LONDON (AP) - One was an athletic teenager who had grown into a devout young man, another a soccer-loving convert to Islam. The youngest was 17, the oldest 35. Many were born in Britain and all were reared here.
As police held 23 young British Muslims accused of plotting devastating airline bombings, both the authorities and their neighbors sought Friday to understand how ordinary communities spawned a terrifying plot. 19 names were made public Friday by the Treasury after the government froze their bank accounts. They have names of Muslim origin, including many that are common in Pakistan. At least 14 live in London, four in leafy High Wycombe, 30 miles away, and two in the central city of Birmingham.
Not a single Clive, Trevor or Nigel amongst them eh?
It is unclear how the men met or who the ringleader is, although suspicion has fallen on the only one identified who is over 30 - Shamin Mohammed Uddin, 35, of east London.
The father of three of the arrested men, Faisal Hussain, collapsed into tears, telling Britain's ITV News that his sons - Nabeel, Umair and Mehran - weren't involved any plot. ``They went to prayer and they were Muslims, that is the only thing they were guilty of,'' he said through an interpreter in an interview broadcast Friday.
They must have been listening to the spittle-spewing preacher at the mosque, Pops.
At least nine of the suspects lived in Walthamstow, a typically polyglot London neighborhood of modest brick houses and small apartment blocks, halal butchers, pubs and fast-food restaurants. It is an ethnically mixed community with a smattering of affluent professionals and a large Muslim population served by several mosques. ``Walthamstow's a happy, chilled-out community,'' said resident Hajra Mir. ``We weren't expecting this.''
Except in the mosques.
That sense of shock was repeated across the neighborhood. Residents said it is a friendly, quiet area where people respect their neighbors. Several of the suspects had lived there for many years and attended local schools.
But several men from the neighborhood have been linked to the Saviour Sect - an offshoot of a disbanded radical Islamist group, al-Muhajiroun, which was based in nearby Tottenham and gained notoriety for praising the Sept. 11 hijackers.
A-ha. Think we might strike gold if we dig there?
A Walthamstow leader of the sect, Abdul Muhid, has been charged with soliciting murder during an angry protest earlier this year over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons published in a Danish newspaper. He had previously been arrested for calling for the killing of British troops while proselytizing at a Walthamstow market.
There's your designated spittle-spewer. Now we need to identify the money man, the bag man, the chemist, the chemist's assistant, the messenger, and the operations ringleader.
Last fall, a rally planned by the group at a community center was banned by local officials after organizers distributed leaflets portraying an Islamic fighter holding a rocket launcher outside the prime minister's Downing Street residence.
Local Muslim leaders say the area's major mosques are vigilant about keeping radicals away. But several of the suspects appeared to fit the pattern of radicalization seen in the bombers who attacked the London transit system: young men born and bred in Britain, raised in moderate homes, but drawn to a more uncompromising version of Islam than that practiced by their parents.
Right about the time they have trouble finding a job, dating a non-Muslim girl, get introduced to life at the mosque, and meet the spittle-spewer. More biographical information on the attackers at the link.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Puzzle because of being clueless. Clueless because of being willingly suckered by fashionable PC "multiculturalism" which defy reality and give asymmetrical concessions indiscriminately away. They can only remain puzzled to further(and excuse)their preferred denials.
#3
It puzzles Brits and Americans because we think and act in a logical fashion. What they have to do is get off their asses and realize they are dealing with brainwashed, demented fanatics from the Death Cult, who will stop at absolutely nothing to kill them, their children, and grandchildren without blinking an eye. If this ever soaks in to their old , rigid brains, they'll know what to do. Problem is, they (and we) are wasting crucial time.
Posted by: ed ||
08/12/2006 13:14 Comments ||
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#6
It is the 30 something problem. You had all of these dreams, all of the glory. Then you find that you have to work a real job, contribute to society, pay mortgage, etc.
The difference in reaction to realizing your childhood dreams may not be attainable is amazing.
Here, people get a new car, dump their wife / girlfriend ... move across country, whatever.
In Islam, 30 something problem means blow stuff up and kill all the infidels. Seriously, we should look into this further, as it seems you always find in Islam these 30 somethings going off the deep end and externalize their angst at this against the nearest infidel they can find - taking the young and impressionable with them.
#7
Interesting theory, bombay, but the clowns who are preaching hate and indoctrinating/convincing the splodeydopes are over 30.
Jihad by idiot proxy.
