A giant hole that appeared in a uniform layer of cloud over Mobile, Alabama, in the US, has produced some intriguing photos. Meteorological experts believe the hole formed when ice-crystals from a passing plane fell through the cloud, causing the water droplets in it to evaporate. Experts say the process involved is related to that of cloud seeding, which is used to make rain over crop fields. Strictly speaking there is no scientific term for the apparition, and what exactly it is has been the subject of much meteorological speculation. Interesting photo
#4
The wispy clouds seen below the hole may be heavier ice-crystals that have fallen from the hole, evaporating (the correct term is subliming) before they reach the ground.
Or sublimating, in some parts. Seriously, though, how many reporters think water vapor is visible?
hattip to adamsbriefing
Towns around the country celebrate virtually everything in fairs and fetes. But duct tape?
What better?
This town near Cleveland is planning what could be the first ever â anywhere â duct tape festival. The Avon Heritage Duct Tape Festival is to take place Fatherâs Day weekend â June 19-20.
And an appropriate date, as well...
"Hey, weâre the duct tape capital of the U.S.," said Avon Mayor Jim Smith. "Itâs true. Sixty percent of the duct tape goes through Avon." I think we should be wary of aknowledgement of the location of a manufacturing concentration of a vital national resource. As a precaution, lets protect the plant locations for Superglue and JB Weld until we determine whether Avon has made itself a target for terrorists.
The city is home to the world headquarters for Henkel Consumer Adhesives, which makes the Duck brand of the tape. So when the town was looking for a sponsor for a celebration, they turned to their largest employer -- Henkel. The idea, er, stuck.
Ouch.
Why Fatherâs Day weekend? "A lot of dads use duct tape," said Melanie Amato, Henkelâs director of advertising. "Of course, a lot of moms do too, but the fact that itâs Fatherâs Day weekend, the focus is on dads."
Yeah. Doing a duct tape festival on Mothers' Day weekend wouldn't have had quite the same cachet...
Details for the Duct Tape Dad of the Year contest are still being tweaked, said Amato, whose company hosts a duct tape prom outfit contest in which contestants vie for scholarships. "Duct tape is offbeat, quirky," Amato admitted. Callers to the companyâs 800 line provide testimony to unusual duct tape applications. Among them: mending a pet turtleâs broken shell, lashing oneself high in a tree to avoid dangerous animals and whipping up a quick rose for a sweetie on Valentineâs Day.
See? And they say duct tape isn't romantic!
There are now about five manufacturers of duct tape, but Henkel is the largest, Amato said. People got serious about their duct tape last February after the Department of Homeland Security said the product was among items households should have in case of a bear, gator, or terrorist attack.
Duct tape and spackle are the two reasons why the U.S. is fated to dominate the world. With the two, you can do anything. Without them, you're nothing. Nothing, I tell you!
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 1:10:50 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
No! Don't tell the terrorists where the duct tape is! Duct tape has mystical powers that we have yet to fully comprehend. It can contain Nuclear explosions, filter biological and chemical weapons, and is the only known material able to hold up Cher's face. We can't endanger Al Gore's greatest invention, we just can't!
/Sarcasm
Posted by: Charles ||
01/19/2004 13:16 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I wonder, did a resident of this town create the newsgroup "alt.sex.bestiality.hamster.duct-tape"???
#6
Duct tape used on a GT 350 windshield betwix the bezel and the glass thingy worth 3 mph down back straight at Daytona in 1979. (The Paul Revere) I expect the B-2 Spirit comes with a dispenser.
Canadian soldiers launched an early-morning raid Sunday on a compound in Kabul, arresting suspected terrorists and seizing drugs, cash and weapons in their first offensive action since arriving in Afghanistan last August. After quietly surrounding the compound in the city's south end, it took just seconds for the heavily-armed soldiers to scale its three-metre-high, mud-brick walls and rush the buildings inside. Shouts of "Get down, get down" could be heard from the soldiers as the compound's 49 still-sleepy residents met their uninvited guests. "Over here, over here," yelled one soldier after discovering several men huddled close to an outhouse in one corner of the filthy courtyard. Guns were pointed, doors smashed open and children sent fleeing into their mothers' arms in what seemed like a frenzy of activity after days of calm preparation. "This is the type of operation that we train for over and over again back in Canada," said Maj. John Vass, commander of the Royal Canadian Regiment's Parachute Company. "It was a great feeling for the soldiers. They finally got to do a live-fire raid." Nearly 200 soldiers, in concert with Kabul police, launched the raid with the hope of capturing some of the city's most notorious drug lords. Only one shot was fired: a shotgun blast to open a locked door. A second blast would have been heard, had the gun not inexplicably jammed. Where the shotgun failed, the shoulder of a burly infantryman was successful in clearing a passageway. The only injury was sustained by a soldier who hurt his leg slightly and received a cut to the face when he fell into a deep, open sewer hole in the darkened street outside the compound.
"Eeewww! Cheeze! Don't stand so close!"
The raid ended with the arrest of 16 men, ranging in age from 16 to 70, who are suspected of participating in the thriving drug trade that fuels terrorist organizations in Afghanistan. Canadian military officials, citing intelligence sources, linked at least some of the men to Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, founder of the radical Muslim terrorist group Hizb-I-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), an organization with long-established ties to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Two AK-47 assault rifles were seized during the raid, along with several large plastic bags stuffed with unknown quantities of money and drugs. As the suspects were herded out of a building and lined up against a wall in the centre of the compound, one of the men began shaking and crying. "What's going on? Am I going to die?" the man asked through an interpreter, his hands held behind him with plastic binding and his head covered by a green plastic-mesh bag.
Tell him "yes." Give him a thrill.
A Canadian soldier instructed the interpreter to tell the nervous suspect and the others to remain calm, adding that they wouldn't be harmed if they did what they were told. Until now, British soldiers have been the only international forces directly targeting terrorists and drug operations in Kabul. That all changed with "Operation Tsunami," said Lt.-Col. Don Denne, the commanding officer at Canadian Forces' Camp Julien, who was in constant radio contact with front-line soldiers during the raid. "If there's one message that will be hoisted in by any criminal element . . . it's going to be that there's more than just one player in town," Denne said afterward. "We're now playing." The suspects were taken away, transported in Canadian Forces light armoured vehicles to be interrogated at a police station about two kilometres away.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/19/2004 00:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
one of the men began shaking and crying. "What's going on? Am I going to die?"
That's when you squeeze a round off in the air and drop a couple of sandbags on the ground. Watch the might muj crap their pajamas.
#2
Its not my intention to belittle the Canadian troops, who I am sure are good soldiers. But what jumped (pardon the pun) out at me was the Canadian parachute company
The USA has two? airborn divisions, the UK an air assault brigade with 4 parachute regiments + several other regiments, and the Canadian's a parachute company?
I know in the British army that the 'paras' are the shock troops. In Rudgard Kipling's words 'The violent men who allow honest citizens to sleep safe in their beds at night.' And I worry that there may come a day when we don't have anything like enough of these men.
#3
The USA has two? airborn divisions, the UK an air assault brigade with 4 parachute regiments + several other regiments, and the Canadian's a parachute company?
I think you answered your own question :) Why waste money on the military when you have such great, friendly military powerhouses to the south, and just across the pond?
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/19/2004 1:58 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Having fallen into a newly excavated soon-to-be septic tank while fighting a house fire, I can sympathize with the trooper. I broke my wrist.
From prior Rantburg posts, we know that the Canadian army has 11,900 soldiers. Now, I do wonder if the paras' numbers are low because of the problems they had in Somalia?
#5
sounds like a good raid there,wish they'd get more funding from thier goverment.Canadian forces seem very good but few in number,a shame really.Good work though.
#6
Chuck,
I was deployed during much of Somalia, what happened to the Canadians? I know US and Pakastani forces got whacked but had not heard of the Canadians getting bloodied.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 12:06 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Super Hose: The paras got caught torturing folks. For funsies.
In Somalia, when Canadian soldiers killed a Somali intruder in cold blood in March 1993, the Canadian commander did not punish the crime but covered it up. (Following an official inquiry, the Airborne Regiment involved was later disbanded.)
#8
The PC monster, led by the trotskyites as CBC, had been targeting the Canadian Airborne Regiment for quite a while before the Somalia incident. There had been saturation media coverage of alleged hazing in the Regiment, and some charges of Ku Klux Klan recruiting in the ranks. The documentation was very thin, a few episodes.
I have always wondered just how well other, comparably sized, Canadian organizations would stand up to the same level of scrutiny.
#10
I'm no expert, but it seems any time there's an article about Canadian troops, they kick ass.
These fine troops are too good for Canadain politicains.
How 'bout, The U.S. Marines Canadian Brigade? Then the Habs could end the pretense, disband the Canadian military, and let these warriors do their thing with a winner.
By Arnaud de Borchgrave
The Saudi royal family's once-limitless capacity for self-delusion is now running on empty. The most abrupt wake up call came in recent weeks with the discovery of al-Qaida training camps in the desert near several major Saudi cities. Camouflaged as seminaries, the pseudo-clerics doubled in brass as instructors for training in both weapons and insurgency attacks.
"Paging Doctor Frankenstein!"
Some 600 suspected terrorists and large quantities of guns and explosives have been captured, including hundreds of rocket-propelled grenades, 2,000 sticks of dynamite, and a shoulder-launched SAM-7 anti-aircraft missile. Large sums of cash from mosque charity boxes were also seized. Camel caravans from Yemen continue to smuggle weapons across hundreds of miles of empty desert. Internal security in Saudi Arabia is entirely in the hands of members of the House of Saud. Some 7,000 princes control all the kingdom's critical nerve centers, from air force squadrons to governors palaces, so the horrifying conclusion is that the royal family is not only divided, but certain princes sympathize with Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist organization.
I am so surprised to discover such a thing!
The Saudi Wahhabi clergy gets a hefty slice of the national budget and raises billions through the zakat, a 2.5 percent levy of income required by the Koran of all true believers. Since 1979, the Wahhabi establishment has spent an estimated $70 billion on Islamist missionary work, ranging from the funding of some 10,000 madrassas in Pakistan to the construction of thousands of mosques and seminaries and community centers all over the Muslim and Western worlds. Jihad, or holy war, against Western heathens was the fundamentalist creed.
The princes and the holy men embarked on a campaign directed toward eventual world domination, in fact...
Sept. 11, 2001, with 15 of the 19 suicide bombers Saudi subjects, did not raise the House of Saud out its complacent torpor.
In fact, they thought things were going well...
Al-Qaida's May and November 2003 bombings of housing compounds in Riyadh finally rang a general alarm throughout the House of Saud. Some 2,000 Saudi Wahhabi clerics who were known to be preaching jihad at Friday prayers were detained and warned that if they didn't cease and desist they would be put behind bars. The government has also revoked the diplomatic passports of hundreds of Wahhabi "missionaries" who traveled the world to recruit anti-U.S. radicals for their cause. The crackdown on the clergy convinced a number of younger princes that their elders were betraying Islam.
Believing your own propaganda is always a bad move, isn't it?
Well concealed from prying Western eyes, the ruling family is currently in the throes of its worst crisis in 71 years of existence. The founder of the dynasty, Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud, married 235 women and kept 660 concubines. Their pictures and particulars were enclosed in a huge gold embossed album for occasional perusal during daylong Cabinet meetings that the king had a habit of interrupting. This reporter met with the founder in 1952 (he died in 1953) and courtiers were proud to brag about the monarch's gargantuan sexual appetites, proof of great strength. The family is 24,000-strong now (including girls and wives).
A master race within the Arab master race...
Crown Prince Abdullah, pending the passing of King Fahd, disabled by a stroke in 1995, is acting boss. A reformist by instinct of survival, Abdullah is still limited in his ability to bring about fundamental change. He has to contend with a number of royal factions, each with their own agendas that are not necessarily reformist. Abdullah is first deputy prime minister and commander of the National Guard, which is both Praetorian Guard and internal security force.
Abdullah is a slow mover, who's trying to keep the gains made by the underground jihad, while reining it in so that it doesn't get Soddy Arabia whacked. He's bright enough to realize that will eventually happen...
Prince Sultan, the Defense Minister, and second in line for the throne, is second deputy prime minister and inspector general. He controls the armed forces and is also minister of Aviation and chairman of Saudia, the national airline. There are a number of other powerful constituencies, such as Prince Nayef, the Interior minister, who cannot be pushed around by Abdullah. Nayef, who said last year Israel's Mossad engineered 9/11, is the closest to the Wahhabi clergy, oversees the religious police and the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. One of Nayef's ranking officials was wounded last December in an assassination attempt. Nayef rejects democratization, arguing that "holy warriors" are not attacking Saudi Arabia because of its lack of democracy. They don't believe in democracy either, he said.
They don't believe in Saudi princes, either. As an interior minister, Nayef's an incompetent. As a cleric, I don't know how he is. But he seems more cleric than interior minister.
The inner workings of the House of Saud are more opaque than the Kremlin during the Cold War. But Westerners who have occupied senior positions in the kingdom for a number of years and speak Arabic say the current upheaval could easily lead to internecine conflict between rival factions who cannot seem to agree on what to do about reforms. The country's standard of living has dropped precipitously from a gross domestic product per capita of $15,000 in 1980 to $9,000 now.
That's an indication of the princes' incompetence. Standards of living in the Gulf States are considerably higher. Kuwait's per capital GDP is twice that of Soddy Arabia. My guess is that's because Soddies spend twice as much time screwing around with religion than Kuwaitis do...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/19/2004 16:50 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I don't imagine that limitless investment in worldwide jihad has brought the House of Saud much of a monetary return.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 17:25 Comments ||
Top||
#2
you can't really quantify the spread of bigotry, hate, and ignorance their investments made - it's a spiritual thang
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/19/2004 18:53 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
01/19/2004 18:56 Comments ||
Top||
#4
$70 BILLION in nutcase enablement. This is a staggering sum. And therein lies the key to the WoT. Stop the buck here and at least 60% of the financial resources of terrorists dries up. The sooner we do this, the more people will live and not be boomed. I hope that we accellerate this phase of the WoT. It will save alot of our military's lives.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/19/2004 18:58 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The founder of the dynasty, Abd al-Aziz ibn Saud, married 235 women and kept 660 concubines.
Heaven, with only 72 virgins for him, must be a big disappointment.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/19/2004 19:25 Comments ||
Top||
#6
As the house of Saud shakes apart (like a Gillghan's Island set during a hurricane episode) gas prices will go up but cash to jihadis will go down. The royals will bail with suitcases full of cash, but no longer will this cash be replaceable. After the breakup it will become more important to shutdown the illicit trade in guns in drugs - the maining source of casholla for jihadis.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 21:15 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Hanging Wahabbi clerics in front of their mosques would also go a long way on stopping the fruitcakes. Sorry, this is not a religious war per se - it's a cult gang attempting to control more and more turf. It's time to call their bluff. Napalm works best.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/19/2004 22:05 Comments ||
Top||
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad yesterday attacked Muslim extremism and called for greater tolerance between Muslims and non-Muslims. Muslims and people of other faiths have to work together, he said. Muslims must accept living with non-Muslims, whether the non-Muslims are in a majority or a minority. He attributed part of Malayisaâs success to tolerance. Its different communities respected each other and each otherâs religions. That is what guaranteed stability. âMuslims should respect other peopleâs religions,â he said, âsince that respect is part of the Islamic tradition.â
On Day Two of the Jeddah Economic Forum, his call for tolerance received tremendous applause. His address, lasting almost 50 minutes, electrified the packed hall. Many in attendance had come with expectations of hearing tough talk from the Muslim worldâs leading elder statesman. They were not disappointed and they showed their enthusiasm. His speech was punctuated by applause and he received a standing ovation at the end. Mahathirâs speech was entitled âA Recipe From Malaysia for Growthâ although he began by saying that Malaysia had no such ready recipe. There was, however, a ringing endorsement of the private sector as the engine of growth. âBusiness is not something that governments are good at,â he said. âWhen government takes over business, costs go up and productivity falls.â Before privatization the Malaysian telecom company had constantly to be bailed out by government subsidies. Today, even though there are seven competitors, it makes a handsome profit. The role of the government, he said, was to control inflation as well as raise skills.
In his speech Mahathir warned the Kingdom against rushing to join the World Trade Organization. âEverybody should be careful before joining the WTO because it is not all positive. It can be very negative if you donât handle it properly,â Mahathir said. âThey try to impose their agenda without regard for other countries.â He pointed to the positive effect that just a few poor countries, speaking with one voice, had on negotiations at the WTO Cancun summit.
Mahathir also stressed the importance of overcoming obstacles and was critical of the Islamic worldâs lack of proactivity. âThat is not what the Qurâan teaches us,â he said. âWhat happens is preordained but the success or failure of our attempts to counter the misfortunes which assail us is also preordained. Had the Prophet (peace be upon him) done nothing to overcome the adversities he faced, Islam would not be our faith today.â
Mahathir also emphasized the necessity of learning English to compete in todayâs world. âAlthough Malay is the national language, English was designated as a second language because workers had to take instructions from foreign managers and supervisors who do not understand Malay,â he said. âBesides English is the language of knowledge and learning now as Arabic was during the great days of Islamic civilization.â
It was when Mahathir discussed the need for tolerance and integration with non-Muslims that the forum erupted in applause. âIslam does not advocate force in the conversion of non-Muslims. We, therefore, have to accept non-Muslims in our midst.â If this were not permissible, then Muslims could not travel anywhere except to countries that are 100 percent Muslim. It was a two-way process, he said. âWe have to remember that there are many Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries. As much as we donât like Muslims living in non-Muslim countries to be subjected to any kind of injustice, we would not want non-Muslims to be subjected to any injustices.â Muslims believed in being just and fair and had to be seen to be as such. The applause was spontaneous.
Mahathir dismissed the notion that Muslim countries were incapable of progress. âThe fact that for 1,300 years Muslims were the most progressive and the most enlightened people, with great worldly wealth proves that what is said about Muslim states not being governable isnât true. But in the past half century, things have gone wrong.â This, he said was due to âresistance from misguided forces in our own societiesâ â forces that handicapped the Muslim world and blocked progress and prosperity. The Muslim world had become like a runner with a cannonball chained to his leg, he said to further applause. The cannonball has to be removed. Again much applause.
Mahathir added that there was no discrimination against women in Malaysia and that they constitute 70 percent of university graduates. With some advice to the Kingdom on its economy, the former Malaysian premier said that it should not depend on one source of income; that is a sure recipe for weakness. He further suggested that Saudi Arabia should sell oil for gold, not dollars, to avoid being âshort-changedâ by a decline in the US currency. âThe price of oil is $33, but the US dollar has declined by 40 percent against the euro so youâre effectively getting $20,â Mahathir told delegates. âYouâre being short-changed.â The delegates loved it all.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:20:31 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
"But in the past half century, things have gone wrong.â Err! Thats because approximately a half century ago (actually a bit more in couple of cases) and excepting Turkey, Iran which was on and off a British protectorate, and of course Afghanistan and we all know how successful they became, there were *NO* muslim run states in the entire world.
Mahathir is no fool and he is feeding the masses the crap they want to hear. He knows that without oil (and other resources) and the Chinese, Malaysia would be some third world basket case, Of course he can't say that being a good muslim and all.
#3
âThe price of oil is $33, but the US dollar has declined by 40 percent against the euro so youâre effectively getting $20,â
Damn!!! They caught on to it.
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/19/2004 2:07 Comments ||
Top||
#4
He further suggested that Saudi Arabia should sell oil for gold, not dollars, to avoid being âshort-changedâ by a decline in the US currency. âThe price of oil is $33, but the US dollar has declined by 40 percent against the euro so youâre effectively getting $20,â Mahathir told delegates. âYouâre being short-changed.â
As usual, Mahathir's grasp of economics is laughable. He doesn't seem to understand that oil at $35 a barrel is not cheap. If it goes higher, the industrialized economies will tank, bringing down with it demand for oil and oil prices in general, due to glut of unsold oil. Substitution effects will also come into play - expect the US to start moving towards non-oil alternatives for home heating in a major way.
#5
Don't you worry, Mahathir is a sharp pickle. He knows, for instance, that if the world falls into recession because of higher oil prices, then he's still covered because the price of gold tends to increase during uncertainty. They didn't give him a PhD in Economics for nothing ya know. Oh wait..
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/19/2004 2:23 Comments ||
Top||
#6
If Iraq ends up half as bad as Malaysia is, that will be a great victory for the West. Mahathir often talks like a fool-- especially when it comes to economics-- and the Malaysian system's favoring of of (mainly Muslim) Malays over Chinese and Indian minorities is obnoxious from a liberal point of view. But that said, it's a long LONG way from Malaysia to any other Muslim-dominated country-- Turkey being the exception that proves the rule-- and Mahathir deserves some credit for that.
Facing facts, Islam is a pretty tough steer to herd into the modern world-- note, in that regard, the recent depressing news from Iraq that the IGC wants to turn family law over to-- erk-- f'ing shariah law! Facing facts, there are lots of rocks ahead of us on the road to leading Iraq to liberalism. And I just pray that we do as well in Iraq as Mahathir did in Malaysia.
Just remember y'all: a truly smart man is smart enough to play the fool when circumstances require.
#7
Zhang Fei - The problem is that oil is not a fungible (I believe that is the term) commodity. Excepting nuclear power, there is no obvious replacement for oil, and this is despite 30 years and billions to try and find one.
