Afghanistans Taliban insurgents say they are going to spend $1 million on opening schools in areas they control to counter the propaganda of the West and the Western-backed government.
The Taliban banned girls from education during their rule, and have attacked hundreds of schools and killed some teachers and pupils in recent years as part of their war against the government and its Western backers. The aims are to reopen schools so children who are deprived can benefit and secondly, to counter the propaganda of the West and its puppets against Islam, jihad and the Taliban, a Taliban spokesman, Abdul Hai Mutmaen, said by telephone from an undisclosed location. Students will be taught subjects that are in line with Islamic teaching and jihad, he said late on Saturday.
In another development on Sunday, a suicide bomber in a car targeted a NATO convoy just south of Kabul. The bomber was killed in the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
#1 - The first rule of Jihad Club is, you do not talk about Jihad Club.
#2 - The second rule of Jihad Club is, you DO NOT talk about Jihad Club.
#3 - If someone says stop, goes limp, taps out, his Jihad is over.
#4 - Two guys against innocent women and children to a fight.
#5 - One fight at a time.
#6 - No shirts, no shoes. Just bhurkas
#7 - Fights will go on as long as they have to.
#8 - If this is your first night at Jihad Club, you have to fight.
#6
I, for one, applaud Mr. Mutmaen and his Taliban groupies for educating the masses there. After all, bin Laden himself started education in Afghanistan and built all sorts of wonderful things there!
Supporters of radical Islamic cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al Houthi are demanding Jews leave the Saada region in northern Yemen within 10 days. The Saudi newspaper al-Watan reports explicit threats resulted in a meeting between local authorities and area sheikhs. Jewish residents complained, demanding equal treatment as Yemenite citizens. After the meeting, a verdict was signed by both Jews and authorities but it did not provide exemption from threats.
Yeminite officials pleaded for the Jews to stay. Financial compensation was provided for residents who left to rent safer places. YNetNews reported Monday one threatening letter claims Jews have participated in activities that "serve global Zionism." The letter further claims Jews work at "corrupting people, and making them abandon their values." The letter claims the Jews have been under "meticulous surveillance."
Yihya Yousef Mousa left his home, saying the Islamic radicals "did not want to see even one Jew in Saada." Mousa says he returned home last Wednesday following "official instructions," and the organization retaliated with threats of kidnappings and theft of cars and money. Another warning promised harm to Jews still in the area by Friday.
Apparently Yemen still isn't Judenrein. Still, Israel will take them; in fact, given that YNET News has reported on it, I'm sure the government will offer to to fly in and pick them up.
#1
perhaps the Yemen authorities could concentrate on visiting harsh retribution on the threateners? Would that be too much to ask demand? Yemen wants to maintain good relations, especially since they inconveniently had the Cole attack, the Islamic terrorist Prison Break, the Somali asshole UIC leadership refugee boatlift landed on their shores, the....
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/22/2007 21:37 Comments ||
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Britain spends less of its wealth on defence than Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey despite the constant demands placed on its Armed Forces, official figures show. According to the Conservatives, defence spending as a proportion of the UK's gross domestic product is at its lowest since 1930, before the UK recognised the rising threat of Nazi Germany.
Cost-cutting imposed by the Ministry of Defence is now threatening the Navy's warship-building programme and leading to unprecedented levels of disaffection among senior serving and recently retired officers.
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, will be challenged in the Commons today over reports of further cutbacks in the programme for new Type 45 destroyers and growing doubts on whether the Government will fulfil its promise to build two new aircraft carriers.
Julian Lewis, a Conservative defence spokesman, said last night that the Royal Navy was "bloodied, battered and on the ropes", with a "palpable feeling of betrayal" at the top as a result of a catalogue of cuts
Ministers have ordered defence chiefs to stop the leaks about equipment shortages and cutbacks to front line capability which are hitting morale. The leaks have also infuriated the Chancellor Gordon Brown, who is being blamed for the squeeze as he prepares to take over as Prime Minister.
Rather ruining his planned debut, aren't they.
Figures from Nato show that Britain lags behind the United States and France as well as smaller countries such as Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey in the share of national wealth it spends on defence. Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said: "To drop to this level of our national wealth seems absolutely crazy. We have a smaller navy than the French and our ships are being mothballed. What a triumph for new Labour."
Government figures show that 2.5 per cent of the UK's GDP or around £32 billion was likely to be spent on defence in 2005/6 compared with 4.4 per cent in 1987/88. The MoD has been forced to borrow from private companies through the Private Finance Initiative to ensure that the Armed Forces are prepared for the 21st century.
Despite the apparent lower level of spending, the Government has presided over a big increase in operational commitments since coming to power in 1997: Operation Desert Fox aimed at destroying Saddam Hussein's capability to produce weapons of mass destruction (1998), Kosovo (1999 ongoing), Sierra Leone (2000 ongoing), Afghanistan (2001 ongoing) and Operation Telic in Iraq (2003 ongoing).
Figures obtained by the Conservatives show that troop numbers have fallen from 101,360 full-time personnel in 1997 to 99,460 in 2007 while the Royal Air Force has seen offensive squadrons fall from 16 to 11, and the Navy has lost eight destroyers and six frigates. Soldiers' leave and training has also been squeezed.
Last November the government spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, said the Armed Forces were 5,170 below a total strength of 180,690 and since 2001 have operated at or above predicted deployment levels. The MoD agreed operating at this level meant "additional strains" on staff, but denied forces were overstretched.
The NAO report found that, for the past five years, they had "consistently operated at or above the most demanding combination of operations envisaged" by defence planners. More at the link.
#2
The entire Cabinet should be arrested for this. If things get as bad as they are likely to get, we may see a return to rule by Her/His Majesty's Privy Cabinet. Clearly, the people - and I include myself - have shown ourselves to be incompetent to elect a Parliament capable of defending the Realm.
#4
Appeasement bordering on abject surrender was a major theme of British politics in the 1930's. A lone voice in the wilderness called for an extraordinary military build up, but his voice was rejected until it was almost too late. His voice was persistant. Thank you Mr. Churchill.
Today England appears to be very much in tune with the appeasers from the 1930's. Actually, it's worse. There are more islamists entrenched in GB today than there were entrenched Nazi sympathizers at any period of the 1930's.
Why should anyone be surprised to learn that England is abdicating it's duty to defend from without that which it will not defend from within.
I recall from Mark Steyn's book (Face of the Tiger) the story of Queen Elizabeth several days after 9/11. Her Majesty was the first British monarch in the history of her once magnificent Empire to STAND and SING the anthem of a foreign country (albeit one her relatives played a hand in establishing).
Steyn records that tears welled in her eyes when she sang the WORDS of the song written by an unheralded lawyer in the bay outside the City of Baltimore during the last time the eastern seaboard of the US came under sustained attack (compliments of the Royal Navy).
Steyn engaged in conjecture. He wrote that her tears at St. Paul's Cathedral were most sincere in no small part because the Grand Old Lady got it. Her majesty understood something many (most)of her subjects did not: That the true guarantor of the continued freedom of her entire Empire rest squarely on the shoulders of the unruly cousins for whom she was in mourning.
It's further recorded (by Steyn) that the great organ of St. Paul's Cathedral bellowed the strains of the American cousin's CALL to WAR. The Queen stood and sang the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic, the words of which were last heard in that Great Cathedral during the internment ceremony for a giant and the Greatest British Prime Minister of the 20th century.
Dear Great Britain: You have cousins here who will stand with you but you must first be prepared to stand on your own. It may not be too late.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
01/22/2007 14:48 Comments ||
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#5
It seems time for all those retired military people to stand for Parliament on a platform of supporting the troops. I'm silling to bet that they'd garner enough votes to get the attention of the two pacifist parties -- Liberal and Tory, I mean -- even if it was the Conservative Shadow Defence Minister who brought this up to discomfit the government.
#6
Britain seems to be further down the road to the New World Order envisioned by its leftists (and those of the USA). The country has taken leave of its senses, but may yet recover. Prince Harry, son of the beloved princess Diana, will be on the line in Iraq in May.
Britain does not have a democracy. What it has is a system designed to give as little power to the people as possible and give it to the parties instead.
Conider this: it is the party who sekects the candidates without you having anything to say about it. You donb't have the equivalent of primary elections like in America. In addition you don't even have a second round like in France who at least gives some possibilities to the people for picking the guy who will bear the colors of the left and the right in second round.
Then the Prlaiment meets (or more xactly the leading party and picvks the Prime Minister without asking you anything. In fact it can demote it, without asking you anything and without going to elections. Oh, and the whips are there to ensure that your reprtesentative votes go along party line ainstead of about defending the interests of his constintuency.
