The French get their yellowcake from Niger.
The French are supporting the Iraqi nuclear program.
Ergo, Saddam's yellowcake comes from Niger.
Chirac knows Bush is not lying.
Posted by: john ||
08/02/2004 18:56 Comments ||
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#3
And another thing... (stole that from DM)
Would not put it past the French to have Martino cook some convenient documents for delivery to the US. A neat deniable double cross.
Posted by: john ||
08/02/2004 19:00 Comments ||
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When Chellali Benchellali moved to France 41 years ago, his path seemed clear enough. Escaping the misery of his native Algeria, he hoped to get a job, marry, raise a family and blend into the French melting pot. He got part way there. But for the last six months, Benchellali has been in a high-security French prison, along with his wife and two of his sons, all accused of helping to plot a Qaeda-style chemical attack in Europe. A third son has just been released from the U.S. detention center at Guantänamo Bay, Cuba, one of four Frenchmen handed over to the French authorities last week.
The family's journey from yearning immigrants to alleged Islamic militants - accused of harboring a makeshift laboratory in their suburban Lyon apartment where one son was said to have been trying to make biological and chemical bombs - is an extreme but still emblematic manifestation of a quiet crisis spreading through Europe's growing Arab underclass...
Spare me the quiet crises of the downtrodden underclass. You want to be an Arabian, go to Arabia. If you want to be a European, go to Europe.
#2
And in Denmark 70% of the rapes are by Muslims (4%). At least in the year 700 they had enough courtesy to haul the Spanish women to North Africa before raping them.
Posted by: ed ||
08/02/2004 8:40 Comments ||
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#3
Menad had quit his job by then and was dismissed from a string of others. In 1995, he left for Syria to study Arabic and the Koran. He spent several months in Sudan, where the Al Qaeda network was coalescing. He returned to Venissieux in 1996 a bearded fundamentalist.
Hi, I'm Sally Struthers. Are you a loser? Total incompetent? Well, "The Imam Jihadi Syrian-Sudan Institute for Holy Men and Window Washing" might be the chance to break out of your rut and help you break into the growing field of Islamic scholar. Have the respect of your peers! Meet chicks! Kill the infidel! Drive a Corvette!
#4
On his fifth trip there, Croatian soldiers seized him and two other men from Venissieux and held them in brutal conditions for five months. He returned with even stronger religious convictions and began preaching in the ground-floor activity room of his apartment block, which became known as the Abu Bakr mosque. His sermons took on an increasingly radical tone.
It would come as no surprise if someone, somewhere, was the catalyst that hastened this guy on his path towards extremism via words put into his head.
EFL & Hat tip to LittleGreenBalls
James P. Rubin, senior foreign-policy adviser to the campaign, sat down in Detroit with NEWSWEEK's Richard Wolffe to explain what would be different under a Kerry administration:
John Kerry regards an Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism armed with nuclear weapons as unacceptable. He has a multiple-part strategy that is much more realistic than the Bush administration's. One is to rejoin and work through the international legal framework on arms control. That will give greater force to the major powers if they have to deal with violators. Secondly, he has laid out, I think in the most comprehensive way in modern memory, a program to secure nuclear materials around the world—particularly in the former Soviet Union but also in the places where research reactors have existed that could be susceptible to proliferation. The point is to try to prevent Iran from ever getting this material surreptitiously. Thirdly, he has proposed that rather than letting the British, the French and the Germans do this themselves, that we together call the bluff of the Iranian government, which claims that its only need is energy. And we say to them: "Fine, we will provide you the fuel that you need if Russia fails to provide it." Participating in such a diplomatic initiative makes it more likely to succeed. Emphasis, mine.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
08/02/2004 10:48:30 AM ||
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And we say to them: "Fine, we will provide you the fuel that you need if Russia fails to provide it."
Sounds like good fodder for a campaign commercial. They should be sure to couple it with the speech given by an Iranian minister that said (paraphrasing): 'once Iran has a nuclear weapon, the question of Israel will become moot.'
#2
I think he's talking about non-nuclear energy.
Since they are swimming in oil, that would be the "bluff called".
Looks to me like the lizards at LGF need to read more carefully.
Posted by: Baltic Blog ||
08/02/2004 10:57 Comments ||
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#3
One is to rejoin and work through the international legal framework on arms control. That will give greater force to the major powers if they have to deal with violators.
Er, there's a problem here already: what "force" is this guy talking about? More worthless (and toothless) U.N. resolutions?
#4
Sounds oddly familiar to NoKo deal that failed to work. Sure, we appease you; you screw us.
Posted by: Capt America ||
08/02/2004 10:58 Comments ||
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#5
Baltic Blog, I wondered about that too. But I could not fathom why Iran would need oil from us. The whole thing is badly worded. I wonder if some words were left out. It really doesn't make sense as it is, from any perspective.
If this is the James P. Rubin who was Assistant Deputy Undersecretary of State under Clinton, he's married to Christiane Amanpour.
#6
Given the bio in the last sentence, just why did you expect it to make sense? This is 1994 redux. We should have leveled the Norks then and we should let the Iranians know that we conside the development of nukes by them to be an act that threatens our most important national interest. If they want war, let's let them have it.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
08/02/2004 11:20 Comments ||
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#7
BB,
The point is to try to prevent Iran from ever getting this material surreptitiously.
The point is that it's okay if Iran gets fissile material as long as it isn't surreptitiously, which means that he is indeed talking about nuclear material. Also, the fuel in question the past several months that the Russians would supply is nuclear material. Since the Russians don't have a great deal of refining capacity on the Iranian border, they aren't talking about Fuel Oil #2.
So, me thinks the lizards have read Mr. Rubin correctly, and Mr. Rubin is reading the Iranians very poorly.
#9
a program to secure nuclear materials around the world—particularly in the former Soviet Union
WTF???The dems had a very unique chance to change history when they had the prez and the congress in the early 90's. This is when Nunn and Lugar were pushing for this and they were ignored by the party in power - the democrats!
Posted by: Dan ||
08/02/2004 11:30 Comments ||
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#10
I don't think he meant oil.
I think he meant nuclear fuel, which is what Russia was providing.
One thing to mention: he's probably pretending to operate from the paradigm where "rogue states" can only get weapons-grade fuel from plutonium, and not from enriching low-grade uranium in centrifuges, like Pakistan and North Korea did, and Libya and others were planning to do.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/02/2004 13:07 Comments ||
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#11
There is an update at LGF.com. From the sKerry website itself:
Iran claims that its nuclear program is only to meet its domestic energy needs. John Kerry’s proposal would call their bluff by organizing a group of states to offer Iran the nuclear fuel they need for peaceful purposes and take back the spent fuel so they cannot divert it to build a weapon. If Iran does not accept this offer, their true motivations will be clear.
#13
Very fuckin' stupid, evidently.
From Instapundit:
On domestic issues, Kerry gave a "rock hard" pledge not to raise middle-class taxes if he becomes president, though he said a national emergency or war could change that. Reminded that the country is at war already, Kerry said, "We're going to reduce the burden in this war, and if we do what we need to do for our economy, we're going to grow the tax base of our country."
Here's a shovel, Johnny. Keep digging. Oh, you brought your own?
#14
...he's probably pretending to operate from the paradigm where "rogue states" can only get weapons-grade fuel from plutonium, and not from enriching low-grade uranium in centrifuges...
Or he's operating from an alternate universe where you can't produce plutonium in an ordinary nuclear reactor.
Oh, but:
...Kerry’s proposal would call their bluff by organizing a group of states to offer Iran the nuclear fuel they need for peaceful purposes and take back the spent fuel...
Ah, so the IAEA would go in and remove the spent fuel, by force if necessary. It's bound to work!
2. Nuclear fuel for electricity producing reactors is different from nuclear fuel used for bombs. It is difficult to make bomb fuel out of nuclear electricity fuel. Yes, it can be done, but its expensive and time consuming.
In the NKor case, they simply kept a few centrifuges and other assets going while taking the nuclear electicity fuel.
#17
fwiw: den Beste discussed the subject a few days ago:
"But let's be very clear about something: all existing civilian nuclear power plants produce plutonium when in operation, even though they don't produce as much as breeder reactors."
(much) more here
http://www.denbeste.nu/cd_log_entries/2004/07/Nuclearpowerandnuclearwea.shtml
#19
MHW: It's expensive and time consuming, but it appears to be a significant method for North Korea, Pakistan, and Iran, and the various known and unknown nations of the Khan Proliferation Shopping Network, to gain the material for their first nuclear bombs.
I believe the standard game plan is to make uranium gun-style bombs, and then after you're presented the rest of the world with a fait accompli, you go ahead and finish your special-purpose plutonium transmutation reactor, and make bombs that can fit on a scud derivative.
As usual, Den Beste has all the nitty-gritty details.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/02/2004 17:31 Comments ||
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#20
So we would actually give the Iranians a vital component for their WMD program. Then there would be no debating whether they had acquired that component. Kerry has obvously learned a valuble lesson from GW's Iraq experience. He has figured out the only way to take all question out of the quality of our intelligence.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/02/2004 20:06 Comments ||
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From Slate, an article by Christopher Hitchens
... And then on Thursday night, Sen. Kerry quite needlessly proposed a contradiction between "opening firehouses in Baghdad and shutting them in the United States of America." Talk about a false alternative. ... There is something absolutely charmless and self-regarding about this pitch ... It is no better, in point of its domestic tone and appeal, than the rumor of the welfare mother stopping her Cadillac to get vodka on food stamps. In point of its international implications, it also suggests the most vulgar form of isolationism, not to say insularity.
And there's something more. It reveals a real element of bad faith on the part of many liberals and leftists. Think of the programs that many of them regard as wasteful and extravagant: the missile-defense system, for example (less than useless in the battle against terrorism) or the so-called "war on drugs" (ditto). But the mention of either of these would involve an argument over principle, and the risk of controversy. So, why not just say that the Republicans are squandering "our" money on a bunch of foreigners?
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/02/2004 9:13:30 AM ||
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...and I think it's a sad thing that we can move fire hydrants in Iraq but not in the United States of America!
Wait...that's not right.
Taraaaaaysa!
So why did Heinz's application stir up such a brouhaha in the Boston papers? Perhaps because it came after Kerry and Heinz had a fire hydrant moved in front of their Boston townhouse to open up a more convenient parking space. That particular mini-scandal began in March 1996, when the Boston Globe printed a photo showing Heinz's Jeep Cherokee parked next to a fire hydrant near her five-story brick home at Beacon Hill's Louisburg Square.
A little more than a year later, the couple put in a formal request to the Boston fire department to move the hydrant. Within a week, the district chief went to the site himself and approved the move.