The only solution to dependance on ME oil I am aware of is to majorly crank up production of oil from the Alberta oil sands where there is a bigger reserve than all the worlds conventional oil resources put together.
The US government should issue an open contract to buy oil from this source for say 50 years at a fixed price, say $15 to $20 a barrel. I believe the current cost of production is $12 per barrel.
I am not normally in favor of subverting free markets, but we do not have a free market in oil.
#8
If Mahathir is so against Islamic extremism, why then is he openly backing a stated Islamist goal, namely replacing the dollar with the gold standard? Listening to the Islamic "moderates" and "extremists" quibble is like watching Stalinists and Trotskyites go at it. They may differ on the method, but they both have the same goal in mind.
A senior U.S. Treasury official said on Sunday oil-rich Gulf Arab states should keep a close eye on charitable bodies and shut down suspect ones as a way to help fight the financing of terror activities. U.S. Treasury Department official Richard Newcomb, attending a conference on combating money laundering and the financing of terror, said countries in the region should take steps to ensure charities could not be used by militant groups as information indicated some had been exploited by groups linked to al Qaeda. "Itâs clear that cooperation by foreign governments, including many GCC countries like Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) and others would be critical in impeding the flow of funds to terrorists," Newcomb said.
Gulf states say they are cooperating and most now regulate Islamic charities, some of which were criticised in the United States for alleged terror links. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States blamed on al Qaeda, Kuwait issued a decree banning the opening of accounts for charities at financial institutions and outlawing the transfer of funds abroad by charities without government approval. But U.S. official sources said more could be done by the Gulf Arab governments. "Shutting down and reconfiguring and then regulating the corrupted charities as well as the entire fund-raising and financial structure is a critical component of the financial war against the terrorist financial empire," Newcomb said.
Kuwaitâs main Islamic groups, which run several charities, have denied involvement in terror funding. Kuwaiti central bank governor Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz al-Sabah said there were none of the suspect charitable organisations Newcomb referred to in Kuwait. Newcomb said 40 countries committed in 2002 at the first international conference on "hawala" in the United Arab Emirates, to regulate the informal money-transfer system feared to be a conduit sometimes for terror funds. But he argued all countries should regulate the hawala system. Informal hawala brokers move billions of dollars across the world, mostly legitimate remittances from expatriates in the Gulf and South Asia. But because the system generates little paper trail, U.S. officials fear it can be abused.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:09:56 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I still can't see a conection to terrorism. Where are the WMD. Charities are for love, peace and the islamic way.
When do you suppose all of the celebrities who defended the Dixie Chicks and continue bemoaning US as exercising a "war on dissent" are going to rally to his cause?
ONE of the biggest Welsh movie stars in Hollywood kicked off a race storm last night after making anti-Muslim remarks. Outraged Islamic leaders in Wales demanded an immediate apology from Lord Of The Rings actor John Rhys-Davies, who claimed an increase in Europeâs Muslim population was a "demographic catastrophe" threatening "Western civilisation".
The politically correct, who have advanced to the stage of not needing thought police, would point out that it's very welcome because we haven't had many turbans among our population for all these years. Somehow, importing large numbers of people opposed to the basic tenets of your own civilization is supposed to make it better. I haven't advanced to that stage yet...
The 59-year-old Ammanford actorâs comments were originally made in an interview with American journalists from World magazine, but this week they were used by the far right British National Party in a leaflet to campaign for support among cinema-goers. Last night Rhys-Davies stood by his views which follow Robert Kilroy-Silkâs inflammatory anti-Arab column. But he criticised the BNP for hijacking his words for their own ends.
Kilroy's column was inflammatory mostly to Islamists and their fellow travellers. The rest of us find it a mere statement of fact...
In the interview, Rhys-Davies, who plays heroic dwarf Gimli and recorded the voice of computer-animated character Treebeard in the Hollywood blockbuster, interprets Tolkienâs story of good versus evil as a metaphor for modern race relations. He said: "There is a demographic catastrophe happening in Europe that nobody wants to talk about, that we darenât bring up because we are so cagey about not offending people racially.
Gee. Golly. That's just what happened. It's terrible when you're so easily offended, but what can you do?
And rightly we should be. But there is a cultural thing as well. By 2020, 50 per cent of the children in Holland under the age of 18 will be of Muslim descent. I think that Tolkien says that some generations will be challenged. And if they do not rise to meet that challenge, they will lose their civilisation. That does have a real resonance with me."
The 6ft tall actor, who wore facial prosthetics and performed on his knees to portray the 4ft 2in dwarf in Lord Of The Rings, even says he is aware that his beliefs could end his career, which has seen him star in the Indiana Jones films and James Bond movie The Living Daylights. "I am for dead, (traditional) white male culture," said Rhys-Davies, who divides his time between his homes in Los Angeles and the Isle of Man. "Many do not understand how precarious Western civilisation is and what a joy it is. From it, we get real democracy. From it, we get the sort of intellectual tolerance that allows me to propound something that may be completely alien to you. Iâm burying my career so substantially in these interviews that itâs painful. But I think there are some questions that demand honest answers."
The BNP reproduced some of his comments on their website, where they ask people to print them off and distribute them at showings of Lord Of The Rings. BNP leader Nick Griffin last night defended using Rhys-Daviesâ words for their "Stand, Men Of The West" leaflet, which he claimed was popular with film-goers in the Valleys. "He is not a racist in terms of race hate and nor are we," he said. "We just feel his views dovetail with our message as the comments in the interview quoted reflect our opinions too." Rhys-Davies said it was "distressing to find yourself on a BNP leaflet", adding: "But on reflection, these people canât really do any great harm unless you allow them to."
The actorâs over-the-top views were criticised by Tolkien Society publicity officer Ian Collier. He said: "The Tolkien Society is not a politically-aligned organisation and we do not in any way condone the use of his works to support messages of racial hate, just as Tolkien himself objected strongly to the use of Northern Myth by the Nazis.
There's not a message of racial hatred in what the guy said. He's stating facts. Defend your civilization or lose it. If you lose it, you'll be required to defend the caliphate.
"There is documentary evidence that Tolkien did not agree with these views and we are saddened to see this kind of misrepresentation occurring."
I don't know if he did or he didn't. What's happening today, though?
The views were greeted with contempt by the MP for Rhys-Daviesâ former home town, Ammanford. "I condemn these comments as being racist and ill-informed," said Adam Price, Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East & Dinefwr.
Point out where he's ill-informed. For that matter, point out where he's being racist.
"It is obvious that this man who now lives in the lap of luxury in Hollywood is out of touch with realities of the nature of present day European society. His attack on Muslims and comments about the threat that they pose to Western society shows his ignorance of world events and the true teachings of Islam. Ammanford people will feel very let down by a man with such close connections to the town."
I'd say Mr. Price is showing his ignorance. He's obviously not paying attention to what's been going on in the world around him, to include his district...
Last night Mohammed Javed, chairman of the Muslim Society for Wales, said: "We want an apology. This could stir up racial hatred in society. Itâs ignorance, he should learn more about Islam and the religions before he makes these comments. They are based on his ignorance and nothing else."
But he still hasn't pointed out what the guy's wrong...
Chief executive of the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association (Awema) Naz Malik agreed. He said: "I do not know why he has said these things. If 50 per cent of people in Holland under 18 are Muslims in 16 years time, so what? In Britain the fastest growing race is mixed race, people of dual heritage. It is a cause for great celebration that our cultures are mixed. We live in a global society - we celebrate what is good in cultures and challenge what is bad in civilisations. Does he ever listen to any music other than European? Does he eat Indian food? Does he ever appreciate art other than that from Europe? I feel sorry for this actor because he must feel very insecure about his future. I feel sorry for his close mindedness."
That's an interesting take on things. Does Naz Malik, I wonder, eat roast beef with mustard? Does he listen to Purcell? Does he appreciate English and Welsh art? Does he visit Conway Castle? Has he been to Coventry? Does he have a few words of Welsh? Does he know who Titus Oates was?
Wales Friends of SearchlightâsIan Titherington accused the BNP of hijacking the actorâs comments. He said: "Tolkienâs Ring Trilogy is generally considered to be the best fantasy story ever written. It really shows how desperate the BNP are, to try to make political capital out of a cinematic re-production of fantasy."
It's the usual case of politically correct dog-pile-on-the-rabbit.
LAST NIGHT we spoke to John Rhys-Davies from his Hollywood home and asked him to defend his opinions. Hereâs what he said:
I BELIEVE in racial equality not racial discrimination. All I was commenting on was that there are cultural changes taking place in Europe that I consider to be unacceptable.
The fact that a minister of the French government has to fly to Cairo to talk with one of the religious heads in one of the mosques to get his approval for a ban on headscarves can be seen in two ways. One, is how wonderfully culturally sensitive. The other, it seems to give an authority to a wholly unelected figure well outside Europeâs jurisdiction.
I am really proud to be living in a society that accepts women as our equals, that accepts civilised discourse that allows people to hold different opinions without coming to any act of violence.
Here in America when that earthquake happened in Iran the reaction of everyone I knew was horror and dismay, the reaction of everyone when they heard that the old woman had been brought out alive long after they thought there was anyone there was absolute awe at the extraordinary capacity of the human spirit to survive. Contrast that with people jumping up and down and clapping at the 9/11 disaster in certain countries. I donât think that Western society is opposed to Islamic society at all. I think a very important part of Islamic society is opposed to Western society.
There's the key, of course.
It is time that ordinary Muslims stood up to be counted. Most societies can benefit from a good stirring of genes, but most cultures are tolerant of each other. I do not see Buddhists throwing bombs into Christian churches, I do not see Christians blowing up Hindu temples, I do not see those sorts of challenges.
When we are prepared to overlook certain things because we donât want to rock the boat, this is wrong. The greatest act of racism is to expect that other people will not behave according to your values and standards. Yes, I am for dead, (traditional) white male culture. Itâs pretty damn good, pretty damn marvellous, pretty wonderful. Thatâs not to exclude other cultures, but itâs not to diminish mine. Iâm sorry that might be perceived as infringing some sort of racial taboo, itâs certainly not intended to be a racial remark.
I'm still puzzled at the ability of the opposition to drag race into it at all. The effort itself doesn't surprise me, just how often people let them get away with it. Shows they're not really paying attention.
We are losing the ability to sit down and be able to have a tolerable argument. I do not want to see a society where, should I ever have any, my granddaughters have their fingernails pulled out because they are wearing nail varnish. I hope that my friends and relatives in Wales are not going to be shocked by what they are going to read about.
But if they are, it's because they're not paying attention...
Do not brand me a racist because I am most certainly not. But I will stand by this: Western Christianised Europe has values and experience that is worth defending.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:54:35 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Heard Rhys-Davies on Michael Medveds radio show this past week. He gets it. He outright pointed his finger at the submission aspects of the RoP.
What about a new law that makes blasphemy speech against a religion an illegal offense. Would that be the end or what?
#2
I heard that interview and he did an outstanding job, certainly he's better informed than most of the anti-war celebrities that one encounters, he even cited the Habbush memo from the Telegraph article to an anti-war caller and explained to him who Abu Nidal was and why it was so disconcerting if he did indeed meet with Mohammed Atta.
And when the hell did Islam become a race to begin with?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 1:19 Comments ||
Top||
#3
He and sofia sideshow had an interesting conversation, IIRC. Search his archives. And he's laughing all the way to the bank.
#4
Does he ever listen to any music other than European? Does he eat Indian food? Does he ever appreciate art other than that from Europe?
Yeah well what can you do... so many nations, so little time.
Posted by: Rafael ||
01/19/2004 1:51 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Lucky--
I am all in favor myself of making it illegal for adherants of one religion to "blaspheme" another, provided the penalties are extremely stiff-- say, exile to Antartica.
I predict that within a couple of months, Christians and Jews and Buddhists and Hindus and atheists would be chatting among themselves, all the Mooslims off murdering penguins.
#6
TPF - 'exile to Antartica.' Nah! way to nice a place, and I think they will do far worse things to penguins than murdering them - ever noticed how much muslim women in the full outfit look like penguins.
#7
"By 2020, 50 per cent of the children in Holland under the age of 18 will be of Muslim descent."
I live in Holland and keep seeing these numbers again and again on the internet,and they are crap. They come from a census that was held in one of our biggest city's called Rotterdam in 1999 and have since been thoroughly debunked.
#9
We are losing the ability to sit down and be able to have a tolerable argument.
He has this exactly right, and it's being done on purpose.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/19/2004 8:13 Comments ||
Top||
#10
and it's being done on purpose
Robert, you are exactly right as well.
The leftist elites no doubt think its doubleplusgood the majority of the great unwashed don't get that the ability to express an suposedly unpoplular opinion gets more difficult ever year.
It is a fact that Islamists are a plague on western civilization.This is a battle of civilizations,fortunately some of us like Rhys-Davies recognize it.
#11
And when the hell did Islam become a race to begin with?
Good question Dan. Why is it Muslims can say all the hateful things about christians and other
religions (Kill! Kill! Kill!) yet expect us to farking apologize for pointing something out. What was so bad about what John said?
that we darenât bring up because we are so cagey about not offending people racially. And rightly we should be. But there is a cultural thing as well. - John Rhys-Davies gets it.
RC, You are right. Remarking that skirts are too short is sexism. Saying that you dont agree with Homosexuallity is 'Homophobic' (it isn't - its a choice and opinion). Saying that you dont agree with Islam is 'Racism'. Defending yourself after 9/11 is Imperialism. 2 + 2 = 5. etc...
#12
I wonder how Davies and that leftist nut viggo mortensen got along. Bet there wasn't much dialogue other than what the script required. I'm glad he has the stones to stand up and say what needs to be said, hope it's not too late.
Problem with a rational discussion about 'islam' is that the loony left is trying to reenact the 'civil rights movement' over and over again. And it's becoming more apparent that all their causes are pretty much B.S.
#13
"It is obvious that this man who now lives in the lap of luxury in Hollywood is out of touch with realities of the nature of present day European society."
So what does Mr. Price think about an individual in the U.K. defending his/her property/person with deadly force? Is Mr. Price "in touch with realities of the nature of present day European society" or not?
#14
looks to me like this dwarf fellows right on with what he says and isn't it wonderful that some one else is speaking thier mind on the subject of the Islamo invasion of the west.I'm hoping Kilroy has started off a new era of un-PC ness that'll wake the dozy leftys up and make them open thier eyes to whats going on around them.All hail Dwarf Man!
#18
I remember when Senator John Tower from Texas came to UC Berkeley in the 1960s to talk at Sproul Plaza. Being a Vietnam Hawk in Congress, he was not popular, to put it nicely, but he was invited to speak. He was drowned out by the LLL Students for a Democratic Society. Even though many told these hecklers to shut up, they ruined the speech.
We are at a crossroads in western Civilization. Rhys-Davies is a very courageous person to speak up. The Islamists will use oppression and discrimination buzzwords to get in power, then they will stomp everyone's asses with their abuse of power. The LLL has been too comfortable living off the fat of the land to see that their heads will be on a block when Sharia comes to town.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/19/2004 14:39 Comments ||
Top||
#19
Damn AP that's a downer. Look at it this way tho.... it's a death spiral regardless of local victories for the Islamist... they don't know the difference between an 9/16 wrench, a 15 mm wrench and a winch. They haven't figured out that to keep the presses running you need to re-ink the stage from time to time.... they have't figured out that an F100 likes to be loved about once every 4 flying hours. They can't grow wheat, they have no clue about maize they frightened of hogs and dawgs don't like 'em. Phef... this is competition?
AL-QAEDA is targeting blue-chip companies in Scotland as part of an audacious attempt to defraud the financial sector of millions of pounds, police officers have warned. Sources suggest that every single bank has an account that is linked in some way to a terrorist group, while experts have said Scotland is particularly vulnerable because security is not as rigorous as in London and New York.
What happened to the Scots' reputation for watching every dollar?
Terrorist groups including al-Qaeda have been linked to a range of scams including money laundering, and internet and credit card fraud. Inspector Brian Connel, the assistant director of the Scottish Business Crime Centre, said companies were under a daily threat of "electronic terrorism" and Special Branch was working closely with business leaders to tackle the problem. He said: "The financial institutions have been doing more auditing then they did in the past. They have come across very suspect bank transactions and they have brought the police in to check on it. Some of them have links with al-Qaeda ... al-Qaeda has cropped up a number of times."
While London and New York are the obvious choices for money laundering, it is feared that terrorist groups may see Scotland as an easy target. As a result, multi-nationals are now training staff to concentrate on counter-terrorism. Inspector Connel said: "London is a better physical target, but we have a massive financial sector in Edinburgh. For every major attack, there have been hundreds of others that go unnoticed because they are financial infiltrations. Fraud is one of the methods used by terrorist groups to raise funds."
Increasingly, consumers are the victims of bogus e-mails, telephone and credit card fraud, and many have alerted their banks to the fact that their account has been wiped out. A fraud manager with a leading insurance company said many of the banks found it difficult to refuse big accounts, and they had unwittingly opened the door to terrorists. He said: "Terrorists have used insurance companies, but the banks are at a higher risk."
David Capitanchik, a terrorism expert at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, said Scotland was a likely target given the high calibre of financial companies. "Scotlandâs financial institutions have quite a reputation. Terrorists may think it is less likely to come under scrutiny. They presume there will be more scrutiny in London and New York. It would make sense to look for a place which wouldnât have the same focus as London."
Tom Wood, the deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, said he was not surprised that terrorist groups were focusing on Scotlandâs capital. "Edinburgh is the headquarters of several international empires," he said. "It is now a global marketplace and terrorism is a global business. Financial irregularities have been the underpinning foundation of terrorist activities. What they all need is to raise funds to sponsor their terrorist acts."
Concerns about the financial sector come just days after the Bank of Scotland was fined a record £1.25 million for breaching anti-money laundering rules on the identification of customers. The Financial Services Authority said in half of test cases Bank of Scotland had failed to retain a copy of customer ID or a record of where it was kept. The fine is the largest ever imposed for inadequate record-keeping following the introduction of money laundering rules by the City watchdog in 2001. The bank said the problems were first detected in December 2002 and that remedies were quickly put in place to deal with the failings. A spokesman for the CBI Scotland said companies must remain vigilant and ensure that they are not aiding terrorists. He said: "We are aware of the dangers posed. It is not just the City of London that is affected; it is a global challenge."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:06:49 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Tough question. Is Howard the first leader of a Western country to draw a line in the sand against the encroachments of Political Correctness. Wait for the howls of outrage and accusations of racism.
Parents are moving their children out of government schools because the state system is "too politically correct and too values-neutral", according to Prime Minister John Howard. His comment on the schools funding debate comes at the beginning of an election year in which the Government is planning to introduce legislation expected to inject tens of billions of dollars into the coffers of private schools, while Labor campaigns to strengthen the public system.
We've got the same waltz going on here...
When The Age interviewed Mr Howard at the weekend, he said the growth of private school enrolments partly resulted from parents being frustrated with the lack of traditional values in public schools and an "incredibly antiseptic view taken about a whole range of things". From 1999 to 2002, the number of full-time students attending non-government schools jumped more than 20 per cent, compared with a 1 per cent increase in government school enrolments. "Some schools think you offend people by having nativity plays," Mr Howard said. "I think that itâs a reflection of the extent to which political correctness overtook this country, particularly through the teaching unions, which I think are a bit out of step. People are looking increasingly to send their kids to independent schools for a combination of reasons. For some of them, itâs to do with the values-driven thing; they feel that government schools have become too politically correct and too values-neutral. It used not to be the case. Iâm a public schoolboy myself, my wife and I both went to state schools, we sent our children to state schools at a primary level."
Sounds like the very same problem we've got. If you're going to have schools supported by the people of Australia, you should be teaching from an Australia point of view, rather than from a "value-neutral" standpoint. Here, the slack is taken up by parochial schools, mostly Catholic. The rot's creeping in among them, too, just a little more slowly. First teachers got away from teaching facts â "What difference did it make if Hastings was fought in 1066 or 1068?" Instead, they were going teach the kiddies "to think." By my antiquated way of looking at it, "thinking" involves stringing facts together. With no facts to work from, or only fuzzy facts, thought processes become muddled. Once the tought processes became muddled, we expected less and less from the kids, while at the same time buying the spurious idea that they're "little adults." They're not; at best, they're adults in training. But I'm not an "educator." What the hell do I know? (Other than how to read and write, that is. And when and where the Battle of Hastings was fought. And why. And a few other non-essentials...)
A dozen revellers were hospitalised after being gassed by a mystery chemical in a South Melbourne pub early yesterday. Dancers at the packed Wayside Inn were overcome by fumes gushing out of air conditioning ducts at 1.30am. The spray, thought to be Mace or capsicum spray, was believed to have been fed into roof ducts. An intruder was reportedly seen on the roof moments before the attack, which could have been malicious or a prank gone wrong, police said. The attack left many gasping, temporarily blinded and nauseous. Paramedics treated 16 victims for nausea, headaches, stomach pains, breathing problems and sore eyes, ambulance spokeswoman Liz Tunnecliffe said. Some needed oxygen.
#1
I don't think that jihadis use choking agents. If this was a prank, the joker is lucky that nobody was smoking in the club. Some of those agents are flammable. Also if a dancer has asthma or a heart condition, the rap would be murder one. Go back to egging houses.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 17:35 Comments ||
Top||
#2
If this was a prank, the joker is lucky that nobody was smoking in the club.
