuts, he has little patience for the KMM and has more or less forced the cannon fodder of it to flee north (though the PAS remains intact, unfortunately) to escape the jug. So as they flee, they bring their jihadi tendencies with them and wackiness (to say nothing of a heavy corpse count) ensues.
Also, al-Qaeda involvement in the drug trade is nothing new, we've known about that for quite awhile.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2004 12:02 Comments ||
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I get this mailed to me as a subscriber so sorry no direct link, but I thought it was an interesting insight on Americaâs capacity to solve its own problems.
After two years of struggling in the polls, Michael Bloomberg, New Yorkâs mayor, seemed nearly beatific when he announced the cityâs latest good news: New York has the lowest overall crime rate among cities in the United States with more than 1m people. This is according to statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the first half of the year. The city could end the year with fewer than 600 murders for the second time in four decades, the mayor announced on December 15th. America now has the lowest crime rates of a large developed country after Japan. In contrast crime rates have got much worse in most of Europe. And that darling of Left South Africa is now the crime capital of the world and looks like heading for a failed-state status. Here is a link
I predict that an unanticipated outcome of the WOT is a further sharp reduction in crimes in the USA. Every cloud has its silver lining.
#1
phil_b: I doubt that there will be a sharp reduction that is directly related to the WOT. Crime rates have been declining at a steady pace since smart people were allowed to implement their ideas in the '90s (at least).
Certainly, the tougher restrictions on, for example, immigration in the context of WOT will smoke out criminals that are not terrorists, but that will be marginal to the overall trend.
Posted by: Carl in NH ||
01/09/2004 21:32 Comments ||
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#2
So does anybody think our reduced crime rates will cause the other "civilized" nation to admit that maybe (1) decent citizens owning guns and (2) keeping the criminals in jail might reduce their own crime rates?
Anybody?
*crickets chirping*
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/09/2004 22:59 Comments ||
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Hat tip to Drudge Wesley Clark said yesterday the two greatest lies of the last three years are that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks couldnât have been prevented and that another attack is inevitable. He said a Clark administration would protect America in the future. "If Iâm president of the United States, Iâm going to take care of the American people," Clark said in a meeting with the Monitor editorial board. "We are not going to have one of these incidents." What more can be said. Donât we all have to vote for this guy now?
#4
Actually, I think this is wrong. I'm not sure there's ANYTHING we can do to make us absolutely _safe_. The big question is, given that, is there anything we can do to make us safer? While I'd do things differently than Bush, I'd have to say I like his approach better than Gen. "Right of First Refusal" Clark.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/09/2004 18:55 Comments ||
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#5
So if Candidate Elect Weaseley Clark becomes the Prez, safety from 9-11 type attacks is garanteeed by him, and an incident occurs, what happens next? Do we get our money back, he commits seppuku? WTF? His campaign promises are meaningless drivel and his candidacy should be treated as such by the American public.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2004 19:46 Comments ||
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#6
Look at the bright side;a Dean/Clark ticket would create a new feature in your local paper-the daily "Ooops,what the candidate apologizes for today" column.
Posted by: Stephen ||
01/09/2004 20:50 Comments ||
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#7
*I* heard that Clark will protect us from terrorists, make sure we get warm cocoa and num nums before he tucks us into bed each night, and will buy us our very own shiny new bicycle if we are good.
Posted by: Carl in NH ||
01/09/2004 21:38 Comments ||
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#8
Can I have a pony?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/10/2004 6:45 Comments ||
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Link via Tim Blair. EFL.
Americaâs controversial foreign visitor screening program has nabbed 30 criminals in its first three days of operation, an official said yesterday. In Washington, a senior US Homeland Security official said that during the first three days after US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology - or US-VISIT - was installed at 115 US airports, more than 83,000 international passengers had been photographed and fingerprinted. "Among those we have had 30 criminal hits," Undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security Asa Hutchinson said. Mr Hutchison cited one case, that of a Salvadoran national stopped late yesterday at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. "When he presented his travel documents everything seemed fine but the biometric identification sounded a warning," he said. "Turned out he had used false documents to enter the United States illegally 12 times in the past year and had committed some minor offences."
#1
I have ranted about this on a number of occasions over at samizadata. If you want better security, then you have to have stronger identities and identity checks. This is unavoidable. The civil libertarian types get hot under the collar about this and start the 1984 type arguments, but speaking as a libertarian. I see no necessary connection between loss of privacy (which results from stronger identities)and loss of personal liberty, unless of course I have done something illegal.
#2
Many civil libertarians equate the anonymity with privacy and privacy with liberty itself. Some of this, I think, stems from the belief that disapproval is oppression.
Similar, again IMHO, to the squeals of "censorship" that follow a leftist being criticized.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/09/2004 18:05 Comments ||
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#3
We could also use this system to check fingerprints swept from known terrorist sites and camps to help stop people that have been to those places from entering the country... we wouldn't neccesarily know who they were but we'd know they were someplace they shouldn't have been...
#4
Of course this is good news and encouraging, but only as long as we're content to catch the idiot-level types. Just as the Air France announcement of that cancelled flight cost us an opportunity to "interview" certain people, this being shouted from the rooftops will eventually cause the smarter-than-a-rock variety of asshat to seek alternatives...
So how are the Friendship and Amigo fences coming along?
#5
I don't see what privacy I lose by having my fingerprints taken. I'm sure Miss Cleo needs at least a palm print to discern anything useful about my personal life.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 23:21 Comments ||
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#6
I've got an FBI dossier at LEAST three inches thick, if not larger. That's the price you pay for working for Uncle in a classified environment. It's never kept me from doing anything I wanted to do. Most people who want to cry foul are those that have something to hide - or think they do.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2004 23:30 Comments ||
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EFL
The Supreme Court expanded its review of government anti-terrorism measures Friday, agreeing to hear the case of a U.S.-born man captured during the fighting in Afghanistan and held incommunicado and without charges. The high court said it will consider the appeal from Yaser Esam Hamdi, whom the government has labeled an enemy combatant ineligible for ordinary legal protections and a danger to the United States. . . . The court will probably hear the Hamdi case in April, with a ruling expected by July. The administration won its argument in a lower court that Hamdi may be held indefinitely and without the usual legal rights due to U.S. citizens, and wanted that ruling to stand. Donât read too much into this. The courtâs decision to hear the case is not necessarily an indication that it is looking to reverse the result in the court below.
Keep in mind this is from Arabic News, translated from the Arabic language press... Seif al-Islam al-Qathafi, son of the Libyan leader, denied recently rumored news on a meeting held between him and two members of the Israeli Knesset in Athens.
But then he went on to say...
He said that Tripoli no longer considers that Israel to constitute a threat to Libya's security, nor is in confrontation with it. He described the news rumored on convening the meeting, as mere rumors launched by Arab states to avenge Libya because of its political successes it recently achieved. He said that no official meeting was held with any member of the Israeli Knesset.
Nobody said the meeting was official. In fact, they said it was secret, which'd make it unofficial. (Christ! I think I'm turning into a diplomat!) ...
Seif al-Islam al-Qathafi expressed his conviction that the great political successes "surprised" certain Arab states, and therefore they launched the rumor of his meeting with the two Knesset members, Ifraem Seneh, of the Labor party, and Allen Shilghi, of the Shenwe party, on the sideline of a parliamentary conference held in Athens in August, 2003. Replying to a question on whether Libya will permit Jews who emigrated from it to Israel, he said 'they were originally Libyans, but one who carries an Israeli passport is not considered a Libyan and Libya does not permit holders of Israeli passports to enter its territories.' He said that the US promised Tripoli of huge aids including promotion of its armed forces and economic aids, as well as lifting the sanctions from it and converting it into a huge industrial base in the region, so as to avail her benefits from the American technology and permitting the Libyan students to study in American universities." Worthy mentioning that Seif al-Islam is the second older son for the Libyan president Muammar al-Qathafi and is expected to be his successor. he has been studying in Britain since two years.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 15:12 ||
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Great Laugh. The zionists would make u believe that they are under threat from every country from Algiers to Pakistan. Well times are a changing eh. Libya doesn't threaten Isreal. It's the other way around.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2004 16:46 Comments ||
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Faisal
You are right. What threat can pose people who when meeting an ounumbered, outgunned foe spend Six Days running like women? But perhaps Lybians could be a real threat since they are Numids not Arabs.
#6
The sect of Assassins practiced Crusade-age version of suicide terrorism. Their Arabic name means "Mad from hashish" since they used hashish to overcome fear of death from the militants who were sent in suicide missions.
The sect still exists. It is called Ismaelite and has abandonned violence. In fact they are the most peaceful of the Muslims, don't discriminete their women and, unless I am confounding them with another sect, don't turn towards Mecca for praying.
Of course Wahabis hate to be compared with Hashishyun who were Shia and revolutionary. :-)
#7
We appear to have scored a major success with Libya, but I have to say I am still deeply suspicious of this seemingly miraculous conversion to peace by Gadhaffi. Islamic Arab history is rife with instances of ingenious deceit in the realm of politics. The willingness to do anything it takes, however unethical, to achieve larger political goals is characteristic of Islamic politics, not to mention patience. We should not let our guard down, no matter how nice Gaddhafi acts.
Posted by: andrew k ||
01/09/2004 22:45 Comments ||
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Fred,
Your disregard of the sensibilites of those who consider Christ's name as precious disqualifies you as being a diplomat. But you could try thinking before you write such things.
Visiting Moroccan Prime Minister has insisted on the fight against poverty as the only means to consolidate democracy in the Kingdom. Driss Jettou, who was addressing on Thursday the Washington-based "Heritage Foundation," said that Morocco has been endeavoring to curb what he called "social deficits," insisting that "it is not possible to consolidate democracy, liberalism, respect of human rights and the rule of law without strengthening, at the same pace, the struggle against poverty."
Ensuring individual liberty is the best way to get rid of poverty. That includes doing away with restrictions on land ownership, red tape associated with establishing a business, confiscatory taxation, the need for bribes, dress codes, religion checks, all that stuff.
The Prime Minister, who is paying an official visit, at the invitation of the Bush Administration, the first of its kind, laid emphasis on the friendship relations binding Morocco and the US, saying that "by choosing the United States as a partner, Morocco has in reality chosen a model of free enterprise society." This choice makes of it (Morocco) "one of the rare countries of the region to establish free trade not only with Arab and European countries, but also, on the other side of the Atlantic, with the United States," he added. The issue of free trade with the US was also brought up by the Moroccan Premier in a speech delivered later at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in which he said that Morocco and the United States are putting the finishing touches on such an agreement that could be wrapped up later this month or in early February. He said conclusion of the accord would provide a strong signal of the vitality and permanence of relations between the two nations that extend back to a treaty signed in 1786. "We are in the final phase of negotiations"' Jettou said. "There is the will to reach a conclusion and find a solution to a few remaining difficulties."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 14:55 ||
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Good Heavens. The Jihad against poverty? Never mind... I'll be positive.