After the hydrant was moved around the corner (at the expense of Kerry and Heinz, not taxpayers), Kerry irritated his neighbors by claiming the five new legal parking spaces created by the move. Local real-estate gurus estimated the new spaces would add $200,000 or more to the value of the Heinz-Kerry mansion. Eventually, the senator sent word to his neighbors that he would abide by the longstanding unwritten agreement that each house on the privately owned square has a right to only two parking spaces.
Neither controversy had much political fallout for Kerry, besides a few snickering newspaper columnists. Then again, he's a Democratic incumbent in Massachusetts, not exactly an endangered species.
#3
The further implication is that this is a zero-sum game, and that a dollar spent in Iraq is a dollar not spent on domestic needs. In other words, that this hospital or school in New Jersey or Montana would now be fully funded if it wasn’t for a crowd of Arab and Kurdish panhandlers. Could anything be more short-sighted than that? Have we not learned that failed states turn into rogue states, and then export their rage and misery?
In case many of you don't realize this...Hitchens speaks thru both sides of his mouth. He's a left wing Bolshevik who only recently became a "liberal hawk". Though Hitchens has now become part of the Iraq War cheerleading squad and in this article he derides his left wing pals, whom he refers to an interview in Frontpage as "comrades", never forget that Hitchins is a chameleon and a part-time "hawk." The only reason he mocks Kerry now is because Hitchens thinks that there's plenty of taxpayer $ to go around for both the welfare mother buying the Cadillac as well as the Arab Iraqis. Hitchens' left wing mindset comes through when he yaks about poverty/misery causing and exporting terrorism. Crap. OBL and his followers are middle class or filthy rich. That suddenly Iraq will not want to bomb Israel to planet Pluto or let the Pope visit Baghdad and establish a Catholic college there is ridiculously optimistic about we can achieve with the taxpayer dole in Iraq.
Here's the interview with Hitchens in Frontpage in 12/03-2 parts-some of pompous pronouncements about our "achievement" in Bosnia is enough to make me retch. This guy is a phony through and through so keep that in mind when you think he's so wildly eloquent in attacking Kerry and the Democrats, in 2008 I'd lay bets that Hitchens would support Hildabeast in a heartbeat if she ran on the Dem ticket.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 13:34 Comments ||
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#4
I thought the question of opening or shutting firehouses were a municipal affair. Just like education. Last year the mantra among the US Left was that we were spending $ in Iraq but our schools didn't have enough books. Last time I checked, my local elementary and high school districts are supported through local property taxes, and not by money from DC. Not enough $ for books, hold a tax referendum, LOCALLY.
Don't forget that last year's debate on the $87 billion for Iraq/Afghanistan the Dems were for making half of $20 billion earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction a loan, not a grant. Fortunately, logic prevailed and the $20 billion was provided as a grant.
Posted by: Michael ||
08/02/2004 13:46 Comments ||
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#5
1. Hitch is a lefty. He aint a bolshevik
2. Hitch has explained at length the connections between his leftism and his opposition to islamofascism.
3. Hitch says lots of things I disagree with. So, why should anybody be in lockstep with anybody?
4. Iraq probably will not bomb Israel to pluto, or anywhere else.
5. Why should the Iraqis welcome the Pope, when he opposed the liberation of Iraq?
6. Why shouldnt he speak of our achievements in Bosnia - we DID achieve things in Bosnia.
Hmmmm..... strong words LH.
What do you figure a 10 percent chance?
Let's see...... assuming only a 10 percent chance of total annihilation per annum....
let see.... uhmmm.... carry the sigma thingy grab ahold of the imaginary vector and divide by the golden tensor.... yep. State of Israel kaput in 6.7 years.
#7
Hitch is a lefty. He aint a bolshevik
Read the interview in Frontpage interview of Hitchens. He was associated with the Trotsky-ite left. Trotskey was a follower of Lenin and both are associated with the Bolshevik movement. Also, on a less literal level, to call someone a Bolshevik outside Russia is a form of derision to highlight that person's extreme left wing ideaology.
Hitch has explained at length the connections between his leftism and his opposition to islamofascism
Oh really? Read part 11 of the Frontpage interview. Hitchens can be "opposed" to lots of groups at his whim. In Part II Hitchens is very sympathetic to the Palestinians and very negative to Israel and the "Zionists." In Part I, Hitchens is very opposed to Christians-petwewie!. Whatever. Hitchens is opposed to Islamofacism...as long as we don't do profiling on airlines and as long as Israel boots out Sharon and bends over to Arafat. Apart from that, you're right. Hitchens is very clear.
Iraq probably will not bomb Israel to pluto, or anywhere else...Why should the Iraqis welcome the Pope, when he opposed the liberation of Iraq?
That was a bit of levity, in case you missed it, LH. My point is that guys like Hitchens argue for America flexing its military might[not that Hitchens would join the military] to secularize and democracize "rogue regimes" around the globe...on the US taxpayers' dime...no worries, Americans are filthy rich...My point is that no matter how much $ and military might we throw at Iraq, NEVER will a Jewish leader or a Catholic leader be invited to Iraq. Iraq will be secular and pluristic in name only. Jews and Christians will be loathed 100 years from now in Iraq as they were under Saddam Hussein.
Why shouldnt he speak of our achievements in Bosnia - we DID achieve things in Bosnia.
What did we achieve in Bosnia? I guess you have missed last week's articles about Bosnia being the new home for Islamic terrorists. That we stepped into a thousand year old conflict and liberated Muslims who despiese us and want us killed. That's your success story?
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 14:47 Comments ||
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#8
Cmon, Ship, Im not the kinda guy to toss around the word never. But the reality is most Israelis are delighted Saddam is gone, and, I think are glad Allawi is in.
Was Hitch once a Trotskyite - i dunno, so were a lot of people who later became strong anticommunists.
Its used as a form of derision? Its also misleading, esp in the current instance.
Is hitchens anti-Catholic, and pro-PLO. Yup. Like i said i dont agree with him on everything. Thats what coalitions are about, and big wars mean coalitions.
I have idea when an Israeli leader will visit Iraq. Israelis have had summits with leaders in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey - i see no reason why they cant someday have a summit in Iraq.
Most Bosnian muslims opposed the Jihadis, who had a tendency to deface gravestones, a Bosnian muslim custom, as heretical. Bosnia, like Albania supported the US in the invasion of Iraq. The success is that ethnic cleansing was stopped and peace was restored to Bosnia.
#9
I think Hitchens, like Andrew Sullivan, uses his contraian veiws as a way of adding some sort of extra ligitimacy to the medals on his chest. Smart guy, chummy, but he'll say what he needs to say to be taken seriously.
#11
Re: #7 (Rex)Hitchens ... was associated with the Trotsky-ite left. Trotskey was a follower of Lenin and both are associated with the Bolshevik movement.
He's not a Trotsyite now. It's admirable, Rex, that you perhaps have always been right and consistent in all your political opinions, but many people have changed through their lives. They ought to be judged by their more mature opinions.
Whitaker Chambers, Irving Kristol and George Orwell were Communists. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were loyal subjects of the King of England. Paul persecuted Jesus.
======
That we stepped into a thousand year old conflict and liberated Muslims who despise us and want us killed. That's your success story?
I think most Bosnian Moslems are very pro-American.
I'm curious, Rex, do you support our occupation of Iraq? If so, what distinctions in your reasoning do you make between Bosnia and Iraq?
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/02/2004 18:53 Comments ||
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#12
He's not a Trotsyite now. It's admirable, Rex, that you perhaps have always been right and consistent in all your political opinions, but many people have changed through their lives.
I'm not being self righteous about my clear vision, not do I use my vocation as a bully pulpit to persuade others. Hitchins is open to scrutiny because he has chosen a high profile profession. I believe he's a political chameleon. I think he's still a Trotsky-ite deep inside. It's convenient for him now to be a hawk. If Hildabeast were running on the Democrat ticket instead of Kerry, I think Hitchens would be circumspect with his "hawkish" position.
I think most Bosnian Moslems are very pro-American
I think you are wrong.
Rex, do you support our occupation of Iraq
I never believed we should have invaded Iraq. I have made that clear. Now that we are in Iraq, I think we should get the elections over with and stay no longer in Iraq than 5 years maximum. Tommy Franks has been doing interviews this past week to promote his new book. Tommy Franks, like me, says we should get out of Iraq in a timely manner. Franks says we should not stay in Iraq longer than 5 years. Franks has been hailed to be a military genius in some quarters. So I'm in good company.
I don't think we should have invaded Bosnia. The ethnic "genocide" had been going on by both sides for hundreds of years. Briefly communism put a lid on the old ethnic religious rivalries. We only saw a slice of history in Bosnia and jumped in with both feet. Furthermore,Bosnia was a European country and the EU should have led the charge. It's not our job to be the world's policeman.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 19:44 Comments ||
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#13
Thanks for your response, Rex.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/02/2004 22:49 Comments ||
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#14
Getting involved in Bosnia--and on the wrong side--was a mistake, but that was what Clinton wanted.
Bosnia is now (and may have been for some time) one of the areas in the world where Al Queda and the jihadis are waging their war for Islam.
The US should either get out or change sides.
There was a time when we weren't the world's policemen.
That ended on 9/11.
Jihadi war, murder and mayhem is global.
Therefore, so must be our fight against it.
The only thing we can choose is to be wise about picking our battles.
As a veteran agent chasing home-grown terrorist suspects for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mike German always had a knack for worming his way into places few other agents could go.
In the early 1990's, he infiltrated a group of white supremacist skinheads plotting to blow up a black church in Los Angeles. A few years later, he joined a militia in Washington State that talked of attacking government buildings. Known to his fellow militia members as Rock, he tricked them into handcuffing themselves in a supposed training exercise so the authorities could arrest them.
So in early 2002, when Mr. German got word that a group of Americans might be plotting support for an overseas Islamic terrorist group, he proposed to his bosses what he thought was an obvious plan: go undercover and infiltrate the group.
But Mr. German says F.B.I. officials sat on his request, botched the investigation, falsified documents to discredit their own sources, then froze him out and made him a "pariah." He left the bureau in mid-June after 16 years and is now going public for the first time - the latest in a string of F.B.I. whistle-blowers who claim they were retaliated against after voicing concerns about how management problems had impeded terrorism investigations since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 1:48:03 AM ||
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#1
I am afraid we are prosecuting the world countries with false information provided by FBI and CIA. No wonder our image is tarnished and we are loosing respect everywhere.
#2
Yeah, it's a good thing stuff like this never happens in Europe. That's why the Euros are held in such high esteem through out the world. Like the Ivory Coast.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
08/02/2004 8:20 Comments ||
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#3
Pfeh. On our worst fucking day, the FBI and CIA equal or exceed any other similar agencies on the planet. Henk, you're a twit and an apologist... and prolly not an American. If you have proof otherwise - post it. Who gives a rat's ass about what you describe as respect? Fucking window wash, sonny. FOAD.