#3
I wouldn't be so sure it wasn't Islamists.
One thing is for sure, Islamists would think people in bars and clubs are all infidels.
It's just a strange story to me, since when do people gas people as a prank??
How do you load enough mace into the ventilation to make sure it sickens the people inside like it did...it would take a large quantity of mace wouldn't it?
I assume the person wasn't just up there squirting his little mace canister into the vent. lol But maybe I'm wrong, I don't know anything about mace.
#4
TS, most large ventilation systems will include a number of sealed fanrooms or intakes. I would expect that the delivery method was a tear gas grenade.
If this is not a prank, then some group will have to calim responsibility and upchuck a manifesto. If it is jihadis, I would think that they are making a big mistake. I would expect that it would not be out of the question for Ausies to begin beating jihadi ass on a regular basis if they take credit for the attack.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 21:24 Comments ||
Top||
A French priest has been fined 800 euros ($990) for describing the Quran as a handbook for the devil. Philippe Sulmont, 82, was found guilty of "provoking discrimination, hatred or violence" for comments he made in a letter to his parishioners in the northern town of Domqueur at the end of 2002. "The Asiatics proliferate and invade our land, bringing with them an ideology that threatens the whole world," he wrote. "Indeed I would add there is no such thing as 'moderate' Islam. All the populations infected by the Muslim religion are indoctrinated by the Quran - a holy book which is the manual for the extension of the kingdom of the devil at the expense of the kingdom of Christ."
This is called an opinion. Used to be, people were allowed to have them...
Sulmont was also ordered to give a symbolic one euro in damages to the League of Human Rights, which brought the case, and to pay for the judgement to be published in two local newspapers.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/19/2004 16:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#5
According to Muslims, both Christian and Jewish texts were distorted by "Shaytan" (Satan). In fact, Muslim claim that Shaytan once possessed Mohammed, and caused him to incorporate the infamous "Satanic Verse" into the Koran. Try to hand a copy of the Bible to a Muslim cleric. He will refuse, unless the feels that it advances Islam to keep same, prior to burning it. One Southern Baptist leader said that Mohammed was a "demon possessed pedophile." The self-proclaimed "prophet" did once marry a 6 year old girl. That French Catholic fine-payer had gone beyond opinion, and into the realm of fact.
One ran a photocopy shop in a drab Madrid suburb, quietly churning out literature preaching holy war. Another directed real estate companies and is now accused of laundering money that went to al-Qaida. Their purported boss was a balding used-car salesman who spoke to them in code, recruited in mosques, drove like a spy under surveillance and allegedly helped prepare the Sept. 11 attacks. This personality-driven portrait of how a suspected radical cell of Muslims took shape in the 1990s in Spain - which became a staging ground along with Germany for the 2001 suicide airliner attacks in the United States - is contained in a 700-page indictment by a Spanish judge.
Other Middle Eastern or North African-born members of the alleged cell of Osama bin Ladenâs terrorist network also ran companies - a carpentry shop, a ceramics factory, an audio equipment store - as fronts while working for al-Qaida, according to the court document. Many recruits ended up in Bosnia or Chechnya for terrorist training or combat. They also went to Afghanistan, and on Dec. 26 Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon asked the United States to extradite four alleged al-Qaida members arrested in Afghanistan after U.S. military forces toppled the Taliban in 2002. The four - now held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo, Cuba - were accused of links to the Spanish cell leader and charged with belonging to a terrorist organization.
That was the latest twist in an investigation that began in the mid-1990s and culminated in Garzonâs Sept. 17 indictment of bin Laden and 34 alleged terrorists, including 19 suspected members of the Spanish cell. No trial has been set. Still, the indictment means Garzon has enough evidence to go to trial, although there is no deadline and he can keep gathering evidence as long as he wants. Spanish authorities say the cell turned the country into an important staging ground for the attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people. Lead suicide pilot Mohamed Atta visited Spain twice in 2001, including a trip that July that Garzon says was called to discuss last-minute details with other senior plotters.
The Spanish cellâs alleged mastermind was 40-year-old Imad Yarkas, a paunchy, Syrian-born used car salesman with a Spanish wife and five kids. He was jailed in Madrid in November 2001, one of about 40 alleged Islamic extremists arrested in Spain since the attacks.
The cellâs financier, Garzon says, was another native Syrian, Muhammed Galeb Kalaje Zouaydi. He ran construction and real estate companies in Madrid as fronts to receive and funnel money to pay for al-Qaida operations, Garzon charged. Some $3.1 million entrusted to Zouaydi by "Islamic investors" inside and outside Spain is unaccounted for, the indictment charged. Garzon describes how Zouaydi allegedly laundered money, or tried to, including a transaction in the summer of 2000 in which Yarkas told him of a building materials supplier willing to sell bogus invoices. Zouaydi said he wanted $240,000 worth. "All the kinds of stuff we work with: paint, flooring, wood," Zouaydi said, according to the indictment, which cited wiretapped telephone conversations. The deal fell through because Zouaydi felt the supplier wanted too much money, Garzon said.
Through their lawyers, both Yarkas and Zouaydi have denied any wrongdoing. "His conscience is clear," Yarkasâ lawyer Jacobo Teijelo told The Associated Press. But Garzon charged the two men and nine others with specifically taking part in Sept. 11 planning, accusing them of "direct involvement in preparation of (the attacks) by providing infrastructure and cover, coordinating movements in Europe" of al-Qaida members. He called them "key persons who catalyze national and international relations of all the members of the group, assuming the obligation of not only meeting their needs but directing and indoctrinating them." Yarkas was in charge of recruiting fighters, the indictment said. At the Abu Baker mosque in Madrid, Garzon said, Yarkas would hand out copies of pro-jihad - holy war - magazines from Algeria and Egypt or statements attributed to bin Laden. Such copies were printed in Leganes, just outside Madrid, at a shop owned by suspect Bassam Dalati.
On one day in February 1995, Garzon says, Yarkas spent three hours in the shop, emerging along with Dalati lugging what appeared to be photocopied magazines and loaded them in the trunk of Yarkasâ Peugeot, en route to the mosque. "They kept a constant lookout around them, adopting security measures," Garzon wrote. Elsewhere, Garzon says, Yarkas altered his routes for arriving at the same destination and changed speed constantly. A senior Spanish law enforcement official said that because police could not enter mosques, these houses of worship were havens for al-Qaida planning and fund-raising. By telephone, cell members spoke in code, the indictment charges. Merchandise meant weapons. Pills were bullets, trade offices were recruitment centers and salesmen were mujahedeen sent off to train as terrorists or fighters. At least one fund-raising scheme involved buying stolen credit cards and running up bogus charges - more than $10,000 in one 20-day period of 1996 - at an audio equipment shop owned by associates. National Police spokesman Jose Maria Seara said other cell members worked harvesting asparagus or other vegetables in northern Spain or as waiters. And one good way to go unnoticed, he said, was to stay in plain view. "Police cannot spend all day tracking a waiter," Seara said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 2:17:20 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
At least one fund-raising scheme involved buying stolen credit cards and running up bogus charges - more than $10,000 in one 20-day period of 1996 - at an audio equipment shop owned by associates.
Fraud seems to be a major occupation of pious Muslims.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/19/2004 19:03 Comments ||
Top||
Swiss authorities have launched and investigations over possible links between two foreign residents in Switzerland and the bombing of the British consulate and the HSBC Bank in Istanbul on November 20. Two Swiss-resident foreign citizens were being investigated according to a spokesman for the Federal Prosecutorsâ Office. However, the spokesman did not give further details of the subjects of the investigation. The spokesman also refused to comment on a report in the weekly Swiss newspaper Sonntags Zeitung, claiming authorities were looking into the activities of two Geneva companies and an Islamic organisation in Biel, in northern Switzerland. The paper said there were suggestions there had been contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected third in command of Al Qaeda. Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan last March.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 1:59:18 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It makes sense that AQ would have a presence in Switzerland. I beleive that Sadaam kept one of his brothers there.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 17:39 Comments ||
Top||
Twenty-one suspects wanted to the South Waziristan Agencyâs administration for harbouring Al Qaeda suspects have defied the deadline to surrender themselves to a tribal lashkar on Sunday.
"Nope. Nope. Ain't gonna do it. You can't make us do it."
Armed lashkar of Ahmadzai Wazir and Zalikhel tribes that has been raised to net the suspects and hand them over to the administration is likely to launch campaign on the expiry of the deadline.
"Yar! We can make you wish you had!"
The tribesmen raised the lashkar after a rocket attack on the army camp near Wana, the agencyâs headquarters, on Jan 11, which killed four soldiers on the spot and wounded seven others. Like other parts of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), the government had also stationed one brigade of the army in the troubled agency to assist the civil armed forces and the local Khasadar force to check cross-border movement of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. The tribal lashkar has so far rounded up 20 suspects and handed them over to the administration, while 21 criminals, including four most wanted persons have ignored the ultimatum. The administration provided a list of 41 suspects to the respective tribes to hand them over to the government. A jirga of Zalikhel tribe on Sunday could not make any headway to persuade two of the most wanted persons, Sharif Khan and Naik Mohammad, to surrender themselves to the authorities.
"Nope. Ain't gonna do it."
An official told Dawn by phone from Wana that two separate armed lashkars of the Ahmadzai and Zalikhel tribes were set to start operation against the wanted persons in Shakai area. "The most critical phase of the operation is approaching and the administration is fully prepared to meet any eventuality," the official said.
"Yar! Y'r gonna get it!"
Under the plan, the official said, the lashkar would demolish houses of the suspects and if they did not surrender, the tribesmen would force their dependents to leave the area.
"We'll huff, an' we'll puff, an' we'll blo-o-o-o-ow yer house down! I mean up."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 2:14:27 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'm still sceptical about the pakistanie's attempts to stop these bearded thugs,surly its gonna take them years to start winning against the hordes of zealots in the hills?
Pakistan has expanded an investigation of its premier nuclear weapons laboratory, detaining as many as seven scientists and administrators amid allegations sensitive technology may have spread to countries such as Iran, North Korea, and Libya, officials said yesterday. Pakistan has strongly denied any official involvement in sharing technology with those countries but has acknowledged that individual scientists acting on their own may have leaked information.
I'll believe that when they hang 'em...
Information Minister Sheik Rashid Ahmed said over the past few days between five and seven personnel at the Khan Research Laboratories were taken in for questioning. But he said the detained men were not "necessarily involved in something or have allegations against them." Among the detained was Islam-ul Haq, a director at the laboratory, who was picked up Saturday as he was dining at the residence of the father of Pakistanâs nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan. Haq is Khanâs principal staff officer. Haqâs wife, Nilofar Islam, said Khan told her that her husband was detained but "we have had no contact with him. We donât know where he is."
"We've looked everywhere!"
The nuclear program investigations came as Pakistan intensifies crackdowns as part of the US-led war on terror, most recently arresting seven suspected Al Qaeda militants yesterday and seizing a weapons cache in the port city of Karachi. During the past two months, Pakistan has interrogated a handful of scientists at the laboratory, acting on information about Iranâs nuclear program from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN watchdog, officials say. Khan has also been questioned, although he has not been detained and is still treated as a dignitary in Pakistan.
And I suspect he'll continue to be treated so...
The Jan. 2 arrest at a Denver airport of South African-based businessman Asher Karni, accused of smuggling nuclear bomb triggers to Pakistan, deepened suspicions of the countryâs involvement in the nuclear black market. The New York Times also reported that sophisticated centrifuge design technology used to enrich uranium had been passed to Libya even after a pledge by President Pervez Musharraf to rein in Pakistani scientists. Pakistan dismissed the allegation as "absolutely false."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 2:12:16 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Pakistani agents are struggling to determine whether an Al-Qaeda leader is among seven suspected members of the terror group arrested in a weekend raid, and theyâve called in the FBI to help interrogate them. Officials said the suspects were two Egyptian and three Afghan men, and two Arab women. They wouldnât identify them further, and thereâs been no word on whether they were believed to be engaged in an active plot. They were arrested in a raid on an apartment complex on Sunday, a day after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf renewed Pakistanâs vow to fight terrorism. Five grenades, four handguns, ammunition and maps of Pakistan and Afghanistan were seized. "Photographs of the arrested people have been taken and they are being matched with other pictures of Al-Qaeda suspects," an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity. "We are trying to establish whether any senior Al-Qaeda leader is among these people." Agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation were set to join Pakistani intelligence officers on Monday or Tuesday in interrogating the suspects, the official said. The Pakistanis had hoped to arrest a leader of a local Islamic militant organization in the raid on Sunday, but he was not there, the official said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 1:55:58 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Pakistani agents are struggling to determine whether an Al-Qaeda leader is among seven suspected members of the terror group arrested in a weekend raid
Waiting for the ISI to confirm they're AQ so they can 'escape', more likely.
Arsonists set fire to a Roman Catholic church in mostly Buddhist Sri Lanka early Sunday, the second such attack in four days. Only part of the building was damaged, and there were no injuries.
The Buddhists have been hanging around with turbans too long...
Sundayâs attack in the village of Hokandara occurred before scheduled worship services. The attacks come amid calls by Buddhists to probe the death of a prominent cleric who campaigned against Christians converting Buddhists. The monk, Gangodawila Soma, died last month in Russia, where he had gone to accept an honorary doctorate. Although medical reports said the monk died of a heart attack, some Buddhists blame Christians for his death.
I confess. I dunnit. I put a curse on him and he keeled over. Sorry.
On Thursday, a mob destroyed furniture and statues in another Catholic church and set it ablaze in Homagama, a town east of Colombo, the capital. Buddhists make up 70 percent of Sri Lankaâs 18.6 million people. They have been campaigning for the government to introduce legislation against religious conversions. About 6 percent of Sri Lankans are Christians.
Welcome to the Third World, where you can't change religions, you can't buy land, you can't change professions or trades, you need a license for everything...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:13:57 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The United States, which had avoided having any direct dealings with the LTTE since banning it in 1998, has now shed its inhibition and opted for direct contact with the group. The Sunday Island has reported that the Staff of the US House Foreign Relations Committee met the head of the LTTEâs Peace Secretariat, Pulithevan, at the German embassy in Colombo last week. The meeting, albeit in the embassy of another country, is believed to signify a significant change in the US attitude vis-Ã -vis LTTE.
Political observers told Hindustan Times that this change was a result of recent developments in south Sri Lankan politics - Sri Lankaâs political mainstream. Apparently, the US and the rest of the Western world now think that it is better to establish direct links with the LTTE instead of going through the Sri Lankan government, which is unable to take the peace process forward because it is embroiled in a seemingly interminable conflict with the President of the country over various issues. The position of the Sri Lankan government was weakened further when the LTTE said that it could not resume peace talks in the absence of "political clarity" in south Sri Lanka. The LTTE said that it was waiting for a single power centre with a popular mandate and executive power, to emerge in the south.
But the development of the war-ravaged, predominantly Tamil, North Eastern Province (NEP) cannot wait for the leaders of south Sri Lanka to end their quarrels. And the US, with the other key donors like the EU and Japan, is keen to see development works taking placing there. The LTTE, which had initially stalled the flow of foreign development assistance on the grounds that this was tied to "unacceptable" conditions, now seems keen on getting the money, if only to show that it cares for the suffering Tamil masses more than the Sri Lankan leaders do. Towards this end, the LTTE is organising a development seminar in Kilinochchi on Monday, to present the NEPâs development needs and seek international funding. It is learnt that, barring India and the US, as many as 15 missions and international bodies will be represented at the meeting.
Political observers say that if the political crisis in Sri Lanka does not end soon, the donors countries may be more and more encouraged to link up with the LTTE directly. They further say that a rapprochement between the West and the LTTE may speed up if the expected snap elections to the Sri Lankan parliament brings to power a government with the Marxist-Sinhala majoritarian Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in it. President Chandrika KumaratungaâsSri Lanka Freedom Party is to sign an electoral pact with the JVP on January 20 and the SLFP-JVP combine is hoping to win the elections.
Against the JVPâs strident anti-Americanism on economic issues, LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran has said that he believes in the free economy and private sector-driven development. The LTTE has already begun playing on US fears over the emergence of religious communalism in south Sri Lanka woven around the issue of "unethical conversions" by Christian groups. The US may also be sensitised to the possibility of Islamic militancy taking root in the communally sensitive Eastern districts. According to Sunday Island the LTTEâs Peace Secretariat head, Pulithevan, told the visiting US Congressional staffers that his organisation was "secular". The LTTE has, in the recent past, tried to portray the Muslimsâ resistance to it in the eastern districts of Sri Lanka, as being spearheaded by Al-Qaeda, a bogey in US eyes. The LTTE and the Tamil press have also been saying that Muslim youths have formed armed groups to fight the Tamils. Political observers feel that at an appropriate time, the LTTE may use the Muslim issue to get US support. The LTTE has an anti-Muslim past. In 1990, it ethnically cleansed the Jaffna peninsula in 24 hours, and massacred 140 Muslims while they were bent in prayer in a mosque in Katthankudy in the eastern district of Batticaloa.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:11:55 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
EFL of a three page article on the pro-Coalition Iraqi/Arabic broadcast station that we all expected to see but which never appeared.
What happened? Some U.S. officials and others critical of the project say the principal contractor stumbled, almost from the beginning. Science Applications International Corp. won $82 million in contracts to create the Iraqi Media Network, or IMN. But the operation was amateurish at best, according to the critics, who point out that the big defense contractor had no special expertise in broadcasting and publishing. The IMN was also seen as far too close to American officials in Baghdad to be credible. "The Iraqis," says a former SAIC consultant, "know state-run TV when they see it."
American officials described widespread problems with the IMN project. Pentagon contracting officials found that SAIC failed to account for transmitters and other equipment that were paid for but never delivered to Iraqi TV stations in the field, according to a source with firsthand knowledge. Separately, the contractor spent top dollar for executives--up to $273 an hour--but skimped on basic equipment for its Iraqi journalists. SAIC also paid bloated fees for security officers, up to $1,000 each a day...
SAICâs problems stem, in part, from a November visit to Iraq by four Pentagon contracting officials who reviewed the project. SAIC was supposed to build an infrastructure that would let it beam programming to the Iraqis. But the officials discovered that SAIC had been paid for work it had not completed, according to a person familiar with their visit. They found that 11 of 16 large shipping containers of gear hadnât been unloaded, although a U.S. official in Baghdad certified that the work had been done. At one TV station, the Pentagon visitors expected to find a transmitter, antenna equipment, and feeder cables, but the gear couldnât be located. "We have no information about any missing equipment on this project," says SAICâs Van Dillen. A Pentagon audit agency is conducting an equipment inventory; SAIC says thatâs routine. I expect to see this one get ugly. Sen Lugar is shining the congressional spotlight on this failed effort.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 2:42:50 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I hope this one get's ugly. Sounds like a serious rip job.
#2
SAIC has a long history of failing to meet Government contracts. I've had quite a number of "encounters" with SAIC, not all of them pleasant. The company has a habit of buying up other companies, failing to adequately research what those companies do, and continue to bid on contracts the former companies could have met, but which the new SAIC "affiliate" cannot, due to lack of corporate knowledge at the top. I know quite a few people that have worked for SAIC in the past. The problem is, they've gotten so big, with fingers in so many pies, that even they don't know what they've agreed to do. They're definitely well overdue for a major investigation. I only hope it doesn't get swept under the rug. I'd hate for some of my friends to lose their jobs, but I'd much more hate to see SAIC continue to fail to meet its government contracts without serious repercussions.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/19/2004 16:21 Comments ||
Top||
By most accounts, Sameer got off easy â the 42-year-old Christian liquor merchant received only a warning from the masked men who waved Kalashnikov rifles in his face and trashed his house in search of booze. Others werenât as lucky. Abid Slewa was shot in the head as he unlocked the front door of his liquor store. Bashir Elias, caught selling alcohol from the back of his car, was shot to death Christmas Eve on a street crowded with cheering onlookers. Basraâs leading Shiite clerics deny any involvement in the killings. But they do acknowledge that their supporters have been warning people not to buy, drink or sell alcohol, which is banned under Islam. "These liquor shop owners, we talk to them and tell them that by selling alcohol they are injuring the whole community, bringing shame on all of us," said Sheik Abu Salaam, the Basra representative of hard-line cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
Moqtada's position is that if Muslims can't do it, nobody can do it...
Under Islamic law, repeat offenders eventually would be put to death, he said. Besides the murders, dozens of liquor stores owned by Christians have been torched in recent months. Women in Basra say they have been admonished by angry men for leaving home without a headscarf. "If I leave my house with my head bare, people shout at me â they yell âwhore,â" said Aida Wahid, a 41-year Christian who owns a beauty salon. Men tell of being stopped at intersections by gangs of Islamic activists and ordered to shut off music. Islam, the religion of peace and tolerance.
That's life in the Third World, where somebody else always knows what's best for you.
Posted by: TS ||
01/19/2004 11:30:50 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yes, the Brits are doing a spiffy job in keeping order in the south. [/sarcasm]
#2
hey,we have done a very good job down south,what will happen in the future down there no one knows but we have been doing a spiffing job me old mate.Tally ho Chuck
#5
I expect to see a slow-motion cultural civil war continue in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as many other ME countries for the forseeable future. Right now the coalition forces are acting like linesmen in the NFL. Preventing and punishing non-insurgent violence is the job of the Iraqis.
