NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO - Teams of Mexican federal agents were searching a remote ranch house where charred remains were found in gasoline drums, a federal prosecutor said Thursday. The search was made of a small house, surrounded by a black metal fence, about 30 minutes outside of Nuevo Laredo on the highway to Monterrey. Local newspapers are referring to the location as a "Narco-fosa," or mass grave for victims of narcotics traffickers.
"They have found remains," said a prosecutor with the Mexican Attorney General's Office in Nuevo Laredo. "They are going to determine if they are the remains of animals, or humans. They have been burned and were found in some gasoline barrels." A large group of AFIs, as Mexico's special investigation agents are known, kept reporters away from the house.
Mexico City reporter Eduardo Cano, of TV Azteca, was able to film inside the house and said he saw six pieces of bone including a pelvis and ribs that appeared human. "There were ashes, like they had burned a body," he said. Cano said there were 20 large gasoline drums next to the house, and scattered around were shirts, jeans, tennis shoes, anax, shovel and spent bullet casings from a pistol. "They don't know if they are human remains. They are going to have to do some tests," the reporter said. Cano said agents at the scene spoke of as many as four sets of human remains, and were planning to excavate an area to look for more.
Two drug gangs have been warring over control of Nuevo Laredo and the interstate highway into Texas. More than 75 people have been slain in the drug-related violence since the first of the year.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/01/2005 13:59 ||
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#1
Looks like someone pissed off the local cartel.
July 1, 2005: Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez recently gave members of the military a pay raise of 50 percent. This is a military that has taken a new course over recent years, primarily due to the actions of Mr. Chavez in promoting his âBolivarian Revolutionâ.
The Venezuelan military is capable force, including six Lupo-class frigates (equipped with a five-inch gun, eight Otomat anti-ship missiles, a Mark 29 launcher for the Italian Aspide surface-to-air missile, and a helicopter), two Type 209 submarines (a German design widely exported around the world), 22 F-16A Fighting Falcons, 15 Mirage 50s, and a mix or tanks (French AMX-30s and AMX-13s along with British Scorpion light tanks.) Venezuela has been considering the addition of MiG-29s to its force (reportedly as many as 50), but also is talking with Brazil about the purchase of a dozen AMX attack jets and 24 Super Tucano attack planes. Venezuela also is buying Spanish patrol craft and C-295 transports.
This is not the only development. In April, 20,000 reservists paraded in front of Chavez in Caracas. This is a new militia that Chavez hopes will reach 2.3 million, which is 46 percent of the Venezuelan population fit for military service. Chavez knows that a lot of his rhetorical confrontation with the United States (including personal insults directed at President Bush and Secretary of State Rice and threats to sever diplomatic ties with the United States over its refusal to extradite some anti-Castro terrorists) has upset some in the military, and there has already been one coup (in April, 2002) that was ultimately unsuccessful. He also figures that any subsequent coup plotters will probably have learned the lessons from the failed coup. The new militia is seen as a means to support a permanent power grab, or as a loyal force Chavez can rely on. The pay hike is another measure. Many soldiers will appreciate a 50 percent pay hike, and that appreciation can often lead to some of these soldiers warning the government of a planned coup.
The Venezuelan buildup is attracting concern across the region. Colombia is looking into additional weapons purchases (and suspects Chavez of supporting the FARC rebels, a charge Chavez denies) as a result, and in a region where there are often border disputes that have long defied solutions, this makes neighbors worried. Venezuela has had a long-running dispute with Guyana (in which Venezuela claims 60 percent of the smaller country). Chavezâs conduct has made neighboring countries nervous, and as tensions (and the resulting arms race) escalate in South America, so does the chance that war could break out.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/01/2005 09:30 ||
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#1
How could Chavez afford to keep 46% of his fit population as a reserve? what would happen to the workforce if the reserve was activated or kept on alert for a prolonged time? Or even a matter of days for that matter? This is going to be interesting to watch. We could drive him into bankruptcy court with just a little provacative rhetoric, if we had a mind to.
#3
even his Cuban mercenaries have to eat and be housed...
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/01/2005 10:17 Comments ||
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22 F-16A Fighting Falcons
Fortunately, those don't have advanced avionics and the really kewl crap that ours do. I wonder what type of missle they use. I bet our AIM-120 would make short work of his air farce.
#5
The problem with this guy, as with the Iranians and some others, is that normal economics doesn't work well to keep him in his place. He has oil, and Venezuela exports enough that his funds can't be cut off without making global difficulties. The rest of his civilian economy is pretty much irrelevant.
Oil wealth insulates countries from reality, and megalomaniacs get more scope for their nightmares than they should.
Italian authorities have uncovered a "parallel" police structure which allegedly masqueraded as a specialised anti-terrorist unit in a scam to obtain funding from donors including NATO and the CIA. Anti-terrorist police, acting on orders of investigators in the northwestern port of Genoa, on Friday carried out dawn raids on some 25 homes and offices in nine Italian regions. Some 24 people - including several regular police and Carabinieri paramilitary officers - are been investigated in connection with the scam, which operated under the phoney name of 'Department of Anti-terrorism Strategic Studies (DSSA).
The two alleged ring-leaders of the group, Gaetano Saya and Roberto Sindoca, have been placed under house arrest at their respective homes in Florence and in the northern town of Pavia. Saya has a history of involvement in extreme-rightwing politics. The men are being charged with criminal association aimed at usurping state functions.
Investigators say the group set up the DSSA after the 2004 Madrid train bombings, in which 191 people died, to fool unsuspecting donors into believing it was an anti-terrorist branch of Italy's security services.
The organisation had its own Internet website, now disabled, through which it requested money in exchange for security dossiers and alerts on possible terrrorist attacks.
Hummmmm, I'll wager Fred's database is better than theirs. More accurate too. Wonder if we could get in on the action, without being arrested, that is.
Among the false information the DSSA allegedly provided, were details of planned al-Qaeda attacks against Milan's Linate international airport and the city's landmark Duomo cathedral. The alleged aim was to benefit from funding that became available nationally and internationally after the Madrid blasts, as part of the global war on terror.
"Funding"? Maybe we could get one of those grants, huh?
The site which carried on its homepage the motto, "Intelligence Prevents Tragedy" was available in four languages - Italian, English, French and Spanish - and profiled terror organisations as well as urging the public to collaborate.
We've got that, plus snappy commentary!
Genoa investigators reportedly uncovered leads on the group during a separate probe into the death of Fabrizio Quattrocchi, one of four Italian "contractors" or body-guards, kidnapped in Iraq in April 2004.
Quattrocchi was shot dead by his Iraqi abductors, a group calling itself the Green Brigade, while his colleagues were eventually released.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/01/2005 09:31 ||
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The Bosnian government held an emergency meeting yesterday to investigate reports Alleging that Moroccan national Younes Mohamed Ibrahim Al- Hayari, the most wanted terror suspect from the list of 36 issued by the Saudi Interior Ministry recently holds a Bosnian nationality. After the meeting, Bosnian Security Minister Barisa Colak officially denied that Al-Hayari holds a Bosnian citizenship. The Bosnian governmentâs denial came after an extensive investigation into the names of people that have optioned Bosnian citizenships.
The Bosnian government has striped over 700 people of their Bosnian citizenships that were obtained between the years 1992 and 1995. Elsewhere a source at the Saudi Embassy in Beirut has denied media reports that wanted Saudi terrorist Fayez Ibrahem Ayoub the 29th most wanted terrorist had given himself up at the Saudi Embassy. The source told Asharq Al-Awsat âthese reports were far from the truth and are strictly rumors."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/01/2005 09:27 ||
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They've got a picture of one of them. Believe me, lady. That's indecent...nice pit hair.
A dozen anti-war activists from Mendocino County took their tops off at high noon in San Francisco's Union Square shopping district Thursday, using what they said was their best weapon to get the public's attention. Within seconds, a motorized cable car packed with tourists stopped in front of Macy's so the out-of-towners could get a better look. "Whoa, get out your cameras and cover your children's eyes," said the driver. "Remember, folks, this is San Francisco," he said. "We let it all hang out here." Oh, boy! Hippie freaks!
Members of the Breasts Not Bombs contingent, which included seven women, three men and two young girls, said the war in Iraq is indecent, not their nakedness. "Boobies never hurt anyone," said Sherry Glaser, size 40DDD. Whoa! I'll bet yours could kill somebody!
After more than two years of opposition to the war, protesters are having a hard time grabbing headlines, said Sheba Love, size 40D. "We're kinda at our wits' end, so it's come to this," Wits end or tits end?
Love said. "But it blows me away that all we have to do is bare our skin and we can cause such a snit." The au naturel protest drew more of a snicker than a snit. They smiled for a crowd of about 50 tourists who took out digital cameras and cell phones to make instant souvenirs. "Hey! Explain this to me!" said an agog visitor from Florida, approaching San Francisco police Sgt. Carl T., who was assigned to keep an eye on the crowd and who really has only a letter for a last name. "It's not illegal," the sergeant told the woman. In San Francisco, very little is...
"All right!" she said, giving him a high-five. Technically, the sergeant explained, nudity can be considered misdemeanor indecent exposure if the person in their birthday suit has an intention to titillate. Because the protest is political, not sensual or lewd, it really doesn't count, he said. And then he went to feed some homeless guys and hand out condoms...
Many San Franciscans eating their lunch in the Union Square park shook their heads and kept on eating or reading. "God, I hate this city!" said one, rushing away. Must be a breeder! Kill him!
Several tourists said the protest irked them not because of the adults, but because Glaser's 9-year-old daughter and the girl's 10-year-old friend, were also bare-chested. The girls brought their half-naked dolls to the protest, too. "I took a picture but made sure the girls weren't in the frame," said Matt Bigos of Boston, in town for his brother's wedding. "You can't put that kind of picture on your computer these days ... you'll get busted. I really don't think it's right they have little girls without shirts." Hey, man! Don't pass judgement on me, you fascist!
Breasts Not Bombs said they are trying to make people uncomfortable to get their anti-war message across and to also desensitize people to nudity. The group was formed a year ago, after two of Glaser's friends were made to don their shirts after dancing topless at a Mendocino Park Fourth of July party. That sparked a conversation about indecency and cultural shock values. "We felt breasts are not indecent, but war, and our political leadership, was," said Margaret Howe, who has never had her bust measured. Look at me! Look at me!
The group has taken its nude anti-war message to a handful of Mendocino locales and to the offices of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat newspaper. So far, only one official complaint has been filed with police against their group. Union Square was their largest and busiest venue yet. They've even aired a music video on Free Speech TV, with clips from their various demonstrations and set to the tune "I Wanna Be Naked." Free Speech TV. Nope, not part of my cable package.
Although they are not the same activists who strip nude and form peace symbols or spell out NO WAR with their bodies, they said they share the same message. "I think what they are doing is great!" said Lindsay Clark, who was selling hot dogs and soft pretzels on the sidewalk outside the entrance to Macy's.
"There are a lot of ignorant people around here who could stand to see this," she said. Thank you, Ms. Hot Dog and Pretzel vendor. I'll nominate you for Sandy O'Connor's seat.
Rene Palacios, whose job is to wear a bright red jacket and provide sidewalk "customer service" to Union Square tourists for the Gray Line Tours bus company, spent the lunch hour explaining to newcomers that these types of things happen frequently in San Francisco. "This is exactly why San Francisco is a great place to be!" he said, laughing. "These unexpected things just happen in an instant, and you never see it coming." Why don't they just dump acid in the water supply. It's not like anyone could tell the difference.
The nipple display certainly surprised Chuck Pollock, who has been panhandling around Union Square for the last decade. But he got into the spirit, lifting his T-shirt for passers-by to make them laugh and drop a few coins in his cup. "I only see the news about once a month when I save enough to get a hotel room," he said. "What's going on? Is Bush still at war?" he asked. Is he the mayor?
#7
Several tourists said the protest irked them not because of the adults, but because Glaser's 9-year-old daughter and the girl's 10-year-old friend, were also bare-chested.
The girls are members of the group's youth brigade, "Breasts Nor Bombs".
#11
I take it it wasn't a foggy summer's day in Baghdad by the Bay.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
07/01/2005 17:33 Comments ||
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#12
I wonder if they realize the people we're fighting would stone them to death for wearing much, much more clothing than that.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/01/2005 18:20 Comments ||
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#13
realization has little place in their worldview, RC
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/01/2005 18:35 Comments ||
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#14
Why don't they hold this same "demonstration" closer to Iraq, where the fighting actually is? Maybe the West Bank? Or better yet "Saudi" Arabia. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/01/2005 19:36 Comments ||
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#15
I'm reminded of the Country Music song, "I don't Look Nekkid Antmore". I don't think they really care what happens in the world, they are only exhibitionists. Bad ones at that.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/01/2005 19:38 Comments ||
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#16
DB, the ones who you would like to see nekkid all work in nudie bars making lots of money. Or so I've heard.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/01/2005 19:40 Comments ||
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#17
I have never been to SF. I am surprised that they have a tourist industry. I imagine that those interested in naked boobies are more likely to visist Las Vegas where the aroma of urine and rotting produce is probably isolated to restrooms and dumpsters. ... I would expect that the naked folks would be more attractive as well. Too bad about the gay guy getting chomped by his tiger, though. I bet that was a great show.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/01/2005 20:13 Comments ||
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#20
You'd be surprised at the SF tourist biz. They are still coming, I am sometimes puzzled at how many. SF has major hotel space and at the moment it seems like the town is pretty full up.