News reports in Mauritania said that the authorities detained the opposition Islamist leader, Muhammad Jamil Weld Mansour, on Wednesday evening while coming from Belgium, and took him to "Blaa" prison where he was detained before he had left the country seven months ago.
Blaa prison is located just outside Yück...
Weld Mansour left Mauritania after he went out of prison, amid the disorder in the country, following the coup attempt that took place in June 2003, and headed for Brussels where he founded an opposition political society.
I think I oughta found an opposition political party. Everybody who does so seems to make a living at it. In Brussels, anyway.
Weld Mansour also presides over the national al-Ribat (link) movement, in resistance of the Zionist infiltration, in Brussels in August 2003, where his opposition movement with its executive council of activists exist in several European countries.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 14:26 ||
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Iran Friday rejected as "baseless and a sheer lie" an Israeli allegation that Syrian planes which flew earthquake relief aid to Iran had returned with weapons for Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas. "Lies! Joooooo lies!"
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the accusation was prompted by Israeli anger over the flood of humanitarian aid sent to its arch foe Iran after the Bam quake, including from Israelâs staunchest ally the United States. "After the Israelis observed the... worldâs solidarity with the Iranian nation they became angry and theyâre continuing their policy based on lies and cheating by fabricating such news," he told Reuters. He said the accusation was "baseless and a sheer lie." Israel was one of the first nations to offer help, Iran turned them down.
Syrian officials had no immediate comment. "Shit! We got caught, again! Er, no comment."
Israeli sources said Syrian planes delivering aid for victims of the December 26 Bam earthquake, which killed over 30,000 people, brought back missiles and other weapons for Hizbollah to Damascus where the arms were trucked to Lebanon. Makes sense, planes would have been coming back empty, shame to waste all that airlift.
"Shipments to Hizbollah had been suspended because Washington has been keeping a close eye on Syria since the war in Iraq began (in March)," one of the Israeli sources said. Big eyes, in space.
The security sources said U.S. intelligence was also aware of the alleged Syrian operation. KH-11 takes such nice closeups.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/09/2004 1:08:00 PM ||
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One opposition activist was killed and at least two more injured in the first reported case of political violence this year in Zimbabwe.
Getting off to a slow start this year, are we?
Victims say they were attacked by members of the ruling Zanu PF party. The dead man has been identified by his friends as Alexander Chibega, a peasant farmer who returned to his home area 40-kilometers north of Harare a month ago. He was reportedly buried immediately after his body was found by people in the area. His neighbors say he was a member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and has been living in Harare since violence erupted in his home district shortly before the 2002 presidential election. According to two of his friends, now in a Harare hospital, Mr. Chibega and others were attacked late Monday by a crowd of about 40 ruling-party youths. The dead man's wife was taken to a nearby government hospital. One of the injured, 60-year-old Enias Mutsonobaya, was taken to a private hospital in Harare, where he underwent surgery. Human-rights monitors and medical staff treating him and at least one other person injured in the same attack, say Mr. Mutsonobaya had also recently returned to his village, Madziwa, that he fled for safety reasons two-years ago . Because of political violence, the area where the dead man and his injured friends come from is considered a no-go area for many reporters and human-rights workers. Assistant commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena says police are investigating the incident.
"Yeah. Don't bother us. We're investigating. We'll call you when we've got something."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 12:58 ||
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At some point won't the MDC arm itself?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 13:16 Comments ||
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You may have seen this interview linked to elsewhere. If so, apologies. If not, go read it now. The whole darn thing.
Benny Morris says he was always a Zionist. People were mistaken when they labeled him a post-Zionist, when they thought that his historical study on the birth of the Palestinian refugee problem was intended to undercut the Zionist enterprise. Nonsense, Morris says, thatâs completely unfounded. Some readers simply misread the book. They didnât read it with the same detachment, the same moral neutrality, with which it was written. So they came to the mistaken conclusion that when Morris describes the cruelest deeds that the Zionist movement perpetrated in 1948 he is actually being condemnatory, that when he describes the large-scale expulsion operations he is being denunciatory. They did not conceive that the great documenter of the sins of Zionism in fact identifies with those sins. That he thinks some of them, at least, were unavoidable.
This piece is the intro to this piece. But read the entire thing. It's fascinating, and on the money...
The death of Maamoun al-Hodeibi, head of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, risks igniting a generational battle for the leadership of the influential Islamist organsiation. Al-Hodeiby, the Brotherhood's sixth "supreme guide", died at the age of 83 following an unspecified illness.
Known for his strong personality and organisational abilities, he only took over in November 2002 on the death of his predecessor, Mustafa Mashhour. At the time al-Hodeiby won the day against younger generations, made up of academics and intellectuals in their 50s, who were impatiently waiting to take over.
"No, no, guys! Let's go with somebody in his 80s."
A key candidate for the succession will be Essam Abd al-Moneim, a doctor in his 50s, who has been a Brotherhood activist for the past three decades. A rift has emerged between older members who advocate a stricter line and those who admire the Turkish Islamist model based on democratic methods. Since "moderate" Islamists came to power in secular Turkey in late 2002, the younger cadres have been closely following political developments in Ankara. The Muslim Brotherhood represents the main opposition force in Egypt, with 16 deputies in the 454-seat National Assembly. But because of the movement's officially banned status the MPs did not run under the Brotherhood's banner.
"Yeah. Let's call ourselves... ummm... How 'bout the Muslim Neighborhood?"
"I think that's a great name!"
"Thank you, Brother Rogers. Anybody else like it?"
Despite being banned for almost half a century, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has managed to keep its networks active, especially in the universities and mosques.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 11:36 ||
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Wink wink...banned huh? Jeez, Hosni's not a very competent dictator
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2004 12:17 Comments ||
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I was a supreme guide once. For little old ladies crossing the street. I was 13 or so. They didn't want to cross, but I was determined to make Eagle or else, so that didn't matter...
Ship - how many notches did you get? I got one - it rained like a bitch all night, so no fire. At least I wasn't bitten by a coral snake, as one poor kid was that weekend.
EFL Guess World Tribune picked it up from ME Newsline, where we got it yesterday...
U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is considering a plan for multi-pronged attacks on terrorist insurgency strongholds in such countries as Lebanon and Somalia. Get your ululator moistened up!
The sources also said that after a military operation in Somalia without Les Aspen, Rumsfeld might recommend a U.S. strike against insurgency strongholds in Lebanonâs Bekaa Valley. The area contains Hizbullah and Palestinian forces under the umbrella of the Syrian military. Does this, have any thing to do with this: Syria Will Return $200 Mln to Iraq?
Separately, The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat reported on Wednesday that a proposal has been submitted to Rumsfeld to expand special operations forces and send them to destroy insurgency strongholds along the Lebanese-Syrian border. Military erotica!
"The global war on terror is continuing, and it will for the foreseeable future," Rumsfeld said on Tuesday. "As we prosecute the war, weâll need to continue to strengthen, improve and transform our forces; modernize and restructure programs and commands."
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
01/09/2004 7:38:04 AM ||
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Sorry Fred. I should have looked more closely at yesterday's postings.
#2
I know I sound like a broken record on ths matter, but Hezbollah has an artillery park near the northern border of Israel that need to be captured and cleaned up. I hope any operations includes these military assets.
#3
Hezbollah has an artillery park near the northern border of Israel ...
Hezbollah, please meet Miss Daisy Cutter. Oh, those were YOUR tubes, not evacuated Iraqi ones? So sorry, a thousand pardons.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/09/2004 11:09 Comments ||
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#4
don't forget using the MOAB too,they wern't built for sitting in weapons depots.Rummy seems to me to be on a mission and no one can stop him,All Hail Rummy,perhaps he should call on kilroy to for some advice- he knows the score
Posted by: Jon Shep ||
01/09/2004 14:59 Comments ||
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#5
If we perform and incursion into Lebanon, will Syria and Iran will complain that we have violated their borders?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 23:53 Comments ||
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by John Fund, Wall Street Journal EFL
The guide, written by British journalist Robert Willoughby, sometimes twists itself into knots to be judicious, but when it comes to politics Mr. Willoughby can be quite candid: "Remember that this guide is only useful in the country if it's allowed in, so what I haven't explicitly written about I've included [Internet] links to." . . . Even with its pulled punches, the book does a mind-bending job of describing the personality cult that surrounds the late dictator Kim Il Sung ("the Great Leader") and his son and successor Kim Jong Il ("the Dear Leader"). The guide laconically notes that tourists will "be asked to 'pay respect' to statues and shrines" of the two men. "Just do it" is its terse advice. After all, this is a country where even the newspapers are folded in such a way as to avoid creasing the photos of the Leaders.
. . . Mr. Willoughby quotes the North Koreans saying that Pyongyang, the capital, is "the political centre, the centre for culture and education and a wellspring of our revolution." But it's apparently dangerous to let guests too close to the wellspring. Most stay in a high-rise hotel on an island in the middle of a river where guards can easily block unsupervised access to the city. The guide calls the island "an Alcatraz of fun." It was once planned that visitors stay in the Ryugyong Hotel, a 105-story pyramid whose construction was halted when famine hit North Korea in the 1990s. Though brochures show it brilliantly lit up in night photos, it is still an empty shell that has never been wired for electricity.
Some Pyongyang sights teeter between the comic and the sinister. The Mangyongdae Fun Fair features a grenade-throwing ground and machine-gun stalls. A museum on the Korean War features "the gruellingly written confession of one U.S. helicopter pilot whose handwriting suggests what broke him to spill all beyond his name, rank and serial number." Until recently, the captured U.S. spy ship Pueblo was on display.
But nothing quite captures the regime's mindset as a visit to Department Store No. 1. The Bradt guide notes only that, when it visited, "none of the lights were on." But a previous visitor on an unsupervised visit, British psychiatrist Anthony Daniels, was surprised to see it full of goods and shoppers. As he recounted in his book "Utopias Elsewhere," he soon noticed that someone he had seen with a shopping bag was suddenly without one. He followed her to an upper floor and saw her stand in line to collect another bag and be paid with a pair of brown socks so she would continue her Potemkin shopping excursion. That must be the store Jimmy Carter saw on his visit in 1994, when he famously proclaimed that Pyongyang was a happy city full of well-stocked stores.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/09/2004 7:00:35 AM ||
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Book your tickets early. Atleast before the backpackers get there!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/09/2004 11:24 Comments ||
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You mean North Korea is NOT a socialist paradise? SLANDER! You Yankee Imperialist Running Lackey Dog! North Korea overflows with the bodies bounty that was bestowed on us by Great Leader and Dear leader. The children starve sing songs about the greatness that is jucie. One day this socialist paradise will fall by the wayside take itâs rightful place amongst the world leadership. On that day nations of the world will scorn cheer our socialist way of life and will stand as a monument to stupidity honor the Korean Workers Party.