That is why you don't have to feel guilty about your representatives. You have any.
#10
The Queen stood and sang the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic?
The Battle Hymn of the Republic? That one who speaks of men dying for settibg other free and who was a marching song of the Union during the Civil war? Are you sure?
#11
Pity is, there is no one like Winston Churchill in either major party today. Hell, you would be lucky to find a politician even worth half of Winston in all of Western Europe. What is weird is that the Royal Family may be the only hope for the UK : Prince Harry becomes King, invokes his right to dissolve Parliament and call new elections, and forces the British choose a decent government. Unfortunately, there is a greater chance of Harry Potter becoming a Labour PM than that happening.
#12
"In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me:
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on."
Julia Ward Howe
JFM I am not sure about the being sung at Churchill's funeral but that last verse is a doozy. Sure to make a liberal squirm and an aclu lawyer wet himself.
I have never heard about HRH singing but I sure find it touching.
Even the Southerners sang that tune during the war and as a result became one of the most famous songs and poems to come out of the war between the states next to Dixie, of course.
#13
The Battle Hymn of the Republic? That one who speaks of men dying for settibg other free and who was a marching song of the Union during the Civil war? Are you sure?
Yes, boys choir sang it with candles and everything. Damn moving and a little scary.
#14
I like what GEORGE WILL + KRAUTHAMMER, etal. said or inferred about the AIRBUS vs BOEING controversy - AIRBUS hurt itself by arguing for, and winning, a bad contract which it knew wasn't in its best interests; and then made matters worse for itself by building a costs-heavy, oversized, mostly poorly-made/supplied passenger plane whose commercial strstegy was outdated before it even made its first flight. THE ONLY COMPANIES THAT MADE OUT WERE THOSE ENGAGED IN CONCRETE/CEMENT RECONSTRUX OF A380-damaged RUNWAYS-TAXIWAYS-APRONS. You know its not good when even dedic anti-Dubya/USA USLefty critics criticize Airbus on TV.
Moderate British Muslims in the police, Armed Forces and Civil Service will one day revolt against the system to "crush it from within", according to Omar Bakri Mohammed, the notorious Islamic extremist.
In claims condemned as a cynical attempt to create division, the co-founder of the extremist al-Muhajiroun group said that Britain was "digging a deep hole" for itself by allowing Muslims into the Services and Whitehall.
Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Telegraph in Lebanon, where he moved in August 2005 at about the time it emerged the British authorities might charge him with incitement to treason he claimed police officers, soldiers and civil servants would one day become radicalised. "When you start to ask Muslims to join your Army and your police you are making a grave mistake. That British Muslim who joins the police today will one day read the Koran and will have an awakening," he said. "Those moderates are one day going to be practising Muslims. Now what happens if they are British police or in the Army and they have weapons? How much information do they have about you that they will use to serve the global struggle?
"They will revolt against the system if they have been failed by your foreign policy which is oppressive against Islam, or have been contacted by people who believe Britain is a domain of war."
#1
ask yourself why would he say this, if he really thinks it would work?
More likely is that he WANTS moderate muslims excluded from the police, armed forces, and civil service, cause he WANTS the muslim pop to be angry at the govt, and more available for recruitment by the likes of him.
#2
The great pity is that these marooons say exactly what they believe and intend. We refuse to listen, because we are continually astounded at what we think is utter stupidity. I think what he says will happen. I cannot believe myself what happens in Britain on a daily basis. Has everyone there decided to become so drunk and disoriented that they just refuse to participate in the game of life ? Why is this nonsense tolerated ? You cannot survive following this course of behavior. Why do you not see it ? If Brits refuse to defend themselves internally within their own communities, it is no wonder that they now refuse to defend themselves by funding their military. Apparently they have adopted a collective death wish. The Muz will give it to you.
British lawmakers urged their government to work with the US administration to find alternatives to the terrorist prison camp in Guantanamo Bay so that it could be closed as soon as possible. How about if we put 'em up with you guys, you like 'em so much?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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I hear the sharks around GITMO are hungry this time of year.
#2
We've spent millions there. But, we really have no need of this type facility. We simply do not need to keep shitbags for extended periods. Seven days of vigorous information sharing ought to be sufficient. Then dispose.
#10
There's a large, cold and drafty fortress-like building in Windsor. Mostly unoccupied.
Posted by: ed ||
01/22/2007 8:14 Comments ||
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#11
Liberal Democrat member of parliament Sarah Teather said the committee appeared to have been given the VIP antiseptic tour of the camp. Teather helped a 10-year-old constituent whose father is being held at the camp to deliver a letter to Tony Blair this month asking for the prime ministers help in obtaining his release. The committee were given no direct access to prisoners, and they do not appear to have taken evidence either from former detainees, or lawyers or families of current detainees, she said. She also said the report gives very little consideration to the situation of the estimated eight British residents held there.
We've found a solution, Sarah.
Meet your new housemate, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed...
#12
Maybe when the UK coughs up some $$ to run the operation, then they can offer an opinion. Since they can't even equip their fighting units, I think we can safely ignore this whining.
#13
Amen, and amen, USN! No offense meant to our 'burg cousins across the pond and all. Of course, I realize there's a big difference between the citizenry and the enlightened pols. More so true in Britain, I guess, but we have 'em here too.
Posted by: BA ||
01/22/2007 16:00 Comments ||
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CARACAS, Jan 21: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez vowed on Sunday that his government would always back US foes Syria and Iran in the face of threats from Washington.
The United States is an empire of madmen, Chavez, who has accused Washington of wanting to topple him, said in his weekly radio television show Hello President. They threaten Syria. We will always be with Syria and Iran, he told Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal, who was a guest in the broadcast.
They want to remove our brother (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad. Chavez visited Syria and Iran last year and expects a visit from Assad sometime this year. He met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Caracas a week ago.
#3
The CIA should be putting Cuban and Iranian exiles onto Radio Free latin America to explain the subtle facts about the Cuban revolution and living in a theocracy. I think if the bulk of the Venezualens knew who they were siding with, rather than simply againt the Yankees they'd have a change of heart.
The US should be pushing for some nation in Latin America to provide a decent example of leadership and sane fiscal policies. A nation that is not closely tied to the USA.
#4
Problem is that the Latin American publics have never been particular fans of capitalism, and have embraced various forms of socialism quite eagerly over the 100 years or so; that has included at least 2 distinct flavors of National Socialism.
Also, one big problem in the Latin American countries is that the money tends to be concentrated in the hands of a few major families, i.e., the 40 families in Mexico - so any surge in capitalism generally serves to enrich those families exclusively, due to the endemic corruption present in those societies.
And there is the problem of tribalism and the usually huge number of unassimilated Indians, who view any Western language, education, or skills with great suspicion; plus the fact that most of the educated and well-trained are European in origin, or mestizos, and you have a huge racial component for the socialists/communists to exploit.
I must've missed this when it was in KCNA...
The men who finally made it into the remote highland village of Koogang were greeted by an eerie silence and a gruesome sight.
Lying among the simple wooden huts and burnt remnants of wooden furniture, they found the bodies of 46 North Korean villagers, including women and children, all of whom had frozen to death. Cut off from the outside world by one of the harshest winters in many years, the villagers had suffered a macabre fate that has exposed both the desperate poverty and callous misrule blighting the Stalinist state.
More than 300 people are thought to have perished from cold so far this winter in North Korea's mountainous north, victims of temperatures as low as -30C and of an arrogant ruling clique.
"Nobody got out of the trap alive," said an official at the Chinese embassy in the capital, Pyongyang, who confirmed the events of Koogang. "After heavy snowfalls, there was a severe frost. The inhabitants were doomed."
In a country notorious for its secretiveness, the regime of President Kim Jong-il has made no mention of the deaths. As the rest of the population struggle to stay warm, 50,000 members of his ruling elite continue to live in splendid isolation in a compound in central Pyongyang enjoying the benefits of hot water, central heating and satellite television.
Elsewhere in the city, though, the scene could have been lifted from the pages of a Charles Dickens novel. The air is thick with the smell of coal dust, as families light fires on the floors of their apartments to keep out the bitter, cold winds that blow south from Siberia.
Outside Pyongyang, the situation is yet more desperate. A six-mile drive from the city, poor farmers trudge through the snow with bundles of brushwood on their backs. A massive process of deforestation, begun in the 1990s by Kim Jong-il's father and predecessor, Kim il Sung, has resulted in huge swathes of forest being chopped down to clear land for farming. The disastrous policy led to large-scale soil erosion, believed by many to have been a leading cause of mass famine of the 1990s, when up to three million people starved to death.