By Jacob Laksin
There are some criticisms of the Bush administration even Howard Dean declines to endorse. A rare example of the form was uttered on June 16 by Ray McGovern, an ex-CIA analyst who since his 1990 retirement from the agency has served as a full-time foot soldier in the army of antiwar left. The occasion was a mock hearing of the Judiciary Committee. Set up by one of the Iraq warâs most strident detractors, Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-MI, as a publicity-grabbing protest against the war, the stunt quickly backfired when McGovern, in his own distinctive fashion, laid out his objections to Operation Iraqi Freedom. In McGovernâs view, the sinister motivations for the war could be explained by the axiom O.I.L.: âO for Oil, I for Israel, and L for leveraging our land bases.â
Israel in particular concentrated his interest. Intolerant of the notion that Israel could be seen as Americaâs ally, McGovern contended that by toppling Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration was merely doing the dirty work of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. As evidence, McGovern was not above retailing anti-Israel conspiracy theories. Hence he claimed, inter alia, that an Israeli company had advanced warning of the 9/11 attacksâan accusation echoed in literature passed out by Democratic activists at the hearing. No immediate objections were raised, but McGovernâs conspiratorial musing did earn him the praise of at least one attendee, the notoriously anti-Semitic Rep. James P. Moran Jr., D-VA, who praised the former CIA man for his âcandidâ remarks. McGovern, for his part, sought to cast himself as a lone voice for sanity in an American political culture blind to the evils of the Middle Eastâs lone democratic country. âIsrael is not allowed to be brought up in polite conversation,â he complained.
#1
Of particular note is the "questionable intelligence" of the lying asshole McGovern (instant flashback attached), those who squeal with glee when it speaks, and those who report it as fact.
#3
Alltogether now. Wiggle your fingers..roll your eyes and in your best condescending tone repeat, Go tell the families of both the 911 victims and soldiers killed in combat about your unpatiotic anti-semitic conspiracy theories.
Everyone knows to critcize any past or present policy decisions as a possible motivation simply reassigns the blame on us. Get it straight...It doesnt matter what we do the "Evil-Doers" hate our freedom. Dont hate us because were beautiful.
OTTAWA, June 30 -- Attorneys for Maher Arar said Thursday that Canadian criminal charges should be brought against U.S. agents responsible for spiriting the Canadian man in 2002 to Syria, where he was imprisoned and allegedly tortured for almost a year.
Drawing parallels to the charges brought against CIA operatives by a Milan magistrate last week, attorney Marlys Edwardh said Canadian law defined torture as illegal wherever it occurs. Arar, 34, was seized by U.S. agents while he was changing planes in New York, questioned for 12 days and then transported in shackles to Syria. "Torture is a crime that is triable by Canadian courts if the victim is a Canadian citizen. The Americans definitely aided and abetted this crime," Edwardh said, standing outside the site of a judicial inquiry into Arar's treatment.
Arar's attorneys said they would call for a criminal investigation of Canadian authorities for their role in Arar's transfer to Syria and his interrogation there, which Arar said included beatings and more than 10 months of confinement in a coffin-size dungeon.
The Canadians didn't want him but didn't want the blood on their hands. So we moved the mope with some sleight of hand. Let this be a lesson to us -- next time the Canucks and the Eye-ties get to do their own dirty work.
Testimony given during the inquiry this week described extensive and highly organized involvement with Syria by both Canadian and U.S. officials, which was ongoing by 2002. According to the testimony, those involved included Canadian legal advisers, diplomats and members of the CIA and FBI, all of whom regularly approved giving the Syrians intelligence and other information to be used in interrogations.
"I was very surprised that what seems to be in place is a mechanism for fairly routine sharing of important information" with Syria, Edwardh said after the testimony ended. "We are exposing people to the risk of torture while offering to work with those regimes. It's shocking. It shouldn't happen."
The judicial inquiry was convened after Arar was released without charges by Syria and returned to his wife and children in Canada in October 2003. The computer engineer has denied any involvement in radical politics and called for Canadian officials to be held accountable for his treatment.
"Lies! All lies!"
A key witness at the inquiry, Michel Cabana, the superintendent of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, denied in testimony Wednesday and Thursday that Canadian authorities knew the Americans had decided to send Arar to Syria instead of back to Canada. Arar, who came to Canada at age 17, holds dual citizenship. "This is not something I even considered as something the Americans could even do," Cabana testified Thursday. "I did not believe their laws would allow them to do that."
You just closed your eyes and wished Arar would go away, and 'poof!' he was gone.
But Cabana acknowledged sending a list of questions to U.S. agents to pose to Arar. He repeatedly said Arar was not a target of investigation but knew some men who were.
Cabana also described frequent formal meetings he had with many different U.S. and Canadian agencies to coordinate their work after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the lifting of restrictions on trading investigative information. One meeting in 2002 included a PowerPoint presentation on suspects to U.S. law enforcement agents.
Arar and his supporters have said that information was often flawed and included fabrications derived from torture sessions. Three Arab Canadian men have been interrogated in Syria and released without charges. By mid-August 2002, a month before Arar was detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport, one of the other Canadians, Ahmad Abou El-Maati, had complained to consular officials of torture.
Standard operating procedure.
Minutes of a meeting of Cabana's anti-terrorism unit in Ottawa in August 2002 indicated the participants' wariness about the potential public reaction. The meeting discussed "media lines to be used when an individual's allegations about torture in Syrian authorities" were made public, the memo introduced to the inquiry read. "The attending agencies all are agreed that minimal information will be put out due to the ongoing police investigations."
Arar watched the proceedings Thursday with his 8-year-old daughter. He said what happened to him should be chilling to all Canadian citizens. "This can affect every Canadian traveling, especially Muslim men," he said. "You are stopped, and they can't charge you with anything, but they send you off to another country to be tortured."
"Are there any controls on these people?" he asked, referring to authorities. "Is this the way to fight terrorism -- by abolishing due process, by abolishing justice?"
The judicial inquiry is scheduled to conclude with separate public and classified reports by year's end. The testimony and documents in evidence are full of blacked-out redactions of information that the government claims would jeopardize national security.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/01/2005 00:31 ||
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#1
"Marlys Edwardh?"
At last the secret of Fred's anon name generator is out - he scanned in the Ottawa phone book...
#7
"This can affect every Canadian traveling, especially Muslim men," he said. "You are stopped, and they can't charge you with anything, but they send you off to another country to be tortured."
Then renounce your citizenship in countries that practice torture, idiot.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/01/2005 9:13 Comments ||
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While the world debated whether an American guard at Guantanamo really flushed a Koran down a toilet, Robert Mugabe may have bulldozed the homes of 1.5 million Zimbabweans.
Few seem to have cared.
To do so would be a messy, complicated thing â lecturing a black third-world leader to stop tormenting his own poor; pleading with other African states not to allow the genesis of another Rwanda; and, probably, being embarrassed by someone who doesnât give a hoot what a Western elite liberal says.
Mao, whose minions killed somewhere between 40 and 50 million, is still popular in China. That Communist country is deemed by many Western allies as less of a threat than the United States and its elected president, who routinely appears with a Hitler-moustache in European demonstrations.
The new general rule: Global morality is established by the degree the United States can be blamed. Millions of lives lost, vast corruption, thousands of refugees â all that canât quite equate with a U.S. soldier showing insensitivity or an American detention center with mere doctors, ethnic food, and religious accommodations.
All this is not mere theater anymore, but serious stuff, since we are at war with thousands of troops in harmâs way counting on our support. America should wake up to this near-religious hatred â unless it is so far gone itself that it really believes the arguments of silly university-press books about our own pathologies and pernicious âempire.â
So how does the United States navigate nimbly between its weariness with the thankless role of a superpower and the dangers of a nostalgic isolationism? We need to find a sort of Zen-like philosophical balance that brings both some maturity to our pampered critics and psychic relief to ourselves, without endangering our own security or abandoning our true allies â while in the middle of a war and a polarized electorate here at home. Read the rest at link. Once again, Victor hits the nail on the head.
#1
I know what he means. I have a Zen-like balance thingy going on, myownself.
On one side of the razor blade is the knowledge that, sooner or later, we will have to begin throwing IslamoScreed out of America, as well as "moderating" it in the shithole dictatorships which sponsor, aid, and / or abet terrorism, Islam and the "ists" by another name. It's merely acknowledging what the Muzzies, themselves, say when they think we're not listening or that no translation is available. It's there in their "perfect" books for all to see and understand, but even more telling, the perfect confirmation is there for those not willingly blinded, it's their behavior across the globe. Where there's shit, well there's likely Islam. For the sophisticated "I live in the grey zone, and I'm damned proud of it!" fuckwits: Islam is the enemy of freedom. And damned proud of it, too.
On the other is the knowledge that, sooner or later, we will have to begin offering compulsory wirehead connections to our native apologists, facilitators, and supporters of terrorism. You know who I mean? Perhaps this will make it clearer: The "I just can't bring myself to say: It's Them! It's the Fucking Muzzies! They want to bring down Western Civilization and erect a Global Caliphate, cuz that's precisely what their ideology (not religion) exists for." crowd. Cowardice, the inability to adjust one's personally preferred view to match reality is, well, it's just butt-ugly. But far worse is the obvious fact that it's goddamned dangerous, too. I think of it as the Immoderate Stupidity Watch. Plug in, bliss out, STFU. A new Timmy Leary kind of thingy.
- Your Friend in Zen
Hmmm, Islam and The Ists - catchy band name.
Posted by: .Zen Through A Realistic World-View - and Superior Firepower ||
07/01/2005 12:04 Comments ||
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#5
In the words of that great political philosopher Arthur Fonzarelli - "exactamundo!" The Eurotrash, especially, have been on my personal excremental roster ever since the time right after 9/11 when they invoked Article 5 of the NATO Charter (the "attack on one = an attack on all" clause), then hemmed and hawed about whether or not that really meant they were going to help us militarily. Overrun with radical Muslims? Don't cry to us, guys...just make sure you cut down those shade trees on the Champs Elysees. I understand the Arabs prefer to march in the hot sun.
The Germans getting a little too in touch with certain martial/nationalistic traditions? Sorry, guys, we're sitting that one out, too. The quislings in our press corps whip up enough shit whenever ONE troopie gets sent more than 3 miles off our shores, and we're just not in the mood to listen to their caterwauling over 15 million or so getting sent into harm's way. Just politely ask the Krauts to put some scrubbers in the smokestacks this time around. Can't have our oh-so-sensitive European betters violating Kyoto standards now, can we?
Or maybe it'll be the Russians getting an appetite for more beachfront with western or southern exposures. Well, we have a little message for Vlad...go for the gusto, compadre. Just do everyone a favor and don't put up those ugly freaking cinderblock buildings on the Cote d'Azur, okay? If you need some development help, call Directory Assistance for NYC and just ask them to connect you with "The Donald". They'll know who you're talking about. Best of luck with the new property, Vlad...but ya need to remember just two little words and we'll get along fine. You listening? Okay - "Monroe Doctrine".Oh, and Europe? Don't complain. Lots of opportunities in serving your conquerors. Christ only knows, you've had enough practice over the years.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
07/02/2005 0:25 Comments ||
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LAT EFL
MARBLEHEAD, Mass. â This proud old seaport, whose sons and daughters have fought in every American war, was grieving for Army Staff Sgt. Christopher Piper. The 43-year-old Green Beret died after his Humvee hit a roadside bomb June 3 in Afghanistan.
When word got out that demonstrators from Kansas planned to disrupt Piper's funeral Monday, residents vowed not to let them interfere with the tribute to their hometown hero. "I was worried that it would fester anger," said Louise Moore, 39, fighting back tears and waving a small American flag. "Instead it got everyone together."
The 14 demonstrators from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., picketed Monday on a corner near the Old North Church, a Congregational parish founded in 1635, soon after Marblehead was settled. The followers of the Rev. Fred Phelps, who blame American tolerance of homosexuality for the Sept. 11 attacks and the resulting U.S. military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, have targeted Massachusetts for protests because it is the only state where same-sex marriage is legal.
Shirley Phelps-Roper, a lawyer for the Kansas church, said Monday that the funeral demonstration was nothing personal against Piper, who was not gay. "We are protesting the sins of this nation," Phelps-Roper said. "That doesn't exclude him."
On the corner of a narrow street lined with Colonial-era buildings, the Kansas contingent tried shouting its anti-homosexual message at mourners who overflowed from the church. But every time demonstrators spoke out, the 14-man Boston Police Department bagpipe band broke into thunderous sound.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
07/01/2005 09:58 ||
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#1
I'm all for freedom of speech and all that shit, but the guys from that town should have gotten all liquored-up and " worked up a number 6 " on those assholes. I'm sure the bagpipe band would play their hearts out to supress their screams for help.
#2
The Boston Police Mounted unit was also up there and made it a point to setup in front of them with their horse's asses stuck right in their faces. Must've been like looking in a mirror for these inbred assholes.