#6
what sort of a cock would go there on holiday anyway, must be fuckin brain damaged.
Posted by: Jon Shep ||
01/09/2004 15:00 Comments ||
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#7
HERE (link) is some comments by an American living in South Korea who had a chance to visit North Korea during their 'Arirang Festival' in April 2002. Its is good reading:
When was the last trip you took where:
* the guide wouldn't allow you to keep your passport?
* you weren't allowed to use the local currency?
* criticism of the place you traveled could get a guide into serious trouble?
* on your return you felt you had to be careful bringing back books, pins and T-shirts because they might be illegal?
All this and more can be yours with a trip to the DPRK, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Orwellian Country Names, better known as North Korea. In an age where you can get Starbucks on Thai islands, Baskin-Robbins in Saigon, Coke and McDonalds just about everywhere, it's nice to finally visit a place lacking even the knowledge of such things. The most end-of-the-earth Chinese villager knows of Michael Jordan. In North Korea our big city Pyongyang guides had no clue who he was - until we pointed out his name on an autographed basketball in the Gifts to Kim Jong-il Museum. Then they were sure he must be someone really important. A mere basketball player? No way!
#8
jon Shep - A few years ago, I met a bunch of tourists in the Philippines who were railway enthuisiasts. At the time they were touring narrow gauge railways used to haul sugar cane. The previous year they had visited Pyongyang to see the metro system there. I recall it made a big impression on them. Spotlessly clean apparently. Also as I recall no passengers and the whole thing may have just been for show.
#9
But will I get HBO in the Pyongyang Sheraton? My kids usually like having the Disney Channel Available and an indoor pool. They don't have those squat down toilets do they? My wife wouldn't like that.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 23:40 Comments ||
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JERUSALEM (AP) - The Palestinian premier said Thursday that if Israel unilaterally imposed a new boundary with Palestinian areas he would respond by pushing for a single Arab-Jewish state - a move that could spell disaster for Israel. A single country including Gaza, the West Bank and Israel would mean that the Jewish state would soon have an Arab majority. That would force Israel to choose between giving Palestinians the right to vote and risk losing the countryâs Jewish character, or becoming a minority-ruled country like apartheid South Africa. Or becoming a nasty, brutal "civil" war.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned at the end of last year he would order unilateral separation from the Palestinian areas if peace talks do not show progress in the coming months. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia told The Associated Press that such unilateral moves would make the drive for a Palestinian state a "meaningless slogan." Bright boy!
"If the situation continues as it is now we will go for the one-state solution," he said. Qureia said the binational state idea is his own idea, not official policy, though he said Palestinians suggested it shortly after Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. Edward Said also pushed it. He was just as loopy.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell immediately rejected the idea of a single state on Thursday, saying only a two-country solution to the violence would work. "We donât think your kind can live with their kind!"
For years, Israeli doves have cited the "demographic issue" in their calls for Israel to relinquish control of all or most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of a peace treaty. About 3.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and Gaza, in addition to 1.2 million Arab citizens of Israel. About 5.5 million Jews live in Israel. Some Israeli analysts and politicians have said that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafatâs goal has always been a single state eventually dominated by Palestinians. Arafat has often declared that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be decided by the higher Palestinian birth rate. "âcause we Paleos can breed like rats!"
However, Arafat has said repeatedly over the past decade that he is committed to the agreements his signed with Israel, leading to a Palestinian state alongside Israel. And then comes Dire Revengeâ¢!
Adopting the demographic argument, Sharon this week told members of his hard-line Likud Party that any peace accord would require removal of some Jewish settlements in the West Bank and creation of a Palestinian state. Polls show Sharonâs proposals enjoy considerable support among Israelis. Survival or demographic suicide, yep, choice is clear.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2004 12:47:47 AM ||
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The Palestinian premier said Thursday that if Israel unilaterally imposed a new boundary with Palestinian areas he would respond by pushing for a single Arab-Jewish state - a move that could spell disaster for Israel.
Who says that Israel has to accept?
For years, Israeli doves have cited the "demographic issue" in their calls for Israel to relinquish control of all or most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as part of a peace treaty.
And once the wall is finished, Israel CAN relinquish control. ALL of it. Disengagement. And leave the Paleos to rot in their own self-made hell.
However, Arafat has said repeatedly over the past decade that he is committed to the agreements his signed with Israel, leading to a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
It's one thing for Arafart to say he's committed to his agreements, but as recent history has proven, an entirely different thing for him to live up to his obligations.
#2
The Palestinian premier said Thursday that if Israel unilaterally imposed a new boundary with Palestinian areas he would respond by pushing for a single Arab-Jewish state - a move that could spell disaster for Israel
Well. A "single Arab-Jewish state" would indeed "spell disaster for Israel". But Ahmed's "pushing" for it won't, 'cuz all his "pushing" will come to nothing. True, if the Paleos suddenly change course now and say that they want a "one state solution" as opposed to a "two state solution", perhaps Kofi and the feckless Euros will march to the new Pali tune. But we Amis won't. If anything, it will only deepen our conviction that Paleo words are empty-- who knows, maybe even our State Department will finally wise up!
And-- thanks to Al Qaeda-- thank you, Osama!-- and thanks to our muscular response to 9/11-- thank you, Dubyah!-- the U.S. will be calling the shots in the ME for the foreseeable future.
Earth to Ahmed: you can puff out your chest and pretend that that ain't true-- you Paleos are proven experts at chest-puffery and reality-denial-- but you should catch a clue from your cousin Mo over in Libya. If indeed it's time to change your stance, it's to change it from "bad doggie" to "good doggie"... capiche?
#3
I think Sharon is on the right track here.By dismantleing the settlements(meaning thier complete destruction)and complete disengagment from areas of Paleo authority.Of course that won't stop suicide bombers and other attacks.Then Sharon can slap the world in the face with the fact the Paleos absolutly do not want peace.
#4
Absolutely the Palestinians do not want peace. They want what Arafat wants: a Palestinian communist state without any Jews, and they have demonstrated they are willing to murder to get it.
The fence will be done this year. Israel will confer a nation status on Palestine, and this will close the matter. Let us see the Palestinians build a country with the assholes they have leading them now.
#6
first thing to consider is that the person giving the answers is a Israeli left winger
second thing to consider is that this left winger has spent much of his time researching unsavory aspects of the early history of Israel - the few arab towns that were intimidated in the war of independence.
the third thing to think about is that the Roman's lost militarily; the situation is different today, the barbarians weapons are our own Islamic apologists, socialists, etc. as well as the barbarian population in the west
#7
Good 'bloggers, please give me your considered opinions on this question that just popped into my head, you from whom I've learned so much in the past year....
A large (if not the largest) part of the reason why there are any people who call themselves palestinians today is because these poor schnooks have been designated by their Arab brothers to be pathetic, angry, political sympathy tools that are maintained at just enough level to exist (albeit at a barely human level) and convince the world that somehow, Israel is at fault for their condition.
Now, let's project into a hypothetical, not-so-far-off future, and we see two states; Israel and Palestine. Do the powers that maintain the feeble life support of these people as a political entity, suddenly allow for the actual existance of a soveriegn nation, or do they immediately step in to "help set up" and after a brief trial period, just annex it, after declaring some pap like, "...the Israeli cruelty lasted for so many years that the palestinian people are unable to get it together." I'm talking neigboring states like syria, jordan, egypt etc... . For example, so many "palestinians" were absorbed by Jordan already, wouldn't it just make sense for Jordan to say, "they're really our people, living on land that borders our own, why not just..."
What's the real chance there really be a Palestinian state, whether some high-minded palestinians actually want to step out from the dark ages or not? I mean, except for their common hatred of all things Jewish and/or Western, do these countries get along well enough to say, " Sure! We can always use another voice in the cacaphonus Arab brotherhood!"
Please enlighten me with your opinions. Many thanks!
#8
Poor Paleo's, nobody wants them. Israel will finish their fence and the issue will be reframed in such a manner as to be unsympathetic to all but trust-fund recipients seeking significance and aging elites desperate to validate the struggles of their youth. We will no longer even bother to argue with the greying grandma's blabbing on about US hegemony, rather we will just give them a pat on the head and a sympathetic nod as we try to stifle a a collective yawn - looking for a graceful exit from the table conversations they always manage to ruin at family get-togethers.
Posted by: B ||
01/09/2004 13:39 Comments ||
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#9
Arafat from what I've heard has tons of cash in some bank in Iran or Egypt, not sure which one, and all he wants is victory. Victory period. A paleo state would be a small victory to terroism?
#10
i say build a fuckin huge 100,0000 pound cluster bomb and dump it straight on the palo plebs, tough but fair i think.
Posted by: Jon Shep ||
01/09/2004 14:50 Comments ||
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#11
A ver, very, very small victory, that will descend into a fierce civil war within six months of fence-completion, the nice thing about this is that hamas is'nt wat it used to be and that is bad news for the worlds oldest terrorist. Fun times ahead.
#12
Jordan won't touch the Paleos, neither will Saudi Arabia. Egypt could have had Gaza back by now if they wanted, Israel offered to turn them over. But the stratgy has been to let Israel suffer for what they conquered.
That leave Syria. With their tentacles in Lebanon right now slowly starting to strain, and the world community, and especially the US keeping an eye on them, its doubtful they would try.
So, it looks like they Paleos will really be on their own. If they become a failed state, I suspect that either Israel, the US, and/or a collition of Arab nations (with Iraq in the lead) stepping in before any single Arab nation will risk it.
#13
Dripping Sarcasm, let me take a stab at your question. I see the answer as NO. The Jordanians already let the Palestinian leadership in and Arafat tried to take of Jordan. Also, I'm certain Jordan prefers a buffer state between her and Israel so that any pressure from other Arab states to attack Israel can be deflected onto the Palestinians.
I imagine Palestine (west bank) falling into civil war, becoming a failed state along the lines of Somalia, and the world watching and doing nothing about it. Prefering the UN to handle the problem. The UN will botch the job, lots of people will die, and in a few decades the Pals might get their act together.
I imagine Palestine (Gaza) surviving as a semi-facsist theocracy run by Hamas. Eventually they will push Israel to far and be either (a) handed over to Egypt or (b) Pushed into Egypt and the property claimed.
#14
DS - are you looking for the snarky thing - or the real thing? I'm not kidding. There is a motherlode of info on how the Trans-Jordan became the Jordan of today because the Brits wanted to give a kingdom to the Hashemite "King" at the end of WW-I, etc. If you want the whole thing, well, I've posted tons of links in the past here on RB that cover the Sykes-Picot treaty, The Paris Accords, The Balfour Declaration, the 4 different UN plans for the creation of Israel, tons of stuff that makes it clear what should be.