It has made the bitter winter, when the temperature in the capital routinely falls to -13C, even more dangerous as the rural poor struggle to gather enough firewood to sustain them. The inhabitants of Koogang, around 200 miles north-east of the capital, set fire to tables and chairs, even tearing down the wood from their own homes in a desperate attempt to keep warm.
The World Food Programme estimates that North Korea will be 900,000 tons short of the amount of food needed to feed its 23 million population this year. Aid efforts have been complicated by sanctions, imposed after Kim Jong-il's regime carried out a nuclear test in October last year. Last week, the country held negotiations with US diplomats aimed at re-starting six-party peace talks, which also include China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
Christopher Hill, America's chief envoy at the talks in Berlin, signalled progress, saying that the US looked forward "to establishing a normal relationship with North Korea".
But while there may be signs of a thaw in the country's frosty relationship with the West, in Pyongyang there is no respite from the sub-zero temperatures. The electricity supply is notoriously unreliable and as evening falls the city streets are plunged into darkness.
The only constant source of light is the giant illuminated copper statue of Kim il Sung on a hill top overlooking the city cold comfort for those living through the bleak North Korean mid-winter.
#4
the villagers had suffered a macabre fate that has exposed both the desperate poverty and callous misrule blighting the Stalinist state.
More than 300 people are thought to have perished from cold so far this winter in North Korea's mountainous north, victims of temperatures as low as -30C and of an arrogant ruling clique.
Would any major American media outlet speak so plainly? Even Fox tempers their NKor coverage with more "neutral" language.
Posted by: ed ||
01/22/2007 14:08 Comments ||
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#8
So as Dear Leader causes his population to die off through various mis-steps, when will he wake up to see there are no more young people available to serve in his army?
#9
One of those little daily items Diane Sawyer and ABC News missed, I guess.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/22/2007 14:50 Comments ||
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#10
This is a bit much and blaming Kim for this is like blaming Bush for global warming. Even if this report was 100% true, the retoric attached to it makes it nothing more than propaganda and destroys all credibility.
Kim needs to go away and most everyone knows this, but a -30 cold snap will kill just about any third world provance, hell they live in shacks.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/22/2007 15:10 Comments ||
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#11
Burn a few Taepo Dongs, then eat the ashes. You'll feel better.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
01/22/2007 16:05 Comments ||
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#13
Of that 900,000 tons, the ruling elite would steal about 300,000 and the rest would go to the army. They are beyond trusting, the people that need the food wouldn't see a grain of rice.
#14
No, blaming Kimmie is right on target, Pan. If Kimmie had shown the political sense of Deng, Giap, or the Iraqi Communist Party, the NorKors would not be literally dying in the dark and cold. The innate ability of Kimmie to reverse the stupidity of the NorKor nuke program and thereby gain all the economic and political benefits that would entail lays the blame squarely at his feet. Hell, he could simply announce "a nuclear freeze on the Korean peninsula", and scored huge with the international community; add in a mealy-mouthed non-apology to the Japanese {"I am sorry that my missile tests showed your vulnerabilities and made you pee your pants"}, and he could even get the cash freeze lifted.
But, because of his ego and stupidity, his people are dying like starving rats in an icehouse. Even Saddam was smart enough to play the sanctions game, with controlled TV coverage of the sick and dying. Kimmie could gangsta literal tons of food and coal from South Korea with televised pictures of the suffering of the common man in NorKor. Add in the kneejerk reaction of Oxfam, HRW, and the UN, and you are talking enough food, oil, medicine, and clothing to take care of the whole freaking population for at least 3 years.
#17
I'll give ya Kim is an ass, can't manage geopolitical issues, and cares less about the people in his country than his atomic plans. I frankly thought we would have gone to blows with him right after his father died and I wonder why we allow him to continue.
I just can't stand the running editorial and cheap propaganda effort of this article. This is the kind of journalism that signifies everything wrong with todays MSM.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/22/2007 19:41 Comments ||
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#18
2000 is only the minima - true threshold is 5000-plus for normal human activity be it active or passive. 2000 a day > are still gonna hear desperate? complaints "I'm so hungry/thirsty", becuz it taint enuff. AND, when considering that to offset famine large numbers of local MOSTLY MEN + MOSTLY MALE YOUTHS to keep working the fields 24-7-365 in attempts to grow satisf yields of edible crops, then we're actually talking 10,000-plus MINIMUM A DAY, NOT COUNTING WATER. * WHY OIL-FOR-FOOD/KOFI-GATE(S) BECUZ, BY THE ABOVE, UNO DONATIONS > BARELY ENUFF TO RELIEVE SOME OF DAILY HUNGER PAINS OF THE STARVING. IFF ANYTHING, JUST PROLONGING THEIR DEATH AGONY.
#19
No blaming Kimmie-boy is exactly right. Odd you don't hear of this type of thing in Siberia or China. Heck doesn't Harbin China (NW of N. Korea) regularly put on an ice festival in February?
No it is Kimmie's fault for not providing for his people. He is the 'Dear Leader' - he is responsible. He should make sure that there is food available - and ample fuel for heat and cooking. Instead he blows it on Nuclear Weapons - which isn't cheap.
Perhaps this article is a bit over-the-top. But look at the byline - By Sergey Soukhorukov in Pyongyang. This guy is right there.
I noticed lately that Kim isn't missing any meals.
Remember - This is the Workers Paradise the left worships.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/22/2007 22:18 Comments ||
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#21
Don't be silly, read the story not the fluff.
Wild koreans heat their one room stick and sheet metal hovels with charcoal/wood firepit/stoves. The fumes are vented thru hollow floor tiles. The exhaust warms the floor, which heats the room pretty well...until it leaks.
During winter cold, cold damp arctic winds blow across Siberia, out of Mongolia across the yellow sea (yellow from the desert dust). Block the leaks where the wind comes in (and it always comes in), the CO builds up and you either wake up puking, or don't wake up and they find you blue...and frozen in the morning. Hundreds of families die every winter.
Joe's nuts, again. MRE's are 4000 calories, a fat american diet is 1500-2000. The wild koreans get by on 800-1000 while working the fields. The diet is mostly carbs with little protein so little free thought.
#22
Looks like the Evil Bush Neocon Clique put the "brutal Afghan winter" into cold storage for a few years, then shifted it to the northwest and brought it out to massacre another victim of American imperialism.
/channeling moonbats
Whenever I think of campus activists denouncing American imperialism, I have this vivid flashback to that ape mob chanting and beating their chests in one of the Planet of the Apes sequels.
BEIJING - The six-nation talks on North Koreas nuclear programme should resume as soon as possible, the chief US envoy to the negotiations said Monday after holding discussions with host nation China.
I have had lengthy discussions with (Chinese Vice Minister) Wu Dawei and we have agreed to the need to get the six-party talks going as soon as possible, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told journalists. I would hope the Chinese government will be able to announce soon the start-up of the six-party talks.
Hill made the comments before flying back to the United States, wrapping up a whirlwind trip to brief South Korea, Japan and China on his rare one-on-one talks with North Koreas nuclear envoy Kim Kye-Gwan in Berlin.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
So how much did this worthless junket cost the US taxpayer? The Chinese Govt is a big part of the problem, not the solution. South Korea is part of the problem. Everybody is jacking us around, so why are we putting up with them. It does not mean that we should go apesh*t, it means that we quit playing games and start at least taking straight.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/22/2007 9:31 Comments ||
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WaPo Flovored.
Fighter-jet parts and other sensitive U.S. military gear seized from front companies for Iran and brokers for China have been traced in criminal cases to a surprising source: the Pentagon. In one case, federal investigators said, contraband purchased in Defense Department surplus auctions was delivered to Iran, a country President Bush has branded part of an "axis of evil." Why is it important to get Bush's 'axis' statement in here?
A top priority for Iran are parts for the F-14 fighter jet, which the United States allowed Tehran to buy in the 1970s. In that instance, a Pakistani arms broker convicted of exporting U.S. missile parts to Iran resumed business after his release from prison. He purchased Chinook helicopter engine parts for Iran from a U.S. company that had bought them in a Pentagon surplus sale. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents say those parts reached Iran.
Sensitive military surplus items are supposed to be demilitarized or "de-milled" -- rendered useless for military purposes -- or, if auctioned, sold only to buyers who promise to obey U.S. arms embargoes, export controls and other laws.
Yet the surplus sales can operate like a supermarket for arms dealers. "Right Item, Right Time, Right Place, Right Price, Every Time. Best Value Solutions for America's Warfighters," the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service says on its Web site, calling itself "the place to obtain original U.S. Government surplus property."