#4
I'm sorry but halfwit loons from Kansas have no business whatsoever screwing around with the funeral of anyone in Mass. It should not be entitled to protection as "free speach" and should not be tolerated. The townfolk, family and friends of Piper are far more forgiving than I could ever be. Phukwit says it's nothing personal to Piper yet the idiots has no qualms about trying to superimpose and interject their sick minds and beliefs on the man's funeral. It's hard to get much more personal. I'd warn him once and allow 5 minutes for the freaks to vacate. After that, God help them and don't let the canes break too quickly.
#5
Oh Lord,
Its things like this that reinforce the looney left's opinion that any one of a religious bent is a nut job.
While I have a lot of heartburn with the gay liberation agenda, etc., I am embarrassed that these misguided people would choose such an inappropriate venue for their protests.
It just goes to show you that when you get out to the far left and the far right, the convoluted thinking and the intolerance of opposing ideas leaves them not too far apart in their means and methods of ramming their ideas down people's throats.
#6
Let em try this shit at a funeral near where I live. We've already thought this one out.
There are a whole pile of former Rangers, Marines and the like who have an action plan for this. Its "non-violent". But even at our ages (40+), with a sprinkling of the younger ones coming in now, you dont want to be Fred Phelps and company.
They'll be looking at a skirmish line of hard eyed combat veterans, silent, but giving them a hard stare. In our VFW & Legion gear, all uniform, all the same. Especially when we lock arms, lockstep and march in cadence up to a foot from them and cordon them away from the funeral. And dare them to cross OUR line.
Plus a mounted ceremonial unit. The horses asses in the face sounds like a plan too, and we have 2 pipers as well.
#14
Colorado Springs has been "blessed" with two visits from these Westboro nuts and their barrels of bile.
The followers of the Rev. Fred Phelps,.... have targeted Massachusetts for protests because it is the only state where same-sex marriage is legal.
That's a lie. Phelps and the Westboro Baptists either have protested or are planning protests of other public funerals of soldiers from Idaho, Michigan, Alabama, Minnesota, Virginia and Colorado. A protest is planned for July 11 at Dover Air Force Base, the military base where war dead are transported before being sent on to their home states.
For more information on this disbarred lawyer and his nut case family AKA the Westboro Baptist Church read this. And for more on the Westboro Church's views on Jews, gays, Blacks, Christians and the United States. Read WBC's own words which best demonstrate the wide range and disturbing nature of its hatred.
Larson,#12, is correct. It's not a church,but a festering den of hatred.
#15
As a born-again Christian, senior Navy Reserve officer and the father of young man who will soon be commissioned a 2LT in the USMC...I am embarrased and speechless. Embarrased to be associated with a bunch of fools who claim to be doing "God's work" and speechless regarding what to say to a grieving family.
I am not arrogant enough to tell you I am completely tuned in to His mind and His heart. Certainly the sin of the country breaks His heart. However, in reference to the wornout euphemism "WWJD"...I think I can say with some measure of confidence that Jesus would not use the funeral of a fallen soldier to further his Father's kingdom. The New Testament is replete with examples where believers are clearly implored to be careful not to do things that give the appearance of evil.
Regardless of their motives...these people are certainly giving the appearance of evil and and are dragging the name of whom they claim to worship into the mud.
Despite their claims, the Phelps spawn are proved not to be true Christians of any stripe, nor even true believers of any religion, because if they were they would tremble in fear of the consequences of their words and actions thus far. Those who know this wouldn't dream of associating you with such as they, so you should be indignant and perhaps angered at their presumption, but never embarrassed, which would give them much more consequence than they deserve.
Congratulations on your son's achievement, and thanks to him and you for all that you have done to keep America and the world safe, and all you both will yet do. Sleep well!
"THERE IS NO EVIDENCE that Saddam Hussein was connected in any way to al Qaeda."
So declared CNN Anchor Carol Costello in an interview yesterday with Representative Robin Hayes (no relation) from North Carolina.
Hayes politely challenged her claim. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. There's evidence everywhere. We get access to it. Unfortunately, others don't."
CNN played the exchange throughout the day. At one point, anchor Daryn Kagan even seemed to correct Rep. Hayes after replaying the clip. "And according to the record, the 9/11 Commission in its final report found no connection between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein."
The CNN claims are wrong. Not a matter of nuance. Not a matter of interpretation. Just plain incorrect. They are so mistaken, in fact, that viewers should demand an on-air correction.
But such claims are, sadly, representative of the broad media misunderstanding of the relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda. Richard Cohen, columnist for the Washington Post, regularly chides the Bush administration for presenting what he calls fabricated or "fictive" links between Iraq and al Qaeda. The editor of the Los Angeles Times scolded the Bush administration for perpetuating the "myth" of such links. "Sixty Minutes" anchor Lesley Stahl put it bluntly: "There was no connection."
Conveniently, such analyses ignore statements like this one from Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission. "There was no question in our minds that there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda." Hard to believe reporters just missed it--he made
the comments at the press conference held to release the commission's final report. And that report detailed several "friendly contacts" between Iraq and al Qaeda, and concluded only that there was no proof of Iraqi involvement in al Qaeda terrorist attacks against American interests. Details, details.
There have been several recent developments. One month ago, Jordan's King Abdullah explained to the Arabic-language newspaper al Hayat that his government had tried before the Iraq war to extradite Abu Musab al Zarqawi from Iraq. "We had information that he entered Iraq from a neighboring country, where he lived and what he was doing. We informed the Iraqi authorities about all this detailed information we had, but they didn't respond." He added: "Since Zarqawi entered Iraq before the fall of the former regime we have been trying to have him deported back to Jordan for trial, but our efforts were in vain."
One week later, former Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi told the same newspaper that the new Iraqi government is in possession of documents showing that Ayman al Zawahiri, bin Laden's top deputy, and Zarqawi both entered Iraq in September 1999. (If the documents are authentic, they suggest that Zarqawi may have plotted the Jordanian Millennium attacks from Iraq.)
Beyond what people are saying about the Iraq-al Qaeda connection, there is the evidence. In 1992 the Iraqi Intelligence services compiled a list of its assets. On page 14 of the document, marked "Top Secret" and dated March 28, 1992, is the name of Osama bin Laden, who is reported to have a "good relationship" with the Iraqi intelligence section in Syria. The Defense Intelligence Agency has possession of the document and has assessed that it is accurate. In 1993, Saddam Hussein and bin Laden reached an "understanding" that Islamic radicals would refrain from attacking the Iraqi regime in exchange for unspecified assistance, including weapons development.
This understanding, which was included in the Clinton administration's indictment of bin Laden in the spring of 1998, has been corroborated by numerous Iraqis and al Qaeda terrorists now in U.S. custody. In 1994, Faruq Hijazi, then deputy director of Iraqi Intelligence, met face-to-face with bin Laden. Bin Laden requested anti-ship limpet mines and training camps in Iraq. Hijazi has detailed the meeting in a custodial interview with U.S. interrogators. In 1995, according to internal Iraqi intelligence documents first reported by the New York Times on June 25, 2004, a "former director of operations for Iraqi Intelligence Directorate 4 met with Mr. bin Laden on Feb. 19." When bin Laden left Sudan in 1996, the document states, Iraqi intelligence sough "other channels through which to handle the relationship, in light of his current location." That same year, Hussein agreed to a request from bin Laden to broadcast anti-Saudi propaganda on Iraqi state television. In 1997, al Qaeda sent an emissary with the nom de guerre Abdullah al Iraqi to Iraq for training on weapons of mass destruction. Colin Powell cited this evidence in his presentation at the UN on February 5, 2003. The Senate Intelligence Committee has concluded that Powell's presentation on Iraq and terrorism was "reasonable."
In 1998, according to documents unearthed in Iraq's Intelligence headquarters in April 2003, al Qaeda sent a "trusted confidante" of bin Laden to Baghdad for 16 days of meetings beginning March 5. Iraqi intelligence paid for his stay in Room 414 of the Mansur al Melia hotel and expressed hope that the envoy would serve as the liaison between Iraqi intelligence and bin Laden. The DIA has assessed those documents as authentic. In 1999, a CIA Counterterrorism Center analysis reported on April 13 that four intelligence reports indicate Saddam Hussein has given bin Laden a standing offer of safe haven in Iraq. The CTC report is included in the Senate Intelligence Committee's review on prewar intelligence.
In 2000, Saudi Arabia went on kingdom-wide alert after learning that Iraq had agreed to help al Qaeda attack U.S. and British interests on the peninsula. In 2001, satellite images show large numbers of al Qaeda terrorists displaced after the war in Afghanistan relocating to camps in northern Iraq financed, in part, by the Hussein regime. In 2002, a report from the National Security Agency in October reveals that Iraq agreed to provide safe haven, financing and weapons to al Qaeda members relocating in northern Iraq. In 2003, on February 14, the Philippine government ousted Hisham Hussein, the second secretary of the Iraqi embassy in Manila, for his involvement in al Qaeda-related terrorist activites. Andrea Domingo, head of Immigration for the Philippine government, told reporters that "studying the movements and activities" of Iraqi intelligence assets in the country, including radical Islamists, revealed an "established network" of terrorists headed by Hussein.
Can CNN stand by its claim that "there is no evidence that Saddam Hussein was connected in any way to al Qaeda?"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/01/2005 09:23 ||
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#1
Just as the DhimmiWits hold talking point seminars for their toolfools, perhaps the non-Moonbats should begin educating all of their talking heads by having them read the excellent investigative work of Stephen Hayes. This guy is just like Claudia Rosset - he has nailed it with solid investigative reporting, novel as that may be today, yet hardly anyone pays his work any mind because the MSM has obviously got him flagged for the spike.
#2
CNN and the others know full well that there was a connection between Saddam and Al-Q.
They are deliberately lying and misleading the public - with full knowledge that they are doing it. These 'reporters' are professionals. They simply dont make this sort of 'mistake' - its like having not one, but all the truck drivers simply 'mistakenly' (with no drugs, disability, or exhaustion involved) driving into someone's house. It doesn't happen and even if it did it - not on such a scale.
Why? Because Al-Qaeda and the MSM are allies. Just look at what happened in Beslan. The media still refuses to acknowlege that the 'hostages-takers' were, to a person, Islamic (Muslims). They they bayonetted babies and ganged-raped their hostages. The MSM outright lied in their coverage. The coverage of Iraq (and GITMO) is so biasd toward the 'freedom fighters' (i.e. terrorists who target and murder innocents) its obvious.
All because of their rabid hatred of America and George Bush.
EFL:Sympathy meter please...
An Afghan tribal leader who was arrested in New York in April on heroin trafficking charges is not getting enough to eat and is hampered from performing Muslim prayers in his prison cell, his lawyer said at a federal court hearing yesterday. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww....
The leader, Hajji Bashir Noorzai, is being held in a segregated high-security cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, his lawyer, Stephen M. Goldenberg, said. He was arrested April 23 on charges of conspiring to sell more than $50 million in heroin from Afghanistan in the United States in the late 1990's and using the profits to buy guns and bombs in an "unholy alliance" with the Taliban government and its leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar. Allah like heroin!
In June 2004 Mr. Noorzai, then a warlord in the Kandahar region in southern Afghanistan, was added to the Bush administration's list of most-wanted narcotics "kingpins." "Kingpin"? Is that above or below "mastermind"?
In comments during and after the hearing, Mr. Goldenberg said Mr. Noorzai, who is confined to his cell 23 hours a day, had lost about 30 pounds in prison because he receives only small portions of food. The prison does not provide meals consistent with Muslim rules known as halal, which he observes. He is being fed a kosher diet, on the grounds that it is prepared on similar principles, Mr. Goldenberg said. Mr. Noorzai, 44, appeared in court yesterday looking noticeably thinner than he did at his first appearance in April. Here's an idea. Feed him pigshit.
Because of a water leak on the floor of his cell, Mr. Noorzai prays on his bed, his lawyer said. He does not know which wall to face to look east, toward Mecca, because no prison guard speaks his Pashto language. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww....Is his Koran okay though? I'm really worried about that.
Dispelling a mystery about Mr. Noorzai's arrest, Mr. Goldenberg said his client had been lured to New York by United States officials who had invited him to a "high-level political meeting." Mr. Noorzai did not know that the administration had publicized his name as a most-wanted drug dealer. If he had known, "it might have affected his travel plans," Mr. Goldenberg said. Ya think? Smart guys, lawyers...
After flying to New York, Mr. Noorzai met American agents in a Manhattan hotel, his lawyer said. "They spoke for a few hours and then handcuffs came out," he said. Mr. Noorzai says he supported the Taliban, the fundamentalist Islamic government that was ousted by United States-led forces in 2001, because it was "the legitimate government of Afghanistan," Mr. Goldenberg said. Federal prosecutors said Mr. Noorzai's heroin trade continued to thrive after the Taliban's fall and was undermining the young democracy in Afghanistan. They probably got it all on tape since lawyer boy isn't spouting the usual "a simple businessman" bullshit.