As for the other Arabs, no one wants the Paleos. As mentioned above by Anonymous, Jordan (the real Palestine for the Arabs - Israel is fucking Israel) regretted its one overture to help them - they tried to overthrow the Govt. The Saudis are happy to throw money, but that is ending with the growth of their internal problems.
The faux-palestinians are a myth. The Arabs who live in the disputed lands taken by Israel in '67 & '73 should just be deported. The West Bank and Gaza are the remnants of the stupidity of the worst UN Plan for creating Israel - which was the one chosen, of course. You can start with these and Google the various treaties and terms for more links if you don't like mine...
FrontPage - this is the clearest article on who what when and where. Much more at Palestine Facts. I used to recommend Wikipedia, but they have tried to rewrite their pages to create a politically-correct version (Arab complaints) and I haven't yet taken the time to see how accurate it is - or isn't - now.
#15
From 1949 to June '67 the West Bank was part of Jordan and there was no thought of a Palestinian state.Arafat and the PLO lost their attempt to take over Jordan in early'70s.In a brilliant attempt to gain legitamcy,Arafat proclaimed himself the voice of the Palestinian people who's land Israel was occupying.After a few years the "international community"(esp. media,UN,West Europe,US liberals)came to accept Arafat's invented Palestine as real and consisting of the West Bank.
Arafat could have had a Palestinian state consisting of the West Bank at any time during past 10 years.He has refused quite possibly for one of two reasons.1)He believes the occupied territory is not just West Bank,but all Israel,and refuses to settle for half a loaf.2)He knows West Bank is not sufficient for a viable country.Large population,no resources,dependant on outside sources for money-that will probably dry up once there is a country.No ports for trade,so all trade has to go through unsympathetic neighbors.
The reason the Israeli fence is so hated is it kills what appears to be prefered Palestinian option-a self-rule West Bank under Israel,with the belief that in time population growth will result in Islamic Israel.Assuming this is plan,any attempt to create a West Bank Palestine will be sabotaged by Arafat.Israel is saying w/fence,inside fence is Jewish Israel,outside is Islamic Palestine;which is why fence is so bitterly opposed by Palestinians.
Posted by: Stephen ||
01/09/2004 20:37 Comments ||
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#16
A year from now, Jordan will be building its own fence, the UN will be administering Paleostan as one large refugee camp, and Arafat and his hardboys will be putting all the cash into Switzerland.
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2004 21:05 Comments ||
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A federal judge on Wednesday lifted the temporary injunction he imposed Dec. 22 that banned the Pentagon from forcing all servicemembers to get the anthrax vaccine. U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivanâs reversal of his own order paves the way for the Pentagon to resume inoculating troops deployed to high risk areas like Iraq, Afghanistan and South Korea. However, the injunction remains in place for the six anonymous "John Does" who filed the lawsuit in May seeking reprieve from a vaccine they said is unsafe and unapproved by the Food and Drug Administration. Pentagon officials did not know by press deadline if or when they would resume vaccinating troops. "Weâre aware of the ruling. Thatâs all I can say at this point," spokesman James Turner said. "We know nothing for now!"
Sullivan lifted the injunction because the FDA issued a formal rule stating the 1970-approved vaccine is safe, effective and guards against all forms of anthrax. Two weeks ago, Sullivan ruled he saw no proof in the governmentâs argument the FDA approved the vaccine to guard against inhalation anthrax, thus making it an investigative drug. Fixed that, didnât they?
On Wednesday, while siding with the government to lift the ban, Sullivan remarked from the bench he found last weekâs FDA rule "highly suspicious," coming on the heels of his injunction. The vaccineâs safeness and effectiveness has been challenged for years in court, he said, and in spite of countless administrative hearings and battles, he questioned the ruleâs timing. "Only after the issuance of an injunction, up pops a federal rule" supporting the governmentâs position, a skeptical Sullivan told lawyer Shannen Coffin, a Justice Department attorney representing the Pentagon. "And youâre telling me itâs coincidental."
There is that whiff of old flounder, isn't there?
"Iâd stand on a stack of Bibles and tell you itâs coincidental," Coffin told Sullivan. "Thatâs an amazing coincidence," Sullivan rebutted. Not in the league with all the looney conspiracy theories about 9/11, though. Mark Zaid, representing the six anonymous plaintiffs, told the judge he plans to continue the fight to stop the vaccine program; first arguing against the FDAâs rule that the vaccine is safe, and also that the Pentagon has violated the process by giving vaccines to some troops out of sequence, violating the FDA licensing guidelines. Both sides are to issue next week a proposal to Sullivan outlining the best future action. Arguing the FDA rule is a tall order. It occasionally happens but Zaid would actually have to have some scientific evidence.
As I've commented before, it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't thing. If they keep giving the vaccine, the incidence of side effects paints them as next thing to vivisectionists, experimenting on Our Boys™. If they don't, when there is an anthrax attack against us and Our Boys™ are dying like flies, then they were stoopid and gutless to cut the vaccinations. The worst part is that the next attack will probably be smallpox or some other horror and all the arguing, vaccinations, and side effects will be for nothing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2004 12:36:04 AM ||
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The problem with any vaccine is that there will always be someone that has a bad reaction from it. I have a hereditary allergy to quinine. It took me swelling up like a stomped-on toad to get the doctors to stop giving me quinine tablets and making me take them. At the same time, I have no problem with smallpox other than I never, ever get a reaction from a smallpox vaccination. There are 280 million people in the US, and each one has the chance of having a different reaction to drugs than I do. While most vaccines are effective and relatively harmless to some, there will always be a few that have a severe adverse reaction. Ya pays ya money and ya takes ya chances.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2004 10:34 Comments ||
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#3
I believe Veterinarians have been taking Anthrax shots since the early 70's without to much of a problem. I'm on my fourth series and haven't had any problems as of yet. Had a little problem with the stuff they fed me during Desert Storm, (Pyrobrostigmine Bromide, etc.) but nothing from O.I.F.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2004 11:59 Comments ||
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#5
"Iâd stand on a stack of Bibles and tell you itâs coincidental," Coffin told Sullivan.
Hmmm... He didn't say he'd swear on a stack of Bibles, did he?
Posted by: Tobacconist (JAFS - Just another *** Steve) ||
01/09/2004 14:37 Comments ||
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#6
HGSI has developed a drug that targets the anthrax toxin (so it will theoretically be effective against all the various anthrax strains), was shown to provide 100% protection against inhalation anthrax challenge in primates. Likely to be approved (and stock piled) after short additional study in healthy human volunteers. There is a capacity constraint on how much can be manufactured near term, but given Cipro is also effective and anthrax not contagious, supplies should be adequate soon.
Itâs Kavkaz and hence is likely propaganda, but Chechen warlords do have this nasty penchant for being resurrected.
Chechen Press news and information agency reported referring to a Spokesman of State Defense Council âMajlis al-Shuraâ of CRI that the Russian reports about alleged death of Chechen Commander Khamzat Gelayev are false. Chechen Press reported that one of Commander Gelayevâs units really was operating in Dagestan, but the Commander himself was not there. The agencyâs source reported that the unit of the Mujahideen, which carried out the raid into Dagestan, has now returned to its permanent positions in Chechnya. The unit has accomplished all combat missions assigned by the Chechen Command. During the battles and movements a total of five Mujahideen became Shaheeds (martyrs). All five died in Russian aerial bombings. Three Mujahideen are missing in action.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2004 12:25:32 AM ||
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Chechnyaâs Interior Ministry says rebel fighters killed 159 pro-Moscow police in 2003 - roughly three per week.
... or one every other day.
Another 300 officers were wounded in ambushes and clashes said ministry spokesman Ruslan Atsayev, quoted by the Itar-Tass agency. He added that the death toll was one-third lower than in 2002, and that people were keen to work as policemen. Another official said some 20 attacks within the last 24 hours killed five Russian soldiers and a police officers. The official told the AP agency that the attacks included direct stikes on Russian positions as well as ambushes on military and police convoys. Mr Atsayev was quoted by Itar-Tass as saying that payments to dead policemenâs families totalled more than one million roubles per month in the first 11 months of 2003. Russian forces have been assaulted on an almost daily basis since they re-entered Chechnya in 1999, three years after rebels drove them out. The official figure for the number of Russian soldiers who died in Chechnya between 1999 and mid-2003 is 4,705 - though the Soldiersâ Mothers of Russia organisation put the figure at 11,000.
It's a meat grinder. I attribute the high casualty rates to either crummy intel or to poor integration of intel resources, likely the former. If I was Putin — which I'm not; he's shorter than I am, for one thing — I'd be asking my good friend G.W. for a bit of assistance in that area.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2004 12:22:54 AM ||
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GW has his own problems, wherein Iraq looks more like Chechnya and less like Vietnam every day.
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2004 10:29 Comments ||
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In Chechnya they're not rounding up the head cheeses. Maskhadov, Basayev, Gelayev and Abu Walid should all be dead or in custody by now, as should the members of the Shura Council. Instead, they screw around chasing cannon fodder. In Iraq, we're chasing after the leadership of an entire army - not a very good army, it's true, but still an army - and a political leadership that was deeply tied to terrorism, both organizationally and philosophically. We've been at it for eight months now. I'd say we're doing pretty well, and the reason we're doing so is our intelligence collection and dissemination.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2004 10:39 Comments ||
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#3
Point taken.
I still think Chechnya is a vision of what Iraq could potentially become, even as the continuing failure of the Russians to eradicate terrorists in Chechnya demonstrates islamist success by default. In jihad, struggle is more important than accomplishment. The ultimate victory in jihad is failure: defacto martyrdom. The more successful we are in Iraq, the more glorious the failure.
Big media compare Iraq to what they think they remember about Vietnam because they know even less about Chechnya.
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2004 13:35 Comments ||
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#4
John - Iraq would become like Chechnya if we handed it over to the Russians to run. As there is no likelyhood of this, Iraq will not become Chechnya. Compare the Russian and US experience in Afghanistan. Somewhat different don't you think.
Otherwise you are on the money in your comment about 'big media'
#5
It's a quagmire! Big media don't compare Iraq to Chechnya for the same reason they don't compare the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to our invasion. They don't like to showcase US strength. They prefer reliving the Vietnam experience, when the US tucked it's tail and ran.
Posted by: B ||
01/09/2004 18:06 Comments ||
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Racers from the famed Paris-Dakar Rally suffered a major setback of a different sort when armed security force members stopped competitors at Mauritaniaâs border, demanding $65 from each vehicle to pass. Pikers. You held up a bunch of Frenchmen and took only $65 a car? Cheez, itâs like Spiro Agnew taking $150 a week when he was vice-president.
Border guards in Mauritania and some other countries in West Africa often try to demand illicit payments from travelers to cross frontiers. Officials believed they had taken care of the problem, but word evidently hadnât reached security forces at the border, race officials said. Lack of modern communications does seem to be a problem in Africa.