Federal investigators are increasingly anxious that a top priority on Iran's shopping list is within its easy reach: parts for the precious fleet of F-14 Tomcat fighter jets the United States allowed Iran to buy in the 1970s when it was an ally.
In one case, convicted middlemen for Iran bought Tomcat parts from the Defense Department's surplus division. Customs agents confiscated them and returned them to the Pentagon, which sold them again -- customs evidence tags still attached -- to another buyer, a suspected broker for Iran. "That would be evidence of a significant breakdown, in my view, in controls and processes," said Greg Kutz, the Government Accountability Office's head of special investigations. "It shouldn't happen the first time, let alone the second time."
A Defense Department official, Frederick N. Baillie, said his Pentagon unit followed procedures. "The fact that those individuals chose to violate the law and the fact that the customs people caught them really indicates that the process is working," said Baillie, the Defense Logistics Agency's executive director of distribution and revitalization policy. "Customs is supposed to check all exports to make sure that all the appropriate certifications and licenses had been granted."
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/22/2007 06:10 ||
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#1
How about if they sell them to a guy named Bob, not a crazy eyed dude named Azim? Bob may just sell them for scrap like he is supposed to.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/22/2007 7:44 Comments ||
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#3
Big problem here is DRMO trying to get as much money for these used parts as possible. Which means selling them more or less intact and counting on the "scrap dealers" to be honest. I'd run sensitive parts into a crusher before they left my control.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/22/2007 12:11 Comments ||
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#4
There is no reason to sell F-14 specific surplus. The only other operator is Iran and that's where it will end up whether Bob or Babil buys it.
Posted by: ed ||
01/22/2007 12:29 Comments ||
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#5
I'd run sensitive parts into a crusher before they left my control.
#6
Sell Iran critical parts on the black market that are designed modified to fail at the most importune time. Ground their remaining F-14 fleet few airplanes that may be in service. Sow the seeds of distrust broadly.
#7
AND---make a profit, to boot. Just make the parts so they cannot fix them when they get wise to our nefarious commerce strategy.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/22/2007 16:30 Comments ||
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#8
DRMO is required by law, passed by Congress, to get the best possible price for the surplus it sells. Congress created this mess with bills passed during the Clinton Administration to increase DRMO sales and revenues, to help pump up the "Peace Dividend". If Congress wished to, they could create a category of no-sales surplus that had to be scrapped in certified scrapyards : several cities do that with seized firearms from crimes. But, Congress is allowed to have their cake and eat it too : they can bitch at DOD for the sales and use it for political capital, without having to actually do anything about it.
ATHENS, Ga. - Former President Jimmy Carter said Saturday that the storm of criticism he has faced for his recent book has not weakened his resolve for fair treatment of Israelis and Palestinians. "My resolve has never been stronger!"
"I have been called a liar," Carter said at a town hall meeting on the second day of a three-day symposium on his presidency at the University of Georgia. If the shoe fits
"I have been called an anti-Semite," he said. "I have been called a bigot. I have been called a plagiarist. I have been called a coward. Those kind of accusations, they concern me, but they don't detract from the fact the book is accurate and is needed." Then his lips fell off.
Following the publication of the book: "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," 14 members of an advisory board to his Carter Center resigned in protest. Those former board members and other critics contend the book is unfairly critical of Israel.
"Not one of the critics of my book has contradicted any of the basic premises ... that is the horrible persecution and oppression of the Palestinian people and secondly that the formula for finding peace in the Middle East already exists," the 82-year-old Carter said.
Carter said he was pleased the book has stimulated discussion of an issue that has been "omitted from the public consciousness" for at least the last six years.
"Israel needs peace and the Palestinian people need peace and justice and I hope my limited influence will help to precipitate some steps," he said. First, wean the Palestinians off the Protocols.
The three-day conference was arranged to mark the 30th anniversary of Carter's 1977 inauguration.`
Continued evidence that not every small state has two qualified citizens to send to the U.S. Senate.
Jospeh Biden, the chairman of the Senate's foreign relations committee, warned against fostering an arms race in space yesterday after China was reported to have conducted an anti-satellite weapons test earlier this month.
Mr Biden, a Democrat, called the test provocative, but said the US had ways of combatting the threat posed by the Chinese test. "I don't think we should be overly worried about this at this point," he told Fox News."We have ways to deal with that ability. "The US said China conducted the test earlier this month in which an old Chinese weather satellite was destroyed by a missile.
"We should wait instead until the Chinese slag one of our ultra-modern spy satellites. After all, we wouldn't want to provoke them," he added.
Mr Biden, who is running for president, said George Bush's policy on weapons in space needed to be reviewed. "One of the things we have to talk about is whether or not the, sort of, ideological base notion about how we deal with space and weapons in space and the use of weapons from space is something that is a path we should continue to follow," he said.
Thus setting up the Dhimmicrats pitch to 'negotiate' on space weapons, which in turn is a stalking horse to cancel the Missile Defense Initiative.
In October, Mr Bush signed an order asserting America's right to deny adversaries access to space for hostile purposes. As part of the first revision of US space policy in nearly 10 years, the policy also said Washington would oppose the development of treaties that sought to prohibit or limit US access to or use of space.
"This is not the direction we want to go, in escalating competition in space. And we should be talking about it," Mr Biden said.
Looks to me like the Chinese are the ones who escalated, Joe.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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Biden always warns the US against entering races it's certain to win. It's gotta be some sort of hair club for morons thing.
#3
The mindset ("mind" used loosely here) is remarkably resilient: spectacular serial debunkings by actual experience in the 80s had no effect on the quasi-religious obsession with "arms races" and "provoking" our adversaries. Another reminder that, whatever the general lack of appealing personalities on all sides, the Dems are simply unfit for the WH. Their national security instincts are so bad it would be comical, if not for the stakes.
#9
Whoa! I must have missed the part where its a good idea to be a step or two behind your competition (militarily or economically). Just a brief glimps into the whacky world of Joe Biden, Plagarists, Democrat, and Nutball.
#11
Sounds like something Jimmuh would've said when we were up against the Soviets which is one of the main reasons, apart from his anti-semitism, for the contempt in which he is held here at Rantburg.
U.S. law-enforcement and intelligence officials say they are taking steps to monitor and combat the spread of Islamist extremism and support for a violent holy war against the West among a "Pepsi jihad" generation of young Muslims in the United States.
At a hearing last week, officials from the CIA, FBI and Department of Homeland Security told lawmakers that the United States had less of a problem with "homegrown" Islamist terrorists than Europe did because of its history as a nation of immigrants. "I think the American historical experience ... with bringing in various groups and giving them, frankly, more opportunity than they might have enjoyed elsewhere has helped us immeasurably in this regard," CIA Director Michael V. Hayden told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Despite that, Phillip Mudd from the FBI's National Security Branch said, the ideology of extremist Islam -- and its attendant support for violence against the West in general and the United States in particular -- was spreading in the United States. "The commonality we have [with Europe] is people who are using the Internet or talking among friends who are part of what I would characterize as a Pepsi jihad. ... It's become popular among youth, and we have this phenomenon in the United States."
Charlie Allen, the head of intelligence for the Department of Homeland Security, said the department reorganized its intelligence analysts late last year and "created a branch focused exclusively on radicalization in the homeland [that] is studying the dynamics of individual and organizational radicalization." He said the United States did not have "the alienation and the de facto segregation that we see in some places in Europe," but that nonetheless there were "pockets of extremism" in the country. He said the branch would create state-by-state and regional assessments this year "of the means and mechanism through which radicalization manifests throughout the United States."
He added that another factor present in many of the successful "homegrown" Islamist attacks in Europe -- the Madrid and London transit bombings being the classic examples -- was a leader directing would-be terrorists to training facilities. "Frequently, we see a charismatic leader ... who selects people for further education, perhaps overseas, particularly into South Asia."
The question of the role played by al Qaeda's central command in Pakistan in providing support and direction for so-called "homegrown" plots in Europe has vexed analysts since the Madrid rail bombings in March 2004. "While the incidents might be homegrown and the recruitment base, if you will, can often be second-generation immigrants who have a Muslim background, we've always found some kind of linkage back to" al Qaeda's leadership, said Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte.
Mr. Allen noted that the Homeland Security Department had a unit dedicated to demographic analysis of immigrant communities in the United States, which might, wittingly or not, harbor networks of criminals or human smugglers that terrorists could exploit. The unit will fuse intelligence and law-enforcement reporting to "assess patterns in which migrant communities -- and likely associated extremists -- may or could travel to and establish themselves within the homeland." The unit aims to "provide strategic warning of mass migration to the United States and likely exploitation by illicit actors."