One thing I have noticed about these "cultures" - they claim the West is oversexed, but in fact they are the ones who are hung up on sex (or more probably their lack thereof).
Their absolute lack of respect for women retards their societies. It doesn't have to be that way; there are modern Muslims who respect women and life as much as we do, and don't want to live in these clowns' 7th Century wet dream. Problem is, I don't think they're the majority.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2006 22:07 Comments ||
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#8
Yeah, older ones, stuck on all they have left, the ideology.
But the ones that move to action and take things down are the 30 somethings (with their young followers behind). The angst and rage egged on by the elders who long for the glory.
#10
The Brits think that their public and media being anti-Israeli in attitude should protect them from Moslem violence. What they don't realize is that every time they reaffirm Moslem 'grievances' and declare Moslems are justified in using violence against Jews and Americans that Moslems feel reaffirmed in their desire to do violence to Brits as well.
Norwegian authorities warn cooperation partners each time a passport goes astray. There are currently a record 95,000 missing passports in the computer register of the Schengen agreement countries, news agency ANB reports.
Tormod Ødegård, head of the passport office for Oslo police urges citizens to take better care of this document. "This is serious."
"Nø! Rëålly!"
"The passport is a proof of identification that can be abused," Ødegård said.
This guy is really good, isn't he. Passports can be abused. Musta been to Pakistan once or twice.
In addition to the 95,000 thousand active missing passports, there are also missing foreign passports and travel documents for foreign nationals living in Norway and there is no clear overview of how big this problem is.
Sounds like their Immigration Service is about as good as ours.
The NCIS fears that many of Norway's missing passports are being misused, and they are particularly attractive since Norwegian citizens can travel visa-free to so many countries. "Missing passports create problems for fighting terrorism and human trafficking. For people involved with these types of crime a Norwegian passport can be extremely valuable," said captain Hans-Peder Torgersen at the international division of the NCIS.
The number of missing passports is growing every year. In 2005 a total of about 20,000 passports were registered missing, and most are not found. "Only around 1,800 reports of missing passports were canceled last year. That means that 90 percent of these passports do not turn up," Torgersen said.
Brilliant guys, simply brilliant.
"We report missing passports to Interpol. In this way information of stray passports are as available as possible internationally. But we are dependent on the control authorities in other countries when it comes to revealing abuse of Norwegian passports," Torgersen said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2006 00:00 ||
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Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was being treated Friday evening in the emergency room of Providence Health Center in Waco. Sheehan, who has been on a liquids-only diet for 37 days as part of a fast in protest of the war, was described as being gaunt and pale as she arrived at the hospital. An assistant said Sheehan, who flew to Central Texas after a trip with other activists to Jordan to meet with members of Iraq's new parliament, was being treated for exhaustion.
Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son Casey died in Iraq in 2004 while serving with Fort Hood's 1st Cavalry Division, returned to Central Texas last week, after purchasing a 5-acre tract in the Crawford area. She again took up her vigil in the area of the president's Central Texas ranch, where afternoon temperatures have been at or above the century mark.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2006 00:02 ||
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#2
Something serious, I hope? We should be so lucky.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/12/2006 0:09 Comments ||
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I question the timing. I think she's trying to distract us from Karl Rove's plot to pretend to blow up planes in order to distract us from Ned Lamont's victory.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/12/2006 0:29 Comments ||
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#7
I'm sorry but can someone remind me why I should care about this duchebag?
I may have become a bit indifferent to the people outside the U.S.A., that I understand, but for some reason I am conflicted about this,schlemel a U.S. citizen. There is no written rule about love thy American citizen is there? Because I wish she would end up in the same hole with the other non infidel duchebags...
I don't hate america but hate some americans... what a frickin delima.
All I know is the states should have the decision. Federal gov. should only pertain to foreign matters as the states are concerned.
#13
they don't have water on her Crawford site, using portapotties too....hope they're all catching something nasty and intestinally debilitating....mmmmmmmmm, full portapotties in the baking Texas sun...... makes me feel pale and gaunt just thinking about the smell
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2006 9:35 Comments ||
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#14
IIRC - Smoothie King is the provider of choice in North Texas - had several nearby in Dallas.
#28
My thought exactly ed. She's used to comfortable 70's/80's in the SF Bay area (doesn't she formally reside in Berkley?). Going from what we consider down right chilly here in the South to Crawford, TX is a severe shock to a body (especially one like that, my eyes, my eyes). Upper 90's/low 100's and add in about 250% humidity, and we've actually begun to feel what hell is like down here.