#7
Well, mucky, if he faces west, I suspect Allah will think he's mooning him.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/01/2005 15:16 Comments ||
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#8
lol, mucky! I hereby nominate that Sheriff down in Arizona to take on this prisoner. Nutin' but bologna, mayo and pink panties for this goon. Or how about Lindie England, she busy?
The weapons that a Yonkers man admitted he illegally shipped overseas went to a gun shop he owned in a terrorist hotbed teeming with armed insurgents.
Fernando Sero, 35, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to illegally sending fully automatic parts for AK-47 and AR-15 assault rifles to the island of Mindanao in the Philippines in March.
"He sold the weapons to any willing buyer," Assistant U.S. Attorney Perry Carbone said during Sero's court hearing. Those willing buyers could have included members of the Abu Sayyaf Group and Jemaah Islamiyah â both associated with al-Qaida. Communist guerrillas and members of a Muslim separatist insurgency group called the Moro Islamic Liberation Front also would have been in the market for weapons.
The U.S. ambassador to the Philippines recently told an Australian news program that Mindanao was becoming like Afghanistan before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"It's one of the most ungovernable places in the world," said Angel Rabasa, a senior policy analyst with the Rand Corp., who has written extensively about security issues in Southeast Asia. "Mindanao is like an armed camp. It is awash in weapons."
Sero was arrested following a domestic violence incident March 25 at his home on Rugby Road. He held a gun to his wife's head, then released her and engaged in a standoff with Yonkers police before surrendering, police said.
But federal authorities were already investigating Sero. He was indicted five days after his arrest on charges that he illegally shipped weapons to Mindanao on four separate occasions dating from September 2003. The most recent shipment was three days before his arrest in the domestic violence case.
His family lives in a compound on the heavily armed island and Sero, a naturalized U.S. citizen, made frequent trips back there, authorities said. But those trips weren't just to see family. Sero shipped the guns to an arms shop he owned on the island, federal authorities said.
Sero used a false name, Ferdie Resada, and falsified airway bills to send the shipments of automatic weapons, authorities said. Sero and his wife, a medical professional, have lived in the house on Rugby Road for a little more than a year, along with their young son, neighbors said.
Sero's lawyer, Richard Willstatter of White Plains, did not return calls seeking comment. Sero faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine when he is sentenced Sept. 29.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/01/2005 09:52 ||
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SAN DIEGO â Four local legal groups announced plans Thursday to monitor the activities of civilian anti-illegal immigration groups expected to arrive in California, possibly in mid-July, for a symbolic patrolling of the U.S.-Mexico border. The four groups plan to train legal observers to keep an eye on the border vigilantes â some of whom may be armed â as they come in contact with illegal immigrants.
The patrols are an outgrowth of the frustration felt by many Americans over what they see as unchecked waves of illegal immigration and a lack of political will in Washington to stop it.
The monitors will be on hand to observe, record and report the doings of the vigilantes, and to report any abuses such as assaults or unlawful arrests, said Lilia Velasquez, a lawyer with the Association of Immigration Law Attorneys. Other groups supporting the monitors include the National Lawyers Guild of San Diego, the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association and the American Civil Liberties Union.
"When people take the law into their own hands, it jeopardizes our system of justice, it undermines the rule of law, and it also encourages other citizens to take the law into their own hands," Velasquez said... "It can also create anti-immigrant hysteria, racism, racial profiling and hate crimes."
The monitors will be equipped with binoculars and video cameras, and also will be trained in both legal observation and what Velasquez described as "A policy of non-engagement and non-confrontation."
Volunteers with the Minuteman Project monitored illegal immigrant activity along a stretch of Arizona's border in April. Organizers called the program a success and said they planned to expand it to other states and parts of Canada. The volunteers, some of whom were armed, did not detain border crossers they encountered but called the Border Patrol when they spotted suspected illegal immigrants. Organizers claimed those calls resulted in 335 arrests during the monthlong effort in Arizona.
Critics of the project, including Border Patrol officials, said the group was little more than a nuisance. President Bush referred to the group as "vigilantes" but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger offered his support for the Minuteman Project, saying the volunteers had done "a terrific job."
The names of this group reads like a list of hater of the US and the Bill or Rights. My advice to the border watchers, pepper spray and taser any of these "momitors" you come across, break their personal commnications devices in to small pieces and leave them in piles along with their cameras and video recorders.
#2
Behold the tight logical reasoning mastered by these groups of attorneys. Citizen groups acting lawfully to bring attention to a massive, systematic collapse of law enforcement WRT a key national interest "undermines the rule of law".
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
Sadly, this sort of head-smacking illogic and factual inversion is SOP in today's America, at least among large sections of its "elites".
#3
Any citizen witnessing a crime is perfectly within the law to detain the perp for law enforcement, I believe. They don't have to be particularly nice about it, either, though it'd be a good idea.
Of course they can get sued if they're wrong, unlike the cops.
"It can also create anti-immigrant hysteria, racism, racial profiling and hate crimes."
The Minutemen did a superb job the first time out, and not even the most determined LLL could find fault with their actions. So now the lede will be, "Even if they didn't do it themselves, their presence/actions CREATED a problem."
Un-frickin'-believeable.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/01/2005 7:30 Comments ||
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#5
well, lets just get someone to monitor the monitors. If the changes in our security services are worth a darn, these communist front groups will finally be exposed for what they are.
I'm sure the FBI has lots of slick whose-who org charts showing the connections - of course, like the UN, they just watch and monitor - never do. Let's see if those patriot acts are more than paper tigers.
#6
Good read, Mike. And good luck to you guys out there in Mexifornia. One note, they're not vigilantes, if there truly are "citizen's arrest" powers. See Webster's definitions below:
vigilante n. [Sp. < Lat. vigilans, pr.part. of vigilare, to be watchful < vigil, on the watch.] A member of a vigilance committee.
vigilance committee n. A volunteer group of citizens that without authority assumes police powers, as pursuing and punishing criminal suspects.
Posted by: BA ||
07/01/2005 7:49 Comments ||
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"When people take the law into their own hands, it jeopardizes our system of justice, it undermines the rule of law, and it also encourages other citizens to take the law into their own hands," Velasquez said... "It can also create anti-immigrant hysteria, racism, racial profiling and hate crimes."
#8
these four fat losers call a press conference. Looked like 4-8 reporters show up. No action necessary, just the promise they'll haul their asses out to the desert to "monitor"....rriigghhtt
bring it on, La Raza. Aztlan will die
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/01/2005 8:32 Comments ||
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#9
"When people take the law into their own hands, it jeopardizes our system of justice, it undermines the rule of law, and it also encourages other citizens to take the law into their own hands,"
When the government abandons the enforcement of the law, it leaves the people with no choice but to enforce it themselves. You want to keep people from bird-dogging your precious Aztlan invaders, then you should encourage the government to enforce immigration law.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/01/2005 8:38 Comments ||
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#10
After their done on the border maybe the ACLU can help monitor the vigilante group "The National Association of Town Watch". The 22nd Annual "National Night Out" is scheduled for August of this year. This event may seem innocuous but consider just one of their stated goals; "Send a message to criminals letting them know that neighborhoods are organized and fighting back." Clearly this encourages citizens to take the law into their own hands. It can also create anti-nuisance hysteria, racism, racial profiling and hate crimes."
#11
The citizens are all the power behind the "law." Persons are hired to do law enforcement work so that the "citizens" can stick to their day jobs. The whole idea of "police" is rather new. Anyone who spouts "taking the law into their own hands." is ignorant of history and the facts. Police and persons hired to enforce the law have less authority and arrest powers than those not so employed. You would think liars lawyers would know better.
#13
Well... there they go again. How about we assemble a group of monitors to shadow these so-called monitors hissing their intentions to follow the civilian anti-illegal border hoppers group?
These four alleged legal groups are only out to fabricate dirt, piss in it and sling the mud to make money off it in court, strengthen their portfolios, and develop a relationship with several well-known left & east coast publishers.
The hidden agenda is clear to all.
Develop activity in the best interest of America, and the vermin always come to feast. At least these vermin will be better identified and the 5th columnist so-called newspapers and newsworks will be more exposed for their self-destructive and mindless pratter to implode America.
These un-American groups can call these people anything they want.. vigilantes? I don't think so. They are heros and nobody is paying them to look out for our borders.
The San Diego La Nazi Lawyers Assoc & Anti-Amerikan Uncivil Liberty-loss Union are a sick joke of failed idiots in pursuit of re-shaping the landscape of America without any vision other than that of termites going after wet soft wood.
Maybe they are used to dealing with wet soft wood... but they keep gnawing away at the foundation of this country and they will evetually meet the hardwood and be stopped in their perverted hunger to consume what they were incapable and too inept to build.
Assoc. of Immigration Law Attorneys? They are ambulance chasers seeking publicity with political undertones to please the racist clan called Atzlan. I hope they get lost in the desert and their cell phone die.
Down with enemies domestic and foreign & God bless America!
The U.N. panel overseeing compensation for victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait has approved its final claims, bringing the total award to $52.5 billion, the world body said Thursday.
And here it's only been 15 years. Who sez the UN is torpid and sluglike?
What's the vig on $52.5 billion?
The awards by the U.N. Compensation Commission wrap up 12 years of work in which over 2 million claims from individuals, governments and companies for $354 billion were processed. The commission "has completed one of its two major goals, which is dealing with claims processing," spokesman Joe Sills said. But the payments, which have been running well behind the claim approvals, will continue, he said. On Thursday, the panel awarded more than $366 million to successful claimants, including the governments of Iran, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which were compensated for damage caused by Iraq to their natural resources, the commission said. Jordan received the biggest award of $162 million. A further $25.9 million went to Palestinians who lived in Kuwait or owned small businesses there at the time of the invasion, while the remainder was awarded to individuals and governments from other countries.
Jordan, if I recall â and I do â supported Iraq in its aggression. The Kuwaiti Paleostinians welcomed the Iraqis and collaborated with enthusiasm.
The U.N. Security Council decided last year that the claims would be funded by 5 percent of Iraqi oil sales.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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What's the vig on $52.5 billion?
Depends on what kinda points you can squeeze outta the vic.., er, beneficiaries.
THE three suspected terrorists arrested a few days ago are not included in the list of top 53 terrorists operating in Mindanao, said a spokesman of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Eid Kabalu said in a telephone interview Thursday the arrested suspects were just small fries.
The suspects, identified as Norodin Mangelen, Pedro Guiamat Hamsa, and Ali Kangkong, are suspected of planting improvised explosive devices in southern cities in attacks that killed dozens of civilians from 2001 to 2003.
Kabalu said based on the order of battle furnished them by the government the three are not among the top 53 suspected terrorists.
The rebel group said it is helping government run after terrorists operating in MILF-controlled areas.
"We have an ongoing effort to drive away if not to capture suspected criminal elements hiding in MILF areas. Navalidate na namin ang mga names sa listahan (We were able to validate the names) but the three were not included in the list of 53," Kabalu said.
Earlier reports said the MILF was instrumental in the arrest of the three suspects. Kabalu, however, denied that the MILF was actively involved in the operation.
"If ever meron man siguro (we were involved it was) through sharing of information lang which we could not divulge to the public," Kabalu said.
One of the suspects allegedly confessed to working with the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group.
All three face charges of multiple murders issued by a local court.
Mangelen, a principal suspect in the December 2004 bombing in General Santos City that killed 15 people, had confessed during an interrogation that he was a local liaison for Jemaah Islamiyah and the leader of a terror cell.
It was not immediately clear when the arrests took place, but authorities said Mangelen led police to the other men.
Earlier this month, authorities said they were searching in the southern Philippines for two suspected Indonesian terrorists blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings.
The pair -- Umar Patek and Pitono, also known as Dulmatin, -- are among 40 Indonesians from JI believed to be involved in jungle terror training of local Muslim insurgents, officials said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/01/2005 09:54 ||
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In the last few days, there's been some muddying of the waters to the identity of Iran's new president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Here is a bio from Iran Focus. Take it for what you will, but this is the third time I read he was a prolific executioner in Evin prison.
This was the typical reaction of most Iranians a day after the first round of presidential elections in Iran, when they heard that the two candidates facing each other in the run-off were veteran politician Ayatollah Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and the little-known, ultra-conservative mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Last weekâs surprise was all forgotten by the much bigger shock on Friday, when Ahmadinejad defeated the former President and iconic figure in the ruling theocracy in a landslide victory that consolidated power in the hands of the ruling Islamic clerics.
With spotlights now trained on the small, bearded figure in a trademark dilapidated grey suit, Ahmadinejadâs murky past is causing deep anxiety in Iran and growing concern abroad over the new Presidentâs policies and orientation.
Born in the desert town of Garmsar, east of Tehran, in 1956, Ahmadinejad was the fourth child of a working class family with seven children. His father, who was a blacksmith, moved the family to Tehran when Ahmadinejad was barely a year old. He was brought up in the rough neighbourhoods of south Tehran, where a cocktail of poverty, frustration and xenophobia in the heydays of the Shahâs elitist regime provided fertile grounds for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
After finishing high school, Ahmadinejad went to Elm-o Sanaat University in 1975 to study engineering. Soon the whirlwind of Islamic revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini swept him from the classroom to the mosque and he joined a generation of firebrand Islamic fundamentalists dedicated to the cause of an Islamic world revolution.
