A Thai man was mauled when he drunkenly tried to rape a dog which fiercely resisted his advances, news reports said yesterday. Police in Samut Prakan province, on Bangkokâs southeastern fringes, told the Thai Rath newspaper that Toryip Rawang, 33, had been drinking heavily with friends before Mondayâs incident. Toryip was questioned by police after residents of the area notified local authorities when they saw the bloodied man walking along a road. He told police he noticed a brown female stray dog wagging its tail and "acting sexy" and pulled it into some tall grass by the roadside. But the dog resisted, biting him on his face, chest and arms before he gave up his attempt and tried to stagger home. Under further questioning Toryip admitted to previously raping three dogs while he was under the influence of alcohol. He told police he always became aroused when he drank heavily but did not have enough money to pay a prostitute. Police said Toryip had been given a rabies shot and was not charged with a crime, but he had fled his home in an apparent effort to avoid public ridicule. Good lord, lol, he needs to stop drinking.
#2
....he had fled his home in an apparent effort to avoid public ridicule.
He should move to Nepal where it's perfectly legal,encouraged even, provided you marry the dog.
#3
we are supposed to love the animals as my PETA leaders tell me, but that is going to far! he should be stoned in public(not that kind of stoned u r thinking) for that. i just want to know if the poor soul (doggy) is ever going to ever get over the trauma, or is scarred for life. i'm sending a check to peta tommoro.
#17
These fringe issues can really pit the left wing special interests against each other. For instance the Mass Supreme Court would demand equal protection for the Nepalese couple, while PETA would only animal rape if the animal were the raper not the victim. For one of very few times in my life I agree with PETA in this case. Tat clown needs to be violated gang style by a rowdy sleigh team of St Bernards.
Planned Parenthood would just want the ASPCA to start velcro-ing packs of Trojans to the collars of any guests at the pound.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 22:41 Comments ||
Top||
I donât think there is a single blog out there I read that hasnât at least once linked to Democratic Undergroundâs Forum. The place is like a train wreck of human thought; you just canât help but gawk at their twisted logic and wild-eyed conspiracy theories. Iâve even ended up becoming addicted to the site; anytime there is breaking news, I think, "I wonder what the nuts are saying about this," and head straight for DU. Itâs like a daily freak show. Yet, Iâve begun to tire of it, and I realized why. In the end, itâs really just the same thing over and over. After careful analysis (two minutes thought), I think I broke down all the variance of opinion youâll ever see on DU and put into one imitated thread. They will often go on longer than this, but then itâs a lot of the same posts being made over and over by other people. Well, without further ado, here is the...
[Excerpt of article about military issue, political issue, man-made event, natural occurence, or... well... anything followed by link to entire article]
Looks suspicious to me.
----
[Index of response titles]
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8lame8ush
1. Obvious ploy
Itâs obvious that Karl Rove is behind this. How this happened on [whatever the date is] is just too convenient in timing, especially considering that [Bushâs poll numberâs are up/Bushâs poll numbers are down/Bushâs poll numbers are neutral/itâs raining in Antigua].
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Th!nkH3sFunny
2. Treat for Bush*
I bet Karl Rove is giving Chimpy a banana over this one.
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muck4d00
LOL!
Though your humor was blunt and inept, I will praise you for it, Th!nkH3sFunny, and pretend I laughed since it goes along with my own prejudices.
----
halfempty
4. Nothing we can do
This just make me feel so depressed. There is nothing Bush* and the neo-cons wonât do to keep power and wage war. Remember, these are the same people who rigged an election, killed Carnahan and Wellstone, and stole my bong. Theyâre going to steal the election again with the "liberal media" helping them all the way. Then theyâll plunge the world into death and chaos and Iâll never be able to get another bong.
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halffull
5. This will sink Bush*
I disagree, halfempty, this is exactly what is going to make people realize that Bush* really is like Hitler⊠and then everyone will turn against him⊠and then true progressives will get in office⊠and then peace will be had in the world⊠and then gumdrops will fall from the sky⊠and then unicorns will roam the land once again.
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M3sn00ty
6. We smart
You may be right, halffull, but remember that we, the progressives of DU, are much smarter than everyone else. We have to carefully move all others to our viewpoints because most still donât understand [convoluted conspiracy theory no one understands].
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halffull
7. At least we have debate
Itâs great at least that we talk about things like this here, and donât block out views we donât like such as the Freepers and Repugs do.
----
Name removed
8. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules and better conform to GroupThinkâ¢.
----
Imune2Irony
9. Repugs are nazis
This all just goes along with the Bush*âs and the Repugsâ nazi mentality. The only way we can preserve liberty is to round up the Repugs and put them in ovens.
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N3wGuy
10. My own 2 cents
Ooh! Ooh! Iâm a monkey!
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muck4d00
11, Back to the main point
Imune2Irony and N3wGuy makes some great points, but I just hope everyone keeps in mind how [what was mentioned in the original article] can really be used against us. I bet even the Zionists and the Christians are all cheering about this.
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AFewM4rblesL3ft
12. Careful
Watch how you phrase things. Letâs try not to get labeled anti-Semitic and anti-Christian again.
----
4sylum3scapee
13. Donât be dumb
I wouldnât worry about offending Jews or Christians. If youâve been paying attention to all that going on, especially [a weather occurrence that unconvinced Democrats], itâs obvious that GOD IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY HALIBURTON!
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muck4d00
14. Exactly
If a glowing angel approaches you or a burning bush starts talking to you, DONâT LISTEN TO IT BECAUSE IT IS PURE PRO-BUSH PROPAGANDA!
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4sylum3scapee
15. Beware
Holy Spirit = Goebbels
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Th!nkH3sFunny
16. Wouldnât that be great
I wish someone would burn Bush*.
----
Moderator
17. Locking
Thread is being locked to keep nuttiness evenly spread throughout the forum.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation,
DU moderator
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/04/2004 1:44:08 PM ||
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#1
Absolutely brilliant..dead on. I haven't laughed this hard in months. Excellent job.
This all just goes along with the Bush*âs and the Repugsâ nazi mentality. The only way we can preserve liberty is to round up the Repugs and put them in ovens.
----
N3wGuy"
This is dead on. Back in law school, I came across a quote from an animal rights activist. After viewing a documentary about a slaughterhouse, she said "These people are like Nazis. They should be killed."
Posted by: Tibor ||
02/04/2004 15:26 Comments ||
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#7
Hey halffull, I'm not shur, but are they making fun of us? If so, this isa not funy.
#10
Yes, indeed, mhw - just with more words spelled out... perhaps because they can actually spell, er, for the most part. Got to have something to show for 11 years on Daddy's Dime at DaffySFU.
#12
muck4doo, nevermind what these neocons think. We are WAY WAY smarter! Heck since I moved into my parents garage I have become my own man! My job at the 'All Nature Pizza Shop' was another victim of the Bush war on the underclass. I am working with some of my gay frineds to open the first ever 'Gay Pizzeria and Bath House.' Where you can munch on a pizza, sausage, or whatever strikes you fancy. Sure to be a money maker in our small town of Podunk, OK. If it doesn't work it's because of the facists policies the repugs have made laws! DEAN IN 04 (or 08, 12, 16, etc.)
#14
Ok you caught me. I love to go over there (DU) and rant the most outside screwball conspiracy and always someone agrees! Sometimes I do just to rile the natives up a bit! Great satire you nailed em!
#15
I love to go over there (DU) and rant the most outside screwball conspiracy ...
It's all part of a conspiracy by you neo-cons to make us liberals look bad. The really weird postings on DU are actually neo-con planted (and I'm sure John Ashcroft is involved too) propaganda designed to make DU look stupid. WELL YOU KNOW WHAT - WE LIBERALS CAN LOOK STUPID WITHOUT YOUR HELP! GO TO HELL!
Posted by: Jack A Son ||
02/04/2004 23:19 Comments ||
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Hat tip: The Belligerent Bunny.
James Bond, Maxwell Smart, and Illya Kuryakin were among the spy fiction characters that captured Americansâ imaginations in the â60âs and let them dream of a life filled with intrigue and adventure. Among those caught up in the spy fiction craze was Danny Biederman, a Hollywood screenwriter, author, and consultant specializing in movie and TV spy fiction, who realized at an early age that collecting spy show memorabilia was safer than actually being a spy. The Central Intelligence Agencyâs Fine Arts Commission hosted the first major exhibition of 400 props, photographs, and works of art from Biedermanâs private collection of 4,000 items from August 10, 2000 through January 5, 2001. Click the link to see the website, which has pictures of some of the artifacts from Bierdmannâs collection. Itâs kind of cute, even if they left out my beloved old Secret Sam camera/pistol.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/04/2004 12:57:42 PM ||
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A 75-year-old man in Nepal married a dog in a local custom to ensure good luck only to die three days later, a newspaper reported. With his son and other relatives by his side, Phulram Chaudhary tied the knot with a dog Saturday in Durgauli village in the southwestern Kailali district. He was following a custom of his Tharu community which holds that an old man who regrows teeth must take a dog as a bride. "He believed that this would help him avoid great misfortune later in life. However, he died a few days afterward," the state-run daily Gorkhapatra said.
#5
Lucky, which chams work for you? Are you partial to the pink hearts, green clovers or....
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 14:43 Comments ||
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#6
Everybody knows you have to marry a cat - and only if the cat's willing. It also has to be of age - at least 10!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 14:53 Comments ||
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#7
Strangers in the night,
woof!woof!woof!woof!
strangers in the night!
Don't know more lyics,
biff!, biff!, woof!woof!
cause it just ain't
woof, woof, woof,woof,
stayin strangers in the night,
Moooo, baaaaa,allah akabar, bark, woof.
Posted by: Napoleon VII ||
02/04/2004 17:18 Comments ||
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#8
SuperH. Entrails Bro, bird entrails. But you need an expierenced mufta to see the glow.
Pakistan has handed over to Afghanistan a renegade warlord who was arrested more than two months ago on accusations of banditry along the roads in a sensitive border region, officials said Wednesday. Bacha Khan Zadran - whose forces have at times fought alongside U.S. troops but also battled Afghanistanâs U.S.-backed government - was handed over at a border crossing on Tuesday afternoon. Haji Din Mohammed, governor of eastern Nangarhar province, said Zadran was driven to the Jalalabad airport and flown away in a helicopter sent from Kabul, the capital.
... to be exhibited to the public in a cage until he dies. And probably longer.
Afghan government officials in Kabul couldnât be reached immediately for comment.
They were too busy toasting each other with underpriced champagne...
Zadran was arrested about Dec. 1 in a tribal area of Pakistan near the Afghan frontier. Officials in Kabul said Zadran was arrested with their involvement, saying he had repeatedly blocked the main road between Afghanistanâs Khost and Paktia provinces. Zadran was briefly appointed governor of Paktia in December 2001, but removed from the post after local officials, backed by their own militia, refused to allow him to enter the city and take office. Since then, his forces have tried to take small patches of territory in defiance of the central government.
He's allied himself with Hek, with Mullah Omar, and Binny, in the name of jihad...
Authorities in Kabul say Zadran had set up numerous checkpoints in Paktia and Khost to extort money from passers-by.
But at heart he's just a crook. A nasty crook.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 2:52:29 PM ||
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#1
is this the senior guy the paks claimed to have caught some time ago???
#2
He's not exactly "senior" and seems to be fairly normal as Afghan warlords go. He got busted in Pakistan and is now being turned back over to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 15:04 Comments ||
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#3
Must have bugged after the powwow to hand out offices to retired warlords. I hear they only offered him the FCC. He was holding out for Transportation as his brother-in-law owns a used donkey outlet. He would have been rolling in cash.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 19:44 Comments ||
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Two rockets were fired at the Afghan capital Tuesday, one slamming into a cemetery and a second hitting a nearby hillside. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The first rocket struck about 9:45 p.m. at the cemetery in northwest Kabul, injuring no one, police said. They didnât even kill any of the dead people.
As police and reporters went to the area and inspected the crater caused by the first attack, a second rocket whizzed overhead, needlessly sending people scrambling for cover. It landed on a nearby hillside, some of which is covered by housing. It was not immediately clear if it had caused damage or casualties. Rockets are frequently fired at American military bases around the country, usually at night and never rarely hitting their target. Salvos are occasionally also fired into Kabul. Hekâs boys continue to demonstrate their impeccable targeting!
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 12:36:35 AM ||
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#1
AQ wants the WoT to still be fought in a sand pit.
#2
Hek's boyz once again demonstrate their unrivaled accuracy. How this band of maroons ever ended up terrorizing the country during the early 1990s boggles the mind.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 1:13 Comments ||
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#3
Amen, Dan. I seem to remember the voluminous press reports and armchair analysts declarations regards the incredibly tough "Afghan fighter" - superman, he was. In the face of real troops, we find he is, basically, a chump with a gun - for sale... and I guess just about everybody in the countryside plays this game, since it's pretty hard to scratch out a living in a rock garden.
Terrorizing the Kabulies seems to have been very simple: show up with a bunch of ragtag pseudo-gunnies armed with AK-47's and you rule. The fact that they can have 2 hour firefights at 20 paces with no casualties seems to have been lost somewhere along the way.
Pfeh on these imagined super-fighters and the press corp's gullibility.
#4
Dan-
Newsweek once called the Taliban 'a cross between the SS and the Marx Brothers.' I think they were pretty accurate there.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/04/2004 10:10 Comments ||
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#5
The only explanation that I can think of for the Afghans ejecting the Red Army is that Afghanistanis must have received more outside aid than just some Stinger missiles. The UBL's camps must have turned out fighters that were capable of hitting something.
Maybe the Pakistanis were running camps at the time, or Pakistan redressed veterans from the glacier fighters as mujahadim. Maybe the CIA was in there.
Regardless, the guys with ability and backbone are dead or gone - possibly taking an evacuation flight back to Pakistan.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 11:13 Comments ||
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#6
Superhose, part o bthe explanation is that getting close enough to do damage on American troops is far harder than firing at Russian conscripts who in addition didn't have the electronics for locating sources of enemy fire.
The Taliban were mere bullies, madrassa students not real fighters. The resistance people and specially Massood's men were on another class. About the people of UBL's camps, my reports is that Afghans had a poor opinion of them as fighters: they told the only thing they were good at was at having themselves pictured over a background of Afghan mountains. That and torturing prisonners with a savagery who was far beyond Afghan practices.
#7
JFM, would ISI training have resulted in passable gunnies? I am impressed with the descriptions I have read of the training of the glacier fighters on both the Indian and Pakistani sides.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 19:48 Comments ||
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Fisk, fisks himself
Indeed, one of the pillars so furiously stoned by the emotional crowds at Mecca yesterday had the letters "USA" scrawled upon it. Slaughtering camels, cows and sheep - and eating their barbecued remains - is not, it seems, the only way in which pilgrims can celebrate the Eid.
Click on the link, to read the rest, if you are so inclined.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/04/2004 4:17:38 AM ||
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#1
Indeed, one of the pillars so furiously stoned by the emotional crowds at Mecca yesterday had the letters "USA" scrawled upon it.
Is our ambassador complaining?
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/04/2004 7:22 Comments ||
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#2
Tipper, article didn't say anything about "USA" scrawled. Please don't falsify info.
Posted by: Rob Ramage ||
02/04/2004 8:59 Comments ||
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#3
Read the last paragraph before you start sharpshooting, Slick.
#5
Errrr
Scrool down to the bottom of the article and what do you find?
"Indeed, one of the pillars so furiously stoned by the emotional crowds at Mecca yesterday had the letters "USA" scrawled upon it. Slaughtering camels, cows and sheep - and eating their barbecued remains - is not, it seems, the only way in which pilgrims can celebrate the Eid."
As if I would "falsify" anything. You'll be hearing from my defamition attorney, anyday soon :).
#7
at the mideast news there was an article in which muslims who were interviewed indicated that they had hoped they would be the ones to die in the hadj (lgf had a hotlink to it on his site):
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=8740
#10
A couple of thoughts(questions)while we're waiting for Mr Ramage to apologize to tipper:
1.Since the Hajis were in the act of attacking the devil, isn't it also possible that those trampled merely lost the battle?
2.When a pilgrim dies violently during the Hajj does he get his reward of virgins/raisins?
#14
Gasse Katze--well, supposedly if you die during the hajj you go directly to paradise. I don't think you get bonus points for dying stupidly, or 72 raisins as a reward, though.
#15
It is possible to funnel large numbers of people through a confined space safely. Ever been to a Disney theme park? It takes some planning, but it ain't rocket science.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/04/2004 18:15 Comments ||
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Intelligence chiefs ignored warnings from their own leading experts that they could not be certain Iraq had chemical and biological weapons, a former intelligence official who gave crucial evidence to the Hutton inquiry claimed today. In comments likely to increase pressure on the government over the issue of weapons of mass destruction, Dr Brian Jones, a former branch head in the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS), said that the most senior intelligence officials may have "misinterpreted" key evidence on Iraqâs weapons programmes. Dr Jones laid out his claims in the Independent newspaper, which said he suggested that not a single defence intelligence expert backed Tony Blairâs most contentious claims on WMD, although there is no unequivocal proof of this. The expert claimed that a large part of the DIS was unhappy with the way raw WMD intelligence was being used without "careful caveats".
Intel reports actually make dull reading, because everything is "possible" or "probable" or "suspected." Taking the weasel words out can shorten their length by half...
In the article, Dr Jones said he and a DIS colleague formally complained about the Iraq dossier because they feared that they would be made "scapegoats" after the war when no weapons were found. His claims came as MPs were preparing to debate in the Commons Lord Huttonâs findings from his inquiry into the death of weapons specialist Dr David Kelly, and appeared certain to raise the temperature in the chamber. Huttonâs report largely exonerated the government over the death of Dr Kelly and cleared it of "sexing up" the dossier. Some critics subsequently condemned it as a "whitewash".
Uhhh... They were the one Hutton panned...
Dr Jonesâs claims also followed the prime ministerâs announcement yesterday of an inquiry into the Iraq intelligence. The article gives an account of the extraordinary tensions within the intelligence services in the run-up to the publication of the governmentâs Iraq weapons dossier in September. It also casts new doubt on the role played by the Joint Intelligence Committee - which includes the heads of all the intelligence agencies - and its chairman, John Scarlett. At the time, Dr Jones headed the branch within the DIS scientific and technical directorate, which was responsible for analysing all intelligence on nuclear, chemical and biological warfare. He described his team as the "foremost group of analysts in the west" on the subject. But he said that, when they warned that the dossier had overstated the case on Iraqâs chemical weapons (CW) and biological weapons (BW) capabilities, they were overruled.
Sammy "probably" had WMDs, "possibly" had a nuke development program. You're gonna bet your civilization that the analysts are wrong? Or that they're right?
The DIS was told that the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, had other intelligence to back up the claims but it was considered to be so sensitive that it was "compartmented" and not shown to the other agencies. Dr Jones said that did not satisfy the experts in the DIS, however. "My belief is that right up to the publication of the dossier there was a unified view amongst not only my own staff but all the DIS experts that, on the basis of the intelligence available to them, the assessment that Iraq possessed a CW or BW capability should be carefully caveated," he said.
Now, I'd have said it was "near certain" they had a chem capability, pointing to the piles of dead Kurds. And I'd probably have said the same thing about bio, since it's only marginally harder to produce than chem. Weaponization and avoiding starting any epidemics in your own back yard is the hard part...
Dr Jones said he was concerned that the small number of very high level intelligence officials who did have access to the "compartmented" intelligence may have misinterpreted the evidence. "I considered who might have seen this ultra-sensitive intelligence and reached the conclusion that it was extremely doubtful that anyone with a high degree of CW and BW expertise was among the exclusive group," he said. "It is the intelligence community leadership at the level of the membership of the JIC and the upper echelons of the DIS - those who had access to and may have misinterpreted the compartmented intelligence - that had the final say on the assessment presented in the dossier." He said that the agency chiefs and other senior officials who sat on the JIC were mostly very busy officials and may have had neither the time nor the expertise to analyse the intelligence before them properly.
I was on the staff of the director of one of our intel agencies in a very minor capacity once. He's been a talking head on a few shows, though I haven't seen him lately. He probably knew half of what he thought he knew. So the guy has a point...
He said: "When they take it upon themselves to overrule experienced experts they should be very sure of their ground and, if a decision to do so is based on additional sensitive intelligence unknown to the experts, it must be incontrovertible."
It happens lots of times, though, and usually they're right, based on the super-duper-secret compartmented information...
Dr Jones said that he and his DIS colleague had taken the rare step of setting out their concerns in writing because they feared they would be blamed if no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. Dr Jonesâs article is likely to raise fresh concerns that Mr Scarlett became too close to the Downing Street "magic circle" around the prime minister and his then communications director, Alastair Campbell. Although Lord Hutton cleared No 10 of improper interference in the production of the dossier, he acknowledged that Mr Scarlett and other intelligence officials may have been "subconsciously" influenced by Mr Blairâs call for the dossier to be as strong as possible. The article may also reflect concerns within the agencies over where the blame will fall when Lord Butler - the former cabinet secretary appointed by Mr Blair to head the inquiry into to the Iraq intelligence - finally reports.
Commenting on the remarks made by Dr Jones, the Conservative leader, Michael Howard, told BBC Radio 4âs Today programme: "I think that this is very serious, very important indeed." He said he agreed with Dr Jonesâs call for Mr Blair to now publish the intelligence behind the governmentâs claims that Iraq was actively producing chemical weapons and could launch an attack within 45 minutes. Mr Howard said people could then "form their proper opinion of the extent to which it was taken into account and of the extent to which it was turned into something else [which], in Dr Jonesâs words, ... was misleading".
I'll be surprised if they do that. Super-duper-secret intel could well come from a source that's not restricted to Iraq...
Mr Howard also defended his decision to cooperate with the Butler inquiry, which the Liberal Democrats have refused to do on the grounds that its scope is too narrow. Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said Dr Jonesâs comments were a new blow for Mr Blair. So whatâs the real story? Fear of being a scapegoat? If they got something, they better pull it out soon.
However, I do have a new theory as to who will lead us to Iraqâs WMDs: Mr. Saddam Hussein. After learning from interrogators and outside news sources about how he had been played for a stupid patsy chasing WMD dreams, he tells us where to find them to bring back a small portion of his wounded arab pride.
Posted by: Daniel King ||
02/04/2004 3:57:10 PM ||
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#2
All this crap about 'ignoring experts' who were unsure about the weapons. Suck me. They were few and far between and you'd be an idiot to 'ignore' the overwhelming majority. 10 people: Boss, I think he's got a gun. 1 person: Yeah, but he might not. Boss: Shoot his ass.
#3
I have a slightly different view... the lack of WMD in Iraq lends credence to the theory that the faisalist nations might not be able to maintain or create them. I think this cheaply won evidence alone was worth the war. (If you call fighting arabs a war).
#4
Re: #3
Um, Mr. Shipman, if the faisalist nations can't create them, what did all those Kurds and Iranians die from, laughter?
Just curious.
This whole thing is absurd. Everyone from Kooky Anan down knew that he had them and had programs going to do more. Kay has stated unequivocally that this was going on. So maybe he deep-sixed the major stores before the war as that Bulgarian Spy theorized, based on his knowledge of the Russian MO. It looks like everyone in Iraq from Saddam down thought the next guy had them.
Isn't it a little much to expect our intelligence agencies to know more than the entire command structure of the Iraq Army?
Posted by: Alan ||
02/04/2004 18:05 Comments ||
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Suspected French terrorist Willie Brigitte tried to get information from his wife, former soldier Melanie Brown about the top-secret spy facility at Pine Gap, French police sources say. During her four days of interrogation by French officials in Paris last month, police said Ms Brown recalled incidents with Brigitte in Sydney that, on reflection, seemed suspicious to her. In particular, Ms Brown is understood to have told French interrogators that Brigitte questioned her at length about the US-Australian electronic intelligence station at Pine Gap, near Alice Springs. He asked her if she had ever been inside the base when she was in the Australian Army Signal Corps, whose members are experts in communication intercepts. While in the army, Ms Brown was reportedly training in Arabic and performed a tour of duty in East Timor. Before joining up, she had been a corporal in the Air Training Corps.
And she thought he only wanted her for her body...
Brigitte asked her about the transmission systems and the low-frequency electronic transmitting antennae the US had reportedly installed in Pine Gap. French police sources said Ms Brown, 27, insisted she had not revealed any military secrets to Brigitte.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
A convert to Islam, Ms Brown said last week she had decided to end her marriage to Brigitte, who was deported from Australia to a Paris prison late last year.
She'll prob'ly go back to being a Jewish lesbian. Or maybe become a Buddhist. She hasn't tried that yet...
But in an apparent change of heart on Tuesday, Ms Brown told reporters as she visited Brigitte in prison that she loved and supported him. French police sources say that by the end of her interrogation by French counter-espionage officers, Ms Brown felt Brigitte had lied to her and might have been a terrorist.
"You mean, Inspector Camembert... He was only using me?"
"You were a pawn, Madam. A pawn in a deadly game!"
Sources said Ms Brown told the investigators Brigitte never threw anything out, but often burnt personal papers or handwritten documents in the kitchen sink.
"And you did not find that a bit... unusual, Madam?"
One day, he burnt his passport, which contained his Pakistani visa. When Ms Brown asked him why he was doing this, he told her it was none of her business.
"None o' yer business, woman! Attend to yer chores!"
Almost every morning, Brigitte was visited by the same man, and they sat together for long periods in front of a computer connected to the internet. Ms Brown never saw the visitorâs face, but she knew him because she recognised his particular way of knocking at the door.
"Shave and a haircut, two bits!"
Brigitte seemed interested in Ms Brownâs money. French police said she had accumulated relatively sizeable savings, especially after her missions in East Timor, and Brigitte strongly encouraged his wife to write her will. Some of the more speculative French investigators have hypothesised that Brigitte might have intended to persuade his wife to carry out a suicide attack on a US military facility.