As old-time RBers know, I am no buddy to the FBI Management - their field Agents are smart, top-notch, kick-ass investigators. It's the old-boy network running the show and hogging the microphone and seeking publicity plus an inordinate level of PC-istic BS due to Congressional oversight / sucking up that fucks the org up -- to the degree that it is fucked up. Internal Politics and PR grandstanding.
That said, the FBI can and does a remarkable job, after the fact every time. Sometimes before the fact, but that's the exception, not the rule. Who knows if Mr German's story is the whole story? Not me. Not you. Bank that. He might've been sandbagged for 100 different reasons running the gamut from "he's a lone-wolf self-aggrandizing loose cannon" to the Old Boyz wanted to gag him cuz he wouldn't play ball their way. We don't know.
But the average Field Agent rocks. Beneath the management layers are some of our best and brightest (Oh yeah - they really are.) And they can do the job when allowed to by the dysfunctional management layers who live for their little political head-pats and Congressional appearances. I long for the days of Bobby Inman...
The FBI people are investigators - information organizers, forensics, etc - and preventive action is very little of what they're trained to do.
Now if they were married to those wonderfully nasty diabolical types from the CIA that were so colorfully blogged about here last week, with no walls or turf BS, then you'd have both sides of the coin and the effectiveness would rise exponentially... assuming we reversed the effects of the Church Committee 100%, which hasn't happened, and had time to build such a staff... if it hasn't already begun, it certainly should.
The 9/11 Commission Circus has suprised me with their report. There are actually a few good ideas in there - which certainly didn't look likely during the staged BS hearings. One such idea is that there needs to be a focal point for intel. They can split out the crime intel (drugs or org crime or whatever) from the terrorism and hand it off with a complete info pkg to the correct agency for action -- and monitor the action and supply intel updates in realtime. But it won't work as a political season idea (Circus Redux) nor will it work if it's just another fucking 3-letter agency piled on top - i.e. New Turf.
The whole motherloving BS structure has to be torn down and purposefully rebuilt - with transparency everywhere and no room to hide your wife's deadbeat cousin. This is serious war-time shit. What is it? 17 Agencies now? I can picture maybe 6 or 7 tops - domestic agencies and foreign agencies for crime and terror... pure intel gathering and traslations ala NSA -- and whatever else you'd deem necessary - definitely a couple of black agencies cuz it's a nasty world. Streamline the hell out of it and it would produce value per dollar. Wall off and minimize external direct oversight of operations, just administration & results - and you cut down on sensitive and destructive leaks. People have watched way too many idiotic Hollyweird movies and we do have zeros like Cynthia McKinney running amok in Congress.
While they are playing turf queen and duplicating the hell out of each other and shuffling back and forth to Capitol Hill and wasting untold billions in the current version, we are sitting ducks.
We've had a lot of luck, thanks to savvy Border and Customs agents, but the luck will run out someday - the bad guys only have to get lucky once. We have to be proactive. We have to defend out borders. We have to monitor the hell out of cargo traffic. We have to make our transportation systems secure. We have a lot to do to make that good luck due to planning and procedure and process.
The turf games and old boy networks have to end. Our very lives depend upon it. The process of ending them will probably actually begin in earnest right after the next big hit... or two. Unless Skeery is the Skipper of our little Gilligan's Island. In that case, we're pretty much just fucked.
#4
Of course, the mouse in the corner asks, what do we know about Mr. German? It seems the FBI and CIA get pot shots hurled at them (some justified) but, just as Senator Leaky wants to make political hay, we don't know the full story. Probably never will.
Posted by: Capt America ||
08/02/2004 11:08 Comments ||
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#5
Hey, Mike's a good guy; unassuming, hardworking, and very serious about his job. I've heard similar complaints about the reluctance of the local bureau to find any get-up-and-go to proactively fight.
Will we see a real change in the way things are done? Call me a downer, but I don't think so. The agitators are getting fed up and retiring early; the dorks that don't want to rock the boat are winning out and putting in their pension years. Even if some change is demanded they'll probably be sore losers.
#1
"Most journalists are pulling for a Kerry victory. Other commentators have said that the choice between the two is like "choosing between cholera and the plague." "
Nicely put ...
Posted by: Juan ||
08/02/2004 3:09 Comments ||
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#2
How offensive, "Juan."--What is up with the Hispanic trolls today?
I am very pleased with President Bush's first term and am voting for a second.
Funny, I would never equate him to a disease, but Kerry, now, he embodies the illness called Liberalism which is chronic and fatal.
#3
Jen,
He's not Hispanic. He's just some momma's titty suckin' Eurotwit posting under Juan, Alex, Henk, et al.
Posted by: ed ||
08/02/2004 7:58 Comments ||
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#4
Stands to reason that if some of Iran's people are claiming that Kerry may be remembered as the "man who saved the US," they're hoping he'll happily impose Sharia in return for not being blown up . . . reason enough to vote for Bush, as if we needed any more.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
08/02/2004 11:06 Comments ||
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#5
Juan is just a poor speller. He meant to type his name as "Wrong".
I was going to try to develop my own "remember 9/11" poster, but Michelle at A Small Victory has beat me to it, and done a SUPERB job. Download one of her files, print it, and pass it along. It's a subject the media is largely ignoring.
Posted by: Ralph ||
08/02/2004 5:24:24 PM ||
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At 5 p.m. Thursday, acting CIA Director John E. McLaughlin, in his other capacity as acting director of central intelligence, conducted the daily counterterrorism meeting where the first information about the latest detailed al Qaeda threats was discussed among senior CIA, FBI and military officials. They set in motion plans for antiterrorism operations in the United States and overseas, ultimately leading to yesterday's announcement of an elevated terrorism threat more specific than any the government had ever issued. Surrounding McLaughlin were officers who once were prohibited by law or habit from working together: CIA operatives from the clandestine service who work today at its Counterterrorism Center and its Terrorist Threat Integration Center; FBI agents; representatives from the National Security Agency, which intercepts communications around the world; analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency; and senior military officers who help the CIA execute or coordinate foreign operations.
Once considered as separate as church and state in the United States, these agencies have worked together for more than two years, meeting daily at 5 p.m. in response to the missed opportunities recognized after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.The agencies' cooperation on planning counterterrorism activities has not been previously highlighted. Before the developments last week that led to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's announcement yesterday elevating the terror alert for the financial sector and specific buildings in Washington, New York and New Jersey, this cooperation by the FBI, CIA, NSA, DIA and military had led to the arrest of Jose Padilla in May 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport for allegedly plotting possible attacks in the United States with al Qaeda.
Although federal law prevents the CIA from carrying out operations within the United States, nothing bars it from discussing plans for domestic activities with the FBI, and recent changes in the law permit more open sharing of information. For example, CIA officers are stationed at many of the FBI's joint terrorism task force centers in cities across the country... So GWB and Ashcroft have figured out a way to get around the firewall that Billy Jeff-Gorlick created between the CIA and FBI...good for them!
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 2:29:20 AM ||
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The government's very public warning to financial institutions may actually deter a bombing but also raises questions about what the next step will be for both terrorists and defenders. And among security experts and former counterintelligence officials who had criticized previous terrorism warnings as too vague or perhaps politically motivated, there was wide praise for the unique level of detail in the warning Sunday to a handful of specific financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark, N.J.
"If I worked in one of those buildings, I would feel very safe now," and not just because the security there will be tightened, said Vince Cannistraro, former CIA counterintelligence chief. "Given that it's captured material and now made public, there's a good chance it won't happen. Al-Qaida has to realize the mission has been compromised."
Among the extraordinary detail that Al-Qaida operatives had assembled about potential target buildings were such details as architectural elements that might prevent collapse, a count of 14 pedestrians per minute along the sidewalk outside one building at midweek, locations of security checkpoints inside buildings and identification of days when fewer guards worked or elevators were shut down, a senior intelligence official said.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 7:46:33 PM ||
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Although it hasn't been widely reported, UK attack plans were also uncovered in the same operation. I wonder why the UK gov is being so low key, given the possible deterrence effect of publicity.
#2
The warning may only deflect the attack to a secondary target in LA, Denver, Atlanta, Seattle, Chicago, Miami, etc... which are not on the list.
There are a lot of potential targets nationwide and we simply cannot protect them all 24/7. I would not be at all suprised that the team sent has a list of secondary and trinary (sp?) targets on-hand and simply go-down-the-list to a less protected target.
We should get controls of our borders and stop the flood of illegal aliens and terrorists. Didn't that woman caught in Texas cross the border illegally about 250 times or sometime?
This goes so well with the story about the Un protecting people who renounce islam.
Opposition Leader in National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday demanded that the United Nations should declare the defamation of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) an international crime.
How about..NO
Addressing a large gathering here, Maulana Fazl said the UN needed to adopt a blasphemy law to protect the honour of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and respected figures of other religions and faiths.
See how he slipped that "respected figures of other religions and faiths" line in? That's how shit like this gets passed.
He denounced the anti-Islamic attitude by the West and spurned as baseless charges of involvement of Muslims in terrorist acts.
"Lies, all lies!"
Maulana Fazlur Rehman said Muslims were being victimized in the name of terrorism despite that fact they themselves were a target of violence.
I think that's the sort of reasoning we've come to expect from people whose parents were close relatives...
He said terrorist acts in Muslim countries was an intrigue to defame the Ummah and to destabilize targeted states. He said Ummah should dedicate a special fund to curb the anti-Islamic forces, especially the activities of the Qadiyanis/Ahmadis. Maulana Fazl said Europe should not consider Muslims an enemy but study Islamic teachings.
#4
"addressing a large gathering here, Maulana Fazl said the UN needed to adopt a blasphemy law to protect the honour of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and respected figures of other religions and faiths."
All cool, as long as they pay proper respect to ME (PBMN), the founder of the Most Holy Sect of the Antepenultimate True Prophet
#8
You know the scary thing is that the UN with the ICC might just do this
Faithfreedom.org has a Challange that they would take down their website if someone can prove them wrong. Basically they (cut and paste) accuse Muhammad of being:
a rapist
a pedophile (had sex with a child)
an assassin
a mass murderer
a lecher
a misogynist
a narcissist
a looter
a mentally disturbed (was paranoid, heard voices, hallucinated of seeing jinns, Satan and angels, suffered from depression and had suicidal tendencies) and other charges. Muhammad was not just an impostor. He was an evil man,
#9
CF, that's a great site. Lots of long articles, lots of good info. Grammar's a little shaky at times, but better than some of the stuff you occasionally see online. Bet you Mr. Sina would be ready to go the UN personally if they seriously start considering this . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
08/02/2004 22:34 Comments ||
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Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/02/2004 22:53 Comments ||
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Unfortunately most people dont know the real story of Muhammad. They picture him as a pious, peaceful, and quiet (religious) man while he was the complete oposite -- more like a Hitler or Stalin.....