Student activists in Elm-o Sanaat University at the time of the Iranian revolution were dominated by ultra-conservative Islamic fundamentalists. Ahmadinejad soon became one of their leaders and founded the Islamic Students Association in that university after the fall of the Shahâs regime.
In 1979, he became the representative of Elm-o Sanaat students in the Office for Strengthening of Unity Between Universities and Theological Seminaries, which later became known as the OSU. The OSU was set up by Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, who was at the time Khomeiniâs top confidant and a key figure in the clerical leadership. Beheshti wanted the OSU to organise Islamist students to counter the rapidly rising influence of the opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK) among university students.
The OSU played a central role in the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in November 1979. Members of the OSU central council, who included Ahmadinejad as well as Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen (Mahmoud) Mirdamadi, Mohsen Kadivar, Mohsen Aghajari, and Abbas Abdi, were regularly received by Khomeini himself.
According to other OSU officials, when the idea of storming the U.S. embassy in Tehran was raised in the OSU central committee by Mirdamadi and Abdi, Ahmadinejad suggested storming the Soviet embassy at the same time. A decade later, most OSU leaders re-grouped around Khatami but Ahmadinejad remained loyal to the ultra-conservatives.
During the crackdown on universities in 1980, which Khomeini called the âIslamic Cultural Revolutionâ, Ahmadinejad and the OSU played a critical role in purging dissident lecturers and students many of whom were arrested and later executed. Universities remained closed for three years and Ahmadinejad joined the Revolutionary Guards.
In the early 1980s, Ahmadinejad worked in the âInternal Securityâ department of the IRGC and earned notoriety as a ruthless interrogator and torturer. According to the state-run website Baztab, allies of outgoing President Mohammad Khatami have revealed that Ahmadinejad worked for some time as an executioner in the notorious Evin Prison, where thousands of political prisoners were executed in the bloody purges of the 1980s.
In 1986, Ahmadinejad became a senior officer in the Special Brigade of the Revolutionary Guards and was stationed in Ramazan Garrison near Kermanshah in western Iran. Ramazan Garrison was the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guardsâ âextra-territorial operationsâ, a euphemism for terrorist attacks beyond Iranâs borders.
In Kermanshah, Ahmadinejad became involved in the clerical regimeâs terrorist operations abroad and led many âextra-territorial operations of the IRGCâ. With the formation of the elite Qods (Jerusalem) Force of the IRGC, Ahmadinejad became one of its senior commanders. He was the mastermind of a series of assassinations in the Middle East and Europe, including the assassination of Iranian Kurdish leader Abdorrahman Qassemlou, who was shot dead by senior officers of the Revolutionary Guards in a Vienna flat in July 1989. Ahmadinejad was a key planner of the attack, according to sources in the Revolutionary Guards.
Ahmadinejad served for four years as the governor of the towns of Maku and Khoy in northwestern Iran. In 1993, he was appointed by Minister of Islamic Culture and Guidance Ali Larijani, a fellow officer of the Revolutionary Guards, as his cultural adviser. Months later, he was appointed as the governor of the newly-created Ardebil Province.
In 1997, the newly-installed Khatami administration removed Ahmadinejad from his post and he returned to Elm-o Sanaat University to teach, but his principal activity was to organize Ansar-e Hezbollah, a radical gang of violent Islamic vigilantes.
Since becoming mayor of Tehran in April 2003, Ahmadinejad has been using his position to build up a strong network of radical Islamic fundamentalists organised as âAbadgaran-e Iran-e Islamiâ (literally, Developers of an Islamic Iran). Working in close conjunction with the Revolutionary Guardâs, Abadgaran was able to win the municipal elections in 2003 and the parliamentary election in 2004. They owed their victories as much to low turnouts and general disillusionment with the âmoderateâ faction of the regime as to their well-oiled political and military machinery.
Abadgaran bills itself as a group of young neo-Islamic fundamentalists who want to revive the ideals and policies of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini. It was one of several ultra-conservative groups that were setup on the orders of Ayatollah Khamenei in order to defeat outgoing President Mohammad Khatamiâs faction after the parliamentary elections in February 2000.
Ahmadinejadâs record is typical of the men chosen by Khameneiâs entourage to put a new face on the clerical eliteâs ultra-conservative identity. But beyond the shallow façade, few doubt that the Islamic Republic under its new President will move with greater speed and determination along the path of radical policies that include more human rights abuses, continuing sponsorship of terrorism, and the drive to obtain nuclear weapons.
Posted by: ed ||
07/01/2005 01:30 ||
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Ahmadinejad suggested storming the Soviet embassy at the same time.
Hey Putty, take note. If he hated you then, he hates you now.
#2
Looks like Satan just promoted one of his heavy hitters.
I can't wait to watch the left's mental gymnastics with this guy. Here's a fun game for the morning, let's all guess what the left's strategy will be to deal with this new and unpleasant development. Let's play it's Bush's fault because...
My choice is that it is Bush's fault because ---he went to Iraq when Iran was the problem all along. ahhh...this game isn't any fun. It's too darn easy.
#3
I saw a report in the morning paper that he wasn't the one after all. Straight denial is the choice, rather than Blame Bush. Easier, too -- inconvenient facts needn't be dealt with, this way.
#4
Nice! Just the kind of resume you'd expect from a guy who won the "election" by a "landslide". The only people who really knew anything about him were dead!
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/01/2005 7:42 Comments ||
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Straight denial is the choice
accurate but fake, a new twist on the fake but accurate idea.
#7
Here's a fun game for the morning, let's all guess what the left's strategy will be to deal with this new and unpleasant development.
He'll be featured on t-shirts and posters, striking a romantic pose.
They'll name their children after him.
Spielberg and other Hollywood types will visit him, declare him "the father of his people", and fawn over the bile that drips from his lips, declaring it wisdom as sweet as honey.
They'll call any Iranian dissident who points out his crime "worms", and call them "the real terrorists".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/01/2005 8:41 Comments ||
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rc
the leftists may be dim but not that dim
also the use focus groups to test their message
here's some I think are more likely,
- the election of Ahmadinejad shows the failure of the Bush administration's Iran policy
- Ahmadinejad is 'blow back' from Bush's failed Iraq policy
Two senior anti-Syrian politicians have patched up their differences and agreed to work together to form the first government free of Syrian dictate in three decades. The reconciliation late Tuesday between Saad Hariri, son of slain former Premier Rafik Hariri, and Michel Aoun, a former military commander, is certain to consolidate the anti-Syrian camp's hold on Parliament as it attempts to form a national unity government, a process scheduled to begin today with consultations on naming a premier.
Saad and Aoun parted amid bitter accusations during the staggered May 29-June 19 parliamentary elections in which the anti-Syrian opposition won a majority, ending Damascus' control of the legislature. Saad and his allies hold a majority of 72 seats in the 128-member legislature. Joining hands with Aoun, who along with allies have 21 seats, would give the anti-Syrian groups massive powers as they seek to end the remaining vestiges of Syrian control. Aoun has campaigned on an anti-corruption ticket and has vowed to be in the opposition in the new parliament. Saad has campaigned to dismantle the so-called joint Lebanese-Syrian intelligence apparatus that the anti-Syrian groups blame for the assassination of Rafik Hariri. The two, however, differed over efforts to force President Emile Lahoud, a staunch pro-Syrian, to step down. Hariri and his allies have called on the president to resign after the death of two anti-Syrian activists in car bombs this month. Aoun has refused to hold the president responsible. Aoun said after the meeting with Saad he would agreed "in principle" to take part in the new government, noting a change in policy by Sa'ad. Asked after their meeting if the new government would be a "national unity" one, Sa'ad replied: "I think it is more than that because people are fed up with slogans. They want a government of deeds and actions."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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Iran's new president was a member of the hard-line Islamic student group that seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, but he opposed the takeover — preferring instead to target the Soviet Embassy, friends and former hostage-takers said Thursday. The former students who carried out the seizure and held the Americans for 444 days said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had no role in taking the embassy or guarding the hostages. In the turbulent early days of Iran's Islamic Revolution, Ahmadinejad was more concerned with putting down leftists and communists at universities than striking at Americans, they said. During the long standoff, he was writing and speaking against leftist students, they said.
Six former U.S. hostages who saw the president-elect in photos or on television said they believe Ahmadinejad was among the hostage-takers. One said he was interrogated by Ahmadinejad. The White House said Thursday it was taking their statements seriously. President Bush said "many questions" were raised by the allegations. The flap could add another layer of mistrust between the United States and the former Tehran mayor, who was elected president last week with the backing of some of the most hard-core members of the Islamic regime.
Leaders of the radical Islamic student group that carried out the Nov. 4, 1979, takeover of the embassy, said Ahmadinejad was not among the hostage-takers. "He was not part of us. He played no role in the seizure," Abbas Abdi, one of six leaders of the group, told The Associated Press. Mohsen Mirdamadi, leader of the students who swept into the embassy, also said Ahmadinejad was not involved. Abdi and Mirdamadi are now leading proponents of reform that would support democratic changes and are at loggerheads with Ahmadinejad. Mohammad Ali Sayed Nejad, a friend of the president-elect, said he and Ahmadinejad unsuccessfully argued in favor of seizing the Soviet Embassy at the time, and Ahmadinejad told colleagues in a recent meeting he opposed targeting the American mission because it would bring international condemnation down on Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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Ahmadinejad opposed the embassy hostage taking so much that he is shown in photos parading blindfolded hostages around and one hostage said he was interrogated by Ahmadinejad. Somehow I place Ahmadinejad's cronies low on the believability meter.
Posted by: ed ||
07/01/2005 6:35 Comments ||
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Even without that, Ed, I place them at the bottom of the believability meter. Won't keep CNN from barking about it all day long, though. God, I wish we'd just get it on with them (or Israel). I'm sick of goofing off. Of course, I'd rather back the pro-US groups for a peaceful resolution (a'la Poland in the 80's), but we can't allow them nukes at all.
Posted by: BA ||
07/01/2005 7:37 Comments ||
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So when they produce the guy in the photos who we're all getting confused with the new prez, then I'll believe them. If he looks more like the guy in the photo than the prez, I mean. As far as I can tell from the photos, he sure coulda been.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/01/2005 7:57 Comments ||
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I'd think being one of the hostage-takers would have made him a hero in Iran, maybe even today. Not everybody gets a chance to humiliate the big boy on the block, and even friendly Iranians probably have a soft place in their hearts for a bit of ancient history where they came out on top. So either I'm guessing wrong (not the first time), or he really wasn't substantially involved, or somebody is sending some kind of signal.
Posted by: James ||
07/01/2005 15:44 Comments ||
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The president appointed an anti-Syrian official Thursday to form Lebanon's first government free from Syrian influence in decades. As one of his initial acts, the new prime minister visited the grave of his slain predecessor. Fuad Saniora, a veteran banker and former finance minister, was nominated by 126 of the 128 parliament members, an unprecedented majority. He pledged to implement reforms and called on all Lebanese factions to join hands to achieve those goals. Saniora was a longtime trusted aide of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister whose February assassination triggered a sea change in Lebanese politics that led to the final Syrian troop withdrawal in April after 29 years.
President Emile Lahoud was obliged to designate the legislator favored by the majority even though relations between him and Saniora have been tense. Saniora vowed to follow in Hariri's footsteps in fighting for "freedom, independence and strengthening stability." He also pledged to find Hariri's killers. Hariri's death, which the Lebanese opposition blames on Syria, triggered street protests and led to the Syrian troop withdrawal.
Despite the unprecedented support, forming a government may prove difficult because Lahoud, a pro-Syrian, can oppose the government makeup if it does not include his allies. Anti-Syrian lawmakers who consider Lahoud a Syrian holdout have called for his resignation, but he has refused to step down. Lahoud met Thursday with several legislators who have been among his harshest critics in recent months. But Saad Hariri, the son of the slain prime minister and head of the anti-Syrian bloc that nominated Saniora, stayed away, as did the anti-Syrian leader Walid Jumblatt. Among Lahoud's visitors was Michel Aoun, the anti-Syrian legislator who returned to the presidential palace for the first time since being ousted by Syrian and Lebanese troops led by Lahoud in 1990. Aoun was interim prime minister at the time.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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Lahoud met Thursday with several legislators who have been among his harshest critics in recent months. But Saad Hariri, the son of the slain prime minister and head of the anti-Syrian bloc that nominated Saniora, stayed away, as did the anti-Syrian leader Walid Jumblatt
And pray tell, why did they stay away? Was it because they weren't "his harshest critics in recent months"?
In a rustic stadium in Nigeria, polo players gathered for an annual tournament known as the Nasco Cup. Local officials praised the event's sponsor. âWe are so proud of the contributions of Nasco,â said the commissioner of information for Nigeria's plateau state. NBC News has learned that what really distinguishes Nasco is the man behind it, Ahmed Idris Nasreddin. Three years ago, the U.S. and U.N. officially branded him a terrorist financier. In fact, President Bush personally announced freezing the assets of Nasreddin's bank, Al Taqwa. âAl Taqwa is an association of offshore banks and financial management firms that have helped al-Qaida shift money around the world,â Bush said on Nov. 7, 2001.