Or he was going to bump her off and use the money for a fling with someone named Trixie...
Posted by: TS ||
02/04/2004 10:03:12 AM ||
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strongly encouraged his wife to write her will
Leaving everything to him, I guess we all see where this was going. Still think this has the makings of a Lifetime Network movie of the week, "The Jihadi Who Loved Me".
Posted by: Steve ||
02/04/2004 14:08 Comments ||
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#2
Umm, wasn't there an article here yesterday about the Ozzies military signals getting mixed w/their TV signals?
Indonesian MPs have accused Australia of bugging Indonesiaâs embassy in Canberra. The claim that Australia had installed microphones in the embassy threatens to strain relations with Jakarta as ministers from the two countries meet in Bali for a counter-terrorism summit meant to showcase improving ties. Indonesian MPs made the accusation at a closed-door meeting with State Code Institute (LSN) chairman Major-General Nachrowi Ramli in Jakarta. Parliamentary foreign affairs committee member Djoko Susilo said a delegation of MPs who recently visited Canberra found microphones attached to alarm systems at the embassy and at the ambassadorâs official residence. He said Indonesia believed the bugs were installed by Australian Federal Police as part of Canberraâs decision to boost security measures at the embassy following the Bali bombings. An Australian embassy spokesman in Bali said he would not comment on security matters affecting the two countries. And a spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry, Marty Natalegawa, dismissed the possibility of bugging. He said embassy communications had been intercepted, but it was due to a technical problem whereby a frequency used by the embassy had overlapped with a signal from a local private television station. hmm
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/04/2004 12:49:14 AM ||
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Using pre-existing wiring is a very efficient method of technical surveillance. Its already powered and a wired transmission channel is less detectable than using something radio based. This seems plausible.
#2
This accusation gets recycled on a regular basis. They probably are being bugged. The USA/UK/Australia has a massive infratsructure to listen in to all kinds of things.
On another level its just standard Islamo-conspiracy mindset shit. Indonesia - the world's most populous kleptocracy. Gotta blame someone for the mess we are in and the Jooos are too far away.
Via Drudge: US plans to cut troops in Europe by a third
The US is preparing to cut the number of troops stationed in Europe by up to a third, diplomats said on Tuesday. This will be one of the biggest reductions since American soldiers were first based there after the second world war.
Washington will not establish new permanent bases in eastern Europe - allaying fears that the Pentagon was preparing to punish some countries of "old Europe" for their opposition to the US-led war against Iraq. "If anything, the troops taken out of Europe will be sent home," said a Nato diplomat. "From there, they will be sent on exercises or training missions to small bases established on a temporary basis in Poland, Romania or Bulgaria. The old days of the giant US barracks .(In Europe)
. . are over." Romania and Bulgaria will be disappointed by the news, although east European diplomats played down their concerns. "We will be delighted if we now get a little base," one said. The US has 119,000 troops in Europe, 80,000 of which are stationed in Germany. (Ouch, thatâll hurt.)
At the height of the Cold War, Washington had more than 300,000 troops in western Europe. (Interesting they donât put the family perspective into it, weâre talking a lot of people, here.)
Russia has warned against moves by Nato or the US to shift forces eastwards once seven new countries, all former communist states, join the European Union in May. In Moscow last week Colin Powell, US secretary of state, told Vladimir Putin, Russian president, that Washington had no intention of encircling Russia. (We donât need to, theyâre putting bases near ours in certain parts of the ME and I donât think they can afford to meet our spending.)
"We are not looking to move bases, of the kind we used to have during the Cold War, closer to Russia just to put a base closer to Russia," said Mr Powell. Diplomats said the Pentagon was set on creating highly flexible, small units that could be moved quickly to temporary bases. General Jones, the US commander in Europe and Natoâs military chief, wants to create these structures for Nato as well. Mr Powell and Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, are not preparing to cut the number of troops in one sweep. "The US is still consulting a great deal with all its allies. It has yet to make the final decision over what bases will be closed," said a German diplomat. "Much is at stake. Entire villages have built their future around the bases, particularly in Germany. You just canât destroy those 60-year-old relationships." (Canât live w/âem, canât live w/o em. And unemploymentâs been cut to a year, IIRC.)
A Pentagon spokesman denied that any decision had been taken on troop reduction levels, saying discussions were still ongoing. Nato officials said the US would not close Ramstein, its biggest military base in southern Germany, as it is a key strategic asset for US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Posted by: Anonymous2U ||
02/04/2004 1:17:10 AM ||
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Ack, beat by less than two minutes!
By any chance, is your name Steve?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 1:19 Comments ||
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I wonder if this will bump the German unemployment rate to 12%?
Posted by: Dan Canaveral ||
02/04/2004 5:17 Comments ||
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You just canât destroy those 60-year-old relationships.
Schroeder and company should have thought about this before proceeding to destroy them.
PS. Last time I looked, the gates of US Army bases didn't have a sign that said "German Welfare Bureau"
Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2004 8:32 Comments ||
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good to go. Bring the lads home. I care more about boosting economic development in CONUS before the Euro theater. 40,00 troops coming back to CONUS is a good start. Better yet, have some of them augment our own border patrol.
#6
I've always felt that bases in Eastern Europe would be nice for our allies, but too far from where the action would be in the future.
The US should lease out Gibralter as a base. That way both the Brits and the Spanish can claim the land without losing face, and the US would have a nice base close that didn't require overflight permission to go anywhere.
#7
We have always lived very well with U.S. troops. Many servicemen of all ranks (including blacks) are married to German women and have families here. Germany has always been the favorite place for U.S. troops to be stationed.
It's hardly about Germany's defense any more. I guess stationing in Eatern Europe may be cheaper, but money is not all that counts here.
Of course the economic impact will be felt although it's a very local thing. Germany's own defense cuts hurt much more.
If U.S. troops leave it will hurt those communities which have been most U.S. friendly over decades.
Well, times are a-changing... But if you have to leave... you will be remembered. And I hope that the friendship will continue to last.
#9
There was a good relationship between Germany and the US but the world changed when no one was looking. There are too many things that can't be unsaid and I think we can both agree that central Europe is no longer the nexus of conflict like it was.
I always wanted to be stationed in Germany if only to see where Great-Great-Great Grandpa Nocollar Peasant Redneck came from. But its too late for me now.
#11
I got my ten years plus in Germany, all in the beautiful spa city of Wiesbaden - three tours! Loved it, even though the last tour was not anywhere near as pleasant as the first. It's not just the United States or the World situation that's changed - so has Germany. It's felt thorughout the country, even in cities that have long been pro-US. Mostly the younger generation, IMHO.
We'll need to keep a central operating location in Europe, preferably one where we can hold joint exercises with our local allies. I'd also expect us to have similar facilities in Iraq that we'll keep for a generation or so, and possibly develop new facilities in Southeast Asia (Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, or somewhere else not even in the picture yet). As the WoT heats up, more and more of the action will move into Africa, and the US will be forced to respond there, as well. I would envision more, not fewer US military personnel being stationed outside the CONUS, but where is going to be an interesting development over the next 20 years.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 12:52 Comments ||
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Unfortunately, I am not a member of the "Army of Steve."
Not good enought, the AOS is very picky. But you are automatically a member of the Army of Luckies, would you rather be in a far flung cadre or a member of the elite Lucky Life Guards? To become a member of the LLG you must own (or have access to) a Blunderbuss with a laser sight.
In the places in America where base closings has been done right, an economic boom usually results. For example, in college I stayed overnight at some miltary hostel in Garmish. I would think that removing a cheapo place for Americans to stay and replacing it with a locally owned place for Americans or any others to stay would work out well.
Most of the places that the US has left on friendly terms has been done slowly and in a way that doesn't hurt people we are friends with. We were booted out of Subic and pressured out of Puerto Rico. That is damaging bad.
On the other hand, if the move is coordinated well, base housing can be transferred to local landlords. Most countries would be better served if they hosted American companies vice the American military.
I am impressed with the thinking of the current DOD. They need the troops where the shooting is. I doubt that the move is intended to spank Shroeder by hurting the German people. He is an ass, but that's not how we play. Zero sum diplomacy is for nitwits.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 20:28 Comments ||
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No blunderbuss, no laser sights, but when I go to Vegas, I want to shoot the sub-machines. 8 hours is wayyy too long, but even 2 would be fun. Beats my late grandfather's air pistol.
WASHINGTON (AP) - New talks on ending the 30-year division of Cyprus could resume soon under a plan pushed by the United Nations, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday. Annan said he has spoken with all interested parties except Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash about reviving negotiations. "Everyone except the one guy who can blow it all to hell seems ready to resume, and I hope to be able to invite them to a meeting shortly," he said. Cheez, U Thant wasnât this clueless.
Annan spoke to reporters after meeting at the White House with President Bush, who he said was supportive of Annanâs plan to find a way to reunite the eastern Mediterranean island. "Sure, knock yerself out, Coffee."
"Thank you, Mr. President."
Cyprus has been split into a southern region controlled by Greek Cypriots and a Turkish-occupied north since Turkey invaded in 1974. It said the invasion was necessary to protect ethnic Turks in Cyprus because of an abortive coup by colonels trying to unify the majority Greek island with Greece and so squash the Turkish Cypriots. Annanâs proposal provides for reuniting Cyprus as a single state, with Greek and Turkish Cypriot federal regions linked through a weak central government. Denktash has rejected the plan. He didnât see any vigorish for him.
U.S. officials pressed the parties to cooperate with Annan. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "We believe such a settlement will bring greater security and prosperity to all people on Cyprus and Turkey and in Greece, as they deepen their integration into Europe." âcourse, deeper integration with the EU could be seen as a bug, not a feature Right Aris?
Cyprus is scheduled to join the European Union in May. EU leaders have said failure to reunify the island before then would restrict the benefits of union membership to southern Cyprus and could hurt Turkeyâs chance of joining the European Union itself. Long a candidate for membership, talks on its membership are scheduled to begin around the end of this year. Not that the Turks will ever be admitted to the EU ever, but itâd be a shame to let this issue hang over them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 12:14:18 AM ||
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Could it be time for the 2nd Annual RantBurg Troll Fight?
#3
So, the Turks need to push for a unified Cyprus under a weak central govn't - how would that structure work and what's the make up of the central govn't? Second, by doing so, the Turks are guaranteed consideration into the EU but not guaranteed membership at this point. By not doing so, Turkey is out and Southern Cyprus under Greek auspices is in. Is that the deal?
#4
I'm far from an expert on Cyprus so perhaps someone can fill me in. Why did the Turks stop in 1974? I mean if you're gonna invade part of the island, why not boot the Greeks off and claim it 100%, solve the problems in the future?
Was it fear of war with Greece? Nato pressure? UN Pressure? or the kindness of their hearts?
#7
See? And we thought the UN ran from Iraq to the safety of Cyprus because they were shirking their duties. Turns out they came to Cyprus to do real work. ;)
The Bush administrationâs new budget includes a $1.2 billion, 30-year loan to renovate the aging United Nations headquarters and build a new annex, although U.N. officials expressed disappointment that Washington will charge interest on the loan. at least he got that part right, quit just giving money to the pack of thieves
The loan was part of a $31.5 billion foreign-operations budget request released Monday that also includes major new funding for the fight against AIDS and a revamped U.S. foreign-aid program targeting poor countries that implement political and social reforms. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday the loan request, contained in the foreign-operations account of President Bushâs proposed fiscal 2005 budget, was a "practical way to move forward" with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annanâs plan to renovate and modernize the U.N. headquarters. leave it to state to pull something like this; why the hell are WE trying to buy our way into THEIR good graces?!?! !@#%#$%^@#$!%@##$%^*%^*!!!
#3
I agree, Raj. That said, the UN's presence in NYC does help the local economy since those guys spend money like drinken sailors (all those unpaid parking tickets notwithstanding).
Posted by: Tibor ||
02/04/2004 21:10 Comments ||
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This is just good business: we get the interest, we get the remodeling contracts, and we get to do the "wiring." Works for me!
Posted by: Tom ||
02/04/2004 21:31 Comments ||
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#5
Of course, they better not miss any payments...
Posted by: Tom ||
02/04/2004 21:32 Comments ||
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#6
As long as they put the France and Germany seats up in the nosebleed section. Couple of folding chairs in the aisle will do.
#7
I know I know I know. There are all kinds of practical reasons we should do this. But part of me wants to see the UN building condemned and have the lot of them moved next to a landfill. Then they can double park all they want and loot the cafeteria until sated.
#9
Btw Anonymous, Germany is the second biggest contributor to the UN budget and unlike the biggest one we pay on time.
I doubt it will be aisles for us.
#10
I say we move the U.N. to the center of one of those large mass-grave sites in Iraq.
This will help the Iraqi economy, and give Iraq some prestige. If we plan it right (i.e. make them walk through the mass-grave site to get to it) we can give them a daily reminder as to what is important.
Yeah, the kickbacks from the oil-for-palaces program more than makes up for whatever paltry sum de chermans contribute in the name of INTERNATIONAL COMMUNISM world peace. So the ubermenschen have no problem throwing a few reichmarks euros the un's way. Anyway, with that euro going strong and that economy booming why don't the herrenvolk up their share a few billion? Carry some of the burden instead of waiting for Uncle Sam to write checks to those worthless leeches. Didn't saddam's blackmarket oil pay for a little more baksheesh?
London: Pakistan is likely to pardon nuclear scientist Dr A Q Khan even though he has confessed to have transferred nuclear technology to rogue states, a senior government official has said.Khan, better known as the father of Pakistanâs nuclear programme, will be pardoned without trial, The Telegraph quoted the official, who has been closely associated with Khanâs investigation, as saying. It is believed that the scientist would be absolved since there is a risk that a trial would expose the Pakistan Armyâs involvement in the scandal. Yes, and heâs too well loved to have a accident.
Khan has made it clear in no uncertain terms that he is prepared to blow the whistle on the Armyâs involvement. Quoting a Pakistan federal cabinet minister as saying, the report said that Khanâs daughter, a British citizen, had travelled to London with papers that could incriminate generals and other Pakistani leaders, including former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. "007, this is top priority. You must seduce Khanâs daughter and get the papers she is carrying."
The topmost nuclear scientist is also reported to have briefed several trusted local journalists with similar information before he was placed under house arrest two weeks ago, asking them to publish it if he went on trial. I guess you donât get to be a top nuclear scientist by being stupid. Sounds like he has all the bases covered.
According to the report, the other reasons behind Khanâs likely pardon could be the Oppositionâs mounting pressure on President Pervez Musharraf over Khanâs detention, and because he has been instrumental in saving his country from any Indian attack. The official said: "Since Khan had confessed to selling technology, there was no further need to humiliate the father of Pakistanâs nuclear bomb, who has kept the nation safe from an Indian attack. A trial would be too sensitive when political opposition to the president is building up." The litle fish are fair game, have to arrest someone to show Washington they are trying.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/04/2004 3:08:55 PM ||
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If he walks, it's time for SF or CIA to terminate. Dead men sell no nuclear secrets.
The Pakistan government has arrested four scientists and security officials, including the personal secretary of father of the countryâs nuclear bomb A Q Khan, on charges of transferring nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya . Well, so much for Khan taking all the blame.
The government has decided to charge Farooq Ahmad, regarded as a close friend of Khan, and Nazir, a top official of Khan Research Laboratories along with Khanâs personal Secretary Major (retd) Islamul Haq and a retired Brigadier and security official of KRL, Sajawal, according to local television reports. "Families received notices from the government yesterday, saying that the nuclear scientists and security officials have been put under arrest for three months," Geo channel quoted a lawyer representing the scientists as saying. So "de-briefing" does mean "arrested" in Pakistani, I thought it might. Khan, as father of the Holy Islamic Bomb, sez "Iâm sorry I did it", and gets a slap on the wrist. The other suspects get hard time.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/04/2004 2:56:52 PM ||
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The nuclear black market that let Iran, Libya and North Korea acquire weapons technology from Pakistan under the noses of international monitors raises suspicions that terror groups also acquired bomb components or plans, experts told The Associated Press. Al-Qaida apparently has shown interest in acquiring nuclear technology. Two Pakistani nuclear scientists were detained in late 2001 after meeting Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan on suspicion of giving away secrets, but they were later released without being charged. The military, which controlled the weapons program, also is known to have elements who sympathize with the Taliban and bin Laden. Officials say Abdul Qadeer Khan â the father of Pakistanâs nuclear program â has confessed to selling equipment related to centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons, to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Libya also received designs for a nuclear bomb from Pakistan that it handed over to U.S. and British intelligence last month, European diplomats say. Khan, however, has denied making a confession, according to the leading Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami.
"Nope. Nope. We He denies everything!"
Pakistan itself relied on international black market supplies for the equipment used in its nuclear weapons program that started in the 1970s. "If the black market could transfer technology from Europe to Pakistan in spite of all these sanctions and embargoes, that same black market of smugglers can also pass on materials from this lab to terrorist groups," said A.H. Nayyar, a nuclear physicist and head of the Pakistan Peace Coalition. "The possibility exists and needs to be investigated thoroughly."
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan on Tuesday denied that Pakistani nuclear technology had fallen into terrorist hands. "Itâs absolutely negative, there is no truth in it," he said.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
The government also has denied official complicity in giving away technology, but a friend of Khanâs told the AP that top army officials, including now-President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, were "aware of everything." White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the Bush administration accepted Musharrafâs assurances that the Pakistani government was "not involved in any kind of proliferation."
"We're very polite that way..."
Musharraf has said the scientists were given wide latitude to develop the nuclear program and worked in secret even from top officials. That secrecy also has raised fears that nuclear workers may have transferred technology or equipment to terrorists, either for money or ideological sympathy. Experts say centrifuge technology wouldnât be of much use to terror groups, who probably couldnât set up the vast facilities required to enrich useful quantities of uranium, with hundreds of technicians needed to run thousands of centrifuges. "Itâs hard enough for countries to do," said Gary Samore, a nonproliferation expert at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. The acquisition of weapons designs, however, would make it far easier for terrorists to make a workable bomb, said David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington.
You buy the blueprints, you buy the ingredients... Presto! World War IV!
And if a terror group was able to obtain highly enriched uranium â anywhere from about 110 to 220 pounds â it could possibly build a bomb similar in design to that used on Hiroshima, Japan, at the end of World War II, experts said. "Itâs not something that you or I could do in our backyards, but itâs relatively easy," Samore said.
That's what I said...
Pakistan is estimated to have produced more than 1,540 pounds of highly enriched uranium, but no official figures have ever been released. "It is very important that all the material that has been produced is accounted for to the last gram," said Nayyar. "If it is not done, then the doubt remains."
In Pakistan. You're kidding, right?
Sultan, the military spokesman, declined to comment on whether Khanâs alleged confession mentioned highly enriched uranium and potential leaks of it outside Pakistan.
The strongest known link between Pakistani scientists and terrorists were the 2001 arrests Sultan Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood and Abdul Majid, who worked for Pakistanâs Atomic Energy Commission until retiring in 1999. The commission, together with Khanâs lab worked on the nuclear weapons program. Mahmoodâs son told the AP in December 2002 that his father â a deeply conservative Muslim who sympathized with the Taliban â met bin Laden several times between 2000 and July 2001 and the al-Qaida leader asked how to make nuclear bombs. Mahmood claimed to have rebuffed the request, telling bin Laden "it is not childâs play for you to build a nuclear bomb," according to his son, who didnât want to be named.
How many sons does he have? Bet would could figure out which one it was, if we wanted to...
The scientists were whitewashed cleared of all charges and released in December 2001. "Pakistani scientists were active there (in Afghanistan) â we never got to the bottom of it," said Albright, also a former Iraq nuclear weapons inspector. In light of recent news, the years of Pakistani denials ring especially hollow, Albright said, hoping international pressure would finally make Pakistan come clean. "Thereâs a lot of smoke and mirrors that the government is throwing up, but at the same time itâs being forced to reveal information," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:29:02 PM ||
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Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/04/2004 12:58 Comments ||
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khaaaaaaaan the cunt should die for spreading this nuke shit round
Posted by: Daniel King ||
02/04/2004 14:47 Comments ||
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This is just great. The Turban heads in Iran and wherever else now have bomb knowhow. I wonder if they will ever use it ? hmmmmmmmmm...geez I will have to think hard about that one.....Ever hear of pre emptive strike? I think it's in the cards now....
Pakistanâs top nuclear scientist has confessed to leaking nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Abdul Qadeer Khan met President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday and later went on TV to accept full responsibility for all nuclear transfers. Dr Khan, regarded as a national hero, told the nation he had acted without authorisation and begged forgiveness. Took the fall for everyone.
President Musharraf said the case, which has sparked a national outcry, had traumatised Pakistan. Pakistan began an inquiry into possible illegal transfers late last year after the UN passed on information it had gathered about Iran and Libyaâs nuclear programmes. A government statement issued on Wednesday read: "Dr AQ Khan submitted before the president that he accepts full responsibility for all the proliferation activities. "Dr Khan has submitted his mercy petition to the president and requested clemency in view of his services to national security." Made a deal, Iâll wager.
Later Dr Khan made his own televised statement in which he cleared President Musharraf and other government and military officials of any involvement in nuclear proliferation. Fall guy, Iâll bet he shed a tear.
"There was never ever any kind of authorisation for these activities by the government. I take full responsibility for my actions and seek your pardon," Dr Khan said. He told his television audience: "I have chosen to appear before you to offer my deepest regrets and unqualified apologies." Took the Oprah defense option, go on TV and confess.
On Saturday, Dr Khan was sacked as special science and technology adviser to the president. Then on Sunday officials said he had signed a confession admitting he had traded nuclear technology information to other countries. Later on Wednesday, President Musharraf is scheduled to meet the top nuclear decision-making authority to discuss Dr Khanâs plea for mercy. Heâll be dismissed, do a little house arrest and that will be it. Next stop, the book and lecture tour.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/04/2004 8:43:23 AM ||
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Made a deal to protect his family, I bet. "Take the fall, we slap your wrist nice and loud, toss you in a comfy cell for a few months, and wait for the furor to die down. Meanwhile, the wife and kids are safely stashed. It's a good deal..."
#3
Dude it's not like you stole Perv's car for a joyride, you sold nuclear friggin technology!
Let's not be too vindictive now. I suggest we don't go overboard. Let's have a nice show trial, find him guilty, but only drop him PARTWAY into the plastics shredder.
Head first.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 18:36 Comments ||
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#4
Next stop, the book and lecture tour.
As I always say, no such thing as bad publicity.
Posted by: B ||
02/04/2004 18:36 Comments ||
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The investigators in Pakistan concluded probe into assasination attempts on life of President Musharraf and reached to conclusion that local chapter of al-Qaeda, a network of Osama Bin Ladenâs hand in all such attempts including that of December 25th last suicide attacks. "All the assasination attempts against President Musharraf was the job of the militants of Jaish-e-Mohammad on the direction of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, a deputy of Bin Laden," one of the investigators told to this scribe here Tuesday.
I love newspapers that still have scribes, even though they usually turn out unreadable prose...
More than 50 militants of Jaish detained since December last revealed the investigators of several plans made to assassinate President General Pervez Musharraf. "They planed to hit Musharraf with rockets during the parade of March 23rd--that was postponed due to rain and reasons not disclosed officially," the source said. It was also learnt that President Musharraf is at top of the hit list of al-Qaeda due to his policies of siding with the Americans in a said war against terrorism being fought in Afghanistan. Zawari and bin Laden are beleived hiding somewhere in Afghanistan and the US authorities had chalked out an aggressive campaign to search and hunt them. The militans of Jaish revealed to the investigators that each of their militant had some 18 mobile telephones--and they used to switch one on in a week time, the source said. The source was of the view that the network of Jaish is almost bursted "we are searching to arrest Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of Jaish and soon would succeed in detaining him." He tried to kill Perv, why not repay him in kind?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:16:54 AM ||
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I find it extremely unlikely that Masood had anything to do with the assasination attempt. It's more likely that some of the lower ranked members of his group took part, and Masood is currently under house arrest until things come down.
Last year Masood expelled a dozen commanders who were considering carrying out attacks in the country. He informed the ISI of their identities and washed his hands of them. As far as I know, they have all been arrested.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/04/2004 0:23 Comments ||
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If that was the case, it looks as though they missed a few. My understanding is that a member of Musharraf's own security detail was in on the latest attempt, however, suggesting at the very least that it was more than your average jihadi mayhem in Pakland.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 1:12 Comments ||
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I was reading an LA Times article about Pak's nukes, and was shocked to read this concerning Musharaf:
After two recent assassination attempts, he is guarded by an American military team
He must really be worried to take lessons from Karzai.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/04/2004 1:57 Comments ||
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#4
"After two recent assassination attempts, he is guarded by an American military team"
Geez. It's funny, but there's no upside to this... it's like being an offensive lineman.
Twelve days ago, a 747 aircraft chartered by the United States government landed at Dulles Airport here carrying a single piece of precious cargo: a small box containing warhead designs that American officials believe were sold to Libya by the underground network linked to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the creator of the Pakistani bomb. The warhead designs were the first hard evidence that the secret network provided its customers with far more than just the technology to turn uranium into bomb fuel. Libyan officials have told investigators that they bought the blueprints from dealers who are part of that network, apparently for more than $50 million. Those blueprints, along with the capability to make enriched uranium, could have given the Libyans all the elements they needed to make a nuclear bomb. What the Libyans purchased, in the words of an American weapons expert who has reviewed the program in detail, was both the kitchen equipment "and the recipes."
Experts familiar with the contents of the box say the designs closely resemble the warheads that China tested in the late 1960âs and passed on to Pakistan decades ago. American officials are still studying the designs flown out of Libya to determine whether, in fact, they are complete. There is no evidence, the officials say, that the Libyans actually produced the warheads, much less sufficient nuclear fuel. The Libyan nuclear program was just getting started, although Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said recently, "It was simply a matter of time."