Campaigners for religious freedom have urged the United Nations to act to protect "Muslims who choose to convert to another faith." A petition signed by almost 90,000 people in 32 countries was presented last week to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, the organization spearheading the campaign said Monday. The Barnabas Fund, a UK-based charity working among Christians in Islamic societies, said Muslims who change religions, often called "apostates," should be "free to do so without having to face a lifetime of fear as a result."
Maybe in another 1600 years...
The organization's advocacy manager, Paul Cook, said the petition was launched a year ago on behalf of apostates who face persecution and prejudice in many countries. Under Islamic (shari'a) law, Muslim men who decide to adopt another belief and refuse to return to Islam -- usually within a limited period of time -- may be put to death. It remains a contentious point in Islam, but countries where people have been accused or convicted of apostasy include Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Mauritania. In 2002, a shari'a-based penal code was introduced in a Malaysian state controlled by an Islamist party. It said any Muslim who converted to another faith had three days to repent, failing which he faced having his property forfeited and being sentenced to death. The criminal code of Mauritania similarly provides for a three day period of reflection and repentance for any Muslim guilty of apostasy "whether by word or action." "If he does not repent within this time limit, he is to be condemned to death as an apostate and his property will be confiscated by the Treasury."
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Posted by: TS(vice girl) ||
08/02/2004 11:07:00 AM ||
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In Britain, it said, not only has there been no reply from the Muslim Council, the main umbrella body, but also "virtually no response" from leaders of major Christian denominations who had been contacted. "It is a tragic day when so few...
#3
It's about time somebody did this, and the US Ambassador to the UN should stand up and give a speech on the subject every single day.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/02/2004 12:46 Comments ||
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Campaigners for religious freedom have urged the United Nations to act to protect "Muslims who choose to convert to another faith." A petition signed by almost 90,000 people in 32 countries was presented last week to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, the organization spearheading the campaign said Monday.
This has got to be a joke. How is the UN going to protect Muslim converts when, in the absence of U.S. backing, it can't even put any weight behind its own resolutions?
#5
I'm with your Bar. The UN cannot even protect a group who seek only to practice their faith undisturbed, namely, the Jews. What f&%king use will the UN be in protecting apostasic Muslims from their terrorist counterparts? The UN can't even squeeze out a resolution properly condemning terrorism without larding it with anti-Semitic language. Who honestly thinks they would be worth sh!t protecting people from the very groups that hijack every general assembly?
Seven men convicted for their roles in the October 2002 Bali bombings have been allowed to switch jails on "humanitarian" grounds to relocate them nearer their families, Indonesian jail officials said today. The seven were moved yesterday from Bali, where 202 people perished in the October 2002 nightclub attacks, to East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, Tulus Wijayanto, director of Bali's Kerobokan high-security jail, said. "They are being flown to Balikpapan in East Kalimantan and will be put at the Balikpapan state prison," Mr Wijayanto told AFP. "The move was made following the demand of the families of the detainees. It is purely a humanitarian move."
#1
What the f&%k do "humanitarian" concerns have to do with convicted mass-murderers? Shouldn't precious prison system resources be directed towards those who show hope of proper rehabilitation? Why make these maggots' lives the least bit easier?
All of this reeks of the same media circus surrounding Amrozi and his "smiling bomber" photo-ops. There is a strong undercurrent of both defiance and rejection of external pressure to crack down on terrorism exuding from Indonesia's handling of the Bali atrocity's conspirators. The harshest and most unendurable prison conditions are all that these slimeballs deserve. Indonesia is sending the exact wrong signals to terrorists and the international community alike.
Loooong article, just a few nuggets, EFL:
Despite its periodic crackdowns on the terror network, Iran has served as a refuge for al-Qaida operatives suspected of plotting attacks in Europe and the Middle East and of playing a central role in the Iraqi insurgency, European anti-terror investigators say. Investigations in France, Italy, Spain and other countries since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks point to an increasing presence in Iran of al-Qaida figures, including the suspected masterminds of this year's train bombings in Madrid and last year's car bombings of expatriate compounds in Saudi Arabia. But Iran's complex politics and secretive policies have made it difficult to determine the nature of any relationship between Iranian officials and the terror network, investigators say.
What concerns Western law-enforcement officials, however, is the post-Sept. 11 menace posed by al-Qaida, including its involvement in Iraq and deadly attacks in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. As Osama bin Laden's movement has reconfigured since 2001, Iran has become an intermittent refuge for kingpins who have gained stature and autonomy while bin Laden has decomposed faded from the limelight, European officials say. "The Iranians play a double game," said a top French law-enforcement official who, like others interviewed, asked to remain anonymous. "Everything they can do to trouble the Americans, without going too far, they do it. They have arrested important al-Qaida people, but they have permitted other important al-Qaida people to operate. It is a classic Iranian style of ambiguity, deception, manipulation."
Al-Qaida figures who allegedly have operated in Iran, according to court documents and investigators in Europe, include Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian seen as a leader of the Iraq insurgency and a broader international network; Saif Adel, an Egyptian regarded as al-Qaida's military chief; and Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, a veteran Spanish-Syrian holy warrior seen by Spanish police as a possible mastermind of the Madrid attacks.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
08/02/2004 12:22:46 PM ||
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"The Iranians play a double game," said a top French law-enforcement official who, like others interviewed, asked to remain anonymous. "Everything they can do to trouble the Americans, without going too far, they do it.
French officials are familiar with those concepts...
Iran is not afraid of being referred to the UN Security Council over its suspect nuclear programme and could easily withstand economic sanctions, a top national security official said Monday. "The most America can do to get its way is to impose economic sanctions, but our experience of these over the past 25 years have proved that they are ineffective," said a top member of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Sayed Hossein Mussavian. "Even if the case is taken to the UN Security Council, nothing more than that sanctions can happen. It will fail. It does not worry us," he was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said last Thursday that it was "more and more likely" that Iran would be referred to the UN Security Council as a possible prelude to sanctions. The United States has accused Iran of wantonly flouting international calls to curb its nuclear activities, saying Tehran is engaged in a "direct challenge" to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The next IAEA meeting is in September. Iran, which insists it has fully cooperated with the IAEA, wants its dossier to be taken off the agenda of the UN nuclear watchdog. Mussavian also shrugged off speculation that Israel may try to launch military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. "These threats are baseless, just part of a psychological war. I don't think the Americans and the Israelis would dare to attack Iran's nuclear facilities," he said. "The Europeans are opposed to that, and America's position in the region would stop them from taking such a risk," he added.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/02/2004 9:42:15 AM ||
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The most America can do to get its way is to impose economic sanctions, but our experience of these over the past 25 years have proved that they are ineffective
Of course the reason they don't expect sanctions to be effective is that they expect the Euros to violate them.
The mother of a key Tanzanian suspect arrested in connection with the bombing of two US embassies in East Africa has said her son is innocent. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, an alleged al-Qaeda militant with a $5m American bounty on his head, was captured in Pakistan on Sunday. In tears Mrs Bimkubwa Said Abdullah told the BBC that she feared her son would be tortured in custody. Mrs Said Abdullah said she hoped her son would receive a fair trial.
The Tanzanian government has yet to comment on the arrest of its national. Tanzania's Foreign Affairs Minister Jakaya Kikwete said he learnt about the arrest from the media, and has not received any information from Pakistan. Mr Ghailani has been indicted in the US over the bombings of the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, nearly six years ago. More than 200 people were killed in the two explosions, including 12 American citizens. Most of the victims were Kenyans and Tanzanians.
In his early 30s and from the island of Zanzibar off Tanzania's coast, Mr Ghailani is described by his old friends as a reserved man and a good soccer player. He left the island six years ago, relatives say, to pursue his studies. Asha Muhammed, Mr Ghailani's first cousin, told the BBC's Ally Saleh in Zanzibar that he finds it hard to believe his cousin would be capable of harming anyone.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/02/2004 11:31 ||
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In tears Mrs Bimkubwa Said Abdullah told the BBC that she feared her son would be tortured in custody
Dunk.. sploosh.. Wah!
Dunk.. sploosh.. Wah!
Dunk.. sploosh.. Wah!
Posted by: The Screaming Nun ||
08/02/2004 11:41 Comments ||
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Mrs Said Abdullah said she hoped her son would receive a fair trial.
OK.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/02/2004 12:40 Comments ||
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"No, no, don't put those panties on my.......say, are those silk?"
Posted by: Steve ||
08/02/2004 12:41 Comments ||
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He left the island to pursue his studies. Thanks, BBC, for not mentioning where, but still that's all that needs to be said for us to know what he was up to.
Posted by: Michael ||
08/02/2004 14:17 Comments ||
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#7
I recall similar laudatory comments being made by the neighbors and friends of Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacey and David Berkowitz.
In all fairness, I'll bet he was a hell of student. My only question is how he could see the chalkboard in a dark cave in Afghanistan?
For some reason the word "innocent" and "He was captured in a fierce gun battle" dont seem to go together.
Posted by: jojo the amazing circus boy ||
08/02/2004 14:48 Comments ||
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#9
G*d D#m$@#, Jojo, where's my Circus Peanuts?!
Posted by: John F Kerry ||
08/02/2004 14:59 Comments ||
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NOTE TO MAMA: If you're so worried about your son being tortured or getting a fair trial, maybe you should be more careful about how your child is trying to harm the one nation that routinely eschews such judicial improprieties.
Oops, that requires logic, which is obviously in short supply around your neck of the woods. Maybe your kid's running around with a violent crowd wasn't such a good idea in a nation not well known for benevolent government or law enforcement.
The State Department defended a prospective deal to equip Jordan with high-tech air-to-air missiles and cautioned Israel not to build 600 new homes at a large Jewish settlement on the West Bank alongside Jerusalem. As Israel looks to Congress to block the deal to upgrade the firepower of Jordanian jets, department spokesman Adam Ereli praised the Arab kingdom and said the United States would be careful to maintain Israel's military edge over the combined forces of Arab nations. Where has Jordan done much more than pay lip service to fighting terrorism? Somehow, all those tons of chemicals were successfully smuggled into their cozy little kingdom for use against American assets.
"We certainly appreciate all that Jordan has done to contribute to regional stability, including its support for a stable, secure and democratic Iraq, as well as its efforts to foster peace between Palestinians and Israel," he said in defense of a weapons sale. What about Jordan assimilating some of the Palestinian refugees to settle on that land they absorbed after Britain's abandonment of Palestine? If they're so serious about contributing to "regional stability" and fostering "peace between Palestinians and Israel" why don't they do something more to heal the open running sore that is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? I suppose removing that eternal death struggle off the regional agenda might cause more notice to be taken of Middle Eastern countries who still retain antiquated governments and ineffectual anti-terror campaigns. Can't have that now, can we?