#1
If they launch their "Pepsi jihad", our answer should be a Coca-Cola crusade.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/22/2007 7:43 Comments ||
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History of immigrants, greater opportunity, less segregation, blah blah blah. The key difference between the US and Europe is the European Convention on Human Rights, which requires EU countries to grant asylum to those "charismatic leaders" willy-nilly, lest the poor dears be "persecuted" in their native lands.
Layer the European welfare bonanza on top of that, and you have yourself what looks like an active intention to recruit and harbor jihadi scum. Some days, it's very hard for me not conclude that Europe deserves everything it's gonna get.
I found the link and the nifty 'Shop at Dhimmi Watch; I am posting just the first bit of a long article, available at link: Adam Gadahn, the first American to be charged with treason in more than fifty years, was born in Oregon, grew up in rural California, and converted to Islam at the age of seventeen. He is now twenty-eight. No one who knew him before his religious awakening ever thought that he would join Al Qaeda, and many people who knew him after he did are still perplexed. And yet, in a short time, Gadahn has become one of Osama bin Ladens senior operatives. (He is believed to be hiding in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan.) He is a member of Al Qaedas media committee, and his responsibilities are thought to include those of translator, video producer, and cultural interpreter. Primarily, though, Gadahn is a spokesperson, a role he performs with tremendous conviction. He has addressed the United States in five videos, most of which reach a wide audience on the Internet and, in some form or another, have been discussed on the evening news. Last year, shortly before the fifth anniversary of September 11th, Al Qaedas leadership featured Gadahn in a video titled An Invitation to Islam. The video began with an introduction from Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaedas main theoretician, who referred to Gadahn tenderly as a brother and as a perceptive person who wants to lead his people out of darkness into the light. Zawahiri implored his Western audience to listen to Gadahn, even to follow his example. Al Qaeda had never before given one of its members, let alone an American, an endorsement so intimate and direct.
There is a certain stylistic uniformity to all forms of propaganda, but the personality of the propagandist is never far from the surface. Bin Ladens murmuring voice belies the contempt in his words. Zawahiri speaks in the confident, rhythmic clauses of a master strategist. Adam Gadahn, though he tries to adopt the composure of a statesman, exudes the zealotry of a convert, and of youth. Sometimes his syntax is so baroque, his sentiment so earnest, that he sounds like a character from The Lord of the Rings. The call has gone out, he proclaimed in one video. The era of jihad and resistance has dawned in all its glory. Mostly, though, Gadahn sounds angry. In 2005, with his head wrapped in a black turban and his face covered with a black veil, he warned, We love nothing better than the heat of battle, the echo of explosions, and slitting the throats of the infidels. Last July, while discussing civilian casualties in Iraq, he said, Its hard to imagine that any compassionate person could see pictures, just pictures, of what the Crusaders did to those children, and not want to go on a shooting spree at the Marines housing facilities at Camp Pendleton. In a feature-length Al Qaeda documentary that was released on the Internet on September 11, 2006, Gadahn referred to the United States as enemy soil, and celebrated the September 11th hijackers as dedicated, strong-willed, highly motivated individuals.
An Invitation to Islam allowed Americans to observe Gadahn at length...
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) considers the Pakistan Peoples Partys decision not to participate in its all parties conference (APC) unless it is held under the ARD to be an expression of no-confidence in the PML-N. Our leaders consider the recent decision of the PPP leadership not to attend the APC as an expression of no-confidence in the PML-N. Mian Nawaz Sharif had sought the opinion of PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto by sending her the agenda of the moot, sources in the PML-N told Daily Times.
They said that Sharif had decided to convene the APC because he had good ties with other opposition parties. If the PPP were to hold the APC, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) would be reluctant to participate. The sources added that during his meeting with Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan had expressed concern that the PPP would not attend the APC, but Sharif was still optimistic about the partys participation. The sources said that the top leadership of the PML-N in Pakistan had discussed this development with Nawaz Sharif. Once we get a formal reply from the PPP, only then will we decide whether this APC should held under the umbrella of the ARD or not, said the sources. However, they said that the PML-N believed the PPPs decision would send a negative signal about the ARD and Charter of Democracy signed last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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The Jamiat Ulema Pakistan (JUP) will not allow President General Pervez Musharraf to get himself re-elected from the present assemblies, JUP chief Shah Muhammad Ans Noorani told a press conference on Sunday. Noorani said that the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) was in contact with other opposition parties and Musharrafs re-election may lead to en-bloc resignations by the opposition, creating a national crisis. Noorani criticised law and order in Punjab and urged the Supreme Court to take notice of the deteriorating situation in the province and dismiss the PML government.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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Sardar Sagir Ahmed Khan, chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), has rejected President General Pervez Musharrafs four-point proposals for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute and has announced countrywide protest rallies against the expected visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Khan said that Musharrafs four-point suggestions were against the interest of Kashmiris. He accused the Pakistani government of changing its stance on the issue. The JKLF leader said that the Indian prime minister was expected to visit Pakistan in the coming months to sign a pact with Pakistan on the issue of Kashmir, adding that the Kashmiri people led by the JKLF would hold demonstrations if Singh does come to Pakistan for this purpose. Khan said that Pakistan and India should let the Kashmiris take a decision about their future whether they want to join either country or become a free state. He said the Kashmiris had not given any mandate to the All Parties Hurriyat Conference to decide Kashmirs fate.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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If they'd called themselves the Jammu And Central Kashmir Active Liberators, they'd have a better acronym.
Allegations that Pakistan is backing the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan were lent further strength on Sunday with the publication of two reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post.
This kind of coverage in the mainstream US press has also come to assume the dimensions of a campaign. While the Post report carried extensive excerpts from an interview with Pakistan Army spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan, the NYT report was far darker. Carlotte Gall reports from Quetta that while the government vehemently rejects the allegations, Western diplomats in both countries and Pakistani opposition figures say that Pakistani intelligence agencies - in particular the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence - have been supporting a Taliban restoration, motivated not only by Islamic fervour but also by a longstanding view that the jihadist movement allows them to assert greater influence on Pakistans vulnerable western flank.
Gall bases her report on more than two weeks of reporting along this frontier, including dozens of interviews with residents on each side of the porous border. The interviews have left her with little doubt that Quetta is an important base for the Taliban, and she claims to have found many signs that Pakistani authorities are encouraging the insurgents, if not sponsoring them. The evidence, she adds, is provided in fearful whispers, and it is anecdotal.
#4
Former Taliban members who have refused to fight in Afghanistan have been arrested - or even mysteriously killed - after resisting pressure to re-enlist in the Taliban
Former Taliban turning their backs on the effort? Interesting. Perhaps the cause --> effect thingy can be learnt after all.
BAGHDAD, Jan. 21 -- The armored sport-utility vehicles whisked into a government compound in the city of Karbala with speed and urgency, speed AND urgency! the way most Americans and foreign dignitaries travel along Iraq's treacherous roads these days. Iraqi guards at checkpoints waved them through Saturday afternoon because the men wore what appeared to be legitimate U.S. military uniforms and badges, and drove cars commonly used by foreigners, the provincial governor said. Not that they might've had fake ID's or nothin'.
Once inside, however, the men unleashed one of the deadliest and most brazen attacks on U.S. forces in a secure area. Five American service members were killed in a hail of grenades and gunfire in a breach of security that Iraqi officials called unprecedented. The attack, which lasted roughly 20 minutes, came on a day when the United States lost at least 20 other troops, including a dozen in a helicopter crash, making it the third most lethal day for American forces in Iraq.
U.S. military officials said Sunday that they could not discuss the attack in Karbala in detail because it remained under investigation. But they said the version of events provided by the governor's office was consistent with their preliminary findings.
After arriving at the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, 60 miles southwest of Baghdad, the attackers detonated sound bombs, Iraqi officials said. "They wanted to create a panic situation," said an aide to Karbala Gov. Akeel al-Khazaali, who described the events with the governor's permission but on condition of anonymity because he fears reprisals. Sound bombs? Whazzat?
The men then stormed into a room where Americans and Iraqis were making plans to ensure the safety of thousands of people expected to visit the holy city for an upcoming holiday. "They didn't target anyone but the American soldiers," the governor's aide said.
After the attack, the assailants returned to their vehicles and drove away with speed and urgency. It was unclear how many people participated, and the men's identities and motive remained unclear, but the attack was particularly striking because of the resources and sophistication involved, Iraqi officials said.