American officials emphasize that they have no evidence that the Pakistani government itself was aware of the sales, and they wave aside recent accusations by Mr. Khanâs allies that President Pervez Musharraf was himself aware of the transactions. But some experts inside and outside the government say it is difficult to believe that Pakistanâs nuclear secrets could have been exported without the knowledge of some in the military and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency, especially since some shipments were made on Pakistani military aircraft.
Whoever was responsible, the warhead design appears now to have been a sought-after prize of the network of nuclear middlemen and parts producers that American officials say is being broken up, from Germany to Malaysia, and from Dubai to the Netherlands. "Ever since the Libya revelations last month, there have been a lot of detentions, and some arrests," one American official said Tuesday.
Y'mean outside of Pakland? Wonder where...
The documents were hurried out of Libya on the first flight that could be arranged â a Jan. 22 charter that had arrived in Libya with equipment for the C.I.A. and others dismantling the Libyan nuclear complex. The documents are being held by the Department of Energy, which oversees Americaâs nuclear arsenal. A second flight, a few days later, took thousands of parts for centrifuges to a site in Tennessee.
Inside the White House and across the Potomac at the Central Intelligence Agency, the documents from Libya have raised as many urgent questions as they have answered. American intelligence officials say they are uncertain who else possesses copies of the design, but they assume there are others. Obtaining the enriched uranium or the plutonium to make a bomb is more difficult than getting a workable bomb design, but their fear is that the network they are uncovering sold both. Investigators are also trying to determine whether the network of suppliers and experts sold a similar weapons design to North Korea.
My guess would be that they did. In fact, I'd work from the assumption they did, until proven different...
American and South Korean officials say North Korea traded its missile technology to Pakistan in return for nuclear weapons technology in the late 1990âs. That is during the same period when Libya paid to obtain the design and the centrifuge parts. The last shipment of those parts to Libya was intercepted in October, which was several years after Washington began pressuring Mr. Musharrafâs government to shut down the scientists at the Khan laboratory.
According to American and European investigators, the network that supplied Libya was enormously complex, and not all the paths led directly back to the Khan laboratory. Centrifuge parts were made in Malaysia, and other parts were obtained in Germany and Japan. The Japanese last year seized critical equipment headed for North Korea, though they never announced it. But both the centrifuge designs and the bomb designs seized in Libya appear to have come from the same country, according to experts who have reviewed them. "My understanding is that it did come from Pakistan," said David Albright, a physicist and president of the Institute for Science and International Security here.
Bush adminstration officials said Tuesday that they are waiting to see if Mr. Musharraf is willing to order his arrest, and face the wrath of Pakistani nationalists who regard Mr. Khan as a hero. Statements by Mr. Khanâs supporters already leave little doubt about the scientistâs strategy: if arrested, he appears ready to argue that the Pakistani leadership knew about his transaction at the highest levels. That would put the White House in a difficult position, because President Bush is attempting to support Mr. Musharraf, a critical ally in tracking down members of Al Qaeda, while forcing him to shut down what officials say was a widespread source of nuclear proliferation.
The discoveries in Tripoli are causing intelligence agencies and investigators to revisit some older cases, including one involving Iraq â which documents suggest was offered nuclear technology before the start of the Persian Gulf war of 1991. Mr. Albright and his associate, Corey Hinderstein, have reviewed documents found at the farm of Hussein Kamel, Saddam Husseinâs son in law, after he defected from Iraq in 1995. Mr. Kamel told the C.I.A. that many of Mr. Husseinâs weapons had been destroyed â a statement that appears to be correct, in light of the findings of David A. Kay, the former chief American weapons inspector in Iraq. A memorandum found among Mr. Kamelâs papers, dated June 10, 1990, appeared to be a proposal from an unidentified middleman referring to offers "from the Pakistani scientist Dr. Abd-el-Qadeer Khard regarding the possibility of helping Iraq establish a project to enrich Uranium and manufacture a nuclear weapon."
"Abd-el-Qadeer Khard"? An original transliteration? Or an assumed name, along the lines of John Smyth?
The I.A.E.A. later concluded that the Iraqis never took up the offer. Iraq already had sophisticated enrichment technology, and it suspected a sting operation or a scam. The I.A.E.A. reviewed the memorandum and informed the United Nations Security Council four years ago, but said its study of the memo, and whether it represented a genuine offer, was inconclusive. But American officials say that details in the memorandum match up with what they are now learning.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:14:35 AM ||
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With these revelations about Libya, Iran and North Koreas nuke programs, I wonder if it is time to take more seriously the reports of Pakistan and Saudi Arabiamaking a deal on sharing nuclear technology?
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/04/2004 0:44 Comments ||
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#2
No Paul, that may scare the children. Let the UN worry about all that. It's all Tits and Ass for now.
#8
sure be interesting to see Nukes in Syria, Saudi and Egypt ...
No problem, I'm sure we can arrange that. Do you want surface strikes or air bursts? How about we super size that order, no charge.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/04/2004 9:22 Comments ||
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#9
Spot on, Steve! We've got a special this week--with every 4 megatons, get 1 megaton free! Don't forget to order a side of our new, delicious bunker busting nukes, too!
Offer void where prohibited. Please allow 30 minutes for delivery, or the next one is free. Guaranteed fresh and hot--very hot--or your money back! See ad in this Sunday's paper for details.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/04/2004 9:43 Comments ||
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#10
Pass enough nukes around the region and eventually one will end up hitting somewhere we love. We gotta squeeze'em hard this Spring!
#11
Poor Faisal. Whatever he is, he suffers from cognitus interruptus - limited to one tiny thought at a time without regard to consequential realities. Also known as brain farts. The condition is often terminal.
#12
Would you like your salad in a Roentgen Soupbowl, Faisal? Owning some of these little plutonium monsters is not just a power trip. With folks like the Mullahcrocy in Iran, making threats toward Israel, while rattling your missles could be your death warrant.
I used to work out out at the Nevada Atomic Test Site. I can assure you that these weapons are not toys.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/04/2004 11:38 Comments ||
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"Man would sure be interesting to see Nukes in Syria, Saudi and Egypt ..."
-would be interesting to see them blow themselves up. Those stupid idiots are too inept to launch one off effectively.
#14
Well you see Israel is not very big. Doesn't take too many nukes to turn Israel into glass. Forget about the rest. You can keep on nuking whatever cities you want after that but the thing is that Israel will be history in case such an event ever occurs.
.com you are a pussy fart --- that's all i can tell.
I do agree with Shipman that a nuke in hands of any of these countries is too dangerous.
Once you know that your potential foe has nuclear weapons, the tempation to hit first is very strong - you may be talking about national survival. For a country the size of Israel even more so. Read up on the "Sunday Punch" doctrine by Curtis le May, or "launch on warning" and of course MAD to see what new delights await todays up and coming newly nuclear armed nation.
What about the Indo-Pak situation? three wars since independance (1947-48, 1965, and 1971). Lots and lots of rhetoric and a low intensity bleeding war in the Kashmir. They're not really friends. Once they both get nukes they do a lot of sabre-rattling, realise how close they are to armageddon, shit themselves and back off.
Now, let's try that with Syria, Saudi and Egypt - three states known for their excellent diplomatic relations with Israel (sarcasm).
If any of those countries get nuclear weapons, the status quo in the ME changes, and I'm betting it won't be in the Arab states favour.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
02/04/2004 14:00 Comments ||
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Depending on which way the wind is blowing, what makes you think only Israel will suffer?
But it also does take care of the Pali issue for the Arabs. Then they wouldn't have to be bothered by them.
Hmmm, 2 for the price of 1, plus it's not like the surrounding countries really care about their people. Would be interesting if it did come to that, where their leaders would be when the button was pushed? Oh, wait, phrawnce.
#17
It doesn't do the Muslims any good to destroy Israel. Their Judgement Day can't happen until they re-occupy the Holy Land (and the Prophet Jesus comes back to dish out Allah's justice). I don't think there is a Hadith justifying the total destruction of Jerusalem. If they go ahead and do it, then they're apostates for going against the will of Allah.
#18
"pussy fart"???
LOL! That's, uh, brilliant for someone of your severely circumcised circumscribed mental abilities, Faisal. I salute you! It makes no fucking sense and you make no case, but hey, for you to brain fart again so soon after the last must've given your cranial colon spasms of neural apoplexy. Prolly had to sit down to recover! And all for me. Woohoo!
BTW, on topic, if Israel does someday become a sheet of glass, Muslim genocide immediately follows. Doesn't matter where you are, what skirt / burqa you hide behind or label or rock you hide under, someone will take your swarthy ass out. I assure you I will be there when we turn the lights out on Islam forever. So rant your best "It's the JOOOOOS fault!" rant, little one - and pray to your pip-squeak Little Mo that none of the various Mad Mullah Morons ever does get the chance to nuke Israel.
Apparently you're too dense (leaded vapors, perhaps, emitted in those BF's?) to catch on to the fact that their continued survival is all that stands between you and your ilk's annihilation. Personally, I hope we just go ahead and pre-emptively wipe you out.
Nothing personal, old boy, and all that rot, but you've been identified as a human pathogen and we only need to freeze a couple of samples for the Level IV guys at Ft Detrick... the rest of you are forfeit.
#19
Well you see Israel is not very big. Doesn't take too many nukes to turn Israel into glass.
Well, Faisal, I think I know a lot more about nukes than you do. Because I do, I know you lose.
Nukes generate one HELL of an Electro-Magnetic Pulse. As a result, you either have to shield each warhead (adds to dead weight, reduces throw weight), or you have to ensure that each one explodes at the very same nanosecond as the others, or you have to have them spaced far enough apart in arrival time not to be affected by the previous blast. That gives Israel time enough to retaliate - which means those nasty Masada missiles start raining down on Damascus, Beirut, Riyadh, Jedda, Mecca, Medina, Cairo, Aswan, and a few dozen other places. THOSE are all far enough spaced out that Israel doesn't have to worry about the timing problem.
Oh, and there is this little thing called "time" that plays he$$ with nukes, too. You see, nuke material is radioactive. That means that there's particle decay taking place. Too much particle decay, and your weapon doesn't go boom, it kinda goes PFXXZZZZZZTTT, releases a lot of low-level radiation, and messes up a neighborhood or two. It takes constant maintenance and frequent re-manufacturing, usually in an excessively strict clean-room environment, or you've got a Chinese firecracker, not a nuclear weapon.
Of course, all the Saudi princes in Europe, living high on the hog (literally), wining and dining, and enjoying all those European women, gambling at Monte Carlo - they may survive. They'll be instantly poor, but they'll survive.
Where will your little a$$ be?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 18:57 Comments ||
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Male Japanese soldiers heading for Iraq on a historic mission over the next couple of months are being advised to grow mustaches so as to fit in with the locals, said a spokesman at their base in Asahikawa on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Yeah, theyâll never be noticed.
The 10 or so female members of the 600-strong contingent are being issued with dark green scarves to cover their hair in accordance with local custom. Drinking alcohol and eating pork will be forbidden within the Japanese army base, which is to be constructed outside the southern town of Samawa. "For us it is a matter of course," the spokesman said. "We are not going there to wage war, but to help with reconstruction. The success of the mission depends largely on how far we are able to establish friendly relations with local people." "If they arenât friendly, there are other Japanese traditions we can introduce them to."
The deployment of troops to take part in humanitarian work following the war in Iraq constitutes Japanâs riskiest military mission since World War II. But favorable Iraqi reaction to the mustachioed Colonel Masahisa Sato, the leader of an advance party dispatched to the southern Iraqi town of Samawa last month, seems to have proved the advantages of facial hair. "What a magnificent mustache. He looks just like an Iraqi," a Japanese newspaper quoted one local resident as saying.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/04/2004 4:19:24 PM ||
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"If they arenât friendly, there are other Japanese traditions we can introduce them to."
Seppuku perhaps? They certainly have no aversion to dieing, just wish they'd do it alone and by them selves. The jihadists not the Japanese.
U.S. troops arrested a relative of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, and believe he may help in the hunt for the most senior former regime figure still at large, a U.S. officer said Wednesday. The man, who was not identified, was arrested late Tuesday in a raid in Tikrit, Saddam Husseinâs hometown, said Lt. Col. Steven Russell, who led the operation. Russell described the suspect as a ``close relativeââ of al-Douri, who was the vice chairman of the Baath Partyâs Revolutionary Command Council and a longtime confidant of Saddam. The suspect was arrested based on information received from a man soldiers had detained earlier Tuesday for possessing firearms, Russell said. Ratted him out.
``We believe that he may have some useful informationââ in the hunt for al-Douri, Russell said. ``The family he comes from has been harboring âdeck of cardsâ guys,ââ he said, referring to the U.S. list of the 55 most wanted Iraqis. Iâll miss Lt. Col. Steveâs quotes, he must be getting short.
Al-Douri, in his late 60s, is No. 6 on the wanted list. The United States has put a $10 million bounty on his head. Late last year, al-Douriâs wife and daughter were detained. In January, troops arrested four of his nephews who were suspected of helping him hide. All six are believed to remain in U.S. custody. Good, keeps them out of trouble.
Since Saddam was arrested Dec. 13, al-Douri has taken on the title of the Pentagonâs most wanted man in Iraq.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/04/2004 3:21:28 PM ||
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Army of Steve -- due to arrive at FT Hood, probably in April. They are packin'.
Yesterday coalition forces conducted a series of cordon and knock operations, targeting division and brigade high-value targets in Mosul. The first operation resulted in a target and three associates being detained and in the second operation coalition forces targeted an individual planning a MANPAD SA-7 attack on a Mosul airfield.
On Sunday coalition forces conducted a series of simultaneous cordon and knock operations in Tall Afar targeting seven high-value targets, all suspected of Ansar al-Islam connections. Ten people were detained, two of them, which are confirmed targets.
An Iraqi Civil Defense Corps patrol captured three men as they were loading weapons into an automobile in a Baiji mechanic shop on the evening of January 31st. The men admitted that they were taking the confiscated firearms to Basra, and the ICDC units confiscated 25 AKA-47 assault rifles, one pistol and one automatic weapon.
On Monday, coalition forces conducted a raid to capture an individual suspected of attacks on Baghdad International Airport. The unit captured three enemy, and all tested positive for explosives from a vapor test. The target, Mohammed Ghatab Jihad (ph), later turned himself in.
In January, an informant, using the Baghdad tips hotline, provided information related to weapons dealers, terrorist cells and air defense missiles for sale to anti-coalition organizations in Baghdad. Based on this information, Kareem Marwan (ph) and Mohammed Rafar (ph) were arrested, and two SA-7 Strella missiles, 11 sticks of PE-4, 1 kilo of RDX explosives, and three anti-tank missiles were recovered.
Coalition forces conducted a raid on two houses southeast of Hit to capture a suspected arms dealer in the area. The operation was conducted without incident and resulted in the capture of four enemy personnel, including the primary target. In the backyard of one of the target houses, forces dug up 100 155-millimeter South African artillery rounds, 30 107-millimeter rockets, 500 anti-tanks mines, 500 anti- personnel mines, and 10 50-pound bags of a black powder believed to be gun powder. Additionally, they recovered enough 14.5-millimeter and 23-millimeter ammunition to fill an entire cargo truck.
There was a possible Baâath retaliation killing in Basra last evening. The man killed had been a clerk in the Social Office of Basra. His family confirmed that he had been a Baâath Party member and that he had been abducted on the 31st of January.
And I would just add that the effectiveness of the Iraqi police force, specifically in Baghdad, speaks for itself. When Ambassador Bremer arrived here in the spring, there was not one single Iraqi police officer on the streets of Baghdad. Today there are well 60,000. And not coincidentally, the crime rate in Iraq -- in Baghdad has declined 39 percent in the last two months. The governor of Basra tells us that the crime rate in Basra has declined there over the last two months by about 70 percent. So, clearly the presence of Iraqi police on the front lines, walking the patrols, addressing the problems, is having an effect.
And before we think that they have not been ready and that theyâre not doing the job, the fact remains that over 270 Iraqi policemen have died in the line of duty since May. And thatâs a significant figure by any measure, that theyâre willing to put their lives on the line every day for the public security of the country of Iraq.
#1
Look at all that happened! If you look at defenselink.mil or Fox or CNN - you'd only get a reporting of the US soldiers that died and reports of damage that the enemy enflicted on us. Why is that?
Separately, last month -- or in December, Ambassador Bremer and then-president -- so I guess it was early January -- the then- president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Dr. Pachachi, announced a security reconciliation initiative that involves the release of detainees from Abu Ghraib prison. And Iâve told you that from time to time from this podium, Iâll provide updates on the actual release program. As of today, I can report that the overall number of guarantors, the sponsors that are required for the release of each prisoner, the total number of guarantors identified is 157, and the total number of detainees matched with a guarantor is 192. The reason for the delta between the two numbers is because some guarantors have been able to sponsor more than one detainee. An item I missed when I posted this briefing yesterday.
The 82nd Airborne and its subordinate units continued missions over the last day to bring peace and prosperity to the residents of the Al Anbar province. During the last 24 hours the 82nd conducted 248 patrols (including 10 joint patrols), and performed two offensive operations. Iraqi Civil Defense Corps forces also conducted 16 independent patrols.
Task Force "All American" discovered and disarmed five improvised explosive devices in their area of operations, captured four enemy personnel and suffered two U.S. wounded in action. At Trebil, the 82nd denied entry to 60 personnel and 30 vehicles - all due to lacking passports. During the night of Feb. 1, in 3rd Armored Cavalry Regimentâs area of operations, soldiers conducted a raid on two houses near Hit. The operation resulted in the capture of four enemy personnel. Troops discovered and captured one-hundred 155 mm artillery rounds, thirty 107 mm rockets, five-hundred anti-tank mines, 500 anti-personnel mines, and ten 50-pound bags of black powder. Earlier today, a high-mobility multi-wheeled vehicle from 3rd ACR struck a landmine near Haditha. Two soldiers were wounded in the blast, neither life-threatening. One casualty received medical treatment for lacerations while the other was evacuated to Al Asad for shrapnel wounds.
Lightly EFL
By Kamal Ali in Baghdad (Kamal Ali is an IWPR trainee journalist in Baghdad.) The Institute for War and Peace has some type of program to train journalist in emerging democracies. It seems to be a good program.
Federalism is now looming as one of the most potentially divisive issues facing the Coalition Provisional Authority and Iraqi politicians as they prepare for the restoration of Iraqâs sovereignty and the creation of its constitution. Central to the problem is the fact that few Iraqis actually appear to have a very clear idea of what federalism actually means, although most of them have heard of the word and many even have strong opinions about it. Many get their ideas of federalism from religious leaders, or from the pan-Arab media, Iraqi social scientists say. They say both sources tend to portray federalism as a dangerous western idea aimed at dividing and weakening the country, or at handing over oil-rich Kirkuk to the Coalitionâs Kurdish allies. âHow will the Iraqis decide the future of federalism by the ballot box, if they donât understand the concept?â asked social psychologist Fadhel Shakr. "It would be appropriate for Iraqi politicians to hold televised conferences to explain the concept. Otherwise, malicious Arab media will take the lead role in stirring up sectarian chauvinism.â
Meanwhile, some Iraqis say federalism is a basic political requirement to protect the rights of minorities, while others denounce the idea as a plot to divide and weaken a sovereign state. There also is a debate as to what sort of federalism might apply. Some people - including many in Washington - advocate applying the so-called "18 governorate solution" or "administrativeâ federalism, which would give federal rights to Iraqâs existing provinces. Others â particularly the Kurds â favour the so-called "regional" or "ethnic" federalism, which would grant powers to three or four areas within the country, roughly coinciding with the three largest groups in Iraq: Shia Arabs, Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
While many Iraqis understand that federalism refers to decentralisation of power, and some even know the difference between administrative and regional forms, other Iraqis think itâs merely a euphemism for carving up the country. "I will permit no one to divide Iraq into smaller statelets," said Mohammed Ali, a marcher in an anti-federalism demonstration organised by the radical Shia preacher Moqtada al-Sadr. "Behind this [supposed division] are hidden hands interested in looting Iraqâs resources."
And don't forget the wheels within wheels...
"Confederalism is better than federalism," said Mohammed Khalf, 45, a taxi driver from the predominantly Sunni town of Ramadi. But when asked about the difference between the two ideas, he said "federalism is the division of Iraq, and the other [confederalism] is the unity of Iraq".
"One's bigger'n the other. And I think it has fins..."
While Nadia Safr, 25, a follower of senior Shia Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has no objection to federalism in general, which she sees as "democracy, freedom of expression, and the lack of fear from authority", she thinks an ethnic-based form of it would be "the first step to the partition of Iraqâ. Mahmoud Salman, 27, who describes himself as a follower of Moqtadaâs murdered father Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, admits to being somewhat unclear on what federalism means, but he insists that âthe important thing is that we follow the religious scholars, and support what they do and decideâ.
"Huh huh! They're good at that thinkin' stuff..."
Iraqâs Kurds â whose leaders are among the main proponents of federalism â appear to have a firmer idea than most people of what the idea might mean. But some Kurds can be vague, too, and their views donât always meet with general agreement. Haytham Mohammed, 26, an activist with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, defines federalism as giving âspecial treatment in governance to a particular ethnicity or region". Haytham, who lives in Baghdad, says "in Iraq, ethnic federalism would be best for the Kurds".
"... I think."
But thatâs not the view held by other Kurds in Baghdad.
"Our problem was with the old regime. If the government becomes transparent, and represents all the people of Iraq, then thereâs no call for federalism," said Mohammed, 55, a Shia Kurd working in the capital as a taxi driver. "In such circumstances, I would reject the federal solution so that I could live in peace anywhere in Iraq." Iraqâs Turcoman minority, which is concentrated in the same northern regions of Iraq as the Kurds, also appears to have a clearer idea of federalism than most people - but it still might not harmonise with Kurdish aspirations. Nizar Ahmed, 35, thinks the Turcoman population might deserve its own political domain in a federalised Iraq. "If the Kurds demand ethnic federalism, we will demand it, too, because we think itâs our right,â he said. My take on the article is that Iraqis understand federalism every bit as well as Americans do, which is not at all. A major difference is that average Iraqis seem to be interested in learning about government and in forming political opinions. Disclaimer -I am fuzzy on the whole federalism verus confederalism difference other than that confederalism invloves more autonomy for member states.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 7:09:03 AM ||
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"But thatâs not the view held by other Kurds in Baghdad" Interesting if not surprising - baghdad Kurds would be cut off from kurdistan by ethnic federalism - so they have an interest in unity.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 12:20 Comments ||
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Steve, I enjoyed the article and the idea of providing grants and training for real journalism. When I first visited the site, I saw the section listing opportunies for training, but didn't understand that the grants were for people who wanted to enter journalism in the stans - or Iraq. This journalist in training wrote a more perceptive piece on a more interesting topic than I would expect to see in most Western papers.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 21:51 Comments ||
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The number of dead rose to 101 Tuesday in the twin suicide bombings of two Kurdish political offices, the highest confirmed toll in any terrorist attack since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Kurds blamed Ansar al-Islam, a militant group allegedly linked to Osama bin Ladenâs al Qaeda. Iâm allegedly linked to my mom too ...
Two days after the attacks, this Kurdish city was grieving from the loss. Black banners announced the deaths of loved ones, and nearly every mosque was filled with mourners attending wakes for the victims. "Immortality for the martyrs," proclaimed one large black banner beneath the great Assyrian fortress in downtown Irbil. Passers-by pause to read the death notices. "I want to see who was martyred in the explosions," said Hassan Hussein, 20. "I wonder what that person who did this was thinking when he blew himself up. Who was he?"
Prob'ly thinking what a hero he was. And how expendable.
"It was Ansar," volunteered Nezam Othman, 20.
That was my first guess, too...
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but many Kurds blamed Muslim extremists -- particularly Ansar al-Islam, an armed group that operates in the Kurdish enclave and is believed allied with al Qaeda. Sheik Abdul-Ghani al-Bazzaz, head of the Kurdistan Islamic Movement, condemned the bombings, saying Islam rejects the killings of innocent people.
"Our definition of 'innocent' varies, of course..."
He said he "cannot confirm or deny" if Ansar or al Qaeda were behind the bombings, saying it had become popular to "point the fingers at them" following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. Al-Bazzaz said many groups including Saddam Hussein loyalists were carrying out attacks in Iraq because "Iraqâs borders are wide open."
The Philippines is tightening its porous southern maritime borders with Malaysia and Indonesia with plans for two radar systems aimed at choking a flow of militants and weapons. The southern Philippines, home to four homegrown rebel groups seeking a separate Islamic state, is widely suspected of being a training ground for regional terror network Jemaah Islamiah. âWeâre plugging that hole,â Lieutenant-General Rodolfo Garcia, the militaryâs vice chief of staff, said. âThese areas remained unmonitored for a long time.â Garcia said the defence department would open bidding in two weeks for the two surface radar systems. The contract should be awarded by May and the equipment in place by November, he added.
Posted by: TS ||
02/04/2004 10:40:33 AM ||
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Unidentified armed men, believed to be members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), fired at houses, including one owned by a top Red Cross Thingy official in Mindanao, and sent thousands of Tâduray and Moro families fleeing from their homes in the upland villages of North Upi, Maguindanao. Bai Fatima Sinsuat, governor of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) in Southern Philippines, owns one of the houses hit during the shooting rampage that took place three days ago. There was no casualty reported during the incident, "but it caused panic among upland villagers," Sinsuat said.
Tâduray and Moro communities in North Upi accused the group of Hajji Usop Amerul, a local MNLF commander, of launching the attack in sitio Krudong, barangay Sedem, North Upi. The attack took place as members of the Army-led anti-crime Task Force Tugis were scouring nearby villages in search of suspected Abu Sayyaf gunmen led by Kumander Khadafy Janjalani, the head of the bandit group which used to operate in Sulu and Basilan. The "heat" caused by the Army operations in Sulu and Basilan reportedly prompted Janjalaniâs group to seek refuge in Maguindanao. The pursuit against the Abu Sayyaf was launched last month when the military monitored presence of the armed men in a coastal area of North Upi.