Jordan has fought alongside Arab nations in all the wars against Israel except the 1973 war. In 1996, under the late King Hussein, Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel. This is the first time Israel has tried to prevent Jordan from buying U.S.-manufactured arms since the signing. Ereli called the deal a potential one, and said the administration had not formally notified Congress of a plan to go ahead. Israel has every right to want this deal blocked. Only when a majority of Arab nations renounce their institutionalized anti-Semitism should there be any talk of advanced weapons sales to anyone in the region other than Israel. Continued on Page 49
A few months from now, Peter Anthony Schlesinger hopes to zap a laser beam at a couple of chickens or other animals in a cage a few dozen yards away. If all goes as planned, the chickens will be frozen in mid-cluck, their leg and wing muscles paralyzed by an electrical charge created by the beam, even as their heart and lungs function normally. Among those most interested in the outcome will be officials at the Pentagon, who helped fund Schlesinger's work and are looking at this type of device to do a lot more than just zap a chicken. More like zapping chicken-sh!ts.
Devices like these, known as directed-energy weapons, could be used to fight wars in coming years. "When you can do things at the speed of light, all sorts of new capabilities are there," said Delores Etter, a former undersecretary of defense for science and technology and an advocate of directed-energy weapons. Directed energy could bring numerous advantages to the battlefield in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where U.S. troops have had to deal with hostile but unarmed crowds as well as dangerous insurgents.
Aside from paralyzing potential attackers or noncombatants like a long-range stun gun, directed-energy weapons could fry the electronics of missiles and roadside bombs, developers say, or even disable a vehicle in a high-speed chase. The most ambitious program is the Air Force's Airborne Laser, a plan to mount a laser on a modified Boeing 747 and use it to shoot down missiles. At the same Air Force Research Laboratory in New Mexico, researchers working with Raytheon Co. have developed a weapon called the Active Denial System, which repels adversaries by heating the water molecules in their skin with microwave energy. The pain is so great that people flee immediately. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the mob ... Continued on Page 49
#1
But the idea of using directed energy against humans is creating debate fueled by deaths allegedly caused by Taser stun guns and the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners -- which put the military’s respect for human rights under a microscope.
Well, we could stick to the tried-and-true method of placing very large holes in their bodies with bullets. You'd think that human rights groups would approve of a method that doesn't assume a likelihood of death.
#7
Yeah ... and now imagine that weapon in the hands of Al Qaeda.
Actually, at present the required energy source is pretty big. That was the big problem with Directed Energy Weapons when I had a tangential connection to research during Reagan's Star Wars programs. We've come a long way, but not to the point of rechargeable personal weapons, so far as I know ....
#8
I still think directed microwave weapons would be more entertaining...target expands, turning a nice sickly red, then explodes! And from a serious morale kicker, that would definately make it a doozy.
"I was just sitting there, chanting slogans when Abdula...he just exploded!"
#9
Yeah ... and now imagine that weapon in the hands of Al Qaeda.
Yeah, they've always been the masters of such arcane fabrication techniques as submicron coplanarity optical alignment and half silvered mirrors. Al Qaeda would be lucky if they could even figure out how to recharge one of these weapons, much less override the human metrology factors activation code needed to make it operational.
Jerusalem - Israel has approved 600 new housing units for the West Bank's biggest Jewish settlement despite an understanding with Washington not to expand enclaves on occupied land, political sources said on Monday. But no building tenders have been published since the decision two months ago and security sources said the United States, Israel's main ally and key mediator in its conflict with Palestinians, would be consulted before construction began. The plan would add homes to Maale Adumim, a sprawling, suburban-style settlement with 30 000 people. Located a few kilometres east of Jerusalem, it straddles the mid-section of territory that Palestinians seek for a viable independent state. Political sources conceded the plan could breach an understanding with the United States not to erect more homes beyond existing built-up zones in West Bank settlements.
First finish the fence in this area. Make sure Maale Adumim is west of the fence. Then break ground for construction.
Palestinian officials condemned the move as a violation of a US-backed "road kill map" peace plan which mandates a freeze on settlement expansion to help make way for Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "This is in total defiance of the road kill map ... and total defiance of US President Bush's vision. Settlements and peace do not go together," Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erekat said.
"T'aint nuttin' goes with peace as long as we're around!", he explained further.
"We will discuss this new neighbourhood with the Americans," said an Israeli security official of the decision, acknowledged by a Defence Ministry spokesperson without further comment.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2004 1:24:25 PM ||
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Sing it!
This sand is your land!
This sand is my land!
Cause we bought it from
some guy in Ireland!
er... from the Atlas moutains
to the Gailee waters...
this land was made for you and me.
They grunted, they flexed and they posed in their tight swimming trunks in downtown Baghdad, all in honor of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former bodybuilder turned politician. It was the governor of California's 57th birthday, and thousands of miles away in blisteringly hot Baghdad members of the Arnold Classic gym celebrated too, staging what they said was the country's first postwar bodybuilding competition. "This is for Arnold, our hero and the greatest champion ever," announced Sabah Talib, owner of the gym and himself a former Asian bodybuilding champ, as he launched the event Friday.
WHITE HOUSE ANGER AT HOLLYWOOD ELECTION SURPRISE: PARAMOUNT PUPPET MOVIE TO MOCK TERROR WAR
**Exclusive**
A new film set for release from PARAMOUNT has raised the pop culture threat levels at the White House -- a film which lampoons the war on terror [and media urgency] using puppets, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. "I really do not think terrorism is funny, and I would suggest PARAMOUNT give respect to those fighting and sacrificing to keep America safe," a senior Bush adviser told the DRUDGE REPORT this weekend. The new fuss film TEAM AMERICA, set for release two weeks before the November presidential election, is entering post-production with SOUTH PARK creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
A deep voice using serious tones opens the film's teaser: "We live in a time of unparalleled danger. Weapons of Mass Destruction are being offered to terrorists all over the world. Global chaos is about to consume every country on Earth. And there is only one hope for humanity."
RANTBURG!
The movie's official poster features an apparent Bush look-a-like [strings attached] with his back to the viewer.
It's the return of "SuperMarionation" for those fans of "Thunderbirds" and "Captain Scarlett".
The senior White House adviser, who asked not to be named, fumed after seeing the movie's website and trailer. "This is just unconscionable. Not funny..."
Get a grip
Marionette puppets are used throughout the film to mock terror threats, and media figures who dominate the nation's airwaves. But Parker and Stone save most of the mocking for left-wing pundits and Michael Moore. "Bush is not even in the film," Parker said Sunday night from Los Angeles during the DRUDGE REPORT radio broadcast. "I would ask that people wait and see it, before passing a judgement."
Pictures at Drudge show the bad guys as turban wearing taliban style jihadis, so I expect a fatawa from CAIR in 5..4..3..
Developing...
Posted by: Steve ||
08/02/2004 9:36:49 AM ||
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Who cares? They're PUPPETS, Mr. senior White House adviser. Don't be so Canadian.
Posted by: ed ||
08/02/2004 10:13 Comments ||
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#2
I read the trailer. Sounds like "Zoolander" with puppets...
#3
..Just my .02 here - I've only seen ONE 'South Park' (it was dementedly funny, but the subject was something I shall not even discuss for fear of losing my eternal soul) and ONE 'That's My Bush' (a VERY funny episode that was some genuine and well-done slapstick). Having said that - there is a LONG and honorable tradition in the country of poking fun at political and media figures. From what I've seen of 'Team America' so far (stressing the 'so far') it looks like it is an equal-opportunity annoyer. I will probably not go see it - I'm saving up to see Angelina Jolie in eyepatch and flight suit in 'Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' - but 'TA' isn't another 'Farenheit 9/11' - it's straight satire, probably with a few funny moments, and some folks just need to lighten up about it. Don't forget Ronald Reagan's words when somebody asked him about the viciously caricatured puppet the BBC did of him in 'Spitting Image' : he just smiled and said, "They got the hair wrong." The show didn't last much longer after that.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/02/2004 10:45 Comments ||
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According to someone who saw some clips of the film at Comic-Con last week, it sounds like it IS an equal-opportunity annoyer (scoll down for the description).
But according to the description, Team America swoops in to attack terrorists in Paris, and accidently takes down the Eiffel Tower.
Can it be all that bad, then?
Posted by: Baltic Blog ||
08/02/2004 10:51 Comments ||
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#6
Hey Sgt Mom, over here with the popcorn, extra butter please!!
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/02/2004 13:46 Comments ||
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#7
I watched the trailer and think the Bush folks can relax. It starts off with a list of like ten or so lefties (Sean Penn, Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, George Clooney are listed and I think there were a few more) and then ends the list with Bush, Kerry and Kim Jung Il. Then says they will all be very upset by this movie, or something like that. I spotted Michael Moore and Kim Jung Il in the trailer so I think everyone listed probably appears somewhere.
Personally I think it looks funny. You all know that these two guys are Republicans.
The terrorist attacks in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, on Friday are a testament to the continued vitality of the al Qaeda movement. Three suicide-bomb blasts outside the embassies of Israel and the U.S. and the office of the Uzbek state prosecutor killed three terrorists and three innocent Uzbeks. Responsibility for the attacks has been claimed by the Jihad Islamic Group (JIG), a successor to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), an organization allied with al Qaeda. The JIG is also known as "Jamoat" (meaning "societies" or "groups" in Uzbek).
The IMU was probably behind car bombs in Tashkent in February 1999 that aimed to assassinate Uzbek President Islam Karimov and that killed 16 persons. In its new guise as Jamoat, the organization issued a statement in April 2004 claiming responsibility for a series of explosions from March 28 to April 1, 2004 that took the lives of 33 terrorists and 14 bystanders and policemen. The trial of 15 suspects from the March and April bombings began on July 26.
From The Los Angeles Times
... Attackers [of five Christian churches in Mosul] timed some of the blasts for maximum effect, during evening services that attracted hundreds of faithful. Bloodied and dazed, churchgoers spilled onto streets littered with shards of stained glass and splinters of wood as smoke billowed above them. ... The Iraqi Ministry of Health said early today that 11 people had died and 52 were injured.
In perhaps the deadliest of the attacks, twin blasts struck the Chaldean Patriarchate in southern Baghdad, killing a child and at least four other people as churchgoers began arriving for Mass around sunset. Witnesses said they saw two men pull up in separate cars, park them near the church, then casually walk away before the vehicles exploded, hurling debris as far as 100 yards. The church served as a bomb shelter during last year's U.S. invasion, and local residents, Muslims and Christians alike, banded together to protect it from looters. ...
In addition to Sunday's bombings — which elicited a condemnation from the Vatican — recent weeks have seen a nationwide rise in attacks on liquor and record stores, whose owners are often Christians and whose wares are forbidden by strict Muslims. ....
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Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/02/2004 9:03:14 AM ||
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They may have been muslims, but were they Shias? Sistani has denounced the attacks, and the Iraqi govt says it was Zarqawis gang.