The men drove off toward the city of Babil, north of Karbala, where they shot at guards at a checkpoint, said Capt. Muthana Ahmad, a police spokesman. Vehicles later recovered contained three bodies and one injured individual. The U.S. military took possession of the vehicles, the spokesman said.
In December 2004, a U.S. base in Mosul was penetrated by a suicide bomber who killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. service members. But Saturday's attack appeared to present a new danger to authorities in Iraq: assailants who disguise themselves as officials and travel in convoys.
"The way it happened and the new style, the province has not seen before," said Abdul al-Yasri, head of the provincial council in Karbala. "And this will make us insist on carrying on the security procedures even on official delegates and diplomats when they are coming to Karbala province." Duh.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/22/2007 06:24 ||
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Sound bombs? Whazzat?
Flash bang grenades. So Iranians or one of the Shiite dominated Iraqi Army or Police Special Forces units? Time for a head count.
Posted by: ed ||
01/22/2007 8:31 Comments ||
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Yes, this operation has Mugniyeh written all over it.
#3
Is it possible that some of the attackers might actually be Americans or Canadians? There has been plenty of time for the terrs to recruit moonbats and send them to Iran or Pakistan for training, depending on whether the perps are AQ or Shia. Adam Gadahn is probably not the only traitor. Visit any campus and you will find dozens of potential recruits. Most of them are useless for anything other than delivering pizza but, given the numbers available and the zeal of the hate-America cult, a few might be found for this kind of operation.
BAGHDAD Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers responded to an explosion northwest of the Iraqi capital Jan. 19, finding a mosque leveled. Elements of 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division responded to the location of the Al-Haja Mosque in the Saba al-Bor region after hearing an explosion and receiving a phoned-in tip from a resident stating the mosque was destroyed.
Upon arrival, the unit searched the remains and area surrounding the mosque, reporting no casualties. No Iraqi security forces were on site for the initial search. The cause of the explosion is currently unknown. This incident is under investigation.
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/22/2007 06:03 ||
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"The cause of the explosion is currently unknown"
Soldiers responded to an explosion northwest of the Iraqi capital Jan. 19, finding a mosque leveled in a 'crossfire' incident. Elements of 1st Rapid Action Battalion,responded to the location of the Al-Haja Mosque in the Saba al-Bor region after receiving a phoned-in tip from a resident stating the mosque was up to something.
Upon sensing their arrival, several other buildings opened fire, forcing the unit to respond. While attempting to escape, the mosque was hit by 'crossfire' and died. The unit searched the remains and area surrounding the mosque, reporting no other casualties. A 122mm shutter gun and three bullet were recovered.
No Iraqi security forces were on site to witness anything. The cause of the explosion is currently unknown. This incident is under investigation by building forensic investigator, Dr. Bob Vila. The mosque was wanted for multiple zoning violations on twelve systems.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/22/2007 12:30 Comments ||
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Interesting story about how our people in Iraq convinced Maliki to turn against Mookie. Not clear how much of this is true; after all it's in the Guardian.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraq's prime minister has dropped his protection of an anti-American cleric's Shiite militia after U.S. intelligence convinced him the group was infiltrated by death squads, two officials said Sunday.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's turnaround on the Mahdi Army was puzzling because as late as Oct. 31, he had intervened to end a U.S. blockade of Sadr City, the northeast Shiite enclave in Baghdad that is headquarters to the militia. It is held responsible for much of the sectarian bloodshed that has turned the capital into a battle zone over the past year.
Sometime between then and Nov. 30, when the prime minister met President Bush, al-Maliki was convinced of the truth of American intelligence reports which contended, among other things, that his protection of al-Sadr's militia was isolating him in the Arab world and among moderates at home, the two government officials said.
``Al-Maliki realized he couldn't keep defending the Mahdi Army because of the information and evidence that the armed group was taking part in the killings, displacing people and violating the state's sovereignty,'' said one official. Both he and a second government official who confirmed the account refused to be identified by name because the information was confidential. Both officials are intimately aware of the prime minister's thinking.
``The Americans don't act on rumors but on accurate intelligence. There are many intelligence agencies acting on the ground, and they know what's going on,'' said the second official, confirming the Americans had given al-Maliki overwhelming evidence about the Mahdi Army's deep involvement in the sectarian slaughter.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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Are we really to believe that maliki is the only person in the entire friggin world that didn't know what Tater was up too?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
01/22/2007 0:10 Comments ||
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Maliki is just bending to the pressure. He's far from breaking. Just normal Muz subterfuge.
#4
Also, President Bush has one big ace in the hole that he played against Maliki : the Democrats' call for cut-and-run. Maliki is basically in the position of giving the US military what it wants, or getting abandoned like the South Vietnamese. If he does not do what President Bush asks, Maliki is taking his chances on the Dems, especially if they can get the Presidency in 2008.
If on the other hand, Maliki plays along with President Bush, Tater and the Sunnis get a good stomping in the next year or so. That increases the likelihood that the situation will have normalized by the '08 election, and reduces the possibility of a Dem cut-and-run.
#5
Dunno, Shieldwolf. When I first heard folks in the palace talking about the need to scare the Iraqis into stepping up I was sympathetic, having had my own incredibly frustrating and fruitless experience with trying to help stand up an Iraqi operation. But I've since decided that the predominant, and quite logical, Iraqi response to this American tactic has been to adjust in ways inimical to our enterprise. As with everything else, it comes down to the fear of the various gangsters and thugs - who will remain on the scene whatever the Americans do - trumping all else. Since we've long telegraphed that we didn't have the stomach to establish order, er, that is, I mean, we had a fancier strategy that would allow us to conduct warfare without war (not kill people or break stuff), many Iraqis have discounted our pull-out body English (or Dem antics that support that display). In many cases (esp. Sunni), they've done the smart thing when confronted with a possibly unreliable US - hedged their bets, thus scuttling our entire politically-based strategy.
captured and the will of their supporters crushed.
While I initially thought it might have some impact on our Iraqis, I always thought that Casey's (and others') talk about reducing the US footprint sometime just around the corner was a perfectly disastrous complement to the administration's AWOL performance on domestic political leadership in support of the war. I think I saw that Casey just trotted out this line, AGAIN. WTF?
I believe Clemenceau said war was a series of catastrophes capped by victory. But I doubt he had in mind that almost all the catastrophes would be self-inflicted ....
#6
Sorry. Stray line left in there after a self-edit.
Also, my point about Casey's incessant dangling of troop reductions since at least March 2005 was that it was a disastrously wrong message to be sending the US electorate. The public needed/needs to be told how difficult and long the effort in Iraq will be, not mollified with implausible teasers about reduced footprints. Perhaps the administration misunderestimated the hollowness and mediocrity of the political class, which has imploded in a frightening and pathetic fashion, but they should have known the public needed education and attention regardless.
#7
As with everything else, it comes down to the fear of the various gangsters and thugs - who will remain on the scene whatever the Americans do - trumping all else
Opinions were divided on Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu's speech at the Herzliya Conference on Sunday. He was masterful as always, but on the bottom line, it was a recapitulation of everything we've heard before. "A total election speech," was one view. "He thinks he's just won the election" opined another. "He's already the prime minister" was a more succinct view.
What it wasn't, was a standard speech by a leader of the opposition. Netanyahu didn't attack the government or Prime Minister Ehud Olmert even once. He set out his blueprint for how to address the Iranian threat, but only obliquely mentioned that "partial action is not what's needed, but a coordinated effort that the government in Israel should lead."
He was a bit more critical on the Palestinian issue, saying, "It's hard to believe, but we're still hearing about planning for the realignment, which would only bring the missile-firing sites closer to Gush Dan," but he still wasn't naming any names.
In the economic policy chapter of the speech, he promised that "a government under our leadership will renew all these [policies] with full force." Or, I'll be back in office soon.
By law, elections don't have to take place before 2010. Netanyahu, currently leading a party tied with Shas for the third largest party in the Knesset, seems convinced that we're going back to the ballot box much sooner, or at least that half of Kadima's MKs are planning to break away and nominate him. Despite all the government's ills, it's still based on a wide coalition. Unrest within Kadima might lead to a rebellion but there's little indication that any of the potential rebels will look to Netanyahu for leadership.
And even if elections were to take place some time in 2007, Netanyahu might be leading in the polls by a considerable margin, but actually, the numbers are not that encouraging from his point of view. None of the polls have put the Likud at 30 MKs, and this at a time when the public's alienation from the government has reached unprecedented heights and, with Avigdor Lieberman now in the coalition, Netanyahu is the only alternative. Plus, he's the only Israeli PM ever who knows how to deal with Americans.