Richard Barrett, a U.N. official who monitors compliance with rules to stop funding for terrorists, says international sanctions against Nasreddin are supposed to be applied worldwide. âWhatâs supposed to happen to his assets,â Barrett told NBC News, âis that they should be frozen, that he should have no access to them, no benefit from them â wherever they are in the world.â Today, some of Nasreddin's accounts and companies are frozen â such as Nasco Nasreddin Holding in Turkey, Nasreddin Group International Holding Ltd. in Bahamas, Nascotex SA of Tangiers, Morocco and Nascoservice in Milan, Italy â but not Nasco in Nigeria, which makes everything from cornflakes to cookies.
Not that Nasco Nigeria is hard to find. It's located on Ahmed Nasreddin Road, named after the alleged terrorist financier. And there are plenty of signs for Nasco cereal and beauty products. Police can even seek shelter in a booth donated by Nasco. NBC News showed what we found to the U.N.'s Richard Barrett. "I didn't know he had cornflakes," Barrett said with a laugh.
Barrett says international sanctions sometimes aren't enforced because it's unclear who actually owns and benefits financially from a company. So NBC News followed the Nasco paper trail â and found it was indeed international. Buried in the corporate records department of Nigeria, in Abuja, are records for Nasco Investment & Property Company Ltd. The documents list Nasreddin's son as chairman. But they show two-thirds of the stock is owned by Amana Holdings, based thousands of miles from Africa, in the country of Panama, in Central America. Investigators have not yet designated Amana Holdings as a Nasreddin asset. In Panama, NBC News obtained the corporate records of Amana Holdings. âEl presidente,â according to the records, is Ahmed Idris Nasreddin.
We showed what we found to the U.N.âs Richard Barrett. Is that enough to shut down Nasreddin's assets? âWell, it may be a jolly good start,â says Barrett. â[It's] enough to suggest that there should be a real investigation of this.â Nasreddin denies ever financing terrorism, and one of his sons says his father no longer owns Nasco Nigeria. He says the shares are in the âcustodyâ of another of Nasreddinâs sons. However, a Nigerian government spokesman tells NBC News that Nasreddin does indeed own Nasco. âHe is well known,â said E.E. Imohe, a spokesman for the Nigerian Embassy in Washington. âHe is actually the major shareholder in Nasco."
Imohe also insisted the U.S. has never even raised any objections, or tried to get Nigeria to take action. âFor such a request to be submitted to the Nigerian government,â said Imohe, âit would have to be transmitted though this embassy. The embassy has not received anything. Even if they had directly contacted the Nigerian government, the Nigerian government would have notified the embassy of what it has received and we have received nothing in that regard.â
âThis isn't a loophole, this is failure to implement the sanctions appropriately,â says Victor Comras, a former terror-finance expert at the State Department. âHe's been involved in terrorist financing. Let's put him out of business.â The U.S. Treasury Department would not answer questions about Nasco in Nigeria, nor would it answer questions about whether the U.S. has tried to do anything to get the government of Nigeria to act. In a statement, the Treasury Department said, âThere is a robust coalition of international partners working to choke off the flow of money to terrorists. ... 'Freezing' real property is a challenge for many countries given that countries often find it difficult to apply laws and procedures intended for liquid assets to real property.â
A year and a half ago, however, the Treasury Department was more willing to discuss Nasreddin. Asked about the efforts against Nasreddin in an interview with NBC News back then, Juan Zarate, then a senior U.S. Treasury official, said: âI think the efforts have been fairly successful.â But back then, in 2003, NBC found another Nasreddin property operating openly â Hotel Nasco in Milan, Italy. Corporate records showed that the hotel, a four star property, belonged to Nasreddin and was operating openly. Officials say it has been difficult for Italyâs government to take action. Today, the Hotel Nasco is still open, and unsuspecting Americans who book a room in Milan may end up in a hotel owned by an alleged terrorist financier.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/01/2005 12:25 ||
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With all the emails I get from Nigeria asking for my bank account number, I'm supposed to be surprised that this moke operates in plain sight?
An old article, but I hadn't seen some of this before ...
A little-noticed investigation by Swiss federal police has uncovered the existence of an apparent terror-support network with ties to the upper levels of Al Qaedaâincluding an operative believed to have played a role in the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the May 2003 bombing of a housing complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The discovery of a largely invisible Al Qaeda network in the peaceful alpine nation has gotten virtually no public attention outside of Switzerland.
But criminal charges outlined in a July 30 Swiss prosecutorâs reportâobtained by NEWSWEEKâseem to confirm the worst fears of many U.S. counterterrorism officials: that, despite a concerted assault by Western intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, Osama bin Ladenâs organization has maintained a resilient operational structure that has a global reach, even larger than had been previously suspected.
The Swiss case began with a startling, and previously unreported, piece of evidence discovered in late May 2003: one of the suspects in the devastating Riyadh bombing had a cell phone with 36 Swiss mobile-telephone numbers recorded in its memory. Following up on those numbers, Swiss police over the next nine months arrested 10 suspectsâmostly Yemeni and Somali natives who were found to have been engaging in mostly low-level criminal activity, including forging documents and human smuggling.
One of those suspects, a Yemeni exile named Abdelhamid al-Fayek, 56, a Bern resident who was allegedly the âinstigatorâ of the ring, had been smuggling foreigners into Switzerland in order to clean up their identities, according to the Swiss report. The document says al-Fayek was giving clients the chance at âacquiring a new virginityââa process designed to allow the foreigners to pass unnoticed either in Switzerland or other European countries. The report also charges that another associate of al-Fayek acted as a âfinancial intermediaryâ who transferred money to unidentified recipients in several Persian Gulf countries.
According to the Swiss prosecutorâs report, the police also made another significant discovery that caught the attention of U.S. counterterrorism officials. Al-Fayek and another suspect named Jabr Rajeh Hassan al-Said, alias Abou Bakr, were in âclose contact with several members of the hard-core bin Laden movement,â the report states. One alleged bin Laden associate with whom they were known to have made contact is a little-known but apparently significant figure known as Owaiss, alias al-Kini Abdallah, whom the Swiss called an al-Qaeda âoperational agent.â
According to the Swiss document, Owaiss was arrested in Qatar and then extradited in May 2004 to Yemen, where he appears to be cooperating with authorities. (One indicator: Owaiss identified a picture of one of the Swiss suspects as somebody he had known who had undergone training in explosives at Al Qaedaâs al-Farouq training camp in Afghanistan.) But Owaissâs information could prove more valuable than that. The Swiss document says he has been a close associate of high-level figures such as Saif al-Adel, Al Qaedaâs military chiefâcurrently believed to be living in Iran, who has been indicted in the United States as a key planner of the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa, and âKhallad,â the one-legged Afghan fighter who is considered an architect of the Cole bombing. The Swiss report also alleges that Owaiss has ties to Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, the notorious Jordanian terrorist now believed to be behind many of the deadly terrorist attacks in postwar Iraq.
A U.S. government official said that American intelligence officials agree with many of the allegations made about Owaiss in the Swiss document, including his ties to Al Qaeda leaders and his possible involvement in the Cole attack. But the official said that U.S. agencies were uncertain whether Owaiss played an actual role in the May 2003 Riyadh bombingsâdespite what the Swiss report asserts was voice mail and e-mail contact with the people in Switzerland whose phone numbers were contained in the Riyadh suspectâs cell-phone memory.
The Swiss report is the work off that countryâs chief deputy federal prosecutor, Claude Nicati. It is, in effect, a criminal referral that is sent to the federal investigating magistrate in Geneva. He must then initiate his own judicial investigationâin Swiss law, the next step before actually sending the defendants to trial.
Regardless of what is ultimately shown about the precise connections of the suspects to particular Al Qaeda attacks, the true importance of the case may be the evidence of a remarkably efficient transnational terror operation. According to the Swiss report, the Yemeni and Somali document forgers were in contact with confederates literally across the globeâin France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Qatar, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Somalia and the Maldives. The United States isnât mentioned, but U.S. officials take no comfort in that. They fear that similar rings are still operating within American bordersâas yet undetected.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/01/2005 12:37 ||
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Well, they are rooted in too deep. I guess we better kill ourselves. Goodbye cruel world.
Given the ugliness of the proposed replacement for the World Trade Center, it's no surprise that the Ground Zero museum is also marred with the usual modern moral chancres. Early reports on the planned International Freedom Center noted that some exhibits would hammer America for its historical sins, and include art from institutions that produced the usual tendentious agitprop.
Gov. George Pataki spoke out. And he said no. From the New York Daily News:
"`Sure, there can be debate,' Pataki said when asked if his tough stance jeopardized free-speech rights. `But I don't want that debate to be occurring at Ground Zero."'
Oh dear. Monsieur guv, this is precisely the place it should be occurring. Unless hallowed spots are debased by the crankling mewlings of wise art-school grads, freedom of speech means nothing.
Quick! Someone draw a falling body in a tank of urine. Quick! Commission a large mural showing a chimp-footed George W. Bush having relations with a hook-nose forelocked camel who's eating a Palestinian baby. Get one of those artists who do "installations" to feed Jell-O into a fan to simulate the rain of body parts. Float a Macy's Parade-sized balloon of Michael Moore in the plaza. Anything. Please, just don't make it another solemn monument to a grave day. Since many believe the government planned Sept. 11, perhaps the museum could blow itself up twice daily like Old Faithful.
A New York Times editorial noted that Pataki and his knuckle-dragging ilk want "censorship in advance -- for political oversight of an artistic process that has only begun to evolve." Well, the likelihood that the evolution will end up with a statue of Uncle Sam spearing Darth bin Laden with a flagpole is rather small. Self-hatred for the West goes so deep among the urban-arts class that any artist who wants to make his reputation will assume a fashionable globalist stance.
If Sept. 11 isn't an ideal opportunity to show how Che would have reacted to the global AIDS crisis better than Ronald Reagan did, well, then the hijackers died in vain.
Of course, Sept. 11 has already been sanctified in artworks, but it's the sort of patriotic kitsch that horrifies the art world. Big hard-eyed eagles superimposed on the World Trade Center, collectible plates with a painting of the flag raised at Ground Zero, cast-iron models of the towers with "Never Forget" written in lovely script on the base. That sort of thing. Heart-tugging stuff for the Norman Rockwell fans.
You could fill the entire museum with this sort of material, and it would be a more accurate account of the culture's reaction than some tiresome artist's 12-foot collage of Abu Ghraib pictures run through a few Photoshop filters. In fact, tourists might actually go to a kitsch-stuffed museum. No one's going to fly from Peoria to see a gigantic picture of George Washington with a Saddam moustache ordering his slaves to kick Salvador Allende in the pants. O.K., we get it. We're the worst. Bad us. Whatever.
Let's make a deal. The internationalist demographic gets the theaters, the movie houses, the art galleries, the schools, the ateliers, the lecture halls; they're free to fill the air with as many Contradictions and Uncomfortable Truths and Provocative Reinterpretations as they like. But would it be too much to ask that whatever is built at Ground Zero simply recalls that horrible day, and honors the dead?
For some, yes. For some, the refusal to politicize an event is a political act.
For some, Sept. 11 has already become something more potent than a day of murder and fear: It has become a metaphor. It is something to be interpreted, filtered, parsed, a box of white bones that need the flesh of explication and context.
For others, for the Franklin Mint demographic, Sept. 11 was the day when a secretary looked out the window and saw the end of her days screaming toward her.
Build a memorial to her. Or build nothing at all.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/01/2005 09:47 ||
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The radical militant muslims must fucking laugh out loud at the liberals. They have got to be their best friends in the world. And if the libs have anything to say about it there will be many more 9-11 type monuments in the future.
Since the Leftie artsy-fartsy types are so bold assaulting Americans' patriotism and religiosity at home -- knowing all that will happen to them is a few nasty emails and dirty looks -- I'll make this deal with them.
You guys can have your Leftist propaganda art at the WTC site, but first you must produce two enormous works of art, one a picture, the other a painting, and then tour the Muslim World with your two masterpieces called "PISS KORAN".
PISS KORAN will depict a Koran (or is it Qu'ran or Qur'an?) in a transparent bucket of urine. When you've completed your Muslim World PISS KORAN Tour, then and only then can you wreck your bullshit on the WTC site.
#6
But, but, but 911 GZ belonogs to the world now! And the world includes zim and nork and rchinee. So it's gotta be representative of humanpersons striving towards the future, and yes health care is part of that universal striving has universal cart insurance.
The vast majority of suicide attackers in Iraq are thought to be foreigners - mostly Saudis and other Gulf Arabs - and the trend has become more pronounced this year with North Africans also streaming in to carry out deadly missions, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.
The bombers are recruited from Sunni communities, smuggled into Iraq from Syria after receiving religious indoctrination, and then quickly bundled into cars or strapped with explosive vests and sent to their deaths, the officials told The Associated Press. The young men are not so much fighters as human bombs - a relatively small but deadly component of the Iraqi insurgency.
''The foreign fighters are the ones that most often are behind the wheel of suicide car bombs, or most often behind any suicide situation,'' said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Alston, spokesman for the Multinational Force in Iraq.
Officials have long believed that non-Iraqis infiltrating the country through its porous borders with Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia were behind most suicide missions, and the wave of bloody strikes in recent months has confirmed that thinking.