The guy making the statment quoted in the title doesnt seem to be accusing the Mossad, or the CIA, or whatever. More of a statement from the gut, these Zarqi terrorists are NOT true followers of my faith. A good sign, I think.
#2
There sure are a lot of non-Muslims bombing and beheading non-Muslims and Muslims alike. Maybe the solution lies in seeing a bunch of Mosques go up in flames and a dust cloud each time a non-Muslim pulls one of these attacks. I suggest we start with Falluja and Ramadi, then get to work on those pious Saudis.
Posted by: ed ||
08/02/2004 9:21 Comments ||
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#3
They’re not Muslims
Not bad. Month after month of Islamist terror and they can still be in denial.
#4
Each time an AQ terrorists kills muslims or non-muslims you would bomb a mosque?? Why would the muslims Iraqis, who are now sovereign in their own country, and fighting the terrorists and deadenders, do that?
You guys are missing the point. AQ routinely justifies attacks on muslims by saying that the people who oppose them are really apostates, and thus kuffir - Sadat, Perv, etc are all non-muslims just as much as Jews and Christians. The guy quoted above was, from the gut, flipping this - AQ are the ones who ARE kufirs, in his view. That hardly means he would accept bombing muslims.
#5
Actually, the LA Times article doesn't really venture a guess as to the religious affiliation of whoever bombed the churches.
Given the nature of what's happening in Iraq and the players involved, it's highly unlikely that a Christian terrorist group would be responsible for the bombings...
#9
If Al Queda was hoping to provoke a reaction from the Pope they're dealing with the wrong Pope. They could blow up the Vatican and he'd probably make excuses in defense of Islam.
It's amazing he showed so much courage against the Soviets, but then he was Polish and it was personal.
Sudan's army says the UN resolution on the conflict in Darfur is "a declaration of war" and threatens to fight any foreign intervention.
Ok
Did the spokesman say this using a Clint Eastwood-like voice?
The resolution gives the government 30 days to disarm the Janjaweed militias, which are accused of widespread atrocities against non-Arab groups. Sudan's cabinet has also criticised the resolution. It has promised to disarm the Arab militias - but within 90 days. More than one million people have fled their homes in 18 months of conflict. The growing international concern about Darfur in western Sudan has led to calls for a limited form of military intervention.
"The Security Council resolution about the Darfur issue is a declaration of war on the Sudan and its people," armed forces spokesman General Mohamed Beshir Suleiman told the official Al Anbaa daily newspaper. "The Sudanese army is now prepared to confront the enemies of the Sudan on land, sea and air," he said.
Bwahahaha, oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were joking..
"The door of the jihad is still open and if it has been closed in the south it will be opened in Darfur," he said, referring to a peace deal to end 20 years of war in southern Sudan.
Subtle way of their re-introducting conflict in the South.
Don't let that door hit you in the ass
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo visited the Sudan capital, Khartoum and Libya over the weekend seeking an "African solution" to the crisis.
"African solutions" tend to involve vast numbers of people dying. I think we've passed that point a long time ago.
As chairman of the African Union, he is pressing for African troops to be sent to Darfur to disarm the Janjaweed, and the two rebels groups, accused by Sudan of starting the conflict by taking up arms last year. Nigeria, South Africa and Rwanda had promised to send 300 soldiers to Darfur by the end of July but these have not yet arrived.
Digital surprise meter didn't register that one.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/02/2004 8:30:21 AM ||
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#1
The Sudanese army is now prepared to confront the enemies of the Sudan on land, sea and air.
Careful there, you're treading pretty closely to copyright infringement.
#3
Nigeria, South Africa and Rwanda had promised to send 300 soldiers to Darfur by the end of July but these have not yet arrived.
Rwanda army (heirs of the Tutsi guerillas) is perhaps the toughest force on the continent. Real tough hombres. They managed to take half of Congo - look on a map at the relative sizes of the two countries, and reflect.
South Africa - heir to BOTH the ANC and the Apartheid era RSA army, this should be closer to first world standards than most African armies. They stayed out of the Congo mess, so their post-apartheid quality is untried.
Nigeria - this is the classic incompetent 3rd world army IIUC, though they have experience in peace keeping. They can provide numbers, but will need stiffening from the Rwandans, South Africans, and Westerners.
This article is huge, so I am going to paste only about ten percent of it.
Over a month into sovereignty, and Iraq still continues to generate a flood of bad news, at least as far as the mainstream media are concerned. Foreign workers keep getting kidnapped and occasionally executed; terrorist bombs continue to explode throughout Baghdad and other cities, although the victims are now overwhelmingly Iraqi civilians. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, learned commissions deliver their reports, providing the media with fresh opportunities to talk about intelligence failures and strategic blunders.
Yet for every foreigner taken hostage there are stories of hundreds of Iraqis who can now enjoy in many different ways their regained liberty. For every attack, with all its terror and bloodshed, there are countless stories of courage, determination and resourcefulness on the part of the Iraqi people. And for every intelligence failure by the government agencies then, there is an intelligence failure by the media now. Which is why you are likely to have recently missed some of the stories below.
• Society. Despite the best (or rather the worst) efforts of al Qaeda-affiliated jihadis and Baath Party nostalgics, Iraq is steadily moving in the direction of representative democracy. The national convention is yet another step towards the next year's elections.
• Economy. As planned, Iraq has opened its bond market, with the issue of the first postwar debt. One hundred fifty billion dinars ($104 million) were raised in three-month treasury bills at 5.5% interest rate. "Demand was healthy," according to the central bank's chief economist, Mudher Kasim.
As another report explains, "Iraq's three-week-old government is selling debt to help pay local banks $3 billion of debt that dates from Saddam's rule and to reduce its reliance on international loans and revenue from oil. The government plans to hold twice-monthly auctions to raise as much as $1.2 billion by year-end. 'It shows the sophistication of the Iraqi banking system,' said Richard Segal, research director at Exotix, a London brokerage for emerging market securities, including Iraqi debt."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: badanov ||
08/02/2004 7:44:36 AM ||
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#1
the genuine left, the left of christopher hitchens and Paul Berman, will celebrate the advent of democracy, and push for more of it, and will support the leftist, secular parties in Iraq, including the Iraqi Communist Party, Kurdish Socialist parties, etc. They will advocate the taxation of the stock market, etc to support social services, and a go slow approach to privatization.
The parochial, isolationist, pacifist left will simply focus on whats going wrong, since their agenda is rather different.
For a good introduction to these differences in leftism, with material going back to the split in the French left in the 1930's, see Paul Bermans "Liberalism and Terror".
#2
Interesting info, LH. I'm no supporter of the left, but it may make for an interesting read.
I think we should discourage Leftism in Iraq until such time they may become a big time economic powerhouse. *Then* we push the Left agenda to rein them back in again.
#6
I've seen these before. Truth be told, they're the funniest thing Chevy Chase has ever done.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/02/2004 10:57 Comments ||
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#7
So one guy comes up with mecca cola. Then another with arab cola. And then another with cola turka. Jeeeeeeeeezis....can't they even think beyond cola, like, say, ginger ale? Apparently, the idea that someone would come up with a non-beverage idea seems to be incomprehensible.
And so, they fight amongst themselves for the small market that exists for people who want to drink islamically-tinged cola.
This is simply another sign that their vacuous, bereft culture is completely unadapted to exist in the modern world.
#9
"10 percent of the profits will be distributed as donations to Palestinian children. It is intolerable that they should march in anti-American ralliesstrap bombs to their chests and blow themselves upshoot themselves in the foot by killing their hope for the future suffer, starve and miss school."
Yes, there's an idea that the Israelis are sure to jump for: drink this soda and fund your own demise! Brilliant! Those Zionists will never see it coming!
And does anyone else find it amusing that Mecca-Cola is based in France?
Posted by: The Doctor ||
08/02/2004 11:14 Comments ||
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#10
"...but it is definitely a motivator and a reason for pride among Islamic youth, especially in economically weak societies where anything that can hurt America is deemed good and acceptable."
Thought this tid-bit a bit interesting.
Also, anyone know where I can pick up a case of "infidel-cola"?
Posted by: jojo the amazing circus boy ||
08/02/2004 18:22 Comments ||
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efl
An interagency meeting convened last week from top Bush administration advisers, known as the deputies committee, asked the State Department and Pentagon to begin making contingency plans for the cost and size of an international military mission to the Darfur province of Sudan. A senior State Department official told the Sun over the weekend that a larger peacekeeping operation could be assembled for Darfur and ready for deployment by the end of August, coinciding with the deadline for Sudan's compliance with the U.N. resolution. Compliance. Right.
In anticipation of a possible peacekeeping force, the Pentagon has already sent two military planners to work with Nigerian and Rwandan officers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on how to craft a mission to help return the Darfuri refugees to their homes. The State Department has approached the Pacific Architecture and Energy military contractor for possible help in providing helicopters and other logistical support for a potential peacekeeping operation. That contractor already provides the monitors and helicopters to observe the ceasefire between the north and south. While administration officials say that it is highly unlikely American troops will actually be part of any potential multinational peacekeeping force for Sudan, they also say that Washington is willing to provide equipment, military planners, and foot some of the bill for these operations. Sounds like a plan.
President Clinton's Africa director for the National Security Council, John Prendergast, said this thinking makes sense bureaucratically but is flawed in the case of Sudan. "The point is the bureaucratic argument will always be, 'Let's get our foot in the door and then let's ramp up later,'" he said. "But we are in an astronomically abnormal circumstance. We are responding to a genocide, and therefore that process needs to be fasttracked in a way that does not yet seem to be happening." Yeah, Clinton sure was quick & decisive in the Balkans...
Posted by: someone ||
08/02/2004 2:20:45 AM ||
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I do not think Bush can afford another humiliating defeat after the Iraq saga ...
Posted by: Pedro ||
08/02/2004 2:34 Comments ||
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Iraq was a "humiliating defeat" for Bush? or anyone else?
The only person for whom it was a defeat is Saddam Hussein...and his dead boys Queasy and Q-Tip!
#5
I think we should keep the help to a minimum. I have a bad feeling this is going to come back and bite us like Bosnia. The black Muslims will hate us for saving them from the Arabs. The black Christians - I'm not sure about. The rebels will most likely hate us.
I'm sorry, folks, but I can't get worked up about anything that happens to countries in Africa, including genocide. Africans are all doomed any way you look at it - AIDS, famine, floods, dictators - it's called the lost continent for good reason. Sudan is but one disaster in the midst of several others.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 3:14 Comments ||
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Rex, I agree with you. Race conflicts are very dangerous especially when it involves Blacks. US should stay away from this issue and have African countries deal with it.
Posted by: Alex ||
08/02/2004 7:41 Comments ||
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#7
I disagree.
Sudan threatens to become the new (old) Afghanistan for Al Queda--it was Bin Laden's first.