``I cut the motor, and pulled out my sword put my hands up,ââ Hiroshi Masuoka, two-time defending champion and current leader, told France 2 television. At least 100 racers paid, and Paris-Dakar organizers were still checking with other drivers, race spokesman Roger Kalmanovitz told The Associated Press on Thursday from the Sahara Desert in Mauritania. The incident happened Wednesday, as the hundreds of truck, four-wheel-drive and cycle racers crossed into the country. French TV showed armed soldiers surrounding each car, truck and bike at the border. Hmmm, French TV crews always seem to know where the actionâs going to be. If they show up in my neighborhood Iâm heading for the gun cabinet.
``The soldiers were armed. They were saying to each car to pay 50 euros ($65),ââ Masuoka said. ``We discussed this.ââ "Your money or your life!"
"Can we discuss this?"
"No!"
``This was the first time this ever happened to me, so I agreed,ââ Masuoka said. It was not clear how much time was lost in the transactions. Wonder if they get docked for the time it took to make change?
Kalmanovitz, the race spokesman, said the decision to impose the passage fee upon the Paris-Dakar had come from local customs officials in the far north. Who seem to be well-practiced at the fine art of extortion. Theyâre customs agents fergawdsakes!
Reached by telephone, a northern government official criticized the actions by the security forces, saying the national authorities in the capital, Nouackchott, also made clear they didnât appreciate it. "Nope, nope, donât like it none, nope."
Now in its 26th year, the Paris-Dakar in 2003 crosses 6,920.4-miles, seven countries and the Sahara Desert, ending Jan. 18 outside the Senegalese capital, Dakar. Wonder if theyâll have to pay an exit fee on the other side of Mauritania?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2004 12:21:00 AM ||
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These guys are a bunch of speed racers. They've got cash to burn. No really, they've got cash to burn. Thats good with me, it's all good as they say. But hey sport, it's snakes and all! So pay the man and buy your buddy a drink!
The government expanded its case against three Yemeni-American men accused of illegally sending large sums of money to Yemen. Thursdayâs indictment accuses Mohamed Albanna, Ali Albanna and Ali Taher Elbaneh of transferring $3.5 million to Yemen without a license between November 2001 and December 2002. The group initially was charged in 2002 with sending about $500,000 during a shorter time period. The new indictment also adds more charges that carry longer prison terms - 10 years instead of five - and adds a fourth defendant: a Yemeni man who allegedly received the transfers. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Abdul Wali Kushasha, assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch said.
If he's the receiver, that implies he's in Yemen. Good luck with the warrant...
Lynch said investigators have not traced any of the money to terrorist activities. Mohamed Albanna has said money was sent between family members in the United States and Yemen, where banks are not easily accessible. He and the others pleaded innocent.
If it's all innocent transfers to family members, then the charges should be dropped, as the offenses would be mere technicalities. But when you get into seven figures, that makes my ears perk up, and my ears aren't as sensitive as the FBI's and the IRS'...
The three original defendants, who are related, were arrested in December 2002. Mohamed Albanna, also vice president of the American Muslim Council of Western New York, said Thursday he learned of the new indictment from a reporter. "Itâs not surprising," he said. The Albannasâ nephew, Jaber Elbaneh, a suspected member of a terror cell in suburban Lackawanna, was last reported to be in Yemen, according to U.S. officials.
That makes the "innocent, all in the family" claim look even more tenuous...
Six other Lackawanna residents, all Yemeni-American men in their 20s, were sentenced last month for attending an al-Qaida training camp months in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks. Yet another family affair?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2004 12:20:09 AM ||
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Family Affair? One could mispell Albanna with Elbanah? I say potAto, you say potato.
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2004 10:50 Comments ||
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#2
Looking at transliterated Arabic, you have to look at the consonants, rather than the vowels. The root (LBN) is modified by which consonants they hang on it. So Elbanah and Albanna are likely both variant spellings of the same name, as is al-Banna, al-Bannah, or even ul-Bonno.
A -> E shifts with dialect. The E is more prevalent the further west you go. Complicating matters is the fact that there are more consonants in the Semitic languages than there are in the Indo-European. H's are particularly awful; there are a couple variants that we'd represent with an H or a KH that actually sound like the speaker is choking. That's why you'll sometimes see al-Ghamdi, other times al-Hamdi. But el-Ghamidi's a valid transliteration, too.
Linguistics is not pretty...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2004 11:00 Comments ||
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#3
That transliterated root would be (BNN), the L of course being part of the definite article (al-). And surely al-Ghamdi (with a ghayn, a laryngial consonant a long, long way from an H sound) cannot be transliterated al-Hamdi, except in error. Al-Hamdi is itself a not uncommon name. Finally, al-Ghamdi could become el-Ghamdi, but not el-Ghamidi.
#4
Not being an Arabic speaker, I couldn't say for sure, but...
Going on transliterations from the news services is shakey. There's only one N in Elbaneh - should there be two, as in Albannah? And we've seen the GH -> H transliteration here a few times, the same name from different sources. Al-Ghamdi has also been rendered El-Ghamidi.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2004 17:09 Comments ||
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SOUTH Korea tightened security for its embassies and national airlines today after its embassy in Thailand received terror threats. The embassy in Bangkok received a letter yesterday, in which a group called "Anti-Korean Interest Agency" threatened attacks on South Korean diplomatic missions and businesses in Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and other Asian countries.
Why in the world would NKor hop on the terrorism bandwagon now? They ended up with egg on their faces when they had the incident in Rangoon 20 years ago. Not that they seem to mind, or even notice, egg on their faces...
Prime Minister Goh Kun discussed the threat with South Koreaâs National Intelligence service and other government agencies. "The Prime Minister ordered heightened security for national-carrier passenger flights, overseas diplomatic missions, the foreign embassies in South Korea and South Koreans living overseas," Gohâs office said. The statement did not cite any suspected motive for the threats. On Thursday, South Korea said it would screen all mail for parcel bombs amid a series of mail bombings in Europe, and rising fears of terrorism ahead of Seoulâs dispatch of troops to Iraq. Postal workers have been issued gas masks and antibiotics as a cautionary measure against possible biochemical terror via mail, such as the anthrax mailings that terrorised the United States shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.
At least they're taking it seriously...
South Korea plans to send 3000 troops, possibly including combat-ready special forces, to the northern oil town of Kirkuk to help US forces rebuild Iraq. It already has 460 military medics and engineers in Iraq. The al-Qaeda terrorist network, responsible for the September 11 attacks, has said it will target the interests of countries aiding the US-led coalition in Iraq.
I suppose it could be turbans, rather than the grass eaters. It's a complicated world we live in...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2004 12:15:28 AM ||
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They ended up with egg on their faces when they had the incident in Rangoon 20 years ago. Not that they seem to mind, or even notice, egg on their faces...
..Guys, they NEED the damned eggs.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/09/2004 11:04 Comments ||
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Iâll get to the WOT stuff in a minute, but I thought you all might enjoy this.
Four years ago, Howard Dean denounced the Iowa caucuses as "dominated by special interests," saying on a Canadian television show that they "donât represent the centrist tendencies of the American people, they represent the extremes." Videotapes of the show were broadcast on the NBC Nightly News on Thursday, less than two weeks before the Jan. 19 caucuses, the first contest of the Democratic nominating race. The tapes show Dr. Dean arguing that the lengthy caucus process in which neighbors gather to debate their preferences is inconvenient for ordinary people. "Say Iâm a guy whoâs got to work for a living, and Iâve got kids," he said on the show on Jan. 15, 2000. "On a Saturday, is it easy for me to go cast a ballot and spend 15 minutes doing it, or do I have to sit in a caucus for eight hours?" A moment later, he added, "I canât stand there and listen to everyone elseâs opinion for eight hours about how to fix the world."`
The excerpts shown on NBC also show Dr. Dean saying in December, 2000, "George Bush is, I believe, in his soul a moderate," and adding about those thinking that Mr. Bushâs presidency would be a one-term one, "that is going to be a mistake." While Dr. Dean now describes Mr. Bush as "the most radical right-wing president in my lifetime," he also frequently acknowledges that, until after Mr. Bush was elected, he believed his promise of moderation.
The broadcasting of the tape comes as Dr. Dean is in a fierce fight with Representative Richard A. Gephardt in Iowa, and his comments were a sharp contrast to those he makes daily on the campaign trail in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Now Dr. Dean regularly tells audiences that the Iowa caucuses represent the essence of American democracy. "Without Iowa and New Hampshire, people like me would never have a chance," he said on Nov. 13 upon signing the papers to qualify for the New Hampshire primary. "Itâs the only way that candidates with no money but with strong backing, who are willing to put backbone and spine back in the Democratic Party, have any chance at all."
Sarah Leonard, a Dean spokeswoman in Iowa, told The Associated Press that his comment "could mean a lot of different things." Shortly after the NBC broadcast, Stephanie Cutter, a spokeswoman for another candidate, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, sent reporters an e-mail message with the NBC transcript, asking, "Which Howard Dean are Iowans going to vote for, the one who insults them, or the one who will soon be releasing yet another clarifying statement?" Mr. Gephardt also leaped on the comments, saying: "The remarks he made about the Iowa caucuses to me are unbelievable. I guess Iâd ask him a question: Who are the special interests dominating this caucus? Is it the farmers? Is it organized labor? Is it senior citizens?"
The tapes were culled from 90 appearances by Dr. Dean, between 1996 and 2002, on "The Editors," a round table of journalists and politicians that is broadcast in Canada and on PBS stations in the United States. An article about the tapes on the MSNBC Web site includes more excerpts. It shows that in January 1998, Dr. Dean speculated that there "will probably be good and bad" if the Islamic militants of Hamas take over the Palestinian leadership. Yasser Arafat, he said, "is going to leave the scene." He continued: "When that happens, I think Hamas will probably take over. There will probably be good and bad out of that. The bad, of course, is that Hamas is a terrorist organization. However, if they have to run a quasi-state they may actually have to be more responsible and start negotiations. So who knows what will happen." In February 1999, he said, "The next great tragedy is going to be Arafatâs passing, believe it or not." He said the Israelis had thrown away an opportunity to negotiate with Mr. Arafat. "Next comes Hamas, comes far more radical government in Jordan," he said. "I think itâs a frightening proposition."
Foreshadowing his 2004 campaign platform, Dr. Dean said on the show in 1998 that he was beginning to question his support of the North American Free Trade Agreement. "Iâm worried about the condition of Mexican workers" in factories just south of the border, he said, "and I had hoped that Nafta would boost the Mexican standard of living."