They will eventually have to decide whether thy intend to permit alcohol sales and consumption in their society. While I am not for leagalizing more drugs, I am doubtful that fundementalist prohibition will be effectively enforced in Iraq. Local dry pockets might take hold, but general abstinence isn't in the cards.
Moqtada fundementalist stance will be popular with a section of society, but he is alienating the Sunni and Kurd elements.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 12:35 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"These liquor shop owners, we talk to them and tell them that by selling alcohol they are injuring the whole community, bringing shame on all of us," said Sheik Abu Salaam, the Basra representative of hard-line cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
And how, pray tell, is it shameful to sell alcohol? Unless, of course, members of your particular community are incapable of holding their liquor...
Yes, the Brits are doing a spiffy job in keeping order in the south.
Hey, if it's all in the name of "sensitivity", it can't be all that bad, right? ;)
#7
SH, Moqtada needs a bullet in the head before he causes more trouble. The moment we leave he'll cause a Civil War.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/19/2004 13:12 Comments ||
Top||
#8
The Brits have been doing a fine job--You can't fault them no more than you can fault any US police force for not preventing all crime.
"Islam: Your Gateway to the 12th Century."
Posted by: Dar ||
01/19/2004 14:01 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Sort of funny how things are handled differently in different parts of the world. In Indiana normally we would forgo the "armed conflict" option and maybe try zoning laws or something along those line. To each his own.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 14:56 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Somebody in authority with some LARGE guns needs to tell these "Islamic activists" to STFU and MYOB. Once.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/19/2004 14:58 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Jon Shep U.K: hey,we have done a very good job down south,what will happen in the future down there no one knows but we have been doing a spiffing job me old mate.Tally ho Chuck
I think British forces are finding out that the Shiites are no Orangemen. (US forces know that the Sunnis aren't exactly Northern Irish Catholics, either). I find it strange, though, that we're not seeing these kinds of issues in the Baghdad area. You would think Sunnis are more likely to do this kind of thing, since the Saudis are flooding the zone with Wahhabi propaganda (which is anathema to the Shiites, since Wahhabis think that Shiites are worse than Jews and Christians). It may be that Islamic radicalism is more prevalent among Iraq's Shiites than among the Iraq's Sunnis, just as we had suspected. This is Iranian-, not Saudi-style radicalism.
Soldiers from C Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment searched three locations simultaneously, north of Balad before dawn on Jan 17. They were looking for individuals the suspected are responsible for attacks against Coalition forces. Soldiers captured seven individuals and confiscated six AK-47 assault rifles, one bayonet, six AK-47 ammunition magazines, one shotgun and one bolt-action rifle.
C Company, 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment patrol saw missile fins sticking out of the ground in Kanan in the afternoon of Jan. 17. The soldiers investigated and uncovered 146 57mm rockets. One person was detained for further questioning. It was later determined this person was not involved with the buried cache but was wanted for his suspected actions in another incident. Initial assessments indicate that the rockets had been buried prior to the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The rockets were taken to a nearby forward operating base and will be destroyed.
Information provided by an Iraqi citizen about a possible cache of mortars led soldiers to a location 1km southeast Jasimiyah in the afternoon of Jan. 17 where they found 269 82mm mortar rounds. The munitions are scheduled for destruction.
An improvised explosive device detonated prematurely in an automobile in downtown Tikrit, at approximately 10:00 p.m. on Jan. 17, killing two individuals and wounding another in the vehicle. Saddamâs nephew got a lap dance he didnât expect.
The wounded person was taken to Tikrit Hospital under guard. The three were apparently transporting the IED with intentions of emplacing the device. No Coalition forces or Iraqi civilians were wounded in the incident.
#1
An improvised explosive device detonated prematurely in an automobile in downtown Tikrit
Sounds like all the 'smart' mutts have been whacked (or are turning into 'good' iraqis). Didn't the nephew know you don't hook up the fuze until you're about to leave?
#5
A bozo who would shoot a rocket or missile that has been burried in sand must be a grown up version of the neighborhhod kid that didn't understand that you shouldn't ignite a bottle rocket after the stick id broken.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 14:59 Comments ||
Top||
#6
grown up version of the neighborhhod kid that didn't understand that you shouldn't ignite a bottle rocket after the stick id broken
Indonesian police are investigating whether a bombing which killed four people in South Sulawesi province this month is linked to previous blasts. National police chief General Dai Bachtiar said: "For the Palopo bombing, we are currently studying it, whether it was done by the actors of the Bali blast or the JW Marriott or a local network in Makassar or Poso." Police are looking for two men suspected of placing the bomb under a table at a cafe at Palopo in South Sulawesi on January 10.
Early Monday three hooded men threw a petrol bomb into a house in the Lamasi area 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Palopo, injuring one man. "The three men were on motorcycles and threw the petrol bomb after the owner of the house directed a torch beam onto their faces. The bomb hit the leg of the ownerâs son, causing burn injuries," said a police officer, Sergeant Rataba. He could not give a possible motive for the attack.
The al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah is blamed for bombings in Bali which killed 202 people in October 2002, the Marriott hotel blast last August which killed 12 people, and a string of other attacks in recent years. A bomb at a McDonaldâs restaurant at Makassar in South Sulawesi in December 2002 killed three people. The Poso district in Central Sulawesi has suffered intermittent bombings during Christian-Muslim violence which began in 2000 and continues sporadically. Bachtiar, quoted by Detikcom online news service, also said police were investigating whether recent bombings including Palopo may be linked to two fugitive Malaysians called Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top. The pair are being hunted for both the Bali blasts and the Marriott bombing. "The police have also hunted the perpetrators of several bombings in various places and will determine whether those acts are linked to Azahari and Noordin or to local people," Bachtiar said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 2:02:46 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The bomb was hidden in the fuel tank of a motorcycle outside a convenience store in Pattani province. It was a similar device to one that killed two policemen in the city of Pattani earlier this month. Police said they thought that the bomb discovered in the motorcycle was intended to detonate while officers were inspecting it. "It was likely done by someone who wants to create unrest in the province, as several places in Pattani have been warned of being possible targets for the unrest," said police colonel Chaithat Inthanoochit.
Posted by: TS ||
01/19/2004 9:57:20 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
About 200 Indonesian Muslims yesterday picketed the French Embassy in Jakarta to protest a decision to ban headscarves at state schools. The protesters urged the French government to revoke the ruling, arguing that wearing headscarves for Muslim women is a religious obligation and not merely a cultural expression. The protesters, mostly women wearing headscarves, chanted âAllah-u- Akbar (God is greatest).â One of their posters read,â jilbab (veil) is compulsory, not embellishment,â while another read âsecularism oppresses Muslim women.â The protest was organized by Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an international Islamic movement. The group is gaining popularity in Indonesia. The protesters said Muslims helped free King Francis I who was detained by the Spaniards during the battle of Pavia in 1525. Yeah and this the thanks we get
âWill France return the Muslim favor by revoking the law banning Muslim women from wearing headscarves?â the group said in an open letter to French President Jacques Chirac. Hizb-ut-Tahrir said its global leadership had delivered the letter to Chirac last week outlining its stand on the ban.
Posted by: tipper ||
01/19/2004 8:18:05 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
....âsecularism oppresses Muslim women.â Secularism oppresses? Secularism oppresses? WTF?
Whoever wrote that sign should move to Saudi Arabia so she can fully enjoy the 'freedoms' of Wahhabi Islam.
#2
First, do you remember when the Taleban prohibited all education for girls?
Second, do you remember any Moslems protesting against that?
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/19/2004 10:38 Comments ||
Top||
#3
as an American woman, I can understand how this issue of the headscarves will become volatile. Let me just say that I am a very tolerant individual who celebrates the rich diversity of our country and I have no problem with their desire to wear headscarves to express their religion or culture.
The other day, I noticed a very beautiful Sudanese woman in front of me in line. Yet, though she seemed a wonderful person, nice, intelligent, friendly, I had to choke down some resentment at the headscarft. The emotion surprised me. But there it was.
I just think that the headscarf is an easily visible symbol of a highly emotional issue. Women have achieved so much, and yet it symbolizes all that the Muslims hope to take away from us. I think this issue will be far more explosive than any of us expect.
#5
Remember the rationalization of covering the face: men can't control themselves, or shouldn't be expected to, and so women can't even show their faces. The whole concept insults everyone, it treats everyone as little more than an animal.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/19/2004 13:24 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I am less offended by a headscarf than I am by a girl who wants to wear a tube top to school or a boy who wants to let the waisteline of his jeans droop to the vicinity of his knees.
Realistically, I am no more against the headscarf than I am against children who choose to wear Amish garb to school.
That said, I am disgusted with the Islamic saps who buy-in to any farce that the Arab-centrists perpetrate upon the,.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 15:08 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Dead French kings are of little interest to the Fifth Republic, I would imagine. And bringing up the last time Islam tried to take over the world is a definite faux pas...
#9
I'll add my two cents worth...I live in Southern California and prior to 9-11 there were lots of muslim headscarves in our residential community which were very inoffensive and the muslim's behavior was very quiet and subdued. I didn't mind this in the least. But soon after 9-11 a muslim couple went marching arrogantly by our house with the woman wearing a black strappy thing around her whole neck and head wrapped like a mummy and her whole body covered in black. I tell you, her head looked like a black pinhead sticking off of a stick attached to her shoulders.
It was utterly gross and offensive and antagonistic, so be careful of the scarves you may be imagining in your minds, the farther a muslim country gets from Arabia I guess, the scarves they wear get lighter and prettier, but some coverings are truly meant to antagonize. So while I don't like the French and their secular revolution, I think they may be dealing with some truly distressing situations in the schools that we may not be knowledgeable enough of here in the U.S.
#10
What's funny is France wants to ban large crosses as well. Has anyone seen a person wearing a huge cross around their neck. So that isn't such a big deal, however for the jews and muslims this is an issue since it's part of their religion. Wearing a cross isn't mandatory.
#11
Muslims freed King Francis? I thought he got himself loose by cutting a deal with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and then in typical French govt. fashion, promptly reneged.
Indonesiaâs Supreme Court has extended a detention warrant for jailed Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for 60 days, one of his lawyers said. "The Supreme Court has issued an extension for another 60 days, effective January 20 until March 20," Mahendradatta told AFP. Bashir is appealing to the supreme court against an appeal court ruling in November that he must serve three years in jail for immigration offences and forging documents. However the appeal court cleared him of treason charges and cut by one year the four-year jail term imposed by a Jakarta district court in September. The district court had convicted Bashir of treason by taking part in a Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) plot to overthrow the government. It said there was no proof that he headed the terror network. Bashirâs original detention warrant expires Monday, January 19. Under the Indonesian legal system, a defendant remains free pending the outcome of his final appeal unless a court orders otherwise. Any decision to free Bashir would have dismayed foreign governments, who insist that the cleric at one time headed the al Qaeda-linked JI. Bashir, 65, denies any links to terrorism and says he was framed by Washington because he campaigns for Islamic sharia law.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:05:21 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Bashir is appealing to the supreme court against an appeal court ruling in November that he must serve three years in jail for immigration offences and forging documents.
Forging documents seems to be a major occupation of pious Moslems.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/19/2004 1:04 Comments ||
Top||
In the "Whoâda thunk it" category, in an article written for the NY Post, Ralph Peters sounds positively stunned by a performance Bill Clinton gave before (not necessarily friendly audience at) a "Conference on the future of the Middle Eastâs relations with America". Major emphasis on "positive" and "stunned".
"Our former president gave the most perfectly pitched, precisely targeted speech Iâve ever heard to a hall filled with Muslim intellectuals and officials. And they listened. Clintonâs lecture closed a worthwhile, if often exasperating, conference on the future of the Middle Eastâs relations with America. Sponsored by the Emir of Qatar and organized by the Brookings Institution, the event brought together a combination of the usual suspects and outside ringers for vigorous, open discussions. A few of the sessions did manage to move a fragile half-step beyond the "everything that isnât Israelâs fault is Americaâs fault" mantras that sedate Middle Eastern societies. Still, by the closing luncheon, Iâd had about enough of Muslim "authorities" whose versions of their own history had collapsed into easy myths and for whom the Koran had become a document to be used as selectively as the phone book.
Enter Bill Clinton. Now, after serving in Washington during the Clinton administration and hearing our former president chatter for checks more recently, my expectations were that he would do no harm, but little good. I was wrong.
As soon as he took the podium, Clinton began taking stands as brave as they were necessary. With virtuoso skill, he led the audience where they needed to go - while convincing them it was where they had wanted to end up all along. His sense not only of what required saying, but of how best to express it to that complex, contrary audience was almost supernatural. We all know that Bill Clinton can speak persuasively, of course. But in this case the message mattered. Clinton just may have been the only American who could have reached that unforgiving crowd.
He didnât pander. He made Americaâs case and made it well. Beginning with a sometimes-rueful look at the progress his administration had failed to make and noting that the wars that plague the world are begun by men his own age or older, but paid for in blood by the young, he refused to direct one syllable of blame at the Bush administration. Accepted as a citizen of the world, he spoke as a convinced American." An article worth reading. Not a fan of Bill, I am happy to read that he seems to be doing good by us (US). Unexpected; like finding something youâd lost and thought gone forever. Iâll take good news where I can find it.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
01/19/2004 10:01:55 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
...a hall filled with Muslim intellectuals
Must've been tough to get a cab down there for a couple of hours...
#2
Wow. I am surprised. Of course, I would be outright shocked if this was not an election year -- perhaps Clinton realizes that pandering to foreign audiences at the expense of a Republican administration right now will be dimly viewed by a significant number of potential Democratic voters.
Here is the Web site for the forum. I can't find a transcript yet, but the Multimedia section suggests that they might eventually post it there.
Posted by: Carl in NH ||
01/19/2004 22:50 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I'm in shock... it's a pleasant sort of shock... but still shock.
#6
Speaking for myself, this does little, if anything, to atone for all that has transpired as a result of his feckless foreign policy and his cavalier attitude toward our enemies. I have little doubt that a reason, but probably not the reason for this speech is to try to salvage his "legacy". Well, it's too late for that. Sure, Clinton is saying what needs to be said, but there is no political price for him to pay by doing so now, as opposed to saying it while he was in office.
Gephart is on his way to St. Louis, rather than to South Carolina, indicating he may be "taking a look at his political future." Or maybe hanging it up.
MORE (10 p.m...)
Gephart's going to make a speech at 10.30...
MORE (11 p.m.)
Gephart's now officially an also-ran. Dean's speech was... weird.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/19/2004 21:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
You would think Al would have done better on MLK's B-day. Strage things seem to happen these days, though. My wife celbrated MLK day by purchasing a set of pillows. I could think of a more appropriate day for a half-off white sale.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 21:40 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The real news here is Edwards rise and Deans fall.
Posted by: Vis ||
01/19/2004 21:44 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Saw Senator Ted was out there yesterday. Glad all of Iowa's bridges are covered. Better for all concerned...
I've just spent longer than I intended fisking an Eric Margolis article. While I was doing that two more polemics were posted. I'm not interested in dealing with them, so I'm going to dump them.
I remind all posters that articles should be either hard news or commentary that expands our understanding on the mechanism and goals of terrorism.
Please edit all postings for length. Cut the parts that repeat what everybody knows by now because we've seen it so many times before. Try and keep them short and punchy. People try to read this stuff, y'know.
I will delete pure opinion pieces and such purely political hit pieces that bore me. This isn't because I'm afraid of the opinions of people like Eric Margolis, but because Rantburg concerns itself with the War on Terror. If you want to post Bush hit pieces, go to Indymedia. If you disagree with what Bush does, kindly confine yourself to the comments portion of real articles and take your lumps.
Thank you,
The Management
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/19/2004 20:16 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
A War in Search of a Reason
1/15/2004 - Political - Article Ref: IN0401-2190
Number of comments: 4
Opinion Summary: Agree:2 Disagree:1 Neutral:1
By: Ivan Eland
Independent Institute* -
Paul OâNeill, George W. Bushâs former Secretary of the Treasury, has confirmed what many critics of the Iraq war had already suspected to be a cynical and self-serving Bush administration myth: that the September 11 attacks had moved a reluctant president, who during his campaign had advocated a "more humble U.S. foreign policy," to invade and occupy Iraq. Despite campaign rhetoric accusing the Clinton-Gore administration of being overly interventionist, OâNeill asserts that going after Saddam Hussein was the most important topic on the National Security Councilâs agenda 10 days after the presidentâs inauguration and eight months before September 11. OâNeill, a former member of the council, also alleges that rather than conducting a debate about why Saddam should have been deposed and why the removal was so urgent, the initial council meetings in January and February 2001 centered on how to get rid of Saddam and plans for a post-Saddam Iraq.
And thereâs more cynical manipulation to come. Rather than talking about democratizing Iraq and then the Middle East by invading and occupying Iraq -- the public face of the intervention -- the council meetings focused more on divvying up Iraqâs oil booty. Surprise, surprise. So how does this situation differ from Imperial Japanâs invasion of other countries during the 1930s to grab their resources?
OâNeill also characterized President Bush, in his decision-making and communication at cabinet meetings, as being like a "blind man in a room full of deaf people." But this sorry state of affairs is better than the Bush administrationâs pre-war assessment of the threat to the United States posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction -- which could be deemed "the blind leading the blind." The U.S. intelligence community and other allied intelligence agencies had little new information about Iraqi nuclear, biological, chemical and missile programs since the U.N. inspectors left in 1998. But according to a study by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, intelligence reports on such unconventional weapons programs did not ring alarm bells until mid-2002. The authors of the study allege that the Bush administration put the screws to the U.S. intelligence community to get the conclusions they wanted. Also, the authors accuse the administration of spinning intelligence estimates by marginalizing dissenting opinions and eliminating caveats.
Another inquiry, by Washington Post reporter Barton Gelman, examined Iraqi documents and interviewed Iraqi scientists and members of the American team searching for Iraqi unconventional weapons. Gelman reported that such weapons programs were a long way from fruition -- belying the need for an immediate invasion of Iraq. The Iraqis had long-range missiles only on paper and likely would have taken at least six years to build them. Similarly, he uncovered a letter from Iraqâs chief of unconventional weapons programs reporting the destruction of all Iraqi biological weapons in 1991 -- contradicting U.S. intelligence estimates predicting that Iraq had retained large stockpiles of such weapons. Most important, Iraqâs nuclear weapons program was largely terminated after the Gulf War and never restarted -- contrary to the administrationâs pre-invasion claims that the Iraqis could have a nuclear weapon within a year. It would have probably taken the better part of a decade before the nuclear program would have produced a weapon.
But such wild exaggerations should not be surprising from an administration on a mission in need of justification. Other rationale for the U.S. invasion have also collapsed. Both the president and Secretary of State Colin Powell have admitted that the implied link by administration officials between Saddam and al Qaeda or the September 11 attacks has no concrete evidence to support it. Finally, by preferring indirect non-representative caucuses to ensure a friendly Iraqi government rather than a democratic one with an interim assembly directly elected by Iraqis -- which is being advocated by Shiite Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani, the administration has exposed the hypocrisy of its "democratize Iraq and then the Middle East" war justification.
Wars for legitimate and well thought out reasons usually foster the formulation of effective plans for both the conflict and its aftermath. In Gulf War II, the rush to war on flimsy grounds has made difficult the development of sound U.S. strategy and tactics to fight the continuing guerrilla war. It has also complicated post-war reconstruction efforts. Most important, if the pillars of your house are built with soft wood, they will probably collapse if there is an earthquake. That is, if the fighting continues to go badly in Iraq, the American public is liable to eventually awake from its slumber and demand a withdrawal of U.S. forces from a war whose justifications were questionable. In the wake of September 11, public opinion was willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt on an invasion of Iraq. That tolerance may evaporate now that the pillars justifying the invasion and occupation have been weakened one-by-one. The guerrillas can figure out that much. Paul OâNeillâs revelations about a war in search of a reason may have sawed through the last timber.
#3
Cheddarhead: In the wake of September 11, public opinion was willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt on an invasion of Iraq. That tolerance may evaporate now that the pillars justifying the invasion and occupation have been weakened one-by-one. The guerrillas can figure out that much. Paul OâNeillâs revelations about a war in search of a reason may have sawed through the last timber.
I can't really read the minds of the Iraqi terrorists as well as Cheddarhead seems to be able to. But it's no surprise Cheddarhead might be able to put himself in their place - he may see them as latter-day Che Guevaras* and get a vicarious thrill from the exploits glamorized by the anti-American press.
The truth about Cheddarhead's impressions is that they are wrong. Just as Che Guevara was better at striking poses than at guerrilla warfare, Iraqi terrorists are better at taking out Iraqi civilians than in confronting American troops. Iraqi terrorists are being taken apart at a rate that beggars the imagination, given the hundreds of millions of dollars (potentially billions)** of equipment and money available to them. Even the Vietcong were not as well-financed, despite the money shoved at them by China and the Soviet Union. And yet despite the suicide bombers and anti-aircraft missiles, Iraqi terrorists are only managing to kill one American every day, compared to 24 a day in Vietnam. The Vietcong also assassinated South Vietnamese officials at the rate of a dozen a day. But all the Iraqi terrorists can do is kill innocent civilians who are not even working for US forces.