From barangay Laguitan, a coastal village in North Upi, the operatives of Task Force Tugis, including the group of Hajji Amerul, proceeded to Sedem and Miti, two upland barangays in North Upi, which the government soldiers suspected as the new "headquarters" of alleged Abu Sayyaf and Abu Sofia groups. The pursuing soldiers had already reached Mt. Fakal, a forested mountain in North Upi, at sitio Krubong in barangay Sedem, also a timber-rich area. The site of the recent fighting was only few meters from a log pond where timbers were kept and protected by Hajji Amerul and his men. Amerul and his men had long been fighting the families of Commander Minalang of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Tabunaway clan of the Tduray Kuyog Sumfat Mamalu (KSM). The armed clans, residents said, were fighting over the right to secure the log pond. Task Force Tugis commander Col. Felipe Tabas denied claims they were running after civilians who are opposed to the cutting of trees in North Upi. "Weâre running after a band of terrorists wrecking havoc in the area. I am very sure they are members of the Abu Sayyaf Group," Tabas said.
Meantime, Sinsuat said that the evacuees from sitio Krubong have taken refuge in makeshift evacuation sites in the farm of her family in barangay Resa, North Upi. "What we need right now so that we could act on the problem is the official list of the evacuees. Itâs a requisite," she said. Sinsuat, who is a Maguindanaon, has appealed for sobriety among the people affected by the militaryâs operations in Upi.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:51:46 AM ||
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Militant Muslims are finding it more difficult to stage attacks in the Asia-Pacific region, but it will be a long time before they are beaten, Australiaâs foreign minister said. Alexander Downer is on the Indonesian island of Bali for a regional counter-terror conference that began on Wednesday. "They are not defeated. They have been out recruiting and trying to build up their strength. Itâs difficult for them now, more difficult to mount terrorist operations than it was before Bali," Downer said, referring to the attacks on the islandâs main tourist strip. "But I assure people itâs not impossible and there is still quite a long way to go."
We're really still in the early stages...
Australian and Indonesian officials said it was essential that political commitment to fighting militants be turned into concrete action. "There has not been any shortage of expressions of commitment to cooperate. What we would like is to bring that to realisation in concrete terms," said Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa. Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock told reporters countries had to standardise and enhance their laws if terror was to be fought effectively.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:11:02 AM ||
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This sounds a lot to me like Laskar Jihad under a new name, but okay ...
A new militant Islamic militia has emerged here, according to a report released Tuesday by the International Crisis Group, just as Attorney General John Ashcroft is scheduled to arrive to address a conference on terrorism. The new group, Mujahedeen Kompak, was formed by hard-liners who split from Jemaah Islamiyah, according to the report, which was written by Sidney Jones, widely considered the leading authority on Jemaah Islamiyah. Kompak, an acronym, translates roughly as Action Committee for Crisis Response. Is this the same thing as the Laskar Khos that Zulkarnaean was reputed to lead? It says they split away from JI, but the way these jihadi groups work that could just be a tactical subdivision.
The emergence of the group in central Sulawesi Province, which has been racked by Christian-Muslim violence, "suggests a need to revise assessments about the nature and gravity of the terrorist threat in Indonesia," Ms. Jones wrote in the report. "While the shorter-term prospects are somewhat encouraging, there is an underappreciated longer security risk." The organization presents a possible new partner for Al Qaeda, she wrote. Possible?
This is the sixth report about Jemaah Islamiyah and terrorism in Southeast Asia by Ms. Jones, an American who speaks fluent Bahasa Indonesia, the national language.
Bahasa Indonesia, curiously enough, translates as "Indonesian language."
American, Australian and Asian intelligence and police officials are in general agreement that she has done a better job of understanding and analyzing the organization than have their own agencies.
I'm surprised they'd ever admit such a thing. It'd be more likely they'd describe her as "an invaluable resource," or as "an insightful analyst." Did the NY Times hire Andrew Gilligan?
One of the most arresting facts in the 41-page report is contained in a footnote that establishes the date of the founding of Jemaah Islamiyah as Jan. 1, 1993. That comes from a document Ms. Jones obtained. It will surely be uncomfortable for many Indonesians, including senior government officials and religious leaders, who continue to lie through their teeth insist that Jemaah Islamiyah does not exist.
There's a difference between a political statement and what you really, truly believe. Ask somebody named Big Guido about the existence of the Mafia...
Mr. Ashcroft is scheduled to speak Wednesday morning at the terrorism conference, which is being held in Bali and is jointly sponsored by Indonesia and Australia. He is hoping to meet with the Indonesian president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, in the afternoon, American and Indonesian officials said. High on Indonesiaâs agenda will be a request that the United States turn over a top Jemaah Islamiyah operative, Riudan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, a senior Indonesian official said. After an intensive manhunt, Mr. Isamuddin, an Indonesian who was one of the few non-Arabs to earn a place in Osama bin Ladenâs inner circle, was captured by the Central Intelligence Agency in Bangkok in August. He is being interrogated at an undisclosed location, and the United States has resisted persistent entreaties from the Indonesians for access to him.
No telling what they're learning from him. Important stuff. Aboud Hamzah Haz...
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has had a team, or teams, of agents in Indonesia since August 2002, when two Americans were killed and eight were wounded in an attack in the easternmost Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. The attacks were in an area owned by Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Inc., the giant mining company, which had paid Indonesian soldiers to provide security. More F.B.I. agents came two months later, after the car bomb attacks that killed more than 200 in Bali. Publicly, American officials say the Indonesians have been cooperating with the F.B.I. in those investigations. Privately, however, American officials complain about the lack of full cooperation.
My guess is that the cops usually do, the army and the pols usually don't...
All indications are that Indonesian soldiers were involved in the killings in Irian Jaya, American officials have said. Because of a lack of full cooperation and the absence of vital forensic evidence, however, they are doubtful that the killers will ever be found.
That's what's supposed to happen...
In the attacks in Bali, the Indonesian government has not given the F.B.I. as much direct access as it would like to those under arrest, several of whom have been convicted and are facing execution. The officials added that this was not considered a serious impediment, because, they noted, the Indonesians had done a good job of rounding up and prosecuting the attackers. The arrests have seriously crippled Jemaah Islamiyah, which has also been weakened by internal divisions "over how, when and where to wage jihad," Ms. Jones said in her report. A top priority for governments now, she concluded, is to prevent central Sulawesi from becoming an international training center like Afghanistan was under the Taliban. Al-Qaeda was running training camps in Sulawesi in early 2001, though those were reputedly shut down. There have been recent claims that new camps have been opened up, but no real confirmation one way or another. If those camps are there, then itâs already an international terror hub and needs to be shut down. JI is already churning out new flunkies in Mindanao, we donât need another version of those MILF camps sprouting up in Indonesia proper.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:09:30 AM ||
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#1
Hey Dan, you can find most of the answers in the ICC's report here, although I found it difficult to keep track of all the players and groups involved.
It essentially says that JI was leery about getting involved in the Christian/Muslim violence in Poso and Ambon, because they detected the hand of the Indonesian Army in the background. They were also slow to act because of the centralised structure that meant everything had to go through a lot of beurocracy before anything could be decided.
So a bunch of JI men joined up with Mujahedeen Kompak, which was an independent Jihadi outfit that would accept anyone who wanted to join.
They also had a falling out with Laskar Jihad, because the former are Indonesian ultra-nationalists with an Islamist outlook, while the latter are hardcore Jihadis who don't even believe in the concept of the nationstate.
Lashkar Khos is said to be JI's 'special forces', and is unrelated to Mujahedeen Kompak.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/04/2004 0:30 Comments ||
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Much obliged, Paul, that does answer a lot of my questions, though it still looks as though the Mujahideen Kompak is still more or less an affiliate of JI and would probably side with Zulkarnaean or Dr. Azahari in carrying out further terrorist attacks inside Indonesia.
The only reason as to why I brought up the Lashkar Khos is because I thought there might be a similarity between that and the Kompak, but it looks like I was wrong.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 1:17 Comments ||
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At least 160 of the 650 detainees acknowledged by the Pentagon being held at the United States military base at Guantanamo, Cuba -- almost a quarter of the total -- are from Saudi Arabia, a special UPI survey can reveal. In UPIâs groundbreaking and detailed breakdown of the nationalities of the detainees, some arrested far from the 2001 battlefield of Afghanistan, the other top nationalities being held are Yemen with 85, Pakistan with 82, Jordan and Egypt, each with 30.
Afghans are the fourth largest nationality with 80 detainees, according to the detailed UPI survey that has now for the first time established the homelands of 95 percent of the total number of prisoners.
One member of the Bahraini royal family is among those detained, according to his lawyer Najeeb al-Nauimi of Doha, Qatar, who was Qatarâs 1995-97 justice minister and has power of attorney from the parents of about 70 prisoners.
Jordan, a close ally of the U.S. in its war on terror, has 30 of its citizens detained in Camp Delta, as does Egypt. Jordan has worked closely with the U.S. in the initial processing of prisoners, providing both interrogators and interpreters.
Morocco, site of an al-Qaida attack on a synagogue in April 2002 that killed 21 people, has 18 of its nationals in Guantanamo. Algeria, currently in the throes of a violent conflict between Islamists and the government, has 19 prisoners in Camp Delta, six of whom were arrested in Sarajevo.
Kuwait, liberated from Saddam Hussein by Operation Desert Storm in 1991 has 12 citizens in Guantanamo; the Kuwaiti government insists that all of its citizen were involved in charity and relief work.
China also has at least 12 its citizens in Guantanamo, although they are all identified as ethnic Uighurs rather than Han Chinese.
Next on the list are Tajikistan and Turkey with 11 citizens each. Tajikistan fought a bloody civil war in the aftermath of the collapse of communism in 1991 and fundamentalists maintain a strong presence there. Turkey last November was subjected to al-Qaida bombing attacks in Istanbul, which killed 62 people.
Nine British citizens of Muslim background are in Guantanamo; they have proven to be a political liability for Prime Minister Tony Blair, as calls have been made in Parliament for their repatriation.
Both Tunisia and Russia have eight of their nationals at Camp Delta; a Russian embassy spokesman was careful to point out however that the eight Russian citizens are not ethnic Russians. Rustam Akmerov, Ravil Gumarov, Timur Ishmuradov, Shamil Khadzhiev (originally identified as Almaz Sharipov), Rasul Kudaev, Ravil Mingazov, Ruslan Odigov and Airat Vakhitov are members of Russiaâs Muslim community. The Russian embassy nonetheless is quietly pursuing negotiations with Washington to extradite its citizens.
France and Bahrain both have seven each of their nationals at Gauntanamo. Highlighting the problems of identification, France only recently discovered its seventh national at Camp Delta. The Bahraini detainees include a member of the royal family.
Kazakhstan has been quietly lobbying Washington for the return of its citizens, as have Australia (2) and Canada (2.) Australian David Hicks is one of the most high profile prisoners in Camp Delta; a convert to Islam, Hicks fought as a jihadi in the Balkans before shipping out to Afghanistan.
There are reportedly at least two Chechens, two Uzbeks and two Syrians in Camp Delta. The Syrian detainees especially interest U.S. intelligence, as one of the four workers at Camp Delta under investigation for possibly aiding the prisoners, Air Force translator Senior Airman Ahmad al-Halabi is accused of trying to pass messages from the prisoners to Syria. There are also two Georgian and two Sudanese nationals in Guantanamo.
Bangladesh, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Iraq, Kenya, Libya, Mauritania, Qatar, Spain and Sweden all have a single citizen in Camp Delta.
More from the troll...
The Anti-Defamation League is the longest running and most powerful hate group in the United States with 28 offices domestically and 3 offices abroad. They bring in nearly $60 million a year to combat free speech and the right of ethnic minorities to defend themselves from bigotry (including Black Muslims, Arabs, and Euro-Americans). The Anti-Defamation League was created in 1913 by the racist secret society known as Bânai Bârith (which means "blood of the Chosen"). This organization, which exists today excludes people based on their ethnic background and religion. It is exclusively restricted to powerful Jews who believe in racial superiority. The ADL has spearheaded efforts at censorship against all people who wish to express themselves culturally and racially. The Director of the ADL Richard Gutstadt wrote to all periodicals he could find to censor the book, "The Conquest of A Continent." Mr Gutstadt brazenly writes, "We are interested in stifling the sale of this book." The ADL was also instrumental in terrorizing St. Martinâs Press into canceling their contract last year with David Irving. The ADL trys to cover its anti-free speech activities by giving out a Free Speech "Torch of Liberty" award occasionally. The most prominent recipient is flesh peddler and woman denigrator Hugh Hefner. Obscene pornographer Larry Flynt is another supporter who has contributed 100,000s of dollars to the ADL.
When posting, please remember to include a link to the original article. Further posts without links will be deleted. Also, it's customary to use only one "handle" on a site, rather than making up different names so it looks like you're more than one person.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/04/2004 16:37 Comments ||
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#2
Pure Troll Shit with false link. Fred, please remove this.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/04/2004 16:39 Comments ||
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#3
Louis IV, for credibility's sake, could you please fix the link to the Associated Press story. The only two links found when using this subject were to suspect Jew hating blog sites.
#6
Hey, LoserIV - take it to the DU, where there are people stupid enough to believe it.
Wotta maroon.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/04/2004 17:00 Comments ||
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#7
The Anti-Defamation League is given 100s of 1000s of dollars per year to "train" (read "brainwash") police officers. This despite the fact that the Anti-Defamation League membership is open only to Jews. The alliance between law enforcement and the Anti-Defamation League is clearly a violation of separation of religon and state.
As a matter of fact, the Anti-Defamation League has lobbied for decades to remove any semblence of Christianity from government-funded institutions. For instance if a teacher were to put up any Christian symbol, the Anti-Defamation League would be the first to scream, shout, and threaten the school, saying the teacher and school are "anti-semitic," "Nazis," and violaters of the Constitution. So in the place of traditional Christian symbols the Anti-Defamation League has substituted their World of Difference Program, that cleverly expresses the Anti-Defamation League's Jewish supremacy and hate for all those who don't give in to the Anti-Defamation League's every wish. And should a school not accept to pay thousands of dollars to the Anti-Defamation League for this "program," the school, principal, teachers, and school boards are again villified as "Haters, " "Nazis," "Christian-bigots."
#8
Fred, the "stamp" idea I mentioned earlier in email would be useful for this sort of post. Nautilus has something like this for files, and I think Fark.com has something vaguely like what I'm thinking of.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/04/2004 17:07 Comments ||
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#9
hey! thanks! I didn't know any of this!!! I'm gonna write out a check to the ADL today! this is GREAT!!!
#10
You're confusing the ACLU with ADL in your remarks about removing Christian symbols.
It's OK. You were only off by a couple of letters.
Posted by: Daniel King ||
02/04/2004 17:09 Comments ||
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#11
The ADL is a religion? Can GLAAD be a religion too. Me and louis can then claim to be religious. I, like planetdan, am also going to get my checkbook. but not for the same reason. i just got an e-mail from a king in nigeria that said if i send a check, iw ill get lots of money in return, and then i can be part of the bush crowd. more money for peta too yoohoo:)
#18
Can Christians join the Muslim Brotherhood? Just wondering....
Posted by: lil dhimmi(JC) ||
02/04/2004 17:50 Comments ||
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#19
What's the big deal with this. ADL is also protesting Gibson's Christ Movie as well. The ADL has about the same amount of credibility as Disney's Mickey Mouse Club.
#23
Congratulations, Fred, you've been "discovered" by the American Trolls Network (ATN). I'm sure you'll be seeing plenty of this kind of infantile prattle over the next several weeks, until these poor children discover somewhere else to befoul. In the meantime, I suggest shark repellent mixed with ten-day-old tuna salad, applied liberally to the upper lip of any troll you manage to catch.
Unfortunately, it's still "catch and release" season, but there's nothing in the Manual that says they have to be released in the same condition they were caught.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 20:04 Comments ||
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#24
Leave the troll drool without comments and I'll delete them. I only leave them for the comments.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2004 21:39 Comments ||
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#25
Did all you troll commenters apply your ComSec training here? One of the purposes of trolling is to elicit reaction to identify the writers reacting. We are all on the troll's list now. I have a generic email and can afford to lose it to a troll, but some of you have domain addresses and it would be a pain in the ass to have to change your domain. See Electric Venom about that one. Fred, you'd be best to delete before the troll attracts a crowd of your best commenters.
ComSec = Communications Security, a concept that we all benefit from.
Richard H. Curtiss
Itâs no secret that much of the news reported in Israelâs Hebrew-language media never reaches the mainstream American press, for the simple reason that items unfavorable to Israel generally are not translated. And, because very few Israelis break this self-imposed censorship, items from the Hebrew press that do appear may be much more newsworthy than their anemic English translations indicate. It was a bit stunning, therefore, to read an article in Strategic Assessment, the quarterly bulletin issued by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University. The report, titled âThe War in Iraq: An Intelligence Failure?â was written by Shlomo Brom, a brigadier general in the Israeli army reserves, and said what no one seems to have dared publish since President George W. Bush decided to wage war on Iraq. Shockingly, it told the full truth about the American and British intelligence âsourcesâ making the case for war. In fact, according to Brom, these sources were utterly compromised by Israeli intelligence, which made the case for starting the war and kept it going as long as necessary. The retired general described Israel as a âfull partnerâ in U.S. and British intelligence failures that exaggerated Iraqi President Saddam Hussainâs nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs in the lead up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Israeli intelligence sources and political leaders provided âan exaggerated assessment of Iraqi capabilities,â raising âthe possibility that the intelligence had been manipulated,â wrote Brom, former deputy chief of planning for the Israeli army. Brom said his remarks were directed at Israelâs Military Intelligence, Air Force Intelligence and the Mossad intelligence agency. The Israeli army declined to comment on his report, and the Mossad did not return press calls. David Baker, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, also refused to comment on the report. However, similar allegations have surfaced from U.S. and British sources following months of futile efforts to uncover evidence of Iraqâs pre-war weapons programs.
In a Dec. 5 article, Washington Post correspondent Molly Moore quoted from the report: ââIn the questioning of the picture painted by coalition intelligence, the third party in this intelligence failure, Israel, has remained in the shadowsâŠA critical question to be answered is whether governmental bodies falsely manipulated the intelligence information in order to gain support for their decision to go to war in Iraq, while the real reasons for this decision were obfuscated or concealed.ââ Articles by Laura King of the Los Angeles Times, Peter Enav of Salon.com.News, and the Associated Press also appeared on the report. Israel was a âfull partnerâ in U.S. and British intelligence failures.
Brigadier General Bromâs criticism of the Israeli intelligence communityâwhich many Americans believe to be one of, if not the worldâs bestâwas unusual. Like many retired intelligence officers, Brom, who retired after a 25-year career, most likely continued to be privy to a great deal of sensitive government information. Salon.comâs Enav quotes Stuart A. Cohen, vice chairman of the U.S. National Intelligence Council, as having written in November that, given all the evidence the U.S. possessed on Iraq, âno reasonable person could haveâŠreached any conclusions or alternative views that were profoundly different from those that we reached.â Cohen, Enav pointed out, âwas the acting chairman of the council when he oversaw the production of a National Intelligence Estimate summarizing U.S. evidence on Iraqâs alleged weapons programs, concluding that Iraq possessed prohibited biological and chemical weapons and missiles and was producing more.â According to Brom, however, Israeli intelligence âbadly overestimated the Iraqi threat to Israel and reinforced the American and British belief that the weapons existed.â
Attributing the poor intelligence to a lack of professionalism and poor supervision, Brom wrote, âEven if Iraq had any Scud missiles left, I canât understand how Israeli intelligence officers came to believe they threatened Israel, particularly when they hadnât been used in more than 10 years. Itâs a clear example of how an inability to think clearly is undermining the Israeli intelligence community.â Noted Enav, âIsraeli leaders said on the eve of the Iraq war there was an outside chance that Saddam Hussain might arm Scud missiles with chemical or biological agents and attack the country. Partially based on the precedent of the 39 Iraqi Scuds that hit Israel during the 1991 Gulf war, the warning resulted in the expenditure of tens of millions of dollars and disrupted daily life. âBrom also cited bitter memories of the 1973 Middle East war,â Enav reported, âwhen Israeli intelligence failed to anticipate an attack by Egypt and Syria, and the country suffered thousands of casualties.â
As Brom observed in his report, âIsraeli intelligence agencies have tended to overstate the threat the country faces ever since 1973.â Wrote The Postâs Moore, âThe study did not cite specific exchanges of intelligence. Israeli officials frequently told foreign journalists before the war that Israel and the United States were sharing information, particularly regarding Iraqi missiles and nonconventional weapons that could possibly be used against Israel. The report accused intelligence agencies of being blinded by a one-dimensional perception of Saddam Hussain.â Moore continued, âAt the heart of this perception lay the colorful portrait of an embodiment of evil, a man possessed by a compulsion to develop weapons of mass destruction in order to strike Israel and others, regardless of additional considerations.â According to Moore, âThe analysis said a âcertain degree of intelligence wariness is justified,â but added, âthe problem lies in getting carried away to extremes, as was clearly the case with Israeli intelligence on Iraqâ⊠âWhen âIsraeli intelligence became aware that certain items had been transferred by the head of the regime from Iraq to Syria,â Moore quoted the report as saying, ââIsraeli intelligence immediately portrayed itâincluding in leaks to the mediaâas if Iraq was moving banned weapons out of Iraq in order to conceal them.ââ
Brom criticized Israeli intelligence for failing to include the more probable scenario that Saddam Hussain and his aides were moving cash or family members out of the country in the face of an impending attack. âThe study noted,â Moore wrote, âthat Israeli and U.S. governments have disagreed over the past decade on the âweight of various threats in the Middle East.â The report said Israel has generally claimed that Iran poses a more serious threat than Iraq, because the latter was âcontained and under control.ââ Moore further quoted the Brom report as saying that âOnce the Bush administration decided to take action against Iraq, it was more difficult for Israel to maintain its position that dealing with Iraq was not the highest priority, especially when it was obvious that the war would serve Israelâs interests.â
According to Laura Kingâs report, âBefore the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March, Israeli officials sent mixed signals to the public over the threat of a biological or chemical attack by Hussainâs forces. They described the likelihood of Israel being targeted as slight, yet the country was placed on a war footing. Jet fighters patrolled the skies 24 hours a day. Israelis were told to prepare âsealed roomsâ in which they could take shelter in the event of an attack. Children were sent off to school carrying gas masks. Many Israelis had vivid memories of the 1991 Persian Gulf war, during which Iraq lobbed 39 Scud missiles at Israel, none armed with a chemical or biological agent.â
Enav quoted Israeli legislator Yossi Sarid, now a member of the pro-peace opposition Meretz Party, as calling âfor a parliamentary inquiry on the performance of Israeli intelligence services. âSarid told Israel Radio,â Enav reported, that âthe article proved that Israeli intelligence assessments on Iraq caused Israel considerable damage by compelling it to prepare for âthreats that did not exist.ââ
One thing is certain. Israelâs competing intelligence services soon will beginâif they havenât alreadyâto write scenarios explaining why it will be necessary to bomb Iranian weapons technology, and a whole new virtual weapons industry will materialize. The reason, of course, is to focus international attention on yet another ârogue state,â so as not to have to deal with the real problem, making peace with Palestinians. How much longer can this flight from reality be allowed to last?
Richard H. Curtiss is executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
#2
The WRMEA is socialist cess-pool. I don't think there's a salt lick big enough for this trash story....other than the troll who posted it.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/04/2004 16:57 Comments ||
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#3
Hey Lorne (if that is your name) - ever hear of "edited for length"? Try it sometime.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/04/2004 17:02 Comments ||
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#4
Mr Wilberger
Explain me why you make so much fuss about at most three thousands of Palestinians killed (most of them killed while trying to kill someone else) and so little about the two million blacks killed in South Sudan?
It is because the momma boy in you wants to show his "rebellion" by hating everything who is western and friendly to the US, or because Israelis are Jews and you are a Nazi? Or is it because South Sudanese are blacks and as a KKK member you believe that whites have the right to enslave, rape and kill blacks?
Anyway you are despicable but I would really like to tune my reasons for despising you.
(From WorldNet Daily - salt as necessary.)Story's based on the MEMRI article, below...
Responding to Franceâs ban on the Islamic veil, the new head of the Muslim Brotherhood asserted Islam ultimately will triumph over the United States and Europe. "I have complete faith that Islam will invade Europe and America, because Islam has logic and a mission," said Muhammad Mahdi Othman âAkef, who recently took over the Egyptian-based movement after the death of leader Mamoun Al-Hudhaybi. In an interview with the website alwihdah.com, translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, âAkef said he is convinced "the Europeans and the Americans will come into the bosom of Islam out of conviction... In 1993, I went to America and I published a book, âPolitical Pluralism and the Woman,â that was distributed in the mosque," he said. "Thirty [American] women converted immediately to Islam as soon as they read it. These are people who become convinced of the right path â but who will guide them there?"
Founded in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt since 1954, although it renounced violence in the 1970s. The movement, which has thousands of supporters and branches in other Arab nations, seeks to establish a strict Islamic state in Egypt. âAkef said he was among the first to express opposition to statements by French President Jacques Chirac, who "described the hijab [veil] as offensive in nature." A bill presented to Franceâs National Assembly yesterday by Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin bars Muslim headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses from public classrooms. âAkef said he asked Chirac to understand the hijab is a "divine commandment."
"It's in the Koran someplace! You could look it up!"
"I know that among the brothers in France, or the so-called Union of Islamic Organizations, there are smart people who can stand against this vile stream in the war on the hijab, represented by the stream of Turkey and Tunisia," he said. "With Allahâs help, our brothers in France will be able to handle this matter however they see fit." In an interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Arabi, âAkef called the U.S. a "Satan that abuses the region, lacking all morality and law." âAkef criticized Washingtonâs claims that the U.S. is acting to spread democracy in the Arab world. "These are [futile] words and false propaganda," he said. "It is not logical that the U.S. â which destroyed Afghanistan, supports Israelâs daily ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people and occupies Iraq and steals its treasures â is acting to spread democracy in the Arab world."