Posted by: BA ||
08/12/2006 23:25 Comments ||
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Fifty-five percent of Americans approve of President George W. Bush's handling of homeland security, an 11 percent jump from May, according to a Newsweek poll released on Saturday. The poll was taken Thursday and Friday, after British authorities foiled a plot to use chemical bombs to bring down as many as 10 airliners flying from Britain to the United States.
Bush's approval rating rose to 38 percent, a 3-point increase since Newsweek conducted its last poll in May.
Fifty-four percent of respondents said they would oppose a ban on all carry-on baggage on commercial flights, the poll said.
Taken three months ahead of congressional elections, the survey found 44 percent of respondents said Republicans would do a better job handling terrorism, compared with 39 percent who preferred Democrats. Fifty-three percent of respondents said they wanted to see the Democrats win enough seats to take over Congress, while 34 percent said they wanted the Republicans to retain control, the poll found.
What matters is the polling in the seats at risk. I can be for a Republican Congress all I want, but my own Congresscritter, Danny Davis, is a Dem who gets 80% of the vote every November.
Twenty-two percent of those surveyed said Iraq was the most important issue in the upcoming election and would determine how they would vote. Eighteen percent said the top issue was the economy and 15 percent cited terrorism. Fifty-three percent of Americans surveyed also said they trusted the Democrats to better manage the economy, while 34 percent sided with Republicans, according to the poll.
The survey of 1,001 adults has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
The cost of the war on terror will reach $437 billion by the end of Fiscal Year 2006 on Sept. 30, according to the Congressional Research Service.
In a recent report, CRS said current spending plans through the end of Fiscal 2006 will stand at $436.8 billion in military and foreign aid expenses attributable to the war on terror. That total includes $7.1 billion in 2003 funding that may or may not have been spent on war expenses, the report notes.
The total includes $69 billion in additional dollars from the latest supplemental funding bill. War costs are rapidly approaching half a trillion dollars, as the above totals do not include $50 billion in supplemental bridge funding that is expected early in Fiscal 2007.
Measuring total budget authority for defense operations, reconstruction, security enhancements, foreign aid, and new veterans benefits since 9/11, CRS reports the cost of the war has increased annually. Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom cost $31.4 billion in 2001 and 2002; $81.2 billion in Fiscal 2003; $94.3 billion in Fiscal 2004; $107.2 billion in Fiscal 2005; and $122.2 billion this year.
Iraq has consumed the lions share of the funding: $318.5 billion. The OEF cost has come to $88.2 billion, and enhanced security since 9/11 has required $26.2 billion. CRS said it was unable to locate the destination for $3.9 billion in Fiscal 2003 dollars.
Posted by: ed ||
08/12/2006 12:17 ||
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#1
So? In ten years we will have spent 4,370,000,000,000 (proj).
Did we get value for $95 billion per year? So far we have not seen a repeat of 9/11. What price freedom?
Posted by: john ||
08/12/2006 12:38 Comments ||
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Just a quick question, and I think it is the relevant one; How much MORE have we spent on defense than was projected for our defense budget BEFORE the invasion. IIRC, we were spending huge sums already on the no fly zone, etc. How much more does this cost us, both in absolute dollar terms and as percentage increase from baseline?
Posted by: Mark E. ||
08/12/2006 12:52 Comments ||
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#3
Which is why this "nation-building" sh!t has got to end. We must now enter a phase of "breaking things." Something our armed forced are well-equipped to do and do quite nicely at that. If we can, somehow, establish Iraq (and possibly Afghanistan) as bastions of democracy in this woebegotten region, well and done. But enough of fooling ourselves that we can implement some sort of Mid-East Marshall Plan. We have neither the treasure nor troops required for such a vast undertaking.
Therefore, now is the time to begin fragmenting and decapping those governments who seek to do us harm. Iran tops the list well beyond all other rogue regimes. Syria needs its dose of the backwash ensuing there from. A strong lesson needs to be taken from the current situation with Israel and Lebanon. Shortly enough, we will see that NOBODY besides Israel is open to any peaceful solution. That said, very unpeaceful solutions need to be laid at the feet of Israel's and our own foes.