Authorities have found little evidence that Iraqis have been behind the near-daily stream of suicide attacks over the past six months, U.S. and Iraqi intelligence officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.
There have been a few exceptions.
On election day Jan. 30, a mentally handicapped Iraqi boy, wearing a suicide vest, attacked a polling station. An attack on a U.S. military mess hall in the northern city of Mosul in December that killed 22 also was believed to have been carried out by an Iraqi, as was a deadly June 11 attack on the heavily guarded Baghdad headquarters of the Interior Ministry's feared Wolf Brigade.
Since 2003, less than 10 percent of more than 500 suicide attacks have been carried out by Iraqis, according to one defense official. So far this year, there have been at least 213 suicide attacks - 172 by vehicle and 41 by bombers on foot - according to an AP count.
Another U.S. official said American authorities believe Iraqis are beginning to look at suicide bombers as a liability. ''Just as there is no shortage of people willing to do this, nor is there any shortage of targets, and they tend to be police,'' the official said.
The trend doesn't mean Iraqis aren't part of the bloody insurgency: On the contrary, Iraqi insurgents are thought to be responsible for much of the violence and fighting in the country, although most of those are non-suicide attacks.
''I still think 80 percent of the insurgency, the day to day activity, is Iraqi - the roadside bombings, mortars, direct weapons fire, rifle fire, automatic weapons fire,'' said Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East expert with the Congressional Research Service, which advises U.S. lawmakers.
But he added: ''The foreign fighters attract the headlines with the suicide bombings, no question.''
The key role of foreign fighters in suicide attacks is one reason many senior military officials, including the top U.S. general in the Middle East, tend to view the war in Iraq as slowly developing into an international struggle against militant Islam.
The military brass say Islamic extremists like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his al-Qaeda in Iraq organization are determined to start a civil war in Iraq by attacking Iraqi security forces and members of the country's Shiite majority.
''It's not about one man. It's about his network,'' the top general in the region, U.S. Gen. John Abizaid, said recently. ''His network exists inside Iraq. It's connected to al-Qaeda. It's got facilitation nodes in Syria. It brings foreign fighters in from Saudi Arabia and from North Africa.''
One Iraqi official, Sabah Kadhim, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said the suicide attackers' main aim ''is to keep the country in chaos.''
They have managed to do just that.
In all, there have been more than 484 car bombings since the United States handed sovereignty to Iraq one year ago.
And the pace of attacks has escalated since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari's government took over two months ago after January's historic elections. Those attacks alone, mostly car bombs and suicide attacks, have killed more than 1,370 people since April 28 - and more than 2,170 since June of last year, according to an AP count.
A suicide bomber was responsible for the single deadliest act since the fall of Saddam Hussein two years ago - a Feb. 28 attack against a medical clinic in Hillah, south of Baghdad, that killed 125 people. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the attack by a man driving a pickup truck.
Another Interior Ministry official, Lt. Col. Ahmed al-Azawi, said some suicide bombers are as young as 15 - and he insisted that none were Iraqis.
The foreign militants are believed to come into the country for only a short time before they are sent on a suicide operation, said one senior U.S. military intelligence official in Iraq, who asked not to be named for security reasons.
''They are brought in, there is a lot of indoctrination that is forced on them here and they are moved very rapidly into a mission to deliver the bomb to commit suicide,'' the official said.
A U.S. official in Washington shared that assessment.
Overall, the number of foreign fighters coming into the country seems to be on the rise, compared to six months ago, Abizaid said. ''There's probably about 1,000 foreign fighters and about somewhere less than 10,000 committed insurgents in the field,'' he said.
Of the 10,000 people being detained in Iraq, about 400 are foreigners, the U.S. military says.
The majority of foreign bombers in Iraq are believed to come from countries in the Persian Gulf, mainly Saudi Arabia and Yemen as well as Jordan, U.S. officials say. They say many are transported to Syria and then smuggled into Iraq, mostly overland through Qaim - a frontier city in Iraq's western desert.
U.S. Marines taking part in a major operation around Qaim on June 20 found foreign passports and one roundtrip air ticket from Tripoli, Libya, to Damascus, Syria. They also found two passports from Sudan, two from Saudi Arabia, two from Libya, two from Algeria and one from Tunisia.
Up to 20 percent of the bombers might be from Algeria, according to forensic investigations after attacks, senior U.S. military officials have said on condition they not be named for security reasons. Another 5 percent each might be from Morocco and Tunisia, the officials said.
''We've also seen an influx of suicide bombers from North Africa, specifically Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco,'' Abizaid said.
Robert Baer, a CIA officer from 1976 to 1997 who spent the much of his career in the Middle East, recently returned to the region for a month to study suicide bombers as part of an investigation for Britain's Channel 4. His trip included a 10-day visit to predominantly Shiite Iran.
Baer said Sunni Arabs who take carry out suicide attacks feel Shiites are attacking Sunnis in Iraq. ''They look at the war in Iraq as an attack on Sunni Islam, not Iraq, not Saddam,'' he said.
In interviews while visiting prisons, terror groups and government officials, he was told that there are so many suicide bombers coming out of the Persian Gulf states that the loose networks that deploy jihadist martyrs - many run through mosques - are turning away potential attackers.
He said the mentality is: ''They have taken what is ours and they will take more if we don't stop them.''
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/01/2005 09:33 ||
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These A-holes should just blow themselves up at home. It would save them a lot of money for plane tickets, tolls and parking.
#2
The weak point in IED's and suicide bombers is that they have to be transported somewhere to be effective. Rather than just detecting them, is there no way to prematurely detonate them? No electronic pulse that acts the same as whatever pushing the button does? If the bombers thought they would detonate prior to reaching their target, it would take alot of the fun out of it.
#3
In principle, yes, an electromagnetic pulse can cause detonation of a suicide bomber, at least as long as he is using an electrical detonator cap and not a percussion cap. That is why we go on radio silence when working with explosives in construction, mining etc. once the wires are ready to be hooked up. In practice, it is not simple to generate the right EM pulse in the right place at the right time (it would vary for every single bomb.)
Still, I hope and suspect we have people working on the idea. And/or Israel is - it is an easier problem to solve if the suspects have to walk through a checkpoint - a gate sort of like the airport metal detectors maybe?
July 1, 2005: The U.S. Department of Defense has a major communications problem on its hands. Since it first allowed combat troops to use satellite communications, on a large scale, in 2003, the grunts have made it clear that they want to keep their satcom. The trouble is, the Department of Defense canât afford it. Or maybe they can, by plugging into the XM Radio network.
Satellite communications made a major impression when used in over 3,000 âBlue Force Trackerâ (BFT) radios during the 2003 Iraq operations. The same gear was distributed to American troops in Afghanistan a little earlier. BFT was basically a combination of satcom link and GPS. Commanders who had it could look at their laptop display and see where they, and every other BFT user is, all over the Middle East and Afghanistan. Not only that, but BFT users could IM (Instant Message) each other. This was a revolutionary combat tool, making it much easier to coordinate operations, and avoid friendly fire incidents. After that first use, infantry officers reported to their superiors, with an âI will kill for thisâ look in their eyes, that they had to have more satcom. It saved lives and gave American troops another edge in combat.
But satcom is expensive. The Department of Defense satcom bill is headed for over ten billion dollars a year. And its got no place to go but up, way up. It would be worse had not the Department of Defense bailed out the bankrupt Iridium satellite phone network in 2000. This gave the Department of Defense a decade of low cost (about 25 cents a minute) satcom use. Now, the Department of Defense has figured out how to use the new digital radio networks to deliver low cost satcom. While satellite based radio, like XM, are one way, a lot of the military satcom traffic is essentially one way. New information is always being sent out, like maps and pictures. The XM network is expanding itâs coverage from just North America, to other parts of the world. This will enable it to better service its new customer. The first application of the XM network will be the Mobile Enhanced Situational Awareness Network (MESA). This would use a dedicated channel on XMâs satellite network, and would send data only to special receivers (used by troops or emergency personnel). These would be nearly identical to the usual XM receivers, with a modification to receive the special signal.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/01/2005 09:28 ||
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#1
Buy the company, or build a competitor. This is national security so my normal capitalist mindset is flexiable.
A ruling by a Muslim seminary in India that a woman allegedly raped by her father-in law must separate from her husband has been met with protests. The religious edict or fatwa was issued by the Darul-Uloom Deoband, a powerful Islamic school which was established more than 150 years ago. The Deoband school promote a radical brand of Islam which is said to have inspired the Taleban in Afghanistan.
Wahabbi?
But other Muslim bodies in India have opposed its latest ruling.
The alleged rape attracted widespread attention after reports that reports that a Muslim council of community elders had ordered the victim to marry her father-in-law. On Friday, the alleged victim failed to appear before a Sharia court set up by Darul-uloom Deoband to hear the case, the Press Trust of India reports. Earlier reports quoted her as saying she would abide by the fatwa.
A body of Muslim women said the Deoband ruling was "against the spirit and essence of Islam, which gives equal rights to women". "The Islamic clerics have failed to differentiate between sex by consent and rape by force," Shaista Amber, president of the All India Muslim Women's Personal Law Board, is quoted as saying by the Asian Age newspaper.
Feroze Mithoborwala of the Muslim Youth of India described the fatwa as absurd. "Why should she be punished for no fault of hers?" he told the Times of India newspaper. Another Muslim women's organisations, Awaz-e-Niswan, said the fatwa was "shocking". "Who has given these people the power to issue fatwas? "We will mobilise public opinion against this fatwa," Hasina Khan of the Awaz-e-Niswan said.
On Thursday, women's groups protested in the northern city of Muzaffarnagar, where the alleged rape took place. It coincided with the visit of a team from India's National Commission of Women, sent to investigate the case. "We want justice for the woman," NCW head Girija Vyas told journalists after meeting the alleged victim.
In its ruling the Darul-Uloom Deoband did not endorse the village council's order that the victim had to marry her father-in-law but said she could no longer live with her husband. "She had a physical relationship with her father-in-law. It does not matter if it was consensual or forced," Mohammad Masood Madani, a cleric at Deoband, told Reuters. The woman's father-in-law has been arrested and is in jail.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/01/2005 08:49 ||
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#1
So the local muslim wimmins suggest the fatwa is "against the spirit and essence of Islam, which gives equal rights to women"? Methinks the bebearded ones might consider that as bordering on apostacy. The darn book lays out the rules pretty clearly and equality isn't part of the grand scheme for islamowomenfolkchattel. You'd do well to watch your step ladies!
#2
"She had a physical relationship with her father-in-law. It does not matter if it was consensual or forced," Mohammad Masood Madani, a cleric at Deoband
So we should stick you in our prisons to have a physical relationship with a man. Then we can stone you to death for same sex relationships, under your islamic laws. Brilliant!
#4
The women causing all this trouble will most likely be sentenced to public gang rape. That ought to teach em. As for that whole equality for women thing, that's a new one on me. Have these broads ever heard of Sharia? The Deoband school sounds like it is indeed a Wahabbi sect and pobably pulls that sharia stuff out of their ass all the time to handle uppity housewives.
#5
The point has been raised here before that Deobandi and Salafi/Wahabbi are similarly extremist sects, but arose independently -- one in Arabia, the other amongst the Muslims of India.
#8
The point has been raised here before that Deobandi and Salafi/Wahabbi are similarly extremist sects, but arose independently -- one in Arabia, the other amongst the Muslims of India.
Wow. It's almost like they're working off the same source material.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/01/2005 15:18 Comments ||
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#9
Earlier reports quoted her as saying she would abide by the fatwa.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Better music than bombs. And the effort required to build a proper rhyme scheme may school their minds for other useful tasks. I mean to say, look at the result of .com's English degree. ;-)
#2
Man, is today the News of the Weird day or what? First, the muzzies torch a Hindu temple because a Christian supposedly desecrated the Quran, and now Paleo rappers? Who knew? Guess that means we can look for an All Rap/All Paleo TV channel here soon on cable, eh?
Posted by: BA ||
07/01/2005 7:40 Comments ||
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#3
Palestinan rap! Oh, boy!
Is it better then Norwegian rap?
Sudan has promised to prosecute murder and rape suspects in Darfur but the key perpetrators may not be among those Khartoum plans to put on trial, the prosecutor of a global court said yesterday. Darfur is the first case the UN Security Council has referred to the new International Criminal Court but Sudan has said it would not extradite anyone. Instead Khartoum announced it would hold its own trials of 160 alleged suspects.
In a report ahead of his first appearance before the Security Council yesterday, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said any Sudanese trial probably would not conflict with an ICC investigation aimed at "prosecuting persons most responsible for crimes." He said that in Sudan there appeared to be an "absence of criminal proceedings relating to the cases on which the Office of the Prosecutor is likely to focus." Moreno-Ocampo has received 2,500 items including documents, video footage and interview transcripts as well as a list of 51 suspects, including army and government officials, from a UN-appointed International Commission of Inquiry.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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Round up the usual suspects, Major Strasse is dropping by for a visit...