Paul O'Neill's revelations about his floundering in the Bush cabinet may have sawed through the last timber of his credibility. He failed miserably in implementing administration policy and was forced to resign instead of doing so voluntarily. He worked with a reporter who is renowned for making up quotes, endorsed the book and then had to disown it because this reporter had once again veered into writing fiction. Given that O'Neill said he would vote again for Bush in 2004, it's simply amazing how such a lousy judge of character (in choosing a reporter specializing in fabricating quotes to write about his experience in the administration) ever became Treasury Secretary.
* Destroyers of what Cheddarhead may feel to be the "Western imperialist order".
** US troops have confiscated a billion dollars from Saddam's organization.
#5
Grrr... I was going to delete this article. Zhang Fei! Stop making comments that are worth more than the original article!
Posted by: Fred ||
01/19/2004 20:24 Comments ||
Top||
#6
lol well Fred you seem to have deleted the comments instead! ;)
Posted by: Val ||
01/19/2004 20:25 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Ah there we go they're back now (maybe it was MY browser or sumthin).
Posted by: Val ||
01/19/2004 20:26 Comments ||
Top||
#8
No way, Fred, we can use the exercise.
Posted by: Matt ||
01/19/2004 20:30 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Aw, ferchrissakes, Chowderhead - GROW UP!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/19/2004 20:42 Comments ||
Top||
#10
One point rarely gets discussed now when we are talking about the "legitimacy" of going to war against Saddam rather than Iraq.
Imagine 9/11 would never have happened, how long could the world have looked at Iraq without doing anything. Oil for food until when? How long could we have allowed Saddam to plunder the country and torture his people? If there was a quagmire, it was before the U.S. went to cut the Gordian knot.
12 years of sanctions didn't work, probably 24 years wouldn't have worked either. Let's assume (I say "assume") that Saddam really destroyed all his WMD in 1991 and was just to "proud" to prove it, his regime would still have been inacceptable. One thing I really hold against the UN is that it felt rather comfortable with the status quo that held Iraqi people in one of the most brutal dictatorships of the second half of the 20th century. Saddam's regime defied any of the ideal the UN was founded upon.
To quote a famous Roman philosopher, Cicero: "Quo usque tandem abutere, Saddam, patientia nostra"? ("How long are you going to abuse our patience, Saddam?)
12 more sanction years = how many more murdered, starved, tortured Iraqis?
#11
If anyone starts in on me, all I'm going to ask them if they believe after sanctions were lifted (and it was coming time to) if Iraq would be knee-deep in the stuff he has plans, money and people for.
Oh, Gawd! Another Margolis article. A true mental lightweight...
By Eric Margolis
The year 2003 dramatically and dolefully illustrated Lord Actonâs famous dictum that absolute power corrupts absolutely. An almighty United States, unrestrained by any rival, international body, or world opinion, bestrode the globe, a belligerent colossus determined to monopolize global oil reserves and use its vast military power to crush lesser nations or malefactors that disturbed the Pax Americana.
And all for no reason! They just started doing that stuff, out of the blue!
For Americaâs hard right - a curious farrago of Armageddon-seeking southern Protestants; neo-conservative supporters of Israelâs right-wing Likud party; and the military-industrial-petroleum complex -the Bush administrationâs aggressive foreign policy of world domination, and utter contempt for international laws and old allies, marks a new era of national greatness. President George Bush, who vowed his foreign policy would be "humble" and "compassionate," has turned out to be the most radical president in modern U.S. history.
The humility and the compassion got us 9-11...
But for those Americans whose primary loyalty was to their country, rather than to religious cultism, foreign nations, or financial profit, the rapid emergence of the U. S. as an imperial power waging two hugely expensive colonial wars in Asia was a disaster, both for Americaâs democratic system and for the rest of the world. Bushâs vow to bring "democracy" to the Mideast rang as hollow as pious assurances by 19th century European colonialists they were gobbling up Africa and Asia to bring the blessings of Christianity and civilization to benighted savages. Pillaging resources, not enlightenment, were - and remain - the true colonial motivation.
The effort to bring democracy to Third World dictatorships like Iraq and Afghanistan may well be doomed. Leaving them alone had its own downside. Bush got to pick his evil: the filth that was in place, or the probably hopeless task of civilizing primitives...
Bushâs claims to hold the mandate of heaven to wage global warfare against the nebulous forces of "terrorism" sounded as dangerous and nonsensical as old Chairman Leonid Brezhnevâs drunken claims it was the Soviet Unionâs "sacred internationalist duty" to launch military adventures anywhere on Earth where socialism was threatened.
It's the President of the United States' "sacred" national duty to protect the nation from foreign aggression. Have you read the declaration of war against us recently? Really, you should.
Columnist Georgie Anne Gayer put it perfectly when she recently wrote that whereas America used to lead the world as champion of democracy, personal freedom and human rights, today, under Bush, it instead seeks to dominate the world through raw military and monetary power.
There's a time for the projection of power, there's a time for diplomacy and there's a time for other persuasion. What Georgie Anne seems to miss is the fact that we're in a war. If Bush did the things Georgie Anne thinks he should be doing he'd lose the support of those of us who believe in an active defense and in carrying the war to the enemy. And I suspect Georgie Anne and her friends would find other reasons not to support him.
In 2003, we saw an abject, cowardly Congress violate its duty as the republicâs premier political organ by disgracefully handing the barely elected president carte blanche to wage an unprovoked war against Iraq that was justified by a torrent of ludicrous lies worthy of Dr. Goebbels.
Ho hum. Another Nazi allusion.
Lies and propaganda that were packaged in the best tradition of Soviet agitprop as news, then force-fed by a servile media to an ill-informed public shockingly deficient in any sense of history, geography, or foreign affairs.
Actually, most of us here have a very good sense of history, georgraphy, and foreign affairs. And what we don't know, we find out. I don't see an awfully servile media out there, either. There's one network that usually supports the administration, and... ummm... at least a half dozen that don't. That's not counting BBC, the Toronto Sun, Toronto Star, and probably the Toronto Moon as well. We get lots of our news here from the foreign press, preferably those belonging to the other side. When did they become servile to Bush?
The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and sundry military adventures around the globe, were made possible by a steady drumbeat of warnings from the White House and its neo-con trumpets that the U.S. was in dire national peril from "terrorists" and "rogue states."
Like "al-Qaeda," and "al-Tawhid," and "Ansar al-Islam," and "Lashkar e-Taiba," and "Jemaah Islamiya," and... Nope. It's all mythology. And rogue states? What do we have to fear from Iran? Aside from potential nuclear weapons and a terror network that extends throughout the Middle East? And North Korea? Aside from a Sea of Fire, that is...
Paranoia again swept America during the holiday season as planes were grounded and orange alerts flashed at a populace that responded to these synthetic alarms with well-trained Pavlovian reflexes.
Baseless panic, we're sure. Nothing to indicate any danger at all...
Though the mighty United States, with only 5% of world population, accounts for nearly 50% of total global military spending, the continuing Orwellian message from Washington was of fear and vulnerability. Vague threats of terrorist attack and menacing Muslims were used to curtail American civil liberties, and expand the governmentâs powers of repression and intrusion. The public barely noticed this sinister, proto-totalitarian campaign. The so-called "war on terrorism" was a hoax used to mask and justify the long-planned expansion of U.S. military power around the globe.
Lemme get this straight. I must not be very smart. The vague threats of terrorist attack and the menacing Muslims, with turbans and automatic weapons, were just a ploy to expand the government's powers of repression and intrusion. And the public barely noticed this sinisteer, proto-totalitarian campaign? If it's such a danger, howcome nobody noticed? Are we somehow groaning under repression so subtle it can't be seen with the naked eye?
What were in reality a series of police actions waged against tiny anti-American groups was no more a war than the farcical "war on drugs." But invoking war trumped criticism and dissent - and justified a real war of aggression against oil-rich Iraq.
Yup. Sure. It's all about oil. We're pumping all the oil out of Iraq even as we speak blog. We're not paying anything at all for it, and we're gonna keep pumping until it's all gone. That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense.
The very term "terrorism" is a nonsense designed for propaganda effect; a damning label applied by the administration to groups or states strongly opposing U.S. policy. A "war on terrorism" makes no more sense than waging war on evil.
Actually, terrorism has a very distinct meaning. It involves the targeting of civilians to induce terror (hence the name) as a means of achieving political — or in this case religious — ends. Guerrilla warfare is a different critter, though it may sometimes cross over into terrorism. There are in fact a significant number of organizations in this world which are devoted to using terrorism as a mechanism for achieving their ends, which include the establishment of a caliphate and the imposition of tribute on non-Muslim countries. A "war on terrorism" makes much more sense than waging war on only a single state, since terrorism is a trans-national phenomenon. There are, however, groups within states that don't ostensibly support terrorism, which do support it. They provide money and muscle. To deny the existence of terrorism is either a sign the speaker is stupid — in the case of Margolis this may actually be true — or a member of the other side. Being a generous lot, we can also posit that the deniers may be viewing the world through a set of ideological blinders that hides the obvious, though it doesn't make them look particularly bright.
Those who opposed Washingtonâs surging imperial and totalitarian impulses were branded "leftists" and "anti-Americans." The French thinker Regis Debray, writing about past colonial powers, answers thus: "The free man is not anti-American, but anti-imperial. America (now) revisits the time of colonizers drunk on their superiority, convinced of their liberating mission, and counting on reimbursing themselves directly." Criticizing U.S. foreign policy run-amok and George Bush does not equal anti-Americanism. It is the citizenâs birthright, and the friendâs duty.
Dissent for the sake of dissent is mental masturbation. There are times when the majority is right.
This writer has witnessed nine colonial wars and saw how they corrupted the armies, and then the nations, that waged them, brutalizing conquered and conqueror alike. Iraq is the latest. Mankindâs three worst scourges are religious fanaticism, nationalism and imperialism. Each of these three evils has been whipped up by the Bush administration to justify domination abroad, repression of dissidence at home and, of course, re-election.
Any (Christian) religious fanaticism found in the United States doesn't envision a caliphate. Or is the writer suggesting that Muslim fanaticism is being whipped up by Bush? Nationalism? Americans aren't particularly nationalistic. They're patriotic, but because we're the product of the rest of the world, we recognize the existence and the validity of the cultures that are blended into our own. Imperialism? It's a charge that's bandied about without much justification and less proof. If the U.S. was an imperialist nation, we'd have satraps sitting in Germany and Japan. We'd still own the Philippines, and we'd have absorbed Haiti, Cuba, Grenada, Panama, and large parts of Mexico.
Those who truly love and respect the United States, like this writer, a conservative and U.S. Army veteran, see the very qualities that made America a beacon to the world - its very soul - now under heavy assault by a cabal of religious fanatics, foreign-leaning ideological extremists, and self-enriching Enron-Republicans. That is a danger considerably greater than al-Qaida.
Hmmmm... This commentor, a conservative and a U.S. Army veteran, sees it quite a bit differently.
#6
This guy wrote War At the Top of the World about the India-Pakistan struggle over Kashmir. If you read it, you'll quickly realize the guy has a love-jones for Islamic warriors especially the Paks.
#7
political organ by disgracefully handing the barely elected president carte blanche to wage an unprovoked war ....
this guy hates bush - the analysis is very biased and thus not worth much.....
just because the US starts to defend herself she is labeled imperialist! well if being imperialist is defending your nation then so be it!
my personal liberty is the same as they were per 9-11. if you are acting in way that threatens your country then you should be locked away.
The very term "terrorism" is a nonsense designed for propaganda effect; a damning label applied by the administration to groups or states strongly opposing U.S. policy.
another part of his essay that makes me throw out the lot --- yea sure terrorism was invented by the bush admin so we could wage war - what a load of CRAP!
simple - mess with us and we will react - we are not going to go the french and ask for permission (remember it is the french that have launched over 25 military incursions into african countries without any un approval or world sanction - and this was to protect french economich interests and prestige - not defending your homeland!)but have the hegemon attack a country which is/has been very beligerent towards us and we are imperialists!
maybe it will sink into the nutcases of the middle east that their free ride on hurting americans is over.
Posted by: Dan ||
01/19/2004 19:56 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Mankindâs three worst scourges are religious fanaticism, nationalism and imperialism. Each of these three evils has been whipped up by the Bush administration to justify domination abroad,..
The only thing this article proves is that Eric Margolis is just another member of the lefty whacko crowd. Certainly not something to be particularly proud of. What's worse, the U.S. has its fair share of these persons inside its boundaries, and this is precisely where the "danger" lies - the willingness of these types to sacrifice the lives and security of their own allies and countrymen, in order to curry favor with nations whose interests are measured solely in legal tender.
#9
TGA: I'm frightened for the English language if anything this overwritten can get into a major newspaper: famous dictum (is there any other kind?), bestrode the globe, a belligerent colossus (ooh, that's a new one), utter contempt, abject, cowardly, scourges, cabal, its very soul, steady drumbeat, etc. (I can't really tell if this comes from a major newspaper, however, since the link don't work.)
I am glad to see, however, that America has achieved unrestrained world domination. As a representative of the neocon cabal, I hereby cede to you,TGA , sovereignty over Thuringia and all the maidens within its boundaries. Just send me a Beemer in return.
Posted by: Matt ||
01/19/2004 20:13 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Bomb-a-rama has it right on the nail!
Posted by: Dan ||
01/19/2004 20:14 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Lies and propaganda that were packaged in the best tradition of Soviet agitprop as news, then force-fed by a servile media to an ill-informed public shockingly deficient in any sense of history, geography, or foreign affairs.
There's that S-factor again. Eric cannot even get face time on CNN, so what does that tell us? Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the stupidest of them all?
Posted by: john ||
01/19/2004 20:26 Comments ||
Top||
#12
Matt, if you want Beemers, you have to cede Bavaria!
#13
TGA, what is this, a bazaar? OK, Bavaria, but the Beemer's gotta be a late-model 700 series with the full sound package.
Posted by: Matt ||
01/19/2004 21:08 Comments ||
Top||
#14
One of what I hope will be the enduring legacies of our rather mild response to 911 is the final and total discrediting of our domestic left ( and their democratic allies and enablers. ), as they publish articles such as this; and they show their followers and their ideologies to be as barbaric and bankrupt as Islam.
#16
Matt, I think TGA is pointing out that BMWs are (primarily) made in Bavaria (that's what the B stands for). You want to give him Thuringia, you're going to have to take your tribute in sausages.
A well-known conservative is reaching out to state lawmakers to beat back what he claims is rampant political bias against students and faculty who do not agree with a pervasive liberal orthodoxy in state schools across the country. As a result, leaders in several states are reportedly working on anti-bias legislation, including Colorado state Sen. John Andrews. Andrews told Foxnews.com that lawmakers in the state General Assembly plan to introduce a bill in coming weeks that would require state college and university officials to educate students and faculty better about their rights against political and ideological bias by other professors and administrators. "We want every student to be well advised that if they experience this kind of discrimination, the university wants to provide for them a remedy," he said.
Andrews, a Republican, pursued the legislation after months of investigating complaints from students, surveying school policies and holding hearings at the state Capitol. At those December hearings, students accused liberal professors of discrimination, intimidation and refusing to fund conservative speakers on campus. Reports that Andrews had conferred with conservative activist David Horowitz, and that the proposed legislation might be patterned after Horowitzâs "Academic Bill of Rights," sparked a media firestorm last fall. Democratic Critics accused the senator of cooking up a quota scheme for conservative professors and encouraging students to blacklist and snitch on their teachers. The Rocky Mountain Progressive Network was formed in opposition to any plans to get government involved in the ideological struggles on campus. Michael Huttner, head of the network, said Andrews was on a "right-wing crusade," and said students who appeared at the December hearings "were put up to it," by campus Republican activists. Lies! All Lies!
"It was one of the most egregious dog and pony shows Iâve seen in years," he said. "There are a lot more important issues, specifically, how are we going to be able to keep Colorado colleges and universities from going bankrupt.â By tightening the belt and cutting pet Enviromental and psuedo-science projects perhaps? Joel Tagert, a sophomore at Metropolitan State College of Denver, said he believed the complaints had arisen from a well-organized group of college conservatives, and called the proposed measures at the state level "a sort of witch-hunt for liberals, creating a climate of fear on campus." And we all know only liberals are allowed to conduct witch-hunts.
Officials for Colorado University said they were not aware of any pattern of bias, and pointed to internal processes that already exist to assist the aggrieved. They are not in favor of the Legislature getting involved. Obviously the internal process are not working. Wasnât there a posting awhile back about a person being physically threatened by latinos for having anti-ILLEGAL immigration viewpoints?
Andrews said his legislation is not as ambitious as Horowitzâs Academic Bill of Rights, and does not call for "snitching," or a hiring quota for conservative professors. It simply asks administrators to be more forthright about educating everyone about grievance procedures. "The howls of pain have come from the academic establishment, the academic left, which suggests to me that they are terrified of having their cozy little monopoly broken up by the winds of competing ideas," he said. Translation: The left is Seething again...
Meanwhile, Horowitz told Foxnews.com that he is working with lawmakers in 10 states to pursue legislation along the lines of his Academic Bill of Rights. In part, the bill is meant to ensure that professors do not use the classroom to indoctrinate students to their particular viewpoint, that an intellectual array of speakers are invited to campus-sponsored events and that hired faculty, curricula and reading lists reflect all viewpoints of a given discipline. In short the professors should do their farking jobs.
A concurrent resolution with similar tenets was introduced in the U.S. Congress by Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., in October and was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Horowitz would not name the states hammering out legislation because he said due to the "violence of the reaction" in Colorado, lawmakers have gotten skittish and prefer to nail down their plans before announcing them publicly. He said he has personally visited 250 campuses, and is disgusted with the examples of abuse he has heard. "These teachers have forgotten their professional obligations," he said. He pointed to well-publicized complaints in recent years of professors haranguing students over their pro-war stance, including Rosalyn Kahn, a California professor who was placed on administrative leave in 2003 for forcing her students to write letters to President Bush protesting the war in Iraq. "I taught at the University of Maryland when I was a Marxist revolutionary and I would have never abused the classroom in that way," said Horowitz, a former leftist radical-turned-conservative activist.
Sara Dogan, a 2000 Yale University graduate who runs Students for Academic Freedom, said hundreds of students on at least 105 campuses are starting their own chapters, many with the goal of pursuing an Academic Bill of Rights. The American Association of University Professors has come out against Horowitzâs doctrine, claiming that it "undermines the very academic freedom it claims to support." By exposing students to non-left viewpoints?
AAUP spokesman Jonathan Knight said while there might be isolated examples of abusive behavior on the part of liberal professors, "we have seen nothing to suggest that the very foundations of the higher education system are close to being in jeopardy." Obviously hasnât been to a SF University Central Connecticut State University history professor Jay Bergman would beg to differ. He said he has long been the target of hostility because of his public position against race-based hiring practices and his call for intellectual diversity in the state university system. In May, two fellow professors suggested he was a racist because he questioned why a CCSU-sponsored conference on slave reparations hadnât included any speakers who dissented from the pro-reparations point of view. Professors C. Charles Mate-Kole and Evelyn Phillips said in a statement that anyone who protested reparations "stood on the same platform that produced apartheid, Hitler and the KKK." Standard Liberal technique. Instead of rasional discussion resort to name calling.
Bergman said hostility from within the school system has driven proponents of intellectual diversity to the state legislatures. "Since most administrations are reluctant to favor real intellectual diversity, sometimes external pressure has to be exerted and the Academic Bill of Rights is one pressure."
#1
In part, the bill is meant to ensure that professors do not use the classroom to indoctrinate students to their particular viewpoint, that an intellectual array of speakers are invited to campus-sponsored events and that hired faculty, curricula and reading lists reflect all viewpoints of a given discipline.
They'll just start the indoctrination at an earlier point. My ex-roomate's kid (age 10) told me that the teacher in his class was talking about Global Warming&trade. Yeah, like that's going to seriously be on the mind of a 10 year old.
#2
I teach at a community college and am probably one of only a handful of conservative teachers. I'm constantly having debates with other liberal instructors about liberal vs. conservative viewpoints and they often resort to yelling at me and namecalling. I've finally given up even having a political discussion with them. In the classroom urge my students to look at both sides of any issue and often point out discrepancies in what they have heard. In some classes they have to do a project about a social issue and MUST point out both sides of the issue.
We had a faculty member fired last year because she wasn't doing her job (she was on probation). Instead she was using the classroom to indoctrinate her students especially against the war. Many students complained especially as it had nothing to do with the course topic. She's now suing for wrongful termination.
My son is in high school and he often tells me of a teacher who tries to teach liberal ideas as fact in the classroom. He's lucky in that when he tells me what has been said I tell him the other viewpoint and often the facts. He's also lucky in that he has had some teachers that have been quite honest that the books they have to use are biased and sometimes downright wrong.
Unfortunately, many students (I see them every day at school) have not had parents who teach them otherwise or have only had the broadcast news as their sole basis of news.
I'm lucky in that I'm at an institution that doesn't hold it against me that I'm a conservative. I do my job and that's all that matters. But if I were elsewhere I doubt I'd have this much liberty.
Students are beginning to wise up though. That's why we seeing things like in Colorado happen.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
01/19/2004 18:53 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Hey all. I go to a college that is thought of as very liberal, in a politically liberal city (Boston). While I am a democrat, I am a moderate to conservative one, and found that I have gotten more conservative during my time here on many issues. I have also at one point or another debated with many professors on political topics where they were much further to the left than I was (the war in Iraq for example, which I supported). Sometimes these debates happened in class, and I never once thought that my views put me in any danger of not doing well in a certain class. While most of my Professors tend to be more liberal, they dont push their views on you, and have always been open to healthy debate on said views. Maybe this isn't widespread, but I think as a whole Professors arent going to be overly aggressive with their views.