#5
Interesting thoughts there Zenster. The US breaks Iran (there's history there) and then the 'international community' sits down and tries to rewrite the map and pays for the reconstruction. Works for me...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/12/2006 17:32 Comments ||
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As for the Homefront, jihadi fronts continue to use our freedoms against our security. We have to close all the loop holes that enable terrorists to escape justice, including impediments to investigative detention. Arrests must be allowed even where suspicion is at a low threshold, and all suspect contacts - internet, phone, direct contacts, etc - and related witnesses, must be interrogated before the suspect is released. Of course, detained suspects should not be main-lined in penitentiaries pending charge-sheeting or release. Detained persons are innocent until proven guilty. But they should be kept in custody until the case to meet test is made.
#9
Zen, we have argued over nation building for at least a year, I have been a proponant of nation building. I'm getting to the point where we need to break things at the megaton level is the only viable solution. The pandering and lack of political will to do what is necessary has gotten us to the point where we must destroy Iran and Syria if we are to live in some form of peace for the next 100 years. All the worries over the poor innocent muzzies is or should be wiped away by the desire for democracy's survival.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/12/2006 22:39 Comments ||
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The sum mentioned comes to about 4% of one year's economic output, which is about 0.8% a year. This is pretty cheap. In WWII, we spent 50% of economic every year fighting the Axis Powers. This means that on an annual basis, we spent over 60 times as much as a proportion of our economy during WWII as during the War on Terror. The casualty count is also way lower - we've taken 6,000 civilian and military dead over 5 years, whereas we took 400,000 civilian and military dead over less than 4 years during WWII.
#11
The cost of our losses on 9/11 was at least $500 billion.
Uniquely skilled people died, buildings were destroyed, aircrafts were lost and others had to be made safer, stock prices went down... Add the increased need for security controls, the time wasted by tens of millions at airports, insurance policies, the economic slow-down, all the people hired to work as security guards instead of building better cars, computers, furniture, etc.
When someone breaks a window, the money spent repairing it could have been used towards more productive or rewarding purposes.
Security officials trying to protect America's airliners face a twin battle: stopping bad stuff and stopping bad people. Most of the focus has traditionally been on stopping bad stuff, and that is a big challenge. Distinguishing good water bottles from deadly ones will never be easy.
So increasingly, security experts think the nation needs to focus more on stopping bad people. Much of the work to stop potential terrorists must occur before they ever walk into an airport, aviation experts say. "By the time you get to the security checkpoint, chances are you've lost the battle," said Douglas Laird, an aviation consultant who once headed security for Northwest Airlines.
But U.S. programs aimed at identifying threatening people have been mired in controversies and setbacks including privacy protections, technology troubles and old-fashioned management fumbles. Secure Flight, the Homeland Security program that is supposed to check passengers against a comprehensive terrorist watch list, is the most troubled. The program has been in development for three years and is nowhere close to being put into practice.
On the flip side is the Registered Traveler program to identify the good guys through advanced background checks and speed their trip through security so that screeners can focus on lesser-known travelers. But it, too, has been delayed and derided in some circles as a waste of resources.
A third initiative, behavior recognition, tries to identify suspicious people at the airport. But the idea languished for years amid concerns about racial profiling. In recent months, the Transportation Security Administration made progress, developing a screening system it believes can avoid those minefields. The program is still at just a handful of airports.
To be sure, no matter how good these techniques get, they are meant to complement physical screenings. After discovery of the plot to mix bombs with liquid explosives, the TSA has barred passengers from carrying on most liquids and gels. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday that the policy would be modified, but he didn't specify how.
Now that the ban on liquids is in place and the threat has been publicized, relaxing it will be tricky. Several experts say they will not be surprised if it sticks. "I'm quite confident it will lead to a permanent ban on liquids," said Clark Kent Ervin, former inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security who is now at the Aspen Institute. "This is apparently as close to 9/11 as we've come since and I think we're going to see some permanent changes, and we should."
Bad people can, theoretically, be identified once they are at the airport. By assessing a person's body language and travel details, screeners can make a quick judgment on the threat level.
The TSA has a program in place in a few airports to do that now. Called Spot, or Screening Passengers by Observation Technique, it involves specially trained security officers scrutinizing people in security lines and elsewhere in the airport.
#1
OMG, tell me it's not true. Are these witless fools finally going to start looking at Muzzie males instead of strip searching grandmothers from Sheyboygan ? I think I'm going to have a spasm.
#2
Note that at least one of the UK plotters is a white convert. Not a big trend yet, but the networks are trying hard to recruit them specifically to get around profiling.