The broadcast of the tapes came on a day when two rival campaigns accused Dean workers in Iowa of unethical conduct. Mr. Gephardtâs campaign manager, Steve Murphy, said the Dean campaign was plotting to rig the caucuses by sending in thousands of out-of-state volunteers to vote. And a top aide to Mr. Kerry said two Dean workers misrepresented themselves to gain information on the Kerry campaign. Mr. Murphy of the Gephardt campaign said a Dean field organizer in Iowa described a plan to rig the voting in a conversation several days ago, an accusation the Dean campaign dismissed as ridiculous. State law allows only Iowa residents to participate in the caucuses. Mr. Murphy would not identify the field organizer. Joe Trippi, Dr. Deanâs campaign manager, vehemently denied any effort to rig the caucuses. He said the 3,500 out-of-state volunteers who plan to work for Dr. Dean in Iowa had no intention of voting there.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/09/2004 12:07:52 AM ||
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#3
I had an odd thought, perhaps Dean leaked this himself (1) It would come out anyway (2) It makes him look a bit like a victim (3) the positions mentioned are all rather centrist if you ask me.
This is a ground breaking interview IMHO. Chilling in parts, but it seems to have arrived at the same conclusions that Iâm coming to recently.
So grab a coffee and read it all.
(extract)
"I think there is a clash between civilizations here [as Huntington argues]. I think the West today resembles the Roman Empire of the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries: The barbarians are attacking it and they may also destroy it."
The Muslims are barbarians, then?
"I think the values I mentioned earlier are values of barbarians - the attitude toward democracy, freedom, openness; the attitude toward human life. In that sense they are barbarians. The Arab world as it is today is barbarian."
And in your view these new barbarians are truly threatening the Rome of our time?
"Yes. The West is stronger but itâs not clear whether it knows how to repulse this wave of hatred. The phenomenon of the mass Muslim penetration into the West and their settlement there is creating a dangerous internal threat. A similar process took place in Rome. They let the barbarians in and they toppled the empire from within."
Is it really all that dramatic? Is the West truly in danger?
"Yes. I think that the war between the civilizations is the main characteristic of the 21st century. I think President Bush is wrong when he denies the very existence of that war. Itâs not only a matter of bin Laden. This is a struggle against a whole world that espouses different values. And we are on the front line. Exactly like the Crusaders, we are the vulnerable branch of Europe in this place."
The situation as you describe it is extremely harsh. You are not entirely convinced that we can survive here, are you?
"The possibility of annihilation exists."
Posted by: tipper ||
01/09/2004 12:01:59 AM ||
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...The important difference is that Augustus Caesar didn't have a Praetorian Guard who went with him everywhere carrying a scroll with the launch codes.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/09/2004 0:57 Comments ||
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#2
But the difference is that the Romans didn't have a loonie left sapping their will to fight.
#4
Rome was destroyed by BARBARIANS I know some barbarians and trust me Arabs aren't in the same league.
Why, thank you, Ship! I didn't think you noticed! 8^)
Truthfully, we "barbarians" get a bad rap. We're not too good in the PR department, concentrating on what we do best - raping, pillaging, looting, and destroying. Call it primitive urban renewal. Actually, it's a name tossed around, kind of like "kike" and "slopehead" and other derogatory terms used to assign the most brutal and unkind behavior to people we don't appreciate or wish to associate with - the "uncouth". Every society needs a few barbarians, especially when things get nasty. If we get too civilized to carry the war to our enemies, instead sit back and merely try to keep the losses from getting too much out of hand, we've already lost. We need to have the will to go after those that hate us, and show them, emphatically, that, no matter what they THINK they can do, we're meaner, badder, and more capable of inflicting upon them what they think they can inflict upon us. If necessary, we need to prove that brutality has not been bred out of us, but is only thinly controlled by a conscience that considers every man equal, and none superior. We haven't done that in the Arab world yet. We need to. I would suggest the total destruction of Fallujah as an example. Let them, and the rest of the world know, that we will not be squeamish in this war, and we WILL fight to win. If that means getting totally barbaric in dealing with our self-appointed enemy, so be it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2004 11:33 Comments ||
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#5
The western Empire fell to the Goths, Visigoths, Vandals, etc. because they had
1) split the empire and had a civil war.
2) Begun using large numbers of germanic troops.
3) Moved the capitol to Ravenna (yech!)
#6
"the Romans didn't have a loonie left sapping their will to fight"
Actually, all those ancient Mediterranean societies (Greeks, Romans, Carthaginians) had analogues to many of the types of poltics we see today: conservative, "progressive", rich elites, populists, etc etc.
I am reading Kagan's "The Peloponnesian War" right now, and I keep mentally tying to fit the leaders mentioned there into their modern counterparts. Not possible to easily do with, for example, Pericles: wealthy, intelligent, charismatic, inspiring speaker, and proponent of empire. Haven't seen that combination in the US for a while....
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
01/09/2004 12:40 Comments ||
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#7
Carl: JFK.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/09/2004 13:37 Comments ||
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#8
{barbarian's} a name tossed around, kind of like "kike" and "slopehead" and other derogatory terms used to assign the most brutal and unkind behavior to people we don't appreciate or wish to associate with - the "uncouth".
The ancient Greeks who coined the word had a very specific meaning - the barbarians were those who did not speak the language of the civilized world (as the Greeks saw things). Many non-Greek people had at least some Greek they used for trade purposes. Those who had none, were people who were disconnected from the economy, political relationships, art and thought of the Mediterranean.
In that sense, to call most of the Arab (and non-Arab Muslim) world "barbarian" is to use the word in a similar way. At least, that is part of what this author meant, I think. Not just that they don't dress or eat like "us", but that they are disconnected from and have no stake in preserving the more advanced cultures and economies of the world. Instead, they live on the fringes and in some cases, subsist parasitically.
#9
RC: yep, JFK is the closest I could come up with in the American milieu. I think Churchill is a better fit for a modern Pericles (not sure about the charisma bit however, unless old fat bald cigar smokers were considered sexy in the 1940s). The key problem with JFK/Pericles comparison is that JFK was not around long enough for an extended crisis (as opposed to a brief crisis like Cuba)
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
01/09/2004 15:04 Comments ||
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#10
Churchill's not bad; charisma's not all looks, after all.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/09/2004 15:40 Comments ||
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#11
I could easily envision Bill Clinton as Alcibiades...Kegan book was fascinating, wasn't it? Macedonia followed (much later) by Rome ends up picking up all the marbles after Athens and Sparta finish beating each other up....
#12
Yeah, Alcibiades is an interesting character, and not in a good way. Kagan is respectful of him so far (I am not finished with the book) but previous accounts I have read and studied about the subject depict him as an essentially amoral and chaotic force. Alcibiades' charisma got him out of the many jams he got into, which is certainly Clintonian...
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
01/09/2004 16:41 Comments ||
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#13
I thought the Greeks came up with the word "barbarian" by making fun of the speech of non-Greeks and near-Greeks like the Macedonians, which they described as "barbarbarbarbar..."
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/09/2004 18:52 Comments ||
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#14
"the Romans didn't have a loonie left sapping their will to fight"
Maybe not, but the Sasanids, the first Empire to fall to Islam, certainly did.
"Kavadâs reign also saw the rise of Mazdak, a Marxist predating Marx himself by about 1300 years. Mazdak who was Kavadâs close friend, started preaching his ideas of communal life and collective life almost immediately after Kavad took the throne. This was the time that the Sasanian society had been fed up with the increasing power of the Zoroastrian clergy and had started creating alternative cults such as Zardoshtegan. Mazdakâs ideas; therefore, managed to attract a lot of attention, especially since the emperor himself supported the modern day prophet. It is disputed that the actual founder of Mazdakâs cult was a man called Zardosht-i Khvargan who was a follower of Maani. Thus, in a sense, Mazdak can be assumed as a person who revived and updated Maaniâs ideas two hundred years after him. Mazdakâs ideas, other than preaching the collective life style, was based on self-discipline and hardship, along with kindness towards the strangers."
In a three-week occupation of the biggest Palestinian city the Israeli army has killed 19 people, wrecked buildings and confined tens of thousands to their homes in a futile search for the leader of "the heart of the terror networks". Before Christmas soldiers flooded Nablus and the neighbouring refugee camp of Balata in pursuit of the leaders of al-Aqsa martyrs brigades responsible for organising dozens of suicide bombings. Top of their list was Naif Sharekh, the brigades commander in the city. Soldiers brandished Mr Sharekh's picture and demanded to know his whereabouts. His wife was paraded in a jeep through the casbah and forced to call over a megaphone for her husband to surrender.
In Balata the search focused on three al-Aqsa brigades leaders. Soldiers again brandished pictures and threatened anyone hiding the men. None was found. "They wound up killing all these people and they didn't get any of the ones they were really looking for," said Taysir Naserallah, head of Yasser Arafat's Fatah organisation in Nablus. "Naif Sharekh is still out there. That has provided people with satisfaction for all their misery."
The Israeli army commander in Nablus, who declines to be named, said the raid on the city was prompted by intelligence that three or four suicide bombers were preparing to leave to attack Israelis. "Nablus is the hottest and most dangerous town. Most of the suicide bombers are in Nablus," he said. The army said the Christmas Day suicide bomb that killed four people near Tel Aviv proved its point. The Palestinians said that attack came after the raid on Nablus began. There had been no bombings for almost three months.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 23:26 ||
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I'm sure Taysir weeps for the harm caused to the Paleo people.......yeah, right
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2004 0:26 Comments ||
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#2
"There had been no bombings for almost three months."
But how many sb's were caught on the way to attack?
Posted by: Barry ||
01/09/2004 12:34 Comments ||
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#3
Looks like the fence is working. I remember my liberal high school English teacher saying "good fences make good neighbors". Do they still say that?
Israel Defense Forces troops have detained a West Bank correspondent of Lebanon's Al-Manar Television, the army and the station said Thursday. Al-Manar, which is run by Lebanon's Hizbullah terrorist group, said correspondent Deeb Hourani was captured at dawn Wednesday by Israeli troops that entered the West Bank town of Jenin. The military said Hourani was captured together with a well-known terrorist from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, responsible for killing three Israelis, charging that Hourani was also an Al Aqsa activist. "Hourani was forced to take off his clothes in stormy weather in Jenin before being taken handcuffed to an undisclosed location," an Al-Manar statement said.
Oh, how awful!
The army said Hourani was wearing women's clothes when apprehended.
But only his underwear. And a pair of Gucci pumps. And an absolutely stunning leather bustier. And one of those lacy black garter belts. He looked quite... ummm... quite... Liberian.
Israel accuses Hizbullah and Al-Manar of inflaming the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
I guess that getup would inflame me...
The station gives wide coverage of the Palestinian uprising and urges Palestinians not to stop their struggle against the "Zionist entity." Al-Manar said Hourani joined the station shortly after the start of the uprising in September 2000. The station quoted Hourani's mother, Shamsa Dawoud, as saying that her son suffers from a lung disease and receives regular treatment.