#4
CF: Your comment regarding someone being physically threatened sounds just like a case at a local high school. The president of a conservative student group must be escorted to every class as a result of physical threats. A high school fer cryin' out loud. Police have been called to break up some serious disturbances as a result. I thought the Libs were all about "inclusiveness", "free speech" and let's not forget ..."tolerence". Did I miss a memo somewhere?
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/19/2004 20:00 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"There are a lot more important issues, specifically, how are we going to be able to keep Colorado colleges and universities from going bankrupt.â
By revoking tenure. Market-based solutions at their finest!
#6
Eventually the market will begin to provide conservative alternatives to the annoyingly liberal indoctrinators. Students will begin to vote with their feet. Sucessful capitalist alumni will begin to withhold donations. Most of the successful administrators keep a wetted finger in the air and will begin to leash the real kooks once ballot initiatives begin to appear.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 21:37 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Revoking tenure is one option. Having school Vouchers for public K-12 schools is another.
#8
This is from a Curmudgeonly posting on 1/15 about Chapel Hill (It's not France but it could be) and frogistan (which is a read itself):
"This doesn't surprise me at all. I almost got thrown out of my Anthropology class last semester for calling "bullshit" on the instructor when she started lauding Chomsky and Charlie Rose(!) as pillars of modern thinking. Academia is rife with these folks, and they are ceaseless and shameless in their pursuit of the liberal agenda.
Side note: I just started a Contemporary Lit class the other day, and the instructor gave a quiz:
1) What it the only country who has ever exploded an atomic weapon in anger?
2) Which country possesses the most WMDs?
3) Does Islam recognize the Christian God?
4) When is the last time the US declared war?
There were six more, along the same lines, but I was so effing pissed off I can't remember them. This kind of shit in a LITERATURE class!"
A city council member who said he was inspired by Alabamaâs ousted chief justice placed a one-ton granite monument to the Ten Commandments in front of City Hall on Monday while it was closed for the King Day holiday. Vernon Robinson said he and four others acted on the holiday because the empty parking lot allowed room for a truck and crane, which they used to position the monument at dawn. The 4-foot-tall, blue-granite block is inscribed on one side with the Ten Commandments and on the other side with the Bill of Rights. Canât remove the 10 commandments without removing the bill of rights. Is there a message here?
"This display is intended to acknowledge the undeniable role that the Ten Commandments and Bill of Rights have played in developing the American legal tradition," said Robinson, a Republican who has been on the city council since 1998 and is running for a U.S. House seat. "These are the ideas on which society has been built and these works encapsulate the belief system on which the republic was founded."
Mayor Allen Joines did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the cityâs response. Robinson said he had no authorization to place the monument on public property. The $2,000 cost of buying and moving the monument was entirely his own, Robinson said. Robinson said he was inspired to act by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who ordered a 2-ton Ten Commandments monument placed in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building in 2001. A federal judge found the monument to be an unconstitutional promotion of religion by government. Moore was ousted from office last year for violating ethics rules by not obeying the federal court order to remove the monument. He is pursuing an appeal. Let the seething and âwailing and gnashing of teethâ begin....
#1
The American Taliban Civil Liberties Union must be scrambling to respond to this sneak attack. It would be interesting to see whether commandment poliferation saps their resources at all.
I have not heard any more about the recess appointment of Pickering. I thought that move was perpetrated late Friday to try to eclipse Iowa or steer the debate their towards a topic that would divide Christian elements in the the Midwest from the candidates that expressed abhorrence of the appointment.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 17:49 Comments ||
Top||
#2
SH I noticed on the News Friday night that the democrats were - -well-uh- seething about Pickering.
#3
I don't think anyone is commenting on this but I believe Robinson is an African American. (I'm sure he's the one that I recently got mail from wanting my vote and the one touted to replace JC Watts). If I'm right, he's won the council seat in Winston with a huge portion of the white population backing him. He has a good chance of winning the congressional seat being vacated by Richard Burr who is running for John Edwards (The Breck Boy) senate seat.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
01/19/2004 19:04 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I love JC Watts. I hope he runs for state office at home where he can be with his family.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 21:43 Comments ||
Top||
#5
CF, I did see one quote from Daschle. I think they are letting him take the fore on all unpopular causes. He said that he was disapointed that the president would stoop to using a procedural vehicle to get what he wanted. It looked more like Daschle was using a procedural vehicle to block confirmation. Maybe Bush won the procedural limbo challenge.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 21:48 Comments ||
Top||
Nine people were killed in fighting in central Somalia between rival militiamen of the same clan in a dispute over a proposed alliance with Ethiopia, witnesses said on Monday. They said the gunfight involving AK-47 assault rifles and machineguns, which also wounded 12 people, erupted on Sunday due to widening differences over an attempt by one faction in the Galjeâel clan to seek support from Addis Ababa. The dominant power in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is a traditional rival of Somalia but maintains alliances with several Somali factions to try to minimise what it calls the terrorist threat from the lawless country.
The clash broke out on Sunday afternoon at Beletwein town, capital of Hiran region 350 km (210 miles) north of Mogadishu near the border with Ethiopia, residents said. It was the fourth such battle in Beletwein in a week and the heaviest yet. Residents said the violence involved supporters and opponents of a recent visit to Ethiopia by some elders of the clan seeking support from the neighbouring country. Ethiopia is a close observer of peace talks between Somali faction leaders in Kenya aimed at reviving a stalled peace process for the country, carved into rival territories since the central government was overthrown in 1991.
Kenya said on Monday that growing tension between two rival northern regions could destabilise the talks aimed at bringing peace to the whole of the country after a decade of bloodshed. At least two people in the enclave of Somaliland were killed in fighting between the forces of Somaliland and of the rival Puntland region earlier this month. The two territories have fought sporadic clashes for years over the ownership of several eastern areas of Somaliland that Puntlandâs leaders claim as their own on the basis of ethnicity. "I would like to call upon both parties to exercise maximum restraint and shun from plunging the region into a conflict that is clearly avoidable," Kenyan Foreign Minister Kalonzo Musyoka told a news conference. Somaliland leaders are not involved in the peace gathering, saying they have no intention of reuniting Somaliland with the rest of Somalia. A former British protectorate, Somaliland split from Somalia in 1991 after a long independence struggle, taking advantage of the chaos that followed the fall of Barre.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 2:42:27 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
LRA rebel leader Joseph Kony is desperately looking for other contacts to supply him with arms after Sudan dumped him, defence minister Amama Mbabazi said yesterday.
That's encouraging...
Mbabazi said the Sudanese Government had also promised to punish its soldiers who were having unsanctioned deals with Kony.
Even more encouraging...
Kony is holed up in Himatong mountains between Kitpale and Katile in southern Sudan. Mbabazi said the rebel leader ordered his deputy Brig. Vincent Otti and other remaining LRA commanders to find their way back into the Sudan after intense pressure from the UPDF. "The Government of Uganda is reasonably satisfied with the Sudanese governmentâs cooperation, though Kony is back there. We know that he still has some small contacts with elements in the Sudanese army, but President Omar Bashir said his government will ensure that those end too," Mbabazi said. Mbabazi said the UPDF had killed 928 LRA rebels, among them many LRA commanders. He said 791 rebels were either captured by the army or surrendered and a cache of weapons recovered. He said the army had rescued 7,299 captives. 88 UPDF soldiers died in the combat, 141 were injured and four went missing. He said the rate at which abductees were being rescued and the defections from the LRA clearly indicates demoralisation of the rebels.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 2:30:35 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
In response to that first approach by the Libyan official on Feb. 24, 1992, I discouraged the idea that I was an appropriate contact person for the first Bush administration; I also immediately notified senior State Department officials of the encounter. In a meeting in Washington on March 6, 1992, State discounted the approach on the grounds that it was one of several such approaches and none was being taken seriously. "We will have no discussions with the Libyans," was the answer, "until they turn over the Pan Am bombers." Intensive investigation of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988, in which 270 people died, had eventually focused on two Libyans...
Several possibilities exist for the first Bush administrationâs lack of interest. Perhaps the Americans did not believe the Libyans were serious. Or they did believe, inexplicably, the legalistic argument about Swiss jurisdiction (though this still seems implausible). Or they did not find me an acceptable intermediary. Or, perhaps most likely, they simply were not prepared to discuss normalization of relations — even in exchange for the terrorist bombers. In any case, any potential deal was off. But the Libyans did not take no for an answer. Several more days went by, and the original contact in Greece invited me to Tripoli for one more try...
Gary continues negotiations.
I immediately relayed the terms of these discussions to the State Department and was firmly told, once again, that there would be no discussions, even in exchange for the Pan Am bombers, with the government of Libya. Case closed. I anticipate obvious questions in response to these facts. Why me? The only plausible explanation is that I had publicly condemned (based largely on my experience on the Church committee, which revealed previous assassination plots) President Reaganâs attempt to assassinate Gaddafi by long-range bomber in 1986. Was I singled out? Not really; others had been approached. Do I believe the offer was rejected because the Swiss would demand jurisdiction over the bombers in the 40 feet between airplanes? Not in the least. Was the offer rejected because the intermediary was a Democrat? The first Bush administration will have to respond to that question.
In 2001, Megrahi was convicted of carrying out the bombing and sentenced to life in prison. Fhimah was acquitted. This account suggests, and strongly so, only one thing: We might have brought the Pan Am bombers to justice, and quite possibly have moved Libya out of its renegade status, much sooner than we have. At the very least it calls into serious question the assertion that Libya changed direction as a result of our preemptive invasion of Iraq. I guess my answer to Gary would be fourfold:
1. The surrender of he two scapegoats happened well before and had nothing to do with the Iraq War.
2. The result of Mr Hartâs negotiations would have been to legitimize Lybia without changing itâs continued rogue policies.
3. A legitimized Lybia would have been harder to delouse of itâs WMD.
4. Garyâs presidency would have been every bit as good as Carterâs.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 2:30:10 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Beginning in late 1991 Qaddafi began to end relationships with a number of terrorist groups, and even closed down his own Dawaa Islamayia (Islamic Call Society), an Islamic outreach organization. The State Department watched closely as through 1992 more than 20 terrorist training camps were closed in Libya and Qaddafi opposed the actions of Khartoum's emerging Islamist government. In sum, Hart was the useful idiot that Libya found useful at a time it hoped to ingratiate itself with Washington. The useful idiots often don't know what is happening behind the diplomatic-intelligence curtain. 'Nuf said.
#3
Anyone else notice how often these vague accusations of American foot-dragging and stubborness gloss over the period from January 1993 to January 2001?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/19/2004 15:07 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Anyone else notice how often these vague accusations of American foot-dragging and stubborness gloss over the period from January 1993 to January 2001?
Why, it's almost as if THERE WAS no terrorism in the nineties! :D
#5
uh..... Branch Davidians in Waco might not agree
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/19/2004 16:23 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Yup, if it weren't for them damn Republicans getting elected the shadow Goverment of the U.S. would have attained world peace by now. Everyone dawn their timfoil hats because there will be more before the election is over. Next week: 'Ted Kennedy: How my succesful war on Drunk Drivers was thwarted by Republican Senate.' or 'Toreceli: I was working under cover for an FBI mob sting. Really I was.'
#7
Everyone dawn their timfoil hats because there will be more before the election is over. Next week: 'Ted Kennedy:
Dialing Gary Harpence! Gary Hartpence!
All of the usual caveats apply here - either thereâs some Stalingrad-esque fighting going on here or these numbers are hopelessly exaggerated.
Rebels from Sudanâs remote western Darfur region said on Monday they had killed more than 1,000 government troops and militias who attacked a rebel stronghold town on the border with Chad.
That's some pretty big piles of rotting meat...
"For the last four days there has been fighting. There are 12,000 government forces. Until now over 1,000 government troops and militia on horses have been killed," said Khalil Ibrahim, leader of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
"Until now" starting from when?
Captain al-Naim from the office of the Sudanese army spokesman in Khartoum said: "As yet we have not received an appraisal report from the field so we cannot comment on these specific incidences but as soon as we do we will be releasing information." Interesting that he didnât deny it, is it possible these figures are accurate?
JEMâs Ibrahim said the rebels were using rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank weapons and had shot down three Apache helicopter gunships. The other rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), confirmed both movements were fighting together to defend the border town of Tina. JEMâs losses were "minimal", Ibrahim said, while SLA estimated about 100 of its troops were killed. Ibrahim declined to comment on the total number of rebels fighting, but a correspondent who recently went to the area estimated JEMâs troops at about 12,500. Ibrahim also said JEM would negotiate with Khartoum in the presence of impartial international observers if the government disarmed the militias and redistributed Sudanâs oil wealth and power to include the whole country.
Rather than keeping the dough in Khartoum. The success of the SPLA has given impetus to the western rebels...
Sudanâs interior minister told Reuters last week Sudan was ready for renewed talks and had not set preconditions. JEM refused to join Chad-mediated talks between the SLA and Khartoum, saying the government was not serious about a deal. Ibrahim said Chad was biased against the rebels and was cooperating with Khartoum to attack rebel positions in Darfur. "We are accusing Chad of being involved. They are part of this attack now," he said, but added that if Chad stopped its involvement he would accept them as a mediator for talks. "This means Iâm not going to Chad now. But the United Nations asked Chad to mediate so we are willing to accept the U.N. call," Ibrahim said.
Yeah, asking one of the parties to the fighting to mediate sounds like something the U.N. would do...
Ibrahim said the Kenya talks, where a key wealth-sharing accord was signed earlier this month, would not secure a lasting peace in Sudan because they excluded Darfur. "The government must be ready to talk about sharing the power and resources with the whole country because what is going on in Kenya is between two minorities," he said. "They must redistribute what they have decided now in wealth. We will not stop our war unless we get our rights. There may be a temporary peace for the south but it is not peace for Sudan."
Of course not. The place is too Islamic for that.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 2:24:50 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
i'd imagine the casulty numbers could well be true,on horse back,no armour,crap guns,crap brains all adds up too a masacre.As for the bit about the apace's,who's are these meant to be from?that bit stinks of BS too me
#2
Shot down "Apache helicopters"???
Tine was once the center of terrific fighting between rebels and the Government of Chad in the period 1990-91. Many hundreds, if not a couple thousand of armed types were killed.
#3
I'd imagine that if any helicopter gunships were actually shot down (it's possible), they were Russian Hind (MI-24) helicopters, which Sudan does have, rather than "Apaches", which according to Google, Sudan doesn't have. IIRC, the Afghanis had quite a bit of success against the Hind, using "Stinger" missiles. I would NOT be surprised to see them in the hands of Sudanese guerillas.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/19/2004 15:35 Comments ||
Top||
#4
As far as Apaches being shot down, it's a good way for any nut with an RPG to get on al-cnn these days. Doesn't matter if it's true, the commutards can scream about 'U.S. imperialism' and claim hundreds of dead civilian children/old folks/kittens/puppies. Not to mention a U.S. bodycount that surpasses the first N number of days/months/years in Vietnam.
#5
I didn't read any further than this..."Nevertheless, there was an air of intrigue about the meeting".
Ok...despite the fact that I SHOULD have stopped there, I read just enough further to realize this was one of those "way too many details explanations that usually accompanies a story when somebody messed up, knows it, and tries to explain it away.
I'm guessing this is all part of the current PR push by the Clintons to prove that, despite all appearances, both he and Hillary are really war hawks, and it was the military brass, and the previous Bush administration, and Karl Rove, and Halliburton who are to blame for 9-11 not them.
What amazes me is how many people are sucking into it. Even Glenn Reynolds is taking the bait.
EFL from NYT
Facing a choice of Japanese sanctions or Japanese aid, North Korea is quietly taking steps to unblock its longstanding political logjam with the government in Tokyo. After 15 months of unremitting hostility, North Korea last week sent a series of signals that suggest a desire for warmer relations with Japan. No sea of fire? Whereâs the cream filling?
First, six adult children of Japanese hijackers from the Red Army faction, an extinct left-wing terror group, unexpectedly arrived here on Tuesday from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. Then, North Korea floated a March 20 deadline for sending to Japan the children of five Japanese who had been kidnapped by North Korea years ago. The parents came here from North Korea in October 2002. On Saturday, four Japanese diplomats completed a visit to Pyongyang, the first by Japanese officials since relations between the countries soured in the fall of 2002. That was when North Korea first admitted that it had kidnapped Japanese citizens in the 1970âs and 80âs, who were forced to teach Japanese to North Korean intelligence agents. By clarifying the fates of as many as 100 kidnapped Japanese, North Korea could win Japanâs full participation in a second round of six-country talks, tentatively set for next month, that are intended to defuse North Koreaâs nuclear threat. Normalization of relations could also mean the beginning of the payments, to total $10 billion, that Japan agreed to make in reparations for its colonial occupation of northern Korea in the first half of 20th century. "The North Koreans have come to an understanding that the Japanese canât become a participant in nuclear talks with the abductee issue outstanding," Frank Jannuzi, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee aide, said here on Thursday, after a week of meetings in Pyongyang. If the issue of the kidnappings is not resolved to Japanese satisfaction, it is likely to strengthen support here for economic sanctions. On Friday, leaders of Japanâs governing coalition and the main opposition party agreed that soon after the Parliament reconvenes on Monday, they would submit legislation to empower Japanâs government to restrict trade and financial remittances to North Korea. As we learned in trade negotiations during the 1930âs, the Japanese donât blink.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 2:09:08 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
physco Kimmie's not to be trusted,lets hope the Japs know that and don't fall for his tricks.
EFL
The timing was hardly coincidental. On Sept. 10, 2002, one day before the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, police near Hamburg, Germany, staged a dramatic raid on a Syrian-owned company suspected of terrorist ties. The German government was sending a signal to the United States: weâre doing our part in the war on terror. But the raid was more than a publicity stunt. For years, authorities had been keeping close watch on the company, a textile business called Tatex. According to German police reports shown to NEWSWEEK, some of the firmâs past employees appeared to have Qaeda connections. One was close to Osama bin Ladenâs personal secretary. Another, Mohammed Haydar Zammar, was believed to have recruited Muhammad Atta and the other September 11 hijackers in Hamburgâthen sent them to Afghanistan, where they planned the attacks with bin Laden. German prosecutors began preparing their case. The United States considered freezing Tatexâs bank accounts, as it had done to dozens of other companies suspected of financing terrorism. Then something strange happened: nothing. Last summer the German government quietly closed the investigation and decided against prosecuting the company. The United States never touched its assets. Case closed.
George W. Bush has said the United States will relentlessly hunt terrorists and anyone who helps them. So why did the Germans and Americans give up the trail of a company that, according to their own investigators, may have been harboring jihadis? The answer provides a telling glimpse inside the touchy world of post-9/11 diplomacy. Some U.S. and German officials suggest that both countries decided not to proceed with legal action against Tatex to avoid antagonizing the government of Syria.
As it turns out, the Germans werenât the only ones keeping an eye on Tatex. Sources close to the case tell NEWSWEEK that Syria had been secretly involved with the company for years. In 1999, a former Syrian intelligence chief named Mohammed Majed Said bought about 15 percent of Tatexâs stock. The Syriansâ interest in the company isnât entirely clear. Some German investigators speculate that Syrian intelligence may have infiltrated the company as a cover to spy on Hamburgâs community of extremist Syrian exilesâjihadis the Syrians feared were plotting against their secular government. But other investigators believe the Syrians were using Tatex as a front to illegally acquire high-tech equipment from the West. (Tatex officials have repeatedly denied any connection with terrorism or Syrian intelligence. Said could not be reached.)
In the past, the discovery that Syria had a stake in a company with apparent Qaeda ties would have raised a diplomatic commotion. For decades, Washington had been critical of Syriaâs history of supporting terrorists and its secretive efforts to produce weapons of mass destruction. But lately the White House has tempered its comments. Since September 11, administration officials say, Syria has sometimes been a helpful partner in U.S. antiterror efforts. Officials say Syria has frozen millions of dollars in assets that Saddam Hussein had stashed in Syrian banks. Information from Syrian intelligence has helped disrupt at least three terror plots against American interests, including two planned attacks on U.S. Navy bases in the Middle East. Western officials were also impressed with Syriaâs help in collaring key Qaeda suspects, including Zammar. Syrian President Bashar Assad is eager to be seen as a partner in the terror war. Syrian officials boast that they have opened their Qaeda files to the CIA, and insist that bin Ladenâs network is as much a threat to them as to the West. In return, some hard-liners say, Washington and its allies have rewarded Syria by downplaying its unsavory activities. Germanyâs national-security adviser, Ernst Uhrlau, says that politics played no role in the decision to drop the Tatex case. Publicly, German officials say there wasnât enough evidence to prosecute. But other sources close to the case say the government insisted the dossier be closed, for what one called "foreign-policy reasons."
German prosecutors do concede that politics played a role in shutting down another Syrian espionage case. In July 2002, authorities arrested two Syrians living in Germany and charged them with spying on Syrian expats. But the day before the trial was to begin, senior government officials dropped all charges against the men. German prosecutors acknowledged that the government had decided that bringing the men to trial would run "counter to overriding public interest, especially the fight against international terrorism." Phew - must be driving by a chicken farm.