#1
I think Sharon was necessary to do the things required, to give the Pals the rope to hang themselves and really show the world they are currently incapable of self-government. It's a shame that Bibi didn't follow Sharon in office. I have no doubt the recent Hezbollah war would have gone differently (quibbling if he should have occupied Damascus or not).
Jan. 22, 2007 10:46
"A two-state, two nation solution is irrelevant as long as the Palestinians lack a responsible and effective leadership," former Chief of Staff Moshe Ayalon said at the Herzliya Conference Monday.
"The continuation of Kassams on Israel proves the Palestinians are not interested in a state, but rather in destroying Israel." Finally! Somebody who matters, ups and says it.
Posted by: Oliver Cromwell ||
01/22/2007 04:49 ||
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Give the man a Budweiser, or a few cases, for his point.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said he held 'fruitful' talks with Hamas political bureau Leader, Khaled Mashaal, aimed at resolving a bloody dispute over the formation of a national unity government. Speaking at a joint press conference with Meshaal after a closed meeting that lasted one hour and a half, Abbas said the two leaders 'agreed to forbid Palestinian bloodshed and we must do our best to avoid any frictions or clashes and inciting campaigns' between the two rival groups, Hamas and Fatah.
Abbas said they discussed the issue of a national unity government and 'we hope to continue our dialogue in this issue and stressed our commitment to the Palestinian principles.' Both Abbas and Mashaal stressed their rejection of a Palestinian state within temporary borders, an idea that has been floated by Israel. 'We completely reject the idea of a state with temporary borders.' Abbas said in comments which were echoed by Mashaal. Mashaal also stressed that there was agreement to continue talks and that dialogue is the 'only allowed language for solving our political differences.'
'There are certainly controversial points,' but it will be solved through dialogue to be continued inside the Palestinian Territories within two weeks, Mashaal said. A joint communiqué read by Ziad Abu Amre, one of the mediators, hailed the meeting as 'brotherly and positive,' saying it dealt with the latest developments in the Palestinian arena, especially the formation of national unity government, and that there were efforts by both sides to make big strides. Both leaders avoided talking about differences and insisted on continued dialogue to solve the dispute.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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"I'm the supreme leader of the Palestinian People!"
"No! I'm the supreme leader of the Palestinian People!"
Israels opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he hoped to bring Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to international trial for incitement to genocide. Ahmadinejad has provoked international outcry by referring to the killing of six million Jews in World War Two as a myth and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map. Speaking at a conference in Israel, Netanyahu said he and other Israelis were trying to bring the Iranian leader to the International Court of Justice. We are working to bring Ahmadinejad to stand trial as a war criminal for his call for genocide, he said. The 1948 universal declaration of human rights does not just prohibit acts of genocide but also deals with incitement to genocide. And according to this, we are aiming to lobby international figures.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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Don't waste a lot of time and money on the trial. He's guilty by acclimation. Start working on gallows details. Remember the drop distance has to be increased for the twerp, he doesn't weigh as much as fatso.
#5
I once watched Iranians with black bags on their heads stage a protest rally against the U.S. on the steps of Coffmen Union on the University of Minnesota campus. I wanted to ship them home on a sinking freighter. Start bailing boys - maybe use the bags.
Belmont Club
The Philippine Daily Inquirer (no online edition) claims that Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani, who was just confirmed dead by DNA testing after having been reported killed on September 4, 2006, brought on his death by chanting prayers in the Sulu hinterland. "Janjalani's own voice in the early hours ... as he sang and prayed hymns from the Koran led to the discovery of his hiding place ... at least that was the view from the side of the hunters."
Varmit hunters, listening for their prey baying at the moon...
According to the news story, it was the sound of Janjalani's own voice that brought on his death. Think through the theology of this one for a second . . . his own prayers brought the wrath of the infidels down upon him. His glorious jihad brought to a futile and untimely end because he stopped to pray. Would it be too much of a stretch to say Allah betrayed him?
Janjalani was one of the men who kidnapped 21 tourists at a dive resort in Palawan to hold as hostages. They included Americans Guillermo Sobrero, who was later beheaded and missionaries Tim and Gracia Burnham. Tim Burnham was killed in the rescue attempt. One by one, all the Abu Sayyaf involved in kidnapping the Americans are dying. Or, this Karma lady, she is, as they say, a cast-iron Hillaryreal bitch high-maintenance girlfriend.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/22/2007 09:06 ||
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#1
One by one, all the Abu Sayyaf involved in kidnapping the Americans are dying.
For some reason this just makes me smile! :)
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/22/2007 9:41 Comments ||
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#2
guess his praying really DID bring him closer to allah!!!
The death of the Philippines' most-wanted terror suspect leaves the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf insurgent group with no strong leader for now, security officials said Sunday.
Likely successors include a one-armed commander hobbled by arthritis and another who has rarely traveled beyond the mountains of two islands in the southern Philippines.
Likely successors include a one-armed commander hobbled by arthritis and another who has rarely traveled beyond the mountains of two islands in the southern Philippines. But two Indonesian terrorism plotters are thought to be with Abu Sayyaf and could provide training.
The Philippines military chief, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon, announced Saturday that Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani had been killed in a clash with troops on Jolo island four months ago, citing results from DNA testing done by U.S. authorities. The announcement came four days after U.S.-backed Philippine troops on Jolo killed Abu Sulaiman, a senior Abu Sayyaf commander who had been seen as a possible successor to Janjalani. The two were the main contacts to Islamic militants in Indonesia and Middle Eastern donors who have provided funding and combat training, said Romeo Ricardo, chief of the national police's Intelligence Group.
With the U.S.-backed offensive still under way, more than 300 surviving Abu Sayyaf guerrillas will probably split into smaller groups to better evade troops and it may take time for the group to choose a permanent leader, Ricardo and the military said. A lifeline could be Umar Patek and the one-named Dulmatin, two Indonesians sought in their home country as the alleged masterminds of the 2002 nightclub bombings that killed 202 people on the resort island of Bali. They are believed to be still on Jolo with the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas and could continue to provide combat and bomb-making training while linking the group with outside Islamic militants, the military said. They also could help the militants choose a new leader, officials said.
A list of three lower-level Abu Sayyaf commanders that security officials consider the top candidates for top leadership was provided to The Associated Press by a military officer and a police official, who both insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists. The first is Radulan Sahiron, a one-armed man in his 70s based in the forested mountains of Patikul on southern Jolo island. An ex-commander with the Moro National Liberation Front, a Muslim rebel group that signed a 1996 peace accord with the government, he is Abu Sayyaf's most senior fighter. He lacks Janjalani's local and foreign contacts, and he reportedly has often had to be hoisted onto a horse in recent years because of his many illnesses, including arthritis and diabetes. Washington has offered a $200,000 reward for his capture.
Also on the list is Isnilon Hapilon, another ex-MNLF commander, based in Lantawan on Basilan island. He is believed to lead 20-30 armed men and gained notoriety by helping Janjalani carry out major attacks, including the kidnapping of three Americans and 17 mostly Filipino tourists in 2001. One of the Americans was beheaded and another was killed during an army rescue. In his 40s or 50s, Hapilon is a rural-based fighter who has not ventured much beyond the mountains of Basilan and Jolo. Washington has offered a reward of up to $5 million for his capture.
The third man is Abu Pula, also a former MNLF rebel, based in Jolo's mountainous Indanan with an estimated 50 to 70 armed followers. He is called Dr. Abu by some people because of his purported ability to perform crude treatments on wounded guerrillas and ailing villagers. Pula, believed to be in his 50s, is not known to have extensive local and foreign militant contacts but he reportedly harbored Dulmatin and Patek for several months in his mountain stronghold last year. The U.S. has offered a reward of $100,000 for his capture.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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Sahiron won't leave Jolo. He's too old and broken. At best he advises, but he is all but dead.
Hapilon, is I believe dead. I think he was killed back in 2004. His body was never recovered so we will never know. Hapilon and Soliamon were always together until then and then he just went silent.
Dr Abu is another one that will not leave Jolo. He rarely left Jolo in the ASG hayday.
I would look to someone from the MILF to come and take control and to keep things moving forward or from Nur's group and a joining of forces. In any event I doubt they will give control or support an Indo in command. They are too bigoted to allow this. Expect the ASG to break into three groups, one on Jolo, one on Basilan, and the other in Cotabato/Milbuk.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/22/2007 15:42 Comments ||
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Tehran, 22 Jan. (AKI) - Inspectors with the United Nations' atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will not be allowed to visit Iran's nuclear sites, the president of the parliamentary foreign and security commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, announced on Monday. "Banning the inspectors' entry is the first concrete step towards the limitation of cooperation with the IAEA," said Boroujerdi
On 27 December, just a few days after the UN Security Council unanimously voted in favour of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, the Iranian parliament voted legislation demanding that the government revise the country's relations with the Vienna-based watchdog.