In pursuance of 1998's UN General Assembly declaration calling on member states to make special efforts against money laundering, the cabinet on Wednesday approved the Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2005 to prevent money-laundering and such transactions would be scrutinised by the State Bank of Pakistan and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
http://dailytimes.com.pk/ has been hax0rd
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
07/01/2005 0:13 Comments ||
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Afghan Transport Minister Inayatullah Qasmi told reporters on Wednesday that he supported Kabul's claims of Pakistan sponsoring Taliban attacks and providing militants refuge. Qasimi said the recent arrest of three Pakistanis for their alleged involvement in an assassination attempt on the US ambassador to Afghanistan was proof of Islamabad's involvement.
He was talking to journalists after the handing-over ceremony of 23 buses to Afghanistan by Prime Minister's Finance Adviser Dr Salman Shah. Asked about his government's recent allegations that Osama Bin Laden and other top Al Qaeda members were hiding in Pakistan, the Afghan minister did not comment, saying he did not deal with such issues. "Terrorism needs to be stopped and both Afghanistan and Pakistan are committed to erasing this menace. Kabul wants greater economic ties with Islamabad and the boost in our economies will help increase employment, which would ultimately minimise terrorism in the region," said Qasimi, adding that his country was focusing on education and economy. He said that Pakistan's exports to Afghanistan touched $1b in 2004, with the trade balance favouring Pakistan. He said seven years ago, Pakistan's export was only US$ 30 million.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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NOWSHERA: An angry mob torched a Hindu temple after a Christian allegedly desecrated the Quran in Cantonment Police Stationâs jurisdiction, a police official said on Wednesday.
A Christian desecrates their idol and they go desecrate some Hindoos? That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense. In an Islamic kind of way, of course...
Most likely it was the closest place of infidel worship
The guy in the pic looks like Luciano hitting a 'high C'
The NWFP Assembly also highlighted the incident when MPA Ghur Saran Lal, representing the Hindu minority, voiced concern over the attack on the temple while condemning the Quranâs alleged desecration. Lal told Daily Times that 60-year-old Yousaf Masih was charged with desecrating the Quran.
"And what the hell did that have to do with us? Riddle me that, hah? Hah?"
"Arrrr! Yer all infidels!"
He said NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani had ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident and also for repairs to the damaged temple. âA Hindu temple was attacked and several rooms were burnt,â the police official told Daily Times.
I'd wager the towels and silverware were stolen, too. What do you want to bet there were more valuables to be found in the Hindu temple than in the Christian church?
âWe have charged a Christian for desecrating the Quran under the relevant law,â he added.
Which means he's toast, of course...
Provincial Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Malik Zafar Azam told the House that a âChristian janitorâ was arrested for desecrating the Quran and police also arrested eight people for attacking the Hindu temple. Lal told the House that the Hindu community felt threatened after the attack and demanded protection for Hindus.
Right. In NWFP. That'll happen. Sure.
Malik Azam said, âA thorough investigation was ordered into the incident and the attackers would be punished.â A police statement issued late on Wednesday said NWFP Inspector General of Police Muhammad Rifat Pasha suspended a Nowshera DSO and SHO for failing to protect the Hindu temple.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Reading stuff like this makes me suspect that Gawd got's another one of them floods planned, to wipe everything out and start over again...or start over again sans humans.
#2
hey R If you got any drag up^ there tell 'em it's the fricken muzzys.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
07/01/2005 0:26 Comments ||
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#3
In the Court of Common Sense I charge Islam with Egregious Desecration of Logic, Intelligence, Rationality, Honesty, Credibility, Charity, Compassion, Grace, Tolerance, Justice, Conscience, Mercy, and Humanity.
I'll handle the prosecution personally, Carla del Ponte need not apply.
Carla Del Ponte has been nicknamed "the new Gestapo", "the whore", "the unguided missile" and "the personification of stubbornness". She takes perverse pride in such labels - she says they show she is doing her job. Indeed the petite, chain smoking war crimes prosecutor, who is famous for her ruthless pursuit of goals, believes that it is her vigorous approach that led to the calls for her replacement as the chief prosecutor for war crimes in Rwanda. * * *
#6
Huh? C'mon guys, heh, just trying to put the bedlam that passes for normalcy in IslamoNutz behavior into perspective so I can wrap my mind around it, they're the dreck of mankind, I'd say. This just seemed to me the right way to do it. Sheesh. Youze guyz should go pick on Red Dog and mojo, lol! :-)
Posted by: Red Dog ||
07/01/2005 3:59 Comments ||
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#8
NOWSHERANowheresa?: An angry mob everyday group torched a Hindu temple after a Christian allegedly desecrated the Quran didn't handle the Koran with gloves in Cantonment Police Stationâs jurisdiction, a police official said on Wednesday.
Just more proof you couldn't make this stuff up if you tried. Only in muzzy lands would this kind of stuff "make sense" (at least to the moose limbs).
Posted by: BA ||
07/01/2005 7:32 Comments ||
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#9
Awright. It's time to get this thing started.
Should the first "mulch for mullahs" event take place in front of the Saudi or the Pakistani embassy? Do you think we can get the Saudis to provide a large number of Korans for free?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/01/2005 8:36 Comments ||
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#10
It isn't just happening in muzzy land.
The Nashville Chief of Police and Political Whoring is pulling out all the stops to bring to justice a dangerous criminal.
His/her crime? Pooping on a Koran. It's a Hate Crime, don't ya know? Which is much, much worse than a regular crime. Never mind that there is no law against pooping on a Koran...yet.
[/sarcasm off] Actually the Koran was burned and the poop was left on a front porch.
The trial of Ayman Nour, leader of the opposition party Al Ghad (Tomorrow) and a member of Parliament running for the presidency next September, was adjourned till July 6 by the Cairo Criminal Court. The 41-year-old leader is accused of having forged 1,187 documents and his partyâs application papers contained hundreds of forged powers-of-attorney documents that he then presented to the Political Parties Committee to pressure it into granting his party a license.
The court began its hearing in the case against Nour and six members of his party over alleged forgery charges. The top judge Adel Abdel Salam agreed on postponing the trial after the lawyers of the six defendants said âthe co-defendants were victims of Nourâs lies and deception and he is a long-time forger.â The lawyers added that they have other evidences that prove that the Ghad leader had fabricated pictures of tortured Islamists in the 1990s when he was a reporter for Al Wafd opposition paper. Some of the defendants confessed that they forged the documents at the request of Nour with a computer he had bought for them.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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Jordan's King Abdallah conferred yesterday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei and other senior officials who attend a landmark meeting of the Central Committee of the mainstream group, Fatah, and urged them to "close ranks" ahead of Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip. The pullout from Gaza, he said, should pave the way for the creation of an independent Palestinian state. "The forthcoming stage is an important one and carries significant implications, hence Palestinians should close ranks and unite efforts with a view to building institutions that pave the ground for the setting up of a viable and independent Palestinian state," the statement from the Royal Court quoted the king as saying.
Abdallah reiterated Jordan's stand that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which is set for mid-August, "should lead to a similar pullout from the West Bank as enshrined in the road map and UN resolutions". He renewed his country's readiness to help the Palestinian Authority rebuild its "security and civic institutions so that they become capable of maintaining security and stability in the Palestinian territories".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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He renewed his country's readiness to help the Palestinian Authority rebuild its "security and civic institutions so that they become capable of maintaining security and stability in the Palestinian territories".
...While doing nothing to remove the cancer within (in the form of terrorist organizations and their members). S'okay though - it's not our money that's going to be wasted.
#2
Quietly reacquiring his grandfather's Transjordan territory? Truth to tell, the locals couldn't be any worse off under his thumb than under the P.A.'s unsteady rule.
Islamic states promised more assistance for Iraq in the face of a raging insurgency yesterday but balked at the outright condemnation of âterrorismâ requested by its under-fire government. A final statement issued after a three-day meeting of foreign ministers of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference insisted on a right of âlegitimate resistance against occupationâ.
"Define 'total.'"
âMinisters affirmed their decision to offer all sorts of support to the Iraqi interim government to write a constitution, as well as achieve security and stability,â the statement said. But it added the rider that the support was aimed at helping Iraq âachieve sovereignty and end occupation.â Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Kurbi, whose country hosted the meeting, said his counterparts also âcalled upon all Iraqis to unite in order to end occupationâ. The statement condemned âall aspects of terrorismâ but insisted on âdifferentiating between terrorism and legitimate resistance against occupationâ.
Really, it may not be their fault. I understand the Koran requires that they squat to pee...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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With "friends" like these...
No. No thanks. The Islamic pathogen is already present - boosters are not needed nor welcome. Fuck the fuck off you fucking fuckers. HAND.
the end of verse 2:222 is sometimes thought to require squatting during urination but more likely the practise comes from one of many of the hadiths on the subject (there are an amazingly large number of comments on this subject in Islamic literature)
btw,
2:222. They ask thee concerning women's courses. Say: "They are a hurt and a pollution: so keep away from women in their courses, and do not approach them until they are clean. But when they have purified themselves, ye may approach them in any manner, time, or place ordained for you by God. For God loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean.
The trial of Iraq's former President Saddam Hussein could start within a couple of months, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said late on Wednesday. "We cannot pinpoint a specific date, maybe a month or two," Jaafari told reporters at a late-night reception. "Maybe Aug. 15 or Sept. 15. But we have succeeded in making the deadline not to exceed three months, instead of being open-ended," he added. August would be an earlier trial date than those Tribunal sources have said are likely â in principle the rules stipulate a 45-day delay between a judge referring a case for trial and the start of courtroom proceedings. The referral can only be made on completion of the investigative stage of the process.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said last week the Special Tribunal questioning former regime loyalists about war crimes could begin the trial of Saddam by the end of 2005. Saddam and 11 of his top lieutenants, who lost power after a US-led invasion in 2003, are being held at a detention facility on the outskirts of Baghdad. They are all expected to be charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during three decades in power.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/01/2005 00:00 ||
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hee hee love that pic..I have a small confession...I have this dark side that reveals itself e..well I've said too much already but yes, I hope the execution is very public and televised.
BUUWWWWAHAHAHAHAHA
/now they'll leave me alone
Posted by: Red Dog ||
07/01/2005 0:39 Comments ||
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Lol, RD - you're in fine company, I assure you. ;-)
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.
The U.N. panel overseeing compensation for victims of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait has approved its final claims, bringing the total award to $52.5 billion, the world body said Thursday.
Two senior anti-Syrian politicians have patched up their differences and agreed to work together to form the first government free of Syrian dictate in three decades. The reconciliation late Tuesday between Saad Hariri, son of slain former Premier Rafik Hariri, and Michel Aoun, a former military commander, is certain to consolidate the anti-Syrian camp's hold on Parliament as it attempts to form a national unity government, a process scheduled to begin today with consultations on naming a premier.
Iran's new president was a member of the hard-line Islamic student group that seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, but he opposed the takeover — preferring instead to target the Soviet Embassy, friends and former hostage-takers said Thursday. The former students who carried out the seizure and held the Americans for 444 days said 
The president appointed an anti-Syrian official Thursday to form Lebanon's first government free from Syrian influence in decades. As one of his initial acts, the new prime minister visited the grave of his slain predecessor. 
In a rustic stadium in Nigeria, polo players gathered for an annual tournament known as the Nasco Cup. Local officials praised the event's sponsor. âWe are so proud of the contributions of Nasco,â said the commissioner of information for Nigeria's plateau state. NBC News has learned that what really distinguishes Nasco is the man behind it, 
Sudan has promised to prosecute murder and rape suspects in Darfur but the key perpetrators may not be among those Khartoum plans to put on trial, the prosecutor of a global court said yesterday. Darfur is the first case the UN Security Council has referred to the new International Criminal Court but Sudan has said it would not extradite anyone. Instead Khartoum announced it would hold its own trials of 160 alleged suspects.
In pursuance of 1998's UN General Assembly declaration calling on member states to make special efforts against money laundering, the cabinet on Wednesday approved the Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2005 to prevent money-laundering and such transactions would be scrutinised by the State Bank of Pakistan and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
Afghan Transport Minister Inayatullah Qasmi told reporters on Wednesday that he supported Kabul's claims of Pakistan sponsoring Taliban attacks and providing militants refuge. Qasimi said the recent arrest of three Pakistanis for their alleged involvement in an assassination attempt on the US ambassador to Afghanistan was proof of Islamabad's involvement.
NOWSHERA: An angry mob torched a Hindu temple after a Christian allegedly desecrated the Quran in Cantonment Police Stationâs jurisdiction, a police official said on Wednesday. 
The trial of 
Jordan's King Abdallah conferred yesterday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei and other senior officials who attend a landmark meeting of the Central Committee of the mainstream group, Fatah, and urged them to "close ranks" ahead of Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip. The pullout from Gaza, he said, should pave the way for the creation of an independent Palestinian state. "The forthcoming stage is an important one and carries significant implications, hence Palestinians should close ranks and unite efforts with a view to building institutions that pave the ground for the setting up of a viable and independent Palestinian state," the statement from the Royal Court quoted the king as saying.
Islamic states promised more assistance for Iraq in the face of a raging insurgency yesterday but balked at the outright condemnation of âterrorismâ requested by its under-fire government. A final statement issued after a three-day meeting of foreign ministers of the 57-member 