The Muslim leader said he expects the U.S. to collapse in the near future. He told the independent Egyptian weekly Nahdhat Misr, "The matter of Americaâs attempt to take over the world is not new. What is new is that it appears with such a grim face, without morals, without principles, without law and without recognition of the need for the U.N. or the Security Council. âAkef said he is certain that "without the betrayal in Iraq, the Iraqis would have tormented the Americans with all kinds of torments," and U.S. forces would have left. "I expect America to collapse soon," he said. "The elements of this collapse in America [already] exist, and Allah is the savior." I posted the entire article, because what this guy says is believed by millions of Arabs. Whether he believes it or not is another question. It could go either way - this may be for local consumption, or he may be that deluded.
As I read this, a verse from the Bible popped into my mind: "He who lives by the sword, will die by the sword." I wonder if this will also apply to Islam, which was born by the sword, and which is spread mostly through "jihad", or "holy war".
I also donât expect the US or Europe to fall to Islam. Islam as a force has spent itself. Its inability to exercise any form of creativity will limit it to what others create. It can be starved into submission, or just plain left in the dust. If it werenât for oil, thatâs where the entire Middle East would be anyway.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 1:05:37 PM ||
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#1
Question about Islam. Back in the day when they were conquering everything and rolling up through Spain and Greece... Why didn't they make a serious thrust into subsahara Africa?
Was it racism? Difficult terrain? Or pride at being stopped by the Christians?
On a similar front I always wondered why the Spanish flush with gold from the new world harrassed fellow Christians in constant wars (heretics, I know) instead of rolling Islam out of North Africa.
#2
"What is new is that [the US] appears with such a grim face, without morals, without principles, without law and without recognition of the need for the U.N. or the Security Council."
Great, the message is getting across. I'd rather this guy describe us as "The Shining City on the Hill" or something like that, but I'll settle for "The Country That Can Put a 2,000 Pound Bomb Through My Bathroom Window."
Posted by: Matt ||
02/04/2004 13:46 Comments ||
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#3
Damn Matt! Now I have to clean my monitor! LOL!
#4
Ruprecht -- Islam (under Arab and Berber leadership) conquered Spain in the 700s. Greece remained untouched until the 1300s and 1400s, when the Turks took it over. Sub-Saharan Africa was distant, almost unreachable before Berbers organized camel caravans in the 800s. Also, it tended to be deadly to outsiders (due mainly to malaria). Islam did spread into the zone from Senegal to Chad (the Sahel) about a thousand years ago, but it was mostly through trade. Jihad didn't come here until the early 1800s, led by Fulani herders -- not Arabs. The East African coast was also Islamified by about 1000, by way of trade and military contacts with Arabia.
Spain and Portugal did try to conquer North Africa -- Spain controlled Tunis and a number of other areas for many years (it still has Ceuta). But a series of military disaster here under Phillip II destroyed these ambitions. Portugal's attempt in Morocco in 1580 was so disastrous that the kingdom ceased to exist for 60 years (Spain took it over).
Europe had no real military advantages over Islam until the mid-1600s. The Turks still had no idea that they had fallen behind -- until their ill-fated attempt to take Vienna in 1683.
#5
I think this qoute by Bernard Lewis fits this guy to a T -> 'At times this hatred goes beyond hostility to specific interests or actions or policies or even countries and becomes a rejection of Western civilization as such, not only what it does but what it is, and the principles and values that it practices and professes. These are indeed seen as innately evil, and those who promote or accept them as the "enemies of God." ' - from The Roots of Muslim Rage
#6
"I expect America to collapse soon," he said. "The elements of this collapse in America [already] exist, and Allah is the savior."
The only collapse that's going to happen here is a self-inflicted one if the PC brigade continues their work. It won't have anything to do with the wishes of Islamic clerics.
#7
"âAkef said he is certain that "without the betrayal in Iraq, the Iraqis would have tormented the Americans with all kinds of torments," and U.S. forces would have left."
#8
Sounds like he hired Baghdad Bob's speechwriter.
Posted by: Lil Dhimmi(JC) ||
02/04/2004 15:14 Comments ||
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#9
appears with such a grim face, without morals, without principles, without lawBut with the New Model Army
Good heavens it ain't Bush=Hitler it's Bush=Cromwell!
#10
"The matter of Americaâs attempt to take over the world is not new."
What's new is that I can say, ""I have complete faith that Islam will invade Europe and America, because Islam has logic and a mission" and have the pc people who claim to be against everything I stand for, cheer me on. Only in America.
#12
"In 1993, I went to America and I published a book, âPolitical Pluralism and the Woman,â that was distributed in the mosque," he said. "Thirty [American] women converted immediately to Islam as soon as they read it."
Those 30 must be real prize packages to be willingly burkaed up.
Posted by: Tibor ||
02/04/2004 15:39 Comments ||
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#15
I must say, his logic and intellectual rigor are excruciating.
without the betrayal in Iraq, the Iraqis would have tormented the Americans with all kinds of torments
if, if, if. if they hadn't done it, things would be different. sheesh. but they DID betray. that's what they do. and for good reason, might I add.
The matter of Americaâs attempt to take over the world is not new
it can't be old, cuz America ain't been around that long.
besides, in one breath he's getting all red in the face about how America is trying to take over the world. Seems to believe world domination is a BAD thing. Yet, in another breath he's huffing and puffing about how Islam will take over the world.
if he wasn't so dangerous (well, if his followers weren't so dangerous because of their sheer numbers and lemming qualities), I wouldn't be able to stop laughing.
#16
Let's do a little PR for ourselves so that the world of Islam doesn't continue to think we are going to collapse. Next year, don't let MTV stage a crotch-grabbing gropefest for the Super Bowl halftime show. Stick with Charlie Daniels and Toby Keith. That sends a better message to the people that hate us.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 19:39 Comments ||
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Following the recent death of Muslim Brotherhood movement leader Mamoun Al-Hudhaybi, Muhammad Mahdi Othman Akef was appointed as his successor. He has since given a number of interviews to the Arab media. The following are excerpts from the interviews:
Martyrdom Operations are a Religious Obligation in Palestine and Iraq
In an interview with the Egyptian pro-Nasserite weekly Al-Arabi, âAkef spoke about suicide bombing operations: "The Muslim Brotherhood movement condemns all bombings in the independent Arab and Muslim countries. But the bombings in Palestine and Iraq are a [religious] obligation. This is because these two countries are occupied countries, and the occupier must be expelled in every way possible. Thus, the [Muslim Brotherhood] movement supports martyrdom operations in Palestine and Iraq in order to expel the Zionists and the Americans."
In an interview with the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood weekly Al-Sabil, âAkef spoke about the Palestinian Intifada: "The Palestinian Intifada gave life to a cause that was on its deathbed⊠In Palestine, brothers are waging Jihad with weapons and resisting the occupiers. We try as hard as we can to support the cause by publishing books, convening forums, and [organizing] lectures aimed at raising awareness regarding support for Palestine, which is our central cause. If the gates of Jihad in Palestine open before the [Muslim] Brotherhood, we will not hesitate a single moment, and we will be with them on the battlefield."
Akef discussed Israeli civilian casualties resulting from Palestinian operations in Israel, telling the Saudi daily Al-Watan: "In Israel, there should be no [differentiation between] a civilian and a member of the military. All are enemies of the Arab homeland and of Islam. They are occupiers and have no right to one handsbreadth of the land of PalestineâŠ
America is âSatanâ and Will Soon Collapse
In response to a question by the Egyptian weekly Al-Arabi on "relations with the U.S," Akef said: "We have no relations with the U.S. It is a Satan that abuses the region, lacking all morality and law." Akef also denied any "secret dialogue between the Americans and the [Muslim] Brotherhood," saying that this is "an unfounded lie."
In response to a question by the Jordanian weekly Al-Sabil about "Washingtonâs claims that it is acting to spread democracy in the Arab world," Akef said: "These are [futile] words and false propaganda. It is not logical that the U.S. â which destroyed Afghanistan, supports Israelâs daily ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people, and occupies Iraq and steals its treasures â is acting to spread democracy in the Arab world."
Akef also said that he expects the U.S. to collapse in the near future. In response to the question, "How do the U.S.âs actions following the occupation of Iraq, its attitude to the Palestinian problem, its siege of Syria, and the recent turnaround in Libya affect the Arab situation?" Akef told the independent Egyptian weekly Nahdhat Misr, "The matter of Americaâs attempt to take over the world is not new. What is new is that it appears with such a grim face, without morals, without principles, without law, and without recognition of the need for the U.N. or the Security Council. The [American] tyranny is long known. In the past, they fought secretly, and now they are fighting openly. There is no logic or law in the world that agrees to their occupation of Iraq [and] before that of Palestine, or to what is happening. Allah is helping Syria, which found no savior. Had the Arab and Muslim countries been united, America and Israel would not have been able to withstand them. I am certain that without the betrayal in Iraq, the Iraqis would have tormented the Americans with all kinds of torments. The American forces would not have remained [in Iraq]. I expect America to collapse soon. The elements of this collapse in America [already] exist, and Allah is the Savior."
No Proof That Al-Qaâida Carried Out the 9/11 Attacks
In response to the question from the Saudi daily Al-Watan, "Donât you think that the September [11, 2001] events are justification of Americaâs [activity] in Afghanistan?" Akef said: "This is a false statement, because [America] has no proof. They held no fair trial for those arrested on the charge of the September explosion. All they say is a list of names whom they claim bear the responsibility for the September events. If [the Americans] provided proof of the truth of their version, I would fight together with the Americans and join President Bush in this war."
Regarding the claim that "the Al-Qaâida organization acknowledged responsibility for these operations in the videocassettes aired on several Arab television channels," Akef said: "I do not pay any attention to these films, because they are part of the psychological war between these people [Al-Qaâida] and the American administration. "These cassettes came in response to the American operations. Washington must prove by trial that they [Al-Qaâida] are the ones who carried out the explosions in September."
Islam Will Invade Europe and America
Regarding the veil ban in France, the website http://www.alwihdah.com reported that Akef said on the Muslim Brotherhood website: "Perhaps I was among the first to express opposition to the statements by Chirac, who described the Hijab as offensive in nature. I asked him to understand that the Hijab is a divine commandment and that if he did not know this then he should ask the Church. I know that among the brothers in France, or the so-called Union of Islamic Organizations, there are smart people who can stand against this vile stream in the war on the Hijab, represented by the stream of Turkey and Tunisia. With Allahâs help, our brothers in France will be able to handle this matter however they see fit."
On the question regarding the effect the veil ban will have on the future of Islam in Europe, Akef said: "I have complete faith that Islam will invade Europe and America, because Islam has logic and a mission. The Europeans and the Americans will come into the bosom of Islam out of conviction. In 1993, I went to America and I published a book, âPolitical Pluralism and the Woman,â that was distributed in the mosque. Thirty [American] women converted immediately to Islam as soon as they read it. These are people who become convinced of the right path â but who will guide them there?"
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/04/2004 12:35:21 AM ||
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#1
Is there any reason this cretin should not be killed ASAP as a terrorist or terrorist supporter?
Where are the moderates who should be shouting down this spittle spewing sh*tpile?
#2
Thirty [American] women converted immediately to Islam as soon as they read it.
Similar to all the women who fall in love with criminals in prison.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/04/2004 7:39 Comments ||
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#3
Yawn, can't they even be a little bit original??
But the bombings in Palestine and Iraq are a [religious] obligation. This is because these two countries are occupied countries, and the occupier must be expelled in every way possible.
Would 'Akef support 'martyrdom ops' by the SPLA then? It is not logical that the U.S. â which destroyed Afghanistan...
Think it was the Soviets, Hek, Mas'ud, Dostum & the Talibs who did that actually. By the time the US began bombing they were just making rubble bounce. I expect America to collapse soon. The elements of this collapse in America [already] exist, and Allah is the Savior.
Any reasoning behind this statement? Didn't think so... âAkef said: "I have complete faith that Islam will invade Europe and America, because Islam has logic and a mission.
Nikita Khrushchev had 'complete faith' in the triumph of communism didn't he? Much good it did them.
Posted by: Dave ||
02/04/2004 7:42 Comments ||
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#4
Nikita Khrushchev had 'complete faith' in the triumph of communism didn't he? Much good it did them.
It was a trial run, we'll do better in the US.
Posted by: that michael moore ||
02/04/2004 8:13 Comments ||
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#5
This is a false statement, because [America] has no proof
nope. no proof whatsoever. nada. nyet. nunca. of course, if asked, he'd claim it was Mossad, unequivocally. cuz muslims would NEVER do such things, though it's JUST the thing Jooooos would do -- and blame on muslims.
Washington must prove by trial that they [Al-Qaâida] are the ones who carried out the explosions in September."
#6
It's time for us Dhimmi people to pay the Jizya tax to the mosques masters for most graciouly allowing us live a bit longer. The tribute in the form of metals, petroleum, and nitrogen compunds is best delivered in 155mm or JDAM style containers.
Posted by: ed ||
02/04/2004 8:45 Comments ||
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#7
Are you sure this isn't from one of the Democrats running for Pres?
#9
"represented by the stream of Turkey and Tunisia. "
I understand why hes upset about Turkey on the hijab issue - whats up with Tunisia? Is that govt now seen as fully Kemalist? Does it discourage the hijab as Turkey does?
#11
LH: This is from Bourguiba's (the father of Tunisia) obituary:
Though a Muslim himself, Mr Bourguiba rejected militant Islam. He gave women the vote and scrapped polygamy and the veil. He balanced his pro-Western stance by giving refuge to the PLO following its expulsion from Lebanon.
IIRC, his tomb is incribed "The emancipator of women." People that I know who have lived there say it's not a bad place.
#14
re: Faisal's got work...hmm...wonder if he is the Murat replacement. I haven't seen a distinctive Murat post since around the Turkey bombings. Oh sure..there have been Murat posts...but I haven't seen a vintage Murat post since then. Has anyone else? Just wondering.
Also question of Israel hating suicide bombers out there. Does it bother you, blowing up babies and grannies, or do you actually hope to cause the most misery possible?
Posted by: B ||
02/04/2004 16:20 Comments ||
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#15
America is Satan? Cool! Come throw your rocks at us instead of your stupid pole in the ground. We'll throw back some JDAMs and MOABs.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/04/2004 18:47 Comments ||
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#16
One day Americans are going to get tired of this sh*t and then a reckoning is coming,it's going to be a bad day for Islam
From Geostrategy-Direct...
China and Egypt have agreed to a summit to bolster technological cooperation. Meaning military technology.
Officials said China and Egypt plan to sign four cooperation agreements in economy and technology as part of improved strategic relations between Beijing and Cairo. Chinese President Hu Jintao signed the agreements during the visit on Jan. 28. Hu met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in a visit that focused on strategic cooperation and regional issues. Officials said the two countries have agreed to bolster technological cooperation and trade. Meaning if Egypt cannot get it from us they will get it from the Chicoms.
Western diplomatic sources said the two countries planned to sign several technological cooperation agreements that have dual-use applications for Egyptâs military. The sources said the Chinese summit is part of Beijingâs effort to increase its relations with North African states. Start with Zim and work north. China is looking long term. They are trying to do the same in Central and South America. China has tried to increase its military and defense ties with several Arab countries. China has been supplying Egypt with the components to produce Chinaâs K-8 turboprop air trainer for the Egyptian Air Force. Egypt plans to produce or import 80 such aircraft. In 1999, China and Egypt signed a strategic cooperation accord that opened the way for the sale of missiles and satellites. Since then, Egyptian officials have discussed the prospect of Chinese help to Egyptâs reconnaissance satellite program. The sources said China has offered such countries as Algeria, Egypt, Iran and Syria a range of missiles and components for nuclear facilities. Next are nuke payloads by others. Does this come out of our $2 bil in foreign aid to Egypt? It seems if Egypt can afford to buy this stuff on their own, they do not need our aid. Hey, but what do I know?
They said Chinese military delegations have visited each of these countries over the past year. Egyptian officials did not discuss the prospect of Chinese military sales to Egypt. They said Hu would discuss Middle East issues, including Egyptâs plan to eliminate weapons of mass destruction in the region.
Hu is also visiting Algeria in a tour that will end on Feb. 4.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/04/2004 4:43:27 PM ||
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Egypt plans to produce or import 80 such aircraft.
To what end? Maintenance of pilot proficiency? Wonder how much they'll end up renting 'em for.
#2
Isn't much of our aid to Egypt of a military aid flavor? Wouldn't that mean that we are footing the bill for Egypt to rent Chinese aircraft and possibly transfer technology to China?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 19:57 Comments ||
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Seabee Petty Officer Second Class Erik Balodis once hoped to retire at the company he grew to love. But those aspirations were crushed when automotive parts retail giant Pep Boys fired him in June 2002 after he returned from Navy Reserve training. Company executives contend they laid him off because of poor performance. But Balodis claims the retail chain sacked him because of his military service. He is suing the company for $5 million in lost wages and punitive damages, but hopes the lawsuit will help others. âIf nothing else, itâs going to send a tremendous lesson to the work force and also mostly to Pep Boys to save maybe more people that this might have been happening to,â said Balodis, who is in southern Spain for annual Reserve training.
I's my impression that they're required by law to keep his job for him...
His case has attracted some headlines and put greater attention on worker rights as the military leans heavily on reservists and Guardsmen to help fight the war on terrorism and rebuild Iraq. The battle also has spawned concerns that companies might penalize some of the tens of thousands of part-time soldiers when they return to their full-time jobs. The lawsuit alleges that Pep Boys fired Balodis because his Reserve duties kept him from his job as a district manager in Tucson, Ariz., adding that the retail chain pressured him to choose between his military service and work. Hours after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the company reportedly sent a letter to the Navy requesting that Balodis not be called up because he was too important. When Balodis returned from a Navy exercise on June 27, 2002, the company fired him for âjob abandonment.â EFL
#1
I don't buy anything from Pep Boys anyway, but this is another reason to NEVER go in there. How DARE they. May they rot in hell for this. I hope he wins in court, plus attorney's fees.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/04/2004 16:58 Comments ||
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#2
Poor timing on the part of Pep Boys. If he did have poor performance, he could be dealt with when he returned from active duty. Pep Boys management did not think this one out, plus the possibility of a pissed off and sympathetic jury at trial time, may cost PB big change.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/04/2004 17:19 Comments ||
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#3
If they did, indeed, send a letter asking for him to be allowed to remain because he was too important, then it's pretty obvious that they're screwed. The law is the law and it's pretty clear on this topic, or so I've read, anyway. The jury might award a helluvalot more the $5M. Poop Boyz sounds like a bunch of stupid turds...
#6
âPep Boys is stating job performance. But, yet, at the time theyâre saying âjob performance,â I was awarded a district manager award of the quarter,â he said.
If he also has documented good 'performance reviews' he has them by the short hairs....
#7
I spent the Carter years in the Reserve. This was an isue with both companies I worked for in those four years, and one of the major reasons I jumped at the offer when asked to return to active duty. Citizen-soldiers have a long tradition, but a lot of companies these days have absolutely no loyalty to the military, or military members in their organizations. They ALL need a reminder that the price of freedom may include them being without a key performer for a few months. The other choice is to work for the People's Republic of China, or someone equally as odious.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 18:25 Comments ||
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#8
OP, I have worked for DP&L, Nucor Steel and GM since leaving active duty. All have been incredibly supportive of Reservists. I think smaller operations have more trouble supporting prolonged absences.
I wouldn't think that a guy could get to the district manager level in a retail chain of any kind without being a whizz at sales.
Unfortunately, people that make it to higher levels in sales hierachies seem to be almost a species unto themselves. That much coffee and listening to so many motivational sales presentaions must alter the brainwaves into some type of sales version of roid-rage.
What type of publicity did PEP Boys think they were going to get by firing a reservist in 2002? They should have reassigned him to a deadend position and excluded him from all decision making meetings. That's what most companies do. They don't have to pay unemployment benefits when a guy finds another job.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 20:41 Comments ||
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An ultra-Orthodox Jew was sentenced to a year and a half in prison Tuesday for vandalizing the apartment of two Swiss Christian women accused of trying to convert Jews to Christianity. Judge Ruth Or wrote in her decision that the tough sentence imposed on Aharon Kornblit was aimed at sending a message to anti-Christian elements in Israeli society. ``If such vandalism had been done to Jewish homes in a Christian country, the entire Jewish world would demand the vandals be punished and justly,ââ Or wrote. The decision was read out on Israel radio.
Kornblit was among a crowd of about 500 ultra-Orthodox Jews who attacked the home in the devoutly Jewish neighborhood of Mea Shearim after word spread that the women were trying to convert Jews to Christianity. Proselytizing is strongly frowned upon in the Jewish state. Both women denied they had carried out any such activity. The attackers broke into the fourth-story apartment, ransacked it and burned its contents. One of the women was home at the time and escaped unharmed through a back door. Kornblit was one of three suspects arrested by police as they fled across the rooftops of the neighborhood. Another attacker has already served an eight-month sentence. Mea Shearim residents have harassed others who have moved into the neighborhood, including fellow Jews who do not follow their strict interpretation of Jewish law.
Posted by: Ben Morris ||
02/04/2004 4:12:45 PM ||
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its understandable (imho) for jews to have this sensitivity - but whats important is that Israel is a state based on law, and the vandals were convicted and punished.
"Mea Shearim residents have harassed others who have moved into the neighborhood"
#3
Mr. Morris, could you link to the article please? Or tell us where it is located. (I might be missing it, but this article appears to link only to Rantburg.)
A Filipino man appeared in a court in Northern Ireland on Wednesday accused of assisting a terrorist group linked to the al-Qaeda organisation by obtaining money and property. Jaybe Ofrasio, 31, was arrested last week following an international police operation which stretched as far as Australia and the Philippines, as well as Northern Ireland, the court heard. Ofrasio, identified as a cleaner and catering assistant living in Belfast, faces two charges of making funds and property available to a terrorist group. Detective Inspector Mark Brown told the court that Ofrasio was believed to be linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist organisation. The JI is thought to be the Southeast Asian arm of Osama bin Ladenâs al-Qaeda network, and is blamed for October 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia that left over 200 dead. Yes, they are and yes, they did.
The investigation into Ofrasio took in a series of telephone records and financial transactions, Detective Inspector Brown told Belfast Magistrates Court. "The nature of the evidence will be computerised, there will be financial and telephone evidence which is being looked at," he said. "We conducted a number of searches in Belfast and a number of searches in the Philippines and we are looking to connect them." Wonder if he was working with any of the IRA on a exchange program, or if it was a seperate operation?
Ofrasioâs wife, a nurse at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, had also been brought in for questioning but was later released without charge. "Donât leave town."
Posted by: Steve ||
02/04/2004 3:42:25 PM ||
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Peru is investigating claims that a beauty pageant contestant was lured to the West African nation of Gabon to become 67-year-old President Omar Bongoâs lover - and held for nearly two weeks when she refused. Itâs another Lifetime Network movie, folks.
Ivette Santa Maria, a 22-year-old Miss Peru America contestant, was invited to Gabon to be a hostess for the Miss Humanity pageant, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry said in a statement late Tuesday. Press reports in Lima said organizers of the purported contest contacted Santa Maria via the Internet. The old beauty contest e-mail scam.
The Peruvian Foreign Ministry identified the contestâs alleged organizers as being from Argentina and Switzerland. And she didnât ask why it was being held in Gabon?
Just hours after arriving Jan. 17 in Libreville with her boyfriend, Santa Maria was taken by a Bongo aide to the presidential palace, where Bongo tried to take her to his bedroom and seduce her, the Peruvian daily El Comercio said Wednesday. Other Peruvian press reports recounted similar stories, quoting Santa Mariaâs parents. Guess he saw Gadaffi at work and figured heâd give it a try.
El Comercio said Santa Maria fled the palace and spent 12 days confined to a Libreville hotel. She was able to leave Gabon only after Interpol and a French anti-prostitution humanitarian aid group intervened. French anti-prostitution humanitarian aid group? Talk about specialized.
Santa Mariaâs parents contacted Peruâs Foreign Affairs Ministry on Monday seeking help, the ministry said. Peruâs U.N. ambassador in New York contacted his Gabonese counterpart "and expressed the Peruvian governmentâs serious concern over the events," the statement said. In the old days, this would have meant war!
Bongo has kept a tight grip on power in this oil-rich former French colony since becoming president in 1967. He has faced similar allegations in the past. In 1995, Italian fashion designer Francesco Smalto testified in Paris that he furnished Bongo with call girls, flying them regularly from France in 1992-1993. So where was the French anti-hooker squad then? Oh, Iâll bet those hookers were government authorized, I missed the part about oil-rich former French colony.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/04/2004 2:42:34 PM ||
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Smart girl. Didn't want to bonk a Bantu named Bongo.
#8
If you're thinking of your Boy Scout days,Shipman, that dog of song was named B-I-N-G-O. Oh, thank you so verrrry much for the earworm
Praise Allah, Leslie Gore has left the Stadium!
Hat tip: Drudge. Edited for brevity.
Two Cubans who tried to sail to Florida in a truck converted to a pontoon boat last year are making another attempt, this time piloting a seagoing 1950s-era Buick with nine other people, including five children, relatives said. Marciel Basanta Lopez and Luis Gras Rodriguez, who were sent back to Cuba in July after they failed to reach Florida in a converted 1951 Chevy pickup, were allegedly at the helm of the newest vehicle-boat conversion. Under U.S. immigration policy, Cubans who reach U.S. shores are allowed to stay while those caught at sea are usually returned. The Miami Herald said the 1959 Buick was nearly halfway to Key West by Tuesday evening. Key West is 90 miles from Havana, but it was not immediately clear where on Cuba the group had set out to sea. Relatives in Cuba told Basantaâs cousin, Kiriat Lopez, who lives in Lake Worth, that they knew the men were planning a second escape attempt. "My cousin isnât crazy. He wants to be free," Lopez told the newspaper. "Thatâs how crazy he is." Godspeed, gentlemen! Remember to signal when you pass the Coast Guard cutters (and please dim your headlights)!