KARACHI: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Karachi organised a rally on Saturday in Liaquatabad to protest the Israeli offensive in Lebanon and uncontrolled price hikes in the country. Hundreds of protestors carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans against Israel, the United States and its western allies and loudly condemned the Pakistani government for acting at the behest of its western masters. MMA local leaders Siddique Rathore, Mairajul Huda Siddiqui, Nasrullah Shaji, Younus Barai and others demanded the government adopt policies to make peoples lives better.
NEW DELHI, AUGUST 11:For the first time, Sharad Pawar has admitted, on record, that he had deliberately misled people following the 1993 Mumbai blasts by saying there were 12 and not 11 explosions, adding the name of a Muslim-dominated locality to show that people from both communities had been affected.
Spilling the beans on what became an ill-concealed secret in later days, but had never been said openly, Pawar said he had to quickly find a way to stop Mumbai from going up in flames and this was the ploy he hoped would keep Hindus from retaliating.
The step was pre-meditated as only shortly before making the announcement about the 12th blast that never was, he had been informed of 11 coordinated blasts in the city in March 1993, all hitting Hindu majority areas.
Speaking to The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTVs Walk the Talk, which will be broadcast tomorrow at 7.30 pm, Pawar, who was Maharashtra Chief Minister at the time said he had anticipated clashes between Hindus and Muslims and he had to prevent that from happening.
I went on TV and deliberately misled people. Instead of 11 explosions I told 12 and one of those areas was Masjid Bunder, dominated by minorities, Pawar said.
And then at the Air India office, where the first explosion had occurred, Pawar came up with another deliberate fudge to prevent riots.
He had said then that from some of the material used in the blasts, it appeared that terrorist groups south of India were behind themhinting at the LTTE.
The NCP president, who is Agriculture Minister in the UPA government, conceded that questions were indeed raised in the party on this step. He was in the Congress then and had been sent to Mumbai by P V Narasimha Rao to put the city back in order in the wake of the riots that had led to a sharp polarisation between Hindus and Muslims after the Babri Masjid demolition.
Pawar said the polarisation of those days was creeping back after the July 11 train explosions. The bombs had been planted in first-class compartments of the Western Railway suburban line to target those from the higher salaried sections, as very few Muslims would be in those compartments.
It was because of this that there were similar experiences like 1993 after things had turned around for Mumbai and it was behaving like a cosmopolitan city.
The Minister, whose NCP is a partner in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government in Maharashtra, praised the police after the latest attack on the city but was critical of the state governments role following the blasts. There was tremendous scope to improve, he said.
In his interview, Pawar praised Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs handling of the nuclear issue on which he is facing opposition from the Left and the BJP.
He said the discussions with the US are not final and if there was any indication of India being dictated to on the nuclear deal, he believed Manmohan Singh would withdraw from the scene.
In his estimate, the PM could not be compared to Indira Gandhi who was also party president, he said, but was nonetheless a visionary and an administrator. He is a fit person to run a coalition government and each MP and UPA member is clear about his integrity and wisdom, Pawar said.
Posted by: john ||
08/12/2006 07:15 ||
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Posted by: ed ||
08/12/2006 09:46 ||
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#1
think he knows he's been outed?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2006 9:51 Comments ||
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Now that he's been outed, Frank, he needs to INcarcerated as a war criminal. Funny how the Germans are on top of this story and we see Nada in the American MSM.
British police are now saying the 24 alleged bombers arrested in Britain yesterday were probably planning to use a homemade, peroxide-based liquid to blow up the 10 U.S.-bound planes they had targeted.
John Thompson, president of the Mackenzie Institute, a Canadian think-tank on organized violence, said he's pretty sure he recognizes which solution the terrorists had in mind. "Triacetone triperoxide was the weapon of choice for the Palestinians during the second intifada. It's the preferred weapon for a lot of jihadists," said Thompson, who's been studying terrorist bomb-making techniques for over 20 years. "It's really powerful for its weight, so it's used a lot in suicide bombers' vests."
Anyone with half an hour, a set of instructions found online and about $75 can easily make the stuff. "You could make it in your kitchen," said Prof. Bhibou Mohanty, an explosives expert at the University of Toronto.
Mohanty said the major ingredients are peroxide, which is found in hair bleach, and acetone, which is found in most types of paint. Mix them in the right quantities, use some aluminium powder to increase potency and you've got yourself a ready-made bomb.
The compound has advantages beyond its simple makeup. For instance, said Mohanty, it's really easy to get it to explode. "It can be ignited, as opposed to detonated," he said. That means that a simple match or lighter would be enough to start an explosion.