"That's why the bustier, y'see?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 23:26 ||
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I would've left him in his "women's clothes" and after getting his info drained, pictures taken for public release, put him in the general prison population. Is Deeb arabic for "bitch"?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2004 0:30 Comments ||
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#2
I am in favor of tatooing the star of david on his forhead and then releasing him into genpop with his womens clothes on. Are the JOOOSSSS sure that the clothing was a disguise? Maybe he was doing a TV special? Queer eye for the Arab guy?
Nyah!
Deprived of most world news since their capture, some of the hundreds of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay expressed shock when told recently of the capture of Saddam Hussein, a U.S. general said Thursday. Interrogators told some detainees of the war in Iraq in June, and word of Saddam's capture reached others during interrogations in December, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller told reporters in an interview. The entire prison population was later informed of Saddam's capture by loudspeaker after officials determined there was no risk to security or intelligence-gathering, Miller said.
"May I have your attention, please? U.S. forces have fished Saddam Hussein out of the bottom of an outhouse where he was hiding. That is all!"
"We told them we had a war with Iraq, we told them the United States won, and we told them we captured Saddam Hussein," Miller said. "There was some shock."
What? They expected us to lose?
Some 660 detainees from 44 countries are being held at the base in eastern Cuba on suspicion of links to the fallen Taliban regime of Afghanistan or al-Qaida terror network. Among them are some Iraqis captured in Afghanistan, Miller said, though he declined to say how many. Detainees aren't allowed access to news as it could compromise the interrogation process, said the general, who heads the detention mission at Guantanamo. However, the announcement about the U.S. victory in Iraq and Saddam's Dec. 13 capture has resulted in increased cooperation by some detainees during interrogation, Miller said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 23:26 ||
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Wonder if they showed the video of the dental exam?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/09/2004 0:07 Comments ||
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#2
"May I have your attention, please? U.S. forces have fished Saddam Hussein out of the bottom of an outhouse where he was hiding. We will bring you more bad news for your jihadi cause when we make additional gains in the War on Terror. Until then, talk to your interrogators and cooperate. Have a nice day. Salaam."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/09/2004 0:40 Comments ||
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#3
"There was some shock."
They must be NYT readers, expecting the Battle of Stalingrad like rall and the rest of the idiotarians.
#4
Shock? Most of them were expecting the other announcement:
"We have lost the war in Iraq and Saddam is now in the White House. You are free to go. Allah Akbar! That is all."
bwahahahahahah!
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2004 10:57 Comments ||
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#5
Wow. These guys have been locked up since Afghanistan, probably have had no news from the outside since then, and now find out that Iraq has been invaded and Saddam captured. This will scare the sh*t out of them. They are wondering what other moosleem countries we are/will be hitting, and may be considering that perhaps their longed-for war of Islam vs. The West has come and they are losing decisively. This will scare the sh*t out of them.
President George W. Bush will announce plans next week to send Americans to Mars and back to the moon and to establish a long-term human presence on the moon, senior U.S. administration officials said. Bush doesn't plan to send Americans to Mars anytime soon; rather, he envisions preparing for the mission more than a decade from now. The president also wants to build a permanent space station on the moon. The initiatives are part of a broad, new commitment to manned space flight. They said Bush wants to aggressively reinvigorate the U.S. space program, which has been demoralized by a series of setbacks, including the Columbia space shuttle disaster last February that killed seven astronauts. The officials said Bush's announcement would come in the middle of next week.
Rand Simberg doesn't seem to think much of this idea, and he gives his reasons. He may be right â he doesn't disagree it should be done, just doubts NASA's the tool to do it. But I'm not a professional space guy, just a consumer of government services. I look at it differently. This makes me feel good on a number of levels.
First, it's a reminder to the world of the difference between our society and jihadi society. (Lileks is already on this, by the way, just with the news of the Mars landing and the pictures.) It's rubbing their faces in the fact that we can go to the moon if we want, and all they can do is seethe and explode.
The second level is political. The announcement's coming middle of next week, which gives the Dems time to get their own statements together. They're still going to look reactive, even those who have the vision to see the potential of serious space exploration â and exploitation. Those who don't have the vision will fall back on "we should spend the money here, to solve our social problems first," which is an even more sterile argument today than it was in 1969. Lieberman will probably support it. Gephart and Clark might. I doubt any of the rest will. But even if they do, they've been scooped.
Thirdly, it's the right thing to do. Space is the ultimate adventure, just waiting for the human race. I never got into Star Trek, and I stopped being interested in Star Wars when the teddy bears showed up. But I read enough science fiction when I was a kid to regard the stars, as Alfred Bester described them when he rewrote The Count of Monte Cristo, as our Destination. People climb Mount Everest because it's there; we'll go into space because it's there. The reward will be in the accomplishment, though we'll probably end up with a pile of riches from it, whether through the exploitation or through the fallout from the R&D. Bush is setting it in motion again, after all these years of navel gazing. Good for him, and good for us.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 23:26 ||
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....and the meek shall inherit the Earth.
Space colonies will be no place for navel-gazers, professional victims, or fraudulent hierarchies; which probably explains a lot of the opposition to them.
I was rather amused to see that certain creationist/anti-gummint luddites over at Free Republic sound exactly like the new age/tinfoil luddites at DU in their response to this.
Hypothesis: Branson all-u-can-eat causes the same brainlock and tunnel-vision as tofu and patchouli oil.
#2
Don't think badly about me, well okay whatever. But something in me tells me that what you see from earth is whats actually there. Wasteland! Sure lets go, first class, and find out.
Those involved in the proprams are cool. But is this the cutting edge, Mars? Fuck Mars. I say Pluto. If it ain't on Pluto then what good?
The meek can keep the Earth, I want us to go for BIGGER challenges. Theres a lot of resources in space if we had the frigging guts to use the right equipment. If you're wondering just what that equipment is its nukes, nuclear engines to be exact. Like it or not thats the only way we're going to get anywhere in our local space in any sane amount of time. And if thats not all whoever does manage to control space manages to gain overall ability to police even Earth. Orbital high ground is literally the highest ground you can reach.
Posted by: Val ||
01/09/2004 4:00 Comments ||
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#6
We must commit ourselves to landing astronauts on the sun. Preferably me personally.
#8
Bush doesn't plan to send Americans to Mars anytime soon; rather, he envisions preparing for the mission more than a decade from now.
I smell a conspiracy. First, Bush allows illegal aliens that are employed to stay in the country. Then, ten years from now we will find aliens on Mars. When found, we will bring them back to earth to work the farms. Makes sense to me.
#9
I'm in favor of a major new push into space. Our technology infrastructure got a little rusty under Clinton and our schools are full of fuzzy-headed students who value feelings over facts.
We need a new generation of scientists and engineers. Otherwise, we'll all be learning Chinese soon.
#11
rkb -
I doubt if we'll be learning Chinese soon, but I'm still not comfortable with the fact that such a large percentage of American engineers speaks with Chinese, South Asian, or Russian accents.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/09/2004 9:20 Comments ||
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#12
But something in me tells me that what you see from earth is whats actually there. Wasteland!
Yes, and that's all the Europeans saw when they first looked at the Americas -- wasteland. That's all ANYONE saw when they looked at, say, the Valley of the Sun or what became Las Vegas.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/09/2004 9:34 Comments ||
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#13
But something in me tells me that what you see from earth is whats actually there. Wasteland!
The important thing is to make sure it our Wasteland.
Posted by: Tibor ||
01/09/2004 10:39 Comments ||
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#15
...Actually, when I heard this, I remembered exactly how I felt when Apollo 11 landed on the moon - "Cool - where do we go NEXT?" I'm 44 now and I would still go in a heartbeat.
The only thing we need to watch out for is that this doesn't become a welfare program for BoLockMart. My dad retired out of NASA in 2000 after doing a lot of the design work on the ISS, and one thing that still saddens him was how much of what got reinvented that had been in existence in the 60s and early 70s. He - and every other engineer who worked with him - still say that there was no intelligent reason it should have taken as long as it did to get the ISS up and running. Columbus didn't have ships specially built and designed to sail the Atlantic - we should follow his lead.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/09/2004 11:01 Comments ||
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#16
Someone, I think on LGF, mentioned that there's a verse in the Quran that "Islam will prevail until men walk on the moon", and that most Islamists don't believe the US got there before. Setting up a permanent base on the moon may be GWB's version of sticking a finger in the eye of the turbantops. Whatever the reason, I think it's a must thing for us to do as a nation, or we'll end up stagnating, something like the British when there wasn't an Empire any more.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/09/2004 11:02 Comments ||
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#17
President George W. Bush will announce plans next week to send Americans to Mars and back to the moon....(Sounds like the last Northwest Flight I was on.)
In summary, the distingushed astronaut and Senior Senator (D-Blue Cheese) Hillary is going to lead the first manned Mars flight, just in time for the 08 Lunar Primary. Moonbats for Hill! LOL.
Posted by: john ||
01/09/2004 11:11 Comments ||
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#18
My wife applied for the "Teacher in Space" program; one of my brothers is on a list to train as a mission specialist. Even after the shuttle disasters, both would still go - and I would go right along with them, if even just to carry their luggage! Anyone care to join me for 18 holes of lunar golf?
#20
Fred: I work a lot with all the various accented engineers. The only ones that really scare me (this should not come as any surprise to you) are the Pakistanis. You should have seen 'em in March during the invasion. They were all gathered in the courtyard between the buildings muttering and smoking. I thought they were going to launch jihad right then and there. Even the other Muslims here think that they're nuts.
#22
I was out at the new Air and Space Museum near Dulles airport last week. Center
The two exhibits that drew the most attention where the Enola Gay and the Space Shuttle. The magnetism of the Space shuttle and the capsules and artifacts from the Apollo, Gemini and Mercury programs still inspire people 30-40 years later. In growing up these where magical times when anything seemed possible. A return to space would stimulate the imaginations of the greatest inventors the world has ever seen. The people of United States.... Heady stuff!!
Also, Joe Gibbs is BACK!!!
Posted by: Tom ||
01/09/2004 13:10 Comments ||
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#23
badanov: There are serious problems associated with colonizing Michael Moore...the obvious being the poisonous. caustic gasses that belch forth from the body's interior.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/09/2004 13:58 Comments ||
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#24
and lack of intelligent life...
*rimshot*
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/09/2004 14:18 Comments ||
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#25
How long would you quarantine explorers returning from Moore?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/09/2004 15:37 Comments ||
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#26
Reminds me of a good cold war joke:
russkie1: Comrade, the chinese are sending men to the moon!
russkie2: what? all of them?
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
01/09/2004 15:50 Comments ||
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#27
Need to get private industry into this,in partnership with the goverenment.Private idustry has the best incentive ie:profits.
#28
Val, I am one of the leading proponents of nuclear space propulsion.
Check out my link, now that it's (presumably) fixed.