To me, it sounds like a case of right hand-left hand coordination. The Syrian expats may have been expats we (and the Germans) needed spied upon. And Tatex could well have been either turned or tapped.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 1:55:49 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I hope so Fred. I don't see any country other than Lebanon kowtowing to Assad. He will be lucky to last the year.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 17:43 Comments ||
Top||
EFL (removed all mundane wackiness
In this little pocket of Iowa, houses are built to face the rising sun, something called yogic flying is a popular pastime and Dennis J. Kucinich is a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Mr. Kucinich has become a phenomenon in Fairfield, population 9,500. His proposals to promote world peace, universal health care and environmental sustainability arguably resonate here as in no other place in America.
Mr. Kucinich, a congressman for his native Ohio, is polling in the low single digits nationwide, and is not expected to do much better in tomorrowâs Iowa caucuses. But you wouldnât know that here ... Mr. Kucinich, a vegan, who has proposed a cabinet-level Department of Peace, is not a typical candidate. And Fairfield, despite its picturesque town square and fluttering American flags, is not a typical Iowan town. The home of Maharishi University of Management and a center of the Global Country of World Peace, Fairfield and the surrounding area is home to 2,000 practitioners of Transcendental Meditation who began settling there in the early 1970âs. Hundreds of Fairfield residents now bike, walk and drive to twin 25,000-square-foot golden domes, which rise like gilded breasts from the Midwestern plains, to practice deep Transcendental Meditation twice a day. Through yogic flying, a kind of seated hopping levitation that practitioners believe can lead to enlightenment, their collective mission is to bring peace to the world.
While Mr. Kucinich does not practice Transcendental Meditation, after he was voted out of office as mayor of Cleveland in 1979 he did spend time in New Mexico and California finding what he describes as inner peace. "Itâs so humbling being here in your presence," he began at an event on Jan. 10, "because stepping into this moment you can sense this field of energy which is created by all the shared aspirations for peace â the energy and the light which is present right at this moment. You can feel it. Itâs palpable."
"Like, wow, man! Listen to the colors! Pro-found!"
Mr. Kucinich has had an especially deep impact on the students at the private Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment, where children from preschool through 12th grade meditate twice a day and classroom posters include "50 qualities of the unified field" among geology maps. One key to Mr. Kucinichâs support in Fairfield is his longtime friendship with Mr. Hagelin, the three-time presidential candidate of the Natural Law Party, who has endorsed Mr. Kucinich. "Here was a mainstream Democrat that really presents all the contents that the Natural Law Party wants to see espoused," said Ed Malloy, the mayor of Fairfield, and a supporter of the Natural Law Party. "They were excited that these ideas could move on the agenda."
In addition to Mr. Kucinichâs plan for a Department of Peace, which would emphasize preventive techniques against violence, supporters are drawn to his plan for universal health coverage, one that would embrace alternative medical techniques like acupuncture. They also like his belief in environmental sustainability, an issue dear to a community that embraces organic farming. "Dennis is the only candidate who will go to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and do something about genetically engineered food," said Eileen Dannemann, a Fairfield resident. I am surpised to find such an enclave anywhere but on the West Coast or in the Dakotas.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 1:26:48 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
After endless clips of flapjack flipping, for those in need of a dose of reality concerning Sen John Kerry, Debra Saunders nicely distills the true nature of his candidicy in: the Yankee Al Gore.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 13:34 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Boston.com also has an article the that divides the country into ten political areas. Note - you would think that this article would be accomanied by a map, but it isn't.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 13:41 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Hey, all those whackos in california have to come from somewhere. They're either recent transplants or 1st/2nd generation dustbowl refugees.
Big Government is a farm state tradition, check out any omnibus farm bill. Money for nothing and chicks for free.
#6
Super Hose: check out this link. The original isn't active any more, but yahoo still has the 10 area map in it's cache http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:xXWeCFnSSQoJ:regionsofmind.blog-city.com/read/406910.htm+sagebrush+political+area&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Posted by: Dave ||
01/19/2004 16:05 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Early polls coming in, looks like Iowa dems got a good look at doctor dean and didn't like what they saw. Needless to say, kucinut isn't even getting a statistical percentage, less than 1%.
#10
Thank you, Dave. I want to print out that map to see if I can make sence out of the upcoming panderfest.
My favorite part of this article is: The home of Maharishi University of Management and a center of the Global Country of World Peace, Fairfield and the surrounding area is home to 2,000 practitioners of Transcendental Meditation... Can you imagine a MBA from the Maharishi University of Management would do for your resume?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 21:53 Comments ||
Top||
The newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, Halsey (DDG 97) will be christened on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2004, during a 10 a.m. CST ceremony at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Pascagoula, Miss.
Adm. William J. Fallon, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, will deliver the ceremonyâs principal address in concert with Haley Barbour, governor of Mississippi. Heidi Cooke Halsey, Anne Halsey-Smith, and Alice âMissyâ Spruance Talbot will serve as sponsors of the ship named for their grandfather. In the time-honored Navy tradition, they will break the bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen Halsey.
Halsey honors U.S. Naval Academy graduate Adm. William F. Halsey Jr. (1882-1959). During World War I, Cmdr. Halsey was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions while in command of the USS Benham and the USS Shaw during convoy escort duties. Designated a naval aviator in 1935 at the age of 52, he took command of the USS Saratoga from 1935 until 1937. In February 1942, then Vice Adm. Halsey, while serving as commander, Carrier Division Two aboard the USS Enterprise, led the first counter-strikes of World War II against the Japanese with carrier raids on the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. Later that year, his task force launched the famous "Doolittle Raid" against targets on the Japanese homeland.
Assigned as commander, South Pacific Force and South Pacific Area on Oct. 18, 1942, Halsey led the Navy, Marine Corps, and Army forces that conquered the strategically important Solomon Islands. Subsequently as commander, Third Fleet, his task forces consistently won hard fought victories during campaigns in the Philippines, Okinawa, and other islands. Nicknamed "Bull" Halsey, he embodied his slogan, "hit hard, hit fast, hit often." On Dec. 11, 1945, he became the fourth officer to hold the rank of fleet admiral. One previous ship has been named Halsey (1963-1994), which earned eight battle stars for Vietnam Service in addition to a Navy Unit Commendation and a Meritorious Unit commendation, and participated in contingency operations in Korean waters (1969-1971) and in the Indian Ocean (1980).
Halsey is the 47th ship of 62 Arleigh Burke class destroyers currently authorized by Congress. This highly capable multi-mission ship can conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection, in support of the National Military Strategy. Halsey will be capable of fighting air, surface, and subsurface battles simultaneously. The ship contains myriad offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime defense needs well into the 21st century.
Cmdr. James L. Autrey, of Moore, Okla., will become the first commanding officer of the ship with a crew of approximately 32 officers and 348 enlisted. The 9,300-ton Halsey is being built by Northrop-Grumman Ship Systems, and is 509.5 feet in length, has a waterline beam of 59 feet, an overall beam of 66.5 feet, and a navigational draft of 31.9 feet. Four gas turbine engines will power the ship to speeds in excess of 30 knots.
#3
Halsey's performance during WWII demonstrates that even the best make mistakes and the best answer is not always to can a battlefield commander when things go wrong.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 14:47 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Wonder what Admiral Halsey would have had to say after 9/11
No, I think he would of paraphrased what he said as the Enterprise pulled into Pearl Harbor on the evening of 12/7/1941 "By the time we're through the Abrab language will spoken only in Hell". It is amazing the number of people in this country who refuse to recongnize that the West is in a World War with Radical and Fundementalist Islam. I wonder what the ship's motto will be, maybe "The Bull Stops Here"
#6
Dring the battle of Leyte's Gulf Halsey fell for the Japanese decoy ad let his fleet of escort carriers alone. Fortunately for the US a mix of skillful defence by the carriers escort and a timid Japanese admiral allowed the carriers to escape destruction.
Halsey was supposed to comnad at Midway but he fell sick so he recomended Spruance. It was fortunate since IMHO the overagressive Halsey would have probably lost the battle. Halsey's illness was only one of the many fortunate coincidences for the Americans at Midway. From the Japanese recon plane who started late due to a catapult problem to its radio failure and later the Devastators arriving just when the Japanse carriers were at their moment of highest vulnerability: their top covered with loaded planes. And it happenned second time with eth Hyriu. Now we can look for a rational explanation: code cracking by the Americans, sloppy maintenance by the Japanse, lack of radar made them wulnerable to attack. Or we can look at Halsey's providential illness, the perfect timing of the attacks and think that perhaps, perhaps God was helping the Americans.
Anyway, we don't know if Halsey would have lost, we only know that Spruance won decisively.
#7
To JFM's last point about the Leyte Gulf battle: my understanding about Arleigh Burke is that this is where he shone.
Does anybody have any good links discussing Arleigh Burke's career and his legacy ?
I searched for some info a while back, but found only brief overviews of his career, which was too dry for me -- I got no sense of what made Burke great enough to have a class of warships named for home.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
01/19/2004 18:48 Comments ||
Top||
#8
..ahem "named for HIM."
Proofreading before posting is FUN and EASY..
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
01/19/2004 18:50 Comments ||
Top||
#9
SD Union had an article about Frigates being refitted - removing their single-rail missile systems for more effective weapons against small craft (i.e. the Cole)
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/19/2004 20:39 Comments ||
Top||
by Khaled Abu Toameh, Jerusalem Post. Expands on yesterdayâs posting. EFL.
The family of suicide bomber Reem Salah al-Rayashi, the Gaza City mother of two who killed four in last weekâs suicide attack at the Erez crossing, . . . dismissed as lies reports that she had been forced to blow herself up after her husband discovered that she had been unfaithful.
"Lies! All lies!"
Quoting military sources, Yediot Aharonot said that Rayashi was forced to carry out the suicide attack as punishment for cheating on her husband.
Hid the strange baloney, did she?
According to the paper, information that reached Israel regarding the circumstances that led Rayashi to carry out the attack suggests that she "was not a cold-blooded terrorist, steeped in faith and madness, who chose out of free will to turn her two young children into orphans â but instead a woman who was forced to carry out the act." According to military sources, Rayashi paid a cruel price for being involved in an illicit love affair and was forced to sacrifice herself in order to "clear" her name and the honor of her family. . . .
Yeah. Well, I guess that dried the old wet spot...
[IDF] sources said the man chosen to recruit and equip Rayashi with the explosive belt was none other than the lover with whom she cheated on her husband. The Sunday Times reported that the husband even drove his wife to the Erez crossing. . . . Cheaper than divorce, I guess. David Frum at National Review Online had this to say:
Can we please, please, please now retire the often-heard line that Western societies have something to learn from the simple, heartfelt faith of the Islamic extremists? Iâm not sure whether Hamas reminds me more of the blood cult of the ancient Aztecs or the cruelest subsections of the American Mafia, but I am sure that the United States with all its fads, follies, and vices is in every way a more moral and godly society than the one that Hamas seeks to realize. And if the choice really is between a society that produces a Reem al-Reyashi or one that produces Britney Spears ⊠then hand me the channel changer: I want my MTV!
Posted by: Mike ||
01/19/2004 12:43:15 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Equal-opportunity, islam style. I'm sure the liberals at DU are celebrating this empowerment of a muslim woman.
The Times of London is reporting that the bomb-ette "believed her death would turn her into one of 70 nymphs who would welcome [her husband] Awad to heaven if he carried out a similar suicide attack."
That's even creepier than the "honor killing" theory. On the other hand, the Times has this hopeful detail:
"Awadâs parents disowned him for helping his wife on such a mission; al-Riyashiâs refused to comment on their daughterâs act but they expressed outrage with their son-in-law."
Posted by: Mike ||
01/19/2004 13:02 Comments ||
Top||
#3
wow it just dosn't get any dumber then this. I'm awestruck by the stupidity of those 'people' involved.
#4
The Times of London is reporting that the bomb-ette "believed her death would turn her into one of 70 nymphs who would welcome [her husband] Awad to heaven if he carried out a similar suicide attack."
#7
Wow--so not only is she "re-virginized", but she gets to share her hubby with dozens of other women, too? That's one hell of a reward system for maiming innocent people.
Twenty-first Century, let me introduce you to Twelfth Century. Let the festivities begin.
Posted by: Dar ||
01/19/2004 13:34 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Well, this is all very interesting, but this still does not change the fact Yassin and Ass-ociates steel need the Big Dirt Napâ¢. Remove the head and the rest will settle down.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/19/2004 14:17 Comments ||
Top||
#9
These folks need to get in touch with their
Inner Brothel Keeper.
#10
The Times of London is reporting that the bomb-ette "believed her death would turn her into one of 70 (72?) nymphs who would welcome [her husband] Awad to heaven if he carried out a similar suicide attack.
Thanks for providing that clarification BAR. I've been concerned that Reem was only going to get a small box of raisins for her effort.
How does that work? Does she do purgatory or something in the Virgin Islands?
#11
Glad she cleared her family name by blowing herself up so that her infidelity can be covered in papers throughout the world.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 14:53 Comments ||
Top||
#12
My guess is that this guy in the Times of London has
taken advice from a locall mullah who couldn't resist to play a joke on a kaffir (That means that this mullah is probably a good guy since a true wahabi doesn't laugh).
There is a whole surate in the Koran detailing Paradise and it is a layered one: women go to the lowest layer and there is no mention of sexual partners for them. Men go to a higher one and are served by a number of women (some sources say they also have boys... but I don't remember well). There is no hint the wife would be between them (in fact either she is in hell or in the lower layer so she can't be there) and everything points to these being ideal women designed specially for paradise and who had no life on earth.
#13
JFM--If what you are saying is true, now I'm REALLY confused as to why any intelligent woman, or for that matter, any woman able to breathe on her own would ever convert to Islam.
Because in Islam you don't have to question yourself. You aren't really an individual but a
part of a collectivity, the Ummah. You have to
submit to God: Islam does not mean Peace as the Islamists say (Peace is Salam in Arabic, cf Shalom in Hebrew) it means submission. Notice the purely external nature of the five pillars of Islam: take the Muslim oath, pray five times a day, fast for Ramadan, go to Mecca and give 2.5% of your revenur to the poor. It doesn't go into complications like: "Honor your father and mother", "Don't kill" or "Don't lift a false testimony". You can find their equivalents in the Mecca Sourates but... but they are not mentionned as pilars of Islam and central to it while the Ten Commandments are central to Judaism and Christianism.
Some people feel attracted to a religion where all what is really required for salvation is easily verifiable, like "Did I pray five times a day?" instead of "Was I good enough toward the others?"
AFAIK (but I am not an expert) sects like the Suffis add real moral requirements but Wahabis stick to "Koran only" and thus to the mechanistic
Islam I mentionned above.
#15
Don't Paleos know that Raisinettes can be purchased by the Box! at most Cinema concession stands! Right next to the Joo-Joo-Bees!
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/19/2004 20:44 Comments ||
Top||
#16
If you want to have some fun some time, talk to one of the wahabi-types about Sufis. Start off by mentioning how the Sufi's seem much happier than many other Muslims, and how they really sound interesting. A half step back is advised (to avoid most of the spittle). Lots of fun.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
01/19/2004 21:04 Comments ||
Top||
"First reports from unofficial sources that Israeli warplanes are conducting air strike against Syrian military targets, after anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon blew up Israeli military D-9 Monday. Israeli casualties reported. IDF vehicle was patrolling area between Moshav Zarit and Yakinton military post. DEBKAfile adds: Syria and Lebanon warned last year that any Hizballah attacks on northern Israel would evoke immediate reprisal by Israeli air force" Waiting for confirmation by a news agency, but in the meantime...
#1
JPost - (Reg Req'd):
Hizbullah fired an anti-tank missile at an IDF bulldozer Monday evening near the northern border.
The army has confirmed that the vehicle was hit, Israel Radio reported.
According to reports, the bulldozer was hit while clearing roadside bombs in the region near Moshav Zarit on the northern border.
A Hizbullah press release transmitted on Hizbullah's Al Manar TV moments after the event said that members of Hizbullah's military wing, the Islamic Resistance said that at 4:35 PM they fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli bulldozer that crossed the border into Lebanon near Birkat Rish.
The roadside mines were discovered two weeks ago, but are only being cleared now for operational and weather reasons, the radio reported.
"Holy warriors of the Islamic Resistance destroyed a hostile vehicle that violated the border line in the town of Marouahine in southern Lebanon," Al Manar said.
The broadcast did not give the type of vehicle or mention Israeli casualties.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/19/2004 12:42 Comments ||
Top||
#2
They are reporting all this on Al-Jizz
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/402CCBFA-124C-43E4-B462-647919003B42.htm
(look in the box called "related" next to this story for all the items on this)
#4
WTF is a 'charitable organization' like hezbollah doing with AT weapons? And is there really a distinction between the syrian 'army' and the terrorist mutts?
#5
Does this mean War with Syria and Lebanon? Does it mean we can send in SF to take out targets? Does it mean that this is all just a bunch of smoke coming out of Hebollahs ass?
Stay tuned.
Posted by: Charles ||
01/19/2004 13:09 Comments ||
Top||
#6
been scouring the net but can't find anything hopefull yet though the DEBKA report sounds quite interesting,wait and see eh,could this be the moment everyone's been waiting for....
#7
If Israel does just a pinprick type response, what sort of targets will they hit?
Syrian troops in Lebanon? Or stuff up on or behind the Golan?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
01/19/2004 13:22 Comments ||
Top||
#8
The D-9 was clearing roadside bombs that Hizbollah was placing after crossing the UN approved frontier.
By the way there is nothing on the news there.
Posted by: Barry ||
01/19/2004 13:39 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Ha'aretz news ticker sez:
17:28 IDF military bulldozer, clearing roadside bombs along northern border with Lebanon, hit by explosive device
17:42 Hezbollah says inflicted `direct hit` on Israeli bulldozer at northern border
18:05 IDF says bulldozer attacked on Israel-Lebanon border was hit by anti-tank missile, not roadside bomb
19:33 IDF vehemently denies Hezbollah claims that bulldozer hit by anti-tank missile crossed border into Lebanon
20:03 Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz calls Hezbollah missile attack on IDF bulldozer along northern border `extremely grave`
20:28 GOC Northern Command Benny Gantz, following Hezbollah attack: those on other side of border should be `worried`
Posted by: Dar ||
01/19/2004 14:23 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Everybody's backing off. The D-9 is seen by the Syrians and HizBoyz has an Israelli strategic asset, if they get lucky, real lucky and destroy an armored Cat. the Syrian/Hizboyz will have won a major battle. It makes destroying a bus full of Joo children look like child's play.
Hey! It could happen!
Chechnya's pro-Moscow president said on Monday Saudi leaders had assured him their country had stopped its once hefty aid for Muslim separatist rebels in the region. After an official visit to the desert kingdom on which he met ministers and the crown prince, Akhmad Kadyrov said Saudi Arabia had now brought all its opaque charitable funds under state control.
So any further donations will be state-approved, unlike previous donations, which were... ummm... state-approved.
Saudi leaders had him given assurances any private money donated to help Chechnya would go into a fund to aid Russia's efforts to rebuild the region, not to the separatists, he said. "All the funds that worked independently have been brought under state control," Kadyrov told reporters. "People that want to help Chechnya, all their money will be under control."
Meaning the Soddies are going to start a mosque/Islamic center building campaign in Chechnya? That should help.
Saudi Arabia's charitable funds were accused of funding rebel groups throughout the world, but it cracked down under intense U.S. pressure after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, carried out by mainly Saudi hijackers.
That was 2 1/2 years ago. Takes awhile for the effects of the crackdown to show, of course...
Saudi Arabia, home of Islam's holiest shrines, previously backed Muslim separatists who have fought Russian rule for nine years. The rebels, who ruled a de facto independent Chechnya for three years after 1996, reacted furiously to Riyadh's receiving Kadyrov, who was elected by a landslide in an October poll criticised by Washington and the European Union. "May you be cursed for the fact that, at the hardest time for the Chechens, you have treacherously stabbed us in the back," said a statement on rebel Web site www.chechenpress.info.
Ooooh! Are we seething?
"When were you honest? In 1997, when you kissed the hands and shoulders of the Chechen fighters, wiping away tears and saying that since the time of the Prophet there had not been such a Jihad (Islamic holy war) or now, when you shake the hand of the Jihad's worst enemy?"
Ummm... Prob'ly neither time.
Moscow sent troops back into Chechnya in 1999 and says the region is returning to normal under Kadyrov's rule, but servicemen die almost daily. President Vladimir Putin refuses to negotiate with rebels, who remain at large to carry out attacks. "We give great weight to the strengthening of mutual understanding over the Chechen problem with the Muslim world, one of the leaders of which is Saudi Arabia," Putin said in a letter to the Saudi government. Kadyrov, dismissed by opponents as Moscow's puppet, said he hoped to open a representative office for the Chechen government in Saudi Arabia to keep in touch with the government and to attract investment to boost his region's devastated economy. He also hoped to visit other Gulf states seen as the source for some of the private money that supports the separatists â Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
I love it when they seethe. It just sets my teeny-tiny little heart all a-flutter...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/19/2004 11:56 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
those soodies need thier bank accounts frozen and the money transfered to the west,perhaps the 9-11 victems could have the first cut in the money.