Or any simple electronic device with a current. You could pull a battery out of a cheap radio, clip on a couple wires, and voila.
Because it's a liquid, it can be stored in places where airport security officials might not look. Thompson said just a small eyedrop container could hold enough of the solution (properly mixed, of course) to bring down an aircraft.
I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. But since hair bleach and nail polish will do, the security nightmare is easy to see.
British police have not confirmed the use of a peroxide-based solution. All they know for sure so far is that the explosives came in liquid form. So in theory, there's still a whole range of possibilities as to what the bombers planned to use. Thompson said there are lots of ways to make a cheap liquid bomb. The only common denominator is that just about anyone can do it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2006 00:00 ||
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'Or any simple electronic device with a current.'
And hence the specific concern about IPod's. I wonder if Apple is going to start a new 'think diffrent' campaign?
#2
I have a couple of iPods as I suspect many here do. I'm trying to figure out how you get enough power out of it to spark something. The port at the bottom is my guess, but you have to get to the USB/Firewire pins, and I think they only support 500 (200 ??) mA max. Not sure if that can set off a peroxide/nail polish bomb.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2006 0:18 Comments ||
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Michael Chertoff's press conference the morning of the alert stated that "they wake up every morning thinking about ways to kill infidels" (really more of a paraphrase there, but the gist is correct). My thought was, "Why aren't we doing the same?"
We do here at the 'burg, but everywhere else, it's crickets and condemnation. Bah.
#5
The Brits were very specific about NOT allowing disposable cameras onboard any aircraft, at the very beginning of the alert. The built-in flash unit is what concerned them : small electric igniter if the outer casing is removed.
#8
With an inherently unstable mixture, a medium length section of nichrome wire and single matchhead would be enough to ignite it. That is what the old Estes model rocket engine igniters were, basically.
#14
Well if the device beeps or buzzes the model rocketry fix was say a radio shack timer hook up a 9 volt battery in series with the buzzer with a flash bulb when the buzzer circut is triggered the 9volt battery sets off the flashbulb that ignites a length of thermalite fuse that sets off your pyro.
BTW i have read that this explosive might be familiar to most rantburgers as those cracker balls you know toss and they go bang fireworks. Makes me really want to be next to a couple kilos of the stuff.
Posted by: bruce ||
08/12/2006 20:35 Comments ||
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#15
To stay ahead of the "Silicon Simians", this would probably be a good thread to keep alive somehow...Our basic collective H.S. Chem. smarts is better than theirs anyway. We just don't "dwell" on it like they do. I say, keep the insights flowing.
The Malaysians for Peace Alliance (Aman Malaysia) and the Muslims Consumer Association (PPIM) Saturday launched a campaign to boycott Coca-Cola and Starbucks coffee in protest against Israel's atrocities in Lebanon and Palestine. Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir [son of former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad], who is coordinating the Aman Malaysia-PPIM pact for the boycott, also urged the Muslim Restaurants Association and other non-governmental organisations to cooperate by boycotting American products.
Speaking to reporters after announcing the launch of the boycott campaign here today, Mukhriz, who also heads Aman Malaysia, believed that the boycott would be effective in bringing more international pressure on Israel to stop bombing Lebanon and Palestine. The move, he added, was also to show Israel and the United States that Malaysians rejected Israel's latest atrocities in West Asia. He added that Malaysians must be made to realise that they can do something to stop the war in southern Lebanon and attacks on Palestine.
Mukhriz had earlier opened the Kuala Kurau Umno delegates meeti
CBS News announced in the spring that [Mike] Wallace had retired as a regular "60 Minutes" correspondent, although he would still be available for special interviews.
Wallace said he nearly fell out of his chair when Ahmadinejad told him, "I hear this is your last interview."
or maybe Ahmadinejad knows something the rest of us don't
#1
Of Ahmadinejad, Wallace said, "He's an impressive fellow, this guy. He really is. He's obviously smart as hell."
Wallace, is apparently, easily impressed. Kind of like Dan Rather being impressed with Saddam. What about this dictatorial little twit impressed you Mike? Was it his Hitlerian demeanor and aspirations? His desire to exterminate the Jews?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2006 16:06 Comments ||
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#6
I wonder if anyone would notice if Mike Wallace gave just one more interview before the 22nd, just to let the world know that Ahmadinejad's fortunetelling abilities may not bee as good as he thinks.