We have a lot of material on NERVA and Orion, as well as more recent space nuke engines. There are a lot of good illustrations in our gallery section and a message board that attracts some really knowledgeable people as well as regular enthusiasts.
Besides China, there has been some speculation about India possibly sending people to the Moon in the relatively short term.
Most people scoffed. The fact is, though, that the addition of a small NERVA-type upper stage (a 1960s technology) would allow India's existing boosters to support a manned Moon flight.
NERVA technology is easily within their reach. I have done the numbers: with nuclear upper staging, a modified Soyuz and Earth orbit rendesvous, four of the newest Indian boosters could do it.
Imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth in Washington if this were to happen before we got back, to say nothing of the response to a possible Chinese Moon landing. (I call the latter scenario "Sputnik from Hell" in memory of the near hysteria that followed the Soviet's first satellite launch in 1957.)
I suspect that certain influential types in Washington have in fact imagined it, and that this is the origin of some of the push behind this new announcement.
#31
Re: Orion - I can't think of a better use of the Indian nukes... Perhaps we can convince Perv to use his to send his jihadis to Goofy, too.
I am in the same boat as Mike Koz - and AC, from the comments, a total flatout unapologetic space nut. Dylan said, "He not busy being born is busy dying." In space-nut terms, if we are not busy looking for a new mudball to screw up, we're just treading water on this one till mother nature's ability to sustain all of those marvelous self-regulating systems finally tips over. And that leaves out all of the other considerations, moon escaping orbit, unstable tilt / wobble, flipping polarity, Sol going red giant in a few billion, etc. etc. etc.
I was so excited when I was young over NASA's achievements. I am so uninterested in the asinine struggle to overturn Darwin 101 by spending the money here to "save" that which should not be saved, in lieu of exploration. Now, I am so old - and we've pissed away the last 25 years. The shuttle is far out of date, the politics is idiotarian in the extreme, the words come so easily and the bucks require a crowbar, NASA has been rainbowed into stupidity, the deeds are so few.
Once upon a time, we were creating seed corn faster than we were eating it...
#32
If they don't fix the math, science, and engineering programs at high schools and colleges in the US, getting kids "more interested" will only make things worse. They need to stop moving kids from the relatively weak US high schools straight into college undergraduate programs full of foreign grad students; otherwise you'll just end up with more dropouts.
#33
You guys who want to go to the moon, take off. But would you please spend you own money doing it? Or if you're going to spend my money, would you please join the Democrat party so we'll know who is who? Thanks.
Posted by: Pro Life ||
01/09/2004 21:37 Comments ||
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#34
Pro-life, it's been my experience that those who complain about the cost of space exploration usually have no conception of just what the amounts are, in either absolute or relative terms.
This proposal calls for a 5% increase in the NASA budget, equal to a few hours worth of welfare spending.
I pay 6 figures a year in taxes and I am more than happy to see it go for this.
If you want to save tax money, concentrate on some kind of wasteful, destructive entitlement programs and don't sacrifice the human future to save a few tenths of a cent on each tax dollar.
Why don't you join the Greens, so we can get all the space-hating luddites on the same page?
#35
Bruce Gagnon, Arch-Druid of the luddite/LLL propaganda mill known as GnawAn'piss (from its name, Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space) has naturally denounced the new space proposal as another attempt to pollute the universe with the deadlyTM menace of nuclear energy.
These people remind me exactly of a mob of superstitious peasants rattling bones and shaking feathers in the direction of a suspected sorcerer.
#36
AC, They haven't figured out that the universe is already polluted with Nuclear Energy. Just look at the Sun - Fussion Power. I won't mention the center of the Galaxy.....
Russian border guards discovered 280,000 dollars while examining the site of a clash on the Tajik-Afghan border, it was reported by the Russian FSB PR department on Thursday. "Two armed transgressors moving from Afghanistan were discovered on the section of a Moscow border detachment's outpost. When the border guards were trying to detain the criminals, the latter opened fire and hid in the area," the FSB press release says. Upon examination of the clash site, servicemen found two plastic bags with 280,000 dollars inside, the press release says. As reported earlier, last night border guards engaged in a fight with a group of narco-couriers near a Pyandzh river crossing. Three trespassers were killed. No casualties were reported among the Russian servicemen.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 23:26 ||
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I bet it was an even 300,000 originally. Just in time for Orthodox Christmas.
Posted by: Pete Stanley ||
01/09/2004 1:31 Comments ||
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Mikhail Saakashvili, the newly elected president of Georgia, faced his first serious challenge yesterday when the separatist western region of Ajaria declared a state of emergency claiming "certain forces" were trying to overthrow its regime. The Ajarian leader, Aslan Abashidze, asked his parliament on Wednesday night to reintroduce the state of emergency that had given his police forces heightened powers after last year's "rose revolution" overthrew the national government. The lifting of the order for last weekend's presidential elections was taken as a sign that the radical leader was backing down in his confrontation with Tbilisi. But the Ajarian administration said yesterday: "Destructive forces, including those inside the autonomous republic, are posing a threat to Ajaria's constitution and borders."
Sounds like he's afraid he's going to lose exclusive control of his fiefdom...
Police arrested five members this week of the radical Kmara student group, one of the main activists in the peaceful overthrow of Georgia's former president Eduard Shevardnadze. They had distributed leaflets, police said, with the slogan: "Down with Abashidze's dictatorship!" Police also found illegal weapons, drugs and dollars, allegedly linked to relatives of a Kmara member.
Do tell? I'll bet they had a flag that said "Afghanistan," too...
Tbilisi declared the state of emergency "illegitimate". The Georgian deputy interior minister, Givi Ugulava, said Mr Abashidze had exceeded his authority. "The declaration of a state of emergency is the prerogative of the Georgian president," he said. He said that, after Mr Saakashvili's inauguration on January 25, the new government, which got 96% of the vote in the weekend's election, would clarify "relations between Tbilisi and Batumi [the Ajarian capital] in a most principled way".
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 23:26 ||
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Maybe Saakashvili can get some help from the White Witch.
Kinda hard to hold secret negotiations when it's in all the papers, isn't it?
An Israeli official said that Israel received a letter from Libya in which it states its decision to halt all contacts, reported the London-based daily al-Asharq al-Awsat on Friday. The letter contained "strong language" and expressed Libya's anger with Israel over the leaking of information regarding alleged meetings between Libyan and Israeli officials in Europe, which Libya strictly denies, wrote al-Sharq al-Awsat.
Gentlemen:
Goddamn you! You trying to get us all killed?
Sincerely,
Muammar
A senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry told al-Sharq al-Awsat that Libya's letter was "a harsh blow to Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's efforts to open a new chapter in Israel's relations with Arab countries."
Maybe he should have kept his staff on a shorter leash then...
This news comes only two days following the publishing in Israeli newspapers that the foreign minister's political adviser Ron Prossor reportedly met in Paris with a representative of Libya's Gaddafi regime. The meeting was brokered by the government of Qatar, reports a Kuwait newspaper. Sides reportedly scheduled an Israeli mission to Tripoli late January to discuss diplomatic relations. Following Libya's announcement 3 weeks ago that it would disarm of weapons of mass destruction, Muammar Gadaffi's son has been holding meetings in various European capitals to gauge response. Lately, FM Silvan Shalom told reporters that there is no reason Israel should not have diplomatic relations with at least 10 Arab countries.
But then some blabbermouth had to scare them off.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 23:26 ||
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For an Arab leader getting caught talking to Israel is like getting photographed riding a moped.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 22:53 Comments ||
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US Secretary of State Colin Powell, responding to Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's suggestion Thursday that the Palestinians could seek a bi-national state with Israel instead of an independent state, said the US remains committed to a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
"Oh, no! Really! Us Paleostinians would just love to form a state with you guys! We'd get along well! Just think of all we've been through together..."
Qurei was responding to Prime Minister Sharon's threat to unilaterally determine Israel's borders with the Palestinians should peace negotiations fail. Qurei, speaking to Reuters, also described Sharon's plan as an "apartheid solution."
Just think of it as negotiations without you guys taking part...
Powell said he believed Sharon's plan for unilateral disengagement, outlined last month, would not come to fruition if the Palestinians presented a reliable negotiating partner.
Which they haven't to date, have they?
Asked if he thought the idea of a bi-national state was viable, Powell told reporters at a news conference: "No, we're committed to a two-state solution. I believe that's the only solution that will work, a state for the Palestinian people called Palestine, and a Jewish state, the state of Israel which exists."
"I don't believe that we can accept a situation that results in anything one might characterize as apartheid or bantuism," Powell added. "What we need right now is for the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority to get control of security forces and to use those forces and use the other tools available to him to put down terror and to put down violence. And if that happens and we see that kind of commitment, then I'm confident that we can move forward on the roadkillroad map."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/09/2004 23:25 ||
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I ain't buying the 2 state/aparthied comparison.
How can it be aparthied if the Paleo's have thier own international borders?
How can it be aparthied if the Paleo's have thier own governent,independant of Israelie control?
#2
Fred, are we forgetting that the Paleos want ALL of Israel, West Bank, and Gaza? This is not news, only a repeat of an earlier demand. I like Sharonâs solution: Build a Wall/Declare a border. That would leave ALL the (PLO) players swinging in the wind. Of course it lead to a ?new? terror state in the middle east.
#3
I've always argued that Israel should unilaterally declare a Palestinian state. Tell them, here is your country, these are your borders, Yasser is your leader. Oh, and any Palestinian terror attack will be considered an Act of War, between two states.
#4
the wall needs a moat with crocidiles and shit to eat up any thick witted palo's who cross it
Posted by: Jon Shep ||
01/09/2004 15:11 Comments ||
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#5
It will be interesting to see what happens when Israel has its wall and says the paleos are not our problem. Its a mess and they have blown their only chance to get out of the mess - leveraging off Israel's success. Its a problem that no-one can fix and I doubt anyone will seriously try. The press and NGOs will leave cos it will be too dangerous, and then this will be the mother-of-all-failed-states. Then what? Either they are left to die like flies in their own mess or we will have a radical 21st century solution. I personally favour resettling them to Saudi Arabia, probably at gunpoint and SA picking up the tab.
#6
We've got to nip this "declare a one-state solution" gambit in the bud, pronto. Can you imagine if Mexico gets wind of this? We might end up having 60 states stretching down through Central America. That's too damn many stars on the flag. I refuse to memorize any additional state capitals (I still get the capitals of the Washington and Oregon mixed up.)
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/09/2004 23:51 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
THIS appears to be the moment Saddam Hussein was dragged from his hole and exposed to the world â but it is a snapshot the US military did not want the world to see. The photograph, apparently taken in the seconds after Saddamâs capture near Tikrit last month, appeared for the first time yesterday on a military-related website. The image shows a US soldier posing for the camera as he pins the bearded dictatorâs body and face to the dirt.