It's right across the thin Red Sea from Soddy Arabia.
These are Arab Muslims killing black Christians...and animists.
I don't think it would take that many troops to stop this.
And you 2 are callous to just slough off the slaughter of thousands of innocents, like Bill Clinton did in Rwanda!
#11
actually there ARE french troops in Chad, IIUC, and they SHOULD play a role. UK has also offered troops, and Aussies have offered technical troops. Black africans can supply foot soldiers. All we should supply is logistics, and air power if it should come to that, not ground troops.
#12
Pedro, nothing like a new commenter that whorships at the feet of the Mainstreammedia. It's like a baby being fed from a Gerber bottle. Little bib, drips down the lowerer lip, mommy spoons it back into the piehole.
I like action into Sudan. This is a great front in this war. Black muslims may be turned and set free from islam. Sudanian arabs could be killed wholesale and who would give a shit. Time to play the race card for real.
In terms of large military formations, don't think so. Time to put pressure on jihad from all directions. I think Africa is key.
#13
Divide Sudan into three (Black Muslim, Arab Muslim, Black non-Muslim) and seriously send a message to the two-bit genocidal dictators around the world. Either that or send a JDAM to the presidential palace and then talk about ending the genocide to whomever crawls out of the rubble.
african muslims dont want to be set free from Islam, nor do most Iraqi, afghan or other muslims. They DO want to be set free from ISLAMISM, especially its more radical and violent offshoots.
Many african muslim states are already actively supporting the WOT, as is documented here in RB (Much BETTER than in the MSM, i might add) We need to continue that relationship and expand it.
#15
Hello Everyone once again,just had to join in on this one after months of being to bone idle to type , i have to rant that we should go on into Sudan, my reasoning is that it too will work in the flytrap manner that Iraq did, it'll magnatize all those stupid Jihadi fucknozzles in the region to go help out the Janjaweeds but my main reason is Sudan is a shit hole always has been always will be so why not press on in after all its been a favoutite stomping ground for binny and the jihadi goons for a long while. I will not support any UN action though as this would be yet another tremendous disaster that Kofi will walk away from blameless, so there it is my reasonings for crushing the Suddies. be back soon
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/02/2004 13:58 Comments ||
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Black muslims may be turned and set free from islam
Say what? Once a Muslim, always a Muslim. Maybe we should first try to prevent our own American blacks from converting to fundamentalist Islam while incarcerated before we take on airy-fairy projects abroad hoping to "convert" African Muslims to love infidels? After you have a plan for the former, get back to me about your ambitious plans in Sudan.
Also, think Bosnia and what a tremendous success that has become re: our "liberating" Muslims and winning over their population. Righhhhttt.
I don't think it would take that many troops to stop this
You are nuts. As discussed before, Sudan is a huge country with an unfriendly geography to "liberating" ground troops. The UN has its occasional "real" moments, and Sudan is one of those moments. It would take an enormous number of troops to properly overcome the Arabs in Sudan as well as to maintain order thereafter when the gov't in place would not exactly be very "helpful" to "liberating forces." And you're right... Sudan's location being very close to a ready supply of Islamic fighters in nearby Arab countries. It would be another nasty and neverending "wack a mole" venture. Thanks but no thanks we have 2 war fronts open at this time...that's quite enough for most Americans. Where do you think we're going to get an neverending supply of American troops to take on your ever increasing list of "noble" campaigns abroad? You don't like the genocide in Sudan? Nothing stopping you from joining some Peace Corps type of aid group and flying out to Sudan or a nearby country to help withh the situation. Don't assign the task to someone else to follow through with your airy fairy ventures. I'm not callous about "sloughing off" the lives of "innocents." Rather I'm trying to prevent "innocent" American white boys from being drafted to carry out useless "liberating" campaigns abroad that come up annually, or so it seems, with neo cons like you.
The "aspirin factory" bombing sent them to the Taliban. Now they're back
Wrong. Some left. But Arab countries always re-freshed the numbers in Sudan.
Send in the Phrench. After all, they have experience in this sort of thing from their actions in the Ivory Coast, don't they? ;)
As another poster indicated, France is amassing troops on the Sudan border. And don't laugh - if France sends in some of its French Foreign Legion to Africa, the "bad boys" pay attention and the locals have confidence knowing that the FFL means business and don't worry too much about taking POW's.
These are Arab Muslims killing black Christians and animists
How nice it would be if life were sooo simple, Jen. Sudan is rather complicated. In fact, there are 3 conflicts going on in Sudan right now, and therefore and thusly, it would be prudent not to get any of our ground troops involved in this mess, since the majority of our GI's are non-black, non-Arab, and non-Muslim.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 14:19 Comments ||
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Nothing stopping you from joining some Peace Corps type of aid group and flying out to Sudan or a nearby country to help withh the situation.
This is not correct. The Sudanese govt HAS stopped NGOs from going into Darfur.
#19
I'm sorry, folks, but I can't get worked up about anything that happens to countries in Africa,
somehow im not surprised.
including genocide.
Which I put in a case by itself, but maybe thats just me.
Africans are all doomed any way you look at it - AIDS, famine, floods, dictators
In fact I rather expect there will be plenty of Africans around in 40 years. Famines are common only in the Sahel and in the horn of Africa - much of africa exports agricultural products, as some familiarity with the coffee and cocoa markets would tell you. Floods can happen anywhere - its hardly a cause of depopulation in africa.
As for previous genocides, well there was Rwanda. Which the West so shamefully turned aside from - folks here can feel free to blame Clinton and the French if they care to.
#21
This is not correct. The Sudanese govt HAS stopped NGOs from going into Darfur.
NGO's in nearby countries are preparing for the opportunity to get food into Sudan. My point is that it's easier for Jen and others to talk tough, as long as such action requires no change /disruption of their safe and cozy and affluent life style in the USA.
somehow im not surprised... Which I put in a case by itself, but maybe thats just me.
Excuse me, LH, but there are those of us who, though are not Jewish, have relatives who were victims of genocide in Europe. The WWII Jewish Holocaust was not the only genocide that has taken place in history, so don't think that you are the only person who is sensitive to genocide.
Where were you when the Ukrainian Civil Liberties Union campaigned for the NYT and the Pulitzer Prize Committee to strip Duranty, the Stalinist apologist, of his Pulitizer Prize posthumously? Did you picket the NYT because you feel so strongly about genocide? Did you write Arthur Sulzberger Jr. about how ashamed you were that he was supporting Duranty, who covered up the deliberate starvation of 8-12 Million Ukrainian farmers? Righhhtttt...
LH, your whimsical concern about genocide is laughable and your cheap shot attack on others like myself, who don't want open borders for illegal migration of the world's citizens and who are against dropping American GI's into yet a 3rd war zone is childish..
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 15:12 Comments ||
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#22
rex, good arguments all. But once a muslim always a muslim. Not neccesarily true. Me thinks these muslims are muslim by forced conversions and could be turned into something other then a jihadie machine.
I have for a long time been critical of fighting the war in the dust of Afganistan and Iraq. To much politicing. And I'm all for backing the program until those places can or fail in their endeavers. But a serious, and I mean serious, blow torch of Khartoum will cut that head off.
You really think large numbers of Arabs will float on ever to fight jihad. Bring them on. I think a true race card can be played that puts jihad on the hot plate.
I think Africa is the Key in this war. Iraq/saddam was unfinished business. But I don't think it's the best place to fight jihad. Like I said, you could kill jihadie wholesale there and by playing the race/genocide card, no one would give a shit.
If Egypt, Lybia, Morroco et all. want to funnel jihadies into the killing zone, they would stick out like a sore thumb in a black Sudan.
I've asked several time what victory looks like in this war. It better not look like Israel or long lines at the checkin counter. It needs to be an end to Jihad. To put that to an end will require turning large populations rom that Ideal. Me thinks those poor black bastards in Africa (the children bro) are the best bet in starting that.
Don't give me that strected to thin shit. Ramp up. Kill wholesale, start in Sudan. Victory rex, not security.
#23
Sorry, Lucky, nice try convincing me, but no cigar. First off, you are waaayyy, too optimistic that are current politicians in DC would allow : Kill wholesale, start in Sudan. Victory rex, not security.
Keep in mind that these are the same politicians who got weak kneed about POW alleged abuse in Abu. GWB apologized to the Arab world at least 2 or 3 times for panties on the head and you think this same man would allow the military free wheeling "bombs away," no worries, we only want victory...think again, my friend, it would be another don't hurt any civilians or homes or offices when you release a bomb and at all cost, try to take POW's when you can, so we can support them with 3 squares and exercise yards for life.
We have 2 wars on the go. At our current military strength, that's enough. Sudan is an African/Arab responsibility. If former colonist countries want to add support, good on them. But now's a splendid opportunity for those lazy lead butts in Egypt and Jordan, who get a truck load of foreign aid from US, to go into Sudan and clean out the "bad" Arabs who are giving Arabs a "bad reputation.
Why did we sell all those airplanes to Egypt? They're just collecting dust. Rev 'em up, Mubarek, and get your military into Sudan. Like wise Jordan has been yakking alot about helping Iraq...well they could help Iraq indirectly if they sent Jordanian troops to Sudan to keep America focused on Iraq.
Also, nearby African countries who are on the public dole should get their collective butts into action. What are they waiting for?
This is a complicated conflict in Sudan, involving both race and religion. Countries with similar racial and religious profiles should handle the genocide taking place in Sudan. We have special forces in the area hunting AQ operatives, so that's the level of military we should have in Africa. This genocide thingie could in fact draw us into a bottomless pit, Black Hole quagmire. We have and are doing our part to make the world a better place for down trodden people and we have done our part to fight genocides in the past. The Bosnia one back fired in our face big time. Time to sit this one out.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 15:51 Comments ||
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#24
Three step program: (1) We could fund Mercs. Africa is knee deep in fairly competant mercs protecting diamonds and what-not. They could use some image building and we could use the firepower to defend Dafur. (2) The CIA should go into Southern Sudan and work on creating a sort of Northern Alliance capable of defending themselves (with US airpower) in a defense war. (3) The Bush administration should announce genocide the Sudan government has no legal authority over their territory because of their racist war, slavery, and now genocide.
Even the suggestion of partition would scare the crap out of numerous thugs and the Sunni's in Iraq. And it would do wonders for the US position in Africa.
We should use the race card, the slavery card, and the genocide card and we shouldn't pull any punches. Let the lefties come out in favor of racism, slavery and genocide.
#25
rex - when did i mention the word jew??? Yes my concern for genocide is highly personal, but the phrase "thats just me" is hardly limited to religious or racial overtones.
Yes, I certainly recognize there have been other genocides - which is why i want to stop this one.
and btw through the years of the cold war i opposed the USSR, and registered willingly for the draft (which was not instituted at that time) and supported the captive nations.