#9
What Iran does NORTH KOREA tries to do or emulate as close as possible, and the NorKors have already admitted or inferred to having nukes. Iran is hell-bent for regional and later global empire, which isn't gonna stop whether Iran formally announces it has nukes on 8/22 or other. Neither will the attacks on Israel.
Posted by: ed ||
08/12/2006 10:13 ||
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Convoys of Hizbollah trainees drove to Syria, boarded aircraft at military airbases, and flew off to Iran... The Hizbollah prisoners know that their hero status in Lebanon will be short lived, and that eventually the Lebanese Shia community, the backbone of Hizbollah support, will be called to account. For that reason, many Hizbollah employees are sending their families to Syria, an exile that may prove permanent.
If this is true, then 1) Syria's going to get a bit crowded, and 2) the Alawites aren't going to be happy about it.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has voted to send a team to Lebanon to investigate alleged abuses by Israel.
The council approved the resolution, proposed by a group of states led by Islamic countries, by 27 votes to 11. Many of the resolution's opponents criticised it for not mentioning Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
Addressing the emergency session in Geneva, the UN's human rights chief, Louise Arbour, chided both sides for inflicting suffering on civilians. "Israeli attacks affecting civilians continue unabated," she told a special session of the UN Human Rights Council. "Also unrelenting is Hezbollah's indiscriminate shelling of densely populated centres in northern Israel," she said.
Thanks for noticing the latter, Louise, your pink slip is waiting at your former office.
The resolution alleges systematic human rights violations by Israel using terms like war crimes, crimes against humanity and massacres.
Israel and the United States, although not members of the council, urged a vote against, calling the resolution unbalanced. European Union countries, alongside Japan and Canada, voted against, calling it one-sided and divisive.
Those voting for included China, Russia, India, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, Zambia and South Africa, as well as members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.
No surprises there, but Presidente Fox shouldn't ask us for anyone in his last few months in office.
The resolution passed highlights once again the bitter divisions of the Middle East, the BBC's Imogen Foulkes says.
Human rights groups and aid agencies struggling to bring relief to Lebanon all agree the humanitarian situation in the region is becoming catastrophic, our correspondent notes. But this resolution, revealing once again just how politicised the United Nations can be, is probably not what they were looking for, she adds.
#3
This is far worse than divisive, politicized, or useless. Arbour's comments - and she was being critical of the idiotic resolution - embodies the abandonment of all actual humanitarian law. The suffering of non-combatants as a result of deliberate actions by one side (HB) does not impose any special burdens on Israel. The usual obligation to avoid non-combatant deaths and injuries and to make military-benefit calculations in cases where such cannot be avoided apply - but so far nothing indicates that Israeli actions do not pass muster in this regard (mistakes are a separate matter). It is an evisceration of the humanitarian considerations of the laws of war to give HB a pass for its deliberate mixing of combatants and non-combatants to gain military advantage.
#5
They never investigate the people who take vids of themselves cutting people's heads off, do they?
But then again, would the head chopppers listen anyway? Kinda like looking for your car keys under the streetlamp cause the light is better, even though you lost them 300 meters away.
Just like in relationships, these loosers only have the power over you that you give them. Tell them you don't care at all what they say and deny them access; eventually they will wither away and die.
Oh, red cross meet with the kidnaped and imprisoned israeli soldiers? No? That's odd.
Posted by: Mark E. ||
08/12/2006 12:20 Comments ||
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TEHRAN, Aug 11, 2006 (AFP) - Iran's conservative Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi vowed Friday to rein in the media as part of a new clampdown on "wicked manifestations in society".
The minister said there too many domestic news agencies in the Islamic republic and that their number needed to be reined in to create more quality and less quantity of news output.
So they'll get rid of the ones that report anything negative about the Mad Mullahs.
He said 11 news agencies were already operating with his ministry's authorization and another eight were awaiting permits. A further 50 to 60 had also submitted applications to the ministry, he added. "I have no choice but to restrict the extent of these things, when the investment has been more in quantity than quality," he said.
Because he's smarter about this than the consumers of the news.
Saffar-Harandi said the move would be part of a wider campaign to revive the values of the Islamic revolution in cultural life. "Unfortunately, we witness inappropriate and wicked manifestations in society today ... But now, you have my word that we will purify the cultural atmosphere," he said in a speech carried live by state radio. "In the near future, we will not witness an unhealthy cultural product among books, movies, shows, music, etc."
It's a 'Back to the Burqa' movment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
"Saffar-Harandi said the move would be part of a wider campaign to revive the values of the Islamic revolution in cultural life. "
A revival is necessary? But I thought everybody just LOVED the Islamic revolution.