Posted by: Dar ||
02/04/2004 1:58:00 PM ||
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Hopefully we'll allow them to stay this time. And have the sense to run them as a team in "Junkyard Wars."
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/04/2004 14:16 Comments ||
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#2
Why didn't he try to convert a Soviet or East-German car?
#4
JFM... Could you see them trying to make the 90-mile crossing in a Trabant? I wouldn't try to cross a busy intersection in one! Besides, there are ten of them in the Buick. You couldn't tie that many people TO a Trabant!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 15:22 Comments ||
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#5
there ar good and bad to this story. those cars are bad polluters and should be taken off the rode. but if it sinks some dolfins could be hurt as it goes to the bottom of the sea.
#8
They should have trailed several extra pontoons full of fuel and tried for Mexico. Its a longer trip, but its the surest route into the US - as long as you forgo hitchhiking in the trailer of a large semi carrying 60 or so other undocumented soon to be amnestied Americans.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 20:08 Comments ||
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#9
I read the Canadian Press report link off of yahoo.com. The Canadian Press decribes the attempt at freedon as a "stunt". How F'n typical.
Posted by: Dan Canaveral ||
02/04/2004 21:23 Comments ||
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#10
Nooo ... FOX5 (NYC area) just announced that they were picked up halfway across the ocean ...
Posted by: Lu Baihu ||
02/04/2004 22:23 Comments ||
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#11
Let 'em in. Make them the new hosts on Junkyard Wars, they earned it.
from Arutz Sheva; hat tip to LGF. Short excerpt from a very long piece. Go read it all.
âHe neither sleeps nor slumbers, the Guardian of Israel,â sang former PLO terrorist Walid Shoebat before a crowd of students â many of them Jewish â at the University of Toronto last week. In stark contrast to the PLO songs he recited growing up, with words like, âSharpen my bones into swords and make my flesh into Molotov cocktails,â Shoebat, now 44, sings a very different tune.
. . . âThe first thing we learned growing up was to hate Jews,â Walid recalled. âIâll never forgot the first song I learned in school, âArabs our beloved and Jews our dogs.â I used to wonder at that time who the Jews were, but repeated the words with the rest of the kids without any knowledge of the meaning.â Soon after the Six-Day-War his father transferred him to a school in Bethlehem âwhere I grew in the faith of Islam, in which I was fed the idea that one day a fulfillment of an ancient prophecy by the Muslim prophet Mohammed would come to pass,â recalled Shoebat. âThe prophecy foretold a battle in which the Holy Land would be recaptured and the elimination of the Jews would take place in a massive slaughter. âThe day of judgment shall not come to pass until a tribe of Muslims defeat a tribe of Jews,â it said, âin Jerusalem and the surrounding nationsâ.â It was not long before Walidâs education led him to get involved in various terrorist activities. He routinely stirred up riots and lynch mobs, throwing firebombs and rocks at soldiers and pelting Jewish worshippers at the Western Wall. He even beat an Israeli soldier, with the intent to kill, but the soldier escaped at the last second. So what induced him to defect, you may ask?
The transformation came in 1993, when a newly married Shoebat tried to convert his Catholic wife to Islam. âI claimed that the Jews had corrupted the Bible and were prophet-killers,â Shoebat said. His wife asked him to prove his claims to her so a determined Shoebat purchased his first Bible in order to show his wife the contradictions and corruptions introduced to it by the Jews. . . Slowly a change overcame the veteran Jihadist. âAfter reading the Hebrew Bible, about all of the righteous wars of Israel â from biblical times until the present â it dawned on me,â said Shoebat. âHow could it be that Allah is the true God if the Six-Day-War in 1967 resulted the greatest victory for the Jews since Joshuaâs encirclement of Jericho. Whatâs more is that Israelâs victory â unlike Muslim conquests full of rape, pillaging and massacre â brought freedom for all peoples and religions. Everyone [his fellow Arabs living in Jericho at the time âed.] saw and everyone remembers this but unfortunately people today deny the truth of what they saw.â
Shoebat decided at that point to turn away from the path of terrorism and Jihad. âI woke up my wife and said âMaria â I think I was wrong to try to convert you to Islam.ââ He embarked on a path of reconciliation â experiencing deep regret for his past actions as well as anger toward those who indoctrinated him to carry them out. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
02/04/2004 1:12:08 PM ||
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Shoebat? Isn't that what the Iraqis beat Saddam Hussein's picture with as the Brits rolled into Basra?
Posted by: Tibor ||
02/04/2004 17:58 Comments ||
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Great article...tells alot about the illusions of islam
Hattip: Drudge
The Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet is planning to deliver a high-impact speech at Georgetown University tomorrow morning -- defending his agencyâs work on analyzing Iraqâs weapons of mass destruction programs! Tenet is going public as the Senate Intelligence Committee finishes its draft report on what went wrong -- without giving Tenet a chance to testify. The event, to be held in Gaston Hall on the Georgetown University campus in Washington D.C., is open to broadcast and print media. The CIA directorâs speech will be given on the anniversary of Powell (and Tenetâs) Feb 5th 2003 UN presentation.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
02/04/2004 12:56:02 PM ||
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There is no constitutional right allowing journalists to cover troops in a war zone, a U.S. appeals court in Washington ruled yesterday. The ruling came in a suit brought by publisher Larry Flynt and Hustler magazine over access to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Back to the nekkid girls, Larry.
Mr. Flynt contended that there was a "First Amendment right of the news media to have access to U.S. troops in combat operations," and that the Pentagonâs delay in allowing Hustler correspondents access to the troops in Afghanistan violated that right. Mr. Flynt requested, in an October 2001 letter to the Defense Department, that Hustler correspondents "be permitted to accompany ground troops on combat missions and that said correspondents be allowed free access" to the theater of operations in Afghanistan. At the time, the United States was preparing to invade Afghanistan, where the fundamentalist Taliban regime was sheltering Osama bin Laden and other leaders of al Qaeda. They were kind of busy then, Larry.
Eventually, a Pentagon official sent Mr. Flynt to the Fifth Fleet Public Affairs Office, and after a further exchange of letters, a Hustler correspondent was allowed into Afghanistan. But Mr. Flynt sued the Pentagon for its restrictive access and for the delay in allowing his correspondent access to the theater of war. The publisher and magazine sought an injunction to force the Pentagon to revise its policy. A federal judge dismissed the suit, saying the controversy was not "ripe" â the dispute was still being worked out â and questioning Hustlerâs "standing." In order to have "standing" to bring a suit, a plaintiff must show some injury. I refuse to make any joke about Larry Flynt and "standing." Nope, nope, not going to do it.
The appeals court yesterday also ruled against Mr. Flynt, but on different and more sweeping grounds â one that might have impact on news organizations as a whole. " ... We find that there is no constitutional right for the media to embed with U.S. military forces in combat," the appeals court said in part. 1st amendment doesnât apply in a war zone on foreign soil. What a novel concept.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 12:37:50 PM ||
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#1
'Hustler' is journalism? Man, taking bonghits with woody really went to this guy's head. What's next, the Hustler Book Review?
EFL Bernard Lewis often tells audiences about an encounter he once had in Jordan. The Princeton University historian, author of more than 20 books on Islam and the Middle East, says he was chatting with Arab friends in Amman when one of them trotted out an argument familiar in that part of the world. "We have time, we can wait," he quotes the Jordanian as saying. "We got rid of the Crusaders. We got rid of the Turks. Weâll get rid of the Jews."
Hearing this claim "one too many times," Mr. Lewis says, he politely shot back, "Excuse me, but youâve got your history wrong. The Turks got rid of the Crusaders. The British got rid of the Turks. The Jews got rid of the British. I wonder who is coming here next."
The vignette, recounted in the 87-year-old scholarâs native British accent, always garners laughs. Yet he tells it to underscore a serious point. Most Islamic countries have failed miserably at modernizing their societies, he contends, beckoning outsiders -- this time, Americans -- to intervene. Call it the Lewis Doctrine. Though never debated in Congress or sanctified by presidential decree, Mr. Lewisâs diagnosis of the Muslim worldâs malaise, and his call for a U.S. military invasion to seed democracy in the Mideast, have helped define the boldest shift in U.S. foreign policy in 50 years. The occupation of Iraq is putting the doctrine to the test.
For much of the second half of the last century, America viewed the Mideast and the rest of the world through a prism shaped by George Kennan, author of the doctrine of "containment." In a celebrated 1947 article in Foreign Affairs focused on the Soviet Union, Mr. Kennan gave structure to U.S. policy in the Cold War. It placed the need to contain Soviet ambitions above all else. Terrorism has replaced Moscow as the global foe. And now America, having outlasted the Soviets to become the sole superpower, no longer seeks to contain but to confront, defeat and transform. How successful it is at remolding Iraq and the rest of the Mideast could have a huge impact on what sort of superpower America will be for decades to come: bold and assertive -- or inward, defensive and cut off.
As mentor and informal adviser to some top U.S. officials, Mr. Lewis has helped coax the White House to shed decades of thinking about Arab regimes and the use of military power. Gone is the notion that U.S. policy in the oil-rich region should promote stability above all, even if it means taking tyrants as friends. Also gone is the corollary notion that fostering democratic values in these lands risks destabilizing them. Instead, the Lewis Doctrine says fostering Mideast democracy is not only wise but imperative.
It's the difference between stability and stagnation...
After Sept. 11, 2001, as policy makers fretted urgently about how to understand and deal with the new enemy, Mr. Lewis helped provide an answer. If his prescription is right, the U.S. may be able to blunt terrorism and stabilize a region that, as the chief exporter of oil, powers the industrial world and underpins the U.S.-led economic order. If itâs wrong, as his critics contend, America risks provoking sharper conflicts that spark more terrorism and undermine energy security. After the terror attacks, White House staffers disagreed about how to frame the enemy, says David Frum, who was a speechwriter for President Bush. One group believed Muslim anger was all a misunderstanding -- that Muslims misperceived America as decadent and godless. Their solution: Launch a vast campaign to educate Muslims about Americaâs true virtue. Much of that effort, widely belittled in the press and overseas, was quietly abandoned.
A faction led by political strategist Karl Rove believed soul-searching over "why Muslims hate us" was misplaced, Mr. Frum says. Mr. Rove summoned Mr. Lewis to address some White House staffers, military aides and staff members of the National Security Council. The historian recited the modern failures of Arab and Muslim societies and argued that anti-Americanism stemmed from their own inadequacies, not Americaâs. Mr. Lewis also met privately with Mr. Bushâs national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice. Mr. Frum says he soon noticed Mr. Bush carrying a marked-up article by Mr. Lewis among his briefing papers. Says Mr. Frum: "Bernard comes with a very powerful explanation for why 9/11 happened. Once you understand it, the policy presents itself afterward."
His exposition and the policies it helped set in motion heralded a decisive break with the doctrine that prevailed during the Cold War. Containment, Mr. Kennan said, had "nothing to do with outward histrionics: with threats or blustering or superfluous gestures of outward âtoughness.â " It rested on the somber calculation that even the most aggressive enemy wouldnât risk its own demise by provoking war with a powerful U.S. The Lewis Doctrine posits no such rational foe. It envisions not a clash of interests or even ideology, but of cultures. In the Mideast, the font of the terrorism threat, America has but two choices, "both disagreeable," Mr. Lewis has written: "Get tough or get out." His celebration, rather than shunning, of toughness is shared by several other influential U.S. Mideast experts, including Fouad Ajami and Richard Perle.
A central Lewis theme is that Muslims have had a chip on their shoulders since 1683, when the Ottomans failed for the second time to sack Christian Vienna. "Islam has been on the defensive" ever since, Mr. Lewis wrote in a 1990 essay called "The Roots of Muslim Rage," where he described a "clash of civilizations," a concept later popularized by Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington. For 300 years, Mr. Lewis says, Muslims have watched in horror and humiliation as the Christian civilizations of Europe and North America have overshadowed them militarily, economically and culturally. "The question people are asking is why they hate us. Thatâs the wrong question," said Mr. Lewis on C-SPAN shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. "In a sense, theyâve been hating us for centuries, and itâs very natural that they should. You have this millennial rivalry between two world religions, and now, from their point of view, the wrong one seems to be winning." He continued: "More generally ... you canât be rich, strong, successful and loved, particularly by those who are not rich, not strong and not successful. So the hatred is something almost axiomatic. The question which we should be asking is why do they neither fear nor respect us?"
I'll go with oderint dum metuant...
For Mr. Lewis and officials influenced by his thinking, instilling respect or at least fear through force is essential for Americaâs security. In this formulation, the current era of American dominance, sometimes called "Pax Americana," echoes elements of Pax Britannica, imposed by the British Empire Mr. Lewis served as a young intelligence officer after graduate school. Eight days after the Sept. 11 attacks, with the Pentagon still smoldering, Mr. Lewis addressed the U.S. Defense Policy Board. Mr. Lewis and a friend, Iraqi exile leader Ahmad Chalabi -- now a member of the interim Iraqi Governing Council -- argued for a military takeover of Iraq to avert still-worse terrorism in the future, says Mr. Perle, who then headed the policy board. A few months later, in a private dinner with Dick Cheney at the vice presidentâs residence, Mr. Lewis explained why he was cautiously optimistic the U.S. could gradually build democracy in Iraq, say others who attended. Mr. Lewis also held forth on the dangers of appearing weak in the Muslim world, a lesson Mr. Cheney apparently took to heart. Speaking on NBCâs "Meet the Press" just before the invasion of Iraq, Mr. Cheney said: "I firmly believe, along with men like Bernard Lewis, who is one of the great students of that part of the world, that strong, firm U.S. response to terror and to threats to the United States would go a long way, frankly, toward calming things in that part of the world."
The Lewis Doctrine, in effect, had become U.S. policy. "Bernard Lewis has been the single most important intellectual influence countering the conventional wisdom on managing the conflict between radical Islam and the West," says Mr. Perle, who remains a close adviser to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. "The idea that a big part of the problem is failed societies on the Arab side is very important. That is not the point of view of the diplomatic establishment."
Posted by: tipper ||
02/04/2004 10:24:51 AM ||
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#1
Tipper, thanks for bringing Bernard Lewis to our attention. I wanted to know more, and through Google, found an interesting two part article, The Roots of Muslim Rage written by Lewis in September 1990. It's long, I'm still working my way through it. If anyone is at all interested in "the conflict between radical Islam and the West", this article will be well worth your time. Bring your coffee thermos, take off your shoes, leave your prejudices behind, and enlighten yourself.
#2
Barnard Lewis: Scholarship or Sophistry?. The mainstream reviewers describe Bernard Lewis as "the doyen of Middle Eastern studies," the "father" of Islamic studies, "[a]rguably the West's most distinguished scholar on the Middle East," and "[a] Sage for the Age."
The core of Lewis's ideology about Islam is that it never changes, and his whole mission is to inform conservative segments of the Jewish reading public, and anyone else who cares to listen, that any political, historical, and scholarly account of Muslims must begin and end with the fact that Muslims are Muslims.
Barnard Lewis the Fraud. Read more about this dodgy fella at
http://www.counterpunch.org/alam06282003.html
#3
ive read Lewis's "what went wrong" and "history of the middle east". My read was that he leaned more to the "democratize 'em" then to the "make them fear us", though i see how he could see the latter (esp post 9/11) as the necessary pre-condition for the former. Depends on the policy choice. In deciding to go into Iraq, these two goals coincided. In terms of HOW we handle Iraq now that we're there, im not sure they coincide. Also not clear how they play out for the rest of the islamic world. I realize BL is a historian, not a policy maker, and cant be asked for "what to do about country X next month" but at least some more would be helpful. Some seem to be reading him as much like Samuel Huntington, and from what ive read hes profoundly different.
#4
actually Lewis does NOT say that Islam never changes. For example he documents the evolving meaning of "jihad". He also says that the muslim "problem" is NOT something essential to the Koran or the Islamic texts, as the know nothings claim, but that it is quite spefically tied to the events of the 17thc (NOT THE 7TH CENTURY) and their aftermath. I can see how the folks at counterpunch who think Islams problems all stem from the US and Israel might not like him. And that his optimism that the US CAN push democratic reform in the regime (which is counter both to the Huntington view AND to the US can do nothing good view) are not shared by them.
#5
any political, historical, and scholarly account of Muslims must begin and end with the fact that Muslims are Muslims.
The reign in Spain fell mainly on the Janes!
I think old man he's got it! He's got it!
#6
If Bernard Lewis has any faults it is his tendency to sanitize some aspects of Islamic history (he downplays the ugliest aspects of Islamic slavery and downplays the occasional vicious anti Armenian and anti Jewish riots and massacres). He also does not believe the early history of Islam (the assasinations and the tribal massacres ordered by Mohammad) is to blame for the waves of Islamic suicide bombers (and their worshipers and apologists). He blames the wahabis and tends to be pro Shite (because until Khomeini the Shite clerics were against being part of the govt.). He does say that ultimately, the only lasting solution to the problems of Islamic corruption, violence, government incompetance, sectarian intolerence, etc. is an Islamic solution (hence the Muslims are Muslims slogan).
Not like the old day when you could get aid and still bash the US for domestic political purposes. What was it called? Oh yes, biting the hand that feeds you.
Washington will withhold $15 million in military aid to Ecuador because it did not sign an agreement granting U.S. military members immunity from the International Criminal Court, U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney said. The U.S. has frozen millions in aid to 35 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and Central and South America after they failed to meet a July 1 deadline to exempt American troops and other personnel from prosecution before the court. The Bush administration fears the court could subject U.S. soldiers to politically motivated prosecutions. Ninety-two countries have ratified the treaty establishing the court.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/04/2004 9:19:28 AM ||
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#1
Yet another reason not to vote for John Kerry or How-weird Dean or any other Democrat this fall.
Under President Kerry, all this money will be restored, with a full apology.
#2
I'd take all this "aid" that's been frozen and put it to good use elsewhere and assume that restoring this money in the future to previous recipients will not be necessary.
#5
One more reason to vote for Bush -- not that I actually need more reasons.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/04/2004 18:56 Comments ||
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#6
My only comment is, Why in he$$ are we thinking about giving money to anybody in the first place? "Foreign aid" is nothing but government-approved bribery, and it's time to put a stop to all of it. Then we can cut the State Department directorate that oversees it, and dump a bunch of striped-pants liberal whiners into the unemployment line. After we do that, come back to me, I've got a few thousand more suggestions to clean up the cesspool known as Washington, DC.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 19:06 Comments ||
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#7
What a surprising hatchet job by the LA Times. If you read the whole story in Newsday (on Monday?) you would learn that the only aid that is being frozen is military aid. Humanitarian Aid will continue to the benefit of the baby ducks of Lima.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 22:04 Comments ||
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Israel has asked the U.S. administration to postpone publication of the State Departmentâs annual report on human rights around the world, fearing it will be used against Israel in the discussion on the separation fence at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The report is expected to harshly criticize the operation of the fence and the humanitarian suffering it causes the Palestinians, and Israel wants the State Department document to see the light only after the ICJ discussion to prevent it from having any influence over the judges. The request was raised in recent weeks during the course of discussions held by Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Foreign Ministry Director-General Ilan Biran and Israeli Ambassador to the United States Danny Ayalon with senior U.S. administration and Congress officials. Jerusalem has yet to receive a response to its request.
One of Israelâs friends in Congress has also approached the State Department with a similar request, criticizing the reportâs negative slant on the fence and demanding that publication of the document be postponed by a few weeks. The report is prepared by the State Departmentâs Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, which is headed by Lorne Craner. Bureau officials have completed the second draft of the document, which reviews the human rights situation throughout the world. The third draft of the report is the one that is published each year, and according to information that has reached Jerusalem, the target date for the documentâs publication is February 25 - two days after the opening of the debate on the fence in the ICJ. Israel has promised it will take into consideration the practical arguments raised by the Americans and will improve the fenceâs operation. Among other promises, Jerusalem has said it will transfer responsibility for operating the fenceâs gates from the Israel Defense Forces to a private company.
Posted by: Aluf Benn ||
02/04/2004 8:57:53 AM ||
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Hartford Courant
On Jan. 28, Israeli occupation forces killed eight (some reports said 13) Palestinians in an assault on a neighborhood in the Gaza Strip. Among those killed were three teenagers: Sami Badawi, 16; Akram AbuAjami, 17; and Sameh Toteh, 16. Like many other such assaults, the mainstream media in the United States ignored this event or made cursory mention of it. No mainstream newspaper mentioned names of those killed, let alone described the Israeli assault as terrorism. The next day, a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 10 Israelis. These and other attacks inside Israel have been described in detail in major newspapers. The media have never shied from allowing the use of such labels as "terrorism" in those instances.
The net result is that Israeli lives and deaths become valued while Palestinian lives and deaths are diminished or erased from our conscience. According to human rights organizations, four times more Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli forces as Israeli civilians killed by Palestinian forces. These same organizations (including Amnesty International, Bâtselem, and Human Rights Watch) have clearly showed in past reports that Israeli forces do target civilians. State-sponsored terror is an organic part of colonization of native lands. The Israeli colonization program, over five decades, has left 5 million Palestinians as refugees or displaced people and cornered those remaining into ghettos surrounded by high walls and watchtowers. There are individual acts of Palestinian terrorism, but the news media do not report on the more systematic Israeli terrorism or the reasons for all this violence. More than 530 Palestinian towns and villages have been erased completely in the last 60 years. Residents have been driven out by careful use of massacres (33 between 1947 and 1949 and dozens more since then), intimidation, deprivation, land confiscation and outright expulsions...
Posted by: Rob Ramage ||
02/04/2004 8:54:51 AM ||
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#1
I was struck by an article by the Nobel Peace laureate and Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble who called such human rights organisations as Amnesty International, Bâtselem, and Human Rights Watch a "great
curse" yesterday and accused them of complicity in terrorist killings.
"One of the great curses of this world is the human rights industry,.........................They justify terrorist acts and end up being complicit in the murder of innocent victims."
I agree with him that its about time that we stand for the defence of human rights, to make a commitment to defend victims of terrorism and to
identify terrorist acts for what they are murder, without trying to make this illogical conparsion between victims and executioners as this fruit cake above does.
#2
That's because the Israeli casualties are generally riding the bus, and eating lunch. The Palestinian "casualties" are usually armed, and firing at checkpoints and civilians.
Small distinction I know, but it's the crux of the issue. I'd say self defense doesn't necessarily equate to terrorism. But it's only my opinion. Feel free to remain deluded.
#5
Dean was supported largely by whiny college kids with too much time on their hands and massive chips on their shoulders. When Dean gets his butt whipped, those brats take it personally and take it out on the "evil Zionist oppressors who keep Howard out of power".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/04/2004 9:22 Comments ||
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#6
What's with kids these days? When I was in college I wouldn't even be getting out of bed yet because it snowed every day and I had to walk 12 miles to get there after milking the cows.....oh excuse me, I just starting talking Old Fartian.
#7
If a troll comes out on Feb 4 and see his shadow, does that mean there are four more years of Bush? Any comment refuting this idiocy is futile to the troll. DON'T FEED THE TROLL!
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/04/2004 9:43 Comments ||
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#9
I only clicked on this because the title made it sound like a Scrappleface posting.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/04/2004 10:55 Comments ||
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#10
It's a zero-sum game. The Deanies gotta go somewhere. It is like a bubble moving around under linoleum.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/04/2004 11:07 Comments ||
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#11
It is like a bubble moving around under linoleum.....
Somebody get a pin.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
02/04/2004 11:23 Comments ||
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#12
This total bozo should have posted this days earlier to celebrate Ground Hog days. This is assinine story that keeps on giving as new and different morons repost it.
I wish Rob Ramage had provided an address for the use of serial assaulters and rapists. To follow Rob's thinking down the toilet to its logical end, the response of a homeowner to being violently perpetrated upon should be to hold the door for the villian and provide him with a tooth-pick, mint and a hearty "good night, sir" as the guy leaves.
Note - I just read the title and inferred the rest. Did I nail the main theme of this journalistic master-piece of @#$%.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 11:23 Comments ||
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#13
Yo Rob - Troll Boy, we don't do Op pieces. Now, get back under that bridge.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/04/2004 11:41 Comments ||
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#14
Hey troll! Look what I'm about to shine on you!
*activates sunlamp*
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/04/2004 11:52 Comments ||
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#15
I'd like Rob the Troll to provide what proof he has of even ONE Jewish massacre of Palestinians or anyone else. This sh$$ keeps getting posted, but nobody will EVER give even a single link, a single reference, to the supporting material. Guess that's because there isn't any, eh? Kinda like the Deir Yassin massacre that supposedly happened April 9, 1948. Here is a different account, with some telling "evidence tampering" by people with a mission other than truth. I've read over 20 other accounts, all of which indicate Deir Yassin wasn't so much a massacre as a typical use of civilians by Arab armies to gain a political victory to offset the military defeat.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 12:20 Comments ||
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#16
The difference is the Paleos blow up people minding their own business, while the Israelis kill murdering terrorist pieces of shiite.
P.S. - Rob Ramage was a pretty good hockey player once. Too bad he's turned into a troll.
Posted by: Tibor ||
02/04/2004 15:45 Comments ||
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#17
Old Patriot - What about the Holocaust - Hitler was a Jew, who hated his own kind.
Posted by: Rob Ramage ||
02/04/2004 15:58 Comments ||
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#18
Furthermore, Hitlers grandson Sharon is now following his grandfathers steps and massacring Paleos.