On 25 November 2003, Baraq Shakaa, of Jordan, was ascending the staircase of relatives in Nablus for a holiday visit on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr family visit. Without warning he was shot dead by a squad of gunmen hiding in a dark alley of Nablusâ ancient Casaba. Shakaaâs death was probably a case of mistaken identity. The hit teamâmembers of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigadesâhad apparently meant to kill his brother, Ghassan Shakaa. Ghassan Shakaa is not only the mayor of Nablus, but is also a member of the PLO Executive Committee, and of Arafatâs Security Supreme Committee based in the Muqataa. Had the hit succeeded, it would have been the first purely political assassination in the Palestinian Authority. The result could have been what many have been predicting for some time, a civil war. But this would not have been civil war in Gaza between Fatah and Hamas. Rather, it would have been a civil war in Nablus between Fatah and Fatah.
Friction between the aristocratic families of Nablus and its environs are nothing new. These local tensions originated in the areaâs feudal history, when the main families of Nablus controlled all aspects of life in the nearby villages. The influx of refugees into the neighborhoods along Nablusâs main thoroughfare has only exacerbated the tension. However, what were previously purely local squabbles have taken on a larger aspect, causing major splits within the Fatah organization and often breaking into open violence. Fatah terrorist wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have taken the side of the historically âoppressedâ, while the political-economic wing of the organization took the part of the ruling familiesâthe âoppressors.â
The main families of Nablusâthe Masri, Kanâan, Shakâa, Tuqan, and Shuman familiesâare united in what has become known as the Masri confederation. Naturally, this group seeks to further its interests via economic means. The al-Aqsa Brigades, based in the refugee camps have a different strategy; their activities take the form of organized terrorismâand not only against Israelis. In fact, attacks against Israeli civilians are merely a tool in the wider struggle. These attacks are a means whereby the al-Aqsa Brigades gain national legitimacy, in order to gain leverage in the internal struggle against the Masri confederation. The Brigadesâ popularity in Nablusâgained through its attacks in the buses and cafes of Israelâhas given weight to their designation of the Masriâs as Takhwin, or traitors. This designation is the legitimatizing the murder of Nablusâs traditional leadership.
In an economic conference held in Nablus back in 1997, major differences appeared between the Masris on the one hand and the then PA finance minister, the Muhammad Zuhdi Nashashibi on the other. Nashashibi called on the wealthy Palestinian families to put their money under the control of the PA, to be administered by an economic committee controlled by the PLO. The astonished families told the PA minister that only a free market economy could allow a future Palestine to avoid the fate of Somalia. In the intervening years, both parties have organized militias; the Masris were allied with Jibril RajoubâsPreventive Security, while the refugee camps were represented by Force 17from Navaronne, which was linked to the governor, Mahmud al-Alul. As far as the Nablus aristocracy is concerned, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades aim to sabotage all attempts by the cityâs middle class leadership to lead the city out of the current economic mire. The economic-minded middle class seeks to lead the way toward reconciliation and moderation, with an eye toward encouraging investment. It is this process that the al-Aqsa Martyrs view as the greatest threat to the Muqawama â Resistance. The ideal of a modern and progressive leadership is seen as a threat to the current PLO government.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/19/2004 5:39:18 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This post says it all. No further comment is required.
#2
...he was shot dead by a squad of gunmen hiding in a dark alley of Nablusâ ancient Casaba. The gunmen were hiding in a melon? I think he meant qasbah or casbah.
If Phil hadn't recommended reading it, I would have stopped right there.
Thugs suspected to be Lordâs Resistance Army rebels have looted cattle and food from Aromo internally displaced peopleâs camp in Lira district. The sub-county chairman, Robert Ogwang, said the thugs attacked the camp at dawn and sent the inhabitants in disarray. He said the UPDF had left the camp to patrol nearby villages. Erute North MP Charles Angiro Gutumoi declined to discuss the attack. The 5th Division spokesman, 2nd Lt. Chris Magezi, said the LRA rebels attempted to attack the camp and villages in Apala and Okwang sub-counties but the army repulsed them.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:47:42 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Dan Darling-- Is this the group that worships a pair of 10 yr old twins as God, or do I have them confused with another group?
Ugandan rebels from the Lordâs Resistance Army (LRA) shot dead 18 people, most of them women, in a northern village last week, a priest says. The cult-like rebel group has waged war against Ugandaâs government for 17 years and its fighters are feared for maiming civilians and abducting children for use as sex slaves and soldiers. "On Thursday night, the LRA killed 12 women and six men in Otuke county, 50 km (30 miles) east of here," Father Sebat Ayala, a Catholic priest, told Reuters from Lira town. Ayala said he had received the news from parish priests in Orum village. They said all the victims were shot dead. Ugandan Army spokesman Shaban Bantariza said 14 people had been killed in the incident.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:45:12 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
There was a story similar to this yesterday, where the LRA take the kids and kill the adults. Disgusting.
How about turning it around and having a policy of executing all LRA wherever they are found. Have a cutoff (ho ho) of 16-18 years and kill everyone older.
That should put a spanner in the works. Bastards.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
01/19/2004 18:39 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Simply cut off their left hand at the wrist. It'll bring things to a screeching halt.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/19/2004 21:55 Comments ||
Top||
The number of rare mountain gorillas living in central Africa has increased by 17 percent during the past 15 years, despite conflict in the region, poaching and human senseless tribal wars incursions into the animalsâ habitat, a Rwandan wildlife official said Saturday. A recent census shows the number of endangered primates living in a mountain range straddling Rwanda, Congo, and Uganda has grown to 380 from 324 in 1989 when the last census was conducted, said Fidel Ruzigandekwe, of the Rwandan National Parks and Tourism Authority. "The mountain gorilla is a threatened species, and the increase in their number is great news for us and good news for the rest of the world," Ruzigandekwe told The Associated Press. "The few additional gorilla individuals add to the genetic pool of the species." "Say, Mâdkaogkdut, youâre looking more diverse every day."
"Oh, Mâfdgfgkagoifgy, you say the sweetest things!"
He said the increase of the gorillas was due to effective conservation programs such as shooting the competing guerillas. The census was conducted late last year by Rwandan, Ugandan and Congolese wildlife experts. A census is normally conducted every five years, but warfare in the region has made that impossible. "Heads up, Mâdkgifgyuakdj! Those crazy humans are at it again! Head for the hills!"
"Given the decade-long political strife in the region, it is remarkable that the mountain gorilla population has nevertheless fared well - and even experienced some growth," said Dieter Steklis, chief scientist and vice president of Atlanta-based Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. "This is strong testimony to the effectiveness of the dedicated, near round-the-clock, on-the-ground protection" provided by park authorities and conservationists, he said in a statement. Wonder how many guerillas they had to pay off?
In the past, experts estimated there were 670 mountain gorillas in the wild, including more than 300 gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Park in southwestern Uganda. The census, however, did not include Bwindiâs gorillas because it is believed they are of a different subspecies, the Dian Fossey fund said in a statement. Splitter! Splitter!
The African wildlife experts conducting the census traversed the region searching for signs of gorilla trails, dung and trampled vegetation, officials said. On finding a trail, they would follow it to nests and estimate the size of the group by counting nests and measuring dung size. After which the gorillas, being sensible, killed them and ate them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/19/2004 12:36:01 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Now that we have a census, when do they get to vote? And, I have to ask, does dung size really matter?
#3
The African wildlife experts conducting the census traversed the region searching for signs of gorilla trails, dung and trampled vegetation, officials said.
Those people have got to be pretty dedicated individuals. I perused the gorilla exhibit at Taronga and occasionally a rather strong stench would waft over the viewing area....
#4
I've seen these guys up close...very close, in Rwanda in '90. Amazing. Much farting and low rumble vocalizing. The vegetation is so thick it is like walking on a mattress. This is good news, especially with all of the tribal stupidity that has been going on in the region.
Posted by: remote man ||
01/19/2004 12:33 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Much farting and low rumble vocalizing
Was this on Super Sunday?
#6
Can you imagine walking up to a gorrila and asking all sorts of inane and personal questions? Those Rawandan census takers have some hanging clangers.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 17:19 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Bwindi Impenetrable Park - Huh? Why's it impenetrable? Some sort of chastity belt?
Five Russian soldiers and a Chechen policeman were killed in fighting with rebels and two other soldiers died when their truck ran over a mine. Four of the soldiers were killed when Russian positions came under fire a total of 15 times over the past. Another died when a military car came under fire in Starye Atagi outside the Chechen capital Grozny. A Chechen policeman was killed and two others injured in a clash with rebels in Grozny in which one rebel also was killed. The fatal mine blast, near the village of Bamut, also wounded four other soldiers, the official said. Much of the past decadeâs second Chechen war, which began in September 1999, has been a bloody stalemate in which Russian forces try to uproot rebels from their bases in the republicâs southern mountains. The rebels respond with hit-and-run attacks and remote-detonated explosives.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:35:05 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
An explosion at a scientific institute in the Georgian capital killed two people and injured two others on Sunday, an investigator said. The explosion occurred on the 14th floor of the Tbilisi Institute for UnStable Isotopes, said Valery Grigarashvili, chief of investigations for the Tbilisi prosecutorâs office. Okay, now Iâm interested.
There were no reports of radioactive materials being released in the blast. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known, but the ITAR-Tass news agency said it occurred during a transfer of nitrogen, an indication that a canister of the gas could have blown up. Someone have a work accident? By the way, if youâve ever seen the gas cylinders scientists keep in labs, you know they can make quite a bang if they decompress suddenly. Theyâre about 4 feet tall, about 10 inches in diameter, and contained compressed gas (nitrogen, CO2, argon, whatever you need, anywhere from 1000 to 3000 psi). We always teach our techs that if you break off the regulator accidently, you have an unguided torpedo.
The institute is primarily involved in research for medical equipment. Primarily? What about the rest of the research?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/19/2004 12:27:34 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Aparently they have a small research project on unguided torpedos.
Posted by: john ||
01/19/2004 10:35 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I've never heard of a nitrogen canister exploding. It's usually pretty inert. If an N2 canister were to explode, I would expect that to happen at a worksite not in a lab.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 12:19 Comments ||
Top||
Iranâs hard-line Guardian Council on Sunday defended its disqualification of prospective candidates for next monthâs parliamentary elections, further deepening a political crisis. They canât back down, theyâre dead if they do.
The Guardian Council, an anti-democratic, fascist unelected body controlled by fascist beturbanned thugs hard-liners, has disqualified more than a third of the 8,200 people who applied to run in the Feb. 20 elections. Reformists believe the move was an attempt to skew the elections in favor of conservatives. Brilliant, Holmes, brilliant!
``The Guardian Council wonât back down at all,ââ Guardian Council spokesman Ebrahim Azizi told a press conference. ``Lawmakers whose speech or behavior suggest that they have had no loyalty to us with the black turbans to Islam or the constitution will remain disqualified.ââ The comments dashed hopes of a breakthrough after Iranâs supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the Guardian Council on Wednesday to reconsider the disqualifications and laid down criteria that appeared to be easier to meet. On Saturday, reformist Deputy Interior Minister Morteza Moballegh, who is Iranâs chief of elections, warned he would not allow next monthâs legislative elections to proceed unless hard-liners backed down. Interesting line of attack. Cancelling the elections might make the whole country go poof.
About 80 reformist lawmakers have been holding sit-in demonstrations for a week. They took their protest a step further Saturday by starting dawn-to-dusk fasts. Cheez, not another Ramadan!
President Mohammad Khatami condemned the disqualifications and warned he might resign if they were not reversed. And the European Union and the United States said the elections would lose credibility unless the Guardian Councilâs decision was overturned. Iranâs 27 provincial governors have vowed to resign by Monday unless the disqualifications are reversed. That wonât be enough to start the revolution but it would be useful. Letâs see how many of the 27 have stones.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/19/2004 12:16:56 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Blast you, Steve :P
You beat me by only 2 minutes!
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 0:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I remain unconvinced that these 'reformers' have the sack to take on a well organized, reslilient police state. If they, or some 'chief of elections' functionary they appointed does, then we really are lucky and 2004 will be yet another bad year for this jihad thing.
They canât back down, theyâre dead if they do.
All that's left is to make it so that they're dead if they don't. This could be shaping up to be the opportunity to toss the mullahs without having to employ U.S. armament. Are you paying attention, GWB?
#10
Make no mistake, I think we have a policy of making our own luck in Iran by rhetorically supporting reformers and occupying 2 neighboring countries.
However, if the Iranians rise up against the mullah's because the Guardians botched up the candidate vetting process, then we will be lucky for how quickly and cleanly our policies led to success.
By 'well organized' I mean that the mullahs have constructed a system in which a reasonably broad spectrum of the populace sees some benefit from the status quo and a reliable core of these people are willing to keep the rest in line by force. The mullahs' grip on power is less brittle than that of other police states. A velvet type revolution is our only hope in the short term as there is no credible armed resistance. This scenario would require miscalculation by the mullahs -- an element of luck from our perspective.
President Roh Moo-hyun sought to reassure South Koreans who are nervous about the U.S. militaryâs withdrawal from Seoul, saying Sunday the move will not weaken the countryâs defenses against North Korea.
Actually, they shouldn't. Unless the ROK forces have gone downhill in recent years, the U.S. has been providing a magic feather...
On Saturday, U.S. and South Korean officials announced the relocation over the next three years of all U.S. forces from Seoul. The redeployments would put U.S. troops out of the range of North Korean artillery, but commanders say they would still be able to defend the border with high-tech weapons and air power. ``There is nothing to worry about at all,ââ Roh was quoted as saying by his office when he met leaders of the pro-government Uri Party on Sunday. I donât see the fuss, we telegraphed this to Roh a good while back.
The withdrawal has spurred fear in South Korea that the U.S. military would no longer serve as a ``trip wireââ in case of a North Korean invasion - taking immediate casualties and thus ensuring U.S. commitment to a fight. Why yes, it would give us some flexibility. But I doubt weâd let the NKors just roll through.
About 7,000 American troops will move from their base in the center of Seoul to a U.S. base some 45 miles south of Seoul. But many South Koreans remain opposed to the move. For older Koreans, the base has been a symbol of the U.S.-South Korean alliance that repelled a communist invasion during the 1950-53 Korean War, enabling the security that made South Koreaâs economic growth possible. South Koreaâs postwar generations, however, often see the foreign military presence in their capital as a slight to national pride. Others complain the 656-acre base occupies prime real estate in Seoul and worsens the cityâs chronic traffic congestion. Clear it and put a mall there. Be happy.
South Korea had asked that a contingent of as many as 1,000 troops remain. But that option foundered on a disagreement over how much land would be needed. "Sure, Mr. Roh, we can keep 1,000 men there. But youâll need to give us another 600 acres."
"Whatever for? Thatâs less men than you have there now!"
"Our boys were hoping to stretch their legs a bit. 600 more acres, please."
"On second thought, you can pull them all out."
Both U.S. and South Korean officials have noted that the redeployment does not reduce the total number of 37,000 U.S. troops based in South Korea. For now.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/19/2004 12:10:48 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
But what will happen to I'taewon, the happiest place on earth?
Whitecollar Redneck-
...The nice merchants and social service providers of the I'taewon district will discover an interesting phenomena known as the Angeles City Effect. That's what happens when you listen to the rabble-rousing politicians and actually support removing the US forces that pay for your existence.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/19/2004 10:33 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The redeployments would put U.S. troops out of the range of North Korean artillery,..
How about going them one better? Redeploy U.S. troops WAY out of artillery range, like say, Japan or better yet, home?
#6
Oh, come on. Who thinks the NKor army will make it past the first supermarket it comes to? Heck, if the SKors were smart, they'd build a line of Walmarts along the DMZ.
#7
If we have remove our troops from the Korea, Roh will have the equality that he desires. It is very hard to treat a son or daughter as an adult when they are sponging off you. At the point where the US has removed itself from the vicinity, Roh must decide whether to wishes to pay blackmail and appease Kim or to confront and stand up to him. Adults have to address tough issues.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/19/2004 12:46 Comments ||
Top||
#8
The invasion of S. Korea will stall right in front of the first Yakimandu stand.
A Delta Airlines plane with 147 passengers on board made an emergency landing at Ireland's Shannon Airport on Sunday after a bomb scare, an airport spokeswoman said. All passengers were safely taken off the plane which was flying from Frankfurt in Germany to Atlanta, Georgia. "The plane landed safely and our emergency services are in attendance," the spokeswoman for Aer Rianta, Ireland's airports authority said. The aircraft has been parked in a remote part of the airport in the south-west of the country. "The plane is being checked out and this is expected to take several hours. The army bomb squad has been called in," the spokeswoman said. She was unable to give details about the circumstances that had led to the alert.
I think they said on the news earlier last night that it was a note left in the restroom.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/19/2004 00:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Some kid from Germany.
Either throw him in prison or ban him from visiting for the rest of his life.
Israel has arrested a top military leader of the radical Palestinian movement, Islamic Jihad. Ahmad Bseis is the head of the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, for the northern West Bank. The Israeli Army and and Islamic Jihad spokesman says he was arrested in Nablus by a special army unit disguised as civilians. The army says he is wanted for planning and involvement in attacks against Israel.
Have a nice chat, Ahmad.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/19/2004 00:05 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"David, the silver truncheon please! We have an important guest!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/19/2004 0:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
No need to question him. Just announce that he'll be held for his own protection while certain information is confirmed, then watch the cockroaches scurry.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/19/2004 8:10 Comments ||
Top||
#3
RC, that is cold. Can you imagine headlines like "Bseis sings, names names!"
The prominent Muslim cleric arrested last week on charges of lying about his ties to terrorist organizations has built a reputation as one of Clevelandâs most respected religious leaders. But authorities allege that Fawaz Damra, imam of Ohioâs largest mosque, did not mention his connection to "terrorist organizations that advocated the persecution of Jews and others by means of violent terrorist attacks" when he applied for U.S. citizenship in the early 1990s. "Heâs charged with providing the INS with false information," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Bakeman. "Itâs not a frequently used charge, because the situation does not arise very often."
Damra is accused of not disclosing his ties to the Alkifah Refugee Center, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and its offshoot, the Islamic Committee for Palestine. Damra, born in what are now the occupied Palestinian territories, co-founded the Alkifah Refugee Center in Brooklyn, which sought recruits to help fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. The facility later became linked to Osama bin Laden, founder of the al Qaeda terrorist network. Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman took over the center and an affiliated mosque and was subsequently convicted and imprisoned in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Damra, 41, was secretly indicted in December, but the charges were not unsealed until last Tuesday, when he was arrested and appeared in court. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $160,000 bail. If convicted, he could serve up to five years in prison and lose his citizenship. His trial is scheduled for February. His attorney, Joseph McGinness, said the charges are part of a misguided government effort â at the expense of innocents â to show that it is making headway in the war on terrorism. "Heâs been very open about his past," McGinness said. "Heâs done a great deal to bridge the gap between various religions. You couldnât meet a nicer man."
Law enforcement officials say Damra also has had ties for years to Sami al-Arian, a former computer sciences professor in Florida who was indicted 11 months ago on charges of conspiracy to commit murder through suicide attacks on Jews in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The indictment said Arian has for years been a top leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has been designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist group. Arian denies the charges. Officials say a person identified in the Arian indictment as "unindicted co-conspirator one" is Damra. The indictment said that at a Cleveland gathering in 1991, the unindicted co-conspirator introduced Arian and urged listeners to contribute funds to Arianâs Tampa-based group, which authorities said was a front for Palestinian Islamic Jihad. All the remarks in the indictment attributed to the unindicted co-conspirator were made by Damra at the rally, terrorism experts said. Interesting if true because it points to a link between the PIJ and al-Qaeda (through Iran?), which is something that we havenât heard about before. The two were already joined by mentality, but this would represent evidence of a more formal cooperation between the two.
At the gathering, the unindicted co-conspirator said Arianâs group was Palestinian Islamic Jihadâs active arm in the United States, and he instructed his audience to turn off tape recorders because the discussion would be too sensitive to be taped, according to congressional testimony. Damra became well known locally for more than a decade spent building bridges between the Islamic Center of Cleveland and Christians and Jews. But the sincerity of his efforts was questioned soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, when a television station ran a decade-old video of him discussing "directing all rifles at the first and last enemy of the Islamic nation and this is the sons of monkeys and pigs, the Jews." Damra later apologized.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/19/2004 12:04:17 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yeah, I bet this guys' bridge building was more grandstanding than some sort of out-reach to the cats and dogs.
#3
GK, sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but some splodeydope named "Mohammed" killed the Easter Bunny with a suicide belt. Somehow, he was convinced the Easter Bunny was a Jewish plot to dominate Islam. You have to wonder what kind of education these people get, to make a mistake like that...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/19/2004 2:04 Comments ||
Top||
#4
How Terrible. Not only am I humiliated, but my feelings are crushed.:)
#5
"Heâs been very open about his past," McGinness said. "Heâs done a great deal to bridge the gap between various religions. You couldnât meet a nicer man."
Yes, I could. Easily. Just find someone who hasn't called Jews "the sons of monkeys and pigs" and you'll have a nicer man.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/19/2004 8:08 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"Heâs been very open about his past," McGinness said. "Heâs done a great deal to bridge the gap between various religions. You couldnât meet a nicer man."
According to the indictment, he apparently wasn't quite "open" about his past where it counted.
I say send the bastard to Israel for a face-to-face talk with Mossad "employees".
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.