" . . you have my word that we will purify the cultural atmosphere,"
Purify? Uh-oh.
"In the near future, we will not witness an unhealthy cultural product among
books,
movies,
shows,
music, etc."
Gotta reign in the Iranian people and make things really, really boring. Of course this doesn't apply to the Mullahs and their gated community Hollywood lifestyles.
In the flurry of pro and con statements from American Christians regarding Israel's strikes on Hezbollah guerrillas, one major religious group has remained notably quiet - evangelicals.
The biggest organizations in the movement, usually vocal backers of the Jewish state, have made no formal comment on the war in Lebanon despite pleas from Israelis that they do so. Among those who have taken no official stand are the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents thousands of local churches and ministries, and the 16.2 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, the largest U.S. Protestant denomination.
The Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the evangelical association, insists the inaction is not a criticism of Israel, but reflects a new caution about the risks for Christians living in Muslim countries. Haggard said Israeli embassy officials called him several times a day during the first two weeks of the conflict, asking for a public expression of support. He declined. ``Our silence is not a rejection of Israel or even a hesitation about Israel. Our silence is to try to protect people,'' said Haggard, pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo. ``There's a rapidly growing evangelical population in virtually every Islamic country. Much of it is underground in the countries that are more radicalized, and many of the Christians survive based on their neighbors just ignoring the fact that they don't go to mosque.''
Sounds like a good reason to stay low.
Asked for comment, Richard Land, head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, said only that ``Southern Baptists overwhelmingly support Israel's right to live at peace with her neighbors within secure borders and they pray for the peace of Jerusalem to prevail in the Middle East.''
James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, released his first comments in a statement Friday, a month after the fighting began. Dobson said the loss of life in Lebanon was ``terrible,'' but added ``there is no doubt who the aggressors are'' in the war and that Israel is being threatened with ``annihilation.``While we are praying without ceasing for the innocent victims in Lebanon, we stand firmly with Israel and the Jews,'' Dobson said.
The three groups have far greater impact on public policy than do Christian Zionists, a minority among conservative Christians who back Israel unequivocally because they see its existence as part of biblical prophesy.
While Israel is the biblical homeland, Lebanon also holds a special place in the Christian community. About 36 percent of its population is Christian, comprised mostly of Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics, according to the World Christian Database at Gordon Conwell-Theological Seminary. And Christians across the spectrum of belief have long-standing missionary ties there, setting up hospitals, schools and other ministries.
Reservations have mainly been expressed by the Roman Catholic Church and the more liberal mainline Protestant groups. The World Council of Churches, which represents about 350 Protestant and Orthodox Christian churches, along with the Lutheran World Federation and the Vatican have repeatedly called for a cease-fire.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2006 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
LONDON (AP) - One was an athletic teenager who had grown into a devout young man, another a soccer-loving convert to Islam. The youngest was 17, the oldest 35. Many were born in Britain and all were reared here.
Norwegian authorities warn cooperation partners each time a passport goes astray. There are currently a record 95,000 missing passports in the computer register of the Schengen agreement countries, news agency ANB reports.
Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was being treated Friday evening in the emergency room of Providence Health Center in Waco. Sheehan, who has been on a liquids-only diet for 37 days as part of a fast in protest of the war, was described as being gaunt and pale as she arrived at the hospital. An assistant said Sheehan, who flew to Central Texas after a trip with other activists to Jordan to meet with members of Iraq's new parliament, was being treated for exhaustion. 
Fifty-five percent of Americans approve of President George W. Bush's handling of homeland security, an 11 percent jump from May, according to a Newsweek poll released on Saturday. The poll was taken Thursday and Friday, after British authorities foiled a plot to use chemical bombs to bring down as many as 10 airliners flying from Britain to the United States. 
KARACHI: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Karachi organised a rally on Saturday in Liaquatabad to protest the Israeli offensive in Lebanon and uncontrolled price hikes in the country. Hundreds of protestors carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans against Israel, the United States and its western allies and loudly condemned the Pakistani government for acting at the behest of its western masters. MMA local leaders Siddique Rathore, Mairajul Huda Siddiqui, Nasrullah Shaji, Younus Barai and others demanded the government adopt policies to make peoples lives better.
In the Middle East, they call it Hellbrew.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has voted to send a team to Lebanon to investigate alleged abuses by Israel.
TEHRAN, Aug 11, 2006 (AFP) - Iran's conservative Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister 