Posted by: Rob Ramage ||
02/04/2004 16:00 Comments ||
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#19
Interesting, notice the typical Troll behavior: the stomping about, the usual Bush/Sharon = Hitler, a complete and utter lack of argumentative logic / critical thinking. Also, take note of the tell-tale spittle which gathers at the corners of the oral cavity, suggesting that this is one of the more primitive species of Troll.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/04/2004 16:19 Comments ||
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#20
Rex: "Bush/Sharon = Hitler". I beg to differ, Bush is the illegitimate child of the devil.
Posted by: Rob Ramage ||
02/04/2004 17:08 Comments ||
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#21
Yeehaa, reel'em in slow Rex! You snagged a big one this time.
#22
Rob! Nuss Ratchett sez we're having popcorn with special salt again tonight!
Posted by: Napoleon VII ||
02/04/2004 17:20 Comments ||
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#23
Rex I believe the latin name for this one is: "Trollios Smallpenious Stupidious Headuprectumious" A very unique species indeed. They make up less than 10% of liberals today according to the most recent poll results.
#24
They make up less than 10% of liberals today according to the most recent poll results.
Yep, that's the right kind, Sarge. I've also read they provide 90% of the spittle and 0.000002% of the intelligence. One wonders how they continue to reproduce, unless it's the spittle that does it...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 18:12 Comments ||
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#25
At least while Rob is at the keyboard we know that there is one less serial dog raper loose on the streets - longingly staring mesmorized at the gait of a poodle or on the corner stalking that beagle thang he has been after.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 19:25 Comments ||
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#26
... am I gunna be as vicious as you fellas when I'm yer age ? heh funny stuff though..
Among the instant cliches that sprang up after 9/11 was the notion that a "war on terror" is a meaningless concept. "It is misleading to talk of a âwar on terrorism,â let alone a âwar on global terrorism,â" sniffed the distinguished British historian Corelli Barnett in December. "Terrorism is a phenomenon, just as is war in the conventional sense. But you cannot in logic wage war against a phenomenon, only against a specific enemy."
Most of us warmongers were inclined, if only in private, to agree with Barnett. We assumed "war on terror" was a polite evasion, the compassionate conservativeâs preferred euphemism for what was really going on â a war against militant Islam, which, had you designated it as such, would have been harder to square with all those White House Ramadan photo-ops and the interminable presidential speeches about Islam being a "religion of peace." But hereâs the interesting thing. Pace the historian, it seems you can wage war against a phenomenon. If the "war on terror" is aimed primarily at al-Qaida and those of similar ideological bent, it seems to have had the happy side-benefit of discombobulating various non-Islamic terrorists from Colombia to Sri Lanka. This isnât because these fellows are the administrationâs priority right now, but rather because itâs amazing what a little light scrutiny of international wire transfers can do.
Pre-9/11, almost every country was openly indifferent to terrorismâs global support network. In my own native land, Canada, financial contributions to terrorist groups were tax deductible. Seriously. As part of the repulsive ethnic ward-heeling of the multiculti state, Liberal Party cabinet ministers attended fundraisers for the Tamil Tigers, the terrorist group thatâs plagued Sri Lanka for two decades. These guys are state-of-the-art terrorists: as the old song says, they were self-detonating before self-detonating was cool. Two decades back, they used a female suicide bomber to kill Rajiv Gandhi, the Indian prime minister, and, until the intifada, they were the market leader in "martyrdom operations." Itâs somehow sadly symbolic of the general bankruptcy of Palestinian "nationalism" that even its signature depravity should be secondhand.
But in an odd way Canadaâs indulgence of Sri Lankan terrorism became part of its defense against American accusations that the Great White North wasnât doing its bit in the new war. If you pointed out the huge sums of money raised in Canada for terrorism, Ottawa politicians would roll their eyes and patiently explain, ah yes, but most of thatâs for the Tamils or some such; nothing to do with Osama, nothing Washington needs to get its panties in a twist about. As if destabilizing our Commonwealth cousins in the Indian Ocean had mysteriously become an urgent Canadian policy objective.
THEY WERE doing what most of the rest of us were doing â buying into the conventional wisdom that the "war on terror" was the war that dare not speak its name. But, funnily enough, intentionally or not, the Tamil Tigers wound up getting caught in the net. Their long campaign reached its apogee in a spectacular bloodbath at Sri Lankaâs principal airport just over two years ago, a couple of months before 9/11, back when nobody was paying attention. By February of last year, theyâd given up plans for an independent Tamil state and their chief negotiator in London was suing for peace on the basis of some sort of regional autonomy. Itâs an uneasy truce, but tourists are returning to the island and the Tamil stronghold of Jaffna is being touted as "the new Phuket" (the Thai resort beloved of vacationing Brits).
You can find other examples of long-running local conflicts around the world from Burundi to Nepal that seem to have mysteriously wound down over the last two years. Might be just coincidence, as the mediaâs bien pensants assure us is the case with Colonel Gaddafiâs about-face: nothing to do with Bush and his absurd war, old boy, donât you believe it. Or it might be that putting the bank transfers of certain groups on an international watch list has choked off the funding pump for a lot of terrorism. Even nickelânâdime terrorists need nickels and dimes, and in your average war-torn basket-case state that usually means fundraising overseas.
Corelli Barnett was wrong when he wrote that "you cannot in logic wage war against a phenomenon, only against a specific enemy." For most of the last half-century, the activist Left opposed not a specific enemy but a phenomenon â nuclear weapons. Indeed, insofar as they wished our side to lead by example, they were more concerned by Anglo-American manifestations of the phenomenon rather than the specific enemyâs. In those days, only the US, UK, France, China and the Soviet Union had nukes and the Left was convinced Armageddon was just around the corner: fear of the phenomenon sold a gazillion posters, plays, books, films and LPs with big scary mushroom clouds on the cover. Now that nukes are no longer an elite club of five relatively sane world powers but can be acquired by any ramshackle dictatorship or freelance nut group the Left is positively blas on the subject.
But in their less decayed Cold War state the Left was right to this extent: Sometimes the phenomenon is the enemy. Germanyâs Baader-Meinhof Gang trained in Saddamâs Iraq. The IRA has ties to Gaddafi and to Colombian drug terrorists. Even the old line that "my enemyâs enemy is my friend" doesnât quite cover these alliances: Saddam was pally with the Germans, and Gerry Adams and Co. have enough friends in high places in Washington who wouldnât take kindly to the IRAâs Hispanic outreach. What drew these people together is the phenomenon: the mutual lack of squeamishness about blowing the legs off grannies in pizza houses. In that sense, theyâve more in common with the international piracy and slavery networks of two centuries ago.
The president implied as much in London a few weeks back, in his tip of the hat to the Royal Navy for stamping out the slave trade. As usual, the so-called idiot figured it out quicker than the smart guys: In the days after September 11, he was shrewd enough to identify the real enemy and declare war on it. Two years on, in all kinds of tiny corners of the globe you never hear about on CNN, the bad guys are feeling the heat.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/04/2004 3:11:52 AM ||
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Human rights group Amnesty International demanded on Tuesday that Sudan stop arming an Arab militia accused of atrocities in the revolt-wracked western Darfur region.
"Or you're really gonna get it!"
Amnesty and rebels in remote Darfur say Khartoum is using the "Janjaweed", a horse or camel-mounted militia, as a proxy force to crush the revolt. The Sudanese government has not commented on the allegation. "There is clear evidence of cooperation between government forces and government-aligned militia," London-based Amnesty said in a statement. "The Sudanese government should cease all support and supplies to the Janjaweed or establish a clear chain of command and control over them, including making them accountable for abuses of international humanitarian law."
Ahah! A stern warning! That'll do it, by Gum!
Government officials were not immediately available for comment in Khartoum, where Tuesday was a public holiday. "Civilians have become hostages to the situation in Darfur," Amnesty said, adding whole villages were being destroyed to forcibly displace the local population. Amnesty said Khartoum had largely failed to condemn the killings, maiming, torture, abductions and arbitrary arrests in Darfur. "The silence of the authorities regarding the atrocities committed by the Janjaweed suggests that their actions are condoned, if not encouraged, by the government," Amnesty said.
Gee. Golly. Y'think? I am so surprised.
According to a witness account in a 43-page Amnesty report, Janjaweed militiamen attacked civilians telling them: "You are opponents to the regime, we must crush you. As you are black, you are like slaves. The government is on our side. The government plane is on our side, it gives us ammunitions and food."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 1:01:06 AM ||
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#1
for a second there I thought AI had finally gotten a clue, buh end clarified it, they only care because the group targeted 'people of color', doubt they would give a shit if they were white.. they sure as hell dont care about the JOOOOOs, except that they should stop defending themselves. feh
when did freedom and rights movements lose their way anyway? are there any good ones ?
#5
"Amnesty said Khartoum had largely failed to condemn the killings, maiming, torture, abductions and arbitrary arrests in Darfur."
Largely? If they're arming, funding, supporting them, why, pray tell, would they do dick to condemn them? Is AI (collectively) insane? We already have clueless and hypocritical figured...
BTW... I don't see a good SUV name in there... except for Assassin, which isn't too bad. "The new Trail Assassin will get you where you want to go, even if it's over a pile of dead bodies. With its 18" ground clearance you can roll over an entire squad of opposition gunnies and still make it to the theater on time without a wrinkle..."
#6
Personally, I prefer my new Grand Assassin with real Janjaweed leather seats and Darfur woodgrain simulated trim. Pesky pedestrians are now a thing of the past.
Posted by: john ||
02/04/2004 11:11 Comments ||
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#7
LOL! I used to own a Sunbeam Tiger I nicknamed the Assasin due to the fact its constantly trying to kill me. Electrics by Lucas POD, front end by the Sudebaker brothers of Connestoga fame.
#8
Why are they killing blacks? Shouldn't the Wahabi's just incarcerate them and have the jailhouse Imans convert the blacks to jihad?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/04/2004 11:28 Comments ||
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#9
sudanese tradition is to enslave them, not convert them. Goes back along way. may not be wahabi orthodoxy, but that doesnt always trump local custom on the ground.
#10
I'm pretty sure enslaving them fits with Wahabbist traditions.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/04/2004 11:58 Comments ||
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#11
Liberalhawk, I agree with you that AI should focus on it. But it isn't particularly unusual for arabs to be killing blacks in Africa. It's the usual order of affairs in the last thousand-odd years of history. This is just more of the same.
Question is, will the West finally have the gumption to call it what it is, much like 1830's Britain decided that there was going to be no more slavery, and did something about it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 12:04 Comments ||
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#12
it may have been the usual order of things in the 19th c and earlier, but its not happening in the rest of africa, at least not with state sanction. Theres a reason that folks keep talking about the Sudan so much, and have for some years now. Partly due to the demographic mix (muslim majority, but with large christian/animist minority) partly due to ethnic makeup (muslims here are Arabs, not Hausa, etc) Partly due to geography/history (Sudan, on the routes to arabia/persia were slavery was legal into the 20th c, continued an active slave trade relatively late) partly perhaps due to national charecteristics of Sudan arabs (mahdi, greater jihadist orientation than elsewhere) Sudan stand out as focus of atrocities.
Will the West take a stand - dont know - right now Sudan seems to be helping against AQ, and much may be overlooked for that. Why we need folks like AI to look at this.
AI will issue a report, maybe. If someone tried to do anything about it, AI would immediately rush to the defense of the slavers' "rights". If the US tried to do something about it, AI would be issuing reports detailing how US actions against the slave trade have endangered civil rights all over the world.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/04/2004 15:23 Comments ||
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#17
yeah, but by then it would be too late. If AI can shame us to focus on it, once its on our agenda AI's approach to what to do about it fades in importance.
#19
Posted by: .com 2004-2-4 9:51:20
BTW... I don't see a good SUV name in there...
Let's call the next one a scooter.
Courtesy Rhodesian Bush Telegraph
Yo BT. So C***** (annonomaty guaranteed) how many servants have you got? A Petrol station and a big hole? How can you talk about my chick like that?Having tried and failed with 4 white wives I am seriously contemplating a "scooter" partner. A Scooter is a goffel female. They are called scooters because they are nice to ride but don't be seen on one.Unlike their white couterparts they are not lazy or spoilt and appreciate what is required of them. It took me years to make my wives remember where the kitchen was and then there was the question of wearing shoes in the kitchen.
PS I think that rascism and religous bigotry are all a state of mind, as are Peace and Understanding, me and my gun are off to hug a tree. Anything that moves after that, gets slotted, I'll say my scooter did it.
#22
figured someone would say something like that.. would like to point out I never disagreed with AI and specificaly noted thats their statement caught me by surprised because they were actually supporting folks in need for once...
The Sudanese warring parties on Tuesday said they were investigating circumstances that led to last weekâs fighting between their forces in the oil-rich western Upper Nile region of southern Sudan. At least 50 people were reportedly killed in renewed fighting between the Sudan Peopleâs Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and pro-government southern militias. Like the ever-charming Janjaweed from Darfur with their penchant for emulating Attila the Hun ...
The fighting was yet another blow to the ongoing peace process, following last weekâs unexpected suspension of talks in Kenya, at the insistence of the government delegation, whose senior members sought to attend the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. Samson Kwaje, the SPLM/A spokesman, told IRIN on Tuesday that the rebel movement had reported the matter to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the regional body facilitating the talks, for investigation. "This kind of thing is not conducive for talks," Kwaje said. "In October 2003, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cessation of hostilities," he noted.
There were conflicting reports on the nature of the fighting and the casualty figures of the clashes, which took place around the Upper Nile State capital, Malakal. Some figures suggested that up to 41 pro-government soldiers died in the skirmishes. Kwaje said he did not have details of the casualties on the SPLM/A side. Media sources said fighting began when forces loyal to the southern leader and former transport minister, Lam Akol Ajawin, overran a government garrison in the town of Tonga, killing eight and wounding dozens. The SPLM/A said government forces initiated the attack on its positions. "Sudan government forces were shelling the SPLM/A. We have reported this to IGAD and they are investigating," Kwaje said. Kwaje, however, stressed that it was still unclear whether the soldiers were acting on orders from the Khartoum government. "It is difficult to tell. There is a lot of movement of militia in the area. Maybe there were some adventurous soldiers who wanted to destabilise the talks," he added.
Muhammad Ahmad Dirdeiry, the Sudanese deputy Ambassador in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, confirmed the skirmishes, but denied any involvement by government forces. He blamed the fighting on militias allied to both the SPLM/A and the government, and said the government would investigate the matter. "I can guarantee you that government armed forces were not involved," Dirdeiry told IRIN. "What I know is that there were skirmishes by some militias on both sides, but not in alarming proportions. It is now under control," he added. Both sides had agreed at the Kenya talks to discourage their militias from carrying out activities potentially capable of derailing the talks, Dirdeiry said. "We are very keen to prevent such incidences from spoiling the atmosphere of the peace talks."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:58:17 AM ||
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Rebels from Sudanâs remote western Darfur region said on Tuesday they would attend talks to allow aid distribution in the troubled area, where relief agencies say a humanitarian disaster is unfolding. The talks, proposed by a Geneva-based peace group, the Henry Dunant centre, aim to negotiate a deal to allow agencies to get much-needed humanitarian aid to the million or more people affected by an escalating conflict in Darfur. The United Nations said it was calling for a humanitarian ceasefire -- a break in fighting to send aid to those internally displaced within the three Darfur states. Aid agencies say the area is too dangerous to send staff out of the state capitals. "We have the stocks to give food, shelter and medicine. Itâs just access that is the problem," said U.N. official Ben Parker.
But the Dunant centre said there were alternatives to a ceasefire like a "conflict pause" or safe-passage guarantees. The Geneva talks on February 14-15 would be the first face to face meeting between both rebel groups and the government. Analysts hope they could lead to a possible framework for peace talks as political issues would inevitably be broached. One rebel group, the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), said a ceasefire was a political issue and they would not agree to a truce for purely humanitarian reasons. JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim said he would personally attend the talks if the government sent a high-level delegation. JEM has not taken part in talks or any ceasefire with Khartoum. The other group, the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), said it would go to Geneva, adding political issues could be raised.
The Henry Dunant centre said it had a mandate only to mediate on humanitarian issues, but did not rule out that political issues could also be discussed between the sides. JEM said the government recently approached them through Ahmed Ibrahim Diraige, leader of an opposition political movement also invited to Geneva, to discuss peace talks. Diraige told Reuters he had a provisional agreement from all sides to start peace talks with conditions that there be international mediators, monitors of any ceasefire, and government recognition of a legitimate grievance in Darfur. He said the Geneva talks were a good chance for all sides to meet and start truce talks. "Why not in Geneva? This is a good opportunity for them to meet face-to-face," he said.
Diraige said he met First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, who is negotiating a peace deal in Kenya with different rebels to end more than two decades of civil war in the south of Africaâs largest country. "I told Taha that this conflict is already internationalised and needs an immediate ceasefire...and he agreed," Diraige said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:56:09 AM ||
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A multimillion dollar, several-year effort to raise large parts of the German battleship the Graf Spee - scuttled off Uruguay in the opening days of World War II - should begin late this week, a salvage expert said Tuesday. "Senor Admeeral! Mighty Uruguayan Navy finally gets a battleship!"
"Most excellent! Will it fight as hard as our glorious peacekeeping forces?"
A symbol of German naval might early in the war, the ship - officially named Admiral Graf Spee - prowled the South Atlantic chasing and sinking as many as nine allied merchant ships before it was crippled by British warships in a December 1939 naval engagement. Scuttled by its captain who feared losing the ship in a battle with the larger British force, the Graf Spee has remained for decades in waters less than 25 feet deep only miles outside the port of Montevideo.
Sounds like a great tourist attraction...
Work on the Graf Spee was slated to start Thursday but high winds and choppy waters on the broad waterway separating Uruguay from Argentina were expected to delay the operation until Friday. Hector Bado, a spokesman for the salvage team, said the recovery team first would try to remove a 27-ton communications tower equipped with an early radar and what was then sophisticated sighting equipment for its 11-inch guns. "The radar was one of the first to be used in that era," said Bado, whose group has private funding and Uruguayan government backing for the operation which could take years. The Argentine daily, Clarin, reported Jan. 15 that the team would like to raise as much of the warship as possible for display in Uruguay.
Feared by many navies at the outset of the war, the Graf Spee - a "pocket battleship" which carried less powerful guns and was smaller than a conventional ship of that class - was tracked down by British forces off the South American coast. The "Battle of the River Plate" began on Dec. 13, 1939, near the mouth of the river as the German warship was pursued by a British battle group consisting of the British light cruisers HMS Exeter and HMS Achilles, and the HMS Ajax of New Zealand, under the command of Commodore H. Harwood. The Graf Spee was crippled in the fight after receiving several direct hits and Capt. Hans Langsdorff decided to take refuge in Montevideo harbor. The ship was unable to make the necessary repairs within the 72-hour period afforded in a neutral harbor by international convention. In a decision that avoided the Graf Speeâs capture, Langsdorff took the limping craft out of the harbor and sank it on Dec. 17, 1939. The crew was taken by ship to Buenos Aires and the captain committed suicide days later. German surface fleet never did learn that it couldnât go up against the Brits and win (the Hood being the single exception).
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 12:52:27 AM ||
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#1
I thought navel ships remained the property of the government they served even after they sunk. I know there are some German subs just off the coast of maine, but you are not supposed to dive them.
#2
Technically, Uruguay can argue that the ship was "interrned" and under neutrality laws is now actually Uruguayan property. I'm not sure it will fly, but if you have ever tried to get justice south of the Rio Grande, you know what chance you have of winning in court. Short of a big bribe to the judge, practically zero.
Im not sure if the Graf Spee had any crew aboard when she was scuttled, if so, international law covers the presence of war graves. If I remember correctly, Capt. Langsdorff managed to get the entire crew off before she was scuttled. However, I could be wrong.
Other than selling one inch commemorative parts of the Hull on Ebay, I really doubt theres much left that anyone would recognize as a ship. Years ago( 1980's), they went back to recover one of the Deck Guns, and there wasnt a whole lot left of the wreck at that point. Im taken aback by the writer saying they had 'radar guns'. I wasnt aware of anyone anywhere having radar for naval gunnery in 1939.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
02/04/2004 2:13 Comments ||
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#3
The Graf Spee was abandoned before scuttling. Captain Langsdorff took only a skeleton crew out on her final voyage, leaving the bulk of his crew ashore. The captain and the skeleton got off before she blew up, just outside the harbor.
I watch too much History channel
Posted by: Ben ||
02/04/2004 4:33 Comments ||
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#4
Langsdorff wrapped himself in the Imperial flag before commiting sideways.
#7
...Actually, Graf Spee was sold to salvors not long after her scuttling. The salvors turned out to be a front company for the Royal Navy, which ended up doing all the heavy salvage work then. But, in one of those weird things that always proves that History will eventually come back to bite you in the ass, the front company still owned her a few decades down range - and it was from them that Senor Bado purchased her. He owns Graf Spee fair, square and clear under maritime law.
Her crew was compltely evacuated before her scuttling, and the skeleton crew that Langsdorff used to get her out was evactuated as well, so strictly speaking, she isn't a war grave even though some of her crew were killed aboard her.
The problem with raising her is going to be this: it's not impossible, but it's damned unlikely. The ship was scrapped down to just below the water (she was actually blown into two pieces about a hundred feet back from the bow) and the rest has sunk into the mud with only a few feet showing above the mud. There is a LOT they can bring up, and all of it has historical value, but raising the entire ship is an effort of nightmarish proportions, especially as they have no idea what lies beneath the mud line. She may very well be broken in several pieces, and it won't be at all obvious until they get there.
One last note on the radars - IIRC, Graf Spee had a Seetakt rig installed. I've got pics of USS New York (BB-34) dated January '39 with an Naval Research Lab XAF radar mounted prominently on her bridge. Her sister USS Texas (BB-35) got an RCA-built CXZ at the same time. The USN's first ever seaborne radar was ascratchbuilt rig mounted aboard the destroyer USS Leary (DD-158) in early '37. The Germans had and used seaborne radars from the very beginning of the war.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/04/2004 10:33 Comments ||
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#9
Technically the Graf Spee was a battle cruisar not a battleship. Lighter armor and faster which is why when it got holed in Uragay it didn't fight. It was out amoured and outgunned.
Posted by: David ||
02/04/2004 12:06 Comments ||
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#10
Dave:
"Battlecruiser" is probably too strong a term for Spee and her sister "Panzerschiffes." When setting up a 1:2400 Atlantic scenario (in my undergraduate/Seapower II days) I used to consider a Panzerschiffe as the equivalent of a decent heavy cruiser for play balance purposes, and that worked out about right. The Spee is basically a slow cruiser (she was optimized for cruising range, not top speed) with good armor and a really heavy main battery (11" guns vs. the 8" guns which the Washington Treaty specified as the definition of a "heavy" cruiser).
Might be interesting to game out an encounter between Graf Spee and a Japanese Mogami or US Baltimore, just to see how it comes out. Dang! Where'd I put my miniatures? . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
02/04/2004 12:18 Comments ||
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#11
I don't know for sure about the Graf Spee, but the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau definitely had radar-controlled main guns in April 1940, as they used them to sink HMS Glorious despite the smoke screen.
It's possible they were referring to the 88mm AA guns as being radar-controlled.
There was no such thing as radr-controlled guns in April 1940. AFAIK The electronic components allowing to generate the high frequencies required in a radar small enough to fit on a ship (even a battleship) didn't exist be it in Germany or in Britain. They appeared in 1941
Agreed. The WWI-era armoured cruiser would probably have evolved into something a lot like the Spee if the Washington Treaty hadn't limited cruisers to 10,000 tons displacement and 8" main guns.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/04/2004 13:41 Comments ||
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#15
Dave and others
The Graf Spee wasn't a battleship (usually eight guns of 15 inches, heavy armor), neither a battlecruiser (British style was same artillery than a battleship but less armor, German style ie Scharnhost and Geneisenau was relatively weak artillery, nine guns of eleven inches, but superb armor). The Graf Spee was a pocket battleship: a unit designed to raid merchant traffic, too fast for being intercepted by battle unit, far too powerful for a heavy cruiser: her six guns of eleven inches had a greater range and far more pucnch than the eight inches guns of heavy cruisers and while her armor wasn't enough to meet battleship fire it made her nearly impervious to eight inches guns of heavy cruisers.
And now about the death of the Graf Spee. The Graf Spee didn't sink as many as nine merchants but as few as nine merchants: the score was disappointing. Because of this it headed for the juicier but also more patrolled waters around Mar del Plata. There she was intercepted by the heavy cruiser Exeter and the two light cruisers Ajax and Achilles. The Exeter was put out of action in minutes but she was unable to do the same to Ajax and Achilles and Graf Spee ended retiring to Montevideo. The question is why. British agents who watched her at Montevideo only noticed minor dammage, and she was certainly in better shape than the Ajax and Achilles who had lost part of their main artillery. Another speculation is that Graf Spee had used most of her ammo. Anyway the British immediately sent the heavy cuiser Cumberland to support the Ajax and Achilles while trying to delay the departure of Graf Spee through departures of British merchants since by international law Uruguay could not let Graf Spee leave until 24 hours later. The goal being to give time to heavier units to arrive to the scene.
However the Uruguayans told the British that no further departures would be allowed since the Graf Spee's had notified her intention to leave. There is little doubt than an intact and high on ammo Graf Spee would have easily brushed away the Cumberland and the two light cruisers but the British tricked the Germans into thinking that the carrier Ark Royal and a battleship were on the verge to arrive in the area. And even an intact Graf Spee would have had no chance against a battleship or battlecruiser.
At this point Graf Spee's captain sent a telegram to Berlin exposing the desperate situation (including the presence of the two imaginary heavy units), scuttled the ship and committed suicide.
#16
Excellent--thanks for the history lesson, gentlemen!
Posted by: Dar ||
02/04/2004 15:13 Comments ||
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#17
JFM my theory is that Langsdorff did all that honor required in the way of battle and did what he thought was right for his crew and his country (in the long run). I think he done rite.