The Security Council's resolution granted Iran three months to suspend sensitive nuclear work the international community fears is aimed at building nuclear weapons or face sanctions. The UN ultimatum expires on 21 February. There's precedent.
#1
Didn't they just invite these guys back in? Now they're saying the inspectors cannot visit the sites they want to check? Doesn't this sound a lot like the game Saddam was trying to play just before we kicked his as*?
Some folks never learn.
The US has the right under international law to launch an attack against Tehran dating from their actions against this country from 1979 forward.
It's way past time the mad mullahs and their puppet Ahmadineedsastraightjacket learned a very serious lesson.
#4
FREEREPUBLIC + O'REILLY > greatest problem in ME is that too many Amer politicians are treating SHIA-SUNNI SECTARIANISM IN IRAQ, etal. AS TWO-PARTY GAMES = COUNTER-GAMES OF NATIONAL + GLOBAL, GEOPOL, POLITICAL CORRRECTNESS. IOW, POLITIX = POLITICO-IDEO ADVANTAGE MATTERS MORE THAN PER SE VICTORY OR LOCAL SUCCESS. PREFER US-SPECIFIC/ONLY CHAOS-ANARCHY TO ME PEACE, STABILITY, + DEMOCRACY. As said times before on the Net, worse to worse the Left's biggest justification for Socialism and Totalitarianism, etc. ARE THEMSELVES.
In August, Mohammed al-Seyed watched with some pride as tractors driven by Hezbollah men rolled in to begin scooping away the rubble and debris of a month of war with Israel, while engineers and others set to work. This Hezbollah stronghold would soon rise again, the leaders of both the town and the militant groups building arm, Construction Jihad, said defiantly.
More than five months later, however, with winter here and Lebanons government enmeshed in political crisis, the tractors are gone, the army of men has disappeared and Bint Jbails town center still resembles Dresden after World War II. They told us everything was going to be rebuilt soon, Mr. Seyed said Tuesday, speaking of town leaders. Theyre not doing anything now. We want to build but they wont let us. They promise to pay us, but they dont. All we want is our homes back and they wont even let us have them!
There may be as many excuses for the slowdown in rebuilding in the south as there are political factions in this nation. Some people blame the weather; some say residents living abroad are just taking their time; some officials cite disagreements over the amounts paid to those who have lost their homes. In one rare admission, a senior Construction Jihad official said his group was overwhelmed by the destruction. Our goal initially was to work with our own hands, but we soon realized we werent enough, so we decided to begin reimbursing people, said Abou Ali Bayloun, regional director for Construction Jihad in the southern port town of Tyre. It is natural that the workers in the area will not be enough in the area. It needs a lot of workers to do this.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Reconstruction of Lebanon sounds an awful lot like reconstruction of New Orleans.
"We want to build but they wont let us."
'politics is at the heart of the problem.'
'accuse the government of adding red tape'
'political wrangling... has raised racial sectarian tensions'
#5
Lebanon has a metastasized cancer growing within it called Hizb'Allah. Nothing will happen until the cancer is removed. End of story. The Israelis had the chance to envelop Hizb'Allah and they failed to carry out their plan. But the task still has to be done.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/22/2007 9:43 Comments ||
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AP
Metastatic cancers are generally susceptible only to chemo or radiation therapy.
#8
The analogy still stands, the devil is in the details. Take your choice: any and all, surgery, chemo, radiation. Whatever is done, it will not be pleasant, but it will be necessary.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/22/2007 16:42 Comments ||
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#9
Beit means "bath" in Arabic and Turk. Sounds like a good place for a US missile base. After a hard day of targeting Arab terror centers, operatives could use a hot bath and rub down by lovely Arab houris.
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 21 Irans top national security official travelled to Damascus on Sunday where he met and held talks with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Ali Larijani, the secretary-general of Irans Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and the countrys chief nuclear negotiator, and al-Assad discussed bilateral and regional issues, state media reported. The talks included the subjects of Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
The two officials accused the United States of stirring tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
Larijanis visit to the Syrian capital had not been previously announced. His trip came a day after Iraqi President Jalal Talabani returned to Iraq from a landmark trip to Damascus.
Larijani just came to make sure Pencilneck knows what's expected of him ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that UN Security Council resolutions against Tehran would not affect Irans nuclear policies even if 10 more of them were passed. The UN Security Council passed a sanctions resolution on Dec 23 against Iran, calling for the suspension of Irans nuclear programme, which the West fears is aimed at making nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge.
The (UN) resolution was born dead and even if they issue 10 more of such resolutions it will not affect Irans economy and policies, Ahmadinejad said in a speech to parliament broadcast live on state television. They want to say, through a psychological war, that the resolution has been very effective ... Falsely, they want to say that Iran has paid a price, the president said. We have become a nuclear country today without promising anything to the major powers and this is a great victory that belongs to the people and the parliament, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/22/2007 00:00 ||
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For once, I agree with the twit. But then, UN resolutions don't affect anyone, so who gives a sh*t?
#2
There is no reason to go to the UN any more on issues like these. Look at Sammy. 10 years of sanctions with the UN and what did we get? Oil for Palaces Program. US went back to UN for Iraq again. What did we get? Jacques Chiraq's undbending opposition to anything. Three times, shame on us.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/22/2007 9:47 Comments ||
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except there IS pressure on him, and it DOES seem to be caused by skyrocketing prices for food stuffs, as the Teheran markets get nervous about sanctions. Imanutjob is in denial.
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.
Afghanistans Taliban insurgents say they are going to spend $1 million on opening schools in areas they control to counter the propaganda of the West and the Western-backed government. 
Moderate British Muslims in the police, Armed Forces and Civil Service will one day revolt against the system to "crush it from within", according to 
CARACAS, Jan 21: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez vowed on Sunday that his government would always back US foes Syria and Iran in the face of threats from Washington.
BEIJING - The six-nation talks on North Koreas nuclear programme should resume as soon as possible, the chief US envoy to the negotiations said Monday after holding discussions with host nation China. 
ATHENS, Ga. - Former President Jimmy Carter said Saturday that the storm of criticism he has faced for his recent book has not weakened his resolve for fair treatment of Israelis and Palestinians.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) considers the Pakistan Peoples Partys decision not to participate in its all parties conference (APC) unless it is held under the ARD to be an expression of no-confidence in the PML-N. Our leaders consider the recent decision of the PPP leadership not to attend the APC as an expression of no-confidence in the PML-N. Mian Nawaz Sharif had sought the opinion of PPP Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto by sending her the agenda of the moot, sources in the PML-N told Daily Times.
Allegations that Pakistan is backing the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan were lent further strength on Sunday with the publication of two reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post. 
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said he held 'fruitful' talks with Hamas political bureau Leader, Khaled Mashaal, aimed at resolving a bloody dispute over the formation of a national unity government. Speaking at a joint press conference with Meshaal after a closed meeting that lasted one hour and a half, Abbas said the two leaders 'agreed to forbid Palestinian bloodshed and we must do our best to avoid any frictions or clashes and inciting campaigns' between the two rival groups, Hamas and Fatah. 
Israels opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he hoped to bring Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to international trial for incitement to genocide. Ahmadinejad has provoked international outcry by referring to the killing of six million Jews in World War Two as a myth and calling for Israel to be wiped off the map. Speaking at a conference in Israel, Netanyahu said he and other Israelis were trying to bring the Iranian leader to the International Court of Justice. We are working to bring Ahmadinejad to stand trial as a war criminal for his call for genocide, he said. The 1948 universal declaration of human rights does not just prohibit acts of genocide but also deals with incitement to genocide. And according to this, we are aiming to lobby international figures.
Tehran, 22 Jan. (AKI) - Inspectors with the United Nations' atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will not be allowed to visit Iran's nuclear sites, the president of the parliamentary foreign and security commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, announced on Monday. "Banning the inspectors' entry is the first concrete step towards the limitation of cooperation with the IAEA," said Boroujerdi
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 21 Irans top national security official travelled to Damascus on Sunday where he met and held talks with Syrian leader 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that UN Security Council resolutions against Tehran would not affect Irans nuclear policies even if 10 more of them were passed. The UN Security Council passed a sanctions resolution on Dec 23 against Iran, calling for the suspension of Irans nuclear programme, which the West fears is aimed at making nuclear weapons. Iran denies the charge. 