I do think its shameful about the NYT and Duranty - but excuse me - thats about something that happened over 70 years ago - Ukraine is FREE today, and i hope it remains so.
The genocide in Sudan is NOW, and needs to be stopped. And it probably wont take many (if ANY)US ground troops to stop it. It also wont require more NGO volunteers - it WILL require political will.
And I must say your statement that my concern about genocide is "whimsical" is both incorrect and highly offensive. (as is your cheap shot about illegal immigration - i oppose it, as i oppose ALL violations of US law)
Frankly I dont know why you post here - surely there are places more in keeping with your Buchananite positions. Troll.
#27
#13Either that or send a JDAM to the presidential palace and then talk about ending the genocide to whomever crawls out of the rubble.
This is the solution I have been advocating for some time now, yank. A lot of Janjaweed support would dry up overnight if we nailed the Sudanese government just once.
#22But a serious, and I mean serious, blow torch of Khartoum will cut that head off.
Spark it up, Lucky. rex, while you are being absolutely realistic about American response to intervention, I think you are overly optimistic about any Arab contributions towards ending the Sudan genocide. The quickest solution is to locate the Janjaweed rebels, wait for them to cluster for some big pow-wow and strafe the living sh!t out of them with AC-130H gunships. Leave behind bone fragments and not much else.
If no cessation of hostilities happens, then level Khartoum's entire government complex. We have neither the time nor money to go in and sort out these homicidal fanatics. They need to be removed from the playing field. yank, you were on the right track to begin with. Use American airpower to decap the government or scour out the rebels. Let's not waste time on anything else. However, I do like your suggestions about partitioning. Such a threat is really big news to the dictatorial regimes. Loss of territory is one of the few clubs to hold over such maggots.
#28
LiberalHawk, no offense, but your petulent ad hominems sound very "girlie man"-ish. Get a grip.
There are many variations of conservative. I happen to be an old-fashioned conservative. I am not a Buchananite, though I don't see him as "evil" as you seem to.
You seem to be a moderate liberal who sees some appeal in the neo-con version of conservative. There's room for both of us in the conservative tent. We probably will not see eye-to-eye on many things but I'm not purposely baiting you. I just don't agree with alot of what you say. I'm no more a troll than you are, since you manage to always get a rise from me from your posts.
One does not have to be a rocket scientists to realize you are Jewish. I surmised you were Jewish by the fact that you speak very knowledgeably about Israel and have referred to your experiences there.
I don't think that the US should invade in Sudan for the reasoned logical points I have quoted above. That you are making this into a race baiting discussion is your problem not mine. It demomstrates to me that your "liberal" self is showing instead of your cerebral conservative side. This is a racial, ethnic complex situation in Sudan and it requires more thoughtfulness than merely saving blacks and Muslims.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 20:33 Comments ||
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#30
Sorry I couldn't get back to this thread sooner Had a T time, shot a 92, missed four puts from inside 3 ft. Bladed an easy pitch... ah you've heard it al before, sorry!
Rex, I'm not trying to convince you, not at all. I'm trying, as has been the case since I started hanging out at RB, to understand how to win the war, who the enemy is, what does victory look like, and how long will it take to win it.
I will say that victory better not look like Israel or the current status quo, where homeland security is the mantra. I like the agressive action that has been going on.
The enemies are jihadies and the support structures that feed it. In sudan you have a jihadie breeding culture that is attempting genocide. Kill them and ally with Africans who have a better understanding of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Your idea about Jordan and Egypt are silly. It's not in their DNA.
I do not like fighting this war as a piece meal fight for the soul of Iraq. I would rather destroy an evil jihadie society. Sudan fits that perfectly. And Sudans willingness to do the evil deed places them squarely in the "no longer fit to be around" catagory. Arabs need to see that actions like that being done in sudan will be harmful to your health. I personally have no respect for islam at all. I do not wish to see any cultural respect given it. I look down my nose at it. Point fingers at it, make stupid jokes about it. And the Black muslims are a traumitized society, they, the bastard sons, can be turned. Mecca, by now, prolly means squat to them!
Your statement regarding PC in DC is well understood. GW doesn't spell things out to clearly. He needs to play the race card and get vicious.
rex, what does victory look like to you. How do we get there.
And BTW, The postings of the main cadre of RBrs, Dan Darling, Paul Maloney, Steves, Fred, are to be heralded as folks that were way ahead of the world on this. last year it was, for me a "who's your buddy situation there. But those guys knew what was coming and kept us informed. way to go youse guys!
The American Civil Liberties Union has withdrawn from a federal donation program, refusing to follow U.S. Patriot Act rules requiring use of a government anti-terrorism watch list to check employees' names, a spokeswoman said. The ACLU stands to lose about $500,000 by pulling out of the Combined Federal Campaign, which allows federal employees to donate to various nonprofit organizations through payroll deductions, ACLU spokeswoman Emily Whitfield said Saturday. In 2003, the ACLU received $470,000 in such contributions.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero, in a letter to CFC Director Mara Patermaster, said Attorney General "John Ashcroft and this administration have created a climate of fear and intimidation that undermines the health and well-being of this nation." Using the watch lists, developed under the U.S. Patriot Act, is one requirement of continued program participation. The Patriot Act -- which expires in 2005 -- was passed into law in the weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It strengthened government legal powers to conduct investigations and detain terrorists people.
Supporters of the law have said the Patriot Act has been a valuable tool in anti-terrorism efforts. The ACLU, a legal organization that works to defend individual Constitutional rights, has long opposed the U.S. Patriot Act. In his letter, Romero said, "We will act not only on our behalf, but on behalf of our nation's nonprofits, to defend ourselves against John Ashcroft and a government that tramples on the Constitution in the name of national security."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2004 12:09:26 AM ||
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#1
In his letter, Romero said, "We will act not only on our behalf, but on behalf of our nation's nonprofits, to defend ourselves against John Ashcroft and a government that tramples on the Constitution in the name of national security."
I don't know which is worse. The ACLU complaints about Ashcroft's 'trampling' of the Constitution in the name of national security or the ACLU trampling on the Constitution in the name of a socialist agenda.
#2
The ACLU should not have non-profit standing. If Bush wins in November, he needs to get Ashcroft working on stripping the ACLU of its non-profit status. As a taxpayer, I'm very annoyed that an anti-American anarchist organization like the ACLU is getting tax bereaks. Let them pay for their own activities-don't expect the taxpayer to supplement their budget-I feel soiled whenever the ACLU takes a case to court-it's like taxpayers are co-partners in its seditious actions.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 1:03 Comments ||
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#3
rex, the ACLU's not nearly as bad as the Ford Foundation or its grantees, just to name the most obvious example...
#4
The ACLU is the legal arm that sabotages our nation's values by manipulating legal loopholes and making a mockery of our constitution. Of course the ACLU is as bad as its benefactors,#3. The ACLU is the terror from within. The Ford Foundation gives grants to alot of organizations, but none of them undermine our country's foundation to as great as an extent as the ACLU lawyers. I'm not sure what "obvious" point you were trying to make.
Posted by: rex ||
08/02/2004 1:41 Comments ||
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#5
In the CFC, participants get to designate where their contributions go. So any money that went to the ACLU was designated by those making the contribution (folks can, of course, make contributions directly, so I don't see the ACLU funding dropping off all that much).
There are tons of charities on the CFC list, some national, some local. I select local and/or Christian ones that have low overhead - more bang for the buck.
Owww! Stop plucking on my heart strings like that!
RAFAH, Egypt, Aug. 1 -- Like thousands of other Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who do not have access to advanced medical care, Hani Hindi traveled across the border to Cairo for specialized treatment. Three months ago, Hindi said, he had been shot by Israeli soldiers in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis while sniping at some Joooos installing a rooftop satellite dish. But when he tried to return to his sniper nest home two weeks ago, Hindi said, he was stunned to find that Israel, which controls all access to Gaza with fences and military patrols, had closed the gates on July 17 and was letting no one in or out.
Stunned? He can have any range of emotions he wants, but "stunned" and "surprised" shouldn't be two of them.
Hindi, 22, and his wife, Malina, who is perpetually eight months pregnant, have been stranded since then at the Rafah border crossing with about 2,500 other Palestinians who are unable to cross into Gaza but lack the money or travel papers necessary to return to Egypt.
Funny how their brother Arabs aren't exactly welcoming them back, eh?
Hundreds of men, women and children -- many of whom, like Hindi, are returning home after medical procedures not available in the Gaza Strip -- are crowded into the crossing's arrival and departure halls, according to aid groups and people inside reached by cellular telephone.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/02/2004 11:48:08 PM ||
Comments ||
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#1
File this under "Gives a Shit, Who?"
Yeah, funny how their Arab "brethern" don't want them either.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/02/2004 0:51 Comments ||
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#2
He said the Israeli government reasonably had offered to allow Palestinians to cross into Israel 27 miles south at a new border crossing facility and then be transported back up to the Gaza Strip, but that the Palestinians had refused.
Life is a lot tougher when you are stupid.
Posted by: ed ||
08/02/2004 7:54 Comments ||
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#3
Damn! I saw this story and realized... my violin's in the shop! What bad timing for that to happen.
#4
Me, me, me! They never consider anyone else, such as the hundred of lives saved by the Wall and other Israeli measures. If it weren't so damned real and serious, the entire Paleo dogma routine would be hysterical. Well, hell, in cases like this story - it IS, lol! I can't help myself!
#5
We need upfront full disclosure: this is WaPo crap.
Posted by: Capt America ||
08/02/2004 11:12 Comments ||
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#6
Wapo had a great article over the weekend on how nightlife in Jerusalem has recovered this last five months, and they mentioned the role of the security fence.
Stranded
Stranded on a toilet bowl
Stranded
Stranded
Stranded on a toilet bowl
What do you do when you're stranded
And there ain't nothing on the roll?
To prove you're a man
You must wipe it with your hand
Stranded
Stranded on a toilet bowl!
"It's awful," said Maha Jundia, 35, an official with the Palestinian Foreign Ministry who arrived at the crossing more than two weeks ago after attending a government training course in China. Jundia does not have money for a hotel or to go to Cairo to wait out the impasse.
WTF is the Palestinian Foreign Ministry sending anyone to China for? That little junket's expense account could have fed how many starving people?
More than anything, all of this bodes particularly ill for any continued Egyptian involvement in resolving the Palestinian crisis. Like Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, all of them could give a sh!t about actually solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I suppose nobody but the Jews really want the troubles to end, ergo the fence. Everyone else is sitting around capitalizing on the squalor and desperation of the Palestinians, who continue to remain utterly clueless in the face of endless object lessons.
Really stupid people get weeded out of the gene pool. The Palestinians need to bone up on this concept rather quickly before a little more chlorination eliminates their entire population. If that day comes, Arab crocodile tears will be outweighed only by Israeli tears of pure joy.
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