#18
To JFM - *quiet cough* Laddy, radar was in use as early as 1938. What YOU may be thinking of is the use of the centimeter range radars that were made possible by the British invention of the cavity magnitron. To avoid going into a lengthy (and boring) technical discussion, at that time, two radar systems were being used and developed. The Germans had a VERY nice long wave radar system that they'd pushed to a high state of reliability. But the wavelength was so long that it couldn't spot anything smaller than a large plane or a small ship.
The cavity magnitron, which the Brits invented and the Americans mass-produced, allowed the use of much shorter wavelengths, and therefore a much finer resolution. With it, you could spot something as small as a periscope or a snorkle.
German scientists at that time thought this was impossible, even after having captured samples of the cavity magnitron. They'd based their reputations on the impossibility of successfully generating and using such short wavelengths, and now that came back to haunt them.
In fact, history records the German navy going to rediculous lengths to try and insulate their periscopes and snorkles against heat, as they were absolutely CERTAIN that centimeter wave radar was impossible, and that left only infra-red detection as the way their subs were (supposedly) being spotted. They blew nearly $100 million US on the project, as I recall. After the war, several german researchers were introduced to the cavity magnitron, and given an opportunity to actually see it in action. Their reaction was much like an 19th century doctor faced with the germ theory of disease. "Mine Gott! If this is true, we'll have to build entirely NEW reputations! All the hard effort, all the study, for nothing! Useless! We'll actually have to go back to WORK! AHHHHHHHG!"
*evil snicker*
Ed.
Posted by: Ed Becerra ||
02/04/2004 16:08 Comments ||
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#19
Ed Becerra
The high frequencies allowed by the cavity magnetron brought two things. First: a drastic reduction in the size of the aerials. Remember the big radar towers in Battle of Britain? Those wouldn't have fit in a ship.
Second: it allowed a far greater precision. British radars during battle of England gave only a very general indication of altitude ad location of targets and if my memory . Basically the fighters were led into the zone and were expected top acquire the ennemy virtualy unassisted for precise altitude and direction. 1940 radar was for too imprecise for gunnery.
Germans had decent radars in the Kamhumber line by 1941. But the system (one radar controlling one fighter) was totally overhelmed by the "1 thousand bombers" raid over Koln. By 1944 German night fighters had radars. I have been unable to find info about their wavelengths
By the way: Japanese carriers were time and again surprised by American planes, while there was never a time where American carriers were caught flat footed like the Japanese at Midway (some wre surprised due to faulty IFF procedures never in the same magnitude than the Japanese). So when you think in Coral Sea, Midway or Santa Cruz battles think in the British.
James Dunnigan and Albert Nofi, "Dirty Little Secrets of WWII" state that the Graf Spee was the first warship in the world to have radar in 1937, the "FMG 39G (gO)" set.
"Graf Spee," by I can't remember whom (I read it years ago), commented that the vibrations from the diesel engine would knock the radar set out.
"Battleships of World War Two," by M. J. Whitley, states that the only modifications to the Graf Spee after its commissioning before its loss was the addition of radar.
So, I think that issue is settled.
Now, the radar-controlled guns is another matter. According to Conway's, the primary German naval radar was the "Seetakt" system, which operated at 80cm (about 375 MHz) and was only useful for navigation and search, as Mr. Becerra mentions in #18.
Oh. Wait. Radar World States that the Spee had an experimental 60 cm (500 MHz) set.
As against that, several combat histories state that the Ardent and Acasta made smoke to defend the Glorious against G&S, but it didn't affect their radar-controlled guns. Again, this was 1940 against 1939, and the Scharnhorst class were much larger and more valuable, thus could have held a radar set that the Deutchland class could not hold, or were too low priority to hold.
This site explicitly gives the Graf Spee gunnery radar.
The Bush administration told Libya on Tuesday it was still branded a supporter of terrorism but said some restrictions on commerce may be lifted if Muammar Gadhafiâs country keeps scrapping its weapons programs. I still find it hard to believe that Q-man is going through with this.
American and British officials will meet jointly on Friday with Libyans in London on "how to move ahead" toward improved relations, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "As the Libyan government takes these essential steps and demonstrates its seriousness, good faith will be returned," Boucher said. At the London meeting, plans will be made for another onsite survey by U.S. and British experts, and more weapons parts may be sent to the United States, Boucher said. "Weâve seen a couple of weeks of action on the removal and verification," Boucher said. "Itâs appropriate to have a political dialogue on what lies ahead. Q-man has learned cause and effect. Boggles the mind.
Last month, a U.S. cargo plane carrying some 55,000 pounds of nuclear and missile parts arrived in Tennessee from Libya. Earlier, documents involving the countryâs nuclear program arrived by plane, and the White House said Libya had begun destroying chemical munitions. "The world can see that Col. Gadhafi is keeping his commitment," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said last week. "As they take these essential steps and demonstrate its seriousness, its good faith will be returned and Libya can regain a secure and respected place among the nations." However, he said the shipments were "only the beginning of the elimination of Libyaâs weapons." So now we show some good faith and Q-man keeps disarming. Amazing.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 12:44:35 AM ||
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#1
Steve I'm sure it was pointed out to him his options....he could play nice....very very very nice, or we could just kill him. Which do ya think he chose? :)
Posted by: Val ||
02/04/2004 4:30 Comments ||
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#2
Just a thought, but maybe after losing Iraq as a cheap source of oil, Chiraq turned his attention to Libya, telling Q-man to wisen up. Seeing an opportunity to get rid of the sanctions and make lotsa money (lotsa more money), Q-man replies "OK!" and proceeds to amaze Rantburgers all over the world.
Posted by: Rafael ||
02/04/2004 7:03 Comments ||
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#3
I think it's due to one of those moments biologists have conjectured about.... random neuron firings causing sentinence and start self-organizaing.
#4
What if Bush double-crosses Qaddafi, takes his WMD, and gives back nothing in return? Somehow I can see someone in the administration cold-bloodedly endorsing exactly this course of action.
#5
Gromky - it would be rank studpidity to shaft the Q man after he has come clean (and assuming he has). Although this kind of stupidity seems to be standard behavior on the Left so I see why you would pose the question.
#8
What if Bush double-crosses Qaddafi, takes his WMD, and gives back nothing in return? Somehow I can see someone in the administration cold-bloodedly endorsing exactly this course of action.
Somehow I can't see that someone being Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, or Cheney.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
02/04/2004 10:06 Comments ||
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#9
What if Bush double-crosses Qaddafi, takes his WMD, and gives back nothing in return? Somehow I can see someone in the administration cold-bloodedly endorsing exactly this course of action.
Actually, Hitler would definitely do something like that. So, if the Bush Administration DOESN'T do anything like that, would wittle Gromky and the other wittle wefties concede that Bush isn't Hitler?
Tensions along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border are dangerous but there is no sign that a new war is imminent between the Horn of Africa neighbors, the head of the U.N. mission monitoring the border said Tuesday. Itâs Africa though so expect a pointless war by the end of the week.
Ethiopiaâs refusal to accept the ruling of an international boundary commission has led to a stalemate and instability, Legwaila Joseph Legwaila told reporters. "The kind of tension that we are experiencing there is dangerous - especially dangerous in the sense that we are dealing with two countries which fought a terrible war more than three years ago and shed a lot of blood that killed more than 100,000 people," Legwaila said. Oh, THAT kind of tension!
"So this stalemate is concerning us a great deal, but there is no sign on the ground that in the immediate future there will be a reignition of the war," he said. A 4,200-weak strong U.N. peacekeeping force monitors a 15-mile buffer zone along the 620-mile border separating the two armies. Bet the Uruguayans dive into their holes every time a twig snaps.
Last week, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy as his special envoy for Ethiopia-Eritrea, expressing serious concern about the lack of progress in implementing a December 2000 peace deal in which both countries agreed to accept the ruling of the boundary commission. Theyâre on African Standard Time when it comes to reaching agreements.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 12:40:28 AM ||
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#1
Jeepers, can you imagine being in that peacekeeping force? It's the ass end of the planet, rocks and dust and bugs.
A Chechen suicide bomber who was arrested after failing to detonate an explosive in a Moscow cafe last summer said in an interview published Tuesday that she had lost her will to die and purposely tried to attract attention to herself. Zarema Muzhakhoyeva, 23, was detained in July after her strange behavior attracted the attention of security guards at Mon Cafe, a restaurant just off a main avenue leading to the Kremlin. A bomb disposal expert was killed trying to defuse the explosive that she had carried in a bag and left on the sidewalk. Heâs still dead, too, last I heard.
Muzhakhoyeva faces charges of terrorism, conspiracy to murder two or more people, and illegal possession and transfer of weapons. If convicted, she could spend 25 years in prison. Muzhakhoyeva told Izvestia that she hopes for acquittal under a law lifting criminal responsibility from people who warn of a terrorist act or its preparation. She described doing her best to attract attention to herself without provoking punishment from the controllers she was sure were following her - and who, she was convinced, could detonate her bomb by remote control. "Briefly, I decided to surrender with the bomb and hide from everyone in prison - even though they could get me in prison, too," Muzhakhoyeva was quoted as saying. I bet they will, five years or 25.
The Federal Security Service maintains that many of the female bombers are drugged or otherwise forced into their work. But Chechens and human rights advocates argue that the bombers are women whose husbands, fathers and children have been killed and feel they have nothing more to lose.
What the hell kind of "human rights advocates" are they?
Muzhakhoyeva saw herself in that light. Widowed after her much older husband was shot in a business dispute, Muzhakhoyeva told Izvestia that she turned to terrorism as a way out of shame. She had stolen jewelry from her grandparents and sold it in hopes of being able to start a new life with her young daughter, whom her husbandâs family had placed with another relative, but the family prevented her from taking the child and then froze her out. Life sucks for everyone in Chechyna. My thanks to Mom and Dad for being Americans.
Muzhakhoyeva said she then turned to terrorism, having heard that suicide bombersâ families were rewarded $1,000.
"It sez here you're recruiting suicide boomers!"
"Yeah. You wanna sign up?"
"I dunno. What's it pay?"
She spent time in rebel training camps in the mountains of southern Chechnya, and then was assigned to blow up a bus in Mozdok, the Russian military headquarters in the Caucasus region. When the targeted bus turned up, however, she could not bring herself to connect the wires of the bomb she carried. "At that moment I realized that I could not blow myself up," she recalled. But she kept going.
In spite of her failure, Muzhakhoyevaâs handlers sent her to Moscow. On the day the cafe attack was planned, the two men drove her to the square in front of St. Basilâs Cathedral, at the end of Red Square, and instructed her to flag down a car to get to the cafe. She stared at the driver in the rearview mirror and muttered verses from the Quran, hoping he would turn her in to the police. But he dropped her off at her destination and sped away. "GAZ donât fail me now!"
Muzhakhoyeva walked up to the plate glass front of the cafe and stuck out her tongue at men inside, then smirked. A trio of men came out, asked for her passport and asked what was in her bag. "An explosive," she said. Within minutes, she was in police custody. What a waste. Enjoy prison until your handlers find you.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 12:32:54 AM ||
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#1
I've dated women like this. The ones with kids. Dads had enough. Not that I approve, but man, ya know!
#5
Good: She was afraid to die and didn't proceed with the attack. Innocent lives were saved and she might deliver some worthy intel.
Bad: She turned herself because she was afraid of killing only herself, not because she felt any sympathy for the innocents she was about to kill or maim.
I guess if there's no honor among thieves, there's equally no humanity among terrorists.
Posted by: Dar ||
02/04/2004 9:35 Comments ||
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#6
i agree with dar but go farther - remember the Golda Meier quote, "we will have peace when they love their children more than they hate us" ? She may still want to kill, but if she wants to live more than she wants to kill, thats the first step out of the insanity.
Rebels in Chechnya killed nine Russian soldiers in separate attacks, an official with the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said yesterday. Five died when rebels shelled Russian outposts across the region. A further four were killed when Russian military convoys hit landmines near the town of Shali and the village of Tangi-Chu in Chechnyaâs southern mountains. In Chechnyaâs capital, Grozny, rebels clashed with pro-Moscow police officers on Monday, wounding two of them. One rebel was killed in the clash. In Dagestan, which borders Chechnya to the east, a Federal Security Bureau officer was wounded on Monday after an attack on his car. He is said to be in a grave condition in hospital. Unidentified attackers also blew up the house of a police official in Ingushetia, a province west of Chechnya. The man was unhurt. It was unclear whether the violence in Dagestan and Ingushetia on Monday was linked to the Chechnya war.
My guess would be that it was...
Russian forces launched artillery barrages on suspected rebel camps in Chechnyaâs southern mountains and conducted security sweeps in which at least 220 people were detained.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:28:47 AM ||
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#1
im just curious, anyone have monthly figures of Russian troop deaths to hostile action comparable to what we see for the US in Iraq??
#2
I haven't seen any published figures. Dan does the corpse count regularly, though. You could take a week's worth of deaders and multiply by 52, assuming you picked an average week...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/04/2004 21:56 Comments ||
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At least two people were killed and six injured when a car exploded in the center of Russiaâs city of Vladikavkaz, near war-torn Chechnya. The car blew up shortly after 5 p.m. on Gorky street, some 200 meters from the central market in the regional hub, as a truck with soldiers drove by, according to reports and witnesses. Russiaâs emergencies ministry in Moscow said two people were killed and six injured. According to preliminary reports, a woman passerby and a soldier were among the dead. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast.
Y'think it mighta been a bomb, Holmes?
A spokesman for the interior ministry of North Ossetia, the republic where Vladikavkaz is located, said the explosion could have been caused by a gas canister. "According to preliminary interior ministry data, the carâs gas canister blew up, although we are looking into other possibilities," the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Ismel Shaov as saying. An unnamed source in the ministry told the news agency that the explosion was likely caused by a bomb.
That'd be my guess, but I'm not there...
Regional interior ministry officials said the blast was equivalent to two kilograms of TNT. But RIA Novosti quoted police on the scene at putting this figure at 400 grams of TNT.
One of the perils of the metric system, I guess...
Interior ministryâs Shaov also said the blast could have been directed at the Gamid Bank, in front of which it occurred. He said that a parked car had exploded in front of the bank two years ago, RIA reported. The explosion ripped one car in half and burned three nearby vehicles.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:27:43 AM ||
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#1
Completely OT, but I just noticed NotMikeMoore posting on 5 dead threads on yesterday's blogroll. How pathetic. Understandable, but pathetic...
#3
Oh, shit, Shipman, you're right. Batten down the hatches, the trolls are gonna be running high today!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/04/2004 8:41 Comments ||
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#4
I've got my bat, but I can't find any hatches. Can I just use the bat on the trolls instead?
Posted by: Dar ||
02/04/2004 10:01 Comments ||
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#5
Dar, the proper weapon to use on trolls is a blowtorch. Preferably the kind that uses napalm, ignites at 60 feet, and will burn through all six layers of spandex.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/04/2004 12:34 Comments ||
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Federal investigators sought Tuesday to identify a letter or package that may have carried ricin into a leading senatorâs mailroom as new links emerged between letters containing the deadly poison found in South Carolina and a White House mail facility. A senior law enforcement official said investigators had established strong links between the South Carolina and White House letters. What remained unclear, the official said, was whether those letters were connected to the substance found in the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Brilliant, Holmes!
The letter found in October in South Carolina signed by someone who called himself "Fallen Angel" and one found in November at a facility that processes mail for the White House both complained about new regulations requiring certain amounts of rest for truck drivers, the official said. Both also contained ricin. Investigators said Tuesday they had not identified the letter or package that might have carried ricin into Fristâs office. An initial check found no extortion, threat or complaint letter in the office, said a second law enforcement source. There also were no indications of involvement by foreign terrorists such as al-Qaida, which the FBI has said is interested in using ricin in an attack.
It doesn't sound like there are. Here it is February 4th, and we're not all dead. I'm so surprised...
The package found in a South Carolina mail facility had a letter claiming that the author could make more ricin and a threat to "start dumping" large quantities if his demands to stop the new trucking regulations were not met. The FBI offered a $100,000 reward in that case but no arrests have been made. The White House letter, intercepted in November, contained nearly identical language but such weak amounts of ricin that it was not deemed a major health threat. That letterâs existence was not publicly disclosed before Tuesday. In Connecticut, a coarse gray powder found at one of the stateâs postal facilities tested negative for ricin, said Mark Saunders, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service. The material was leaking out of a letter addressed to the Republican National Committee. Saunders said officials also are testing a material found at a Washington, D.C., postal facility on V Street "out of an abundance of caution." Government mail is sorted at that facility, which was closed Tuesday. At the Capitol, an FBI hazardous materials team was helping police isolate and examine the mail in Fristâs office and will in the coming days collect other unopened mail in the Capitol complex, said FBI spokeswoman Debra Weierman. The FBI also will do forensic analysis at its laboratory in Quantico, Va., checking evidence for fingerprints, fibers, hair and the like.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:23:54 AM ||
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The World Court rejected an Israeli request to disqualify an Egyptian judge from the tribunal, which will rule on the legality of the security barrier Israel is building in Palestinian territories, the court said Tuesday. Well, at least it canât get any less fair.
Israel wanted Judge Nabil Elaraby to step down, citing his earlier job as legal adviser to the Egyptian government and what it described as a prejudicial newspaper interview in 2001. "Other than the âKill the Jooos!!! Kill the Jooos!!! KILL THE JOOOS!!!â part of the interview, whatâs yer problem?"
By a vote of 13-1, the court ruled on Friday that Elaraby would remain on the bench. Only the court is empowered to excuse one of its judges. The Hague-based panel has 15 judges; Elaraby didnât vote. And didnât need to.
As a government legal adviser, Elaraby sat across from the Israelis at the negotiating table on several occasions, dating back to the successful Camp David agreements in 1978 that led to the Egypt-Israel peace treaty. He was elected to the court in October 2001 for a nine-year term. The court ruled Elarabyâs previous activities "were performed in his capacity of a diplomatic representative of his country, most of them many years before" the current case arose. Old memories die never hard.
It said Elaraby had said nothing about the barrier in the newspaper interview, and "could not be regarded as having previously taken part in the case in any capacity." No details about the interview were immediately available. No, no! Certainly not!
Israel raised no objection to the Jordanian judge on the panel, Awn Shawkat al-Khasawneh, even though Jordan was expected to take the lead in arguing against the security barrier. U.S. judge Thomas Buergenthal dissented, arguing that the opinions Elaraby expressed in the interview create "the appearance of bias incompatible with the fair administration of justice" in the barrier case. Elaraby gave the interview three months before joining the world court. "He had three whole months tâ fergit what he said, yer honor! More than enough time. Izznât that so, Elaraby?"
"Um, um, yep, thatâs so."
"See, no problemo!"
The ruling cited a 1971 precedent when South Africa objected to three judges sitting in a case concerning South Africaâs presence in Namibia. They also were allowed to remain. The precedent seems to be that if youâre perceived as an international pariah, youâll get screwed.
In a separate statement, the court said 44 countries have submitted depositions in the case, from Japan to Brazil and the tiny Pacific island of Palau, which has only 20,000 people. European countries outnumbered Arab states, with the United States and Cuba also weighing in. Palestine was allowed to submit an argument even though it is not a recognized state. The court also accepted submissions from the 22-member Arab League and the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference before Fridayâs deadline. Handle them like I used to grade papers as a teaching assistant: toss âem down the stairs, heaviest one gets an âAâ.
At the United Nations, Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. observer, accused Israel of violating the rules of the court by commenting on submissions before the court makes them public. The Palestinian envoy also accused Isreal of "straightforward lies" and "spinning the facts." Specifically, he accused Israel of releasing the names and number of countries supporting their position and characterizing the position of groups of countries like the European Union. "All of this is illegal because it violates the rules of the court that prohibit talking about the content of the statements before they are made public by the court, and they also are not true," Al-Kidwa said. Not that any of this matters since the fix is in.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/04/2004 12:22:18 AM ||
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#1
Why does the U.S. legitimize this ridiculous "court" by our presence? Why is Israel participating in this sham? Israel certainly won't change the wall after the inevitable decree that it is "illegal". Someone help me understand this lunacy.
#2
Kirk - i'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that rulings are advisory, i.e. not binding and the issue goes back to to the UN - specifically the security council where there will never be a binding resolution on Israel. Certainly not while GWB is in white house. So there is no real down side for the Israelis and it will be another lesson in irrelevance and impotence of the tranzi 'vision'. Like others I assume they will find against Israel. Although I would like to hear a lawyers opinion seeing the teritorities are not a state and they should only be concerned with state to state issues.
#4
44 countries have submitted depositions in the case, from Japan to Brazil and the tiny Pacific island of Palau, which has only 20,000 people.
WTF does Palau have to do with anything? Why are they being deposed? Did the court request statements from the Ancient Maya as well? they're about as involved...
IIUC the initial Israeli response is to deny the authority of the court on a matter like this. Presumably all UN members have a right to and interest in commenting on the issue of the authority of the court. I assume Palau, like other Pacific island states, will be close to the US view on this.
#6 JFM Open your eyes and see how the BLACK jews from Ethiopia and elsewhere are treated in Israel.
The Zion will prove to be a historically failed experiment built by people practising idol worship (Israeli god has a son?!) and following the pedophile manual called talmud.
#9
Faisal, you do see the difference between mistreatement and turning blacks into slaves don't you? Israel doesn't make Blacks into slaves the way they do in the Sudan.
Please provide a link so we can all be informed how poorly the BLACK jews from Ethiopia are treated. I haven't heard anything about it.
#10
Don't go luring Faisal off the grounds white folks! He frighten easily. Tell him come back to the grounds we're having his favorite jello and then we're gonna watch Toole O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia (I always gotta wash a weeks supply of Faisals socks after that one).
Sadly, there have been problems in Israel with the treatment of the Ethopean Jews. It's a fact. I haven't heard of any problems in the last few years, so perhaps conditions have improved. But soon after they came to Israel, the Rabbinate were suggesting that they needed to âconvertâ since they had fallen away from traditional Jewish practice. And, when Ethopean Jews had discovered that their blood donations had been discarded untouchedâ fear of AIDSâthey did protest and riot.
Now, there have been some cults in the US that have called themselves âBlack Jews,â but those smack of insanity and criminality. There's a man in Federal prison right now serving sentences for murder, robbery, and drug trafficing, who uses the alias of Yahweh ben Yahweh. The State of Israel does not let them in; that's a perfectly reasonable attitude.
But, Faisal, idol worship? The Israeli god has a son? I think you're mixing up your religions here. I am a Jew, not a Christian. I do not worship idols. As the most famous prayer in Judaism states, Shma Yisrael, Adonai ELohaynu, Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel, The Lord Our God, The Lord Is One.
And, the pedophile manual called Talmud? Who exactly marries 9-year-olds? Not us! I think this is called projection. Have you ever looked at the Talmud? The Torah? Or, are you just reciting the sick fictions of your mullahs, without thought? I would wager that you take the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, that sick forgery by the Czar's secret police, as gospel.
In short, Faisal, when Israel and Jews have problems, they deal with them. They try to improve. When they have problems, they fix them. When the Arab nations have problems, they just state that it's Allah's will, and do nothing.
Are you planning to throw stones?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/04/2004 15:47 Comments ||
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#12
Eric:
a fine and noble effort, but faisal does not want to discuss, he wants to find fault. Mainly with Jews.
and I must disagree on one point:
When the Arab nations have problems, they just state that it's Allah's will, and do nothing
this is not true. when arabs have problems they blame Jews. Faisal is simply following in that tradition.
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 3.
Perhaps not the best epigraph for a discussion on anti-Semitism, but it will have to do. Anyhow, Faisal did have a grain of truth in his rant, which saddens me. I wish he hadn't.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/04/2004 16:55 Comments ||
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#15
Faisal
You are incredible (and BTW if you are a real Arab I still challenge you to tell "Can I have two coffees, please?" in Arabic). Israelis don't go into murder and rape parties like the Jihadis do.
Since Saudis go to rape in Soudan I think it would be fair to allow Soudanese women to turn Saudi Arabia into Eunuchistan.
#16
Faisal an Arab? No, he just like Arabs... specialy Toole O'Tool the white man's arab. Soon has he gets sprung he gonna try to pass the foreign service exam.... course he don't know it's multiple choice and the answer key overlay is always in the form of a Mogen David. (Let's keep that our little secret).
The Syrian authorities on Saturday released 92 political prisoners. A matter which raises the number of released prisoners since last Thursday to 122 persons. The Syrian lawyer and human rights activist, Anwar al-Bunni, said that most of those prisoners belong to the Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood) group, or the Hizb ut-Tahirir al-Islami (Islamic liberation party), or the Baath party of Iraq, and that among them persons who completed their imprisonment sentence and others who are sick. What is up with all these releases going on, are they running out of jihadis? Hehe they didnât know what they were getting into when they decided to take on the USA did they?
Posted by: TS ||
02/04/2004 12:19:40 AM ||
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#1
So finally Zion agrees to exchange a few hundered gentliles (or goyem) for the dead bodies of the 'selected ones'.
Jordan extradited to Spain on Tuesday a man sought by a Spanish judge on charges of belonging to al Qaeda, judicial sources said. The man, named in court documents as Abdulla Khayata Kattan, was brought to Spain and appeared briefly before a judge who ordered him held temporarily. He is due to be questioned by High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon later this week. Kattan was one of 35 men, including al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, charged by Garzon last September. Some of the 35 were charged in connection with the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Kattan was accused only of al Qaeda membership. Court documents issued last September said Kattan went by the alias Abu Ibrahim and was a native of Syria. Garzon has said there is evidence the September 11 plot was partly hatched in Spain. That would be Abu Dahdah and friends. They served as the main link between the Hamburg cell and al-Qaeda military commander Mohammed Atef. The most interesting thing is that Dahdahâs deputy Yousef Galan (who, among other things, once served as an election monitor for the ETAâs political wing) was invited to parties at the Iraqi embassy in Madrid - under his al-Qaeda nom de guerre.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/04/2004 12:05:04 AM ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
